Chapter 164 The Difference Between Merchants and Capitalists

At 7:00 am, Zhao Jun did not enter the palace today.

It is already December 28th, the end of the year, and the New Year will come in two days. The entire court has entered a state of rest.

The holidays in the Song Dynasty were very long, starting from the winter solstice and lasting until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the next year. The intermittent holidays lasted for a month, and there were only about ten days of working time in between.

The reason is that the father of Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, died on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that there would be three days of holiday before and after the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, which became a convention.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, because his mother's birthday was on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the court stipulated another three days of holiday, which was equivalent to one golden week for one death anniversary plus one birthday, starting from the beginning of December, and first seven days of holiday.

However, this is not over yet. Before these two holidays, there is also a winter solstice, and the court stipulated a seven-day holiday. The winter solstice plus these two holidays, the New Year will come in a few days, and it will be held until the third day of the first lunar month.

The problem is that during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, it was said that a heavenly book descended to the human world, so an edict was issued to set the third day of the first lunar month as the Tianqing Festival, and officials could take an extra five days off.

This break lasted until the Lantern Festival, and in the Song Dynasty, the Lantern Festival was also considered part of the Spring Festival, and there was also a seven-day holiday.

That is to say, from the winter solstice at the end of November to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the following year, in less than two months, the Spring Festival holiday at the end of the year in the Song Dynasty lasted for thirty-three days, and the rest time was very long.

Now it is during the Spring Festival holiday. Counting the Tianqing Day, it will not go back to work until the ninth day of the first lunar month.

Therefore, there is only one prime minister on duty every day in the Political System Court. The same is true for each department. The Shangshu and the left and right assistants take turns to deal with emergency incidents. The rest of the time, everyone goes home to celebrate the New Year.

For a time, the entire court became empty, and all the government agencies in Bianliang were in a state of silence and shutdown.

Zhao Jun's carriage slowly drove to the residence of Li Zi, the new Minister of Industry and Commerce.

Li Zi personally greeted him outside the door.

There were more than a dozen businessmen with him, including the big tea merchant Tian Chang, the big salt merchant Kang Xi, the big grain merchant Meng Chengqi, etc., all of whom were the top big businessmen in various industries in Bianliang.

Tian Chang is actually from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. His main business is not only in Bianliang, but also in various places.

According to the convention, Tian Chang would have returned to Jiangsu and Zhejiang with this year's payment. After the New Year, he would start collecting next year's spring tea there.

But at this moment, he has been staying in Bianliang because of the earthquake in the tea market in Bianliang. He had to stay here. The eldest son could only go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to handle it, and he personally handled the tea business in Bianliang.

He sent the spring tea to Bianliang in May, and has not returned for half a year.

Zhao Jun's carriage stopped outside Li Zi's mansion. Li Zi's complexion has improved a lot. He is only 55 years old. In history, the grass on the grave has grown. Fortunately, Amoxicillin is still quite powerful. After two pills, the disease is cured.

Seeing Zhao Jun getting off the carriage, Li Zi went up to him and said, "Greetings to the prefect."

"Greetings to the prefect!"

"Prime Minister Li is polite, everyone is polite!"

Zhao Jun also returned the greeting and said, "I am sorry to bother you today."

Li Zi was saved by Zhao Jun and was very respectful to him. He smiled and said, "It is a great honor for the prefect to visit my humble home. How can I bother you? Please come in."

Everyone surrounded Zhao Jun and went in.

As the former deputy privy envoy, Li Zi's salary could reach more than 20,000 guan a year. He was born in the Xinyu Li family and was a descendant of Li He, the Duke of Zhao in the Tang Dynasty. His family was wealthy. Although his mansion was in the outer city, it was spacious and luxurious because it was in the outer city.

Entering the mansion, there is a large front yard with shrubs and bushes, and various precious flowers and plants. There are also towering trees in the yard. The main hall is magnificent, with archways and corridors on both sides.

