Chapter 613: Poor Finances
Pingzhou did not cover up, and the Dali government easily found out the origin of this batch of salt.
Song Mo: "Pingzhou has lowered the price of salt so much, is it crazy?"
Originally, Pingzhou could have sold salt for 300 wen per catty, but it did this, and everyone is finished! After all, Dali can't collect salt taxes, so don't they have any losses? It's really hurting the enemy 800 and hurting oneself 1,000.
Wu Chunyu said, "Your Majesty, Pingzhou did this, and it can be predicted that our Dali's tax situation this year is not optimistic."
Tea, horse, salt and iron are almost the most important sources of tax revenue for their court. Salt tax is almost the largest among the four.
Wu Chunyu wanted to cry but had no tears.
Since taking over the national treasury, the national treasury has never been full.
This year will obviously be more difficult.
It's true that hemp ropes only break at the thinnest, and misfortune only finds the unfortunate.
He felt that he should be the most difficult minister of finance in all dynasties, no one else.
His job is too difficult, too difficult.
At this time, Xie Zhan also looked solemn. He thought more deeply than Wu Chunyu.
Not only might the salt tax not be collected this year, but Pingzhou had absorbed so many ordinary people before, which would also have an unignorable impact on Dali's taxation and economy.
The most intuitive data is that with more than 4 million people going to Pingzhou, how much less head tax would be collected?
And with so many people leaving, there must be abandoned fields, which will affect the income of land tax.
There is also the reduced corvée...
In addition, this time, Pingzhou sold a large amount of salt to Dali at a low price, so that Dali's official salt could not be sold directly, which made the already empty treasury even worse.
"Your Majesty, we must come up with an effective way. How much salt tax can be recovered this year is as much as possible, and the most important thing is not to affect next year's salt tax."
Xie Zhan knew very well that if he ignored it and let it go, Pingzhou would do the same thing again next year, and Dali's salt tax for the next year would probably be exhausted.
"Does Pingzhou have so much salt?" Song Mo asked. According to statistics from people below, the amount of affordable salt released by Pingzhou this time is about 50 million jin.
Xie Zhan knew that Pingzhou really had so much salt.
Most of this batch of salt is Longcheng Lake salt. When he thought about the fact that this salt lake came from the 100 hectares of land he gave to the Lu family when he broke off the engagement, his chest ached.
At this time, Wu Chunyu had something to say, "Your Majesty, it is better to believe it than not to believe it. What if Pingzhou really has it?"
This year, we can still hold on and scrape together, and barely get by. If the salt tax cannot be collected next year, it will really be a problem!
"Hateful, is there nothing we can do about Pingzhou?" Song Mo was angry.
"If you want to solve the current predicament, there are two ways." Xie Zhan did not keep him in suspense, and said directly, "The first way is to solve the problem of the rampant private salt from the source."
Solve it from the source? Song Mo asked, "You mean to solve Pingzhou? Do you think I don't want to?"
Xie Zhan was silent: ... He didn't even dare to think so.
"Your Majesty, what I mean is that we can talk to Pingzhou and see how they can stop Pingzhou from selling salt to Dali."
Xie Zhan speculated that Pingzhou deliberately did this to benefit the people and to harm Dali.
He has seen that Pingzhou likes the people very much, but the continuous flow of people rushing to Pingzhou recently is enough for Pingzhou to digest for a while, so Pingzhou's goal this time should not be to attract more people.
If Pingzhou throws out thousands of kilograms of affordable salt just to harm Dali, it doesn't seem like it. Pingzhou and Dali are not at the point of fighting to the death. Besides, Dali can still bear Pingzhou's move.
So, Pingzhou should have some demands.
Hearing this, Song Mo gritted his teeth, "Do I still have to bow to Pingzhou?"
"What about the second way?" Song Mo asked.
Xie Zhan replied, "The second way is to lower the price of our official salt in Dali. Now the price of this batch of private salt in Pingzhou is 150 wen per catty."
Because the quality of Pingzhou salt is there, the salt dealers in Dali follow the agreement and directly raise the price to the maximum.
"We also sell at this price, or a little lower, to grab the market back." After all, at the same price, ordinary people don't need to take the risk of buying private salt.
This is a price war.
Xie Zhan finally said, "But I don't recommend it."
Once the court lowers the price of official salt, the people will be disappointed with the court, right? In fact, no matter which of these two methods is chosen, the people will be disappointed.
The more serious one is the second method. If the court really does this, it is equivalent to telling the people of Dali that their official salt in Dali can also be sold at 150 wen per catty. But the court insists on selling salt at a high price.
Xie Zhan continued, "Besides, the price war with Pingzhou, the emperor must guard against it lowering the salt price again."
For so long, no matter who fought a price war with Pingzhou, he had never seen anyone win.
Song Mo: "Pingzhou is going to lower the salt price again? Is it crazy? Losing money to gain publicity?"
Xie Zhan sighed in his heart. Pingzhou would not lose money even if the salt price was lowered again. Isn't it infuriating?
"Your Majesty, this matter needs to be handled as soon as possible." If this matter is not handled properly, it will cause public resentment. The most important thing is that this is around the time of spring plowing, and cracking down on private salt will delay the farming season.
"Is there any other way?" Song Mo asked.
Xie Zhan shook his head.
He tends to choose the first option, to negotiate with Pingzhou.
Xie Zhan knows human nature. He has seen clearly that private salt cannot be banned. The poor effect of this crackdown on private salt is proof of this.
Pingzhou has something to ask of Dali, and it can be negotiated.
But for Song Mo, he doesn't want to choose either of the two options!
"Hiss——"
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Liang An hurried forward.
Song Mo: "I have a headache."
"Then you take a rest first." Liang An stepped forward to support Song Mo, and said to Xie Zhan and others, "The emperor is not in good health, please leave first."
Zhuozhou County Governor's Mansion
Jiang Boya and Xie Bai assisted the county lieutenant in guarding Zhuozhou.
Now, they can leave as long as the court sends a new Zhuozhou County Governor to take office.
Jiang Boya sighed, "The Grand Commander really predicted it. Kong Huai really failed."
Although the news came that Kong Huai died at the hands of bandits, anyone with a brain knew how much of the bandits were involved.
Xie Bai agreed, "Yes. Before we came to Zhuozhou, the head of the family said that Kong Huai only had one chance."
Jiang Boya agreed. If Kong Huai succeeded, it would be a great blessing. But it is obvious that the Grand Commander felt that he was unlikely to succeed, otherwise he would not have sent them here.
He also said, "Kong Huai can die, but Zhuozhou cannot be lost."
Xie Zhan and Lu Songli have fought many times. He knows that when fighting with Pingzhou, it is not too much to pay attention to it. It is not wrong to prepare more back-up plans.
What's more, now that Lu Songli is the lord of Pingzhou, he owns three states, and the defense force around him must be strong.
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