Dominate the Country

No tariffs are paid on grain imports, which is a system that Chen Han has implemented for many years; because there was a shortage of grain in the country at the beginning, the grain prices were so high that people were grinning. So while vigorously restoring the agricultural production that had withered due to the war, Chen Ming also gave the best preferential treatment for grain imports. The only products that can be compared with this are cotton and copper ore, which are also in short supply in the country.

The implementation of this policy has allowed Siam and Annan to transport large quantities of grain to China every year, which is tens of millions of stones of grain. Even the daimyo of Japan are also trading grain to China for money.

Siam has made a fortune from this and has become one of the few countries in the world that is still in a surplus level after fully opening up trade with China. Don't live too comfortably. The rice planting area in the country is also increasing. After the fierce impact of foreign grain, the grain price in China has not only returned to normal nationwide, but also continued to fall after returning to the normal price of previous years.

This has largely violated the interests of Chen Han's dignitaries.

Don't forget that each of them who are in high positions owns a large amount of military merit land. Even if these acres of land have now become shares of military-civilian cooperation companies in different provinces, they have become shareholders of the most powerful and influential agricultural companies in this era.

Many of today's military-civilian joint-stock companies are still engaged in traditional agricultural production. At most, they run their own grain stores, oil presses, etc., and have not yet gotten rid of the shackles of traditional agriculture. Military-civilian joint-stock companies that truly turn to the financial investment industry and invest their annual profits in stocks and venture capital industries, or retail, real estate and other aspects, those military-civilian joint-stock companies that dare not say that they have now completely completed the industrial transformation, at least have gotten rid of the shackles of pure agriculture, only account for a small part of the number of military-civilian joint-stock companies in the country. This also includes the poor people who have sunk in the stock market and bankrupted real estate.

Therefore, almost all of Chen Han's high-level nobles and important officials have great interests in agriculture.

Seeing that domestic grain prices continue to fall due to foreign grain, what solutions have they come up with? That is, under the banner of protecting the interests of local agricultural trade, the court will cancel the preferential policy on the import of foreign grain.

It's funny to say that Japan, as one of the grain exporters to China, exports rice to China on the one hand, but imports potatoes, sweet potatoes and other coarse grains from China on the other hand. Chen Ming has seen the statistics of Sino-Japanese trade in recent years. He is really worried that the Japanese will become more "little Japan" in the future.

"Your Majesty. In recent years, the amount of grain flowing into China from overseas has increased day by day. Last year, it exceeded 25 million shi, and this year's share is very likely to reach 30 million shi." Chen Cong said so.

Although he had selfish motives in this proposal, there was also public interest. He felt that grain could not be discounted any more.

"Affected by the impact of overseas grain, domestic grain prices have continued to fall. Although hundreds of millions of farmers in the country have a good harvest, they cannot get real benefits."

"Your Majesty, low grain prices hurt farmers."

Everyone knows that the profit farmers get from selling grain depends on two factors: output and grain prices.

The profit that farmers can get is the product of the two; but these two variables are not independent, but interrelated, and their correlation is determined by a line of social demand for food, and the two are in opposition. Just like when the sun rises from the east, it will inevitably set in the west.

When the price of food is high, the demand for food will decrease. When the price of food falls, the demand for food by the people will increase, but the increase will not be much. This mainly depends on the output.

Only when there is a good harvest, the price of food will really drop; and when there is a bad harvest, the price of food will rise sharply.

Many farmers are not very sensitive to the changes in this demand line, which makes the food demand line lack elasticity and increases the risk of low grain prices hurting farmers. This phenomenon is still common in the 21st century. How can ordinary people have such a sensitive sense of smell?

One of Chen Ming's cousins ​​contracted land in Xinjiang at the beginning. The situation was good in the first few years. His cousin contracted more and more land and made more and more money. But after a few years of good years, whatever he planted was worthless, and he stopped after two or three years.

This is true for farmers in the information age, and even more so in this era.

"The benefits of cultivated land are getting smaller and smaller. If it becomes a routine, it will be difficult to organize people to move out in the future."

