Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1435 Rights
Yuan Xi always had a bad impression of the Bingzhou merchants. After all, starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, they had violated the law, secretly colluded with the Jurchens, and bought and sold commodities that were strictly prohibited by the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, at the beginning, the Ming Dynasty was very wary of the Jurchens, so the initial ban on the sale of weapons and armor, and the ban on the sale of all ironware including iron pots and hoes during the Chenghua period, were already considered strict defenses.

However, driven by huge profits, Shanxi merchants, led by the eight major merchants, continuously sold large quantities of strategic materials and technologies including food, ironware, medicinal materials, and craftsmen to the outside of the Great Wall. As a result, the Jurchens' technology advanced and they became a major threat to the border. Finally, they took advantage of the war in the late Ming Dynasty to enter the Great Wall.

During this process that lasted for hundreds of years, the Bingzhou merchant clan never stopped its blood transfusions to the Jurchens, which became one of the important factors leading to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. Later, the Qing Dynasty also reciprocated the kindness of the Bingzhou merchant clan by ennobling the eight great imperial merchants and pampering them throughout the world.

Later, in the late Qing Dynasty, Shanxi merchants also heard the news and moved. Although they were far away in the Central Plains, their sense of smell was no less sensitive than that of the Thirteen Hongs in Guangzhou. The two major groups, one in the south and the other in the north, first colluded with Dutch merchants and then secretly communicated with British merchants, secretly smuggling large amounts of opium into the country, thereby accumulating huge wealth.

According to the General History of Shanxi, all men, women, young and old in the Cao family, a wealthy merchant family in Shanxi, were addicted to opium. They usually stored more than 10,000 taels of opium in their home. They had more than 300 servants and their annual household expenses were more than 100,000 yuan. It can be said that in that era, they lived not much worse than the emperor.

Ironically, the Opium War caused by the opium trade became an important cause of the demise of the Qing Dynasty. It can be said that the Shanxi merchants once again became the gravediggers of the dynasty, but from beginning to end, their motives and means were extremely disgraceful.

This is also the reason why Yuan Xi strictly guarded against commercial trade and kept the initiative firmly in his own hands. Thousands of years before the emergence of Das Kapital, the ancient Chinese saw the harm that businessmen could cause to the country when they got out of control.

A big part of the reason why China has stood firm for thousands of years is that the ancestors of the Chinese did not stand still, but tried different routes, stepped into all the pitfalls, and saw the ugliness of all people's hearts. Only in the end, they chose the path that could bring everyone forward together.

Yuan Xi thought about this and said to Qu Bei, "I remember that the Bingzhou merchant clan took about a quarter of the goods and profits from the Bingzhou trade route, and the Zhen and Mi trade routes controlled by the Jin state took another quarter. The remaining one or two percent belonged to the Xiongnu and scattered merchants, right?"

"I heard that the Bingzhou Shang clan is not very happy about this?"

Qu Bei said, "I have heard of it too."

"Some of them think that it is not fair that foreign caravans are not responsible for local security but can take away half of the profits, while the Bingzhou merchants hire warriors to protect the trade routes but cannot take more."

This group of foreign merchants naturally also included the Mi and Zhen family caravans. In fact, what Qu Bei said was still vague. There were quite a few voices within the Bingzhou merchant clan who believed that the emperor should not compete with the common people for profit. This practice of cultivating the power of his wife's family and the merchant clan was not what a wise monarch would do.

Qu Bei didn't dare to say it, for fear of angering Yuan Xi. However, with the ability of a spy in the Procuratorate, such rumors could not be hidden from Yuan Xi. He tapped his fingers on the table a few times and sneered, "I am too kind. The animal instinct of merchants driven by money is impossible to eliminate. If you don't pursue profit, you are not a businessman."

"It's fine to do business honestly, but it's wrong to be selective in accounting. I'm going to make a list."

"Without soldiers guarding the border and pacifying the border areas, how can we talk about protecting the trade routes? With just their servants, who can they defeat?"

"Is it Xianbei or Xiongnu cavalry?"

"Before, they paid protection fees to keep safe. Now that the Xianbei and Xiongnu have become obedient, they think this situation is natural?"

"Have I ever asked them for compensation for the tens of thousands of soldiers who died or were injured in the Battle of Jinyang?"

"I am still too kind. If that's the case, then I have to consider collecting some taxes."

"Border garrison tax, horse and carriage tax, ship tax, road tax, whatever there is, add them all without leaving out a single one."

"In the next few days, I will ask the officials of the Municipal Caosi to work with you to calculate the tax ratio. I heard that some of their families spend much more lavishly on their houses than my palace. It would be better to give so much money to the craftsmen who contribute more to the country."

I lowered my head humbly, thinking to myself, I didn't say anything. These blind people have offended His Majesty, they really deserve it.

He said, "Your Majesty is wise, but if you act too hastily and bluntly, will it make them dissatisfied and do something detrimental to the Jin Dynasty?"

Yuan Xi said leisurely: "The biggest harm that merchants can cause is collaborating with the enemy."

"As for the forces along the Bingzhou trade route, the Xiongnu have already naturalized, and the Qiang people have not formed a unified force, so the Bingzhou merchants can only look for the Western Xianbei. It just so happens that the Silk Road has been reopened, so they will naturally not let this opportunity go easily."

"I want to see if there are a few who can't see the situation clearly."

