Chapter 357 Distribution and Production

The Salt Monopoly Law, "quat" means a single-plank bridge, indicating that the government monopolized the salt industry.

To sum up, its main contents are: private property, government collection, government transportation, and government sales.

The core way to make money is to buy low and sell high.

For example, this year the government purchased salt at ten coins per dou, and sold it at as high as one hundred and ten coins per dou, with a profit margin of one thousand percent.

Such a profit margin sounds terrifying, but compared to adding various taxes, ordinary people are more willing to support the government's salt monopoly law.

However, the hastily established Salt Monopoly Law not only had too high profits, but also had many other loopholes.

The first was the full implementation of government-run operations, which resulted in the establishment of a large number of institutions and a large number of officials, which greatly increased the costs of the court and made the procedures extremely complicated.

Moreover, due to the government monopoly, the increase in institutions and officials has bred a large number of corrupt elements. Even if Li Heng kills a chicken to scare the monkey, he still cannot stop the corruption of officials below.

Second, the government needed to transport and sell salt, which required a large number of civilian workers to do the work, increasing the corvée burden on the people, affecting agricultural production, and causing many complaints from the people.

Based on the above problems, Du Fu impeached the corruption of officials, hoping to cut down on institutions and reduce the corvée labor of the people.

But Du Fu had not yet figured out the specific method.

It is said that leaders like people who solve problems, not people who raise questions, but Li Heng does not think so. He believes that everyone has their own expertise, and with Du Fu's ability, it is good enough that he can raise these questions in the financial aspect. Solving problems should be left to professionals.

So Li Heng called Liu Yan who was in Chang'an.

Li Heng told Liu Yan all of Du Fu's problems and asked him if he had any solutions.

Liu Yan was fully aware of these questions and immediately replied, "Your Majesty, I have some immature ideas recently. I wanted to wait until I had sorted out my thoughts before reporting them to Your Majesty, but Your Majesty has already asked, so I can only report them first. If there is anything inappropriate, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Li Ying said, "Shi'an, please feel free to speak."

Liu Yan said: "All these problems are caused by the government collecting, transporting and selling goods. If we change it to government collecting, commercial transport and commercial sales, the problems will be solved."

"Tell me more details." Li Ying said.

Liu Yan said: "The government's collection of salt is the foundation of the salt law and must not be changed. However, the government's transportation and sales are different. After the government collects salt, it can still sell it to salt merchants at a high price and let the salt merchants transport and sell it. In this way, the court can streamline the organization, cut personnel, exclude corrupt people from salt officials, and do not need to impose corvée for transporting salt."

What Liu Yan talked about was actually the issue of wholesale and retail, and Li Heng understood it instantly.

But Du Fu, who was standing by, was not well versed in economics. He thought for a long time before he understood and asked, "If the merchants pass the goods on to the people again and double the price, how will the people survive? Does the court have a price limit? If so, the merchants will probably not do this unprofitable business."

Liu Yan said: "The government has streamlined its institutions, laid off officials, and saved costs. When selling to merchants, they don't have to pay such a high price. Of course, merchants are profit-driven. Even if they get salt from the government at a low price, they may sell it to the people at a high price. In this case, the court cannot force a price limit, but it can set up a Changping warehouse. Changping warehouses can be set up for grain, and so can salt. If a Changping warehouse is set up, if the salt merchants sell the price too high, the government will sell salt from the Changping warehouse to the people to balance the market price. This can not only stabilize the price of salt, but also take care of remote areas that merchants are reluctant to go to."

Du Fu was shocked after hearing this.

Because Liu Yan's method not only solved the problem he raised, but also took into account remote areas that businessmen were reluctant to go to.

Back then, Du Fu's ancestors were also engaged in economics, but later when the Tang Dynasty's imperial examinations selected officials based on poetry and prose, the Du family turned to literature.

Li Heng quite approved of Liu Yan's method. He originally wanted to add one more thing, but after thinking about it, he held back.

What Li Ying wanted to add was a loophole in Liu Yan's Salt Law - collusion between officials and businessmen gave private salt dealers an opportunity to take advantage.

