The world of film and television starts from the flow of money

Three days later, after Qin Shihuang's huge eastern tour convoy crossed the Wei River, it officially entered the territory of Langya County. The county lieutenant personally led 3,000 county soldiers, and the defense along the way was airtight, and the investigation of strangers was even more meticulous. There were county soldiers on duty at every intersection and every important place to ensure the safety of Qin Shihuang.

Langya Terrace stands on the coast of the Yellow Sea, with majestic and steep mountains. It is surrounded by dense vegetation and shaded by green trees. The top is relatively flat and open. Standing here, you can overlook the boundless sea, the sea is turbulent, and the waves beat against the rocks on the shore, making bursts of roaring sounds.

Langya Palace was built near Langya Terrace. It is a grand and magnificent building. The walls of the palace are tall and solid, and were built with advanced construction technology and materials. The interior of the palace is gorgeously decorated with carved beams and painted buildings, full of royal majesty. The halls are well-arranged and the layout is rigorous. The roads in the palace are wide and flat, and the ground is paved with exquisite bricks and stones. There are some exotic flowers and plants in the courtyard, which add vitality and color to the entire palace.

Inside the hall, Qin Shi Huang and his ministers sat calmly, with food carefully prepared by the imperial chef placed in front of them. On the surface, Qin Shi Huang did not seem to take the assassination too seriously, and a smile appeared on his face from time to time.

The attendants carefully tested the poison with silver needles, and then tested it again with their own lives. After ensuring that it was safe, Qin Shihuang picked up the chopsticks and slowly picked up a cooked fresh fish and put it into his mouth. However, he frowned in an instant:
“It’s too salty.”

The Yong people in charge of the imperial meal immediately felt as if they were facing a disaster, and they immediately knelt on the ground, trembling. The cook was also quickly dragged over to plead guilty, and said in panic:
"Your Majesty, although the tableware and dishes were brought from Xianyang, the fish used this time were local sea fish. Sea fish meat has salt, so I didn't pay attention to it when cooking, which makes the taste a bit strong."

Qin Shi Huang did not lose his temper, but just raised his hand slightly, signaling the cook to get up. His expression was still stern, but his eyes were full of inquiry, and he asked, "Is the salt used the salt from the Shaofu or the local salt?"

"It's the salt from the Shaofu."

The chef answered quickly, secretly congratulating himself on his wise choice. He dared not use salt of unknown origin, as it was a matter of life and death. Then he quickly added:

"The Shaofu has two kinds of salt, the northern Huamachi blue salt and Anyi white salt. The Shaofu personally sent people to the local area to obtain them and transported them back to Xianyang for storage..."

Qin Shi Huang nodded slightly and fell into deep thought. After a moment, he said, "Two out of three parts of the salt in the world come from Qi, but why doesn't the Shaofu use the salt from Qi? Do you know?"

Qin Shi Huang turned his head and looked at his ministers with a sharp gaze. The ministers looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.

"Your Majesty,"

However, Yi Huawei, who has been studying the history of the Qin Dynasty recently, said:
"Huamachi blue salt comes from the border areas, with the best color and the most authentic taste. And Anyi was called Daxia in ancient times, and Daxia salt is the most harmonious. These two salts are most suitable for the king to season. Although Qi produces a lot of salt, most of them taste astringent. If it is not cooked properly, it will have a burnt bitter taste. This is the salt of the common people, how can it enter your majesty's mouth?"

Qin Shi Huang narrowed his eyes slightly, without making any comment. He slowly said, "Although it is food for the common people, it is a huge benefit to the world." His voice was not loud, but it seemed to have a thousand-pound force, which made everyone feel a chill in their hearts.

Qin Shi Huang looked around, with a hint of majesty in his tone:
"Where is Zhang Han, the Minister of the Imperial Household? Isn't he in charge of the Imperial Treasury? Come and tell me about the salt policy of the country."

Everyone looked around, searching for Zhang Han.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Han went to the seaside first with the governor of Langya County." Yi Huawei reminded from the side.

