Seeing that Prime Minister Lu Yijian was just silent with a calm face, Chen Zhizhong had no choice but to continue: "A few days ago, Wang Bowen, the deputy envoy of salt and iron, went to the Yong'an Imperial Mausoleum to worship, and Xu Ping, the transfer envoy of Jingxi Road, mentioned that at this time, there is a shortage of money in the world, and money and silk have always been parallel, and the price of silk cannot continue to fall like this, and it should be mentioned by the three divisions." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The minister thought that this discussion was quite insightful, and if the price of silk was stabilized, at least the three divisions and the state and county treasury would not lose too much on the books, and the embarrassment of lack of money could be eased slightly. ”

Lu Yijian said in a deep voice: "The government comes forward and buys silk silk, although it can stabilize the price of silk, but the backlog of silk silk collected is nowhere to sell, and the price of silk will fall in a few years, what should it do?" At that time, the books were not good-looking, how to say? ”

Wang Zeng said loudly: "The minister thinks that Xu Ping's proposal is much more feasible than the implementation of the new policy of Qianzhuang, and the silk silk will be put into the treasury, and the price drop in the future can be dealt with calmly, and there will always be a new way." In fact, the price of silk does not fall, and the silk silk will decay in the treasury, and it will not take a few years to become a new silk horse, and how big can the loss be? ”

Silk silk is not a copper coin, storage will be depreciated, and the price of one more year will be discounted for one more year. In particular, there are the most Chen juan in the inner library, and the ten horses that were issued a few days ago can't be a new silk horse, and they will be depreciated if the price does not fall.

Lu Yijian didn't know that Wang Zeng and Cai Qi had just discussed this matter in the political hall just now, thinking that he was habitually against him, and said coldly after listening to his words: "Although the three divisions have been more generous in the past two years, there is not much Chen Juan in the Zuozang treasury, and the tax revenue every summer is just enough to reward, where is the depreciation thing!" Now that we are rashly collecting silk and putting it into storage, if we don't want to sit on the same price and lose money, will we not be able to learn from the previous years to reduce the rationing of officials and sergeants? ”

Song Shou, who had not spoken, said at this time: "What Lu Xianggong said is that there may be some silk in the state and county, all of which are money-saving things, and the amount is not much. The left treasury has to manage the clothes of the officials, plus the forbidden army, and there is really no silk. Now I buy it from the private sector and have to store it in the treasury, then the depreciation and the price fall are added, and I don't know how much I will lose at that time. ”

Zhao Zhen, who was sitting on it, was silent, his own inner treasury Chen Juan had the most, and he really didn't have the confidence to speak. Since Emperor Taizong, he has continuously expanded the financial resources of the Inner Treasury, and Emperor Zhenzong has expanded again, and now there are dozens of state armies whose money and silk are directly handed over to the Inner Treasury. There are very few people who go out of the inner library, and the oldest Chen Juan is more than ten years ago.

Wang Zeng had a delicate face, he was old at this time, he looked kind, and he spoke without hurry: "It was before that there was not much silk in the house, but this year is different." Otherwise, where did the tens of millions of tickets in Henan come from? If they don't use silk copper coins or gold and silver, how can there be three divisions that can't exchange flying tickets? Chen Longtu, I don't know if what I'm saying is right? ”

Chen Zhizhong said respectfully: "What Xiang Gong said is that most of the flying tickets in various states and counties are paid by guests in silk silk, and at this time there are already a lot of people who have come to Beijing, and there are indeed a lot of silk in the Zuozang Treasury at this time. Moreover, because of the decline in the price of silk, many state troops who issued a lot of tickets have lost money and food because of this, and how to take the exam has not yet been decided. ”

At this time, although the general ledger is often summarized by words such as the two stones, it is to add the number of money, the number of stones of grain, the number of silk and the two numbers of silver, and sometimes the number of grass is added. However, in the actual sub-accounts, these units are not regarded as equivalent, but are converted according to the market price. In this way, the state army, which has issued a lot of tickets, may have a good economic development in the territory this year, and the money and grain in charge could have been able to pass the examination, but as a result, it will be dragged down by the decline in the price of silk, and it may suddenly become a negative number. Of course, the magistrate regarded this as a non-war crime and was not satisfied with the results of such an evaluation. The three divisions in charge of the money and grain examination also agree that it is unfair and are trying to find ways to make adjustments, but there is no definite conclusion yet.

