Red Mansion Wind

Chapter 47 The second prince is locked up.

"The law of Zhongyan is that the army guards the frontier, the people pay for it, and the salt lives in it, which is the hub, so it is called Kaizhong."

Zhou Xu briefly introduced the key points. The method of opening China is roughly divided into three steps: reporting, keeping, and trading. Reporting is that the salt merchants transport the grain to the designated border guards according to the requirements of the Ming government's investment promotion list. Regional granaries exchange salt imports from the government; Shouzhi means that salt merchants exchange salt for salt imports, and then send salt to designated salt farms to wait for Zhiyan; Shiyi means salt merchants transport the salt they get to designated areas for sale.

In the later period, due to the huge cost of long-distance transportation of grain, salt merchants hired labor from all over the world to cultivate fields to produce grain, and put them in warehouses in exchange for salt, so as to make more profits. Zhou Xu did not say that he believed that the ancients were not stupid , as long as there is this method, I believe that the businessmen will adapt to local conditions, and they are the group of people who will maximize their interests.

When the food is settled, the border can still be developed, isn't it tantamount to a disguised military settlement?

"Wonderful, this method is very wonderful!"

Song Qianyuan's eyes shined brightly. This not only saves the court's transportation costs, but also does not require the court to spend a lot of manpower and material resources. It's up and down.

"Brother Xu, this method is very good, but the Yanyin you mentioned is not easy to handle. What if someone imitates it privately?"

"Then the imperial court has to strictly supervise it. Salt is the foundation. How much salt is in the warehouse, how much salt is printed, and there are checks for entry and exit. Every time the grain is transported, merchants will be called in advance to bid. Whoever transports how much grain will win. How much salt is used, the total number can be matched in the end, so where can we go to take advantage of the loopholes, there is no perfect way in the world, most of them come from people."

Zhou Xu spread his hands, this kind of thing is very difficult to put an end to. In the previous life, the defeat of the frontier defense during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the lack of excellent military generals, the abolition of Kaizhong and France was also an important reason. After all, Song Qianyuan had a long time in the household department. It's getting late, and suddenly an idea came to my mind and asked:

"Brother Xu, if the imperial court directly sells the salt to the merchants, and then the imperial court takes the money to buy grain and transport it to the border, do you think it is feasible?"

tsk~
Zhou Xu frowned, good guy, you haven't done anything yet, you want to evolve ahead of time, you really can't underestimate the ancients, isn't this brain more flexible than many modern people.

"Why, can't it work?"

Song Chengyuan saw that Zhou Xu couldn't stop looking at himself, and thought that this method would not work. Zhou Xu shook his head and said, "It is possible, but don't you know that for those officials, once things are stained with money, I am afraid it is out of your control Yes, although my method was a bit devious, but after all, there are merchants. If their food is not delivered on time and in quantity, the court can supervise and hold them accountable, but who will supervise and hold them accountable if they leave the hands of officials? "

The collapse of the original space-time development of China and France was due to the fact that some high-ranking officials and dignitaries were able to obtain salts through special channels. If they did not go away, they would take these salts to the salt field and directly send their subordinates to collect the salt, and the salt would be taken away by the dignitaries. However, the merchants who really worked hard to sell grain and transport grain could not get salt for a long time, so naturally no one would do this drudgery.

Later, it was reformed to transfer grain to Nayin Kaizhong, that is, merchants no longer need to transport grain to the border, but instead directly handed over money to the household department. Food at the border.

Sure enough, the merchants actively participated and bought salt with the Ministry of Households with silver. How did the changes turn into a fortune for the Ministry of Households? The merchants were very happy. What about the food issue?

Of course, no one cares about the grain issue at the border. After the money is handed over to the household department, it is impossible for the household department to work hard to organize the transportation of grain, so they simply send the money directly to the army to buy it themselves.

Distributing grain and distributing money seem to be similar.But in the past, the food was directly transported to the front line, and there were very few links.Now from the household department to the front line, there are several more levels for no reason.It is an unspoken rule in the officialdom to get three points of fat and lose seven points. It is much more convenient to withhold money than to withhold food. When it comes to the front line, the army needs to organize food purchases. The procurement process is layer upon layer of exploitation, and finally the real ones are obtained Can food be [-]%?

Not only that, since it is possible to accept silver and open middle schools, it is meaningless to work hard at border farms.Merchants withdrew their laborers who farmed at the border, and the population of the border area decreased rapidly.This directly led to the depression of the border economy, the decline of food reserves, and the soaring price of food.

Zhou Xu only said a few words, and Song Chengyuan understood the power of it, and he didn't mention the court's handling of it.

The two talked for an hour, and the tea was cold. Song Chengyuan kept asking, Zhou Xu got impatient and stood up and said, "Okay, okay, I'm confused by your questions. There are so many people in the court. Sir, don’t you just eat, if you have any questions, you can go to them, I still have other things to attend to!”

"You are busy with the work above, so you go to that shop to have fun again? You don't want to cause trouble. Many nobles have impeached your father, saying that he has no way to discipline and let you cause trouble."

Song Chengyuan typically picks up the bowl to eat meat, puts down the bowl and scolds his mother. Seeing that Zhou Xu refuses to say anything more, he blames him again, because he has been taught by his elder brother a lot since he was a child, and he himself has the problem of teaching others. Zhou Xu She curled her lips and said, "I've stopped doing such trivial things a long time ago, and now I want to find a way to make a fortune!"

"A windfall?"

Song Chengyuan scratched his ears and suspected that he had heard it wrong. Zhou Xu, an ignorant idiot, would believe you when you said that he had made great achievements in the battlefield, but he would not believe any way he could find a way to make a fortune!
"Hey, let me tell you, don't believe me, within a few months, there won't be a few young masters who are richer than me in the entire capital."

Zhou Xu was very proud to say that he was sure that Song Chengyuan had just been fooled by him again, and his impression of him changed slightly, and he asked suspiciously: "Is there really a way?"

"Of course I lied to you?"

"Then tell me, Brother Xu, you are dissatisfied with you. Now that I have opened the house, there are mouths waiting to be fed. If there is a way, please miss me."

What was waiting was for Song Chengyuan to open his mouth. If Zhou Xu hadn't wanted to trap him, Zhou Xu would have left long ago. How could he spend a long time with him? The business he wants to do is really a bit of a huge profit. Identity can shock many people, and what's more, the emperor will not catch him if he knows about it in the future.

Zhou Xu pretended to look around and saw that no one was paying attention to them, so he leaned into Song Chengyuan's ear and said a few words. The latter's eyes were wide open, and he was about to speak, but Zhou Xu covered them.

"Hush, let's talk outside the city~"

(End of this chapter)