Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 87 The so-called power means that there is an enemy outside the door and a knife in the hand
Zhao Guangyi looked serious: "Do you know what you are talking about? Today, if you cannot give a justifiable reason, even if you are a member of my Kaifeng Mansion and dare to alienate the brotherhood between me and my third brother, today, I, I will kill you too!”

Yao Shu changed the subject and said, "May I ask En Mansion, do you know that the merchant bank bought Fan Tower today for 40 yuan?"

"Of course I know this, but it's just a place for the retired generals to buy a place to drink and have fun. What does it matter?"

But Yao Shu said: "However, does En Mansion know that even though it only lasts for one day, a total of sixteen large restaurants in Kaifeng City have already formed an alliance, agreeing to advance together and retreat together, with the intention of suppressing Fan Lou?"

Zhao Guangyi was greatly surprised when he heard this and asked: "Why is this? How did they have the courage? The trading company represents not only my third brother and our Zhao family, but the entire Forbidden Army in Beijing."

But Yao Shu said calmly: "In order to control excessive brewing, the imperial court imitated Yan Yin's law to control liquor, which was to monopolize the production of distiller's yeast. Among the powerful private merchants, only a handful of restaurants that had obtained liquor licenses could petition the imperial court and That is, Kaifeng Prefecture purchases the distilled yeast and then makes wine through the distilled yeast. Kaifeng City’s corner shops and restaurants, large and small, do not have the right to brew wine. They can only buy liquor from these sixteen restaurants and resell it to their respective diners."

Zhao Guangyi nodded when he heard this. Of course he also knew this. Currently, the restaurants in Kaifeng City are all in the front store and back factory model, and distiller's yeast is a method used by the imperial court to control them. After all, wine is made from grain. If the people can brew it at will. , is that okay?What if famine breaks out?

The imperial court could naturally obtain high profits by selling distilled yeast. This is the origin of the liquor tax. It is precisely for this reason that the so-called official wine brewed with imperial distilled yeast is naturally extremely expensive. Most of them are in A tax is somewhat similar to the tobacco tax of later generations.

Of course, there will definitely be private wine brewed secretly by the people, but the strategy of the Northern Song Dynasty is not to pursue the wine brewed by rural women in private workshops. Like salt, it is a sin to behead someone.

After all, we are not yet in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, and no one among the people is so courageous. Those who are courageous can just sell private salt, why bother selling distilled yeast?Therefore, except for official wine these days, other wines except fruit wine without koji, other private wines are also called local wines and country wines, which are about equal to the Sanwu bulk wines of later generations. The brewing process is not guaranteed, and the middle-class wines are not guaranteed. Those above class will not buy it.

"En Mansion, although the trading house also sold wine this year and the sales were quite good, it does not have a restaurant. Most of the drinks it sells are fruit wine, and the price is not low after all. It is reserved for these seventeen restaurants. There is a way to survive, but..."

Zhao Guangyi is also a smart man. When he heard this, he frowned and said, "However, Fan Lou's longevity is originally from Kaifeng, even the best in the world. He has the best reputation and sells for the most expensive price. Since the trading company bought Fan Lou, it will naturally also buy it." If you have brewed Meishou, you only need to use Fanlou's brewing method and brew on a large scale. Even if the price is slightly lowered, the drinks in other restaurants will definitely not be able to compete with them. In the past, Fanlou's brewing of Meishou was still limited. You can do business with distiller's yeast..."

Yao Shu nodded and said: "The background of the trading house is so special that the Salt and Iron Division dare not take care of it, or even care about him. His Highness the King of Qin will not even buy the distiller's yeast from the Salt and Iron Division, but will ferment the distiller's yeast himself. In this way, who can have lower costs than him, and who can produce greater output than him?”

