Chapter 152

"Sir."

"Sir?"

Wang Yang called twice before Yu Yi came back to his senses.

"Does this method of mine work?"

"Very wonderful! Very wonderful! Zhiyan, let me ask you another question—"

Yu Yi couldn't wait to ask. Wang Yang hurriedly said: "Sir, the matter of the constant-price granary..."

"That's easy to talk about! See if you have any way to solve the following problem..."

Yu Yi hadn't intended to ask Wang Yang a second question, but Wang Yang's ability to solve problems greatly exceeded his expectations, so he took out the second difficult problem to test the waters. This second problem was harder than the first. It would be best if there was a way, but even if it couldn't be solved, there would be no loss.

Seeing Yu Yi say this, Wang Yang could only continue to listen.

"This is... this is a problem encountered by another friend of mine. This year, a copper mountain was discovered under Mount Meng in Nanguang County, which was the place where Deng Tong of the Former Han cast coins. For this reason, the imperial court specifically separated a whole batch of coin-making officials and laborers from the Lesser Treasury and sent them to Nanguang, setting up a coin-making office to specialize in mining and casting coins. But after a few months, the coins obtained were less than ten million, but the cost was almost equal to the profit obtained!

From personnel expenses to purchasing equipment, to building factories, hiring workers, mining, melting copper, and opening sand, almost every step is a hurdle! Every step is throwing money! And there are always various unexpected problems! After a few months, the expenses not only didn't decrease but gradually tended to increase! Now the speed of casting coins can't keep up with the speed of spending money. If this continues, what is the point of casting these coins? Now, besides abandoning this copper mountain, does the imperial court have any other way?"

Yu Yi looked at Wang Yang expectantly.

Wang Yang thought for a while and asked: "Is your friend a County Magistrate?"

"Hmm... bigger than a Magistrate."

"Provincial Registrar?"

"... Zhiyan, have you thought of another good idea?" Seeing that this dialogue was exactly the same as before, Yu Yi couldn't help but have greater expectations.

"This idea of mine requires the consent of the imperial court; it is not something that can be decided locally."

"It doesn't matter! As long as the method works, my friend can petition the imperial court! Zhiyan, just speak freely!"

"The crux now is the high cost, and the reason for the high cost is actually mainly the high administrative cost..."

Seeing that Yu Yi was confused, Wang Yang explained further:

"The imperial court sent so many people to remote places. Firstly, the personnel are redundant; secondly, they are not familiar with the local environment; thirdly, the emperor is far away; fourthly, the management model is likely copied from the government offices in the capital, without adapting to local conditions, times, and affairs. With this, the extra expenses will definitely not be small, and the efficiency will not be high. Otherwise, things like purchasing equipment and building factories are all initial investments. Once the initial work is done, the subsequent expenses should gradually decrease. There is no reason for it to become more and more expensive..."

Yu Yi listened and nodded repeatedly, thinking that this youth hadn't seen the specific details in the memorials, but spoke as if he had seen them with his own eyes, and immediately saw the key. This ability to observe things and understand affairs was not something an ordinary youth could have.

"... This is typical lack of vitality. Vitality is motivation. It's like a pool of stagnant water. Without vitality, it stands still, so it can only dry up and stink. Therefore, we must introduce living water. With living water, we can stimulate vitality, and the situation can change—"

"Where does the living water Zhiyan mentioned come from?"

"Outside the government."

Yu Yi's expression changed:

"This is absolutely impossible! The power of coinage is a public instrument of the country. How can it be released to private individuals? The Zuo Zhuan says, 'The country cannot bear two.' Emperor Xiaowen of Han allowed people to cast their own coins, so Wu and Deng coins were everywhere in the world, and then there was the Rebellion of the Seven States. If currency is not exclusive to the state, the local area will become too powerful. Moreover, private casting, in order to seek profit, must be mixed with lead and iron, damaging the currency system. Once the currency system is broken, the drawbacks are even deeper! The harm is even further! During the Jinghe period of the previous dynasty, the trend of illegal casting was prevalent, and inferior coins were numerous. One thousand coins were less than three inches long, did not sink in water, and shattered at a touch, so prices soared, a dou of rice reached ten thousand coins, and the market was in chaos! So even if that copper mountain coin field is abandoned, it cannot be released to private individuals!"

Wang Yang explained: "It is not releasing it to private individuals, but allowing private individuals to participate, calling it 'government-supervised, merchant-operated.' This means that the ownership of the Mount Meng copper mine still belongs to the imperial court, but the mining and casting links can introduce one or several parties to participate together. Participants can be merchants or aristocratic clans. As long as they have sufficient funds, management ability and experience, and are willing to cooperate with the government, they can be allowed to enter. The government sends supervisory personnel to supervise the whole process, inspect quality, and strictly clarify the regulations, so there is no need to fear damaging the currency system; by holding the ownership of the copper mountain and the decision-making power of coin casting in hand, there is no need to worry about the local area becoming too powerful. Just distribute a portion of the annual coin casting revenue to them."

The model of government-merchant joint operation and profit sharing originated in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. At this time, there was no such concept. When Wang Yang previously proposed building a constant-price granary and distributing dividends to aristocratic clans, there was already a shadow of government-merchant joint operation. It's just that the constant-price granary was not an institution specializing in business, nor did it involve much management, being closer to the nature of a warehouse. And the aristocratic clans only provided grain and shared profits, not participating in management, so although Yu Yi was surprised that Wang Yang had many ideas and a flexible way of thinking, he didn't think deeply about it. But now, he was truly shocked!

