Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 369 On Chang'an's Economic Development
People who are not close to Sun Xiangfu are not allowed to enter Sun Xiangfu's study. Ma Zhou is one of the few people who can enter Sun Xiangfu's study to talk about things.

"I'm here to plead guilty to the governor." After entering the study, Ma Zhou bowed his hands in shame.

"You don't need to do this, King Bin. With your rank, although you can enter and leave the center, the power you have is limited after all. In the future, you should communicate more with generals. When you can borrow strength, you need to borrow strength. Sometimes you deal with those aristocratic families. It’s better to fight a war of wits than to choose force.”

Force is the easiest way to make people abide by the rules. Ma Zhou has a foundation of generals, and his relationship is not low. He is one of the main generals guarding Chang'an. Those bandits and bandits who occupied the mine probably wouldn't be delayed until now. The auction of the mine has not yet been held.

"What the governor said is that today, I know that it is not easy for the governor to deal with them. In addition to pleading guilty, I also want to invite you to Weinan to take a look. I am afraid that only you can help make suggestions, so that people from various industries Factories are speeding up construction."

"Hehe, I just said that you don't know how to borrow strength, so you can come to me immediately to borrow strength, okay! Your Majesty will return to Chang'an the day after tomorrow. I have a day to go and see tomorrow, but if I can really help you, please return it." It’s hard to say, besides, after His Majesty returns, I will lend you four people, they may be able to help you a lot.”

What Sun Xiangfu was talking about was the brothers Ma Lin Zhangquan and Wang Fu Wang Gui who came back with Li Shimin's large team. Although the four of them were born as ordinary craftsmen, they were the first batch of Sun Xiangfu to start various technical research. Rising stars like Ma Sai and Yu Jie are all led by them to embark on the road of technical research.

Now they are already better at solving various production problems. After being in charge of the manufacturing industry in Shanyang for a period of time, they have also made great progress in management.

Although Ma Zhou is smart, he is a scholar after all, and he is a poor scholar with relatively limited knowledge. The four of them often give some technical tips and suggestions by the side, which can help Ma Zhou solve many problems.

"In that case, I would like to thank the governor. It's just this mine..."

"I have discussed with Lu Gong about the matter of the mine. After two days, you will get the list. For the auction, you can follow Shanyang's method. The agreement for mine supply must be implemented. If you don’t know the specific reserves of the mine, you can set a step-by-step price, divided into different metals, and set a price for every 100 stone ore mined, and every [-] million stone ore mined. In special periods, More than [-]% of the funds must be kept and settled with the imperial court with ore. In other periods, settlements can be made with the imperial court.

As for local folks who organize mining by themselves, the conditions can be relaxed. The smelters will receive the goods immediately when they leave the car, and they only need to be responsible for driving the ore out of the mine.

For those places where there are mineral resources but no one exploits them, we can adopt the contract system, that is, we will give them a certain amount of wages for every certain amount of ore handed over. Can contract labor.

If you drive more, the contractors will also earn more. In this way, we can get all kinds of ores as soon as possible, and when the ores we need are enough, we can stop at any time. "

"The talent of the governor is much better than that of the lower officials. In an instant, he came up with so many good solutions that can solve the problem. The lower officials admire him."

"Don't praise me. If your problem is solved, go back and get busy! After His Majesty returns, he will go to Weinan for inspection in a few days. You have to work harder."

"Xiaguan understands, then tomorrow morning, Xiaguan will wait for the commander to come to give guidance at the smelter."

Sun Xiangfu waved his hand with a smile, indicating that he knew, and Ma Zhou left the study, thinking that he would finally have time to develop relationships with the children, but Uncle De sent an invitation letter to come in. It was sent by Changsun Wuji, and invited him to have dinner at Wangjiang Tower at night.

Looking at the time, Sun Xiangfu could only shake his head and get up, walked out of the mansion, and walked towards Wangjiang Tower. There was no way, there was a curfew in Chang'an City, and the time for dinner was around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, because most people wanted to Eat and drink before dark.

In Chang'an City, the only place for children to relax and entertain is the playground in Wangjiang Building. Even if it is not the season for swimming in summer, there are climbing nets, tendon trampolines, slides, swings, and various children's play facilities. , there are many children playing, and due to the limited space, there are still many children who need to line up.

When Sun Xiangfu came to the private room on the outside of the third floor, Changsun Wuji was at the window, condescendingly watching the children playing in the playground in a daze.

"It's not far away. I came here on foot. I made my grandson Shangshu wait for a long time."

"What Zhengming said is that the old man has just arrived. Early this morning, the manor received a letter from Hou Junji. The old man was troubled by the description in his letter. He had already gone to his mansion earlier. I’ve talked about it before, but he couldn’t explain it clearly, so I wanted to ask you, could it be that this bank can really allow me to use the Tang Dynasty so that the people don’t pay more and the country can use it?”

Changsun Wuji is in charge of the Tang Dynasty's money, and the 300 million yuan for military equipment is of course the most exciting thing to his nerves. Sun Xiangfu knows that he is different from Hou Junji's worries. He already knows how to operate loans, but he is just worried. If the bank lends two to 3000 million yuan at once, it will affect the entire economic system.

After thinking for a while, he replied, "No, the national use is always the national use. It is the money spent by the state. If the money cannot be returned to the bank quickly, then the imperial court will not be able to send a large amount of money to the bank again." loan.