After hearing this, Qin Shi Huang frowned slightly and snorted, obviously still a little bothered by the fact that Zhang Han did not discover the assassin last time. He turned to look at Li Si and said:

"When you were a minor official, you were also in charge of salt and grain. You can tell me a little bit about that."

Qin Shihuang did not pick anyone to talk to. He waved his hand and signaled Li Si to tell the story while he was eating.

Li Si smiled slightly and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, this salt may seem ordinary and is eaten every day. But in fact, it is enough to determine the life and death of a person and the strength of a country!"

A hint of curiosity flashed in Qin Shihuang's eyes, and he said, "Oh?" He stopped what he was doing and motioned Li Si to explain in detail.

Li Si started out as a practical politician, and he slowly said, "Your Majesty, for ordinary people, salt is an indispensable item in life. Those poor people work hard every day, and if they don't eat salt for a long time, they will feel weak and even endanger their lives. The nobles are accustomed to it and sometimes feel that salt is heavy, but they don't know that for the common people, eating salt or not is a matter of life and death.

Salt is not only related to the health of the people, but also closely linked to the country's economic and military strength. If a country can control the production and circulation of salt, it can obtain rich financial income to be used for important matters such as building an army and building cities. At the same time, salt can also be used as an important strategic material and play a key role in wartime. "

“Salt is so important that everyone needs it. However, the troubling thing is that not every region can produce salt.

Most farmers lived a self-sufficient life. They could grow their own food and eat their own food. They could grow their own hemp and have their women weave the cloth. They could basically solve their own food and clothing problems, but not salt! No matter what, this magical thing could not be grown in the fields. As a result, salt became the only commodity that people needed to buy and exchange.

The earliest merchants in the world were none other than salt merchants! They started from the large salt pond near Anyi and transported salt to various places.”

After a pause, Li Si continued, "So, among all the commodities in the world, only grain, salt, cloth, iron, copper, and livestock are the most important!"

"So, Qi is rich because of sea salt?" Qin Shi Huang stopped chopping his chopsticks. Li Si bowed and responded, "That's right. Eight hundred years ago, the Yingqiu area of ​​Qi was mostly salt brine, with a vast land and few people. But Duke Tai of Qi vigorously developed industry and commerce, making full use of the benefits of fish and salt, so people flocked to Qi and Qi became a great country. During the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, the population was large, and Guan Zhong's strategy was adopted to implement the "official mountain and sea" policy, allowing the government to monopolize salt and iron. Because of this, Qi's hats, belts, clothes and shoes were sold all over the world, and people from the sea and Dai straightened their sleeves and went to pay homage."

"Guan Yiwu once said, 'You cut firewood and boil the sea water to tax the whole world!' What he meant was that by boiling the sea and selling salt, people all over the world would pay salt tax to Qi, and Qi would become rich because of it."

Qi, with sufficient fiscal revenue, could become one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. Duke Huan of Qi convened nine meetings of the princes and rectified the world. Without the financial support provided by the trade system brought by salt, how could Duke Huan of Qi have the money to organize a multinational peacekeeping force? How could he have the money to hold the princes' summit every year? How could he maintain peace in the Zhou Dynasty? And how could he establish a new international order in the Spring and Autumn Period?

The "official mountain and sea" policy of Qi was mainly proposed and implemented by Guan Zhong. Its specific contents include:

"Guanshan" means that the state gives the iron ore to the people for contract mining, and the profits are shared in proportion to the output value.

"Official salt" is a policy where the government clearly stipulates that salt belongs to the state, but the government supervises the people. The government requires the people to boil salt at a specific time and in a specific area, and then appoints salt officials to purchase and sell salt in a unified manner.

Before Guan Zhong came to power, Qi State allowed private operation of the salt and iron industries, and the state collected part of the taxes. Most of the profits from the salt and iron industries went to private owners, and the government did not earn much.

