In fact, the stability of grain prices was an obvious benefit for the entire Tang Dynasty. However, the resistance to the implementation was so great. The most fundamental reason was that many big landlords were often big grain merchants, especially some aristocratic families, who controlled the grain prices of a place.
In the imperial court, many ministers were often the representatives of big landlords, such as Du Yan and Wei Changde, whose families were also big landlords.
Although Li Shimin had repeatedly ordered officials above the fifth rank to be prohibited from doing business, selling the products of their own fields was not considered doing business.
Moreover, the Wei and Du families were deeply rooted in Chang 'an and had amazing power. The Du family was Du Ruhui's family and had countless students and officials in the imperial court. The Wei family was the family of Imperial Concubine Wei and was a relative of the emperor. No one dared to touch them.
"Your Majesty, the Minister thinks that we can increase the power of Chang Pingcang and build more Chang Pingcang around the Tang Dynasty to stabilize local prices." Fang Xuanling stepped forward and said.
He was the Prime Minister of the imperial court, and it was his responsibility to maintain the stability of grain prices. He proposed the most fundamental solution to the problem.
"As Minister Fang said, this is indeed a way to cure the problem." Li Shimin nodded and turned to the Minister of Works, Duan Lun.
"Minister Duan, the matter of building Chang Pingcang will be handed over to your Ministry of Works."
Duan Lun replied, "Yes! But building Chang Pingcang is not something that can be done overnight. I'm afraid it will take three to five years to build many Chang Pingcang. "
Building a granary was not a simple matter. It required site selection, construction, and various facilities. It was not something that could be done in a day or two.
"And it will cost a lot of money, plus the purchase of grain. I'm afraid the imperial court can't afford so much money!" The Minister of Civil Affairs, Dai Zhou, frowned. He also knew that Chang Pingcang was a good thing, but even the cleverest housewife couldn't cook without rice. At this time, the financial situation was not so tight, but it was probably impossible to take out so much money to buy grain through Chang Pingcang.
Wei and Du were overjoyed when they heard this. They couldn't help but look at each other, and then a trace of regret appeared on their faces.
Li Shimin immediately fell silent. The lack of money was indeed a pain in everyone's heart, and even the Emperor was no exception.
Su Lingnong stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it's a long-term plan to keep the grain in stock, but distant water can't quench the immediate thirst. Why don't we let the imperial court set a price for grain? No matter what the price is, we can do it at that price. This way, we can guarantee the farmers' interests to the greatest extent."
"No?" Wei Changde was shocked.
If the price was fixed, then how could the Wei and Du Families rely on purchasing grain to make huge profits?
"Why not? Once the price of grain is set, it definitely won't be lower than the current price. Old Man knows that House Wei has a lot of fields. If you can produce grain and sell it for a good price, won't that be good for you? "Su Lingnong said angrily.
Wei Changde immediately cursed Su Lingnong for feigning ignorance. How could grain alone be enough to support a noble clan? In the end, which noble clan didn't have to suck the blood of the common people to continue living?
Besides, let alone noble clans, even ordinary landlords wouldn't sell their grain at the lowest price when it had just been harvested. They would hoard it for several months and wait for the price to rise before slowly selling it. On the other hand, ordinary farmers didn't have the slightest ability to resist and could only sell their grain at a low price.
"Lord Wei may not know, but if the price of grain is fixed, grain merchants won't be able to make any profit. They naturally won't be willing to buy or sell grain. When the time comes, the farmers won't be able to sell their grain and the common people won't be able to buy it. Wouldn't that be even more dangerous? " Du Yan was a talent who had later become Prime Minister. He immediately saw through the drawbacks of Su Lingnong's words and spoke up to help Wei Changde out of his predicament.
"That's true!" Su Lingnong nodded in agreement, but then he changed the subject. "Since that's the case, why don't we set a minimum and maximum grain purchase price?"
"What's the minimum and maximum grain price?" Li Shimin couldn't help but ask.
"Your Majesty, the minimum grain price is to ensure that grain merchants buy the grain at the lowest price. This minimum price is to ensure that the farmers won't sell their grain at a low price. The maximum grain price is the price at which grain merchants sell their grain. This maximum grain price is to ensure that the common people in Chang 'an City can afford it without affecting their lives. The price difference in the middle is the profit of the grain merchants. In this way, the interests of the three parties can be guaranteed. "Su Lingnong spoke with assurance and threw out a feasible method.
Li Shimin's eyes suddenly lit up. In this way, the problem would be solved perfectly. There would no longer be a situation of three to five extra bushels of grain, nor would there be a situation where the grain price was too high to hurt the common people.
"What do you think, my dear ministers?" Li Shimin's body shook and his eyes flashed as he looked at the ministers in the imperial court.
"Is this a good government?" Fang Xuanling immediately nodded. In this way, with the help of Chang Pingcang, the stability of the grain price in the Tang dynasty would be guaranteed.
Many ministers also figured out the key points and couldn't help but nod and praise, especially some ministers whose families were not engaged in grain business.
For a while, under the rolling general trend, Wei and Du's opposition would only cause Li Shimin's anger. After all, for an emperor, there was nothing more important than maintaining the rule, especially for an emperor like Li Shimin who preferred reputation.
Wei and Du's were powerful, but they were still weak in front of the emperor's will.
Hearing this, Su Lingnong couldn't help but smile. For a long time, his position as the finance minister seemed to be noble, but he had no real power. In the face of the common people's suffering, he did nothing. Today, if he could control the minimum and maximum grain prices in the country, wouldn't it benefit the common people?
"I didn't expect Marquis Merton's idea to be so good!" Su Lingnong couldn't help but smile.
Yes, it was Meton's idea that he proposed the minimum grain purchase price and the maximum grain selling price. Otherwise, how could he come up with such an idea with his character of bowing down in the fields?
Since the key had been set, the rest was naturally not difficult for these elites of the Tang dynasty. Soon, Dai Zhou had calculated the reasonable minimum grain purchase price and the maximum grain selling price.
The minimum grain purchase price was seven copper coins per dou, and the maximum grain selling price was ten copper coins. The difference of three copper coins in the middle was the profit of grain merchants. Three copper coins was equivalent to less than half of the price of a dou of grain. Even if the transportation cost was eliminated, the profit was still considerable. After all, grain was ultimately based on quantity, not price.
In addition to grains, the whole imperial court also set the minimum purchase price and the maximum selling price for wheat, sorghum, and rice.
"Good! In the future, the Tang dynasty will set the national grain price in the summer harvest every year and report it to the imperial court for distribution. "Li Shimin said happily.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
