Seeing that Tian Chang was well-behaved and sensible, he said, "To be honest, the court really needs to eliminate the poisonous tumor of tea price inflation at the border to save unnecessary expenses. But the border cannot be short of food. What do you think we should do?"
Tian Chang said without hesitation, "I will continue to vigorously purchase grain and rice from Jianghuai and send them to Qingzhou and Hejian this year. I will double the amount compared to last year, and I will never inflate the price of grain and fodder."
"very good."
Li Zi saw that Tian Chang was very sensible and said with a smile, "Your tea shop is very good. It has maintained the stability of tea prices in Bianliang. You have made an indelible contribution."
"Thank you for the compliment, sir."
Tian Chang responded.
"You guys step back first."
Li Zi suddenly asked the surrounding officials and yamen runners to go away.
Everyone left the hall, and only Li Zi, Wang Yong and Tian Chang were left.
Then Li Zi asked Tian Chang to sit down. Tian Chang sat on the chair next to him, feeling a little nervous. Li Zi seemed to notice his nervousness and said with a smile, "Don't be afraid. I have something I want to discuss with you."
"Please tell me clearly, sir."
Tian Chang said cautiously.
Li Zi said, "You should know more about the chaos at the border than we do. We want to hear your opinion, but you can speak freely."
Tian Chang knew that there were things he should and shouldn't say, so he said, "The border is indeed a bit chaotic, and the court should also rectify it. I don't know much about these things."
"Um?"
Li Zi frowned and said, "You really don't understand? Do you know the consequences of deceiving me?"
Tian Chang recalled the tragic plight of the wealthy Zhang family in Bozhou and Xu Ming in Hangzhou. He quickly rose from his chair in fear and kowtowed, saying, "Whatever you ask, I will tell you everything I know."
This is the wisdom of a businessman. He gave Li Zi the right to ask questions. If Li Zi knew something, it wouldn't be considered a leak if he answered it, because he already knew it. And if Li Zi didn't know something, he naturally wouldn't ask, so it was even more impossible for him to leak the secret.
However, this cleverness didn't escape Li Zi's attention. He said, "Let's first discuss the border administration issue. What do you think the direct implementation of the cash payment system would do to border officials? I'd like to hear your opinion."
Tian Chang said helplessly, "The impact is naturally huge. Many officials on the border rely on these to make money. After the cash payment method was implemented, there was no false valuation and payment was made on the spot. They lost a lot of their income. That's why they were the ones who made the biggest fuss when the gentleman implemented the cash payment method."
Essentially, the "Show Cash" law was intended to recover the money that merchants and officials had embezzled from the imperial court through collusion. Merchants, with their large businesses, would at most suffer a significant loss, not go bankrupt. However, this was the biggest source of income for border officials. Without this source of income, they would only receive their basic salary, and naturally, they would not work.
Li Zi nodded: "Is there any way to stabilize them?"
Tian Chang shook his head and said, "What can we do? Unless the court can give them more money, I'm afraid no one will agree. If the border officials make a fuss and the military rations are not delivered in time, the consequences will be serious."
"snort!"
Wang Yong, standing by, slammed the table in anger and shouted, "These corrupt officials, taking their salaries and yet embezzling the imperial treasury, deserve to be killed. How dare they still make such a scene? Lord Li, you should report this to the court and have them executed!"
Tian Chang couldn't help but shrink his neck after hearing this.
In fact, the Song Dynasty did not refuse to kill scholars and officials at the beginning. Many were killed during the reigns of Taizu and Taizong. It was not until the reigns of Zhenzong and Renzong that the tradition of not killing scholars and officials gradually emerged.
For example, Guo Chengyou and Sun Mian deserved to be executed for their crimes, but in history they were only demoted.
However, the Song Dynasty only did not kill the literati and officials. The lower-class people, merchants, landlords, and officials were killed, and the methods were quite cruel. It was the literati and officials who did it. Relying on their official status, they could be said to be able to cover the sky with one hand.
In the eyes of the common people, Tian Chang was already a big shot, but in the eyes of Li Zi and Wang Yong, he was nothing. Confiscating his property and exterminating his clan was just a matter of a word.
So Tian Chang was terrified when he heard this.
If the imperial court massacred officials at the border, it would be horrific. I am afraid that the entire tea industry would be affected.
Fortunately, Li Zi was not so murderous. He was humble and even lowered his status to reason with the tea merchants, which was enough to show that he was a senior official with gentlemanly manners. He shook his head and said, "This matter has serious implications and is not advisable. Mr. Tian, I have something else to tell you."
"Speak, my lord."
Tian Chang said hurriedly.
Li Zi said, "Your tea company is very good. The imperial court needs to stabilize prices. It was originally a state-owned tea company, but now it wants to form a partnership with private tea merchants like you. How much tea you can buy depends entirely on your ability. What do you think?"
After hearing this, Tian Chang's breathing became rapid.
The tea industry in the Song Dynasty was actually a monopoly. State-owned enterprises were selling daily necessities such as wine, rice, salt, and tea. If merchants wanted to join the business, they had to purchase tea and salt permits. This was the so-called prohibited monopoly.
However, both the state-owned salt and tea industries were already extremely corrupt, with officials being corrupt, which made the people more willing to buy private salt and tea.
By the late Renzong period, the government's salt and tea revenues were insufficient to cover expenses, and the company was close to bankruptcy.
Later, Ouyang Xiu analyzed that the situation of official sales had become extremely bad. Officials embezzled state-owned assets and secretly replaced official salt and tea with sand and inferior tea. The people also used inferior salt and tea to meet their assigned tasks and turned to selling good salt and tea to private vendors, resulting in rampant private salt and tea.
Besides being corrupt, officials were also not diligent in their sales efforts. After all, they were paid by the government and didn't need their salaries reduced just to meet sales targets. Selling a few hundred strings of silver today and a few dozen strings tomorrow wouldn't affect their monthly salary, leading to a low level of sales enthusiasm.
Therefore, it would be better to abolish the monopoly system and jointly operate with merchants so that circulation is not hindered. The more one tries to deprive merchants of their profits, the greater the damage to national interests. Trying to keep all profits for the public good will only lead to greater losses, with only a third out of ten. Sharing profits with merchants, however, allows for a return of five out of ten. Therefore, skilled business leaders in major countries should "not hesitate to offer profits to induce major merchants."
But that was a later development. Tea, rice, salt, and alcohol were still monopolies, and obtaining tea permits was difficult for tea merchants. Li Zi suggested reforming the government-run tea business, allowing them to form joint ventures with private tea houses. They would only hold shares but not participate in the management, but they would have an unlimited share of tea, allowing them to collect as much as they wanted.
This means that after the ban on tea monopoly by state-owned enterprises in the Song Dynasty is lifted, their share of tea will increase significantly, and the withdrawal of state-owned enterprises from the market will also increase their market share. This is a great temptation for private tea merchants who are restricted by the tea license.
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