Qin Official

In late December of the first year of the Regency, heavy snow fell in Luoyang, and everything from Beimang Mountain to the banks of the river was covered in white snow. Even so, Luoyang merchant Shishi and others were still waiting anxiously at the west gate in the snow, looking forward to the west side of Chidao.

Luoyang was the city of Emperor Zhou and a city of industry and commerce. It was located in the middle of the world, between Jiaqi and Lu in the east and Liang and Chu in the south. It was very convenient for doing business. Although the so-called King of Zhou is just a puppet, he still has the title of emperor, and the princes of the Central Plains have reached a balance. Although they are all out of their minds, they still have a bottom line and have reached a tacit understanding not to come to Luoyang to fight the autumn wind. This In the chaotic Warring States period, this city actually maintained peace for two hundred years...

This has made Luoyang's industry and commerce very prosperous. Not counting Henan and Gong, Luoyang alone has 40,000 households and a population of nearly 200,000, of which at least 100,000 have non-agricultural registered permanent residence. They are engaged in industry and commerce, or run shops on the street, relying on their crafts to make a living, or they speculate on specializing in goods and earn the price difference...

For example, Shi Shijia was originally a declining music official of Emperor Zhou. After the fall of Zhou, his family switched to a fiber industry that pulled carts and boats. Later, it developed into a transportation industry. The family owned hundreds of vehicles and was specialized in logistics and transportation business.

Later, although the Eastern and Western Zhou Dynasties were destroyed by Qin, don't forget that the final say in those ten years was Lu Buwei, a big merchant. Although Lu Buwei was from Puyang, he made his fortune in Luoyang and Handan, so he and Lu Buwei Su, Bai, and Shi Shi all had friendships.

As an upstart in the imperial court, the policies implemented by Lu Buwei after coming to power were seriously inconsistent with the Qin tradition. He also advocated focusing on agriculture, but opposed suppressing business.

Wen Xinhou opened the door to economic convenience for Guandong merchants. Not only did he allow the lands conquered by the Qin army to remain as before, he even actively attracted Guandong merchants to Kansai, hoping to attract the Qin State, which had always pursued economic uniqueness. enter this huge market.

In order to sell his ideas, Lu Buwei even did not hesitate to recruit think-tanks from all over the world, spent great efforts to compile a masterpiece, and stuffed many personal items into "Lu's Spring and Autumn".

As the area closest to Guanzhong and Lu Buwei's fiefdom vassal, Luoyang merchants naturally made a lot of money in those ten years.

Unfortunately, the golden age was fleeting. The Lu family fell. After Qin Shi Huang took over the throne, the government changed direction and policies tightened.

The First Emperor of Qin inherited Shang Yang's economic intervention policy, which focused on agriculture and suppressed business, making business difficult. What's even more frightening is that after Lu Buwei committed suicide, Luoyang merchants were also regarded as his accomplices and were suppressed. Even those who moved to Shu, even those who did not leave, were left half intact. They were driven out of Guanzhong and were originally engaged in Luoyang. Various small industrial and commercial workshops were also banned.

This almost embarrassed the people of Luoyang to death. Their place was located between mountains and rivers, which was only a few hundred miles apart. Compared with Guanzhong and Liangchu, it is very small. Coupled with the large population, the places for people to farm are becoming increasingly scarce. It is by no means a good agricultural area. Now that industry and commerce are suppressed, life for the 100,000 non-agricultural population has suddenly begun to tighten. Luoyang's economy is more than twice as depressed as it was thirty years ago.

Seeing the drastic changes taking place in the world, Luoyang merchants took advantage of the fall of the Qin officials and began to counterattack the lost territories. Through political speculation, they finally got on the right side.

When the soldiers who were renamed "Dingyi Army" marched into Luoyang, they did not follow military discipline like the Chu army and took away wives and money everywhere. Instead, they followed military discipline. Luoyang merchants all felt that maybe the regent Heifu was not an idiot. People who don’t get in.

The people of Luoyang are thoughtful: it seems that the general situation is dark, and the experience of Mr. Hei is quite interesting. Although he is not a businessman, he has set up a special zone in Jiaodong. He does not forcefully reverse Jiaodong, but adapts measures to local conditions and encourages the development of the area. Thirteen big businessmen went overseas to pursue profits.

This made Luoyang merchants envious, and they hoped that Heifu could implement this strategy in the Central Plains. So this time, the Su and Bai families became the lobbyists for all Luoyang merchants. They shouldered the mission and took Shen Yang's head resolutely to the west...

After waiting for a long time, seeing that the weather was getting dark again, the soldiers guarding the city gate also looked at these "five beetles" with vigilance. After hundreds of years of discrimination and suppression, merchants in Guanzhong are synonymous with despicableness, even if there are a few stinkers. Money, but still the bottom, this kind of thinking will not change for a while.

