Tang's dining table

There is no problem with Changan's accounts.

This is the norm for a city that is developing rapidly.

Dozens or hundreds of shops or workshops open in Chang'an City every day. Every day, new merchants enter Chang'an from the four directions of southeast, northwest and northwest, injecting new funds and vitality into the city.

Therefore, his account books and records are always lagging behind. Even though Chang'an City has the largest number of accounting rooms in the Tang Dynasty, it is impossible to clearly and accurately record the changes that occur in the city every day.

Basically, all ambitious merchants and caravans will send their goods to Chang'an, and only after completing the first period of appreciation of the goods here, will they sell their goods through Chang'an's developed wholesale trade.

Many times, a strange phenomenon occurs. For example, merchants in Luoyang would rather transport their own goods to Chang'an, repackage them, stamp them with the Chang'an mark, and then transport them back to Luoyang people. After doing this, they do not You will lose money, but on the contrary, you will make more money.

Not all goods are eligible to be stamped with the blue Big Wild Goose Pagoda watermark. As long as the goods are stamped with the blue Big Wild Goose Pagoda watermark, there is no doubt that they are the Chang'an goods that people often say, and they are among the best goods in the world. First class.

Li Jingxuan visited the large-scale stamping office in Chang'an City. The people responsible for stamping here had all kinds of weird and miserable looks.

As long as the handymen in Chang'an City bring stacks of paper, these blind, lame, broken-armed, one-eyed, and one-armed people will immediately start stamping. They seldom talk, but stamp the seal quickly and efficiently. ruthless.

Li Jingxuan picked up a piece of hemp paper and looked at the clear seal on it and said, "Hutchison Sesame Cake?"

Yunchu explained: "Originally, this pack of Heji sesame cakes can be sold for sixteen yuan. With this seal, it can be sold for twenty-two yuan. A piece of such wrapping paper gives the government two yuan, and they I can make four more bucks.”

Li Jingxuan looked at the hundreds of strange-looking people at the sealing place and sighed: "Someone thinks that just this sealing place can bring more than 10,000 yuan of income to Chang'an City a year."

Master Mi said with a smile: "This year, it's only August, and I've already earned 14,000 guan, and it's easy to break 20,000 guan by the end of the year. Excluding labor, materials and other expenses, the net income will exceed 15,000 guan."

Therefore, the Minister has no need to worry that Chang'an City will do some sneaky things in places that the country values ​​​​and need money. We have all the legitimate channels. "

Li Jingxuan looked back at the little sixth-grade chief clerk. Under normal circumstances, it would be a great honor for an official of this level to talk to him, but the sixth-grade chief clerk in Chang'an City dared to face his questions. , and the answer contains deep meaning.

His previous knowledge of Chang'an was too shallow, and he thought that Yunchu had other considerations when casting the Golden Bull. Now it seems that he just thinks that there is too much money on the market...

It is not a secret that the Tang Dynasty is short of copper. Since copper was no longer used to make weapons, a lot of copper coins have been accumulated over the past thousands of years, but it has never had much to do with the government.

As a result, there was no regular pattern in the society of the Tang Dynasty, where there was sometimes more money and sometimes less money.

The twenty-four golden bulls cast by Yunchu were probably the only accumulation of copper materials that could be openly mentioned in the Tang Dynasty court.

Li Jingxuan is a man who has read a lot of poetry and books. The most rare thing is that he is not pedantic and has the ability to draw inferences from one instance to other cases.

A strange thought suddenly came to his mind, and he couldn't help but said to Yun Chu: "If the imperial court allows Chang'an Liushou Mansion to mint money, how much will it cost?"

Yunchu looked at Li Jingxuan, shook his head and said: "On July 18th, the fourth year of Wude, Emperor Gaozu ordered money supervisors to be set up in Luozhou, and new coins were set up in Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Yizhou, and each of them was allowed to mint money.

He also rewarded King Li Shimin of Qin, King Li Yuanji of Qi, and his right servant Pei Ji, each with a stove seat. They can cast it themselves, but others are not allowed to cast it privately. Anyone who dares to steal the cast will die and his family will be worth three thousand miles.

A certain family knew what the minister wanted, so it was better to drop the matter. "

Li Jingxuan shook his head solemnly and said: "In May of the fifth year of Wude, the imperial court set up the Kaiyuan Tongbao Money Bureau in Guizhou. In the 23rd year of Zhenguan, the money casting department was set up in Zizhou. Unfortunately, these money supervisors soon disappeared. They have been laid off one after another, does Yuchu know the reason?"

Yun Chu shook his head and said: "Coining is an important weapon of the country. A certain family never asks about its importance, nor does it dare to ask about its size."

Li Jingxuan pretended not to hear the nonsense that Yun Chu replied, and said to himself: "Last March, the reason why the Guizhou Coin Minting Bureau was abolished was that every time the money minting bureau there cast a lot of money, it cost a lot of money. One hundred and twenty-seven dollars.

Zizhou Coin Mining Department is not much better. Every time a coin is minted, it costs one thousand three hundred and eighty-seven coins.

The earliest Luozhou Coin Minting Bureau had to spend two coins to cast one coin because there was no copper mountain in the area.

A certain family just wanted to ask Yu Chu, if Chang'an minted money, could this loss-making business be turned into a profitable one? "

Yun Chu laughed when he heard this and said: "Why should the minister bother so much? Hasn't the imperial court already solved this problem?