However, Li Zi did not take them to the main hall, but took them directly to the backyard from the corridor of the side door. This is a more solemn way to entertain guests.

Normally, entertaining guests in the main hall is more formal. But taking the guests to the back hall means that the guest is of noble status. Even the more private backyard is open to guests. It can be seen that Li Zi treats Zhao Jun with great respect.

The group arrived under an old ginkgo tree in the backyard. The big tree was lush and leafy. Although it was late winter, the leaves were golden and fell to the ground. There were still a few leaves on the tree that had not fallen. When the wind blew, they swayed.

There was a pavilion next to the big tree. There was no ice on the surface of the pond not far away. There were red carps swimming in it. Occasionally, they jumped out of the water, splashing ripples on the surface of the pond.

These courtyards of rich and powerful families are indeed luxurious, with pavilions, towers, carved beams and painted buildings.

Although it was winter, there were still many evergreen plants growing, and the servants in the mansion shoveled snow and cleaned it up, so it didn't seem that there was only a piece of snow.

Li Zi led everyone past the old ginkgo tree and entered the main hall in the backyard.

The main hall was decorated differently from the front hall. There was a square table facing the gate, and a chair was placed on each side of the table. Then there was a row of chairs on each side of the two chairs, with more than ten seats.

Obviously, this position was also carefully designed. Otherwise, although Li Zi was the host, it would be inappropriate to let Zhao Jun, his boss and savior, sit below him.

"Come on, Dean, please take a seat!"

Li Zi extended his hand to invite Zhao Jun into the hall. Zhao Jun did not hesitate to say "please", and then they walked into the hall together.

Then the two of them sat on the left and right sides, and Li Zi asked many businessmen to sit according to their seats.

Among them, Tian Chang and Kang Xi sit at the lower left and right positions. One of them is the largest tea merchant in Bianliang, and the other is the largest salt merchant in Bianliang. They are both wealthy.

Meng Chengqi sat in the second seat to Zhao Jun's left hand.

His family is actually not that wealthy.

In terms of status among grain merchants, the Meng family's total assets are only four to five million yuan, ranking them only in the second and third tiers. They cannot be considered the top grain merchants at all.

But I couldn't stand it. Meng Chengqi was a related household.

He and Zhao Jun had known each other before. Zhao Jun thought this man was quite interesting, and he was also sensible and obedient. He managed a printing shop in which he did not have any shares in order, and the editorial department also relied on Meng Chengqi's help.

Therefore, when there is a need for a grain merchant, there is nothing wrong with grabbing him. After all, it's better to find someone who knows the details than to find strangers who don't know the details.

The rest of them are also among the largest merchants of tea, salt, grain, oil and other biological necessities in Bianliang. The worst ones here have a net worth of more than 4 to 50 million yuan.

It can be said that if all the property of the people here were confiscated, it would be estimated that the government would be able to generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

Everyone sat down one after another.

Then the servants of the Li Mansion served tea, which was all of the finest quality. The aroma of tea suddenly filled the whole room.

There was originally incense charcoal in this house, using charcoal basins, stoves, etc. to keep the indoor temperature at a certain level. The incense burner also gave out curls of green smoke. When the tea was brewed, the aroma of tea was mixed with the smell of spices, making the room smell better. More immersed in the heart and spleen.

After the servant served tea, he walked out backwards and closed the door to prevent the cold wind from outside from blowing in.

It was only then that Li Zhen looked around and said, "Everyone, I think everyone already knows the purpose of inviting you here today."

He continued: "The imperial court has discussed many shortcomings in sales. Officials in various tea, salt, rice, oil, iron, etc. stores are either overstaffed and have no place to eat, or they are corrupt and corrupt. As a result, the products are of low quality and the people are not willing to do so. Therefore, it is imperative for the court to discuss the sale reform."

As he spoke, Li Zhen picked up the teacup in his hand, squinted his eyes and scanned the scene, pretending to drink tea while actually watching everyone's reactions.

As he expected, many businessmen present looked happy.