Just when everyone was about to say goodbye and go home, a few cars slowly drove up. It was Su Li and Bai Gei who had come to Xianyang to lobby.

The merchants, big and small, immediately surrounded them with cheers. It was about the future of each family, and they didn't care about etiquette. After casual greetings, they hurriedly asked:

"Second Gentleman, how are you?"

Su Li and Bai looked at each other. On the way back from Xianyang, the two of them had been discussing for a long time and had basically figured out the government's attitude and the information revealed.

"The regent praised the nobles of Luoyang for killing Shen Yang, the leader of the bandits, and abandoning the dark side for the bright side. Their patriotism can be compared with Xian Gao!"

Wear a high hat first and praise Luoyang businessmen as "patriotic businessmen", and then start serious policies.

"However, salt, iron, gold and tin are the foundation of the country, and they still need to be managed exclusively by the government. Merchants are not allowed to interfere. However, the salt item is very unstable today, and the army will have less food. Therefore, we will make a special case. If merchants have surplus food, they can transport all the food. , the leveling officer, in exchange for salt stamps, and with the salt stamps, you can go to the salt pond to obtain the same amount of salt, and then you can transfer and sell it yourself. The price must not exceed twice the par price, and you can pay another salt tax at the place of sale..."

To put it bluntly, even if the government hands over all retail rights to merchants and only controls the production and wholesale aspects, Heifu is still worried about letting the Yi family directly contract the salt field. This family has already become the emperor of Yishi County, and then the salt field will be handed over to him. Is your home worth it?

In order to obtain salt legally, the Yi family would cultivate it themselves or purchase grain from other places in Hedong in exchange for salt stamps, thereby achieving a de facto monopoly. However, even if the merchants in Luoyang were willing, they could only get a piece of the pie.

The biggest profit was still made by the government. The salt tax was not reduced, but it saved transportation and sales costs, and invisibly reduced the number of officials.

"Where's the food?" Luoyang doesn't produce much food locally, so transporting food from outside through merchants has become a matter of life and death for the whole city.

"The same is true for grain. The government unified purchase and sale according to the flat purchase method."

The so-called flat buying method means that the state controls the purchase, sale and price of grain: in good years, the government purchases farmers' surplus grain at a fair price to prevent merchants from lowering prices and hurting farmers; in disaster years, it sells reserved grain at a fair price to prevent merchants from raising prices and hurting the people, and to prevent "grain shortages". Low prices hurt the farmers, and high prices hurt the people."

In addition, usury was no longer allowed, land was not annexed, and farmers were not allowed to be slaves. Desperate farmers had no choice but to go to the government, change their official status, become official concubines, or accept distribution as immigrants.

As a result, hoarding grain and lending, the two specialties of Luoyang merchants, were banned. The laissez-faire that lasted for several months was over, and they had to return to the era of Qin Shi Huang's private trade when private trade was in decline...

"but."

Su Li and Bai Gei discussed that they could keep the next news secret, but the government would soon send someone to announce it. Instead of being passive when the time comes, it would be better for them to take the initiative to tell the whole story and continue to be the leader of Luoyang merchants...

"For those who are thin and weak, who sell fat, pulp, peeling, stomach preserves, silk, pottery, woodware, etc., the government will let them go, allowing Luoyang people to engage in trade!"

Heifu has decided that although the overall economy will still inherit the basic national policy since Shang Yang and implement the monopoly of the big government, in addition to making some cost-saving reforms, private forces must also be allowed to exist in areas that are difficult for the government to handle. ...Especially in a place like Luoyang, where half of the non-agricultural population is non-agricultural, if they are not allowed to engage in industry and commerce, how can we still expect other people to farm in the city? Or have no livelihood and be reduced to a proletarian without perseverance?

A certain amount of private private economy is also competition for specialized workshops, a catfish put into the pond.

But Heifu also played tricks. He strictly prohibited merchants from annexing land and absorbing people into households as slaves. He also maliciously changed the laws and announced that from now on, merchants and their children would no longer be restricted and could wear clothes and clothes. silk.

"Luxury goods such as silk, sugar, and lacquerware are exquisite products of China. Someone must consume them. If the emperor doesn't spend the young man's money to pay for them, let the merchants who have become rich again pay for them..."

Although Heifu himself wanted to advocate simplicity, he reached a consensus with Xiao He, who had lived in Jiaodong and came into contact with Guan Zhong's studies.

"Frugality means money is cheap, money is cheap, things will not be accomplished, and it will hurt things."

If everyone does not consume, it will lead to a reduction in commodity circulation, thus hindering production and profit-making activities, so it is called "injury".

