Taiping Inn

Large-scale post roads and post station systems have been built throughout the dynasties to convey messages. The so-called "One post passes through one post, and the post is like a meteor. The flat and the bright sky is in Xijing, and the evening reaches the top of Longshan Mountain." Generally, there is an inn every twenty miles, which is usually 300 miles a day. According to the emergency situation, it can be divided into Four hundred miles, six hundred miles, and eight hundred miles, which is the origin of the 800 miles expedited speed.

When the Central Plains Dynasty was at its peak, there were 1,700 post stations and nearly 20,000 postmen, spread all over the world. Now that the Great Wei Dynasty is weak, it still retains the post station system. It is not as good as sending messages to the flying sword and cannot be underestimated. Even if you set out from Lingnan and head to the imperial capital, it will take less than half a month.

The distance between the imperial capital and Chaoyang Prefecture is not long or short. It is both a state and a pass. If you want to pass the letter, it only takes two days.

Although Li Xuan would not use the imperial station, Taiping Sect also had a complete system. Taiping Sect opened inns and money shops in various places, like a large network. In this way, letters can be sent to and from all over the place. As long as there is a Taiping Inn, letters can be delivered. However, the cost is quite expensive, and no one in the world can afford it. Unless it is a particularly important and urgent matter, it will not be adopted.

This time, Li Xuandu used the Taiping Sect's channels and took two days to deliver Qin Su's letter and the sample money from Taiping Money House to Liaodong.

Qin Qing had already returned to the Qin family mansion in Chaoyang Prefecture from the Great Wilderness North Palace in Taibai Mountain, so the letter was delivered directly to Qin Qing. Qin Qing sent someone to invite Zhao Zheng from the Governor's Office and handed over the sample money sent by Li Xuandu to Zhao Zheng.

Zhao Zheng looked carefully one by one. Taiping Money and Wuyou Money have been in circulation for many years. Needless to say, he has no objection to the three silver dollars, because the key to silver dollars is to target "fire consumption", and Taiping Money Bank has already made anti-counterfeiting. At the extreme, it is difficult for anyone to impersonate it.

What Zhao Zheng really cares about is the copper circle matching silver circles, because the most common people use copper coins in their daily lives.

Qin Qing asked, "I don't know how Zhengji looks at this?"

Zhao Zheng pondered: "The purpose of implementing the reform of the new currency and abolishing the two reforms is to solve the harm of 'fire consumption'. I have no objection. But the matter of this copper coin remains to be discussed."

Qin Qing and Zhao Zheng were in charge of Liaodong, and their responsibilities were different. Qin Qing took charge of the overall situation, Zhao Zheng was in charge of the people's livelihood and economy, and next was Qin Xiang, who was in charge of military affairs and Qin Daoyuan, who was in charge of money and grain. In this regard, Qin Qing was not as good as Zhao Zheng, so they all had to seek Zhao Zheng's opinions.

After pondering a little, Zhao Zhengliu said, "Since the rebellion of the Heshuo vassal states in the period of the Li family, the Central Plains have been in chaos and the land annexation phenomenon is very serious. The equal-field system that lasted for nearly three hundred years has finally collapsed, which has established on this basis. The rent-in-law regime could not be implemented. Emperor Dezong thus implemented the two tax laws. Its name comes from the fact that the tax payment time was divided into summer and autumn. Household tax and local tax replaced the rent-in-law regime, and abandoned the Ding-in-law regime. This principle implements the "household tax" that only takes the capital as the main principle, that is, the amount of assets is determined, and then taxes are levied according to the level of households. This is a kind of money tax, but in the real process of implementation In the middle, the tax was still mainly based on physical taxes. Later, the imperial court clearly stipulated that the two taxes could be paid for both money and cloth."

"The Jin Dynasty still used the two tax laws. Before Emperor Muzong of this dynasty, the two tax laws were also implemented, but there were some changes. In addition to levying summer tax silk, cotton and autumn silk, the so-called "agricultural and mulberry silk" collected by the number of mulberry plants was also added. Tax departments such as silk and dyes. Until the sixth year of Wude, Zhang Suqing implemented a new policy, and the new tax law changed the court's physical objects to levy cash."

"This new policy naturally makes sense, because the private silk weaving industry was already very prosperous at this time, and there was a lot of silk circulating on the market, and the court had already used money to buy all kinds of silk needed. Therefore, all physical taxes were changed It is also an inevitable result to collect money."

"Zhang Suqing's new policy totals the land tax, corvee labor and other miscellaneous levies in each prefecture and county, and combines the cash levies and is converted into a mu. This greatly simplifies the tax system and facilitates the collection of taxes. At the same time, it makes it difficult for local officials to cheat, and thus increases the treasury. The next step is to pay the taxes with the gentry and pay the taxes together. Unfortunately, Zhang Suqing suffered a big blow to the latter. Not only did he die, the clan was destroyed, but the new policy in the past was destroyed. "

Qin Qing asked, "What does it have to do with copper coins from the two tax law to the one whip law?"

Zhao Zheng said: "It didn't matter much, but because Zhang Suqing's demise of Zhengxu, it was related."

Qin Qing said, "I want to ask for advice."

