Great Tang Dynasty

Chapter 611 Take Back
Although the Ministry of Household Affairs has issued a notice, many people are still frantically buying salt.

There is no way, as long as the salt merchants do not lower the price, the common people will think that there is little salt, and if they do not buy it now, they will not be able to buy it in the future.

In later generations, many people already possessed a lot of knowledge, but when faced with the matter of salt, they would still lose their reason and thinking, let alone this era of occluded information.

Before going to the morning court, the ministers had already discussed this matter at the gate of the palace.

When Qin Tian came, a group of colleagues immediately surrounded him.

"Master Hou, what's the matter with the price increase of salt?"

"Can you Shangshu Province solve it as soon as possible? This matter is causing panic."

"That's right, solve it quickly..."

Qin Tian smiled wryly and said, "Don't worry, everyone, today's matter can be resolved."

"Really?"

"of course it's true."

Qin Tian was very confident. Seeing this, everyone finally stopped asking.

The morning court soon began. After Li Shimin and the officials had just said a few things, Qin Tian stood up: "My lord, the price of salt in Chang'an City has risen sharply recently. I think this matter cannot be ignored. We should make some policies as soon as possible." OK."

Li Shimin had already heard about the rise in salt prices, and when he saw Qin Tian stepping up to mention it, he nodded his head: "That's right, then what good strategy does Qin Aiqing have?"

Everyone looked at Qin Tian, ​​and Qin Tian said: "Your Majesty, I think we can start from several aspects. The first is to shorten the time for price evaluation. We used to evaluate once a month, but one month is too long. Prices are here. If there is a change within a month, it will not be controlled at all, so I think it is most appropriate to comment once every ten days."

Li Shimin's expression changed slightly when he heard the price assessment every ten days. This is not a particularly big change, but it just improves some efficiency. It makes it more difficult for those who want to make money from the time difference, so that they don't have so much time. .

"You can have this, Qin Aiqing continued."

The ministers in the court and the central government did not object. At most, the relevant departments worked harder, and it didn't matter much to them.

"What's more, relevant laws are specified. Anyone who raises prices arbitrarily and disturbs the market will be severely punished."

Li Shimin nodded. There is no problem with this. In fact, the previous dynasties already had relevant laws, such as anti-monopoly, etc. from a long time ago.

This is indeed not a problem, Qin Tian continued: "The third is that the salt matter is very important, which is related to the stability and development of my Tang Dynasty, but now my Tang Dynasty is allowing the people to freely make salt, buy and sell it freely, and even Even the salt tax is not levied, which is really a big hidden danger. The minister means that the people and the court will make salt together, and the court will take back the salt from the people and then sell it as a monopoly. The stability of the court."

Although salt is small, it is a profitable industry. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, salt has been monopolized by the imperial court. However, when Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty opened the emperor for three years, salt began to be freely bought and sold by the people, and the imperial court There is also no salt tax.

After Qin Tian said this, all the officials who had no opinion at first suddenly began to discuss loudly.

"Lord Qin, from the third year of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty to the first year of Zhenguan, we have not collected salt lessons for decades. Now you suddenly want the imperial court to control the sale of salt. I'm afraid it will cause more turmoil, right? "

"That is, those salt merchants will definitely not accept it for a while. If the people who make salt get angry and refuse to produce salt, what do you say? It will be difficult if the price of salt does not increase by then."

What these people say is not unreasonable. If the court collects salt and monopolizes it, those who make salt will not have much profit margin. At that time, who will make salt?
If they don't make salt, there will be less salt, and the price of salt will rise at that time. The more they control this matter, the more detrimental it will be to the stability of the court.

Everyone was chattering, but Li Shimin's heart moved slightly, but he didn't rush to speak.

At this time, Qin Tian said: "Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty was in power for three years. The court was rich and did not need to rely on salt tax. The treasury of the court was also very abundant. Therefore, in order to reduce the pressure on the people, the court did not collect taxes and allowed the people to buy and sell freely. Today's Datang needs to have some control over salt."

The fact that the imperial court does not levy taxes can actually reduce the price of salt, which is very beneficial to the people. After all, the cost of those salt merchants is much lower without the imperial court’s tax collection.

However, if the imperial court does not control the salt, those salt merchants are very greedy and dissatisfied, and they will still want to raise the price from time to time.

If the imperial court controls salt, even if some salt merchants raise their prices, as long as the imperial court releases salt, the salt price can be stabilized.

As Qin Tian talked with the officials, the entire morning court seemed a bit chaotic, and Qin Tian never thought that his decision would be opposed by some people.

How can anyone object to a decision that is obviously beneficial to the court?
Qin Tian was startled suddenly. The imperial court did not accept salt classes, and salt was a huge profit industry, and free trade was allowed. I am afraid that it would not be good for the officials, and they must have colluded with those salt merchants.

Even, many salt merchants are officials, and it is impossible for them to ignore such benefits.

If the imperial court controls the salt, it will cut off these people's financial resources at once.

This guess made Qin Tian stunned for a moment, and then he didn't continue to discuss with those people, because he knew it was meaningless.

Everything depends on Li Shimin's decision.

Li Shimin didn't make a decision right away, because among the people who opposed it, even Changsun Wuji was there, and he also opposed it. When the prime minister opposed it, then Li Shimin didn't dare to act arbitrarily, he had to have a better way of thinking.

Qin Tian also saw the objection of Changsun Wuji and other high-status people, so he suddenly realized it.

The early court broke up a little unhappy, and the officials left one after another, but Li Shimin called both Changsun Wuji and Qin Tian to the imperial study.

In the imperial study room, Li Shimin looked up at the two of them.

"The two Aiqings have different opinions on the matter of controlling salt. Now I want to listen to you alone. Changsun Aiqing, please speak first."

Changsun Wuji's cheeks twitched. There were indeed people in the Changsun family engaged in such things as selling salt. If the imperial court really took back the right to sell salt and changed it to a monopoly of the imperial court, then they would lose a source of income in the future.

His eldest grandson Wuji doesn't do those wine and perfume businesses with Qin Tian. The reason why he is so rich is because he owns these inconspicuous but very profitable industries.

But at the same time, he knew Li Shimin very well, and Li Shimin obviously saw the huge profits in it.

tangled.

(End of this chapter)