I heard that the usual money in Luoyang is only seven or eight hundred yuan. If there is one thousand yuan there, the court only needs to pass on the losses to the people who use the money. "

Li Jingxuan's old face turned red and said: "If you can't pass it on, the merchants will naturally mark the price up by 10% or 20% to 30%."

Yun Chu looked at Li Jingxuan with a smile and said: "There are many old families with rich heritage in the capital of the gods. I have never heard that they make money in private and lose money. As far as I know, just Chang'an Weishi, they The cost of minting money can be controlled to the point where it would normally cost 750 coins."

Li Jingxuan sighed and said: "The government's extravagance is far beyond what Webster's can match. Every time a coin minting bureau was established in the Tang Dynasty, a team had to be built. Not to mention the number of people employed, there was also a lot of redundancy. Webster, We only use our own components, and apart from the loss of copper materials, the labor cost is almost negligible, so it is naturally incomparable."

No matter what Li Jingxuan said, Yunchu refused to accept his opinion. For now, the chaos of the Tang Dynasty and the poor cost of coining money were generally beneficial to Chang'an.

Once Chang'an, the place with the most money in the Tang Dynasty, had no tricks to exploit, the losses would generally outweigh the benefits.

Not to mention that Chang'an has never touched money making, even if it is capable, it will never do such a useless thing.

Because after the last lesson, Chang'an's wealth is mainly based on grain, silk and other goods. Whether it is the entry and exit of bulk goods on the flowing water sign in Qujiang, or the tax targets of Chang'an, basically all are used. It is a barter method, and money does not have much influence on the buying and selling of bulk goods in Chang'an.

Li Jingxuan has stayed in Chang'an for half a month. He has seen a lot of places recently and has a lot of feelings, especially the Liushui sign in Qujiang. He can see it very clearly, that is, goods from the south go north, goods from the north go south, and goods from the east Xiben, a place where goods from the west are transported from the east, charging half a percent of the handling fee for each transaction, Chang'an has long been fattened into a pig.

On the way back to Guanyi, Li Jingxuan once again came to the shining golden bull, slapped the bull hard and said with emotion: "There are indeed many people in this world who are just like flies and dogs, and few who are dedicated to serving the country and the people."

Wei Dongcheng, the minister of Dongtai, said: "All we need to do is move Yun Chu away from Chang'an."

Li Jingxuan shook his head and said, "In these days, has Brother Dongcheng understood how Chang'an City operates?"

Wei Dongcheng shook his head and said: "No, many methods are unheard of, and many practices are only seen in my life."

Li Jingxuan added: "What will happen if Chang'an City collapses or stops moving forward?"

Wei Dongcheng said: "Your Majesty's grand narrative of the ten realms in the world taking turns to be exempted from tax will be stopped, and the government troops, which are already full of loopholes, will also be in trouble."

Li Jingxuan sighed and said: "More than that, if Chang'an stops operating, even His Majesty would find it difficult to accept it.

Otherwise, given His Majesty's suspicion of his ministers, do you think he would have allowed Yun Chu to dominate Chang'an City for so many years?

It can be seen that His Majesty's knowledge of Chang'an far exceeds that of you and me, which is why Yun Chu has been reluctant to build the Chang'an city wall. "

Wei Dongcheng said with emotion: "Since your Majesty went to Luoyang, the sacred capital, six big holes have been opened in the Chang'an city wall. With these six big holes, Your Majesty will not worry about changes in Chang'an. At the same time, because there is no complete His Majesty refused to return to Chang'an without the city walls.

There are so many monsters and monsters in Chang'an. Compared with the officials here, we are like two different groups, and the difference is even greater than the difference between us and the Turks. "

Li Jingxuan sneered and said: "If you can't transfer people like Yun Chu and Wen Wen, then we will transfer officials from Chang'an City. If there are vacancies, we will continue to fill them in. Once they have achieved success in Chang'an City, they will be transferred immediately." Go out and serve elsewhere.”

Wei Dongcheng said in surprise: "In this way, doesn't it give Yun Chu a lot of wings in vain?"

Li Jingxuan smiled and said: "Quizi Sichong and Shouyi, one is serving as the chief clerk in Pi County, and the other is going to participate in this year's scientific examination competition. It is estimated that they can pass. With their qualifications, it is still feasible for them to come to Chang'an and serve as the most minor officials." , a certain family doesn’t believe that Yunchu and the others are capable of stealing my son’s heart.”

Wei Dongcheng laughed loudly when he heard this and said: "Quan Ziheng and my son-in-law Dong Wen can probably be sent to Chang'an for some training."

Li Jingxuan nodded and said: "If you don't have talent, you can't walk a long way relying on your ancestors. We can give these children a ride. After all, they have to run the long journey on their own. Chang'an City is a place where you can learn skills. I firmly believe this." undoubtedly."

In the evening, when Yun Chu was having dinner with Wen Rou, Master Mi walked in with a smile, saluted the two Shangguan officials and then came over and said, "Li Jingxuan, Wei Dongcheng and others want to stuff their sons and sons-in-law into various government offices in Chang'an. Jun Hou, should we make preparations in advance?"

Yun Chu glanced at Wen Wen who was still eating, shook his head and said, "As long as someone comes to work in Chang'an, we will take as much as they come, no matter whose son or son-in-law he is.

Let me tell you, Lao Mi, we have always wanted to implement Chang'an's model throughout the Tang Dynasty. Now that these people are here, it is much more powerful than training some baseless officials. "

Wen Wen followed: "Let them come, let them see for themselves how Chang'an operates, how it became rich, how we treat the people, how we treat the court, and more importantly, let them They understand what it means to be an official!"