Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 374 Business License

After dealing with the powerful and influential families in Chen Commandery, Liu Bian summoned Yang Qi, the newly appointed governor of Yu Province, and Feng Fang, the prefect of Chen Commandery, and instructed them to restore the livelihood of the people in Chen Commandery as soon as possible. He then ordered the army to return to the capital.

Restoring the livelihood of the people in Chen County is not difficult. The imperial court will provide certain resources, and with the large amount of farmland left behind by the purged aristocratic families, as well as the refugees previously gathered here by Liu Chong, as long as Feng Fang and Yang Qi work diligently, this is almost an easy achievement.

However, the army did not return to the capital together when they returned to the capital.

Huangfu Song led the infantry of the Left and Right Guard Battalions of the Central Army, as well as the four battalions of the Central Fortress Battalion, the Central Stronghold Battalion, the Valiant Cavalry Battalion, and the Guerrilla Battalion, to take the northern route and return to the capital from Chenliu County along the northern marching route.

After the army arrived at the outskirts of the capital, Empress He, on his behalf, bestowed a small amount of grain, cloth, and ample wine and meat as rewards to appease the army.

As for the detailed rewards for military merits, the Grand Secretaries of the Imperial Secretariat and the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat who remained in the capital were to draft the plans separately, and a final decision would be made after he returned to the capital.

Liu Bian himself, escorted by Dian Wei and four thousand cavalrymen from the Left and Right Guard Camps, traveled south from Chen County to Xiang County, and then south through Xiang County to inspect the local area of ​​Runan Commandery.

Although he was eager to return to the capital to handle the government affairs that required his approval, since he had already come out, he naturally wanted to see and observe more. Taking advantage of the momentum of another great victory, he personally inspected the local situation and dealt with some people and matters that he would normally be unable to intervene in.

Especially Runan County!

In the past, Runan was almost entirely the fiefdom of powerful and wealthy families.

The powerful and wealthy families, led by the Yuan family of Runan, truly exemplified the saying in Runan County: "The rich own vast tracts of land, while the poor have nowhere to stand."

If it weren't for the purge of the Yuan family of Runan for their rebellion back then, no one would have imagined that such a large county as Runan would have hardly any ordinary people, and would have been a country within a country, dominated by powerful and wealthy families.

At that time, there were hardly any self-cultivating farmers left in the entire Runan Commandery. Almost everyone had become tenant farmers of powerful families, cultivating their land. It is no wonder that after the chaos caused by Dong Zhuo in history, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were able to quickly raise a fully equipped army.

However, with the successive purges of the Yuan clan of Runan and its powerful clans, including their relatives by marriage and allies, and with the diligent efforts and hard work of the former Runan prefect Yang Qi, Runan Prefecture has finally begun to show signs of clearing away the clouds and seeing the blue sky.

After Liu Bian and his entourage entered Runan, they inspected the eleven counties of Gushi, Tongyang, Xincai, Ancheng, Shenyang, Beiyichun, Yang'an, Zhuoyang, Wufang, Dingying, and Xiping.

Instead of paying attention to the increasing acreage and tax figures in the official documents and ledgers, Liu Bian focused more on the daily flow of people entering and leaving the city gates.

In his view, while the data on cultivated land could be embellished, and the village officials, village heads, and farmers in the fields who had been instructed by the county magistrates and county heads would lie, the ledgers in the hands of the city gate officials that recorded the flow of people entering and leaving the city were difficult to falsify and could more accurately reflect the prosperity of the city and the increasing wealth of the people.

To falsify this ledger, it would not only be necessary to involve the specific villagers and townspeople, but also the ledgers of the Maritime Trade Office and the ledgers held by merchants.

The reason why false accounts cannot be exposed and cannot withstand scrutiny is that it is difficult to be comprehensive without real data.

No matter how much tax is levied, if the people have no surplus grain, how can we talk about a clean government and harmonious society?

Liu Bian's gaze swept over the bustling crowd at the city gate. He saw that most of the people entering the city were driving carts or carrying empty baskets, and almost all of them were going into the city to buy things.

If their purchasing power hadn't gradually increased, why would they frequently travel to the city to shop?

While rural markets are convenient, the variety of goods they offer is never as comprehensive as that in county towns. Moreover, five types of commodities—salt, iron, silk, wine, and grain—are not permitted to be traded in makeshift stalls in the countryside.

The Maritime Trade Office had five departments under its jurisdiction: Salt, Iron, Silk, Wine, and Grain, which were strictly controlled.

Anyone dealing in these five categories of goods must obtain a business license from the Maritime Trade Office, display the special license plaque granted by the Maritime Trade Office, and post the business license document in the shop.

Silk and wine were indeed highly profitable industries, so the imperial court had to bring these two types of goods under state control.

The scope of silk products is extremely broad, not only silk fabrics, but also all kinds of silk fabrics such as spun silk and crepes must be included in the control, even the lowest grade of hemp.

Hemp is a staple food for ordinary people to keep warm in winter. If it is not strictly controlled, unscrupulous merchants will inevitably hoard it during the harsh winter of the Little Ice Age and sell it at prices ten or even a hundred times higher than before to make huge profits.

Liu Bian's attitude towards merchants was quite complex. He was willing to support commerce, but he absolutely distrusted the integrity of merchants.

Merchants prioritize profit. Although there may be a few kind-hearted individuals among them who do good deeds out of kindness or for the sake of reputation, the majority of this class are unrighteous and immoral.

