Chapter 497
The issue of food prices is simply a question of supply and demand. When the demand is far greater than the supply and the supply exceeds the demand, it is naturally a seller's market. At this time, the pricing power is in the hands of the seller.
At this time, if you want to lower the price of food, the easiest way is to increase the supply. When the supply and demand relationship is balanced, it is naturally impossible to let the seller have the final say on the price. But the problem now is that the court has no food in its hands. It took Tang Dynasty four years to destroy Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, barely unifying the Central Plains.
In the fifth year of Wude, Lingnan was attached to the Tang Dynasty, but then Liu Heita rebelled against the Tang Dynasty for the second time, and the whole of Hebei and Shandong were almost disrupted. Daibei and Shuofang were not recovered until the second year of Zhenguan.
It was not until last winter that the imperial court sent out six northern expeditions to defeat Jieli, that it was considered to have defeated the Turks and ended the cruel past of the Turks invading the frontiers every year.
Continuous use of troops, coupled with the great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and constant natural disasters, the imperial court counted rice every year, so how could there be any surplus food available?
This is not the Sui Dynasty. Although the world was against the world during the great cause of the Sui Dynasty, after all, Yang Guang had the stable accumulation of his father Yang Jian for 30 years. Ten thousand or even millions of stones of grain.
For example, when the Tang Dynasty arrived in Zhenguan, there were still some unfinished food sealed up in the Sui Dynasty in the big warehouses in Luoyang.
"Teacher, what should I do, just watch like this?"
"Of course we can't allow grain merchants to raise prices, otherwise it will hurt countless people, and the people are the cornerstone of the Tang Dynasty. The responsibility of the court is to manage and guide. Although it has great power, it cannot violate the laws of nature. Otherwise, it will be chaos. politics. What we need is proper guidance.”
Chengqian couldn't think of any other way to induce those grain merchants to cut prices.
"Your Majesty can remind you of the two words, exchange. In essence, a political relationship is a relationship of interests, and interests are the starting point of political relationships. Interests are also the destination of political relationships. Interests are the basis of political relationships. Without interests, there will be no politics." Relationships can be said, and interests are the core and link of political relationships.”
Qin Lang talked about a lot of things he had learned when he was studying. At that time, he felt very empty, but now he has a deep understanding.
"Your Highness, to put it bluntly, what is politics? It is about interests and compromise."
Chengqian felt that the word politics was very unfamiliar, especially when Qin Lang pointed out that the core of it was interests, and to do a good job in politics, one must constantly compromise to adjust the relationship of interests.
This made him, who was learning benevolence, righteousness and filial piety when he was a child, a little bit unable to turn around for a while.
In the past, the Donggong scholars liked to say that a gentleman does not talk about interests, but now Qin Lang says that the essence of all political relations is the relationship of interests.
"Teacher, didn't you say that villains are after profit?"
Qin Lang smiled.
"Everything is about interests, which is essentially the distribution of interests."
"The food price problem we are facing now is essentially a problem of profit distribution. Grain merchants want to make money. Of course, the higher the price of food, the better. What the people and victims want is to survive. They don't have Too much money, I can’t afford too much high-priced grain, I hope the price of grain will be lowered. For the imperial court, the grain in the Changping warehouse was hard-shipped from the south, and the transportation capacity is limited and the supply is insufficient.”
"Among the grain merchants, the people, and the court, what does His Highness think is the purpose of the court? Or what is the duty of the court?"
Cheng Qian thought hard, "The duty of the imperial court is to herdsmen. In times of famine and disaster, the imperial court has the duty to rescue the people."
"That's right, the most fundamental purpose of the imperial court in this bureau is to save the common people so that more common people can survive. The second is to protect the interests of the common people as much as possible and prevent the common people from being robbed by grain merchants. Therefore, the imperial court is actually the interests of the common people. representative."
"There seems to be conflicts between the grain merchants, the imperial court and the common people, but what we have to do is to reconcile the contradictions."
Chengqian couldn't figure out how to mediate.
In his view, it has reached a dead end.
The imperial court must take care of the interests of the common people, which will inevitably harm the interests of grain merchants.
"Teacher, if the two evils are the lesser of each other, I think we should suppress the grain merchants and protect the interests of the people, because my father once said that the people are water, and the king is a boat. Water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize it. "
"Your Highness, in fact, we don't necessarily have to be in conflict. Although conflicts are sometimes irreconcilable, they can be transferred and dispersed. For example, in this case, the grain merchants raised prices for profit. If the imperial court forced them to lower prices through administrative means, they may If we stop selling grain and go northward, the total grain supply will decrease and the supply will be even more insufficient. In the end, the grain merchants will also suffer, the people will suffer even more, and the imperial court will lose all its prestige. This is a triple-lose situation."
"Is there a better solution?"
"Of course there are. What businessmen want is profit, so we only need to convert their profit into other benefits, then the businessman actually has no loss. So after clarifying this point, there are actually many solutions. .”
Chengqian found it incredible, he felt that there was no way, but Qin Lang actually said that there were many solutions.
"Let me talk about the simplest one first, the subsidy law. For example, grain merchants now sell rice for 200 yuan a bucket. The price is too high, right? Then we will subsidize them. It can be purchased by the imperial court at 200 yuan a bucket The grain from the grain merchants is then sold to the common people at a price of 100 yuan a bucket, so that the grain merchants still sell at a good price, while the common people do not pay such a high price to buy grain, so the interests of both parties are taken care of?"
