Tian He had read these things a long time ago, and he was quite unimpressed with Guan Zhong's answer, thinking that it was obviously wrong, how could he turn seizure into giving? Or even make people happy to do so?

After the Sishang Mo family began to develop, Tian He was even more puzzled.

The land tax on Sishang used to be fifteen taxes and one tax, and later became twelve taxes and one tax, so where did the Mo family get so much grain to support various activities?

He thought of Guan Zhong's words at that time, and then thought about it hard, and the strategists also guessed their own guesses, and it wasn't until not long ago that he finally understood where the Mo family's things came from.

Indeed, the land tax of the Mo family was very small.

However, the Mo family sold iron and salt.

The Mo family did not force the people to buy iron, nor did they buy salt than the people, and the people felt that it was natural to exchange grain for iron and salt, and it could not be said that they would get iron tools without giving food.

The iron of the Mohists was monopolized, or the market competition was liberalized, but the means of iron-smelting of the Mohists were far superior to the existing iron-making technology of the times, and no businessman had the ability and financial resources to contend and confront the Mohists who owned the entire Sishang with tens of thousands of people: either cooperate or go bankrupt.

Therefore, Sishang seems to have a fifteen taxes, but in fact, the people pay a lot of food every year to pay for various developing handicrafts.

According to Tian He's understanding, this is exactly the "reason for not seeing the seizure", the Mo family did not pay heavy taxes, nor did they force the people to buy those handicraft products, but it led to a large amount of wealth and food concentrated in the hands of the Mo family.

How to do this, which is the so-called "goose feathers and not goose crowing" in later generations, is very profound, but Qi has begun to discuss it a hundred years ago.

After thinking about this section, Tian He was covered in cold sweat, and he carefully looked at those things from more than 100 years ago, wondering what to do.

So he finally understood.

"Therefore those who have five grains and corn are also the commanders of the people; The golden knife cloth is also the currency of the people. The first king was good at controlling his currency to control his order, so the people's strength could be exhausted. ”

If the treasury wants to be abundant, it must understand two truths.

And the key to it is that "the golden knife cloth is the currency of the people", that is to say, currency is just a general equivalent, and those who are really good at governing the country need to use these general equivalents to regulate the market, so that the treasury can get what the prince wants.

It is said: the king has the wealth of mountains and seas, and those who are not civil are enough, and they are handed over to the superior with their careers.

If a king wants to fight, he must have food in his hands, but does the king have to have food in his hands? Is it necessary to levy a strict tax in kind on land in order to accumulate grain and prepare for war?

Guan Zhong's answer is that there is no need, it is necessary to go around in a circle and make good use of the "currency of the people", and if you want food, you do not necessarily have to levy a strict land tax in kind, but use the monarch's "wealth of mountains and seas" to obtain currency, and the people lack currency, so they will naturally sell a large amount of grain in exchange for currency.

So how do you control the price of money? Since it is believed that "the golden knife and cloth, the currency of the people", and that money itself is only an equivalent that can be manipulated in price, then there is always a way to manipulate it.

Guan Zhong believes that "the three coins are not to be warm, and the food is not to be full. ”

In other words, the role of gold and money is an equivalent, as long as it is an equivalent, it can be manipulated. In other words, how much a minute of corn is worth is the equivalent of money; In exchange for how much corn is worth in exchange for a piece of gold, that is, corn is used as an equivalent, so money is not born with sacredness.

Although he did not explain why gold was naturally a currency, he understood the concept of equivalents at this time and proposed the idea of "price manipulation".

In this regard, Guan Zhong gave an example.

"The king of this day asks for the people, and orders it to be ten days, and then the Jash of the property will go to one; If the order is said to be eight days, then the Jash of the property will go to two; If it is ordered to be five days, half of the Jash of the property will be gone; When the order is set up, the Jash of the property goes to nine. ”

This is only an extreme hypothetical example, but the chaos of the implementation of the monetary tax in the Ming Dynasty two thousand years later, can be read in parallel:

If you want to make metal currency depreciate in a certain period of time, you only need to change the tax in kind into a monetary tax, for example, if a large amount of money tax is levied now, then the price of physical goods will fall in the short term, because people need to exchange the physical goods in their hands for currency as soon as possible, which can make people who have money get more wealth: Guan Zhong believes that with his own means, Qi Huan Gong must be the richest in Qi country; And in later generations, of course, this was the time when merchants, large landowners, and wealthy could borrow money and taxes.

However, the state of Qi did not actually implement a monetary tax on a large scale, and even the tax in kind was still fighting hard against the rent of labor.

The things speculated by this theory do not take into account the problems of monetization of taxes and taxes, short-term usury, and price reduction of wealthy merchants during the tax payment period brought about by the monetary tax and currency circulation, but what the theory needs is to continue to make up for it.

Therefore, the historical experience of Qi country, in fact, has the means and system of truth in rich countries, and it is rare to see how to implement it according to the current situation.

Since it is a system, it is natural to have supporting content.

To do this, there are three more prerequisites.

First, the mountains and seas belong to the king, and the king should be good at using this ownership to obtain wealth.

Second, the private economy, which is outside the government-run economy, must be developed so that the people can exchange a lot of money, so that they can sell grain without money.

Thirdly, the people must be profitable in managing the land, and have a surplus after deducting taxes and what they eat, only in this way can the development of industry and commerce be promoted, and the ownership of the mountains and seas obtained by the king can earn enough money, and this money can be converted into what the king wants.