The way to govern merchants is to loosen the tangible shackles and then put on the intangible ones.

Needless to say, salt and iron were essential commodities. The former was a necessity of daily life, while the latter, besides being military supplies, was also a material needed for agricultural tools. The state monopoly on salt and iron was an unshakeable national policy. As for grain, low grain prices hurt farmers, while high grain prices hurt the people.

The imperial court did establish stabilization granaries to maintain a balance in grain prices, but the stabilization granaries were shut down many times in the past precisely because the operating costs were too high. They were purely charitable projects that did not generate profits, and it was common for them to lose billions of dollars every year, which eventually made them unsustainable.

Therefore, if the imperial court wanted to maintain the normal operation of the stabilization granaries in the long term, it had to cut spending.

Liu Bian couldn't think of any way to cut back on spending; the only way he could think of was to throttle it.

In the past, small grain merchants would send people directly to collect grain from local people and sell it, while large grain merchants would collect grain through a group of middlemen who were responsible for collecting grain from the people.

A large grain merchant can hoard thousands of bushels of grain in just one branch in a county. If he were in a densely populated city, he would hoard far more than ten thousand bushels.
Looking across the 105 prefectures and kingdoms of the Han Dynasty, it is unknown how many millions of shi of grain were stockpiled.

Even with a large workforce, it would be difficult to collect grain from the people, who might not be willing to sell their grain to them. If there were problems with the transaction, it would be troublesome to file a complaint with the county government.

Therefore, large grain merchants often need local middlemen to act as intermediaries when purchasing grain. These middlemen collect surplus grain from the people and then sell it to the large grain merchants.

Although merchants profited from the price difference in this way, they saved time and manpower, and this price difference was ultimately passed on to the people who bought the grain.

Today, the Maritime Trade Office has brought grain trade under its control, eliminating middlemen from profiting from price differences.

As for manpower consumption, the village heads, pavilion heads, and township officials would collect grain from the homes of people who were willing to sell their surplus grain. The money would be settled on the spot according to the price published by the Maritime Trade Office in the "Great Han Gazette". The government would then distribute the grain to the major grain merchants according to their quotas, and the sales price could not exceed the highest price of grain published by the Maritime Trade Office.

How much you can sell it for depends entirely on your skill.

However, the imperial court allowed merchants holding operating licenses to use the canal system to transport these controlled goods free of charge and exempted them from the corresponding ferry crossing taxes, but the customs taxes at land passes could not be exempted.

The customs duties of the Han Dynasty were once abolished due to the national policy of recuperation and the need for commercial development. Starting with Emperor Xiaowu, the customs duty was uniformly set at "20 per thousand coins", which is 2%.

When passing through a pass or ferry crossing, the caravan had to pay a customs tax of 2% of its goods.

As a result, the overall profits for merchants actually increased rather than decreased; otherwise, they would not have been so willing to cooperate with the court's new policies.

Salt, iron, silk, and wine were also collected from the people by the village chiefs, pavilion heads, and township officials. They were also allowed to use the canal system to transport these goods free of charge and were exempted from the corresponding ferry duties.

However, since the imperial court had promised the merchants profits, it was only natural that it had to impose severe penalties!
The Maritime Trade Office encourages reporting of unlicensed operations, cross-border sales, sales of substandard goods, over-purchasing and over-selling, and tax evasion.

If the report is true, the Maritime Trade Office will reward the whistleblower, whether they are a merchant or an ordinary citizen, by exempting them from certain taxes, depending on the circumstances of the report.

As for those who are reported, the fine will be 100 times the illegal gains. They will face penalties including a fine of 100 times the illegal gains, suspension of business operations, and even permanent revocation of their business license. Furthermore, the business licenses and qualifications of their immediate family members within three generations and their relatives within three clans will also be permanently revoked and will never be granted again. The whistleblower will be exempt from punishment.

In serious cases, the perpetrators may even be executed or have their entire family wiped out.

However, this system of the Maritime Trade Office was not the final system.

If the various departments under the Municipal Administration only set up offices in Luoyang, their deterrent effect on the local area would ultimately be limited, lacking actual control.

He already had a plan in mind: when the time was right, he would set up special personnel in charge of salt, iron, silk, wine, and grain in all prefectures, counties, and districts, rotating them every three years. This would not only better serve the supervisory role but also separate this power from the hands of local administrative officials.

Now, thanks to the lingering influence of his military victories and his massacres of powerful families, at least under the current system of the Maritime Trade Office, few merchants dare to defy the law.

After inspecting Runan Commandery, Liu Bian gave instructions to the newly appointed Runan Commandery Governor Liang Hu before entering Yingchuan Commandery. He then traveled through Dingling, Xiangcheng, Yangdi, and Changshe, before entering Henan Yin and arriving at Xinzheng. He passed through Guancheng and followed the Yellow River official road to Luoyang, a journey of nearly two thousand li.

Unlike the heavily armored cavalry under Lü Bu's command, the Wuwei cavalry, without their horse armor, could travel at a speed of 100 li per day without causing excessive fatigue to their horses and cavalrymen.

During his journey, Liu Bian visited Xincai and Xiping in Runan Commandery and Yangdi in Yingchuan Commandery. After finally entering Henan Province, he decided to rest for a day in Guancheng, which is less than 200 li from Luoyang, to observe the local conditions.

It took them twenty-four days to finally arrive in Luoyang, where they met Empress He, who led civil and military officials to await the emperor's return to the capital, outside the Zhongdong Gate.

(3001 words)
(End of this chapter)