When the new army of the expedition returned to Liangzhou City, there was a lot of noise outside Liangzhou City, and the annual Winter Games would start tomorrow. Every time the new army comes back from the expedition, it is warmly welcomed by the people, but this time everyone's enthusiasm is a little low, and there are even some who are not very happy.

"Uncle, we won the battle, why are the people unhappy?" This kind of emotion was not only felt by Hong Tao, but also by the three princes, who were very incomprehensible.

"They are afraid that their officials will participate in the competition, and then they will snatch away the first 100 acres of pioneer land!" Hong Tao reached out and touched his beard, but he didn't touch it, and he couldn't pretend to be Zhuge Liang.

"Who is my uncle going to give the land to this year?" One hundred acres of pioneer land, Zhao Kui's eyes lit up, and he gave Chen Niang a look.

"Well, this year, this official will not participate, so as not to continue to be scolded." It's a pity that Hong Tao's answer disappointed Zhao Wei, and the opportunity to earn pocket money is gone.

Hong Tao really didn't participate, even if the people didn't scold him, he didn't plan to participate. Because this year's route has changed, it no longer runs along the Shiyang River, but changes to Lotus Mountain in the southwest. Hong Tao didn't even get the top 100 results without ice sledding cheating, so he simply didn't participate in order to retain his prestige.

As for who is the first in the end, who got a hundred acres of pioneer land, Hong Tao didn't bother to inquire at all, as soon as he entered the city, Sidi came in with a large stack of ledgers.

"Is your body healed? Let Mrs. Lian and the official talk about it. "Sidi just gave birth to a son in mid-October, and it's only been a month now, don't look at this son without a name or a point, but Hong Tao still feels sorry for her.

"Sidi's health is good, but the income of adults is very bad!" The body of the white man is indeed different, after giving birth to a child and resting for a few days, he can be resurrected with full blood, and his combat power is even stronger than when he was not born. As far as Sidi speaks, he has more confidence than Hong Tao.

"Oh, how can it be bad? What's wrong? "Even if Sidi is still in confinement, Hong Tao can't take care of it, what is the income is very bad, the economic development trend of Huangzhou and Ganliang Road is thriving, and more than half of the fist products are their own, and it is not bad for public and private.

“…… With the wisdom of adults, there is no need for Sidi to explain! "But looking at Sidi's appearance, it's really not good, otherwise she wouldn't be so rude. Even if he has a son, he still respects the adult on weekdays.

"You're saying gold is draining!" With a stomach full of wonder, Hong Tao opened the account book, one after another, and the more he looked at it, the more he wondered, until he finally had some harvest after reading the last one.

These ledgers are not the government's taxes and expenditures, nor the enterprises, but the Huangzhou Bank and the Liangzhou Bank. It's okay to read the first few books, but it's a bit problematic to look at the last general ledger.

Since the reform of the currency system, the bank's gold reserves have been positive, but since the beginning of this year, this positive number has become smaller and smaller, and by the autumn it has become negative.

The gold figure does not represent the income of the people, nor does it reflect the level of government taxes, and it has little to do with the profitability of each enterprise.

But it illustrates a problem, there is a deficit in foreign trade between Huangzhou and Ganliang Road! As the saying goes, Huangzhou and Ganlianglu lost money as a whole when they were doing business with others.

This loss is an overall loss, not an average loss. For example, the major workshops must have made money, but the wealth in the hands of the people was not spent on Huangzhou and Ganliang Road, but was earned by outsiders, and the amount even exceeded the total foreign trade profits of Huangzhou and Ganliang Road.

In the long run, the economy of Huangzhou and Ganliang Road will shrink more and more, because the people have no purchasing power, everyone is poor, but the major workshops will not be poor.

"My lord is indeed wise, Huangzhou Bank and Liangzhou Bank have checked the treasury three times, and they have checked the accounts several times, but they have not figured out how the gold is gone. In the end, it was through Phoenix's tax accounts that I saw the eyebrows, and there was only one reason, a piece of tea! ”

Sidi's sycophancy must be sincere, several of their bank managers have been stunned for a month, but they haven't figured it out, and this handsome master has come to the correct conclusion without looking at the accounts of the tax superintendent.

But it is useless to just come to the right conclusion, you have to find a way to solve it. What can be done, Sidi is really not idle, she not only held a meeting within the bank to think about it, but also discussed it with the people in the clan several times, racking her brains and still unable to solve it.

The price of tea was very high in the Song Dynasty, and it was higher in the north because they were produced in the south. The most famous is Jiancha on Fujian Road, Sichuan also produces tea, but like many goods in Sichuan, it is not allowed to be sold in Sichuan, and can only be sold locally.

In ancient times, the cost of long-distance transportation of goods, especially those who were afraid of tide, heat, cold, and bumps, was very high. Take tea as an example, the ancients did not have plastic bags to package, and could not be transported in fragile clay pots, and the price of transportation from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Huangzhou has more than doubled.

