"Grandpa, elders, there's actually one more thing."
Beside Elder Ye, Wang Chong did not immediately sit down.
"Oh?"
The elders looked on in surprise.
"Young Master Chong, just say what you want to say."
'Duke Hu' said. He had a very good impression of Duke Jiu, his youngest grandson.
"Regarding the matter of salt and iron, although the Imperial Court has not set up a project and all the memorials have not been issued, the Imperial Court has not yet approved it. But if we want to deal with the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates and reduce the number of weapons they obtain, there are other methods, and the Imperial Court will definitely swiftly approve these methods. "
Wang Chong composed himself and said.
Wang Chong's cousin, Wang Li, already had an ugly expression on his face. All the limelight had been stolen by Wang Chong. Now that he heard him mention the ironware he had just mentioned, his face was so dark that it was about to drip water.
Wasn't this embarrassing him in front of his face?
"Young Master Chong, what method are you talking about?"
The group of people asked curiously. The meaning of the Holy Emperor was very clear. Trade was absolutely impossible to prohibit. It was impossible to close the trade links between the Tang dynasty and all countries just to ban ironware.
This was the reason why all the memorials had been left unpublished.
Wang Chong actually said that he had a way to get the imperial court to pass his decision. This made the elders curious.
"Chong-er, don't speak nonsense! Everyone here is an elder. You don't understand what's going on in the imperial court, so don't talk nonsense! "
Wang Chong's uncle reminded him with a straight face.
Wang Gen's feelings toward Wang Chong were complicated. On one hand, the more outstanding Wang Chong's performance was, the smaller the chance of Li 'er inheriting his father's position and influence as the successor of the family.
But on the other hand, with so many of his father's old subordinates around, Wang Chong didn't just represent himself, but the entire Wang Clan. Wang Chi no longer had any hope, Wang Fu wasn't outstanding enough, and Wang Bei was ruined. If even Wang Chong failed, his father's old subordinates and his students would look down on the entire Wang Clan.
As the saying goes, "Like father, like son."
A hundred beasts would submit to a fierce tiger, but they would never submit to a dog's son!
Wang Chong's previous performance was already pretty good. Even as his uncle, he couldn't say anything about it. What Wang Gen was afraid of was that he would slip up by speaking too much. If that happened, all of his previous efforts would go to waste, and all of his previous efforts would go to waste.
"Eldest Young Master, it's a good thing that Young Master Chong has such thoughts. Let him speak! "
'Old Ma' also spoke up.
Those present were all intelligent people, so how could Wang Gen's thoughts be hidden from them? Wang Chong was only fifteen years old, and he was not yet in touch with the affairs of the imperial court. Moreover, Wang Yan was a border general, so it was even more impossible for him to teach him.
Because of this, the elders wanted to know how strong this fifteen-year-old kid was.
"Chong-er, it's fine. Go ahead, even if you're wrong, no one will blame you! "
Old Master Shen waved his hand and said in the hall.
He treated all of his children and grandchildren equally. How capable one was, how high one's position would be. It was rare for his old subordinates and brothers to be here today. Since Wang Chong had already started the discussion, the rest was not up to him.
This test would determine his future accomplishments, and he could already count on how much help he could receive from his old subordinates.
And how capable Wang Chong was would be the crux of it all!
"Yes! Grandfather! "
Wang Chong bowed deeply before continuing.
"Actually, it's very simple to suppress the output of metal weapons. All we have to do is raise the price of metal weapons. "
"It's useless. Metal weapons are involved in all aspects of life. Small ones include pots, shovels, hoes, and so on. Large ones include weapons, armor, weapons … Raising the price of metal weapons will increase the burden on the lives of the commoners, and it will increase the expenditure of the imperial court on the military. On top of that, those clans that produce metal weapons, local clans, small workshops, mines, generals, and so on … All of these will cause a huge backlash. "
"This kind of thing is absolutely impossible!"
At the end of the hall, a skinny white-haired old man spoke up. Wang Chong recognized him as' Elder Zhao '. Of grandfather's old subordinates, he was the weakest in martial arts.
The reason was simple, he was the logistics officer.
When grandfather was young, he was sent to the borders of the Great Wall, and he insisted on him serving as the logistics officer. He had to deal with the royal court and the local authorities.
Everyone knew that logisticians had the most and the most complicated tasks. But as long as' Elder Zhao 'was around, all the trivial matters, bits and pieces, Elder Zhao would be able to handle them in an orderly manner.
As soon as he heard Wang Chong's suggestion, he immediately knew that it was impossible. In order to contain the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganate, he would lose sight of the bigger picture for the sake of small gains, neglecting the essentials and throwing himself into disarray.
Everyone in the conference hall thought that Wang Chong would have some wise suggestion. But upon hearing those words, they were disappointed. After all, he was still young. He was only fifteen, so how could he possibly understand the affairs of the royal court?
If raising the price could curb the production of metal weapons, they would have long resolved the matter. There would be no need for them to discuss it here.
"Hehe, of course it won't work if it's just raising the price …"
Wang Chong smiled confidently. Sweeping his gaze across the room, he didn't seem discouraged at all:
"But what if we use tariffs?"