Guan Zhong had been engaged in business for a long time and was well aware of the special features of salt and ironware, as well as their large sales volume and high profits. After he came to power, in order to enrich the national finances and strengthen the economic strength of Qi, he decided to control the lucrative salt and iron industry in the hands of the government, abolished the previous policy of allowing private operation of the salt and iron industry while the state collected part of the tax, and implemented the "official mountain and sea" policy, that is, implementing the state monopoly of the salt and iron industry, and implementing the state monopoly of salt and ironware.

During the salt-boiling season controlled by the state, private individuals can independently produce salt in open salt ponds, which will then be purchased by the state. The state controls the production and sales of salt, and thus obtains the right to set the price of salt, thereby raising the price to increase fiscal revenue. The state monopolizes all mining resources, and private individuals independently operate iron smelting workshops. The state controls the purchase and sale of ironware, and collects taxes from private iron industry according to the standard of "the people get seven, and the emperor gets three".

The "official mountain and sea" policy hid taxes in the price of salt and iron, taking advantage of the irreplaceability of salt and iron, and putting taxes in prices, thus avoiding the negative emotions of the people towards direct taxation. This policy greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the people to boil salt and smelt iron, and promoted the development of the salt and iron industry. Salt production can not only meet domestic demand, but also be exported, and even the lifeline of other countries can be controlled by regulating the export volume of salt, laying the foundation for Qi's dominance. Iron farm tools are also increasingly popularized, thus promoting agricultural development. After the reform, the actual national income is composed of taxes and monopoly income. The total fiscal revenue has increased significantly, stability has improved, fiscal difficulties have been alleviated, and Qi's national strength has become increasingly strong.

From the perspective of property rights, ownership, and management rights, the "official mountain and sea" system emphasizes the state ownership of natural resources. The government monopolizes natural resources such as salt ponds and iron mines, regulates the establishment and operation of the natural resource property rights market, and promotes the definition and collection of resource rents. The government can adjust the price and output of salt and iron products, control the total amount of resource benefits, and the distribution of benefits between the government and individuals. At the same time, the state rents out the management rights in the salt and iron production field and the income rights of some natural resources to private individuals, collects taxes, and sells salt and iron products through unified purchase and distribution to obtain income, thus realizing the economic form of natural resource ownership.

Moreover, the state protects the legitimate rights and interests of operators in the salt-making and iron-smelting fields, sets strict production requirements and clear purchase prices, eliminates the uncertainty of product supply and demand and revenue, and enables private operators with independent management rights to fully engage in production activities, try to improve labor productivity and reduce costs, thereby increasing profits and improving social productivity. In addition, by controlling the sale and distribution of salt and iron, the state can prevent domestic resource shortages and control other countries through salt and iron exports.

From the perspective of institutional change, "official mountain and sea" was a compulsory institutional change caused by the financial crisis of Qi State and with the government as the main body of institutional behavior. It was not a Pareto improvement, but a redistribution of interests. It distributed part of the private interests in the salt and iron production field before the reform to the government and the private individuals who entered the field after the reform, and transferred all the interests in the circulation field to the government.

In this process, the increase in welfare for some people was based on the reduction in welfare for others, and the private salt and iron industry was hit. Institutional imbalance is a necessary condition for the implementation of the "official mountain and sea" policy. The ruling party is dissatisfied with the fiscal revenue situation under the existing system, which generates institutional demand, and institutional supply is determined by the cost of institutional change, including planning and design costs, the cost of eliminating the rights of salt and iron merchants in the circulation field, the cost of combating trafficking and smuggling, the operating costs of the unified purchase and marketing department, and the cost of managing mountain and forest salt ponds.

The demand and supply of the system have reached a balance, realizing the transformation of potential benefits into actual benefits and achieving system equilibrium. The government, as the system determiner, is satisfied with the system, and the people, as the system recipients, are generally able to accept it. Although the private salt and iron owners whose interests have been partially deprived are dissatisfied with the new system, they are powerless to change it. Since salt and iron are necessities, the practice of "taxing in price" is essentially a disguised way of increasing the collection of head tax, but because "it is seen in form, not in reason", it reduces the ideological resistance to reform and promotes the balance of the system.

