No shortage of walls

Song Xing thought carefully for another day before recruiting Liu Chengwen, the Minister of Rites, to the imperial study.

Liu Chengwen had slender eyes and fine eyebrows, fair white hair, and a few gray goatees showing his shrewdness. If his nose were not big and red, he would be very good-looking even though he was old. After the ceremony, he saw the emperor's face was calm and he handed over his hand. Wait for the emperor to speak.

Song Xing didn't like to scare others with his unstable face. If he could do it, he would stay, and if he couldn't, he would kill him. A cloudy and uncertain emperor's face would easily put pressure on the courtiers' hearts. Then Wenyan asked:"Now what I want you to do is to do business with the neighbors of the Song Dynasty. I want to know what you did in the past?"

Liu Chengwen cupped his hands and said:"Go back to your majesty! In the past, there were relatively few transactions in the Southern Song Dynasty. Usually when the salt blocks are not enough, go to Chen State to buy some salt blocks. Apart from that, there is no other business. The Hu people in the north sell their skins themselves; as for the war horses, they are not willing to sell them at all!"

Song Xing was surprised. Asked:"Isn't there coarse salt from Qi Wuyue?"

Liu Chengwen still cupped his hands. Said:"Back to Your Majesty! They are all smuggled. Coarse salt is too expensive and often of poor quality. It is muddy and sandy. Except for the smuggled ones bought by the palace, there are too few for real official sales. The main reason is that the late emperor said to save some money. The emperor didn't even buy it when sweeping the north. Coarse salt was expensive, so the common people didn't buy it, but some wealthy people bought it cheaply and smuggled it." After saying that, the emperor didn't look angry. Then he said:"Your Majesty, do you mean to sell fine salt?"

Song Xing said:"The fine salt is not enough for the Song Dynasty now, but there are salt wells in the north, which should be enough soon! What I mean is to sell fine salt and pencils first. As for the price, I said it in the court. Since Mr. Huangquan said that a pencil costs half a tael, just sell it for half a tael. Fine salt is five cents cheaper than coarse salt. Once the workshop is built, there will be more in the future. For more things, let’s focus on buying them now, right?"

Liu Chengwen was obviously not satisfied. Arched hands. Said:"Your Majesty! I think that your Majesty's magical skill in making fine salt is much better than coarse salt, so you shouldn't sell it cheaply."

Song Xing laughed. Said:"You are right, but people have sold coarse salt at the seaside for hundreds of thousands of years. If my fine salt is not sold cheaper, how can I steal the business from the seaside?"

Song Xing has already calculated it, even if It's five bucks cheaper, but fine salt is still a huge profit. As for the pencils, that's a total money grab. The matter is related to Song Xing's memory of his previous life. A pencil only costs 50 cents, and the more expensive ones only cost 5 or 6 yuan, but half a tael of silver costs 25 grams. If the silver is 10 yuan per gram, it is 250 yuan. Blocked.

Two hundred and fifty yuan for a pencil seems inappropriate as a money grab.

An open and honest robbery.

What was strange to Song Xing before was that a pound here was worth ten taels, not sixteen taels. So I often have headaches. What the hell kind of dynasty is this? Where? But after returning from Tianhu in the north, my mentality changed unconsciously.

Song Xing's original intention was to sell pencils for one penny; including various taxes, this was already a money grab.

But Huada objected, and the reasons for his objection were very legitimate.

First, Mr. Huang Quan, the Minister of Punishment, said it was worth at least half a tael of silver; and he had already inquired about it, and Mr. Huang Quan said that he was also telling the truth. This guy was probably poor in the Song Dynasty. His younger brother Huang Qing was of low rank. After serving as a military general for several years and getting injured, the court pension was no longer paid. He had to support his brother's family with his own salary, and he had parents. He didn't want to be corrupt. Corruption, money is never enough, and in the past, she was of low rank and had two younger sisters. Later, when his official position was high, his younger sister got married, and the two families had children again, they became so thrifty that the Northern Territory was nicknamed"Iron Rooster". He said it was worth half a tael of silver, which was quite credible. If he could spend half a tael of silver to buy a pencil, so could others.

Secondly, no matter how poor the Song Dynasty was, there were still rich people; in that Chaoting country, there were no particularly wealthy people in the cities and villages? To make money from rich people, the most important thing is to make money from foreign countries, talk about it first; if it doesn't work, then talk about it. If we really want to benefit the people of the Song Dynasty, we can only think of other ways when the Song Dynasty becomes rich.

Third, Huada believes. This is still a novelty that has never been seen in ancient times, but the supply sold by Song Guoguan is now in short supply. Since it can be sold, why should it be cheap? Your Majesty has exempted you from taxes and raised your salary. If you don't want to make money like robbing money, then it will definitely not work.

There are people buying it anyway, so why should it be cheap? It's only cheaper if you can't sell it.

Huada had taken care of Song Xing more carefully than his own son since he was a child. He was truly like a brother over his father. Song Xing was more obedient to his words and immediately asked Liu Chengwen to talk about what he wanted.

It's just a matter of cost. As a king's father, Song Xing doesn't need to explain it to his ministers. He just gives instructions. Next, Song Xing actually didn't believe this old guy. In the Qingyuan Dynasty, this old guy had no business and his corruption was outrageous. But he had already pretended to tell himself, and there was no one in the court to take his place.. Forget it if he doesn't reach out anymore, as for still reaching out, Song Xing can't tolerate him. Liu Gongquan's detailed investigation of his affairs was just sent yesterday. Compared with what he reported before, it was hundreds of times more, but the imperial edict has been issued. Just ask him to do his best in the future and be honest and self-disciplined.

As for the issue of using sales and purchases to achieve political balance, let alone talk about it, just give instructions on the actual sales.

When Liu Chengwen heard the emperor smile again, he realized it as soon as he thought about it. He was also very happy, which meant that the emperor still respected him. Then he cupped his hands and said:"Your Majesty, your Majesty! I'm just a little worried. Our salt wells in the Song Dynasty are only those in the north. Except for the people of the Song Dynasty to eat for themselves, even if we build more salt wells, there won't be much that can be sold."

Song Xing nodded. Said:"You are right. I have ordered Long Quan to discuss the sale of sea salt and kelp with the people of Qi at Yuzhou Pass. The people of Song Dynasty have no special interest in big fish and shrimps in the sea. The journey is long and bad luck comes, but kelp Many people like it, so your business is to sell first and then sell your reputation. But selling first is worse than buying first." He said this because he was confident that his products could beat foreign products.

Liu Chengwen asked:"Your Majesty! What do you mean by Wei Chen, go to Qi first?"

Song Xing smiled and said:"Qi has the power of dragon, you go to Xia first. I heard that Xia's palace is in the north, you start from Go out of Tangshan Pass, then go to Pingzhou Pass and return to Shengzhou to talk about salt with Chen Guo. I heard that Xia State has cattle, horses, sheep, grains, cotton, etc. They mainly buy cattle, horses and grains. Cui Zheng will come back tomorrow, and I will ask him to collect them. Some, the cattle came back and were sold to the peasants, the horses returned to the army, and the sheep were eaten. As soon as I ascended the throne as emperor, I heard that Mr. Liu is good at negotiating business. In order to save you from being so busy and hard, Mr. Liu just talks. Okay, I'll let others do the rest."