I understand, but everyone is considering what the new tea method should be like. During the Taizong period, they began to implement the border entry. Although the officials who supported it listed various benefits, they still raised possible disadvantages. That is to say, from the beginning, everyone knew that this system had both advantages and disadvantages. However, due to the limitations of the times, they could only have qualitative estimates, but they could not quantify them. The pros and cons were not clear at all, so they continued to use it.

According to the historical knowledge of his previous life, Xu Ping knew that now is a rare window of time for reforming the Tea Method. If the war between Northwest and Dangxiang begins in a few years, there will be no chance to change it.

The atmosphere in Chongzheng Hall was a bit dull, and everyone was looking down and thinking without saying anything. Xu Ping put out the data, but in fact he fundamentally denied the current tea method. Whether it was the "three statements" or the "cash method", this was beyond everyone's expectations. The words he had thought about before could never be said. Just like Xu Ping said that no stone of grain entered Shaanxi in three years, he denied the entry into China and law along the border, and then denied the tea method. The entire financial system related to the border was already shaky.

This involves too much, who dares to speak nonsense? Kou Ying usually discusses with Xu Ping and has a rough outline in his mind. However, his strategy is to stand behind Xu Ping. If Xu Ping can get up, he will have a future.

At this moment, Lu Yijian, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke: "Xu Ping, according to your wishes, should the tea method be changed or not?"

At this time, Xu Ping had already gained the upper hand and looked at Lu Yijian and said, "Of course we need to change it, what do you think?"

Lu Yijian nodded: "The accumulated problems are already profound, and we have to change them. Let's do this, the new tea method is still under the leadership of Li Zi. According to what he said before, the three departments will discuss the problems in the past few years. After the subsequent tea method is agreed, the three departments will make a conclusion."

Zhang Shixun looked at Lu Yijian, then looked at the emperor Zhao Zhen sitting in the head. He opened his mouth and finally swallowed the words back. He didn't let Xu Ping speak before, but now he's very lively after he finished speaking. Why did he return to the starting point? What does Lu Yijian mean? Can Xu Ping be convinced by this? Can the emperor agree? But today he has made a fool of himself and finally dare not stand out.

Xu Ping in front of the blackboard smiled and bowed to Lu Yijian: "What I said is that the tea method should be modified first. However, I have a background in the future tea method. Since I have this opportunity, I might as well tell you and ask the ministers for advice."

Lu Yijian said in a deep voice: "Okay, if you say it, then I'll discuss it here."

Seeing that Xu Ping had agreed happily, Zhang Shixun was so shocked that his eyes almost popped out. Looking at everyone around him, Zhang Dexiang naturally stood on the side of Lu Yijian, but even Cai Qi, who was usually not in the face with Lu Yijian, had a calm expression and he felt more depressed.

In fact, the matter is very simple. Xu Ping denied the current tea method from the root. No matter what suggestions he has, it cannot be completed in a short time. But it has been discussed to this extent, so the temporary measures should be used by Li Zi's new method. Xu Ping's opinions should be made from a long-term plan and gradually changed the tea method step by step.

Lu Yijian was in charge of the Secretariat for many years and naturally understood this principle. Even Cai Qi and others also struggled in the CAS system for many years. Lu Yijian understood the meaning as soon as he said it. Only Zhang Shixun and others had no idea about the entire financial system and always considered the issue from the interests of the party and individuals, would they feel confused.

Of course, this kind of national policy has temporary measures, and then it is a long-term solution. With the wide range of tea method, it is possible to change things from the root in a year or two. In actual matters, Zhang Shixun gave Lu Yijian a little bit.

Xu Ping adjusted his ideas and decided to start with the tea garden in Yongzhou.

"The national legal system is that only the four routes of Chuanxia Road and Guangnan area are not denied, and the people are allowed to trade freely. Yongzhou is located in Lingnan. It was originally vast and sparsely populated, and most of them were natives, so they did not enter the national households. There were tea trees in the mountains since ancient times, but no one has made tea and sold. During the Tiansheng period, I was a ruling Yongzhou and guided the natives to grow tea, which has been around for six or seven years now."

Speaking of this, Xu Ping looked at the several baskets of Yongzhou tea in the hall and raised his voice: "In Yongzhou, the government made more than 280,000 guan of tea last year. Everyone knows that in the same period last year, all the Southeast tea farms were added up, and the government made only more than 10,000 guan. This does not include the salary of officials related to tea, nor does it include the mouth food of the tea-carrying army. In other words, in fact, the Southeast tea farm has been no profit since last year."

Xu Ping clearly listed this in the previous chart, and no one has any objection. The Southeast Tea Farm has no profits now, and Li Zi has also mentioned it, so the tea method has to be changed.

