There is actually another important reason why Zhang Fei did not directly monetize it. He did not tell Sima Guang, but Sima Guang could definitely understand it.
Because the reason was Sima Guang.
Zhang Fei has been walking between Sima Guang and Wang Anshi, which is also a technical job.
When Zhang Fei was helping Wang Anshi, he would try his best to get things done, but he would not cross Sima Guang's bottom line. Just like in this matter, he still left a step and did not directly monetize it.
vice versa.
When helping Sima Guang, he would not cross Wang Anshi's bottom line.
This is why both Sima Guang and Wang Anshi still trusted Zhang Fei very much.
I still remember that when the imperial court first announced a price reduction for official salt, the people were delighted and thought that the imperial court had done a great job.
But gradually...
The people discovered that these salt notes had nothing to do with them.
...
...
Nowadays it has become a game for the rich. Sixty cents of salt notes are not only expensive, but the key is that they have no channels to buy them.
The result is that before, the price of salt was just high and they were reluctant to buy it, but now they can't buy salt even if they have money. What's even worse is that the price of the salt note is almost the same as the salt price at that time.
Salt is a necessity, how can we play with it like this?
Many ministers submitted memorials to impeach the Ministry of Agriculture, which resulted in the common people being unable to buy salt, and public resentment was boiling among the people.
Zhao Xu ignored it at first, and only convened an important meeting after he had sold all the salt money in his hands.
"how so?"
Zhao Xu asked with a serious look.
Han Jiang immediately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with our Sinong Temple. The court issued salt notes to benefit the people, but someone secretly hoarded the salt notes and hoarded them for profit, resulting in the people having no salt notes in their hands, and at the same time, those salt shops still have a large amount of salt that cannot be sold."
Zhao Xu asked, "Really?"
Sima Guang immediately said: "Your Majesty, although this is indeed not the fault of the Sino-Agricultural Ministry, there is a problem with this policy, that is, the people cannot obtain salt notes."
Wang Anshi said slowly: "The fault is not in the policy, but in human nature!"
Sima Guang immediately said: "Although this is human nature, no one knows how many salt notes the Sino-Agricultural Ministry has issued and how much salt the court has. This is why everyone is hoarding salt notes and waiting for the price to rise."
Wang Anshi retorted: "Don't forget why the court issued salt notes. If you make this public, I'm afraid they will become even more aggressive."
Sima Guang said: "But this goes against the laws of our ancestors because the court lacks supervision in this regard."
"Please don't argue, my two lords."
Feeling guilty, Zhao Xu quickly spoke up to stop the quarrel between the two, because this was absolutely against the ancestral law. Since all the reserve funds were passed through the finances of the Sinong Temple and the Emperor's inner treasury, without going through the Secretariat and the Three Departments, their prime minister was completely unaware of this.
This doesn't make sense!
The key is that he also participated, and he added: "The most urgent task is how to solve the current problem?"
Sima Guang remained silent. He knew the answer, but he also wanted to see what choice Wang Anshi would make.
Wang Anshi hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, the reason why we issued salt notes was because there was a shortage of coins in the market and the price of salt was high. Now that there is no shortage of coins in the market, I suggest that everyone be allowed to use coins to buy salt."
Sima Guang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
But what he didn't know was that Wang Anshi was by no means conservative. In his heart, he also agreed more with securitization rather than monetization. Because in monetization, currency is the key, but there is a lot of currency in the market, and this weapon may be used by the other side. But if it is securitized and directly linked to salt, the salt is in the hands of the court and there is no fixed price, which can be better utilized.
Fu Bi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked, "Is the price of salt still set at 25 coins?"
Wang Anshi hesitated for a moment before saying, "In fact, the court did not set the price of salt at 25 coins at the beginning. It just stipulated that one jiao salt note could be exchanged for one jin of salt. It can be set at 35 coins first. After all, the currency is not as valuable as before."
Fu Bi was slightly stunned and looked at Wen Yanbo.
They expected Wang Anshi to adjust the price to 45, but they did not expect that it would only be adjusted to 35. You should know that the imperial court originally purchased salt from those salt merchants at 50 cents.