Qu Bei's heart tightened, thinking that the emperor must have anticipated everything and was just waiting for him to jump into this trap when he was blinded by money.

He said aloud: "If we rely solely on taxes, will these people pass the money on to other places?"

Yuan Xi nodded, thinking that Qu Bei had hit the nail on the head. After all, the Zhen and Mi families were outsiders, and when it came to controlling local resources, they could not compare with the local tyrants like the Bingzhou Shang clan. It was because Yuan Xi stood behind the Zhen and Mi families that the Bingzhou Shang clan had concerns, otherwise they would not have been able to get 20% of the profits.

Yuan Xi said, "You didn't say something, but I already know it in my heart. As the emperor, you can't force people to buy or sell. It's obviously unfair."

"If I kill them all, that's fine, but the Jin Dynasty will be discredited, and if the upper class follows suit, the laws will collapse, and there will be a disaster like the second Qin Dynasty's demise."

"How about this, you rush back later and invite the leaders of the Qiang tribe to negotiate with Gao Gan, and ask them to get involved in the trade route. If they form a joint caravan, I will give them considerable support."

"I will also grant permission to the major noble families in Jianghuai Sili to trade in Bingzhou."

"We can only make money together to revitalize the situation, right?" "But by then the situation will be several times more complicated than before, so I'll have to trouble you and the senior officials to coordinate and mediate the conflicts."

Qubei quickly agreed and went out to meet with the officials from the Municipal Caosi.

Yuan Xi stood up and sighed deeply. Cao Jie, who was standing beside him, had already filled the entire bamboo slip. He stopped writing and said, "Your Majesty, is there anything you want to delete?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "No, they are all fair and aboveboard. There is no need to hide them from future generations."

Cao Jie was worried: "But if people outside, especially businessmen, knew about this, would it be harmful to Your Majesty and even the State of Jin..."

Yuan Xi said, "It is said that businessmen are the most calculating, but sometimes, they are also the worst at calculating."

“When they calculate the cost of trading goods, they only count the labor, materials, and the cost of receiving the goods, but they ignore the most important item.”

Cao Jie subconsciously asked, "Which one?"

Yuan Xi said in a deep voice: "The rights that the country has given them since they were born also have a price."

"The establishment of the dynasty was the result of the bloody battles of countless soldiers and the hard work of countless people. They created a peaceful path for future generations and gathered together to form the strength of the country. This is the original capital."

"The efforts of countless people have formed the strength of the country, ensuring the stability of future generations' lives and the prosperity of the country, which has led to a stable business environment."

"So, people who work in all walks of life owe a debt to the country and to all the predecessors since the founding of the country."

"If you want to repay this debt, you have to pay taxes, and then the emperor will exercise the right to distribute taxes on behalf of the country so that everyone can benefit from it. This is the way of the emperor and the country. This is not just the emperor who benefits, but is returned to the people of the world."

“Without the efforts of all people in the world, without the production of workers and farmers, there would be no business. Therefore, if businessmen forget this point and want to override the people to obtain what does not belong to them, or even betray the country and the people, that is the way to death.”

"I will try my best to control the caravans in the hands of the dynasty, especially the guiding power must not be given to the people, that's why. Of course, if the dynasty becomes corrupt, there will be bad consequences, and then we will have to deal with it in another way."

Cao Jie picked up the pen and wrote unconsciously, then suddenly realized, "Write down these words too?"

Yuan Xi said, "Of course, it should not only be recorded, but also included in the teaching materials of the charity school."

"From now on, every merchant must know and remember this truth. It is the people who actually produce the goods, not them. What merchants need to do is to redistribute wealth reasonably and make society run faster and better. Everyone should just do their job."

Afterwards, with the Jin State's official revision of the commercial theory and the reshuffle of Bingzhou's business, it unsurprisingly caused quite a stir.

Among the Bingzhou Shang clan, some had a keen sense of smell and quickly cooperated, but some were very unwilling to give in and wanted to plot strategies to fight back against the Jin Dynasty's policies.

Dozens of clan elders gathered together secretly. They were extremely angry about Jin Dynasty's actions. Someone stood up and said, "Your Majesty is trying to force us to death!"

"There are more than a thousand people in our family, and our daily expenses are huge. And we are still asked to make concessions. Isn't this just cutting off our livelihood?"

Someone immediately echoed: "That's right!"

"We clearly control the local food, cloth and other necessities. Your Majesty, do you think you can take advantage of our weaknesses with just salt and iron?"

Someone said coldly: "If nothing else works, controlling the price of food is still possible."

"Should we raise the price of grain?"

Someone asked, “How much?”

The former said: "Fifty percent."

Everyone was shocked, and someone frowned and said, "Two percent will result in death, isn't that too high?"

"We are just trying to give advice to Your Majesty, not to fight to the death!"

After the final discussion, everyone decided to increase the rate of grain, cloth and other items to 30%. After all, 70% to 80% of Bingzhou's goods were in their hands. If the people couldn't eat, the court would be afraid of another chaos, right?

Soon, the prices in Bingzhou increased, and the news quickly spread to Jicheng. Yuan Xi sneered after hearing it. A trade war?
Am I short of gold and silver currency now, or am I short of supplies?

He said to Cao Ji: "Ask Lu Su and Zhang Zhao to come into the palace."

(End of this chapter)