Chastity Layman

The Golden Palace early.

The crown prince inherits from Qian and Chen Zou, and asks Qin Lang, the Duke of Wei, to return to his prime minister.

Sitting on the imperial couch, Li Shimin looked at the young prince with mixed emotions in his heart. The prince was on the golden palace, in front of all the officials, and asked to restore Qin Lang's prime minister, which Li Shimin could not evade.

"I was about to talk about this matter today, but the crown prince and I have the same mind. After the joint investigation of Yushitai and other three divisions, the impeachment case of Qin Lang has been found out, and the impeachment charges have been found to be unsubstantiated."

"I issued an imperial edict to restore Qin Lang's chancellor, to enter the third division of the government, and to inspect Sikong, and the crown prince Zhan and Zhongshumen to make peace with each other."

Some officials noticed that the emperor recited Prince Zhan Shi and Tong Zhongshumenxia Pingzhangshi together, which is somewhat similar to the Hubu Shangshu Tongzhongshumenxia Pingzhang Guoji previously taught by Dai Zhou.

This means that Qin Lang is the crown prince Zhan Shi.

The Minister of the Ministry of Officials is now Hou Junji, and the Minister of the Ministry of War is Yu Chigong, it is impossible for Qin Lang to be in charge, so it is reasonable for the Prince Zhan to work with Zhong Shumen.

All the ministers knelt in the hall and couldn't help sighing, this Qin Sanlang is really amazing, this is already the fourth worship of the prime minister, and he can compete with Xiao Pushe.

The emperor continued to speak.

"Worship Qin Lang as an envoy to observe customs, patrol provinces and counties all over the world, observe the gains and losses of customs, and observe the harshness of punishment and administration."

As soon as the mission of the customs watcher came out, everyone was very surprised. What kind of official is this? I haven't had it before, but it sounds like it's a temporary mission, which is quite similar to the comfort ambassadors and dethroning ambassadors in the past, and it's a bit like an imposed version of the inspector censor.

He has more power than the Observation Envoy, he can inherit the title of worship, and has the right to dispose of all aspects of affairs.

At the end of the early dynasty, Qin Lang was summoned into the palace by an edict.

Qin Lang, who was studying the newly promulgated clan annals by the imperial court, received the imperial edict and rushed to the palace.

"I have already appointed Zhou Shaofan as the governor of the Metropolitan Government of Guangzhou and the governor of Guangzhou. He will replace Dang Renhong. But Dang Renhong is not an exception. He is the founding father of the country. I appreciate his talent, but I never thought that he would embezzle millions of dollars in such an important job in Guangzhou, which completely failed me. I also know that the government in the southeast is weak, and the sky is high and the emperor is far away. There must be many people like Dang Renhong, so I plan to let you go!"

"Your Majesty, it's almost Chinese New Year." Qin Lang said.

It's the twelfth lunar month, and every family is busy preparing new year's goods. The court envoys from all over the country have been coming to Beijing one after another since October. Isn't it fun to let him go out of Beijing at this time.

"You can go out of Beijing in the next year and focus on inspecting the south of the Yangtze River. First follow the Yellow River to the Donglai Peninsula, and then go down the coast. By the way, you will inspect the ports, inspect the city ship department, and set up the navy. I will also be in charge of it."

The emperor trusted Qin Lang quite a bit and gave him so many rights.

"How many naval divisions does your majesty plan to build, and how much money can you spend? Where do soldiers come from, where do warships and ordnance come from?"

"I leave all these preparations to you. How many naval divisions should be built, where to recruit troops, where to buy ships, etc., you are in charge." Li Shimin waved his hand, "I still believe in your ability, I know you are safe and sound. The Hong Kong shipyard can build at least 60 ships a year, and you can transport 800 shi of pepper from Taiping Port to Chang'an City with a single sentence, so navy should be a trivial matter for you."

Eight hundred stone pepper This is the key point.

Qin Lang glanced at Li Shimin, the emperor's gaze hinted that everything was under my control, but Qin Lang was not afraid. What's so scary, there was indeed something about the 800 shi pepper, and it was a deal between Qin Lang and Fang Xuanling.

However, this transaction is not a bribe or gift from Chiguoguo, it is a commercial transaction conducted through normal commercial means. In the price range, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

And the 800 shi of pepper from the Four Seas Company went north from Taiping Port, and they also went through the normal customs tax payment. The goods were clean and the transaction was normal.

Besides, behind this transaction is the introduction of new maritime trade regulations, and Li Shimin is also a beneficiary of it.

"Your Majesty, after the implementation of the new shipping law, I estimate that the amount of pepper that can enter Hong Kong in the next year will reach ten thousand stones. If the new shipping law is adopted, the pepper will be levied as a tax, and the court will be able to get a lot of money for this alone." Two thousand shi. If the spices are issued again, with ten taxes and two, another two thousand shi can be obtained, and the court will make a profit of at least 1.5 million guan. The income of 200,000 guan is just the income from the extraction of pepper and incense. His Majesty’s internal treasury can still buy 10% of the money and sell it. Earning hundreds of thousands of guan for a thousand stones is at least..."

