royal robes

Chapter 1062
Li Hongji's head was full of question marks, why did Gu Guozhang come to Taoist Wu Yazi's small courtyard?What is the relationship between them?
"Your Highness, Pindao met Senior Gu by chance yesterday, and there were some conflicts during the period. Later, the conflict was resolved and we drank and competed until dawn." Tianya chuckled, "It's also because Pindao lost his virtue after drinking, and now I can't remember what happened last night. what."

"Oh~~ Are you going to get drunk?"

"It's useless to be drunk and happy."

Li Hongji said embarrassingly: "Then there's nothing wrong with it, right?"

"It's all right, what can I do?" Tian Ya said: "Your Highness, don't talk outside the door, come in and have a cup of tea."

"Just right, Xiao Wang also has something to ask Taoist Priest Wu Yazi."

Li Hongji walked into the room respectfully, and Xiang'er immediately served tea after being brought to the living room.Li Hongji's attitude made Gu Guozhang and Gu Xiaoyue very surprised. He was the prince of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and Li Hongji was unreasonable and had a bad temper, but at this time Li Hongji had a very humble attitude.

Gu Guozhang and Gu Xiaoyue even doubted the identity of the prince, but Gu Guozhang can guarantee that no one in the world will pretend to be this idiot, and the Venerable Bailian behind him is also the real one.The most important thing is... Gu Guozhang knew Li Hongji, but the difference between this time and the last time was too big.

"I don't know what advice does His Royal Highness have to offer?" Tian Ya immediately asked Li Hongji what his purpose was after taking a sip of tea.

Last time Li Hongji said that he would come to him by asking for advice about this matter, and then go out to eat and drink together, but in fact he went to the brothel to drink flower wine.I just talked about this matter yesterday, but Li Hongji came today, and this kid was a little anxious.

Tianya actually didn't plan to go today, because he drank too much wine last night, so he left Xiang'er in the cold for a night, and of course he has to make up for her today.Although Tianya still longs for that kind of place, Xiang'er is more important because she is long-term.

Li Hongji said: "Master Wu Yazi, in fact, during this period of time, Xiao Wang was helping his father review the memorials, and encountered some difficult problems, and at the same time there were many accumulative criticisms. I want to listen to Taoist Master Wu Yazi Opinion."

"Oh~ national affairs... do you need to find a quiet place to talk?"

"That's not necessary, because some things are not secrets. For example, my uncle Yan Wang Li Sui, everyone knows that the two major powers in the Southern Tang Dynasty are Yan Wang Li Sui besides Jiangxi Zhennan Wang Yangying. My recent performance has made the emperor very upset. Dissatisfied, in his eyes I am an idiot together, so he thinks he should inherit the throne after the death of the father, the better I behave, the more annoyed he is. During this time, I have almost quarreled several times Daoist Wu Yazi, how do you think this kind of relationship between uncles and nephews should be handled?"

Tian Ya chuckled and said, "This is too simple."

"Daozhang Wu Yazi, it's still... following the old rules, you ask questions, I answer."

"Hmm~" Tian Ya said: "His Royal Highness, why do you think King Yan wants to grab the throne? Is it for the Li family, or for himself."

"I think people don't do it for themselves, of course he does it for himself."

"That's right, he's doing it for himself. If it's for himself, of course it's to maximize the benefits, there's no doubt about it." Tian Ya said, "Your Highness, how is the Southern Tang Jiangshan community now?"

"The country is not fair, and Chai Rong of the Great Zhou Dynasty plans to attack Shouzhou again, so we went to the Wang Clan to find technical masters to build fortifications." Li Hongji said: "Oh~~ I understand. Thank you Taoist Master Wu Yazi for your enlightenment, now Being emperor may not be a good thing. At this time, the country is in turmoil and the country is unstable. If Chai Rong breaks through Shouzhou, the country will be gone. Even if he does not die as an emperor, he will be under house arrest by Chai Rong for a lifetime. But if the emperor's uncle Li Sui only His King Yan, who occupies a place and has the opportunity to voluntarily surrender, will be able to dominate one side at that time. As long as this interest is clearly explained to the emperor, he will not fight for the throne again, right? "

"That's right. Nowadays, being an emperor is not as easy as being a prince. If the country is peaceful, being an emperor is naturally good, but at this time the situation in the Southern Tang Dynasty does not allow him to fight among himself. There is no benefit, but a disadvantage. King Yan just didn't think about this possibility, as long as you make this matter clear, King Yan will not entangle you, and will even support you with all your strength."

"That's right ~ Daoist Wu Yazi is still very powerful." Li Hongji said: "There is one more thing, which is also the biggest problem in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the treasury is empty. Before managing these things, Xiao Wang really didn't know that the treasury was so small Money, Xiao Wang now feels that three meals a day are too extravagant, and should be changed to two meals. Although with the help of Taoist Wu Yazi, Southern Tang is preparing to establish diplomatic relations with Khitan. After the opening of the sea trade route, the economy It will be relieved, but the long-distance water cannot quench the near-thirst, and now the construction of the Shouzhou fortifications has encountered problems, and a lot of money from the national treasury is necessary expenditure, and the money that can be allocated to Shouzhou is very limited."