In addition to the shipping costs, the price of the tea itself is not low. The mainstream tea in the Song Dynasty was called slice tea and wax tea, which was very different from the tea leaves of later generations, but it was very similar to brick tea.

This kind of tea is very troublesome to make, and it is even more troublesome to drink, you can't brew it directly with water, you have to break it with a tea knife first, then use a special small mill to grind it into powder, and finally add a variety of spices, and it is thicker than coffee after brewing. The taste is varied, but none of them are similar to the tea leaves of later generations.

The mainstream is slice tea and wax tea, but what about the non-mainstream? Loose tea, that is, tea leaves that are similar to those of later generations. However, the yield of this kind of tea is not high, and the quality is not high, and it is basically the scraps and by-products of making slice tea and wax tea.

Loose tea is generally only drunk by the peddlers and pawns in the big cities, and the rural people in the non-tea-producing areas drink some during the New Year's Festival.

This is the case in the mainland, but what about border trade? All the border trade is a piece of tea, which is generally made into a small square, and there is a hole in the middle, which can be strung into a string, and the unit of measurement is not a catty or two but a crotch.

The crotch is a metal block or jade block on the belt, and the size of the piece of tea can be imagined. Generally, twenty crotches are a catty, and the price of each crotch ranges from consistent to dozens of crotches. There are not many wax teas, because wax tea is a fine product in the piece of tea, and the price is more expensive, so it will not do border trade.

The reason for this is very simple, both flakes and wax teas are deeply processed, which is smaller and easier to transport than loose tea, and is less afraid of moisture

。

It's okay if the price is high, anyway, the people who can afford tea in the north are not poor, they don't have money to buy it, they usually exchange it for special products such as livestock, furs, and precious stones.

Huangzhou and Ganliang Road did not even have this kind of treatment, tea was a commodity forbidden by the imperial court, and border trade was controlled by the imperial court. Huangzhou and Ganliang Road are not special zones, and everything is different from others.

Yes, people also made special arrangements to cut off the border trade between Huangzhou and Ganliang Road. There is no longer any border trade import, and all tea is purchased by mainland merchants from the government and then transported in, which is equivalent to an additional intermediate link and another layer of skin.

In the past two years, Huangzhou's economy has developed rapidly, and the people have spare money in their hands, and the locals who originally regarded tea as a luxury have begun to learn from the mainlanders to enjoy it. They no longer take a little tea to make a big pot of tea to drink, thinking that it is too low-end, and they also play with the mainlanders to drink a piece of tea. As a result, the demand for tea in Huangzhou has risen rapidly, and the sales volume has increased year by year.

Just imagine, the sweater, sweater, pants, wool cloth made in the woolen mill, the price of a set or a horse is not as big as 20 pieces of tea. The hard-earned money of the common people was swept away by these high-grade teas in an instant, and the gold of the mainland merchants who came to buy goods turned around and followed the tea leaves, so there was no deficit.

"The tea is very good, and our people love to drink it. But if this continues, the price of gold will soar, and they will take our gold with tea and sell it to us at a high price. Everything that adults have done before is tantamount to making profits for others, and there is no hope for our land. ”

Sidi pinned all her hopes on this adult, or her lover. But seeing that Hong Tao also bowed his head and was silent, he was also a little anxious, for fear that this adult would not realize the seriousness of the matter, and explain the consequences in detail, trying to attract attention.

"Then I can't order the people to drink tea, can I? You go to the city lord, and there are some things I need to figure out before I can give me the appropriate way to deal with them. ”

Sidi said everything Hong Tao understands very well that this seemingly complex economic problem is really not a problem in later generations, it is too pediatric, and it is not difficult to deal with. But there is still a question that needs to be clarified, and the person who can answer this question is not currently in Liangzhou City.

"Adults don't really want to ban tea!" Sidi was surprised, she wanted the man she trusted to be wise, but she didn't expect to be so smart. It's only been half an hour since I came back, what can I do?

These days, she has almost looked for people in Huangzhou City and Liangzhou City who are qualified to know this matter and have the ability to understand this matter, and everyone has been studying it for more than half a month and a half and has no clue, unless it is really forbidden to trade tea by the government.

"Do you think that's inappropriate?"

Hong Tao put down the accounts in his hand, got up and sat on his dirt sofa, patted his thigh again, and motioned for Sidi to sit down as well. Since she was pregnant for half a year, she has never made love to her again, and this body has not only not been destroyed by giving birth, but it seems to be more rounded.

This is detrimental to the prestige of the adults, and it is also inconsistent with the consistent advocacy of the adults. The people need tea, and they will do whatever it takes to smuggle it in. If the punishment is heavy, there will be complaints, and if the punishment is light, it will not help. ”

Sidi is not rejecting this way of chatting, she also wants to return to the arms of this man as soon as possible, but at this moment she really can't raise a little desire, even if she sits on the man's lap and enjoys the familiar big hands, her mind is still thinking about tea.