This price is still very attractive.
Fu Bi was worried again: "But the salt notes have already been issued. If we allow the purchase of coins at the same time, will the court have so much salt?"
Han Jiang replied: "The Sinong Temple has plenty of salt. When this salt is sold out, the next batch of official salt should arrive. There will be no problem."
Wang Anshi said: "But the court lowered the price of salt only to benefit the people, so each person should be limited to buying a pound of salt. However, the salt notes can be exchanged at will."
Fu Bi was a little skeptical and thought, even if each person gets one pound of salt, how do you know how many people will come to buy salt?
Sima Guang suddenly said, "Your Majesty, this has proved that issuing salt notes will cause many problems. It can only be used this time and cannot be used next time."
Wang Anshi immediately said: "Sima Xueshi is wrong. The salt notes have solved the problem of money shortage and are very successful. The court should improve the salt note system."
Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Master Wang is right. Salt notes have indeed solved the crisis of money shortage. We can make use of them."
Sima Guang said: "Your Majesty, the reason why the salt notes can solve the problem is not because of the salt notes, but because the Sino-Agricultural Ministry concealed everything and used government decrees to stipulate that only salt notes can be used to buy salt. This is also the cause of people's resentment. This violates the laws of our ancestors and is absolutely unacceptable."
Wang Anshi said: "This time we are just dealing with a crisis, so we are taking extraordinary measures, but this does not mean that the salt notes are useless. The court can improve the system and issue salt notes according to the situation."
Zhao Xu nodded again and said, "I also think that the salt note is still feasible, especially when there is a shortage of coins, it can be used to pay the salaries of the royal police and the imperial guards, which is more convenient than distributing salt to them before. As for how to improve this salt note system, let's leave it to the Secretariat for the time being."
The salt money would continue to be used, but the system would be formulated by Fu Bi and others.
Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, the two enemies, looked at each other with some confusion in their eyes. It was obvious that neither of them trusted the other!
However, this money is a necessity for people's lives and cannot be taken lightly.
After discussion, the court immediately decided to reopen the salt shops and allow people to buy salt with coins, but each person could only buy one pound of salt. At the same time, salt notes could also be exchanged for salt, and there was no limit on the quantity. One dime of salt note could be exchanged for one pound of salt.
In the morning.
Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Sima Guang and Lu Gongzhu came to the salt shop.
Although they didn't know how much salt notes the Ministry of Agriculture had issued, it was at least nearly 400,000 strings of coins. At the same time, they also allowed buyers to purchase with coins. Was there really so much salt?
But there was a sea of people in front of the shop.
"I am here to see the four gentlemen."
The clerk in charge of the salt shop, upon seeing the four prime ministers coming, hurried out to greet them.
Fu Bi asked: "How many people use salt notes to exchange for salt?"
The clerk replied: "We haven't counted the exact number yet, but it's no more than ten people, and they only took less than a pound of salt."
"How is this possible?" Wen Yanbo asked.
The clerk said awkwardly, "Mr. Wen, you don't know that all the people who hold salt notes now bought them at high prices. They can't exchange them all for salt, and they can't eat them all. They definitely want to exchange them for money, but the price of salt at thirty-five is too low, and everyone knows that the price of salt is bound to go up."
"I see."
Fu Bi and the others suddenly realized.
They finally understood why Wang Anshi set such a price, which was a bet that they would not come to exchange.
If I exchange the sixty cents I bought for now, I will lose a lot of money. If I exchange it for salt, the salt is not easy to preserve. I can only wait and sell it at a higher price.
Xiangguo Temple.
"We should have listened to Master Lu and stopped in time. Now we have all the salt notes in our hands, but the current price of salt is only 35 coins. This is a huge loss."
As Fu Chengshou spoke, his voice became choked with sobs.
All the money my son earned from Fengyue Newspaper through hard work has been lost this time.
The others also had tears in their eyes.
yes!
They did stop the salt-currency policy, but looking back, they found that they were almost losing everything.
