MTL - Chastity Layman-Chapter 1386 Reciprocate

  Chapter 1386 Reciprocate

   "Teacher!"

  As soon as Qin Lang entered his public room, Minister of Finance Li Jingxuan and Minister of Household Affairs Ma Zai who were sitting and chatting inside immediately stood up.

"sit."

  Qin Lang was very enthusiastic towards the two of them, neither of them were outsiders.

  Ma Zai was the son of Ma Zhou, who also worshiped Qin Lang as his teacher early on. As for Li Jingxuan, he was the son of Li Xiaoqing, governor of Guzhou. Of course, he also has an identity, that is, Qin Lang's disciple. When Qin Lang was a scholar of the Chongxian Hall, Li Jingxuan was a specially recruited student of scholars.

  When I was studying in the Chongxian Hall, I read a lot of books and worked very hard. The students who came to help them, who were not relatives of the emperor or the sons of the prime minister, were the best graders at that time.

   Later, when Ma Zhou took over as a bachelor of Chongxian Hall, he specially recommended Li Jingxuan, whom he admired very much, as a lecturer of Chongxian Hall and became a teaching assistant of Chongxian Hall.

After that, Li Jingxuan had a Bole like Ma Zhou, and with the help of a teacher like Qin Lang, his official career was smooth. wait.

On the other hand, Li Jingxuan, who had a successful official career, took the initiative to join the Li family of Zhaojun, making himself a member of the Li family of Zhaojun. This practice is very common in this era. For example, Du Zhenglun also proposed to join the Jingzhao Du family .

  Li Yifu came from a poor family, but after he became prosperous, he also claimed to be from the Li family of Zhaojun. In order to curry favor with Li Yifu, Li Chongde immediately went out of his way and asked the family to put Li Yifu in the family tree of the Li family of Zhaojun.

  Because the Li clan of Zhao County is the same as the capital, Li Jingxuan and Li Yifu also became a family.

With these relationships, it is impossible for Li Jingxuan to be underdeveloped in the court. Even in the previous rounds of court turmoil, he was not affected in the slightest. On the contrary, he worshiped many mountains. Qin Lang, Ma Zhou, Li Yifu, Zhao Jun Li, had a good relationship with the Supreme Emperor Li Yin.

   It is precisely because of this that Qin Lang formed a cabinet this time, and finally handed over the important post of transfer envoy to him.

  As for the former transfer envoy Liu Xiangdao who was arranged by Qin Lang to be the imperial censor, Liu Xiangdao is also from Qin Lang, and his younger brother also married the head of Wenxi County who has a good relationship with the Qin family. Changing to Li Jingxuan is still because he does have good financial and economic capabilities, which is stronger than Liu Xiangdao, who was originally an official in the judicial system such as the Shaoqing of Dali Temple and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment.

   "The two ministers of the Transshipment Department came here. Could it be that there is a major financial matter?" Qin Lang asked with a smile.

   "It's not a big deal. Although the third division is not affiliated with the Zhengshitang, after all, the government is a game of chess. Our third division also hopes that the grand master can listen to our reports and communicate with us more, so that we can cooperate."

  Lee Kyung-hyun's posture is very low.

  Qin Lang's disciples are all over the world, and now there are many important positions in the central government, such as Brother Laiji, Pei Xingjian, Shangguanyi, etc. Li Jingxuan is not particularly outstanding, but he is still very grateful to be entrusted with an important position.

The transshipment envoy is not attached to the political affairs hall, and the prime minister and the prime minister of the political affairs hall are considered to be on the same level, but Li Jingxuan didn't think so. Now the government is presided over by the grand master, whether it is the Privy Council or the Imperial Academy, or his transshipment department or the censor Taiwan, who dares to say that he is on an equal footing with the Grand Master?

  Naturally, Wei Taishi followed suit.

   Li Jingxuan handed over a report first, Qin Lang took it and looked through it.

Interesting.

  When the Supreme Emperor was still in power, private minting was banned, and the minting rights of the Qin Family Lusong Coin Supervisor were taken away, and the mining and metallurgy management system was revised. Private mining and metallurgy can only be sold to the imperial court.

   It also stipulates new regulations such as handing over banknote issuance reserves and deposit reserves. For the Qin family in Luzon, these tricks are quite powerful.

   And this report is something new from the Transshipment Department.

  After Li Jingxuan asked the emperor to agree, he listed the Luzon plan separately, that is, many new regulations of the imperial court may be suspended or not implemented in Luzon.

  For example, Li Jingxuan, the director of money minting in Lu Song Dynasty, said that since the imperial court took control, the amount of coins minted has dropped from more than three million guan to hundreds of thousands of guan. Therefore, it is proposed that the Lusong money casting supervisor still belongs to the Qin family, and even because the emperor now implements a tax system for Lu Song, the Lusong money casting supervisor is completely owned by the Qin family, and the imperial court only sent a symbolic casting supervisor.

  As long as the minted money is minted according to the court standard, it doesn't matter how much is minted, and it will no longer be levied according to the previous seigniorage.