"Can letting private families participate really make the mine profitable?" Yu Yi asked uncertainly.

At first glance, the tone seemed to have a hint of doubt. But in fact, rather than doubt, it was more like asking for advice.

"As long as the participants are chosen correctly and the rights and responsibilities are clearly divided, it will definitely work. In terms of resources, the government's advantage lies in possessing policies, legitimacy, technology, and ready-made equipment; private families have funds, management experience, and profit motivation. As long as the resources of both are effectively integrated, there is no problem with profitability. Especially since private families share dividends, unlike government officials, they earn more the more they profit, so they naturally do their best.

Therefore, letting private families participate, firstly, invests funds to avoid the government bearing losses alone. Secondly, it can change the drawbacks of redundant positions and people being idle, improve management and business models, and increase efficiency. Thirdly, private families qualified to participate must have a certain amount of power and can directly solve some problems on the ground, reducing resistance. A lot of wasted money can be saved. However, when selecting supervisory officials, we must be cautious. We must not only control their character but also prevent them from colluding with private families through the system. Therefore, do not centralize power; there must be checks and balances. There can be contradictions or even opposition between offices, and then regular inspections should be set up..."

The more Yu Yi listened, the brighter his eyes became. Although some words and expressions sounded strange, he understood the general meaning. Hearing the end, he was so excited that he stood up directly, completely without his usual relaxed demeanor: "Zhiyan is well-versed in ancient and modern times, observing the far and the near. He is truly a great talent!!!"

In the distance, seeing his father suddenly stand up, looking excited, Yu Yuling's heart skipped a beat, and he called out: "Not good! Maybe the talk has collapsed!"

Seeing his father's abnormal behavior, Yu Qianlou also muttered in his heart. His father had always been able to keep his composure. What was going on today? Could it be that Wang Yang was young and vigorous, and offended his father in his words? No way, even if he offended him, with his father's cultivation, would he break out on the spot? But Wang Yang's ability to annoy people shouldn't be underestimated...

While thinking, Yu Yuling had already hurried over to persuade them. Yu Qianlou also had to follow behind his younger brother.

When the two arrived, they just happened to see their father holding Wang Yang's hand and walking out of the pavilion with large strides: "This is the last question! It is also the most important question! Zhiyan, if you can answer this, let alone one request, I will promise ten!"

"Sir clearly said just now..."

"Don't worry, don't worry! This is definitely the last one!"

Then they bumped into the two brothers who had rushed over. Seeing their father's face full of joy, walking with the wind, and Wang Yang's helpless smile, it didn't seem like they were arguing.

"You came just in time. Ajie, pour tea! Go to my study, use the tea leaves in the celadon jar with brown spots placed on the top of the bookshelf! Find Old Hou for water, let him take the spring water freshly drawn today. Azhen, tell the kitchen to prepare a midnight snack."

After Yu Yi finished instructing in one breath, he turned to Wang Yang and asked eagerly: "What do you want to eat for a midnight snack?"

——————

Note: "Book of Southern Qi, Biography of Liu Quan": "In the eighth year of Yongming, Quan petitioned the Emperor: Under Mount Meng in the territory of Nanguang County, there is a city named Meng City, about two qing of land, with four burning furnaces, one zhang high and one zhang five chi wide... Deng Tong, a native of Nanan, was granted a copper mountain in Yan Dao County by Emperor Wen of Han to cast coins... Moreover, Mount Meng is two hundred li away from Nanan. According to this, it must be what Tong cast... The Emperor followed his advice, sent envoys to Shu to cast coins, obtained more than ten million, but the cost was high, so it stopped."

The gradual decrease of copper coins circulating in the market has always been a major problem troubling the Southern Dynasties government. During the time of Emperor Gao of Qi, someone proposed the suggestion of searching for copper products among the people to melt down for coinage. By the time of Emperor Wu of Liang, they even started issuing iron coins directly. Therefore, the imperial court had high hopes for the copper mountain in Nanguang County discovered in the eighth year of Yongming. However, in the original historical line, because the cost was too high, it was abandoned after only ten million coins were produced. Kawakatsu Yoshio believed that "the situation of currency shortage caused by copper shortage in the Southern Dynasties... cannot be fundamentally improved... The total amount of currency circulating in Southern Dynasties society has almost no hope of increasing." ("The Hou Jing Rebellion and the Currency Economy of the Southern Dynasties")

But is this really the case? Copper actually exists, such as the copper mountain in Nanguang County written in this chapter, and for example, "Taiping Huanyu Ji" records "White Pheasant Mountain... Southwest produces copper rivets. Since the Jin, Song, Liang, and Chen dynasties, furnaces have been set up to smelt copper." "Tongling County Annals" says: "Copper Essence Mountain is twenty li east of the county. During the Qi and Liang dynasties, smelting copper was set up here, and the abandoned pits still exist." Modern archaeology has also discovered mining and smelting sites in Tongling, with mining traces from the Six Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, and it only began to decline after the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, in many cases, the problem may not all lie in the lack of resources, but also in the lack of distribution. Even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice; but when distributing meat in the society, one must have Chen Ping as the prime minister before the meat can be distributed evenly. Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. A capable person can use one cucumber, two eggs, three tomatoes, and four steamed buns to make six dishes, making everyone feel refreshed; a vulgar person guards a refrigerator full of ingredients but doesn't know how to start, and as a result, people at the table fight over porridge, which is very sigh-worthy.