Why is this happening?
Xu Ji still seemed unwilling to give up, "I don't believe they use so much salt, otherwise..."
"Forget it! Forget it!"
Fu Chengshou waved his hands repeatedly, "I dare not gamble anymore. I have also asked around, but no one knows how much salt the court has. If the court can really afford it, will we buy the salt and keep it at home? Moreover, if the court lowers the price, we will lose everything!"
Chen Zhi said: "Yes, this matter ends here, we can't continue. We don't know anything now, how can we fight them. Now we can only wait. I think the price of salt will definitely go up. When the time comes, we can take action and reduce some losses."
"It's hard to raise it to sixty cents! Oh! My money!"
They have always been the ones to cut off others, but this time they have become the real victims, having to take over at a high price. This feeling is really sour and refreshing!
This quiet place is filled with wailing.
In contrast, the Bian Jing Law Firm, which was filled with the smell of money, was full of laughter.
"You really understand human nature. Yesterday, all the major salt shops received only 800 salt notes in total, but 6,000 strings of cash. I guess they won't be able to exchange the salt notes for salt for a while." Wang Anshi smiled happily.
At present, the purchasing power of currency has slightly decreased, and the price of salt is only 35 cents. Everyone uses coins to buy salt.
As long as the salt notes are not exchanged for salt, even if it is only twenty-five cents, the court will make a huge profit.
Zhang Fei estimated that they would not be able to exchange salt on a large scale in the future, because they would soon discover the currency function of salt notes, and asked: "How much does the Sinong Temple earn now?"
Wang Anshi was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. "If we count the profits that the government promised to give us before, the Ministry of Agriculture probably made 200,000 strings of cash. If all the salt is now exchanged for coins, the Ministry of Agriculture's grain and coins can reach 1 million strings of cash. If we choose to price the salt notes at 25 coins, they may lose more, but the Ministry of Agriculture can't have so much money."
He was extremely happy. The money from the Sino-Agricultural Temple was the starting capital for his reform. The next thing to be promulgated was the Qingmiao Law. He had also purchased so much grain. This was a perfect start!
Good sign.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Now that Sinong Temple is financially strong, we are no longer afraid of them, and I can retire now."
"Don't quit just yet!"
Wang Anshi's expression changed, and he said seriously: "You also said at that time that the implementation of the salt notes depends on the salt administration. Now Xue Xiang has been transferred to the six southeastern routes and can no longer continue to preside over the northwest salt administration. Now many people recommend you to go to the northwest.?"
Zhang Fei hesitated and said, "Master Sima also told me about this issue. I still need to think about it. The key is that I still have a lot of things to deal with."
Wang Anshi nodded and said, "Please think about it carefully. If you have any ideas, please tell me. I will support you."
Zhang Fei bowed and said, "Thank you, Master Wang."
At this moment, Lu Huiqing suddenly walked in. He exchanged greetings with Zhang Fei and then said to Wang Anshi, "Master, you can leave now."
Zhang Fei asked curiously, "Master Wang, Proofreader Lu, where are you planning to go?"
Wang Anshi laughed and said, "We plan to go to Xiangguo Temple to fulfill our vow."
"Still fulfilling your wish?"
Zhang Fei was stunned immediately.
"Yes, thanks to the Buddha's blessing, Sinong Temple has earned so much money. Of course I have to fulfill my wish." Wang Anshi said seriously.
Lu Huiqing chuckled and said, "This Buddha is almost like a money-giving boy."
You are going to kill people and destroy their hearts! Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "Master Wang, this is not necessary."
Wang Anshi said: "It is necessary. The Buddhist philosophy is to seek salvation for all living beings, and temples should be quiet places. However, they have been made into a turbid place by those bald donkeys. They are no different from the market. It is simply lawless."
Lu Huiqing asked with a smile: "Sanlang, why don't you go together?"
"I'm not going."
Zhang Fei hurriedly said: "I can't afford to offend Xiangguo Temple."
What a joke, Xiangguo Temple is his financial backer, and they will have to continue cooperating in the future.
(End of this chapter)
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