Xu Ping also said: "There is no tea profit in the Southeast tea farm. What is left now is to expect merchants to get a lot of money and help the court transport food and grass to Shaanxi. But the reality is that there has been no food in Shaanxi in recent years. It is entirely because of exploiting local households to fill food and grass. In other words, the court gave up the tea profit in the entire Southeast tea farm, which was just in exchange for the lack of taxes in Shaanxi, and did this with the hands of merchants and powerful people."

Xu Ping said this a lot of people really couldn't raise their heads. In this era, when officials proposed to change a certain system, the most popular saying was "the people did not increase taxes but were self-sufficient", which sounded really beneficial to the country and the people. The actual situation was to pass it on to the hands of the merchants and powerful people without adding taxes, which was more harmful than adding taxes. The reason is very simple. Even if the government operates without profits, it would continue to operate for the sake of people's livelihood. If there is no profit, which businessman would do it without profits? The government will naturally transfer the tyrants to the lower-level households, but the tyrants will also collude with the merchants to obtain profits.

What we do is the same thing. The government has a scale advantage and many administrative resources available. The cost will only be lower than that of merchants. Why will it benefit if you hand it over to merchants and common people?

If it is some trivial small-scale business behavior, it is indeed more suitable for business operations. But in industries like the tea industry in this era, there is no reason for this to be large in scale and single in business behavior.

The reason why the current situation is related to the overall environment. During the Five Dynasties, officials were not distinguished, and officials were often from minor officials and were very familiar with all aspects of administrative affairs. In addition, there were constant wars at that time, all countries exhausted their national strength to support their soldiers, and the country wanted to hold every profit link in their own hands. Together, the profit-making industry was basically in the hands of the country, and to some extent, it reached the extreme of ancient society, and the entire society was in a state of tension.

Since the Song Dynasty, these administrative and financial systems have not changed much, and there was no problem in the early days. At that time, capable ministers, such as Zhao Pu and Chen Shu, were basically all minor officials from families and could control the entire system.

However, since Emperor Taizong, officials have been separated, and officials are becoming increasingly unfamiliar with specific matters and feel more and more powerless.

Why did we use the power of merchants to implement the implementation of border entry at that time? Let’s take a look at the reasons listed by the officials. It is clear that minor officials are difficult to control and the cost is too high. The transportation cost of tea and salt is even higher than that of private individuals. Why? The minor officials who work below do things badly, and the ships are broken and the goods are sinking. They also constantly add mud and sand to these goods. If they are far away from the origin, the salt will be completely salty.

On the other hand, sales are not smooth and I miss the sales season at any time. The goods in the officialdom are piled up and cannot be sold, so they can only be scrapped or they are forced to be sent. However, the public is very short of stock, so they cannot produce and sell both.

Knowing that there are these problems, officials don’t know why these problems are there and have no way to start. In the end, they can only use social forces to solve the problem of insufficient officials’ abilities and form a vicious cycle.

Knowing that there is a problem but not knowing how to solve the problem is a common problem for a new generation of officials who have grown up slowly. Therefore, they advocate empty talk more and more and more, they look down on officials who can do things. Speaking out means the rule of three generations, and they will be in a mess when they do things. It is unparalleled to find faults, and asking them to do things well will be at a loss.

Lu Yijian's generation is the last official who can also have both official talents. Xu Ping has seized the tail. If there are another twenty or thirty years, Xu Ping will probably not even have the opportunity to talk about it here.

Small officials have the problem of small officials. They only focus on small profits in front of them. If they use small officials to govern the country, the entire society will probably suffer a miserable life. Officials and officials should complement each other and the entire society will develop smoothly. This requires officials to have both the talents of officials and not be able to do better than small officials, but they must at least understand specific affairs and be able to see various tricks.

Xu Ping was not familiar with poetry, essays, scriptures and treatises, and was willing to lay his body to do things. This is what he was better than other officials.

Pointing at the Yongzhou tea baskets next to him, Xu Ping whispered: "As I said just now, Yongzhou used a state of one state to earn 280,000 guan of tea. Why is there such a big difference between tea?"

Zhang Shixun shook his head and said, "When tea is produced in Yongzhou, just sell it. You don't have to consider the grain and grass along the border of Shaanxi like the Southeast tea farm. Xu Ping, after two years, don't confuse it!"

Xu Ping looked at Zhang Shixun and nodded: "Xiagong Zhang said it well. Southeast tea is profitable from supplying grain and grass in Shaanxi. But as I said just now, there is no grain and grass in Shaanxi, so where is the tea and grass? Moreover, in the Yongzhou state, the total number of imperial guards was nearly 20,000, and the sugar supply service had exceeded 100,000, and the food and grass needed was no less than that in Shaanxi!"

Since last year, Yongzhou has begun to increase its troops, which is more than twice as many as Xu Ping was there. Xu Ping's ability to use the village soldiers of sugar services does not mean that others can also make this system run without any hindrance. In fact, according to the suggestions of Pang Ji and others, Yongliang Road will have to increase its troops by 10,000 to ensure continuous development.

Yongzhou is no longer the remote small state when Xu Ping was there.

...
Chapter completed!