Early in the morning, Zuo Yan and Li Wei hurriedly walked into the big tent. Li Hong was very anxious, and before dawn, he sent Pang De to urge.

"Junyi, Zhong Yuan, can you discuss the way to appease the displaced people?"

"Adults urge again and again, how dare you slack off." Li Wei unfolded the bamboo slip in his hand and said with a smile, "Due to time constraints, we didn't have time to sort it out, so let's talk to the adults first." ”

Li Wei explained to Li Hong in detail the resettlement reclamation of the dynasty, the military and the people's tuntian system, and then put forward several different opinions on the ownership of terra nullius and the issue of taxation. Li Hong thinks the same as Zuo Yan, he also believes that these problems can be discussed again, put aside for the time being, or solve the most difficult and urgent problems first.

Xie Ming and Song Wen then explained how to resettle the displaced people, measure wasteland, repair ditches, and cultivate land.

Zuo Yan finally concluded: "My lord, whether we rent the fields to the displaced people or sell them to cultivate, our early investment is very huge, and our little money is simply not enough. Zhong Yuan and Wen Long and I carefully calculated that it would take about 500 million yuan to settle one million displaced people alone. If you think about it, if these millions of displaced people want to feed and clothe them, move them to the counties of the Shangdang in Taiyuan, build them simple places to live, and let them live, if each person spends 500 yuan, a million people will be 500 million yuan. If we don't do anything, 500 million dollars will be gone. Therefore, if you want to appease the yellow scarves in Taiyuan and Shangdang, and resettle the displaced people in the Taihang Mountains, you must find a way to get another 5 billion yuan, plus our own 2.7 billion yuan, which can barely be maintained until next spring. ”

Li Hong was dumbfounded.

"My lord, when Emperor Wu moved 700,000 people to the south bank of the Yellow River in Beidi County, Xiliang, to open up wasteland and tuntian, the cost in the first year was 11 billion yuan." Yu Peng said with a bitter face, "Now there are millions of displaced people in Taihang Mountain, and there may be more displaced people from Youzhou who have heard the news, so ......."

"Isn't that more expensive than fighting?" Li Hong frowned and asked, "Where can I get so much money, I can't grab it." ”

"My lord, a homeless person has nothing, and we have to pay for them to be fed and clothed, to give them a hut to shelter them from the wind and rain, to give them agricultural seeds, and to plough oxen, and this supply will continue until they harvest the first grain. It's about a year, how much does it take us? In addition, it costs money to appease the Yellow Turban Army, arrange for government officials to implement tuntian, make and buy farm tools and seeds, and repair ditches. Song Wen explained, "When I was working in the Bohai County Government, I used to worry about the resettlement of displaced people, but in the end, I just didn't have money, and I could solve everything with money. ”

"It is useless to count on Your Majesty and the imperial court, we can only rely on ourselves." Li Hong thought for a while, looked at Tang Yun, and asked, "Wenlong, is there a way to make five billion dollars in a short period of time?" ”

Tang Yun said with a smile: "My lord, you can't grab it, where can I make it?" ”

Li Hongwang looked at the people in the tent, and suddenly smiled: "You must have a way, otherwise you wouldn't have come to talk about this." ”

"Alright, say it, say it quickly."

＝＝＝

"Supplement agriculture with business." Li Wei said with a smile, "We thought about it for a long time last night, and we felt that this was the only way to maintain the reclamation of land for a long time. It will take about three to five years for us to continue to invest in the resettlement of displaced people in Bingzhou, and if we encounter natural and man-made disasters, it will probably continue for a few years, so this money is absolutely indispensable. ”

"We plan to reopen the market in Jinyang to attract and encourage merchants from all over the country to come to the border counties to do business and make a lot of money. We collect commercial taxes from them to fill the gap in a portion of the tuntian's money. ”

"Business tax?" Li Hong asked, "Can you make a lot of money then?" Earn money right away? ”

Li Wei smiled and said, "Big money can definitely be earned, but it will take a long time." ”

"In the early years of this dynasty, from Emperor Gaozu to Emperor Wen and Jing, they all implemented the policy of not inhibiting the people, vigorously supporting and encouraging the people to do business, so commerce and trade were very prosperous at that time. At that time, Taiyuan was the key point of north-south transportation, and Jinyang was the place where materials were distributed from all over the country, and merchants mainly bought and sold horses-based livestock products, gold, silver, jewelry and other things. Our merchants exchanged silk, wine, and other fine products with the Huns for livestock and fur products. Because both sides are mutually beneficial, they can get what they want, so the border trade has been prosperous for a long time, and the state's commercial tax revenue is very high. ”

