Dressed as the cannon fodder who died prematurely, I will marry the villain in anger

Chapter 613: Poor finances

There was no cover-up in Pingzhou, and the Dali government easily found out the origin of this batch of salt.

Song Mo: "Pingzhou has lowered the price of salt so low. Are you crazy?"

Originally, Pingzhou could sell salt for 300 yuan per catty, but when it did this, everyone was ruined! After all, Dali cannot collect the salt tax, so don’t they have any losses? It really hurts the enemy eight hundred and hurts oneself a thousand.

Wu Chunyu said, "Your Majesty, if Pingzhou does this, it can be predicted that our tax situation in Dali this year will be very unoptimistic."

Tea, horse, salt and iron were almost the most important source of tax revenue for their court. Salt tax accounts for almost the largest proportion of the four.

Wu Chunyu wants to cry but has no tears.

Since taking over the treasury, the treasury has never been full.

This year is obviously going to be more difficult.

It's true that hemp ropes only break at the thinnest points, and bad luck only seeks out the miserable.

He felt that he should be the most difficult Duzhi Shangshu in all dynasties, bar none.

His life is too difficult, too difficult.

At this time, Xie Zhan also looked solemn, and he was thinking more deeply than Wu Chunyu.

Not only may the salt tax not be collected this year, but Pingzhou has absorbed so many people before, which will also have a non-negligible impact on Dali's taxation and economy.

The most intuitive data is that for the more than four million people who went to Pingzhou, how much less would they receive in head tax alone?

Moreover, with so many people leaving, there will definitely be abandoned fields, and abandoned fields will affect local tax revenue.

There are also missing corvees...

In addition, this time, Pingzhou sold a large amount of salt to Dali at a low price, so that Dali's official salt could no longer be sold, making the already empty treasury even worse.

"Your Majesty, we must come up with an effective method. How much can we recover from this year's salt tax? The most important thing is not to affect next year's salt tax."

Xie Zhan knew very well that if he ignored it and let it go, the same operation in Pingzhou would happen again next year, and the salt tax for the Great Dawn Year would probably be finished.

"Is there so much salt in Pingzhou?" Song Mo asked. According to statistics from the people below, the amount of affordable salt released by Pingzhou this time is about 50 million jins.

Xie Zhan knew that there really was so much salt in Pingzhou.

Most of this batch of salt was Longcheng Lake salt. When he thought that this salt lake came from the 100 hectares of land he gave to the Lu family when he broke off their engagement, his chest felt tight.

At this time, Wu Chunyu had something to say, "Your Majesty, at this time I would rather believe that it exists than that it does not exist. What if it really exists in Pingzhou?"

We can hold on for a while this year, patch things together, and we can barely cope with it. If the salt tax cannot be collected next year, something will really happen!

"Hateful, is there nothing we can do against Pingzhou?" Song Mo was angry.

"If you want to solve the current predicament, there are two ways." Xie Zhan did not show off and went on to say, "The first way is to solve the problem of the proliferation of illegal salt from the source."

Solve it at the source? Song Mo asked, "Are you talking about solving Pingzhou? Do you think I don't want to?"

Xie Zhan was silent: ...He didn't even dare to think that.

"Your Majesty, what Wei Chen means is that we can talk to Pingzhou and see how the other side can stop Pingzhou from selling salt to Dali."

Xie Zhan speculated that Pingzhou deliberately did this, firstly to benefit the people, and secondly to harm Dali.

He has already seen that Pingzhou likes the people of Guizhou very much, but the recent steady stream of people coming to Pingzhou is enough for Pingzhou to digest for a while, so this time Pingzhou's goal is not to attract more people.

If Pingzhou throws out thousands of kilograms of cheap salt just to cause damage to Dali, it is not like Pingzhou and Dali are not fighting to the death yet. Besides, Dali could still withstand Pingzhou's move.

Therefore, Pingzhou should have some demands.

Hearing this, Song Mo gritted his teeth, "Am I still going to bow to Pingzhou?"

"What about the second way?" Song Mo asked.

Xie Zhan replied, "The second way is to lower the price of our official salt in Dali. Now the price of this batch of private salt in Pingzhou is 150 yuan per catty."

Because the quality of Pingzhou salt is known, the salt dealers in Dali followed the agreement and directly sold it at a high price.

"We can sell it at this price, or at a lower price, and we can win back the market." After all, at the same price, there is no need for ordinary people to risk buying illegal salt.

This is a price war.

Xie Zhan finally said, "But Wei Chen does not recommend this."

Once the imperial court lowers the price of official salt, will the people be disappointed with the imperial court? In fact, no matter which of these two methods you choose, the people will be disappointed.

What's more serious is the second method. If the court really did this, it would be equivalent to telling the people of Dali that their official salt in Dali could be sold for 150 coins per catty. But the imperial court insisted on selling salt at a high price.

Xie Zhan continued, "Furthermore, if there is a price war in Hepingzhou, the emperor must prevent it from lowering the price of salt again."

For so long, no matter who started a price war with Pingzhou, he had never seen anyone win.

Song Mo: "Pingzhou is still trying to lower the price of salt? Are you crazy? Losing money and making money?"

Xie Zhan sighed in his heart. If the price of salt is lowered, Pingzhou will not lose money. Isn't it irritating?

"Your Majesty, this matter needs to be handled as soon as possible." If this matter is not handled well, it will cause public resentment. The most important thing is that this is before and after spring plowing, and if we continue to crack down on illegal salt, we will miss the farming season.

"Is there any other way?" Song Mo asked.

Xie Zhan shook his head.

He prefers the first option, Peace State Negotiations.

Xie Zhan understands human nature, and he has already understood that illegal salt trading cannot be banned, as evidenced by the ineffectiveness of this campaign against illegal salt trading.

Pingzhou has a request for Dali, which can be discussed.

But for Song Mo, he didn't want to choose either of the two options!

"hiss--"

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Liang An stepped forward quickly.

Song Mo: "I have a headache."

"Then you take a rest first." Liang An stepped forward to support Song Mo and said to Xie Zhan and others, "The Emperor's dragon body is not in good condition. My lords, please step aside."

Zhuozhou County Sheriff's Office

Jiang Boya and Xie Bai assisted the county lieutenants in guarding Zhuozhou.

Now, they can leave as long as the court sends a new Zhuozhou County Governor to take office.

Jiang Boya sighed, "I was really fooled by the Governor. Kong Huai really failed."

Although the news came that Kong Huai died at the hands of bandits, anyone with a brain knows how much water there was among the bandits.

Xie Bai agreed, "Yes. Before we came to Zhuozhou, the head of the family said that Kong Huai only has one chance."

Jiang Boya deeply believed that if Kong Huai succeeded, it would be a great blessing. But it was obvious that the governor felt that the possibility of his success was unlikely, otherwise he would not have sent them here.

He also said, "Kong Huai can die, but Zhuozhou cannot tolerate any loss."

Xie Zhan has fought against Lu Songli many times. He knows that when fighting against Pingzhou, he cannot pay too much attention to it. It will not go wrong to prepare more backup moves.

What's more, now that Lu Songli is the lord of Pingzhou and sits on the land of three states, the defense force around him is definitely not weak.