Tian Ya said: "This is not a difficult task. Immediately give Li Hongmao a divorce letter and ask him to increase the salt tax from 60 Wen per catty to 80 Wen per catty. The money should be enough to build the fortifications of Shouzhou."

"Daozhang Wu Yazi, I'm afraid this is not very good."

"That is to say~ Where did Yandao offend you? You just asked to raise the price, and it was so high. From 60 Wen to 80 Wen, an extra 20 Wen per catty, which is already [-]% of the original price. There is such a price increase. What is the difference between you and Ming Qiang?" Gu Guozhang said angrily: "Wu Yazi, believe it or not, I will kill you right now, lest you come up with such a bad idea."

"What's with you?"

"Nonsense, I'm Gu Guozhang, how can this matter have nothing to do with me? Do you know who transported the salt? It's our Zhengyou Escort. If you raise the salt tax, the whole world will suffer from it."

Tian Ya said: "Actually, this is open robbing. All taxes are robbing openly. It just depends on whether you rob more or less. Senior Gu, you don't have to worry. In fact, the whole thing has nothing to do with you. You are just in charge of transportation. , it’s not you who gave the money, not even Salt Island.”

"How could your increase in salt tax have no effect on me? Not only on me, but also on the whole world. I originally accounted for half of the income of Salt Island. If you make such a fuss, my income will definitely decrease a lot. .”

Li Hongji nodded and said, "That's right~ the tax of 60 renminbi is already very heavy. If the tax is raised again, the people of Yandao will probably take a detour, in case they really don't go."

Tian Ya said: "Your income will not be reduced by a penny, and at the same time, Southern Tang's economy can also be relieved, so why not."

"That doesn't make sense, so where did the money come from?"

"The wool comes from the sheep, and the money is all borne by the people. Don't think that you will have to bear a lot. In fact, you won't be able to afford much in the end. Salt Island will make adjustments. In the end, only you will benefit, and there will be almost no impact."

"Why wouldn't it have any effect?"

Tian Ya said: "Senior Gu, you should know the purchase price of salt, the selling price, and the production cost."

"Now the purchase price is 200 Wen per catty, and the selling price varies from place to place. The Southern Tang Dynasty is 800 Wen per catty, and the Great Zhou Dynasty is 750 Wen per catty. This is the price after deducting odds. It should be that much. As for the cost... If there is sea water and sunlight, only some labor is needed, and these labors can produce tens of thousands of sea salt every day, and the cost is negligible.”

"Exactly, if it is said that the cost of 200 Wen is not a penny, and the transportation does not cost much...then it will be sold to the common people for 300 Wen at most. If the purchase is 200 Wen and the merchant sells 800 Wen, it will definitely There are other merchants selling 700 Wen, 600 Wen, and 500 Wen in order to compete for business, and they will return to 300 Wen in the end. This is the market positioning, and there is no way. If this is the case, the profit of the merchant will be much less, and only the common people will earn That's it, merchants will also look for cheaper purchase channels. At that time, the salt in Yandao can only attract merchants by reducing the price. For Yandao, this is the last thing they want to accept, and the salt will soon become worthless but what can be done? How can the value of the salt be increased?"

Everyone was deeply attracted by Tian Ya's words, because what he said made sense.In Yandao, salt is worthless, but it is a necessity for the common people, so Yandao sets the price of salt at 200, but if it is bought at 200, and there is no other way to add value, then the salt will become cheaper and cheaper .

If Tianya didn't explain it, no one would think of going here.They only feel that the same is true between buying and selling, how much to buy and how much to sell, the value of this thing will not change due to other reasons.

Tianya said: "If you want to increase the value of salt, you have to pay taxes. From the Southern Han Dynasty to the Great Zhou Dynasty, how many places did you pass? Each place will collect a part of the tax, and finally sell it to the people. Yandao is not afraid of tax collection, but is afraid that others will not collect tax. If no tax is collected, how much is the freight for this route? When the salt itself depreciates, the income of Yandao will decrease. This is why Yandao can clearly change the route and not go through Nantang, but they still deliberately go to Tanzhou to let you collect taxes. So Yandao doesn’t care how much tax you collect, as long as it’s not too much.”

Gu Guozhang suddenly realized: "It turns out that this is the case. I used to think it was strange. The route was obviously a long way around, and it passed too many places on the way. It could have gone directly from the Southern Han Dynasty to the Great Zhou Dynasty by bypassing the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zhao Pu fixed this line and did not allow anyone to modify it. I thought he had something wrong with him before, but now I know that it is for others to collect taxes.”

"That's natural. Taxation will increase the value of the product itself. Anyway, Yandao doesn't need to pay the money. The wool comes from the sheep. No matter how expensive the tax collection in Nantang is, it is the people of Nantang who give the money. It's only a catty If the salt charge is 20 Wen more, it is enough for the construction of Shouzhou’s fortifications, and Li Hongmao can implement it in this way.”

Li Hongji nodded. Sure enough, he should go to Taoist Priest Wu Yazi for anything. His solution is indeed very good, and there are good reasons.If it were someone else who came up with this method... he would definitely think he was crazy.

(End of this chapter)