After all, there are thresholds for the sale of these daily necessities. Tea has tea citations, and salt has salt banknotes. Although the Kaizhong Law has not yet included salt, it will take until the eighth year of Qingli, when Fan Xiang, a member of the Ministry of War, modified the Salt Law and included salt. , the salt money policy was started.

But at that time, salt was strictly for sale by the government, and private individuals were not allowed to own salt. They could only serve as lower-level dealers for the government. They could only sell whatever salt the government gave them.

In this way, not only does most of the profits go to the government, but it is also difficult to ensure quality, and it must be processed later.

The quality of private salt can be guaranteed, but the government will catch it.

So as long as it comes to negotiating and selling, they, ordinary big businessmen without big officials as backers, are no match for those high-ranking officials who are already involved in it.

If the imperial court could open up the market for sale so that they could get tea and salt without any barriers, then the business situation would definitely be much better.

Therefore, everyone was naturally happy to hear that the imperial court was open to discussion and sale.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Li Shen felt confident. He glanced at Zhao Jun and when he nodded, he said, "You are all famous big businessmen in Bianliang. I want to hear your thoughts today. What do you think?"

Tian Chang said quickly: "This is naturally a good thing. The officials and court officials are wise, and the magistrate and Prime Minister Li have reformed the system, which will naturally benefit the merchants and people all over the world."

"Yes, if the negotiation and sale are cancelled, everyone will be able to make good tea and good salt with their heart. It will not be like before, where the quality on the market varies, which in turn harms the people. This move by Prime Minister Li is really beneficial to the country and the people. ”

"Under the leadership of the officials and the prefect, after the restructuring, the products on the market will definitely become better and the prices will be cheaper. This is indeed a good thing for the country and the people."

Everyone opened their mouths to the officials and their families, but shut their mouths to the common people and the country, and they all gave themselves up to flattery. Under the quota system, although they can drink soup, they can only drink soup.

In fact, it is not the country that makes the big profit, but the officials who are in charge of sales.

As a state-owned monopoly, they have no motivation to improve technology and increase product quality, because people have to buy from them no matter what, so why waste so much energy?

As a result, the officials in charge of sales were overstaffed and even sold government-owned products to merchants privately, or stole them and sold them themselves.

In addition, many officials have family business power behind them, such as Ma Jiliang, who is waiting to be controlled by Longtuge, Hu Ze, the imperial censor, Wang Yanhou, etc.

If we were to talk about the list of officials doing business, it would probably take three days and three nights to finish it.

Because not only central officials, but also local officials are also engaged in business.

Even the prime ministers Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Wang Sui, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Sheng Du, and even Yan Shu built private houses and rented them out to make huge profits, and were impeached by Cai Xiang.

No wonder Su Xun was deeply moved by this in "Jiayou Ji", "The officials and merchants were fortunate enough not to be punished, and therefore they were not taxed. If you use the county magistrate's boat, you will not be ridiculed, and the bridge will not be damaged, but you can do business for the officials, which is a real pleasure."

So in a sense, corruption in the Song Dynasty was indeed relatively low, because not only did people have high wages, but they also did not need to rely on corruption to get rich. They used the power in their hands to make money by themselves.

It is equivalent to a certain Western politician in later generations having the power to approve projects, and then the projects will be copied for his family.

This resulted in the fact that business in the Song Dynasty was indeed prosperous, but there were no top merchants like the salt merchants in the Ming Dynasty with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of taels of silver. If private merchants are completely suppressed by these official merchants, there will be no capitalism, not even a bud.

"alright."

After hearing the praise from everyone, Zhao Jun finally said slowly.

Seeing him talking, everyone quickly shut their mouths, not even daring to drink tea, and looked at Zhao Jun helplessly.

These big businessmen with a net worth of millions of dollars appear to be five to six people in front of ordinary people, but in front of the real people in power, they are actually nothing.

Any high-ranking official can easily bankrupt them, or even destroy their families.

So everyone treats it with caution.