   On the other hand, the mining ban on the Qin family has been relaxed again. The mainland is still implementing the new regulations, but on the Luzon Islands, the Qin family's mining is not restricted by the new regulations. There is no limit to how much you can mine, and you are no longer required to pay mining fees, and you are not required to monopolize minerals.

  Because the emperor gave the Qin family the privilege of paying taxes, all the taxes were covered for one million guan that year, so the Qin family can mine freely in Luzon in the future, and there is no mining tax or monopoly.

  The Qin family’s mines in the Central Plains, etc., still have to follow the new regulations, they have to pay the mining tax, and the minerals have to be monopolized to the imperial court. But Li Jingxuan also opened a special channel for Qin Lang, that is, the Lusong Money Casting Supervisor can purchase iron and copper materials from the iron and copper warehouses of the Central Plains Transshipment Department.

  The mint raw materials purchased are transported to Luzon Qianjian, and an additional tariff is paid, and they are guaranteed to be used exclusively for coin minting.

  This tariff is a tentative one-twentieth tax, which is five percent.

  As for the purchase price of raw materials, it depends on the specific situation, and it is roughly based on the market price.

Although compared to the beginning, it is impossible for the Qin family to directly dig and smelt copper and iron from the Central Plains and transport them to Luzon. Buying copper materials from official warehouses, etc., has to pay customs duties.

   There are a few more links, but after all, there are still channels to purchase the copper materials needed for minting coins, and the Luzon Mint Supervisor can start casting money again, and even no longer pay seigniorage tax.

  In fact, the import tariff on raw materials is now used to replace the previous private casting tax.

   This is obviously a gift from Li Jingxuan to Qin Lang.

  The Luzon Coin Minting Supervisor used to be able to mint more than three million guan coins a year at most, and the minting profit was hundreds of thousands of guan.

"Thanks."

  Qin Lang nodded to Li Jingxuan.

   "The Grand Master does not need to thank you, this is just considering the interests of the court, especially the amount of coinage."

  The household envoy Ma Zai also gave Qin Lang something, but in the future, Luzon's banks, money houses, ticket numbers, etc. will also be planned separately in the future, and in principle, Luzon will manage it himself.

  Including banknote issuance reserves, deposit reserves, etc., all banks and money houses in Luzon only need to turn in the proportion stipulated by the imperial court to the Bank of Luzon, and no longer need to turn it over to Kaiyuan Bank in the account department.

   There is no bank called Luzon Bank in Luzon now, but Qin Lang understood the meaning of it in seconds.

As long as the Qin family establishes a Luzon bank in Luzon, it will be equivalent to the Central Bank of Luzon. In the future, local banks and banks in Luzon, including but not limited to those owned by the Qin family, will be directly supervised by this bank. It’s fine to pay everything here, and the Luzon Bank only needs to accept the regular review of the three court divisions.

  As for the Qin family’s banks in the Central Plains, etc., they still have to turn over to the Kaiyuan Bank of the Ministry of Accounts according to the new regulations.

   But no matter what, picking out the entire Luzon area, there are huge benefits in it, and it is also a great care for the teacher Qin Lang.

   Of course, all of this was approved by the emperor.

  But Qin Lang also knew that if the two of them were not his students, who would take the initiative to protect the interests of the Qin family.

  Now that the emperor has just been supported, he needs the support and assistance of Grand Master Qin everywhere. Naturally, there is no reason why he should not allow things involving the Qin family.

  The emperor himself has promoted Luzon to the Luzon state, and now the transshipment department is treating Luzon directly as a vassal autonomy.

  In the future, apart from paying a tax package of one million guan to the imperial court every year, the imperial court will not interfere in other aspects, and will be completely governed by Luzon.

  Looking at these two items, Qin Lang felt very heavy.

   Very precious.

This is indeed what Qin Lang wants right now. Before Li Yin's New Deal, Qin Lang did not easily reject it. After all, Lu Song was an external feudal territory of the Tang Dynasty, and it was not a vassal state or a feudal territory, so he did not refuse it. reason.

  Now the two items of Li Jingxuan and Ma Zai can be said to help Lu Song solve this trouble, and even eliminate worries about the future.

  The shackles on Luzon's body are removed.

   "The national treasury should be sufficient now, right?" Qin Lang asked.

   "Not bad." When Li Jingxuan, Ma Zai, etc. were appointed as the deputy envoys of the Transshipment Department and the Third Department, the first thing they did was to check the account books and treasury.

During the fifteen years since Kaiyuan ruled by the emperor, there have been endless wars. The Korean peninsula alone has been fought for ten years. This Western Expedition is about to begin again.

  The cost of raising soldiers and fighting wars is indeed huge. Fortunately, the imperial court has relatively high fiscal revenue, and the financial situation has always been good.

   "When the new emperor succeeded to the throne, there was still a surplus of 80 million yuan in the treasury. In addition, the grain, salt, cloth, silk, sugar and wine in various warehouses were also worth nearly 200 million yuan."

  Li Yin has been tossing and frothing for fifteen years, and he didn't toss all his family money. It is indeed not bad that he can still have so much savings, but judging from the imperial court's annual revenue of over 100 million yuan, this is only two years of tax revenue.