Chen Cong was afraid that the simple "low grain prices hurt farmers" would not impress Chen Ming, so he bluntly mentioned "immigration".

In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to organize immigration in China. The Chinese, who were already reluctant to leave their homeland, now have a better life in China, at least they can survive, and many people are unwilling to migrate again. Local governments have now drawn red lines, and those with less than three acres of land per capita are considered poor and are in the category of "immigrants".

However, although many of the poor in this category have a harder life, it is much better than before, and they even see hope. They are unwilling to leave their homeland and go thousands of miles away.

The atmosphere in the Qianqing Palace was solemn, and pairs of eyes were staring at Chen Ming. Behind each of the cabinet ministers present, there is a huge chain of interests, and this proposal is still very important.

But Chen Ming was obviously caught off guard. The cabinet dropped a big bomb on him right after the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration.

The overall proposal was not something that could be decided lightly. Just the exchange of interests between different places took a long time.

The Fujian and Guangdong merchants, who largely controlled the interests of Annan's overseas grain imports, agreed to this after much effort from the two lakes and Huanghuai. This took a long time. This news was also reported to Chen Ming before, but Chen Ming spent all his energy on the birthday celebration and didn't pay attention.

Now he doesn't understand the whole process.

However, Chen Ming personally agrees with the increase in grain tariffs. Just like the rabbit in the previous life, using protective prices and heavy taxes on imported grain to protect domestic agricultural production, this is not bad for China at this stage.

The method used by the Americans is not suitable for China at this stage. The state pays money to subsidize farmers to keep grain prices low and keep prices stable in the United States. This is based on the sparse agricultural population and highly developed modern mechanized agricultural production in the United States, which is not suitable for the current society.

On the contrary, the rabbit in the previous life set up a protective price for agricultural products and purchased surplus grain at a protective price higher than the market price, so that grain prices remained high. This is not bad.

At least it can maintain the basic income of the agricultural population. Although it does not look as high-end as that of the Americans, there are too many agricultural population in Rabbit, and the whole nation must pay for it to be able to support it. This situation is also suitable for China at present.

Chen Ming previously exempted tariffs on grains to make up for the domestic situation. Although the current grain prices are low, the main reason why Chen Ming still did not change that policy is that many people in China are still eating coarse grains and grains. For many farmers, fine grains are still precious. Many people are still doing the same thing as in the Qing Dynasty - replacing fine grains with coarse grains to maintain the survival of their families.

This makes Chen Ming feel very uncomfortable.

He does not ask his people to eat meat every day. He only asks everyone to eat white flour buns and white rice, which is not a high requirement for a time traveler. But many people in the folk, including urban residents, are still eating coarse grains and grains, which makes him feel a little uneasy and guilty.

Then continue to expand the import of overseas grains.

Siam, Annan, Malay, Phnom Penh, Vientiane, etc., let these subtropical areas become China's farmland.

But his idealistic idea seems too idealistic. At present, the cabinet's proposal is a consensus reached by many forces.

"How much does the cabinet think the grain tariff should be?"

Chen Ming certainly would not agree to this proposal immediately, but asked the cabinet how much tax should be levied.

"Your Majesty. Although domestic grain prices are low, it is still necessary to import grain from abroad. I think it is not necessary to impose heavy taxes, one layer is enough."

Liu Dezhao stood up first. But his words obviously did not get the unification of the cabinet.

"A 10% tax on foreign grain is not higher than the protective price. I think that in order to increase domestic grain prices and protect the interests of farmers, the tax should be increased by 30%."

In the rolling tide, Wang Huizu could not stay out of it.

Not only did he have a huge influence in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, he also had great interests in the two lakes, because he had been with Chen Ming since he joined the Fu Han Army. However, Wang Huizu was not the most ruthless, and Liu Dezhao was not the most kindhearted. Some people in the cabinet proposed a 50% and 5% tax rate.

Chen Ming looked at the cabinet ministers who were arguing, and narrowed his eyes. There were still disputes in the cabinet, but they had reached a consensus on the issue of collecting grain import taxes.

"Let me think about this carefully."