Zhao Zheng explained: "Three years of Qing Dynasty magistrate, there were 100,000 snowflakes. As the saying goes, "grabbing" is the second. The key is the word "grabbing". The copper coins of Taiping Inn are of great quality and contain too high copper. The unscrupulous merchants would buy a large number of copper coins and then cast the copper coins into copperware and resell them. In this way, fewer copper coins are circulated on the market. Once there are fewer copper coins, they will inevitably appreciate. For example, the official price set by the court was one Two silvers are exchanged for one thousand copper coins. Now the number of copper coins has been greatly reduced, and the purchasing power of copper coins has been greatly increased. Then one tael of silver may only be exchanged for five hundred copper coins.

"But the people still have to pay taxes, because the One Whip Law no longer charges in kind taxes, and they collect silver liang uniformly. Generally, people do not have silver and are circulated with copper coins. If the people have to pay taxes of two taels of silver, according to the market Five hundred copper coins can be exchanged for one tael of silver. It is obvious that you only need to pay one thousand copper coins at the market price to deduct taxes, but the court does not care. It must be based on the official price. If there is no silver, you will pay two thousand copper coins. "

"Which corrupt officials have money, they have money. After collecting the people's copper coins, they take two taels of silver to exchange for the tax money of the people's two thousand copper coins. Then they put the money on the market and can exchange it for four taels of silver. , and exploited the people in this way."

"If bad money is used to replace good money, although the unscrupulous merchants will not purchase copper coins again, the one yuan, middle yuan and small yuan will be exchanged by the unscrupulous merchants with bad money. Zifu and others have seen this, so the regulations are only It can be exchanged for copper rounds, but copper rounds are inevitably acquired by profiteers, resulting in insufficient circulation. At that time, public grievances will arise, and a large number of merchants will start to mint money on their own, and bad money drives out good coins, which will eventually lead to silver rounds being in name only."

Qin Qing understood and sighed: "The key to collusion between officials and businessmen is to govern the government, otherwise good laws will become evil laws. Zhang Xiang practiced the one-whip method to fill the national treasury, but they became a tool for making money."

Zhao Zheng said: "That's true, so if you want to promote the new currency, you must first refresh the administration of officials, crack down on corruption, purify unscrupulous merchants, and reform tax laws. If you find that you have the opportunity to make money, you will severely punish those who do not lend money, otherwise the new currency will end in vain. "Qin Qing smiled and said, "Zifu said it nicely. Please correct me by Qin and Zhao Ergong. This is a problem for us. He has finished minting the money, and there is no problem with anti-counterfeiting. Whether it can be implemented next depends on us. It's an old guy."

Zhao Zheng also smiled and said, "We must face the difficulties, and we cannot let young people underestimate it. If this new currency can be really implemented, let the whip method bring back life, measure the land in the world, and then spread the land into the mu. If the gentry pays taxes together, they can really be peaceful and clear."

Qin Qing said: "If the biggest landlords under today are the Confucian sects, and most of the gentry are disciples of Confucian sects. If they really want to spread the gentry and gentry to pay the food together, the former would be fine, but the latter is digging the foundation of Confucian sects. , if you are not careful, you will be doomed."

Zhao Zheng whispered: "So there must be a major change, from bottom to top, from inside to outside, and clean up carefully. If you only seize an imperial capital, do you still have the imperial power and do not go to the countryside, or the local clan and gentry are autonomous, then gentry There is still no need to pay taxes, nothing will change."

Qin Qing smiled coldly and said, "This is a difficult thing. Even if it is promoted as the emperor, it will inevitably lead to sudden death."

Zhao Zheng smiled and said, "With Yuebai's realm cultivation, this path may not work."

Qin Qing waved his hand: "First, I am not the emperor. Second, if it weren't for the Zi Mansion, I might have been injured by Dan Taiyun. As for the third... I'll talk about it later."

Zhao Zheng said: "I know why the Zifu needs to integrate the Taoist sect. The Confucian sect must be solved, and the landlords must be solved. The Confucian sect used to be a helper to promote the development of the world, but now it is an obstacle to the development of the world. This is one time and another, .”

Qin Qing sighed: "The biggest disadvantage of Confucianism is that most of their principles are correct, and most people in Confucianism cannot do it. The principles can only be hung in the sky and cannot fall on the ground, just like What are the benefits of the stars and moons for national economy and people’s livelihood? What’s the use of the principle? We have always set up a big pot to cook rice, but we have not set up a big pot to cook.”

Zhao Zheng is also half a Confucian scholar, but he did not refute it and said, "As Confucian scholar, his vision is beautiful and the world is harmonious; his ambition is lofty, and he will bring peace to the ages; his ability is lacking, at least I am I will never see the Confucianism and the Confucianism forever in my life. I wonder if people will see it later."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Qin Qing and Zhao Zheng are old friends and partners. They often joke with Confucianism when they are chatting. This is also inevitable. Taking charge of the country and doing research in the study are two completely different things. When a scholar comes into contact with practice, he will inevitably change his mind, and he will not be a scholar. This is why the sage's books are all It’s useless to show people to do things.”

Qin Qing sighed: "The Earth Master has a very right saying: To govern the world, as long as everyone is rich, no matter how big the problem is, no matter how small the problem is, it is also a problem. The key is how to be rich. But the top problem, now it seems that starting from reform is the most reliable and intuitive means."

Zhao Zheng whispered: "Restructuring will touch on the interests of the Confucian school."

Qin Qing said calmly: "Leave the Confucian Sect to me and the Zi Mansion, and we will give the Confucian Sect an undeniable condition."

Zhao Zheng was stunned at first, and then he understood the meaning of Qin Qing's words.