"Tariffs?"
Surprised, Elder Zhao frowned for the first time. The other elders also had curious looks on their faces. They glanced at one another before turning to look at Wang Chong with interest.
They had never heard of such a thing before.
"May I ask Young Master Chong what tariffs are? I have spent half of my life dealing with finance, taxation, logistics … There is no tax that I don't know about in the Tang dynasty, but pardon me for my ignorance, but what exactly are tariffs? "
Elder Zhao said sternly, putting on a posture of humbly seeking guidance. This was also one of his strengths. Whenever he encountered something he didn't understand, he would ask without hesitation. Even in his old age, he was still the same.
This was also the reason why the old master trusted him for half of his life and admired him so much!
Seeing the gazes of the elders, Wang Chong couldn't help but chuckle. In his previous life, he had pondered over the matter regarding the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganate for a very long time. Actually, tariffs could solve the problem!
Even though in another world, tariffs were something that everyone knew of. But in this world, no one knew what tariffs were!
The Tang dynasty had a household tax, a headcount tax, a market tax, a merchant tax … But the only thing it didn't have was' tariffs'.
Most of the Abbasid Caliphate, Charax Spasinu, Turks, and Goguryeons who came to the mainland to purchase goods enjoyed the same price as those in the Central Plains.
Thus, even if the royal court cut off trade with the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganate, these nomadic Khaganate could still obtain an endless supply of metal weapons from the Abbasid Caliphate, Charax Spasinu, and the Tang dynasty.
And for a country that traded with ten thousand countries, this was extremely abnormal. The Tang dynasty had been doing business internally for a long time, and many people had not realized that there was such a thing as "tariffs."
Since they didn't realize it, Wang Chong felt that he had to remind them and make them aware of the existence of this thing!
"Grandfather, and all the seniors. Salt and iron were special industries, especially ironware. In my grandson's opinion, there's no need to pay taxes when doing business on the mainland. This way, everyone can enjoy the preferential price, and it won't cause chaos. "
"However, if someone were to bring these weapons out of the Tang dynasty and into Charax Spasinu, Abbasid Caliphate, or the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates in the north, they could set up checkpoints at the borders to collect taxes. This is called a tariff! "
"Because these ironwares are no longer in circulation within the Tang dynasty, of course, the price can't be the same as inside. The tax rate can be doubled, tripled, tripled … up to five times the price! "
"This way, it won't affect the internal price of salt and iron. Secondly, it can also bring a huge amount of additional revenue to the Tang dynasty. "
"Because ironwares are sold in large quantities in large countries and political factors, they tend to be sold in large quantities. Thus, if we were to impose a tariff on ironwares, there would only be two situations. First, the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates would buy them in large quantities due to their overall strength, regardless of the price. This way, even though we wouldn't be able to stop them, we would at least be able to get a huge sum of money to subsidize the empire. "
"Second, the price would be too high. The Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates would give up on buying them. That's even better! This way, even though we would lose a huge sum of money, we would be able to completely suppress the importation of ironwares into the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates, indirectly suppressing their fighting prowess. — — Isn't this our goal? "
"Furthermore, the tariff is only limited to the salt and iron industries, the other industries wouldn't be affected. Thus, the Holy Emperor doesn't have to worry about the trade between the east and the west being affected. "
"Of course, the tariff isn't limited to just salt and iron. Other goods can be taxed as long as the tax rate is appropriate. Of course, these are matters that the royal court needs to discuss. This isn't something that can be resolved by just a few words of mine. "
At the end of his words, Wang Chong glanced at his big uncle.
Everyone in the conference hall had been listening intently to Wang Chong's words. At the start, they were still disapproving of Wang Chong's words, but the more they heard, the brighter their eyes lit up. Eventually, even 'Elder Zhao', who had vetoed Wang Chong's words, looked at Wang Chong in astonishment.
If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, he would have never believed that a fifteen-year-old child would be able to spout such words.
Tariffs, tariffs … These old fellows were only concerned about the threat of the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates to the north, and as more and more ironwares appeared, the country grew stronger and stronger. Thus, the most direct solution was to ban all ironwares and close off the trade with the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates.
Or perhaps, they could just take Duke Jiu's eldest grandson, 'Young Master Li', and wage a war against the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates to intimidate them. However, no one had ever thought that they could use something as' tariffs' to subjugate the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates without any bloodshed, thus banning their ironwares.
Moreover, as an elder of the Tang Empire's politics and logistics, he was almost certain that His Majesty would definitely agree.
In fact, even without much consideration, the people in the royal court would swiftly pass the resolution. This was especially so for the finance ministers. They would surely push for this matter with all their might.
"Hahaha, Xue Zique and those finance ministers can find a few ropes and commit suicide out of shame. To think that they would think of all kinds of excuses to collect taxes from the commoners and suck their hard-earned money. But how could they not have thought of something as good as tariffs? Didn't the merchants of Charax Spasinu and Abbasid Caliphate claim that they were rich? Despite having so many targets for taxation, they still didn't think of it! "
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