Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 424 An Advice to Du Zhenglun
Under the management of Wei Ting and Li Gongyan, the Ministry of Agriculture is no longer as deserted as it was when it was first established. It is used in the yamen, and everything is busy now, as long as someone who can write and count, it can be used here.

Li Shimin had already issued an order that during the spring plowing period, all local and county government offices in Guanzhong, from governors to handy cooks, were all allocated by the Ministry of Agriculture. Millions of people were organized and tens of millions of acres of fertile land were cultivated. Well, this is the most glorious moment after the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture, and how the work of the Ministry of Agriculture will be done in the future will depend on how it is done this year.

Summoned the officials in the yamen to his yamen room, and talked about the agricultural plan that was finalized with Li Shimin in the imperial study room just now, Sun Xiangfu finally ordered, "Wei Shilang, you should immediately draft an assembly order and send it to Guanzhong All the local government officials, including the Lizheng and village chiefs at the bottom, have all arrived at our experimental field within three days.

In addition, the news was also published in the newspaper that three days later, the Ministry of Agriculture will openly teach everyone the new method of plowing the fields and farming, and the people who have the conditions to come and learn and watch, the imperial court will provide free tea and meals for three days. "

"In this way, we may have to entertain tens of thousands of people for eating and drinking, and I'm afraid we won't have enough manpower!"

Wei Ting and Li Gongyan were both excited when they heard that Sun Xiangfu had made such a big move. However, the reality is that the Ministry of Agriculture needs food but no food, and it needs everyone, so it cannot support such a big situation.

"Don't worry, His Majesty will send the Sixteenth Guards Army for winter training tomorrow to listen to them. The food will be taken from their army rations first, and the food and food will also be provided by the barracks kitchen. After that, the food in our experimental field will be produced. Supplement They are."

Hearing this, Wei Ting and Li Gongyan suddenly realized that with the help of a large army, these things would become much easier.

Moreover, it is a very good idea to borrow military rations and then use the output from the fields to return them. You must know that with free meals provided, the enthusiasm of the people to come to learn will be much greater.

It's time for them to reflect on themselves, why can't they always use the resources in their hands as flexibly as Sun Xiangfu?Perhaps, this is the reason why people can sit in high positions at a young age!

"Captain, some melon and cotton crops have grown seedlings in Xingfu Village. If according to the imperial court's plan, Guanzhong will plant 800 million mu of wheat this year, I'm afraid there will be a lot more."

"It doesn't matter, it's still early for the transplanting period. In addition to leaving some seedlings to be planted in fields near water, the extra seedlings can be transported to Luoyang. Now calculate the number and send a letter to Luoyang. While getting ready to receive it, it will come in time.”

After the Ministry of Agriculture has a system that has gradually spread to the whole country, there is a lot of room for deployment. At this stage, it is time for these cash crops to start to go out of Guanzhong, so that people in more parts of the country can benefit. Moreover, planting experience, It also needs to be accumulated slowly. After adapting to this new seedling and sowing method, it will be easier for them to get started with other similar sowing crops in the future.

"There is another situation. In the past few days, our Ministry of Agriculture has received a lot of invitations. They are all from Guanlong families with a lot of private land. They are unwilling to grow cheap grain and want to ask for more cash crops. Seedlings, Commander, what do you think we should do?"

Private land, not to mention the Guanlong family, even wealthy ordinary families will have some, including Sun Xiangfu's family. After he handed over the land of the occupation land and the fief land to the imperial court, there were also 300 mu of land that Yu Xiu'er brought over when she got married. Private fields, as far as the entire Guanzhong is concerned, there are at least two to three million mu of private fields. This figure was calculated by Sun Xiangfu early in the morning. In fact, he is not willing to restrict the cultivation of private fields. After all , that is the private property of each family, not the koufen or Yongye land allocated to them by the imperial court, forcing them to grow designated crops, which is a bit depriving them of the basic rights of citizens.

The price of grain in Guanzhong has been running at a low level since it was impacted by the grain shipped from the south. Even in winter, it only remained at about 150 yuan per stone.

The winter snow before and after the Spring Festival this year is normal, which is almost predictable. This year is a year with good weather and good weather. The people in charge of each family naturally know that in such a year, the price of grain may fall again. One mu of land, even if The output of more than three stones of grain is only about half of the value. It is not as high as the economic value of half of the commercial crops such as cotton and melon. Naturally, everyone is unwilling to grow them.

On the other hand, using policies to forcibly interfere with market laws is actually unscientific. After thinking for a while, Sun Xiangfu said, "We can open some openings for them appropriately. It is fine not to grow food, but we must grow edible crops." , melons and vegetables can be varied, and after the people have more food in other areas, the consumption of staple food will decrease, which will make their income higher and will not affect the imperial court's plans."

Sun Xiangfu's handling of things now is more smooth than when he first passed through. He can be flexible if he can, and try not to offend more people. Only when he is in a high position does he know more about the difficulty of maintaining this good situation. The people who let go of their subordinates go out to get some benefits, so they are more willing to obey their own deployment and management.

Sure enough, after Sun Xiangfu's words, all the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture were full of joy. They were all in the officialdom, and they didn't have a few related households!It is very important for a chief officer who can understand his subordinates, not to mention the benefits, at least not too embarrassing.

When Sun Xiangfu first joined the Animal Husbandry Supervision Office, he never strictly prohibited his subordinates from reaping some benefits if conditions permit, as long as you can get the business done well, if the water is clear, there will be no fish!
When it was time to release the Yamen, Du Zhenglun's carriage was already waiting at the gate of the Yamen of the Ministry of Agriculture.

