While Zhao Zhen and the others were discussing, Zhao Jun was still chatting with Yan Shu outside the Guanjia Palace.

The Jiaozi he just mentioned actually only solved the problem of the empty treasury, but the problem of merchants was still not solved.

When Yan Shu asked about this matter, he did not hesitate and gave an answer quickly.

"The issue of merchants is also simple. The big tea merchants and the local officials who colluded with them should be investigated and executed. They should be confiscated and their families exterminated. No mercy should be shown.

"The tea industry in the Song Dynasty was a monopoly, and merchants could only obtain tea through tea permits. The Song court could easily have killed a group of disobedient tea merchants in the name of investigating corrupt officials."

"Then use the monopoly power of tea permits to support other obedient tea merchants, or let those small and medium-sized tea merchants unite and establish a chamber of commerce, with the court as a shareholder, half official and half private, and use the chamber of commerce to transport grain to the border. Isn't that much more convenient?"

"This way, we can hold a knife in one hand and a date in the other, using a two-pronged approach. We can support the smart and obedient ones and kill the stubborn and unyielding ones. By killing some, suppressing some, and winning over some, we can divide and rule them, and we can make them submit obediently."

"And you don't have to worry about merchants not coming. If you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will."

"Just like South Korea's Masao Takagi, vigorously support a group of chaebols, first develop the economy, and then slowly develop national strength."

"Besides tea merchants, there are also salt merchants, spice merchants, and grain merchants. They can all participate. With fierce competition, inflated prices will naturally return to actual prices. Wouldn't this ease the government's financial pressure?"

"In summary, the Song Dynasty's tea system was in disarray. The emperor and his ministers weren't very bright either. They spent their days slacking off in court, having no idea what politics was or how to use state power for positive guidance. They were truly quite foolish."

"As long as the government is exercising macroeconomic regulation of the market, as we are doing now, the Song Dynasty tea permit system is actually a minor issue, not worth mentioning."

He added, "Of course. We're in New China, not the backward, decadent, and outdated Song Dynasty. Song Renzong Lü Yijian and his bunch of idiots can't hear what I'm saying. It's pointless for me to say so much. Just listen to me, village head and party secretary. I'm just chatting with you out of boredom."

Lu Yijian, who had just come out of the hall, almost peed himself when he heard these words.

This kid is addicted to swearing, right?

It’s all Yan Shu’s fault. Why did Zhao Jun have to bring him up like that? Now he has to involve him when he scolds others.

For a moment, Lu Yijian couldn't help but look at his old friend with a resentful look.

This terrifying whale.

Instead, Zhao Zhen was smiling again, feeling happy.

He hoped that Zhao Jun would mention him less when scolding others in the future, otherwise it would be too embarrassing to scold him so badly that he would be at a loss and unable to fight back.

And that doesn't seem to be a bad thing.

Zhao Zhen couldn't help but think about it. It seems that he should mention the ministers under his rule more often in the future.

Firstly, it would allow him to clearly know who were the loyal ministers and who were the treacherous ministers. Secondly, it would divert the firepower and let Zhao Jun scold them, so that he would be scolded less.

Everyone came over and continued to listen to Zhao Jun chat.

Zhao Jun has actually given a solution to the problem of cross-induction.

The opposing forces are tea merchants and court officials, so we will target these two parties.

The court officials felt that this would lead to a depleted treasury, so they used Jiaozi to open a bank to make up for the empty treasury.

The tea merchants adopted a divide and rule approach.

Because the new policy can quickly get cash, some tea merchants who need to recover funds are more supportive of the new policy.

With the support of these tea merchants who supported the new policy, the court no longer had to worry about having no one available.

The tea merchants who opposed the new policy were those with relatively strong financial resources. They did not need to recover their funds so quickly, but instead asked the court to pay them slowly, but at a settlement amount that was almost double the actual estimate.

In addition, the tea policy will not only provide funds to tea merchants, but also give them tea permits. Although tea merchants still have to pay when they go to the tea farm to get tea, they will also be given certain discounts.

Therefore, for tea merchants with strong financial resources, by waiting for a while, they can not only get a lot of funds from the Song Dynasty government, but also get sufficient tea that is monopolized by the government in the tea plantation. The profit is so high that it is more than one or two times the difference. Why not do it?

However, they forgot that it was the Song Dynasty court that shaped this set of rules and order. The Song Dynasty monopolized tea, and private tea merchants could only obtain tea permits by completing grain transportation tasks, and could only obtain tea through tea plantations.

The tea plantations were controlled by the imperial court, which meant that the court had a monopoly on who could and could not obtain tea. Trying to profit from loopholes in the laws issued by the Song Dynasty court was ridiculous.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen only needed to grasp the monopoly of tea in his own hands, support a group of obedient tea merchants, and let them give up the originally inflated profits, which would naturally save expenses.

After hearing this, everyone thought this was a very good idea.

The only problem is that Zhao Jun seems to be a ruthless guy.

Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian, Yan Shu and others looked at Zhao Jun who was still talking incessantly with mixed feelings.

I wonder if people in the future will really be full of hot-bloodedness and decisive in killing people?

When we talked about the New Policies of the Qingli Period before, all we talked about was killing a group of corrupt officials who broke the law.

Now they have started to target businessmen again, confiscating their property and exterminating their families. Their methods are really cruel.

It seems that the young people of later generations are indeed arrogant and have a bloodiness that is rare in the Song Dynasty.

Soon the morning passed and Zhao Jun felt a little hungry. He was helped back to his room. After lunch, he sat outside the door to bask in the sun and chatted with Yan Shu about the history of the Ming Dynasty.

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