Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 72 Containers

Hearing Li Tai's categorical answer, everyone present was stunned, and they didn't react for a while.

Although the Tang Dynasty enjoyed the convenience brought by the Grand Canal, but they really paid attention to the economic lifeline of the Grand Canal, which connects the north and the south. The importance of the canal.

Even after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty was able to continue to maintain the dignity that an empire should have. A very important reason was the life-sustaining role of the Grand Canal.

Since then, the ancient Chinese capitals have basically abandoned easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack areas such as Chang'an, and chose cities relying on the Grand Canal for their capitals. This was the case in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The entire political landscape of China has completely changed since the day the Grand Canal appeared.

Due to the tendency to condemn Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in contemporary times, the Grand Canal left by the Sui Dynasty was ignored as if it was dark under the lights.

Fang Xuanling heard Li Tai's words and said, "The king of Yue thinks that the existence of the Grand Canal will change the tax policy?"

"Yes!" Li Tai said seriously,

"From the dispatch of life-saving food from Jiangnan to Luoyang last year, we can see the important role of the Grand Canal in connecting the north and the south.

The emergence of this canal actually changed a lot of things, not just as simple as resource scheduling.

What's more important is to strengthen North-South exchanges and promote North-South integration, so that the South and the North are no longer two different worlds.

Even if you don't look at the economic benefits, but only look at the political significance, this canal is worth regular maintenance and repairs. "

When everyone heard the words "regular maintenance", they immediately understood why Li Tai advocated paying taxes.

Where does your money come from without paying taxes, and how can you carry out regular maintenance without money.

Again, the issue of internal affairs is a whole logical chain of "why use money, where does it come from, and how it needs to be used".

Of course, although all these things have been thought of, but if the money is really used, it is also from different people.

That will definitely make others feel distressed, so how to handle the relationship well depends on the political skill of the person in charge.

Fang Xuanling was also limited by the times, although he knew the importance and convenience of the Grand Canal, he was not as transparent as Li Tai thought.

But after Li Tai pointed it out, Fang Xuanling understood that it was inevitable to charge water transportation fees.

Because the significance of this Grand Canal to the entire country is too important.

To some extent, it is even worth paying money to maintain this lifeline, not to mention making money from this canal now.

Li Chengqian watched Li Tai talking in front of everyone, but he also wished to replace him with his own body.

Although he still couldn't understand why the people had to pay taxes to maintain the Grand Canal.

But he remembered Li Shimin's instructions. Although he has the qualifications to listen to politics, he has no right to intervene.

Thinking of this, watching Li Tai persuade all the ministers from the three provinces and six ministries present, he couldn't help feeling envious.

Li Chengqian cast his eyes on Li Shimin, but saw that Li Shimin looked at Li Tai with satisfaction in his eyes.

Li Shimin stroked his mustache and couldn't help but said, "Qingque, do you hope that water transportation and tax payment will be spread to the world's waterways in the future!"

"Why not!" Li Tai heard Li Shimin's words, and said:

"The way of tax burden is to take it from the people and use it for the people.

If the imperial court had no money to maintain the waterways, then these excavated waterways would silt up sooner or later over time, and the silting of the waterways would cut off the livelihood of the people living along the canals.

At that time, it will not be easy to clean it up again, so it is better to spend money to maintain the waterways in the first place. "

"King Yue's idea is very reasonable!" Wei Zheng said after hearing Li Tai's words,

"But King Yue, have you thought about it, if you follow the "Water Transport Theory" and pay taxes directly to wharf masters like yourself, then there may be other problems with this tax.

You were born in the royal family and taught by saints, so you naturally uphold the righteous way, and you will not be greedy for these small profits.

But other wealthy families in charge of the wharf, they are likely to pass on the tax to the water transporters, so what will happen then! "

Li Tai was stunned when he heard Wei Zheng's words, but he didn't expect that Wei Zheng had already seen this.

But thinking about it, it seems that this is not a strange thing. After all, everyone in the Zhenguan Dynasty did not say that they were born in poverty, but because of the chaos of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they have seen disasters at the bottom.

