For example, Cheng Lin of the Ministry of Finance is the main person in charge, and the branches under it are also under the jurisdiction of the secretaries of each department, down to the individual level.
A series of reforms gave the Bianliang officialdom a brand new look.
certainly.
Regardless of the system, efficiency mainly depends on people.
If officials are lazy and negligent in their work, even if responsibilities are determined, superiors and subordinates are clearly defined, and a responsibility system is divided, efficiency will still be low.
So this depends on the courage of the Constitutional Yuan.
At least for now, learning from the previous experience of the Salt and Iron Administration, and coinciding with the reform, the newly arrived redundant officials are eager to prove themselves, and the administrative efficiency is still not slow, much better than before.
At the same time, beheadings and murders were still taking place every day outside the east city of Bianliang. The grass outside the eastern suburbs was almost dyed red with blood, and the air was filled with a fishy smell.
The people of Bianliang were also used to it.
It was not that all officials were in danger, mainly because Zhao Jun beheaded and killed people, unlike Zhu Yuanzhang who was so exaggerated as to execute thousands of officials every time.
Most of the people he murdered were gangsters, who, in the eyes of officials, deserved to be killed.
When their own interest groups are harmed, these officials will choose to band together to fight. But they look upon the lower classes and those evildoers who have nothing to do with their own interests as if they were pariahs.
Therefore, this killing did not actually cause much turmoil in the officialdom, but its influence among the people was unprecedented. The evil in Bianliang was temporarily cleared out, and the underground became much cleaner.
More than ten days later, in mid-December, as the New Year approached, the streets, which had been deserted due to the cold wind, became increasingly lively.
People came out to the streets and began to prepare for the end of the year.
Kaifeng Prefecture demolished a large mansion in Xianningfang, and the Bazuosi was contracted to transform it into a commercial street, which is currently under construction.
The government even built another road at the dock on the Huimin River to connect the streets that were not far apart. This will obviously make this commercial street a place where every inch of land is worth a lot of money in the future.
The imperial court is not short of money for the time being.
Firstly, the autumn tax revenue had arrived, and the treasury now had over 40 million guan. Secondly, Zhao Jun had killed over 10,000 people, frantically ransacked their homes, and confiscated a large amount of property.
More than a thousand mansions in the inner and outer cities were seized. Among them, the real estate owned by the owner of Guifan Tower and the owner of Wuyou Cave was worth more than one million strings of cash, and there were also hundreds of thousands of strings of cash. All in all, it amounted to more than six or seven million strings of cash.
So after having money, the government not only purchased food and grass from the south, but also built large-scale projects in the city, hired low-level laborers, built bridges and roads, and promoted economic development while maintaining the urban appearance of Bianliang.
"The most urgent task now is to obtain currency. Why did Jiaozi appear in Shu? It was because the Song Dynasty's commerce was booming, but the Bashu region was short of copper coins, so they were forced to use paper money instead."
Today in Guanjia Hall, Zhao Jun started a new round of lectures.
He looked around at everyone and said, "Bianliang's business environment has improved significantly. We have a Ministry of Commerce in the future, responsible for domestic and foreign trade and international economic cooperation. For now, this department does not need to be separated and handed over to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Therefore, we must consider commercial reform."
"Is Dasun saying that state-owned enterprises should be changed to private enterprises?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
These days he has come to understand the relationship between state-owned and private sectors. Isn't it the same as the previous monopoly and tea and salt permits?
The monopoly of grain is state monopoly, but as long as you transport grain to the border, you will get tea and salt permits.
"Yes."
Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Capital needs to germinate and grow, so we need to loosen its shackles. But completely opening up the free market is not an option either. Once the cage of this beast is opened and unchecked, it will lead to very serious consequences."
"What are the consequences?"
Everyone asked curiously.
"To give a simple example, in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, southern salt merchants monopolized salt and drove up its price, leaving the people living in dire straits. The imperial court was unable to collect taxes and faced the dilemma of northern tribes encroaching on its borders, yet they spent lavishly to compete for wealth."
Zhao Jun laughed and said, "At that time, the salt merchants in the Jianghuai region were as wealthy as a nation. 'A Grand View of Qing Dynasty Unofficial History' records that 'Yangzhou's salt merchants were the most extravagant in the world. Those with less than a million taels of silver were considered small merchants.' In other words, for the salt merchants of the time, a few million taels of silver was a pittance. The standard for being wealthy was at least 10 million taels."
Tens of millions of taels of silver?
Everyone had an expression of astonishment on their face.
Silver was not a currency in the Song Dynasty, but there was less of it and it was not widely circulated in the market.
According to the conversion ratio at that time, one tael of silver was approximately equal to one guan of coins.
But this is the official exchange rate.
In fact, silver was more valuable. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, one string of coins was equal to approximately 0.40.5 taels of silver, which means that one tael of silver was equal to two strings of coins.
Even if we only calculate based on the ratio of one tael of silver to one string of coins, it means that the net worth of a wealthy salt merchant in Jiangnan during the Ming and Qing dynasties was equivalent to one-tenth of the annual fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty at that time.
You should know that under the two-tax system of the Song Dynasty, fiscal revenue was still very high. During the Renzong Dynasty, it basically remained at around 80 million guan per year, and by the Yingzong Dynasty, it had reached 116 million.
This is the highest tax in all dynasties.
But compared with the Jiangnan salt merchants during the Ming and Qing dynasties, they are obviously dwarfed.
“I never thought that Jiangnan salt merchants were so prosperous during the Ming and Qing dynasties.”
Lu Yijian sighed.
Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Their wealth mainly comes from the influx of silver from Japan during the Ming and Qing dynasties. That's why I said we should go to Japan."
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