"But, but in this way, the imperial court has to post a hundred dollars for every bucket of rice."
"That's right, the imperial court seems to be losing money, but special time and special measures, right now is a special period, so I don't think it's a problem for the imperial court to pay. After all, this is only a temporary method."
Chengqian still thinks this subsidy law is too surprising, the imperial court subsidizes money for grain merchants?
It is estimated that everyone will be shocked when this is said, and no one will agree.
But Qin Lang felt that this was indeed the easiest way. After all, in terms of finances, the imperial court is not short of money, but what is most lacking is food, and now money cannot be directly turned into food, so he used money to subsidize the food returned to the north. Shang, there is nothing wrong with this.
"Teacher, is there any other good way?"
"Of course there is. Another example is that you can exchange salt for grain, or tea for grain, etc. The point is that we exchange some more profitable transactions with grain merchants. For example, we can stipulate that one stone of grain can be exchanged for one Yanyin, and a piece of Yanyin can sell 120 catties of salt. To sell salt, you must have Yanyin to get salt from the salt warehouse, and the profit of selling salt is very high.”
For the imperial court, the sales of salt are fixed every year, so the amount of salt imports is almost fixed. Now the imperial court just added a condition to the salt imports originally given to the original salt merchants, and exchanged them for grain. Yanyin, whether you buy from other grain merchants or transport it from the south to the north by yourself, as long as you take the grain to the granaries in various places, you can exchange it for Yanyin, and go to the salt warehouse to get salt to sell.
The profit of selling salt has always been extremely high, which is much more profitable than selling grain under normal circumstances.
Of course, there must be room for manipulation in terms of specific details. For example, the imperial court can purchase this stone of grain at the market price, or set a wholesale price and buy it. As for Yanyin, it is only a qualification to sell salt, and it is still necessary to pay taxes first and pay the salt according to the price.
In general, this is a very normal commercial operation. Similarly, food can also be exchanged for tea, wine and so on.
The essence of grain merchants is to make money, so selling grain to the common people is actually no different from selling grain to the imperial court. If they sell it cheaper to the imperial court, they can get the qualification to sell salt tea and get the salt tea. If you sell it, you can make more money.
With such a turn, the interests of the grain merchants are guaranteed, and they can even make an extra fortune. As far as the court is concerned, it is equivalent to borrowing the power of grain merchants to increase the grain transported to the north. With more grain in hand, Changping warehouse can supply more grain to the people.
"Of course, in addition to the above two methods, there is also a simpler method. It was used in the Han Dynasty, and I also used it before my dynasty, which is to lose millet and appoint officials."
To put it bluntly, instead of buying an official with money, you can buy an official with food. This official can be a loose official, or a decorated official, or it can be a posthumous gift for dead parents, or a family shade for children.
And these are actually very attractive to those businessmen who do not have official titles.
However, if you do this, you will be suspected of selling an official position. The official post is a state tool, and the influence of selling an official is not good.
After hearing this, Cheng Qian really admired Qin Lang.
In his opinion, Qin Lang has more than one, two, or three solutions to such a difficult matter, and each of them is indeed operational, not just a theory.
It is indeed much smarter than simply ordering merchants to cut prices as he thought.
"The teacher has this good plan, why don't you just write to His Majesty?"
"I have now told His Highness that His Highness can discuss the implementation with the officials staying at the imperial court in Chang'an, or you can request His Majesty to implement it."
Qin Lang did not tell Chengqian that Li Shimin's eldest grandson Fang Xuanling and others in the Luoyang court must have understood these points, even Li Jing and Wang Gui who stayed behind in Chang'an should also understand.
But why not do this, sometimes there are deeper complex reasons.
For example, the subsidy method is probably reluctant to part with the money.
And exchanging grain for salt and tea to lead this, it is estimated that it will touch too many dignitaries. After all, those who now master the business of salt, tea, wine and sugar are the top family members of the court.
"In fact, judging from the current situation of grain transportation, as long as this continues, there will be more and more grain. When the summer harvest arrives, then the grain will inevitably be more abundant, so the grain merchants don't have long, and this is a one-shot deal. If His Highness can talk to these people and take care of their interests, I miss you, and let them take the initiative to lower the price of grain to a hundred dollars per dou of rice. Of course, their interests must be compensated in other respects."
Qin Lang suggested Chengqian to do this, because by doing so, the interests of the merchants will be taken care of, and the common people will also be protected. At that time, Chengqian will gain two waves of praise from inside and outside, his reputation will increase, and his ability will also be recognized.
Of course, it depends on Chengqian's choice whether to sell an official, subsidize, or exchange food for tea and salt. Selling officials, the court will lose face, subsidies, the court will lose face, food for salt, will touch and damage the interests of those big nobles and powerful people.
Essentially speaking, in fact, those big grain merchants are themselves those giants who monopolize salt, tea, wine and sugar.
"Your Highness, I suggest that Your Highness can directly summon the food people in Guanzhong, reward them with some honorary officers, then give them some subsidies, and finally exchange their food with salt and tea. It's a three-pronged approach."
(end of this chapter)