Chen Ming regretted leaving the cabinet. He was not going to call back the cabinet's proposal. The latter could get everyone's agreement on the point of "tax increase", and Chen Ming had to weigh this force carefully.

He could call back this proposal, but the question was whether it was necessary?

Whether the situation of "cheap grain hurts farmers" really exists, although there is a big question mark in Chen Ming's heart, but reason tells him that this will not be false.

At least the low price of grain has hurt the civil and military ministers of the court and many local interest groups.

"Send Xiao Jian to the palace."

...

In winter, Jiangnan is bleak, southern Hunan and western Jiangxi are cold, but Lingnan in the south is still warm.

Sand tangerines, grapefruits, and fruits that ripen in winter are transported to the north in boats.

At the Guanghan Avenue South Road General Administration established in Guangzhou City, a hot bidding meeting is in full swing.

The so-called Guanghan Avenue is the official road from Guangzhou to Wuhan, which is a very important transportation lifeline connecting China's north and south. The construction of this kind of transportation avenue to the west has nothing to do with Lingnan merchants.

Not only do they have a gap with some old-fashioned builders in the north in terms of relationships and connections, but there is also a big gap in work quality and speed. Moreover, the former later rejected the latter's involvement in the national highway construction industry, and completely isolated Lingnan's funds and contractors.

But Guanghan Avenue is different.

After paying a huge price in terms of interests, the Fujian and Guangdong merchants finally got a stepping stone.

According to the unspoken agreement between them, the southern section from Guangzhou in the south to Zhuzhou in southern Hunan in the north will all be theirs.

Lu Guanheng looked at the lively scene in front of him with a sense of loss. He now didn't know whether his decision to choose the officialdom route was right or wrong.

Although he had chosen the officialdom and had reached the middle level of the Banking Regulatory Commission and became the general manager of the Guangdong branch of the Bank of China, in order to better complete the tasks assigned by the superiors, didn't he also have to deal with these businessmen?

When they were raising and lending money, they wanted to beg for help.

And those rich people in Guangzhou had a very easy life.

When the North and Guangzhou business groups were fighting, Lu Guanheng still remembered the days of that period and he still can't forget it.

At that time, someone gave Lu Guanheng a message, asking him to urge a few loans, but the deadline had not yet arrived.

The person who was being urged to pay came directly to see Lu Guanheng, and Lu Guanheng didn't want to offend people for no reason, so he told him everything he could tell. The man was sensible and didn't hate Lu Guanheng. He was very grateful for Lu Guanheng's frankness, and then turned around and left.

He waited until the loan deadline came and immediately returned the loan. As a result, the man came to Lu Guanheng's office again the next day.

At that time, the man smiled and said to Lu Guanheng: "Mr. Lu, I came here today to submit a loan application. You don't need to give any clear answer, I just want you to tell those people behind the scenes a message."

"I can't do business, I lost a million, I asked him to double the money and throw it into the sea. I can't do business, and no one can do business!"

"Tell them what I said this on the basis of."

"It's based on the relationship that the Guangzhou Merchants Group has established in Guangdong Province. It's based on the connections that the Merchants Group has in Guangdong, Guangxi and southern Fujian!"

"Playing dirty, who is afraid of who?"

"Let's see if he has the ability to do business."

"I want him to win the bid, but he can't complete the construction."

At that time, Lu Guanheng's office was full of swords and shadows, and every word he uttered was murderous.

"You don't believe it?"

"Then wait and see. Who laughs last!"

Arrogant and domineering. The words of the Guangdong Province made Lu Guanheng, who was sitting across the desk, completely dumbfounded.

…

Although Lu Guanheng knew that the whole Guangzhou business community was behind that person, so he spoke in a particularly tough tone. But thinking about his current life, Lu Guanheng was really a little envious.

The bidding results of the Guangzhou Guanghan Line South Short Project were quickly sent to the Construction Ministry in Nanjing, and then the Construction Ministry handed it to the Cabinet on one side and to Chen Ming on the other. Chen Ming didn't even have to wait for Xiao Jian's news, he roughly judged the result he wanted.

——Exchange of interests.