After a few days, the Lingling has been calm, the inaction of the Xian State has accelerated the private activities of the countries, and the foreign dynasty is not at ease, and the daily court must mention the transaction, as if the Manchu Dynasty can not live without doing business.

But on the afternoon of the second day of the fifth lunar month, Mooney suddenly announced a bidding deal, and the news quickly caused an uproar in Chenling. The news soon reached the palace and reached the state political supervisor:

"Yongxing Hou, Yongxing Hou......" Gao Xun shouted as he walked, and hurriedly came to Baili Yan: "I just got the news from the Jin Xuedi people, and they proposed that all countries trade at the same time, and whoever has the lowest price will have to trade." And they trade inferior goods first, and finally they trade high-quality goods. ”

"And things like that!" Bai Liyan pretended to be surprised, and then said, "Is the news accurate?" ”

"It is very conclusive, it is the foreign deacon who they have come to inform them, and most of the other princes have also received the news. I just made a rough calculation, if it is a bidding transaction, my Xianguo will lose a lot! ”

"Don't panic, don't panic, what about Lord Nuo?"

"Lord Nuo is still negotiating with other countries outside the palace, and he should have known the news, and most of them are rushing back to the palace at this time."

"Then let's wait for the time being, and make arrangements after Lord Nuo returns to the palace to discuss."

"Well, if the king learns the news, he doesn't know how to be angry." After finishing speaking, Gao Xun paced back and forth with his hands in his hands, and said while pacing: "I really didn't expect Jin Xuedi to make such a move, this is a bad thing." Under the competition of various countries to reduce prices, our country has suffered huge losses, how can this be good. ”

"Don't worry about Lord Gao, it's not too bad right now."

Bai Liyan comforted, Gao Xun was puzzled and hurriedly asked:

"Why did Da Si Nong say this?"

"Master Gao, you think, Mooney trades with my Xianguo, how can he not take care of the face of my Xianguo."

"So what, he is a barbarian, how can he make profits for the princes of the Central Plains."

"It is absolutely impossible to make profits, but the method of bidding can break the current deadlock. And don't they also say that they trade inferior goods first, and then they trade superior goods. The largest output of goods in our country is cotton cloth, and there is no one who can bid with our country. ”

"But there is little cotton, and silk is the big head in exchange for gold and silver."

"There are government-run weaving workshops in the treasury, and the annual output is considerable, and a lot of inventory has been accumulated over the years, and the price is comparable to that of Liang State, which is enough to earn back a lot of gold and silver. In addition, many of the goods produced by our Xianguo are monopolized by me, and the people of Jin Xuedi can only buy from the country. ”

"That's a good thing, but what can the prince do? Most of the silk merchants in Xianguo are better with the prince, and such a huge transaction is competing to lower the price, and the silk merchants can not compete with Liang Guo for profit, and in the end they can't do anything, and it is my Xianguo that suffers. ”

"But where there is no perfection, there will be gains and losses, taking a step back, the method of bidding has broken the current deadlock, so that my Xianguo is no longer so passive, this is the only point, not gold and silver can be exchanged."

"What should the silk merchants do, these silk merchants are all noble and wealthy families, and they have a lot to do with the prince, if they can't do anything, won't they make the prince lose face."

"The method of bidding is proposed by Jin Xuedi, what does it have to do with the prince. Moreover, the buying and selling transaction price is low, and the high-quality ones get it, who makes them have high cost and low output. What's more, the profit of a piece of silk is amazing, and the profit in the middle is so much, they only need to lower the price to sell the goods. ”

Cotton cloth from cotton to cotton yarn, cotton cloth, dyed cloth layer by layer process is not less than silkworm raising. Compared with the process and raw materials of silkworm farming, more than half of the cotton in Xianguo still needs to be imported from Zhiguo and Jinguo, and too much profit and tariff are added in the middle, and the price of import is not cheap, and it is necessary to finally balance the price of domestic cotton and spin it into cotton yarn weaving.

In terms of labor and production cycle, the current cotton cloth needs to pay the unit labor and raw materials, logistics cost and silk is not very different, the significant cost difference in the scale of looms and silkworms, cotton looms and spinning machines are indeed much higher than silk looms.

Only one person is needed for spinning and weaving, and three people are needed for silk burning and spinning in the process of raw silk becoming mature silk, one person for blanking, one person for silk burning, and one person for spinning. In the weaving process, ordinary silk fabric looms need at least two people, such as brocade, satin and other jacquard high-grade fabrics, they need four to five people, and cotton looms do not consider special widening of the door width, at most two. Even with improved looms, the ratio of efficiency between the two does not change much until it is fully mechanical.

Since silk is three to four times more labor-intensive than cotton, it makes sense that silk is more expensive at a time when productivity is not high. However, the price of cotton remains high due to the multiple effects of the road and tariffs in the production area.

In view of the fact that the cotton of the Zhiguo and Jin Kingdoms, which are three or four thousand miles away, will be transported to the Xianguo by water, the transportation cost will rise sharply, and the size of the ship directly determines the total amount of each transportation. As a result, the import price of cotton dilutes the labor cost of silk, so the cost of cotton cloth is relatively much higher.

When the total number of silk fabrics is far less than that of cotton cloth, the price is often dozens of times, and the gap between brocade and satin is as high as 100 times. Of course, the production process of brocade and satin is complex, the cycle is longer and the efficiency is lower, and the higher price is reasonable.

The high price of silk fabrics provided huge profits for silk merchants who were not controlled by the government, and silkworm farming required more encroachment on high-quality arable land for mulberry planting, freeing up more manpower to raise silkworms and spin silk, and engage in silk production activities, which did not bring basic necessities. In agrarian societies with low labor, mass production of silk fabrics meant a reduction in arable land.

The silk merchants of Xianguo controlled a large amount of excellent land, and at the same time used the profits made from silk to accumulate an astonishing wealth, and the huge wealth was neither fully participated in market economic activities and industrial investment, nor was it used to open up land for cultivation and make up for the agricultural losses of mulberry encroachment on cultivated land, but was hoarded at home and waited for an opportunity, and when a large amount of capital was gathered in the hands of the powerful, it would eventually form hot money to win higher capital profits.

And the biggest profit commodity at the moment is power.

Those silk merchants and magnates who were attached to the crown prince all hoped that the crown prince would give them more economic privileges and a share of interests after he ascended the throne, which meant that the silk merchants were more willing to invest their money in political operations.

When bad capital carries out capital profit-seeking activities for the purpose of dividing up the interests of the country and the people, it will eventually overturn all the existing systems and social stability that continue to improve, which is obviously not the result that Bailiyan wants to see.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to bid for a severe blow to the arrogance of the silk merchants and deprive them of the opportunity to get rich overnight, it is more conducive to the long-term peace and stability of the political situation in the Xian State, and after the crown prince ascends the throne, a new powerful group of powerful elites will not be formed in a hurry.

Now that King Xian is old and the transfer of power is becoming more and more urgent, Gao Xun thinks about the interests of the prince everywhere, in order to assist the prince in the future to establish a relationship between the monarch and the minister, so that the prince will not ascend the throne and replace the old ministers on a large scale and hire new people.

But in Bailiyan's opinion, it was a bit too hasty. At present, the power of the cabinet is stable, except for the Marquis of Dingyang, any decision made by the crown prince that is contrary to the stability of the regime will not be approved by the cabinet, and orders must be issued by the cabinet, and no major political measures can be implemented without the support of the financial and military forces.