The idea of ​​salt and iron monopoly in the "official mountain and sea" policy has a long history and became the origin of the monopoly system that lasted for more than 2,000 years after the Spring and Autumn Period. Later dynasties expanded the scope of the monopoly to other important commodities such as tea, silk, and porcelain on the basis of the salt and iron monopoly.

But it also provided new ideas and an important source of income for the national finance. By monopolizing necessities such as salt and iron, the state was able to obtain stable and considerable fiscal revenue. This model was borrowed and adopted by many dynasties in later generations to enhance the country's economic strength.

At the same time, it emphasizes the control and intervention of the state over important resources and economic fields. This concept has influenced the economic management ideas of later generations to a certain extent. The state plays an important role in economic operation, regulating the economy, increasing fiscal revenue and safeguarding national interests through policy means.

The salt and iron monopoly policy can also be used as a means of economic regulation. For example, by adjusting the price and supply of salt and iron, it can affect the market supply and demand relationship and the price level, and thus have a certain regulatory effect on the entire economy.

Of course, there are also some drawbacks, such as those that may lead to drawbacks in state-owned enterprises, such as product quality problems, forced buying and selling, etc.; to a certain extent, it inhibits the development of the private economy.

The reason why Qin Shihuang mentioned salt is clear. The empire was in financial trouble, and the Shaofu and Zhisu Neishi were both penniless. Although there was no war, the Mausoleum of Mount Li, the palace, the straight road, the Chi Road, the Wuchi Road, the Great Wall, the farming outside the Great Wall, the imperial tours and the Fengshan ceremony all required money. The court was so embarrassed that it had to add taxes several times, causing complaints from the people. The rent and taxes were already as high as 1.5 shi per mu, and it was impossible to increase them. The emperor, who once spent money lavishly, now had to look for new sources of income to maintain his ambitions and the operation of his huge empire.

Since Qi could accumulate huge wealth with sea salt, why couldn't Qin? In the eyes of Qin Shihuang, salt was no longer just salt, but as precious as gold.

For Qin Shi Huang, the value of salt lies not only in its seasoning function, but also in its potential economic value. The successful experience of Qi State was in front of him. The sea salt trade brought rich financial income to Qi State, making it one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. Qin Shi Huang was naturally eager to learn from this successful model and open up new sources of income for Qin State.

However, the situation of Qin State was different from that of Qi State. Qi State was located on the coast and had rich sea salt resources. Under the governance of Guan Zhong, the policy of "official mountain and sea" was implemented, and salt and iron were monopolized by the state, thus controlling the economic lifeline. Qin State was located inland, and although it also had some salt producing areas, the scale and output were far less than that of Qi State. In addition, the economic structure of Qin State was mainly based on agriculture, and its commerce and handicrafts were relatively backward, lacking a mature trade system and business talents.

Although this cornucopia now fell into the hands of Qin Shihuang, he faced many challenges in realizing the effective use of salt. First of all, it was necessary to establish a complete salt administration system, including the production, transportation, and sales of salt. This requires a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, and also requires professional officials to be responsible for management. Secondly, he needed to solve the problem of salt transportation. The Qin State had a vast territory and the salt production areas were relatively scattered. How to efficiently transport salt to all parts of the country was an urgent problem to be solved. In addition, he also needed to deal with the possible proliferation of private salt, strengthen the supervision of salt, and crack down on illegal salt trafficking.

Despite facing numerous difficulties, Qin Shihuang did not give up his exploration of salt. He sent officials to various places to inspect salt producing areas and study salt production technology and trade models. At the same time, he was also actively preparing to establish a salt administration agency and formulate relevant policies and regulations. In this process, Qin Shihuang fully demonstrated his decisiveness and determination as a great ruler. He knew that only by opening up new sources of wealth could the prosperity and stability of the empire be maintained. And salt, as a potential huge wealth, undoubtedly became the focus of his attention.

(End of this chapter)