Wang Zeng said loudly: "Because cotton cloth is sold well this year, most of the people's silk may have received the treasury of the state and county, and the price of silk has fallen at this time, and what has fallen is the money and grain of the imperial court." I think what Xu Ping said makes sense, and the court should discuss it in detail! ”

Lu Yijian was speechless for a while and did not answer.

In fact, how many new silk in a year can be roughly estimated, the number of summer taxes is certain, the proportion of tax revenue is basically stable over the years, it is not difficult to calculate the folk silk according to the summer tax. It's a pity that this kind of detailed statistics was only done by the Salt and Iron Division when Xu Ping was there, and the two divisions of Duzhi and Hubu did not. But what is certain is that the number of unpaid tickets in Henan Province has exceeded the two taxes, and the people's silk is only afraid that it will really be concentrated in the government.

Seeing that Lu Yijian didn't speak, Zhao Zhen said to Wang Zeng: "According to the public's opinion, Xu Ping's claim is really feasible?" ”

Wang Zeng praised: "The minister thinks it is feasible!" Jingxi Road cotton cloth is selling well, and it seems that it may increase year by year in the future, and the price of silk will inevitably fall. At this time, the imperial court collected silk, which can be said to be Yin's food, although it is difficult to solve a moment, but there are indeed hidden dangers. ”

Lu Yijian said coldly: "Of course there is a hidden danger!" The so-called cutting off the flesh of the heart and making up for the sores in front of the eyes, is it so easy to eat the grain? Push the difficulties to the back, and I'm afraid it will become a big problem at that time! There are more and more cotton cloths, so will the summer tax of the imperial court be collected in the next year? Do you want the people to hand over cotton cloth? If it doesn't change, that's really hard! ”

Yan Shu on the side said: "At this time, the people are not prepared, how can they change to cotton." The summer tax of the next year will naturally be levied as usual, otherwise there will be a big mess. ”

Lu Yijian said in a deep voice: "Yes, don't just look at the silk in front of you, but also look at the back." The summer tax remains unchanged in one year, but the two years remain the same? Three years of change? The number of horses in the summer tax remains unchanged, but the price of silk has fallen, and the county officials' money and grain will be short, where to make up for it? If the price of silk falls and the people pay more, then a family grows mulberry and raises silkworms, and the women are just weaving so many horses all year round, where to go? It has become a gratuitous exploitation of the people! ”

Wang Zeng whispered: "At this time, it is impossible for the imperial court to avoid some losses. In fact, there is nothing, the sale of cotton cloth is equivalent to a lot of money and grain out of thin air, and the loss of silk is nothing, enough to make up for it. Naturally, the summer tax is still collected as before, and it is impossible for households to lose more silk. The first emperor had an edict, not to increase the endowment, and to trap Li Yuan, His Majesty naturally could not go against the will of the first emperor. As for the silk that is collected, don't find a way. ”

Lu Yijian snorted coldly: "What is the way out?" Silk silk is nothing more than clothing to keep out the cold, now the cotton cloth on Jingxi Road is cheaper and more exquisite than silk, and the more and more silk silk is sold to whom? As for saying that cotton cloth collects more money and grain, hmph, I haven't seen the extra money and grain now, but the court has countless troubles! Xu Ping was young and vigorous, and he was bent on showing his merits, but he didn't think about it carefully, and he did things too quickly and coarsely, so he caused this endless incident! In my opinion, he can't be allowed to go on like this again, and if he says the silk silk according to his intentions this time, I don't know what will happen next year! ”

Lu Yijian said this, and the hall fell silent for a while.

Now it is the third division that owes the money and grain to Jingxi Road, and Lu Yi's words changed sharply, saying that Xu Ping was making trouble for the court for no reason, and the meaning changed. From the perspective of the center, it is true that there is no shadow of the extra money and food on Jingxi Road, but trouble is coming.

(Note: County official was a common term at the time, referring to the imperial court or the state, not to the meaning of the county or the county order.) ）