Zhao Jun looked around and said in a deep voice: "The official sales system really needs to be changed. The imperial court didn't get many benefits, and they were all taken away by those officials. There are many problems in the three divisions, and the imperial city division should also Investigate these people, arrest those who deserve it, ransack their homes and kill a group of people, we must not tolerate it.”

There was a murderous aura in his words, and everyone's necks could not help but shrink, and they were so frightened that they could not move.

You must know that these Emperor City Secretary beheaded countless people. Some time ago, they took turns taking people to the outskirts of Dongcheng to behead their heads every day. The grass was dyed red. Although they knew that Zhao Jun was a reasonable person, they were afraid that they would offend the other party and have his house ransacked. Genocide.

After Zhao Jun finished speaking, he looked at everyone and continued: "But it is not enough to completely open up the sale. The imperial court encourages market competition and encourages everyone to study technology, improve product quality, and bring better products to the people. But tea , salt, oil, grain and other items are necessities of life and the lifeblood of the country and cannot be left entirely to the disposal of merchants. "

"Why is this?"

Li Zhen, who was standing next to him, knew that the businessmen below did not dare to challenge him, so he asked cooperatively.

"Because businessmen are very profitable!"

Zhao Jun turned around and said: "If there is one-tenth of the profit, the businessman will be able to operate; if there is one-fifth of the profit, the businessman will be active; if there is one-half of the profit, the businessman will take risks; for double the profit , businessmen dare to trample all human laws; with triple profits, businessmen dare to commit any crime, and even risk the death penalty."

Everyone in the audience had different expressions. Although these words were a bit derogatory to businessmen who only care about profits, the words were spoken by Zhao Jun. They did not dare to refute even if they wanted to refute them. Therefore, each of them acted with a slight guilty conscience and no dissatisfaction. Emotions.

I heard Zhao Jun continue: "Once businessmen make huge profits, it is possible to drive up prices. For example, when the drought in Huainan started the year before last, businessmen hoarded grain and once speculated it to two to three thousand yuan per stone. It is definitely not a good thing for the country, so it must be regulated and the court must be involved. "

In fact, Tian Chang had already learned from Li Shen that the imperial court wanted to price commercial stocks with them, so he was not surprised, so he said: "What the Zhiyuan said is that the villain also thought that if it was fully open to discussion and sale, it would not be a big deal." stable and therefore willing to cooperate with the imperial court.”

Meng Chengqi also knew about this, and immediately expressed his opinion for the second time: "The villain also thinks this is the best. If the officials can be involved, they can naturally supervise the businessmen not to benefit the country and the people."

Everyone was smart, so they immediately followed suit: "The same goes for villains."

"The villain firmly supports the decision of the Governor."

"Don't worry, Zhiyuan. As long as Zhiyuan says a word, the villain will go through fire and water."

Everyone expressed their loyalty.

Although the government regulates it and may involve shares in it, it is much better than the previous situation where it was not only suppressed by officials and businessmen, but also had difficulties in getting tea and salt.

Everyone here can become a rich man, in addition to having business acumen, either because he has embraced the official family, or has seen the official family's power, so it is the lesser of two evils. Compared with offending the official family, making enemies with the official family , then it is naturally more beneficial to have good relations with the officials.

Seeing that everyone was aware of current affairs, Zhao Jun laughed and said, "Don't worry, everyone. Since you can sit here today instead of being invited to drink tea by the Imperial City Secretary, there is a reason."

As he spoke, he looked at Tian Chang and said: "Tian Chang, although you are the largest tea merchant in Bianliang, you are still a private tea merchant at most. Among those official businessmen, there are many who are not weaker than you or even stronger than you, such as the Ma family and the Liu family. , Li family, etc., do you know why you are sitting here and not them? "

Tian Chang was confused and said, "I don't know."

"Because the businessmen I need must have excellent patriotic qualities and a basic moral bottom line!"