However, since the beginning of Emperor Wu, the emphasis on agriculture and the suppression of business, the city of Jinyang began to decline, and since then, due to the great power of the Hu people, and the loss of several counties in the north of the state, Taiyuan and Jinyang have become the places where the two sides are at war, so there is no such thing as opening the market. During the period of Emperor Guangwu, the state Mu Guo Ji recovered the five northern counties, and soon after, the Xiongnu were divided into two parts of the north and south because of the civil strife between the kings. As a result, the Xiongnu began to decline, and the annexation of the state was gradually stabilized. ”

"The war in Bingzhou has gradually stopped, and the city of Jinyang has gradually recovered, but there is no longer the prosperity of the past." Li Wei said, "In the past few decades, the Xianbei people and the Karasuma people have taken turns to raid the border, and the population of the state has been greatly reduced, so the market is depressed, and there is almost no commercial tax income. If you want to make a lot of money, you have to wait until the market is prosperous. ”

"Zhong Yuan, is there any way to make Jinyang City prosperous immediately?" Li Hong asked.

"If you want to make a lot of money immediately through Jinyang City, you need to have attractive goods." Li Wei said, "To supplement agriculture with business, first of all, we must develop business, and if we want to develop business, we must have a market, and if there is a market, we must have attractive goods, otherwise, if the merchants from all over the country do not come, where will we earn?" You must know that almost all of the money of the Great Han Kingdom is hidden in the homes of these merchants. ”

"Tempting cargo? Goods that make money? Li Hong said with a smile, "In addition to war horses, livestock and grain, what other good things can be taken out and sold here?" ”

"Salt and iron." Li Wei said calmly, "The central and northern parts of Bingzhou are rich in good horses, and there is also a lot of grain to sell after the tuntian fields in the central and southern parts of Bingzhou, but the most profitable ones in Bingzhou are the salt ponds and iron mines in the south. ”

Li Hong's smile froze, and he said a word for a long time: "That's Your Majesty's property, how can we move?" ”

"Hedong salt and iron are the best in the world." Li Wei said with a smile, "In the former dynasty of the Great Qin State, the imperial court was in charge of the mining, manufacturing, transportation and marketing of salt and iron. ”

"It's not from the Great Han Kingdom, it's Your Majesty's." Li Hong said again, "Zhong Yuan, you are so bold that you dare to even touch Your Majesty's property. ”

"My lord, listen to me." Li Wei said with a smile, "I have to tell you carefully about this matter of salt and iron, otherwise, this business will not be able to rise, and if it does not prosper, we will not be able to make money, and without money, there will be no way to solve the matter of millions of displaced people in Taihang Mountain." ”

＝＝＝＝＝＝

"My lord, in the early days of this dynasty, the people were encouraged to do business, and commerce was very developed, why was it suddenly attacked when Emperor Wu arrived? The reason for this is the origin of this salt iron. ”

Li Wei said: "All the mountains, forests and ponds in my Great Han Kingdom belong to Your Majesty alone, so the tax system of my Great Han Kingdom stipulates that all farmland rents belong to the Dasi Nongfu and are paid by the imperial court, and the taxes of the mountains and seas and ponds belong to the Shaofu and are exclusively for the private use of Your Majesty and members of the royal family. ”

"This system was quite reasonable when it was first introduced. The country has a lot of arable land, and the land endowment is a large income, and the mountains, forests, and ponds are small, and the commercial tax is a small income. Returning the large sect to the state and the small sect to the royal family is not His Majesty's selfish self-enrichment. However, with the increase of salt ponds and iron ore, the profits of salt and iron gradually became huge, and the tax on mountains and seas and ponds gradually exceeded the national land rent. This shift in the amount of income was not anticipated at the beginning of customization. The commercial tax exceeded the field rent, and the income of the Shaofu exceeded that of the Dasi Nongfu, and the contradiction immediately appeared. ”

"In the early days of the establishment of this dynasty, the policy of rest and recuperation was implemented, the levy of closing the city was alleviated, and the ban on mountains and rivers was opened, so that the country quickly became rich and the people could be self-sufficient. In terms of salt mining and iron making, the imperial court not only allowed private operations in the county and state, but also allowed private operations, so at that time, there were princes such as Wu Wangbi who became strong by boiling the sea for salt, and there were also wealthy merchants who became rich by iron smelting. ”