Li Shimin was stunned.

"How can you calculate that at least 10,000 shi pepper will arrive in Hong Kong next year?"

"Your Majesty, although pepper is not produced in our country, it is produced in many places in the South China Sea. It is not a particularly rare thing. Now that it is so expensive in my Tang Dynasty, Hu merchants will naturally try their best to traffic it in. These figures , are some numerical predictions from the transactions between Zhugang and Hu merchants, I’m still a conservative estimate, if you let go of the estimate, three million catties is not impossible.”

Li Shimin was speechless.

"That's too much, how much silk will I have to exchange for it?"

"The minister suggested adding a provision to the Maritime and Ship Law that Hu merchant ships should be bartered, such as silk, porcelain, white sugar, paper, tea, etc. , especially for valuable goods such as spices, private transactions should be prohibited."

To put it bluntly, it is to be monopolized and controlled by the imperial court, and bartering can prevent the outflow of coins and control the export of commercial goods, which is beneficial to Datang and can also strengthen foreign trade.

Of course, the most important thing is the court's control.

"Isn't pepper produced in Tianzhu?" Li Shimin asked.

"Pepper has been introduced since the Western Han Dynasty. It was first introduced along the Silk Road. It is said that it was produced in Tianzhu, but in fact, Tianzhu does not produce pepper, but it is trafficked from the east of Tianzhu. "

The main producing areas of pepper are in Myanmar, Indonesia and other places, including many spices, which are actually produced in the Nanyang Islands, but many people in this era did not know it.

It is said that it was produced in Tianzhu, but it was only the earliest merchants from Tianzhu who trafficked spices from Indochina Peninsula, Southeast Asia and other places, and then exported them to Persia, Central Asia, and even Mediterranean Europe. In the Han Dynasty, spices actually went around a circle, from Central Asia to the Western Regions shipped to the Central Plains.

"Your Majesty, do you know what the price of pepper is in the Gan Tuoli country in Nanyang?"

Li Shimin didn't have the slightest impression of what kind of Tuoli country this was. Qin Lang took the initiative to ask for a pen and paper, and first drew a dot in the center of the paper.

"This is Chang'an."

Then I drew the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and then drew the coastline.

"Your Majesty, this is Guangzhou, this is Qinzhou, this is Annanjiaozhou, further south is Linyi Kingdom, further south is Funan Kingdom, and further south is the Nanyang Islands, there are several huge islands in the South China Sea, among which is this big island It is called Gan Tuoli Country, its customs are similar to those of Funan and Linyi, and Mahayana Buddhism is prevalent, and its land is rich in betel nuts, pepper, etc. In Gan Tuoli Country, pepper is very cheap, so cheap that it only costs two taels of gold per stone!"

"Twenty taels of gold per stone?"

Li Shimin's eyes widened. In Chang'an, Qin Lang's 800 stone gold sold for 300,000 guan, and there was also the intention of reducing the price to bribe. Normally, a catty is estimated to be more than 4 guan, and if it is sold in retail, the price can be sold at higher.

Except for the nobles, who can eat pepper?

Throw it in, and it will be more expensive than mutton.

Two taels of gold is worth sixteen guan of copper coins, and according to Qin Lang's previous transaction, it was sold for three hundred and seventy-five guan for one stone, an increase of twenty-three and a half times.

"These damned Hu merchants have robbed me of money."

"Your Majesty, pepper is actually not that expensive at the port."

In the port, the average price of pepper is about one catty, but after the tax is withdrawn, the price immediately becomes more expensive. After it is transported to Chang'an, it may have changed hands several times, so it has increased several times.

"Even so, the prices of those Hu merchants who trafficked them from Gan Tuoli have already increased tenfold!" Li Shimin was very dissatisfied. Is this here to grab Datang's money? In the past, he thought that things like porcelain, tea, and silk were sold to Hu merchants at sky-high prices and made a lot of money. Unexpectedly, he was actually made a lot of money by the barbarians.

"In fact, Hu merchants didn't make so much money, and the money was not so easy to earn. Although the peppers from the place where Gan Tuoli is produced are indeed sold for one stone and two taels of gold, these peppers have to go through multiple procedures. It is not easy to transport Tuoli to the port of Datang, the Hu merchants send out ten boats, and it is not bad if two or three of them reach Datang."

This is still coming from the sea today. If it was the previous trade route, it would be transported to Funan first, then to Tianzhu, then to Persia, then to the Western Regions, and then to Tang Dynasty. The journey would be tens of thousands of miles, but it would be even more difficult.

However, Li Shimin is not the kind of person who suffers. All he has left in his mind is that one stone of pepper is only two taels of gold.

"Is Gan Tuoli far away from Datang? If we form a naval fleet, can we fight there?"

"Your Majesty, it's very far away. It takes about 12,000 miles to sail along the coast from Jiaozhou Port to Qiantuoli. The actual voyage is much farther."

Li Shimin squeezed his chin, "More than ten thousand miles, I don't think it's far away."

