Great Tang Dynasty

Chapter 612 Salt Making
Changsun Wuji was very tangled.

He really doesn't want to do something like this that affects his own interests.

Even, whoever does it, he will fight desperately.

But now, the person who wants to move his interests is Li Shimin.

Changsun Wuji slightly raised his head and glanced at Li Shimin, and said: "Your Majesty, I think what Lord Qin said has some truths. It is indeed helpful for the imperial government to control the sale of salt, and the imperial court can also obtain huge profits from it." , to enrich the national treasury, but if this is the case, the price of salt will inevitably rise. At that time, the life of the people will be difficult. The Holy Majesty has just ascended the throne, and it is the time when the world is blessed, so I am afraid that it will be inappropriate to do this."

Changsun Wuji is a smart person, he will not directly refuse to say that this is not good, he wants to make Li Shimin feel that it is not appropriate to do this.

There is no profit in such things as salt. If those who produce salt do not do it, it may lead to an increase in prices, and the court will extract profits from it, or levy salt taxes, which may lead to an increase in salt prices.

Originally, their purpose was to control the price of salt, but in the end it led to an increase in the price of salt. Isn't this not worth the candle?

Changsun Wuji laid out his interests to Li Shimin, but now, it was Li Shimin who started to get entangled.

During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to increase the income of the court, salt was turned into a court monopoly. For so many years, sometimes it was monopolized, and sometimes salt taxes were collected. A large part of the profit of salt was controlled by the court.

It's just that in the Sui Dynasty, because the Sui Dynasty was too rich to look down on the salt class, it was abolished.

And it has been used until now, but their current situation in the Tang Dynasty cannot be compared with that of the Kaihuang three years.

Li Shimin really took such a big profit, but what Changsun Wuji said was not unreasonable.

When Li Shimin was tangled, Qin Tian, ​​who picked out the incident, stood by the side, not intending to interrupt at all, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.

Seeing Qin Tian like this, Li Shimin suddenly felt an urge to slap him. Why do you want to get out of it when you see that the matter is not going to be resolved?

There are so cheap things in the world.

Li Shimin's eyebrows moved slightly, and he said, "Qin Aiqing, tell me your opinion."

Seeing being questioned, Qin Tian straightened up and said, "My lord, I think what the elder grandson said is justified."

When these words came out, Li Shimin almost scolded him. He felt that Qin Tian had really fallen, and when he saw that the situation was wrong, he changed his words.

On Changsun Wuji's side, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that his fortune would be saved.

But at this time, Qin Tian suddenly said: "Salt is controlled by the imperial court, which is indeed beneficial to the imperial court. For the common people, it will increase some costs. The main reason is that less salt is produced, the cost increases, and the price of salt also increases. Just increase, but I think it's easy to solve this matter."

This turn was a bit steep. After Qin Tian finished speaking, the moods of Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji suddenly changed.

Li Shimin curled his lips and said, "The price of salt must be controlled, and the imperial court must also benefit from it. What do you think should be done?"

Qin Tiandao: "The main problem is the amount of salt produced. If the amount of salt produced increases and the efficiency of salt production increases a lot, then the cost of salt production will naturally be reduced. If the cost of salt production is low, we can sell it at the current par price. Whether it’s the salt producers or the imperial court, they all make money.”

There are several aspects to the influence of prices, and the most important aspect is the cost. If the cost can be reduced, even if the imperial court imposes a salt tax, the salt price will not rise, and may even decrease.

Improving efficiency is always the easiest way to reduce costs.

After Qin Tian finished speaking, Changsun Wuji's heart sank slightly, and then he stood up again and said: "It sounds good, is it easy to reduce the cost, is it easy to improve the efficiency, the current salt production methods have already It’s much better than before, but the annual salt production is still not high. Your Qin Tian’s family is rich and there is no shortage of salt, so I don’t know, but now many poor people in my Tang Dynasty can’t afford salt. Did you know that they may dare to put a few grains in their mouths a day to taste, if the efficiency cannot be improved, but the price of salt has increased, what do you think?"

At this time, Changsun Wuji was really a little angry. If he dared to use his own money, it would be like killing his father and enemy.

Qin Tian didn't expect Changsun Wuji to look like this, Li Shimin was also taken aback for a moment.

"Cough cough..."

Li Shimin coughed twice, and Changsun Wuji restrained himself.

At this time, Qin Tian said: "Your Majesty, to be honest, my Tang's salt-making technology is very poor. Not only is the output low, but also most of the coarse salt produced is very little refined salt. I have some salt-making techniques here. The method can not only improve the efficiency and increase the output of salt production, but also increase the output of refined salt.”

After saying this, Li Shimin thought for a while, there must be a big difference between refined salt and coarse salt, and there is very little refined salt, so only some powerful people can afford it, like ordinary people, sometimes even dare not eat more coarse salt .

If Qin Tian really had a way to improve the efficiency of salt production, it would be indispensible for the development of Datang.

"Qin Aiqing, is what you said true?"

"In front of the Holy One, how dare I speak falsely. I have salt-making techniques for different environments. For example, on the beach, we can dry salt. Well salt has a well salt method, and lake salt has a lake salt method..."

Qin Tian murmured that the salt-making process in each place had been improved by Qin Tian, ​​and if the salt-making process was done according to what he said, the efficiency would be at least three to five times higher than before.

Although the increase is not a lot, it is only three to five times. After the court makes a profit, it can still greatly reduce the cost of salt, and then reduce the price of salt.

After hearing this, Li Shimin looked overjoyed, and said, "Qin Aiqing has a great idea. If it can really improve efficiency, that would be great."

Qin Tian smiled and said: "Your Majesty, the imperial court monopolizes the sale of salt, but the imperial court can't do business either, so what I mean is to distribute salt citations, and the salt merchants can use the salt citations to purchase goods from the imperial court and then sell them. That's it. , can save the court a lot of work, and can also develop the economy of the Tang Dynasty."

If someone does business, the economy can develop. Of course, the reason why Qin Tian did this is because he saw that there are too many people doing salt business in the court. If they cut off all their sources of income at once, Li Shimin is not afraid. dreadful.

As a human being, you can't cut off people's wealth. You should leave some life for others, otherwise you may encounter the same situation in the future.

Although he is an official, Qin Tian is still unwilling to make too many enemies.

Some profits are given to the salt merchants, some profits are given to the salt makers, and the court takes some more. Everyone wins. This is not bad.

After Changsun Wuji heard this, his eyebrows immediately opened.

(End of this chapter)