In view of these three points, Tian He carefully studied and finally understood the various means of reform and system principles derived from these three points.

In view of the third point, that is, the people should have a surplus in land management, this is the foundation and the most important thing, because agriculture is the foundation of industry and commerce.

In this regard, Guan Zhong proposed two methods, which complement each other.

One is to assess the fertility of the land, formulate different tax standards, and form a differential rent.

In order to form a differential rent, it is necessary to "share the goods with it".

Within the scope of the direct jurisdiction of the Marquis of Qi, the "public land" system was abolished, and the land was distributed to the people, and the ownership still belonged to the monarch, so as to ban the labor rent of the people who "dare to govern their own affairs after official affairs", and replace it with rent in kind, so as to stimulate the enthusiasm of the people.

Looking at the world, the changes in Qin, Wei and other places are basically the same routine, and the reason why this method of "sharing goods with it" cannot be implemented in an earlier era is actually the essence of the "good governance" in the so-called "Nine Paradises" of the Mohists: the system of insufficient productivity is evil government in more ancient times, that is, the "in" in the Mohist debate - Yao's policy we look good because we stand now to see Yao's era, so he can govern, but if Yao's policy is put to the present, Not only is he unable to govern, but he has become a bad government.

The reason for this is that productivity is low, without which effective exploitation is impossible. Guan Zhong believed that the level of productivity in the Qi Huan era had completely abandoned the labor rent, and the labor rent was abolished with differential rent and rent in kind.

After the death of Duke Qi Huan, Qi had a long period of civil strife, the dispute between the five princes and the subsequent rebellion of the Tian family, all of which made the Qi State not advance but retreat in the past hundred years, and there was no way to implement such a policy, and there were not enough grassroots officials to promote, plus the male lords of the Duke of Qi Huan could not curb the aristocracy and had to divide the power of the two families, and all these beautiful ideas could only stay in theory.

Since this is a system, there is naturally a supporting content.

After solving the problem of agriculture, it is necessary to solve the problems of the development of industry and commerce, and the resulting gap between the rich and the poor.

In this regard, the academic school of Qi believes that the following points should be paid attention to in taxation.

"The husband is a housekeeper, and it is said to be ruined; With six animal registrations, it is said to stop life; With the acre of land, it is said to be forbidden to cultivate; With a righteous person's nationality, it is said to be divorced; With a positive household registration, it is said to win. ”

That is, if a house tax is levied, the house will be destroyed.

If the six-animal tax is levied, the breeding of the six animals will be restricted.

If a tax is levied on the acreage, it will destroy farming.

If a poll tax is levied, it will result in sterilization.

If taxes are levied on a household-by-household basis, this is equivalent to giving preferential treatment to the wealthy.

The example of these five types of taxes is that the monarch can collect taxes, and he can also adjust the country's economy based on the types of taxes: if you want to encourage horse breeding, then do not levy horse taxes; If you want to promote population growth, then abolish the poll tax......

Relying on the tax policy to adjust the economic bias, and at the same time relying on the state to control the "currency of the people" and "the life of the people" to macro-control prices, so that economic development, the money in the hands of the monarch can get more goods.

In addition, the economic school of Qi believes that "if the people are rich, they cannot be punished, and if the laws and regulations are not good, the country will not be governed, and the rich and poor will not be equal." ”

That is to say, in taxation, it is also necessary to take into account the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor, and it is necessary to rely on taxation to adjust the gap between the rich and the poor and implement progressive taxation.

For example, if the funeral tax is collected, the person who has a thick burial needs to pay more tax because he has money and is not bad for it; The person who was buried in thin was taxed a small amount because he had no money.

For example, taxes are levied according to the luxury of the house, and these taxes are added to the indirect tax, for example, the mountains and forests belong to the monarch, so whoever has a thick beam and a heavy coffin must buy a large wood, so the price of a large wood is dozens of times more expensive than a small wood.

In this way, we can implement direct progressive taxation and indirect progressive taxation, use taxation to regulate the rich and the poor, and use money and grain to control prices, so that the gap between the rich and the poor will not be too large, and we can also make more wealth in our hands.

For this reason, the economic school of Qi believes that the "Bureau of Statistics" has been established, and the name at this time is "National Railway".

The responsibilities of the "national railway" are as follows: "How many fields are in a certain township? What are the personnel criteria? How much does the valley weigh? How many people are there in a certain county? How many fields? How many coins are used? How much does the valley weigh and the Chinese currency? Eat people all year round, and how many of the rest? Said: A certain township girl has won the event all year round, and how many of her achievements have come? With meritorious deeds straight from time to time, at the end of the year, after the person has been clothed, how many clothes remain? Don't group tracks, it's advisable to be close to each other. ”

The "national track" statistical bureau should not only carry out the statistical summary tables of various localities as the basis for policy adjustment, but also pay attention to secrecy. ”

If the "national railway" does not pay attention to secrecy and leaks the statistical exchange table, it may lead to the rich manipulating prices and using this information to obtain profits, thus endangering the interests of the monarch. In other words, as the country's largest speculator and usurious lender, the monarch must beware of businessmen knowing inside information.

PS: (The national track can basically be regarded as: the Central Bureau of Statistics and the National Bank in the theoretical sense.) It's not that it's unreasonable, but it's very reasonable but it's too advanced, it's a bit too advanced, not to mention that the steps are too big and pulling the eggs, which is simply too big a step and the crotch is broken...... Qi Guo can't do it at all, and there are some, some of the means to make money, which is simply understood as a trick of golden yuan. ）