Qin Langxin said, of course it doesn't sound far away, the key problem is that after leaving Jiaozhou port, there is a vast sea along the way, and the Linyi and Chenla along the coast are all completely unfamiliar enemy countries.

"Since you know so well, have you considered organizing merchant ships to go to Gan Tuoli to purchase pepper?" Li Shimin asked.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the people of Gantuoli have already controlled pepper very strictly. There are special pepper management officials and yamen. They will transport pepper to various places for sale in order to earn higher profits or exchange for the goods they need. "

"We directly transport the tea, silk and porcelain they need to exchange pepper with them in the past. Aren't they willing? I think we can give it a try."

Qin Lang didn't expect the emperor to be greedy for money.

"Your Majesty, have you ever thought about one thing? Pepper can't be eaten as a meal. It's just a seasoning, and it can also be used as medicine. Therefore, the current amount of ten thousand stones a year is actually completely sufficient. If pepper The increasing volume will inevitably lead to a continuous decline in prices, and generally speaking, there is no change.”

If you import millions of stones of pepper a year, then it will be the same as salt, and the people in every family can afford it. Even if it is monopolized like salt and the tax is increased, the total income will not change, but it will be used in disguise. Both the tax and profit of pepper have been put on the common people, which is completely different from the current pepper that is only provided to noble officials and rich people, which is equivalent to a disguised tax on the rich.

"The annual import volume of 10,000 to 20,000 stone peppers can be controlled to less than 500 yuan per catty, and within 1,000 yuan after tax."

Li Shimin thought for a while, and silently calculated the account in his heart. It turns out that the import price of a catty of pepper is more than 1,000 yuan. There is a tax of five hundred dollars.

If, as Qin Lang said, the import of pepper increases to 20,000 to 30,000 shi a year, and the price to Hong Kong drops below 500 renminbi, then the court’s tax revenue will be lost by at least 60%, and a catty can be collected at most 200 renminbi, or 2 million renminbi. The catty is only 400,000 yuan. The more imported, the lower the tax.

"In fact, it's easy to keep the tax revenue down. Properly control the amount of pepper imports. We can control the import price of pepper to less than 500 yuan per catty. But if all of them are bought into warehouses and released for sale, we can reduce the price of pepper. It is set at around two to three thousand yuan per catty, so that for every ten taxes and two yuan, one catty can be taxed at two to three hundred yuan, and with the withdrawal of imports into Hong Kong, the tax and profit can actually be kept unchanged."

"Of course, doing so will increase the possibility of pepper smuggling. After all, the profits are too high, and some people will definitely take the risk."

Li Shimin thought about it, it was indeed the truth.

"What about the tax increase on spices, changing from two out of ten taxes to three out of ten taxes, or four out of ten taxes?"

Ten taxes and four, thanks to you, you can tell, there is no such high tax rate in the world, okay, don’t you know that you want others to scold you?

It's cool for you to collect taxes, but I guess everyone who uses pepper will curse you severely every time they eat pepper.

Pepper is already expensive enough, and it costs thousands of dollars per catty. If you add a tax of 400 dollars, it's a scam.

However, thinking about the history, it is not surprising that the Tang Dynasty increased the salt tax so much. They dared to directly increase the salt tax by ten times the salt price, and everyone still wants salt. Eat food, rich or poor, forcibly turning salt into a poll tax.

Thinking about it this way, it is quite kind to levy 40% of the tax. You can levy four times the tax.

Think about the Southern Dynasties during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. For such a hot spice as pepper, it completely monopolized the trade, and it was often sold directly at a ten-fold increase in price.

Well, it seems that the Song Dynasty did the same thing later.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was even more cheating, directly monopolizing all the pepper government, and then using it as money to pay officials' salaries.

The place of origin is one stone and two taels of gold. If the port price is doubled to one stone and five taels of gold, and the court doubles it ten times, selling one stone and fifty taels of gold is equivalent to four hundred guan one stone, and a catty is more than three guan. Before the prosperity, the price seems to have dropped a bit.

After such a calculation, Li Shimin and Master Qin Lang couldn't help but stare a little bit.

"The tax on pepper is lower." Li Shimin murmured.

Qin Lang cooperated and said, "Pepper is too cheap, it's not good."

"How about, for every stone of pepper, 400 guan after tax?"

"I think it's better to just use four hundred and eighty pennies per stone. This is exactly four thousand yuan per catty. It's a good deal, and there's no change!"

Li Shimin glanced at Qin Lang and felt that this guy was too cruel. But I calculated silently in my heart, if I bought it at the Hong Kong Expo and then sold it forty guan, 20,000 guan a year, that would be 8.8 million guan.

Touching.

But in this way, the price of each stone in the imperial court is 480 guan, so why would the merchants sell it for 6710 guan? Pepper is about to double as much as it is now.

Li Shimin wanted to earn this money, and he was thinking about 8.8 million yuan a year, but he was also afraid of being scolded by others, so he was in a dilemma for a while.

Qin Lang did not answer on purpose, anyway, he would not take the initiative to bring up this matter, so as not to blame Li Shimin.