Therefore, if we want to use the country well, it is not enough just to have a bank. We also need a sufficiently fluid and open market to ensure that the country's tax revenue continues to increase and prevent excessive lending from bringing down the entire market. "

"Can Zhengming be more specific?" Changsun Wuji asked.

For some of the most common economic problems in later generations, people in this era are all blindsided, so Sun Xiangfu can only explain with examples, pointing to the playground outside the window and saying, "Look, Changsun Shangshu, we only have one amusement park in Chang'an." Even though it is a cold day in October, the amusement park is full of people. One can imagine how crowded it is when the water park is open in summer. What does this prove?
The permanent population in Chang'an City alone is 70 households, plus the people in the surrounding counties and villages that can go to Chang'an City within half a day, there are at least 200 million people, so the number of children can reach at least 60 to [-]. A playground that can accommodate two to three thousand children is obviously not enough, which shows that the number of our playgrounds does not meet the market demand.

You must know that although these places are earning money from the common people, they are also continuously providing commercial taxes to the court. If there are more such places, the circulation of money in the market will be greater, and the tax revenue from the court will naturally increase. up.

In addition, there is another open question. Although Changsun Shangshu has never been to Shanyang, he should know the block system of Shanyang! "

"This old man knows this. I heard that the streets of Shanyang are busier than Chang'an. It's the same day and night." Changsun Wuji understood something from Sun Xiangfu's words, and quickly answered.

"Your head of the household department, you should know the taxes of Chang'an City and Shanyang City!"

"I know, as of last month, Chang'an's total tax revenue was 78 guan, and Shanyang seems to be 120 million guan. Hey, Shanyang is actually so much more than Chang'an."

Hearing this, Sun Xiangfu smiled and said, "If you add this month's figure, the gap will be even bigger, because Shanyang started to hold a military competition last month, and the tax revenue will increase sharply.

This is also the difference between an open policy and a closed policy. Shanyang adopts a block system. Most of the shops facing the street are open until midnight, and there is no curfew. Although there are only one-third of Chang'an's permanent population, about 40 to [-] people, commercial Consumption is very strong. Everyone earns money every month and pays personal income tax to the government.They are also spending money almost every day to create commercial tax revenue for the government, which has led to Shanyang's tax revenue hitting new highs.

In contrast, Chang’an has a population of more than 150 million, more than [-]% are servants of wealthy families, and almost no tax is generated for the court at all. More than [-]% of ordinary households are self-sufficient and do not spend a few times a year. Consumption, consumption is unaffordable, there is no personal income tax, and the people who really go shopping and consume are only one or two adults. In this way, the base of tax-creating people in Chang'an is not as large as that of Shanyang.

The reason for this situation is that the system is unreasonable. First of all, the curfew restricts a lot of production and consumption.

There is no curfew in Shanyang, and many workshops are open at night. Anyone who has a temporary idea can go to the place they want to consume immediately. Even many shops on the street have better business at night than during the day.

Some officials may say that the curfew in Chang'an is for the sake of public security, but in my opinion, it is a joke.

People who want to steal or rob will not stop committing crimes because of the curfew, because those who steal and rob are people who are living in poverty. If they don’t steal or rob, they will have nothing to eat , People are hungry, but whether you have a curfew or not, it is possible to take a risk.

Only by improving the economy and making it easy for everyone to find a job and earn money to meet their own food, clothing, housing and transportation, will not so many people be willing to commit crimes.

Secondly, there are too many rules and regulations in Chang'an that I don't know. Let me give you an example.

In Chang'an, when an official was eating something on the street, he was seen by the censor and wanted to impeach him.

Put on a more extravagant banquet, and if the censor sees it, he will also be impeached.

Even if you wear irregular clothes, you must be impeached.On a hot day, they tied their official robes tightly, and they were unwilling to open them even when the heat went wrong.

Anyway, I feel that it is inappropriate to discuss such things as an official eating snacks and dressing poorly in the court where major events in the world are discussed.

But in Shanyang, there is no such regulation at all, whether you are a court minister or a small citizen, if you see delicious food on the street, you can stop to buy it, and you can eat it if you buy it, even if you are an official. The common people are good, they can go to the streets wearing bunt clothes, clogs and slippers, even in summer, some men like to go shopping with their upper body topless, and no one cares, because these situations have not caused any social chaos!

Ordinarily, most of the ignorant barbarians in Shanyang, the law and order should be very poor, but the situation is just the opposite, Shanyang's law and order is not to say how good, at least it is better than Chang'an.Because everyone has a job and can earn money to support themselves.

Allowing everyone to consume freely will allow more people to sell their output. Those who have earned money will spend again, and let other people earn their money away, and money will continue to flow in the hands of the people. Circulation will not only allow everyone to have something to do and get material satisfaction, but also increase the government's tax revenue, which serves multiple purposes. "

"You mean, as a government, we shouldn't focus on trivial rules and regulations. We should focus on expanding the circulation of money so that more people can consume it, so that the court's tax revenue will increase?"

Changsun Wuji finally knew more about economics than Hou Junji. After hearing some examples given by Sun Xiangfu, he immediately understood.

In this way, Sun Xiangfu could continue chatting with him, nodded and said, "It is precisely by stimulating consumption that the country can have tax revenue, and creating a consumer market can solve the job and employment problems of many poor people. When those rich people, There are too many places to spend money, and their money will be tight, so what will they do? Release those servants who cannot help them generate much income, and let them work. Or, take out the capital of their own family and invest in it. business, in this way, the tax revenue of the imperial court will be wider.”

(End of this chapter)