"Emperor Wu of this dynasty is eloquent and strategic, courting the Xiongnu, passing through the Western Regions, foreign affairs, and internal utilitarianism, resulting in a huge amount of military spending, exhaustion of finances, and an empty treasury. Emperor Wu not only used up the money of the Dasi Nong Mansion, but also spent the money that the ancestors Wen and Emperor Jing had saved for several lifetimes. ”

"At that time, the people's land rent tax was a fixed amount of one-thirtieth of the amount, which was set by the ancestors and could not be easily changed, so Emperor Wu had to take out the money of Shaofu to supplement the treasury. At the same time, Emperor Wu ordered the wealthy merchants everywhere, the most important of which were the salt and iron merchants, to donate freely like him, but the result made him very angry. Those wealthy businessmen ignored Emperor Wu's edict at all, and they were all very stingy, even if they donated, it was only a little. At that time, the salt and iron merchants were the two largest and most wealthy merchants, and their practice eventually angered Emperor Wu. ”

Emperor Wu was furious. In his opinion, these people's money is earned because of their generosity. By giving up the mountains and seas and ponds to these merchants, they were able to dry salt and smelt iron and make a fortune, but now these people not only do not appreciate it, but trample on their authority. Since you don't feel the emperor's grace and are unwilling to pay money to help the country, then don't run the mountains and seas and ponds of the whole country, and let the imperial court manage it. Therefore, under the advice and auspices of Zhang Tang, Sang Hongyang and other ministers, Emperor Wu implemented the policy of selling salt and iron officials. The imperial court set up salt officials and iron officials in important salt-producing and iron-producing areas to take charge of salt and iron affairs, and private operations were not allowed. ”

"The anger in Emperor Wu's heart was out of control, he felt that the businessmen were all forgetful villains, coupled with the fanning of a group of ministers in the court, it finally caused a catastrophe, the catastrophe of the merchants."

"After Emperor Wu forcibly took salt and iron back into the official camp, he immediately implemented the transportation and trading of important industries such as wine and tea, as well as important materials. At the same time, he decreed that heavy taxes should be levied on all kinds of commerce, and ordered merchants throughout the country to declare their own property and to fine the army for one year if they made false declarations. Those who denounce business are encouraged, and those who are accused will have half of their property confiscated. So the denunciation was out of control. Merchants with more than one million properties across the country were accused, and as a result, all the merchants and above were defeated. Emperor Wu obtained tens of billions of dollars in people's wealth just by denunciating and confiscating property. ”

"Corrupt officials and corrupt officials took the opportunity to fish for meat. The number of merchants arrested by the imperial court reached 60,000 or 70,000, and officials in various localities intensified their efforts, privately increasing the number of arrests to more than 100,000 people, causing chaos among officials and impoverishment of the people, thieves and countless outlaws. It is said that more merchants were killed than the Han army on expeditions to the desert. The early prosperity of commerce in the Great Han Kingdom was destroyed. ”

"There is no one who does not eat salt, and there is no one who does not use iron, but the power to boil the sea into salt and open up mountains and produce iron was taken by Emperor Wu to his own hands. Emperor Wu no longer allowed the merchants to operate without authorization, he ordered the imperial court to select capable officials to burn salt and smelt iron by themselves, and all their tax income went to the imperial court, so salt and iron became the monopoly of the imperial court and the monopoly of the government. ”

For this issue, the government and the opposition debated for a long time, and by the time of Emperor Zhao, the wealthy merchants from all over the country and the three princes and nine kings of the court also had a huge debate on the monopoly of salt and iron, and the content of this debate was recorded in the "Treatise on Salt and Iron". Wealthy merchants from all over the country advocated the opening of the salt and iron industry and private involvement in the salt and iron business, while the imperial court advocated following the old system of Emperor Wu and being monopolized by the government. After the argument, it was still a monopoly of the government. ”

＝＝＝

When Li Wei said this, Li Hong already understood what he meant. Li Wei's meaning is nothing more than that he hopes that Li Hong will write to the imperial court and ask the official sale of salt and iron to be changed to open operation of salt and iron. After the salt and iron allowed private intervention in the operation, the merchants were profitable, and naturally they would gather and merge the state, so that the merchants would prosper, and the money would roll in after the merchants prospered.