Especially Wei Zheng, who was born in the rebel army in Wagang, even if he has never experienced the hardships of the people at the bottom, he has seen it, let alone such a simple means of transfer. To the wise men present, it is almost just a thought. things.

"It's up to King Bin to answer this point!" Li Tai said while pushing King Bin in front of everyone.

Ma Zhou didn't show the slightest timidity either, he still calmly faced the crowd and said:
"I did discuss with the King of Yue about the transfer, so we came up with the second method.

It's just that this method requires a larger upfront investment than the first one, and may even require changes in weights and measures.

Therefore, it was not included in the "Water Transport Theory" to avoid unnecessary disputes.

But now that Secretary Wei has denied the method mentioned in "Water Transport Theory", he can only build the wharf in sections! "

"Build the wharf in sections?" Hearing these words, everyone present couldn't help but flicker a little dazed.

"Yes!" Ma Zhou continued, "Although water transportation is less expensive than land transportation, it still has consumption.

Moreover, the water levels of rivers and canals will vary from year to year.

If the wharf is built in sections and the transportation is carried out in sections, then the water will be transported by water, and the water will be shallow to store warehouses, and the granaries will be located along the canal.

In this way, the water ships will not be stagnant, and the grain will not be wasted, which will greatly increase the water transportation volume. "

When everyone heard what Ma Zhou said, they nodded in understanding, feeling that Ma Zhou's proposal was not bad.

Xiao Yu, the imperial historian, said: "Although this matter is good, it has nothing to do with collecting taxes. Please don't keep it a secret."

After Ma Zhou saluted Xiao Yu, he continued: "

The wharf and storage are invested and constructed by the imperial court. Should there be a fee for docking ships and a fee for using storage?

Ships come and go, the court builds the wharf, and then charges for the ships and goods.

Fees are charged as long as the ship is docked, and these fees are actually taxes.

These fees cannot be collected from Caofu, even if they want to pass them on, it is impossible to pass them on directly. "

Hearing Ma Zhou's words, everyone present couldn't help thinking, but Dai Zhou from the Ministry of Civil Affairs frowned and said:

"The plan is good, but the transportation of goods is full of strange things, and the variety is even more numerous.

To store these things, it is okay to say that the quantity is small, but if the quantity is large, how many people are needed to count and maintain.

This method can only solve the urgent need, but it is impossible to completely solve the problem. "

"What Dai Shangshu said is true!" Ma Zhou nodded in approval, but still said calmly,

"So at the proposal of the King of Yue, the court needs to make a special transport tool that can be packed in the package, determine its length, width and height, and uniformly pack all the items in it, and call it a container!

All items are put into this shipping box during transportation, and we charge according to the quantity of this shipping box.

Items that are less than one container are calculated as one container. "

"Container?" Li Shimin looked at Li Tai and said, "You came up with it?!"

"Yes!" Li Tai admitted frankly, "

Naturally, the method of tax collection should be simple, preferably as simple as changing a dog to the post, and then the tax can be collected smoothly.

Simplifying complex problems can help us reduce many problems.

After Gaoling opened the pier, I could see people coming and going on the pier, and all kinds of affairs were extremely complicated.

This has caused the bustle of the pier, as well as the chaos of the pier, and even the congestion of the pier.

Now, there are nearly [-] porters at Gaoling Wharf, but sometimes it is too late to unload and carry.

Sometimes it is very likely that a bag of rice will be spilled on the ground, which will cause some road sections to be blocked, which will spread to a large area and form a large area of ​​chaos, which is quite difficult to manage. "

"Then replacing it with a so-called container can solve the problem you mentioned?" Wei Zheng couldn't believe it.

Li Tai said: "Okay, let them send the container back to their warehouse directly, and they will dismantle it slowly after they go back!
In fact, the benefits brought by containers are not only that.

If the container can be fully popularized, then a carriage specially capable of placing the container can be manufactured.

At that time, a piece of cargo can save the trouble of carrying it up and down along the way, directly from the cabin to the designated place, the efficiency is more than doubled, and even if there is a need in the future, wheels can be directly installed under the container.

At that time, even land roads, transfer stations, and bridges can be easily transported.