"However, how much effort and effort did the seventeen restaurants in Kaifeng City put in to obtain such a liquor license that allowed them to make wine? With such a hand, these advantages may be lost in an instant, or even It is very likely that they will feel that it is not appropriate to make their own wine. Instead, they have to buy wine from Fanlou and sell it in their own store. In this case, what difference does they have from corner stores and restaurants? This is no longer a benefit. The fight is a matter of life and death. Therefore, even if they know that the business firm has a powerful background and cannot compete with them, there is no reason to sit back and wait for death. There is a saying among the people that this rabbit is anxious and will bite people. ah."

Zhao Guangyi suddenly realized, but he said clearly: "So, what the third brother did in this matter... is indeed a bit inappropriate."

"More than just inappropriate? It is simply shaking the foundation of the world, so I dare to ask Enfu, as the governor of Kaifeng, should you support Fan Lou or the alliance formed by the other seventeen restaurants?"

"This……"

Zhao Guangyi was really embarrassed for a moment.

Of course he understood what Yao Shu meant. His seventeen restaurants were constantly being controlled for a liquor license. Who was in charge?How many interests are entangled in this?There was such a big turmoil in the city of Kaifeng, but what about the entire Song Dynasty?A wine involves so many things, what about the others?
Zhao Guangmei will make salt and sell bacon next year. He is not going behind anyone's back at all. How much interest will this involve?
After thinking about it, Zhao Guangyi said: "What does this have to do with Zhang Qiong, and why do I have to kill Zhang Qiong? After all, he saved my eldest brother's life."

Yao Shu said calmly: "Enfu knows that Zhang Qiong has arrested more than ten merchants in Kaifeng City today to check taxes. It is said that tomorrow he plans to go to nearby counties to arrest some landlords. There are many so-called cases , have all been implicated in the Kaifeng Mansion. If this person is allowed to continue the investigation like this, the Kaifeng Mansion will not be the government, and we, the Song Dynasty, will also have the country and the country. Among the officials in the world, which one is without problems? ? No problem, what do brothers eat and drink? Dare I ask Enfu, is it only the lives of their warriors that matter, and the lives of our civil servants are not lives?!"

Zhao Guangyi shook his head and sighed: "If the water is clear, there will be no fish? After all, it still falls on the tax. In the final analysis, it is nothing more than money."

However, Yao Shu said: "I think this is not just a matter of money and taxes."

"What's that?"

"What does Enfu think of authority?"

"Huh? What do you have in mind?"

"I believe that the so-called authority is nothing more than having an enemy outside the door and having a knife in your hand."

After saying that, Yao Shu knelt down and bowed, but did not dare to say any more, but Zhao Guangyi had already understood.

If there are enemies outside the door and there are knives in their hands, then those without knives will naturally need the protection of those with knives, and they will naturally obey the orders of those with knives.

This principle applies to the countryside, and it is naturally the same in the court.And Zhang Qiong is the enemy outside the gate that everyone in Kaifeng City currently considers. If he is not killed with the power of thunder, it will not be enough to scare Xiao Xiao!

However, Zhang Qiong was just relying on the favor of the official to be arrogant for a while, and his influence was only in Kaifeng. Zhao Guangmei and his trading firm were the real life and death enemies of the people in the world!

It is taxes and money, but it is actually the lifeblood. To put it bluntly, this is still determined by the court system, because the two tax laws give great power to grassroots officials, and whether it is local governments or grassroots officials, they are not corrupt You can't survive without corruption.

People of later generations thought that the treatment given by the ennobled scholar-bureaucrats in the Northern Song Dynasty was particularly good. However, not to mention that the current high salary and honest policy during the Zhao Kuangyin period was only a prototype, and the reform of officialdom had not yet begun.

Even if it is raising, in fact, the high salary in the Northern Song Dynasty refers to those "adults", that is, those prime ministers and deputy prime ministers above the fourth rank, at least cadres at the level of ministers and deputy ministers, and the limit is the prefect level. , further down, the Northern Song Dynasty could not afford it.

As for the mid-level and grass-roots cadres at the department and department levels, their salary levels have never been higher than the average salary level of a county magistrate. It’s a monthly salary of [-] yuan. Is this a high salary?