It is impossible to eliminate the inequality of wealth in this world, especially in big cities like Luoyang with a large non-agricultural population, where a small number of rich people occupy the top of the pyramid, while a large number of small businessmen and proletarians are at the bottom. Guan Zhong believed that only the wealthy people continued to consume, and the poor people had jobs to do. They produced silk and lacquerware to promote employment and balance the economy.

This idea that was ahead of its time might not work elsewhere, but it was indeed effective in Jiaodong, so I decided to try it out in Luoyang as well.

Heifu blocked the annexation of land. This was to force the wealthy Luoyang businessmen who had no land to annex and spend the money they earned on consuming luxury goods, increasing investment, and expanding reproduction. At least, this was how he hoped things would develop.

However, in the plan that Heifu asked Zhang Cang to draw up, the political status of merchants is still very low, but compared with the previous lowest level, they can get slightly better treatment, such as paying taxes to a certain level, being exempted from municipal status, and enjoying ordinary They were treated as civilians, and their children could pay tuition to study law and take exams in various counties, but they could not serve as officials in the county.

Heif finally used a paragraph as the beginning of this new policy:

"The Book of Zhou said: If farmers do not come out, they will be short of food; if workers do not come out, they will have no work to do; if businessmen do not come out, the three treasures will be gone; if there are no warlords, there will be little money; scholars, farmers, industry and merchants are all the common people of the country!"

"Therefore, today we should lighten the taxes on the fields, pacify the disputes in the city, and work with craftsmen's skills to meet the number of merchants. If so, the country will be rich, and the people will also be rich."

"The regent is wise!"

After hearing what was relayed, the merchants all verbally praised it. Compared with Shang Yang's policy, this was extremely tolerant. However, some merchants who used to be engaged in the grain and loan business were still unhappy and muttered secretly that the transformation was not so good. easy……

"If you are rich and have no business, your goods will have no permanent owner. Those who are capable will gather together, and those who are unworthy will fall apart!"

Su Li rolled his eyes at the complaining merchant and concluded that the person who said this would never achieve great things. He was really ignorant. As the regent's army marched eastward, Luoyang would become a turnover center for personnel and materials. As long as they were prepared in advance, they would only provide lean muscles and sell fat. , selling pulp and other service industries are enough to make you rich.

Moreover, government policies have always been like this: those who can adapt will adapt, and those who cannot adapt...

Then go to hell.

"The wind is coming, a strong wind that Luoyang has never encountered since the fall of Lu Buwei." Su Li thought.

Standing in the limelight, pigs can fly!

After the strong wind passes, the surviving merchants will not shed a tear for their colleagues who disappeared because they could not adapt to the current situation.

Shi Shi, who was not a big businessman, stood on the outside. After hearing Heifu's business policy, he couldn't help but be overjoyed!

Your opportunity has come!

The Zhou Dynasty is located in the world, and there are many industries that pull fiber for carts and ships. The Shishi family made a fortune by turning the hub (gu). His family has hundreds of carts, and Qi, Lu, Zhao, Wei, and Chu are everywhere!

He secretly pondered: "Ma Xin, the governor of Sanchuan, re-established a granary in Luoyang and hoarded the grain handed over by Su and Bai. Looking at the current situation, after the beginning of spring, the regent will go east to attack Chu."

"For this thousand-mile journey, the civilians marched from Luoyang, and the grain was also taken from Luoyang warehouses. But I don't believe that the chariots and carts were transported effortlessly by wooden oxen and stray horses. Even if there were any, they would have to be repaired. The convoy should have broken down from Guanzhong to here. It’s also broken, and my family’s hundreds of rides are just a supplement!”

With this thought in mind, he quickened his pace. It seemed that Shi's workshop was going to start working day and night.

Making money that is difficult for the country is a poor choice. Really powerful businessmen make...it is patriotic wealth!

…

Here Luoyang introduced a new policy for merchants, and what gave the merchants the confidence that "Heifu will rule Luoyang for a long time" was that Dongmen Bao had sent troops to capture Chenggao, with Jing, Suo and Sishui as the boundaries, and Zhongli of Xingyang Confrontation.

The people of Luoyang now only hope that the regent can send troops as soon as possible and push the front to the east. They must not fight in Luoyang for a long time and affect their business...

There have also been new changes within the Chu State. Xiang Ji, as the Shangzhu State, used troops in Huainan to attack Hengshan in the west. However, the Huaibei region was completely handed over to another person, a man who was more suitable for running the country than Xiang Ji and whose appeal was not bad. people……

"What?"

Spring has just begun. Dongmen Bao, who is in Gong County and is drinking broth, has learned the latest trends of the Chu army:

"Xiang Liang summoned the eighteen county magistrates from the Chu region to resist the king's army?"

…

ps: I'm back in Kunming, so sleepy... I slapped my face on the keyboard. There's still only one chapter today, I'll start filling it in tomorrow.

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