At that time, it is conceivable how amazing the speed of material dispatching within my Datang will become. "

Li Tai stretched out his hand to draw a blueprint for the future. I don't know if it will be realized, but it is definitely enough to bluff people.

"Isn't it necessary to invest a lot in the early stage to build the segmented wharf!" Dai Zhou's words brought everyone back to reality.

The scene Li Tai painted is indeed quite tempting, but the reality is that a large amount of money needs to be invested in the early stage!
"Actually, compared with the investment in port construction, the biggest problem is that the weights and measures have not been unified." Li Tai said helplessly.

"The weights and measures have not been unified?" Wei Zheng asked puzzledly when he heard Li Tai's words, "Since the first emperor, I have not used all the weights and measures in China, and there has never been a unified weights and measures. This is the first time I have heard of this! "

"If they are unified, there will be no big fights or small fights!"

Li Tai didn't flinch at the moment, looked at Wei Zheng and said,

"Because weights and measures have problems from the very beginning, our current Tang ruler is longer than the Qin ruler, but we still use it wrongly, in order to deduct a few more grains from the people!"

"Qingque!" At this time, Li Shimin's expression became serious when he heard Li Tai's words.

"Aye, Secretary Wei, I lost my temper!" Li Tai took a deep breath and said,
"All in all, if you want to use the second method, you need a more stable unit, and that's how much it is.

It will not be promoted to other places, and the result will become the problem of measurement like Qin ruler gradually becoming Tang ruler today.

If you don't pay attention to this, when the time comes, the box will be bigger and smaller, and it will become difficult to tax.

What's more important is that even if it can be shipped by force, but when it is time to transport it with a horse-drawn carriage, it is found that it cannot be transported due to its size, so the goods may have to be thrown at the pier! "

After hearing this, everyone understood Li Tai's meaning, why the weights and measures should be unified.

But Li Tai continued: "It can be said that if there is no unification of weights and measures, it would be absolutely impossible to tax according to the number of containers!"

"This..." When the people present heard what Li Tai said, they naturally tended to the second one.

After all, they can also hear that although the second type has a relatively large investment in the early stage, it will almost collect money in the future, and the quantity and materials of others can be accurately grasped.

In contrast, the first type can only ask the person in charge of the port to collect fees, and the amount of fees collected is second. More importantly, as a big government, it is born to control the grassroots.

If there is a method that can control the grassroots but is given up in vain, then no one present is willing to accept it.

"King Yue, you always think before you do things, I believe you should already have a standard of weights and measures!"

Fang Xuanling looked at Li Tai. Although Fang Xuanling didn't know what Li Tai could do, Fang Xuanling could understand Li Tai's thinking.

Basically, if Li Tai really had nothing to do, then Li Tai would not bring this matter up.

Li Tai glanced at Fang Xuanling, always feeling that he was good at finding steps, so he couldn't help but said:

"When Li Chunfeng was in the agricultural college, he created a new standard.

When Chunfeng comes back, let him test the origin of weights and measures in front of you.

However, the implementation of new weights and measures will definitely require the support of the court.

If the imperial court agrees, then Gaoling can be used as a pilot and slowly rolled out to the whole country! "

"Gaoling as a pilot?" Wei Zheng said with a serious expression, "It seems that King Yue came prepared!"

"Since the "Water Transport Theory" is played, it is natural to prepare as much as possible for this matter!"

Li Tai didn't show any fear in the face of Wei Zheng, after all what he did was right, so why should he back down.

Li Tai's eyes fell on Wei Zheng for a while, and finally fell on Li Shimin, and said:
"In addition to the promotion of weights and measures, there is also the segmented construction of the port, which will take time.

I think that instead of implementing it on the Grand Canal all at once, it is better to implement it on the Weihe River for a period of time to accumulate enough experience.

If there is any problem and how to solve it, these can be dealt with one by one.

You must know that the Weihe River runs from east to west, and there will be countless miscellaneous things, but the Grand Canal runs from north to south, connecting the north and south of the entire China. This must encounter more problems than Weihe water transport will encounter! "

(End of this chapter)