As for the petty officials under the serious cadres, that is, the huge group of civil servants who really do things, the Song Dynasty was no different from other feudal dynasties. They all received zero salary. Only after the Renzong Dynasty did a very small number of people with outstanding performance be able to be hired. The Ministry of Personnel has recorded that the imperial court will issue a little salary, and this little bit is already a great improvement compared to other dynasties, which did not even have this little bit.

Not paying salaries to civil servants, but also requiring them not to be corrupt or corrupt, and letting the whole family live their lives drinking from the northwest?
Moreover, the central court has been cutting leeks from the local government. Although the transfer envoy system has not yet been established, the four words "strong stems and weak branches" are really not Zhao Kuangyin's creation. They had already begun to secretly poke at Zhu Wen. Yes, Zhao Kuangyin is just a master of all things.

But can the local government really have no money at all?There is no bone in my hand, even if I call the dog, the dog will not come.

On a small scale, the emergence of trading houses has delayed civil servants everywhere from getting rich or even surviving. On a larger scale, this has actually seriously endangered the ecology of the entire civil service system.

After all, since ancient times, military generals and soldiers are responsible for protecting the country, while civil servants and subordinates are responsible for governing a country. The sky is strong and the terrain is good. This is the unchanging truth in the world.

However, when it comes to governing a place, what does it mean to govern a place?The most intuitive time limit is actually to provide the court with as much tax as possible without forcing the local people to rebel?Isn't it possible to act as a minion of the imperial court and launch corvee labor?

But now that the commercial bank is on the rise, the profit for the whole year this year is actually ridiculously higher than that of the three companies. The portion handed over to the court alone is actually more than 500 million yuan.

And it is foreseeable that under the current framework of the two tax laws, the more commercial banks develop, the less and less taxes that local governments will receive.

Even corvee labor can actually be done in the name of a commercial bank by dispatching various local military envoys, and it is enough to pay. Zhao Kuangyin was willing to pay the river workers. If the corvee service was no longer free, It's about giving money. There are many people in this world who will compete to do coolies.

The wealth in the world may not be countless, but if a business firm earns three points more, others will earn at least one point less.

This means not only that the money they can handle will become less and less, but in essence, the influence of all civil servant groups will become lower and lower.

If the community of interests composed of the imperial army and the merchant houses can not only fight wars, but also support themselves, and even support the court in addition to supporting themselves, then what do the officials need from civil servants like them?
The collapse of rituals and music is imminent, and the country will be destroyed. This is not just a lie.

Of course, it is difficult to say whether all this is good or bad, but one thing is certain, Zhao Guangmei and Shanghang have indeed forced all civil servants and even subordinate officials in the world to oppose them.

The rabbit is anxious and wants to bite someone. Even the restaurant owners in Kaifeng City will instinctively unite and fight Fan Lou to fight to the death when facing the strong fate of the trading company, let alone these civil servants?

In the battle for interests, you can especially give in. In the battle of life and death, you will fight with all your strength!
Indeed, he unconsciously muttered in his heart: "The so-called power means that when there is an enemy outside the door, there is a knife in the hand. Now, there is a big enemy outside the door. This knife...is in my hand?"

For a moment, Zhao Guangyi's heart suddenly brightened up, and his second brother and second brother's thoughts, which had originally given up fighting with Zhao Guangmei and were working as a support, gradually faded away.

"Zhang Qiong is just a clown looking for death. It is not difficult to kill him. But the third brother and the merchants are connected to the Forbidden Army after all. Since our Zhao family relies on the Forbidden Army to conquer the world, we can only rely on the Forbidden Army. Come and defend the world, how difficult it is to shake it."

Yao Shu said: "En Mansion, the merchant houses are expanding so fast, and the Forbidden Army has its own internal system, is it really conducive to the stability of the Song Dynasty? Loyalty, filial piety and justice are the real way to stabilize the world. Perhaps, my lord, I thought this time might come soon."

"Oh? Where is the machine?"

"The opportunity is in Jingchu and Hunan."

(End of this chapter)