But he didn't say it, because he knew that the development of things never happens overnight.

The existence of this loophole can attract a large number of merchants to join the industry in the early stage, and can also force the official salt to correct the problem. Once the salt merchants are trapped, he will find a way to solve this loophole.

Liu Yan was very smart. Seeing that Li Heng was hesitant to speak, he said, "I came up with this idea in a hurry and I am not well-thought-out. Please correct me, Your Majesty." "Shi'an's method is very clever. I have no objection." Li Heng smiled slightly, paused, and said, "I just have some new thoughts about salt wells."

Liu Yan was startled and said, "Your Majesty, please enlighten me."

Li Heng said: "The current salt wells are still inherited from the large shallow wells invented by Li Bing when he built Dujiangyan. Large shallow wells require a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, and they are not dug deep. I have a new design that can save manpower and material resources and dig deeper salt wells."

Liu Yan was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, please tell me more details."

Li Heng stood up and went to the dragon table, found a blueprint, handed it to Liu Yan, and said, "Take a look."

Liu Yan took it and looked at it for a while, then asked curiously, "What is the principle behind this?"

"Lever..." Li Ying originally wanted to talk about the principle of leverage, but considering that Liu Yan might not understand, he changed the topic and asked, "Can Shi'an pound rice?"

Liu Yan nodded and said, "Yes."

Li Ying said, "It's just like pounding rice. You step on one end and let the other end move downward."

Liu Yan suddenly realized, and said: "It's so simple... so clever!"

Liu Yan almost blurted out "so simple", but for the invention proposed by Li Heng, he had to use flattering words.

Li Ying knew what Liu Yan wanted to say and said with a smile: "The principles of many inventions are very simple, but their application is a long process."

Seeing that Li Heng had heard what he had swallowed, Liu Yan smiled awkwardly and said, "Your Majesty is right. Although the principle is simple, the tool design is complicated. If it weren't for your Majesty's extraordinary talent, I would never have come up with this design in my lifetime. Please give this new craft a name."

Li Ying said, "Let's call it Zhuotongjing."

This technique sounds simple, but in fact, even if Li Heng had seen this design before, it was just a coincidence that he could remember it.

Zhuotong Well is known as the fifth greatest invention of ancient China and the father of oil drilling in the world. In his previous life, he went to the British Museum in Sichuan to see it in person, so it is hard for him not to remember it.

Li Heng pondered for a moment and said, "I drew this blueprint in a hurry, so there may be some flaws. Shi'an, go and call the craftsmen to make it. If there are any problems, discuss them with me in time. Don't be afraid of disturbing me and delaying the work."

Liu Yan happily accepted the order: "Yes!"

Du Fu, who was standing by, silently watched Li Heng's every word and action. Combining this with his understanding of Li Heng yesterday, he finally understood why these people under Li Heng were both loyal to and wary of him.

Because of the abilities demonstrated by Li Heng, his superb ability to manage people is only secondary. Li Heng not only fully trusts his subordinates and gives them opportunities to perform, but also comes up with all kinds of brilliant ideas.

No one knows how much is in Li Heng's brain. They only know that if they follow Li Heng, they will be successful and famous, but if they betray Li Heng, they will not have a good ending.

Du Fu could not help but secretly sigh: "God bless the Tang Dynasty and send down such a great ruler!"

Li Heng didn't know what Du Fu was thinking. He had just thought about it a long time ago. Whether it was the salt law that was being implemented now, the tax law that would be implemented later, or the suppression of aristocratic families, they all solved the problem of distribution.

If we want to revive the Tang Dynasty and take care of the people, we also need to solve the problem of production.

The reason why he was not in a hurry to solve the production problem at the beginning was that distribution and production complement each other. If he did not have the right to distribution, he would not be able to promote production technology.

The fish on the chopping board has no say.

But now, he is the powerful emperor of the Tang Dynasty with powerful troops under his command. He can gradually implement his production plan in the process of solving the distribution problem.

(End of this chapter)