"My lord, if you want to make a lot of money immediately, you must open up the salt and iron industry." Li Wei said, "In the past few decades, due to foreign invasions and population loss, salt ponds and iron mines in various parts of the south have come to a standstill, and the commercial tax revenue of this part of the imperial court has long been gone. At present, we ourselves do not have the ability or money to boil salt and open iron, and we can only rely on those merchants to invest money in business, so that the imperial court has income, merchants have interests, and they have money, and we will not gain a lot. ”

"My lord, in the current situation where a lot of money is needed to appease the Yellow Turbans and resettle the displaced people, we only ask for the opening of the salt and iron business in the state, and Your Majesty and the imperial court should be able to accept it." Zuo Yan reminded in a low voice, "What's more, the bulk of the salt and iron income is still taken by His Majesty and the imperial court, why don't they do it?" ”

Li Hong looked at everyone and asked, "How many salt ponds and iron mines are there in the south of Bingzhou?" If you open up your business, can you guarantee that you will make a lot of money in the short term? ”

Li Wei smiled and nodded repeatedly.

Song Wen said: "My lord, there is a lot of salt and iron in Bingzhou, if all of them are put into operation, plus food self-sufficiency in the later period, we can completely feed the 100,000 people and 100,000 troops in Bingzhou." If we do it well, in a few years, we should still have a slight surplus. At the height of the prosperity of the current dynasty, Taiyuan County alone had a population of 680,000, so as long as we have the right strategy, ten years later, we will be able to regain the prosperity of the past. ”

"The salt ponds in Bingzhou are distributed in Taiyuan, Shangdang and Yanmen. This dynasty set up 34 salt officials in 27 counties across the country, of which there were three salt officials in the prefecture, namely Jinyang in Taiyuan County, Loufu and Woyang in Yanmen County. ”

"It was already an important area for iron production during the Warring States period. According to the book "Classic of Mountains and Seas" written by the people of the Warring States period, at that time, the White Horse Mountain in the Bingzhou area was "iron in its yin", Weilong Mountain was "iron in its yin" 300 miles to the south, and Zheshan Mountain was "iron in its yin" 170 miles to the south, and these three mountains were all in the central part of Bingzhou. There are more than a dozen mines in the central and southern parts of the state, and there are also iron officials in the Daling Dynasty. ”

"My lord, if all these salt ponds and iron ore are used, their output is amazing, and their income is huge, and they can solve a large part of the money needed to solve the problem of resettlement of displaced people."

"In addition, there is a money-making thing in the state, and if this thing can be operated by businessmen, it is also a source of money."

Li Hong hurriedly asked, "What is it?" Changfeng, let's talk about it. ”

"Coal." Song Wen replied, "Do you know what coal is?" ”

Li Hong shook his head and said embarrassedly: "It's the first time I've heard of it. What is this thing for? Can you make money? ”

＝＝＝

"My lord, iron smelting in the state is generally used in smelting furnaces, furnaces, and forging furnaces, the main fuel is charcoal, and the main thing that is smelted is sponge iron, which can be used to cast utensils after being melted in a furnace, but if you want to make a sword, you also need to go through a forging furnace (frying steel furnace) to repeatedly fry and forge, and squeeze out the slag to make an indestructible weapon." "The reason why the weapons of the state are famous for being sharp and difficult to break is because they use coal in the forge, not charcoal. Coal burns at a higher temperature and burns for a longer time, but charcoal cannot. ”

"The earliest record of coal can be found in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which reads: 'The mountain of Mengmen is full of jade and gold on it, and there is much topaz and done stone under it.'" 'The mountain of cardia is full of jade, and under it there is much chalk and done stone. This 'Nirvana' is coal, and the 'Mengmen Mountain' is in Hedong, and the 'Benmen Mountain' is in Taihang. Therefore, there is coal in the state, and there is a lot of it, and in many places the entire mountain is full of coal, and you can use it by digging a little bit. ”

"In addition to smelting iron, this thing can also be used to warm wine and roast meat, although the use is not very large, but it can be sold for money, if it can be transported to the rich land of Guanzhong and Kanto, it may be sold for a good price."

"Changfeng is crazy about money, and he even thinks of this kind of idea." Tang Yun said with a smile, "I think, it's better to make more swords, sell them privately, and make more money." ”

"Selling weapons privately is a capital offense." Xie Ming pointed at Tang Yun and smiled, "I think you're crazy about money." ”

The people in the tent laughed.

＝＝＝

"My lord, supplementing agriculture with business is to quickly earn money by reopening Jinyang City and opening up salt and iron, and then use this money to reclaim land and fields." Li Wei said, "But the key issue is that the opening of salt and iron must first obtain the consent of His Majesty and the imperial court; The second is how to make the wealthy businessmen from all over the country get the news quickly and immediately rush to the state to operate; And the most important question is who will support this. ”

"If the imperial court sends a traitor to take charge of salt and iron affairs, then not to mention supplementing agriculture with business, even the resettlement of displaced people has become a luxury."

＝＝＝