Although more than 500,000 strings of cash may not seem like a lot, this is just the beginning. Once the trial is over and it is discovered that Jiaozi services are indeed beneficial to national development, major commercial cities across the country will soon open them.
By then, the amount of money deposited in the Jiaozi Bureau would be more than a million. Perhaps tens of millions would be enough. By then, the imperial court would not only not be short of money, but even have a surplus. For the Song Dynasty court, this would be like Qin Shi Huang touching the wires—a sure win.
"Congratulations, my lord. Congratulations, my lord."
When Lu Yijian saw this scene, he felt extremely complicated.
In fact, he knew that Zhao Jun would definitely be valued in the future, but Lu Yijian still hoped that Zhao Jun was not that powerful.
Because in the future Zhao Jun will definitely reform the civil service system, just like the New Deal of Qingli, which will seriously damage their interests, and then his disciples will suffer.
Therefore, Lu Yijian didn't want Zhao Jun to come up with any good ideas from the bottom of his heart. Even if it made Zhao Zhen a little suspicious, he could use it as an excuse to persuade him in the future.
But now it seems that just a Jiaozi business can attract so much money in a short period of time. I am afraid that Zhao Jun will be even more amazing in the future.
Marriage is a must, even if my granddaughter is only nine years old!
Lu Yijian made up his mind.
"It is indeed a great joyous event. After the Jiaozi bill was issued, merchants who frequently traded between Chengdu and Bianliang deposited their money into the treasury. Now, I am worried that if they take the silver bills to Chengdu, Chengdu will not have enough cash to redeem them."
Zhao Zhen thought about it and said to Lü Yijian, "Lü Gong, why don't we have Chengdu's annual tribute withheld and placed in the Chengdu Jiaozi Office Treasury for redemption?"
Lu Yijian thought the emperor had a good plan, so he bowed and said, "That's exactly what should be done."
Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "This year, Chengdu Prefecture's annual tax was only about 200,000 strings of cash, but now we've exchanged it for over 500,000 strings of cash. This is a good deal. Besides, I guess the merchants aren't in a hurry to use the money. These 200,000 strings of cash are already enough for them. We can just keep a portion of the annual tax every year."
"yes."
Lu Yijian agreed.
The Song Dynasty's tax revenue was primarily commercial, supplemented by agricultural taxes, which at one point in the Southern Song even accounted for over 80% of the fiscal revenue.
However, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the proportion was not that large, and government-run enterprises still accounted for three-fifths of total revenue. No matter how bad state-owned enterprises were, they were still monopolies, and private merchants still had to buy goods from them and become second-hand dealers.
Therefore, the Song Dynasty still needed agricultural taxes to fill the national treasury. The so-called annual tax was the tax paid by each state every year. It used to be grain, but later it was gradually changed to silk, money, gold, silver and other currencies.
The annual tax of most prefectures was not that high. For example, in the first year of Jingyou, a natural disaster occurred in Huainan West Road, causing famine. Zhao Zhen exempted Huainan West Road from the annual tax of 200,000 pieces of silk.
This was the annual tax paid by the entire Huainan West Route. At the prevailing price, a bolt of silk cost between three and five strings of cash (guan), meaning 200,000 bolts of silk were worth between 600,000 and 1,000,000 guan. In other words, the total annual tax paid by the 18 routes of the Great Song Dynasty was over 10 million guan.
Chengdu Prefecture was supposedly a prefecture. The Song Dynasty had over 200 prefectures, and on average, each prefecture should have paid an annual tax of 40,000 to 50,000 strings of cash. However, some prefectures were poor while others were rich, and Chengdu Prefecture was one of the richest prefectures.
Because of the large Chengdu Plain, and the fact that the Chengdu Plain rarely experiences disasters such as droughts and floods like those in Jianghuai, Hebei, Henan and other places, the annual tax is much higher than that of poorer states.
Now Zhao Zhen decided to deposit the annual tax of Chengdu Prefecture at the Chengdu Jiaozi Office for redemption. In fact, he intended to use these 200,000 strings of cash to get the more than 500,000 strings of cash from others.
After all, merchants would not withdraw their money from the Jiaozi Office in a short period of time, nor would they withdraw it at the same time. Zhao Zhen could take advantage of the time difference and use the money for Li Zi's method of seeing the money. By the next year, when the method of seeing the money takes effect, he could have an additional surplus of 6.5 million strings of cash every year. Naturally, he would not need to embezzle the money from the bank.
Zhao Zhen thought about this and felt that using the annual tax to temporarily redeem Jiaozi was a good idea. He continued, "If other prefectures also open Jiaozi offices in the future, we can follow this example and use the annual tax to hold the local Jiaozi offices as payment. If there is no surplus, we can transfer it from the national treasury."
"yes."
Lu Yijian responded again.
"And the officials in charge of Jiaozi affairs must also be carefully selected. Jiaozi affairs are a national treasure and must not suffer any losses. Otherwise, it will affect the country's credibility and cause serious problems."
"yes."
"That's it for now."
Zhao Zhen nodded.
This Jiaozi business is done really well.
Lu Yijian immediately withdrew. A moment later, Wang Shouzhong came to report that Li Zi wanted to see him.
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