  If it weren’t for the imperial government’s new industrial and commercial development of sea trade and large-scale mining and metallurgy, with Li Yin’s tossing method, according to the state’s agricultural finance before Zhenguan, I don’t know how many times it would have gone bankrupt.

Only the 200,000 recruits of the Imperial Guards of the North Yam, the number of soldiers raised for a year alone exceeds tens of millions, and the soldiers of the Nan Yamen, although they don’t usually pay, but the officers of the Zhechong Mansion and the Twelve Guards Mansion can Not less.

   Not to mention fighting every year, the military expenditure of this war is extremely high, and there is also the construction of cities and forts.

  The Western Expedition is about to start in an all-round way. If the scale cannot be controlled and the situation cannot be settled quickly, with the little savings of the imperial court, it is estimated that the national treasury will have to be emptied after two years of fighting.

"If there is a gap in military spending, you can consider issuing one or two installments of war bonds. Remember not to impose taxes or apportionments at will, let alone attack businessmen at will. The current good environment has been managed with great difficulty for decades. Don't destroy it easily." Qin Lang suggested.

   Ma Zai is young and speaks directly.

"Actually, the country is not short of money. What I just said is only the money of the treasury. This is not counting the emperor's internal money, which is a large sum. What's more, there are many yamen such as the Taifu Temple, the Shaofu Temple, and the Taipusi. Down below, there are many industries, such as the weaving bureau under Shaofu Temple, and the horse ranch under Taipu Temple."

  Qin Lang also knew about this, these are the government-run industries of the Tang Dynasty, which are state-owned enterprises, and there are also royal industries, which are palace enterprises. From ocean-going trade fleets, to domestic long-distance regional trade, to mining and metallurgy, handmade manufacturing, etc., they are involved in various fields, and often even occupy a large share or even a monopoly. In addition to paying taxes regularly, they themselves also There is a lot of profit left.

  The money is the capital, and it is a very amazing sum when it is drawn.

   Hearing this, Qin Lang felt relieved. As long as the court has money, then fighting a war is not a big deal for the Tang army today.

   The external stability makes the Central Plains even more stable.

   "Teacher, there is one more thing about the purchase of spices."

  Ma Zai took the initiative to bring up the Nanyang Spice Alliance, and said that the Transshipment Department had no intention of interfering with the Nanyang Spice Alliance. However, the consumption of spices in the Central Plains is increasing day by day, so the Transshipment Department, Hubu Division, also has a plan.

In the future, it is planned that the Ministry of Accounting Department will directly place an order with the Nanyang Spice Alliance to order all kinds of Nanyang spices. The transaction method can be that the Nanyang Spice Alliance will transport the spices to Datang and send them to Zhugang, or the Department of Accounting of the Datang Dynasty will send ships to Nanyang ports. to transport.

  The prices of various spices are determined by agreement between the two parties.

  After listening to Qin Lang, he couldn't help but lie in his heart. They wanted to monopolize the import of spices from the Central Plains. In the future, all spices imported from Nanyang must first go through the Department of Household Affairs.

  The Southeast Asian countries united to form a spice alliance to control upstream output and control pricing power. Datang's response was also quick. They also controlled the purchasing power of the Central Plains, a huge spice importing region, in their hands, and then negotiated the purchase price through the market, asking for a discount.

  This is the direct connection between the production area and the demand side, eliminating the need for middlemen.

  In this way, the Household Department can hold greater bargaining power. After all, he holds a huge market. If you don’t talk to him, he won’t let you in.

  One more thing, the Central Plains spice market is so huge, after they monopolize this import right, it means monopolizing huge profits.

   Spices are imported to the ports of the Central Plains, and then distributed to the spice distributors in the Central Plains, and naturally they can make a lot of money.

   Without them you have no spices.

  The Department of Household Department can fight for the bargaining power for the spice alliance in the upstream production area, and it can also have the pricing power for the downstream sellers.

  Eat both ends.

   Then they will be the biggest middlemen.

  I don’t want to go through them unless it is smuggled, but with the tyranny of the four major naval forces of the imperial court, who would dare to smuggle spices at sea?

  Have you thought about the consequences?

"I don't think the imperial court's excessive interference in trade is not a good thing. It can be led by the Household Department to establish some spice import firms. These incense firms can be operated by the palace, government-run, or private. At that time, the imperial court will take the lead in negotiating with the Spice Alliance to purchase spices and strive for bargaining power."

  There is still a difference between the exclusive monopoly of the imperial court on spice imports and the formation of a spice importer's guild through a combination of government and private sector.

  For example, the Qin family has always been a large chamber of commerce for importing spices, and this is also related to the interests of the Qin family. Not to mention, Qin Lang is well aware of the size of the Central Plains spice import market every year and the benefits involved.

  If the imperial court swallowed it all, this matter is prone to accidents.

  Qin Lang hopes that the maritime trade will continue to be stable, and he does not want any troubles to arise.

   "The grand master's proposal is more secure and wise. We will discuss and revise the plan when we go back, and then send it to the grand master for revision."

   Li Jingxuan readily agreed to revise the plan.

  (end of this chapter)