Chapter 474 Volume C Lin Ruhai’s back-up plan

Feng Ziying tried hard to make them understand the terminology in modern economics in this era, and tried hard to make them understand what they wanted to express. This was somewhat difficult, but it was not without progress.

"Everyone should understand that we are short of food in the Great Zhou Dynasty, well, but not all places are short of food. In normal years, the people in the North can survive, but once there is a flood, drought or locust plague, they must rely on the imperial government to provide assistance. The gentry and grain merchants also had grain, but on the one hand, they hoped to make huge profits, and on the other hand, they also believed that they needed to keep enough grain for themselves for emergencies, so they were unwilling to give out grain for free. After all, such good people are extremely good people. A few, they hope to buy and sell grain through normal transactions..."

Feng Ziying spoke very patiently. After all, it is difficult for people of this era, even people like Cui Jingrong, Wei Guangwei and Wu Liangsi, to understand.

"But the reality is that the farmers in the North are too poor. They barely have enough food to eat every day, and it is impossible to have much spare money to save for emergencies. And in the past twenty years, the weather in our North has indeed been bad. Almost Every year, there are either floods or drought locusts in some places..."

"Similarly, the Great Zhou Dynasty is not without money. The court is in great difficulty, but the people, especially wealthy merchants, such as our salt merchants in Yangzhou City, just pull a few out and they will be richer than the imperial treasury. , the people in the south of the Yangtze River are nominally wealthy, but we can also see that in fact, compared to the north, the south of the Yangtze River is crowded with people and the land is narrow, and the people in the south of the Yangtze River are also increasingly difficult to cultivate,..."

"...because the demand is so great, can ordinary people afford silk, tea, and porcelain? I'm afraid there are only a handful of them. This is due to insufficient purchasing power. Without completely solving the problem of food and clothing, they can't afford it." How can they afford these extravagant expectations, and now they are living on their own one-third of an acre of land, or making a living on sharecropping? Difficult. Therefore, in order to pursue a better life, whether they are farmers in the north or people in the south of the Yangtze River, they must It is difficult to find more and better ways to make a living, so we need to open up the sea, open up external demand, and build more tea gardens, silk workshops, and ceramic workshops, because export sales can earn real money, and this requires more With more people coming to work, ordinary people can have more opportunities to make money and enhance their purchasing power. In turn, with increased purchasing power, they can spend in various aspects..."

 After all this detour, we are back to the term purchasing power.

 It’s a bit like talking on a wheel, but it has to be like this, otherwise it will be difficult to make these people understand. Without the understanding of these people, there is no recognition and support.

 These people should be regarded as the backbone of the northern scholars. If even these people do not recognize or support it, then Feng Ziying knows very well that her ideas and views are just castles in the air.

Wei Guangwei is younger, has served in the Ministry of Industry for a long time, and is an official. However, his father is well-known, so he knows a lot about the people, so he is more interested.

"Ziying, I generally understand what you mean. It's not that there is no food in the North, but the wealthy gentry don't want to provide endless relief, and are more willing to buy and sell. But the people in the North don't have the purchasing power at all. Well, you said What’s the reason for this purchasing power? It’s because the weather is bad, and are there more channels to earn money to make a living? This term was also coined by Ziying, right?”

 Wei Guangwei is becoming more and more interested in the young man in front of him. This guy really has a lot of things in his heart. He doesn't know how Qi Yongtai, Qiao Yingjia and Guan Yingzhen taught him out?

 No wonder the scholars in Beidi and even Huguang are very optimistic about him. This meticulous analysis and insight alone is not something ordinary people can understand.

Qi Yongtai and Qiao Yingjia are training this guy as the leader of the northern scholars twenty years later, which makes Wei Guangwei a little jealous and a little dissatisfied.

 But now it seems that apart from being a little greedy for women, this guy really doesn’t have many other problems.

Hmm, it’s okay if I don’t like poetry, but this seems to be very in line with the emperor’s wishes.

He is bold and generous, his words and deeds are also polite, and he also respects his seniors. This guy was supposed to be the last person to accompany him on this trip, but Cui Jingrong valued him far more than the others, and now everyone actually Slowly accepted this reality.

“Brother Xianbo, that’s pretty much what I mean.” Feng Ziying indicated with her eyes.

"Well, Jiangnan is actually similar to Northland, except that the overall situation is better. But if people want to live a better life, um, expand their purchasing power,..." Wei Guangwei is also imitating Feng Ziying's wording and sentence construction, "They also need more income. money channel, so the opening of the sea is an opportunity? The opening of the sea can bring many channels and opportunities for people to earn money? "

Feng Ziying laughed, "Brother Xianbo is right, this is the so-called tapping of foreign demand, and opening up the sea is one of the most important ways to tap foreign demand, because exported silk, tea and porcelain can immediately bring us real money. , or gold, copper, spices and other things that are no more scarce than silver..."