During the new year, Li Shimin sorted out all the specific power distribution of the various ministries. He, the Ministry of Commerce, obtained almost all the expected powers. However, when it came to actually doing things, there were many difficulties.

The first step is to formulate commercial taxes. His first memorial was opposed by almost all the ministers, which made him a little confused.

Therefore, he had no choice but to come to Sun Xiangfu again for advice.

The carriage did not go back to the residence, and went directly to Wangjiang Tower. After the food and wine were served, the two chatted while eating and drinking.

"In this regard, I didn't think carefully when I made the old statement before. Our business in Datang is not well developed at present. Premature strengthening of taxation is indeed not conducive to business development. It is normal for everyone to object. , You can start with other aspects first, such as business order supervision, etc., focus on some bullying behaviors, support some small traders to grow bigger, expand the group of merchants, and the tax revenue of the court will also increase. "

In fact, there is another reason why Du Zhenglun's proposal to strengthen commercial taxation was blocked. Who is the biggest businessman in Datang?

In fact, it is the emperor and the Changsun family. Most of the industries that Sun Xiangfu is involved in are dominated by the royal family. Specifically, they are all handed over to the Changsun family headed by Changsun Wuji. If heavy taxes are imposed on these profitable industries, damage Naturally, it was Changsun Wuji's political achievements and the emperor's pocketbook. Therefore, in this regard, first of all, he would not have the full support of the emperor and Changsun Wuji.

Secondly, those shops and various business places of the old Tang Dynasty are basically in the hands of the rich and powerful. If you want to increase their taxes, of course they will not agree. When there is unanimous opposition, it will naturally fail.

Of course, it is not only the formulation of commercial and tax policies that are hindered, but also the Ministry of Commerce's investigation of the cost of goods, profit margins, etc., because it involves too many private secrets, and those with aristocratic backgrounds Big businessmen cannot let your business department know their business secrets.

"But if we can't formulate taxes reasonably and know the details of the shops, how can we control them well? If we don't control these commercial matters, then the Ministry of Commerce is useless?"

At present, the Ministry of Commerce is in such a state of doing nothing, and was first sent by Li Shimin to Weinan as a supervisor. This should have been done by the Ministry of Industry, because they were too idle, so they were assigned to them.

But even in the days of supervision in Weinan, there are not many days left. As Weinan's government offices are gradually organized, the daily management will be handed over to these newly established offices. After the overall layout is completed, the people from the Ministry of Commerce will I can't say anything, so in the future, people from the Ministry of Commerce will just go to court on time and watch the busy idlers in other departments?
"Actually, there are things to do. If you can't find out the details of the product, you should settle for the next best thing and do safety inspections. In the future, regardless of the food, canned food, wine, and even furniture and clothing in various factories, the safety of users cannot be guaranteed. It can be identified as unqualified and its production is prohibited. You may not know that the phrase "food safety is more important than the sky" in front of the workshop of the Food Supervisor is recognized by His Majesty.

Once all kinds of commodities are sold on a large scale in the market, there may be hundreds of thousands or millions of people who eat, drink, and use. Once there is a problem, it will be a major disaster. In terms of safety, Your business department can't be negligent, there must be stricter audit norms, and safety spot checks.

In addition, in fact, you can also take the lead and do some specific projects? "

"A specific project? How do you say it?"

Sun Xiangfu thought for a while before answering, "I actually said just now that the Ministry of Commerce can support small traders to grow bigger, so how to support them specifically?
For example, when I went to Shannan Road this time, I passed a county called Luotian County, where chestnuts have been planted in large quantities since before the Warring States Period, and now they grow all over the mountains and plains, but the local people don’t know how to do business, so they just sit there empty-handed. These chestnuts live a poor life.

Your Ministry of Commerce can take the lead and help the local people to turn it into an industry that sells to the whole country. You will come forward to manage it. The industry that the local people invest in with local resources can be called a state-owned enterprise that is profitable. On the other hand, you can distribute part of it to the local people, and turn over the rest to the national treasury. This kind of project will benefit both the country and the people.

In addition, there are oranges from Tongshan County, black fungus from Fangxian County, tung oil from Laifeng County, lotus seeds from Jiangxia, lotus roots from Honghu Lake..."

During this period of time, the intelligence team under Sun Xiangfu has collected a lot of information in Shannan Road. There are dozens of pieces of information on special products alone. The imperial court took the lead in doing it on a large scale, establishing some shallow processing or deep processing workshops, and selling a large amount of output to the outside world, which can bring a lot of benefits to the local people, and at the same time greatly enrich the commodities on the market, such as coming Tung oil in Fengxian County is one of the commodities that the shipyard is in short supply.

The idea of ​​a state-owned enterprise, after being mentioned by Sun Xiangfu, immediately opened Du Zhenglun's mind. This is not only a specific matter, but also a huge benefit. If the Ministry of Commerce can make a large profit for the court, then its importance is not It speaks for itself.

Now, Du Zhenglun can't wait to collect all the information on the local specialties in Datang to see if it is possible to make it into an industry.

Anyway, no matter how excited he is, Sun Xiangfu's goal has been achieved. With the intervention of the Ministry of Commerce, the local economic development should open up the situation better. Later generations have also gone through this path in the early days of opening up, starting with some agricultural product villages and towns Then, with the accumulation of economic capital and the improvement of technological level, enterprises gradually start to engage in some industrial technology industries, and then the whole country embarks on the road of industrialization, and even after industrialization reaches a certain level, it gradually embarks on the road of modernization.

(End of this chapter)