Zhao Jun looked around and said eloquently: "During the Spring and Autumn Period, when the country was in danger, the merchant Xian Gao pretended to reward his master for his wisdom in retreating the Qin army. Zigong, a student of Confucius, heard that Qi was going to attack Lu, and he lobbied other countries to save Qi. You should also love your country, and not just look at profits. Such people are not worthy of being businessmen, they are just capitalists.”

capitalist?

Everyone looked confused.

Someone asked: "Zhiyuan, what is a capitalist?"

"Capitalists are a group of people who only care about profits and forget the principles of human conduct!"

Zhao Jun explained: "Rites, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom, and trust have all been forgotten by them. For the sake of profit, they can even sell their families. This group of people is a symbol of shame, like the grain merchants who drove up grain prices after the drought in Huainan. , they are a group of capitalists, they should be hanged on the city gate tower.”

Everyone shuddered.

Why does this great master Qingtian of Zhiyuan always want to kill people?

And he was hanged in public display.

The murderous intention is a bit serious.

"Of course, in my opinion, businessmen are not untouchables, they are also part of the country. Therefore, the country cannot discriminate against businessmen and should treat businessmen normally like any people in the Song Dynasty. But equally, I also hope that businessmen can Be patriotic, be honest and trustworthy, and be fair and just.”

Zhao Jun then softened his tone and said: "When the country is in crisis, businessmen should stand up to help the country. When the people are in crisis, businessmen must also take responsibility. I hope that our Song Dynasty will be like Xian Gao and Zigong. businessmen, rather than the capitalists who drove up prices after the drought in Huainan. I chose you because of our patriotic qualities.”

"good."

Li Shen nodded slightly and said: "You are all carefully selected by me. For example, Tian Chang, when he entered the middle school, he underestimated the money and set up a trading company to stabilize the price of tea. He almost never raised the price of tea. At most, it was Sell ​​at a slight premium, make money that should be earned, and earn nothing that shouldn’t be earned. This is the way to do business!”

After hearing his words, everyone felt a little better. Tian Chang and others quickly said: "Li Xiang is joking. We are just doing our duty. The people of Bianliang want tea, and we are also serving the country and the people. We don't dare to Greedy for merit."

"Although we businessmen value profits, we also know that the country is broken by mountains and rivers. If there is no Song Dynasty and no country of our own, it will be like floating roots, floating everywhere."

"Yes, please know that the court and Mr. Li don't worry, but if there is an assignment, we will never refuse. Even if we risk our lives, what's the matter?"

Everyone patted their chests and promised.

There are countless businessmen in Bianliang, and some of them are worth more than one million yuan. But Zhao Jun only chose these ten people because these people were considered to have a better bottom line among businessmen.

It is said that all crows in the world are as black as crows, but in fact, the ancient landlord class was not all Zhou Bapi.

According to historical records, there are many patriotic and philanthropic landowners. During times of famine, many merchant landlords would choose to sell grain at par or low prices, or even open porridge shops to provide relief to the victims.

The allusion of the food that comes is actually the story of a landowner named Qian Ao who helped the victims. However, his words were too arrogant and the hungry people could not accept them, so the good deed was not implemented.

Therefore, it is not easy to find needles in the sea water, but it is easy to find some pearls in the sand. In the end, Li Zhen selected more than a dozen businessmen who were relatively conscientious.

Zhao Jun needs to support a group of businessmen, firstly, to stabilize prices and people's livelihood, and to prevent frequent fluctuations in daily necessities.

Secondly, it is also to promote the development of capitalism.

In the future, if the mining industry is semi-state-owned and semi-privatized, I will not believe that these businessmen will not develop steam engines for the sake of mining.

Last but not least, businessmen's operational efficiency and ability to mobilize resources are still very advantageous compared with the current bureaucracy.

Entering China and France depends entirely on the imperial court to exert their subjective initiative through policies.

When it comes time to fight a war or provide relief to victims, these businessmen can play a much greater role than the government.

Therefore, cooperation with businessmen to carry out semi-private and semi-state ownership is also a necessary reform measure.

When other problems arise in these policies and measures in the future, they will be reformed.