 Cui Jingrong and Wu Liangsi both listened to their discussion and argument with great interest. Sun Juxiang was the last to arrive, but he was quickly attracted in.

"Actually, for us in Dazhou, external demand is more important than domestic demand, but external demand can have more immediate impact. For example, people have found ways to make money, such as going to newly opened tea gardens to grow tea and making tea, and going to newly opened ceramic If you work in a workshop, go to a silk workshop to reel silk, and earn money, you will naturally be able to buy cloth, salt, and furniture. Your food and clothing expenses may be more generous, which can also stimulate the expansion of these industries..."

“Ziying, besides sea tax, can there be more income for the imperial court?” Cui Jingrong, as the right minister of the Ministry of Revenue, naturally had to think about the problem from his perspective.

“Well, Mr. Cui, what do you think of the mine and tax supervisor established by the emperor?” Feng Ziying asked.

Cui Jingrong understood immediately, shook his head with a wry smile, and stopped talking about this topic.

Commercial tax is a hidden pain in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Everyone knows that the excessively low tax rate directly caused the Great Zhou Dynasty to focus on land tax. However, due to the impact of natural and man-made disasters, it became increasingly difficult for the land tax revenue to meet the needs of the court.

Therefore, the issue of commercial taxation was raised several times, but all ended in vain because of resistance and opposition from gentry from all over the country.

This sea tax is mainly a newly established tax, to be precise, it is a tariff. This cleverly avoided the firm opposition of the gentry, especially the Jiangnan gentry.

The emperor set up tax supervisors and mine supervisors in spite of countless scoldings, and it may be that he was forced to do so. Once the nine-border army was unable to maintain its pay, and the Jurchens and Tatars from the north invaded, it would really be the end of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

 So he has to do it despite the reputation. In fact, he is doing the work that should be done by the cabinet.

"Master Cui, in fact, as long as domestic and external demand really kicks off, the situation will gradually improve later, and there will be more ways and channels to improve it,..." Feng Ziying comforted the other party, "But many conditions are not yet mature now,... "

"Ziying, you haven't said what the purpose of everything we are doing in Yangzhou Mansion is." Wu Liangsi was finally able to interrupt.

“It’s very simple. Yangzhou has a special geographical location. Transportation and shipping are well connected in all directions, commerce and trade are prosperous, and materials are abundant. We can understand the flow of money here from these surveys. I remember telling a few people about this before..."

"Yinzhuang?" Cui Jingrong frowned slightly, Wu Liangsi took a breath, Wei Guangwei was thoughtful, and Sun Juxiang took a deep look at Feng Ziying with different expressions.

“Well, you may not understand it yet, but I think this may be the most critical part of the debt-raising strategy for opening up the sea, or it carries an important cornerstone of how to further expand the development strategy of opening up the sea in the future,…”

Everyone here's understanding of Yinzhuang Money Shop is still limited to the temporary storage of money. Well, for businessmen, it is the convenience of general deposit and exchange. It is difficult to think of other things. But as a modern person, Feng Ziying naturally understands this. What he wants is not a primitive money shop. What he needs is a modern bank (bank) that can support many strategic developments.

Of course this cannot be achieved in one step, but now that there is such an opportunity and such a good gimmick, of course we must take advantage of it.

What he has to do now is to slowly convince them and let them gradually know and understand. Even if it is difficult to accept it for a while, facts and time will slowly prove it.

  ************

"Ziying, are you busy enough?" Lin Ruhai looked good today. When Feng Ziying came to greet him, he stood up and said, "Let's go and walk with uncle in the plum garden."

 “Okay.” Feng Ziying hurriedly followed behind.

“I heard that you have been making quite a lot of noise in the past few days, causing trouble for both Yangzhou Prefectural Government and Jiangdu County Government.…”

"There is some investigation to find out the basics. It turns out that there is some basic information at the prefecture and county levels, but it is very rough and simple, and many things that I want to know are not available, so I can only do a more detailed investigation based on those documents. ,…”

Feng Ziying didn’t expect that Lin Ruhai would pay attention to this. She was a little surprised and was also thinking about Lin Ruhai’s intention of inviting her to visit the Plum Garden today.

The plum garden behind the Si Yamen of Du Zhuan Salt Envoy is very famous. It covers an area of ​​dozens of acres. There are plum trees everywhere, and the paths lead to secluded places. When people walk there, they also have an artistic conception that is otherworldly.

But it’s not the time for plum blossoms to bloom yet. If we wait another month or two, the scenery of this plum garden will really be extraordinary.

Stepping into the plum garden, Lin Ruhai took a deep breath, as if she was brewing something. Feng Ziying said nothing and waited for her words.

"Ziying wants to build a bank in Yangzhou?" Lin Ruhai suddenly stopped and turned around with his hands behind his back, "How large a scale do you plan to build and what is the purpose?"

 (End of this chapter)