The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 409 Volume Rich Dog Owner!
With the end of the grand court meeting in the sixth year of Jian'an, the content of the meeting swept through the entire Chang'an like a storm!

The envoy greets you?
It doesn’t matter. After all, everyone knows that Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Jiangdong have not been recovered, so no one has time to care about the affairs of the Western Regions for the time being.

Three provinces and six ministries?

It doesn’t matter. After all, most people are not officials, and it is not their turn to worry about institutional reforms that involve the entire central government.

The only ones left are the officials!

This is the currently known and also the only job that can help you become an official by “using connections”!
Some big merchants knew early on that by purchasing "scattered officials", they could get dividends from the future business taxes of the new Chang'an market!
That's the dividend from the store's business tax!

Even if you only have the most pitiful share, the annual dividends are enough for a whole family to live a luxurious life in Chang'an!
the most important is……

If you miss this kind of business that allows you to have a relationship with the emperor once, you may never see it again!

Although there is news that after buying the scattered officials, the "agricultural loan" business can no longer be continued.

Among all the real wealthy businessmen, who doesn’t have a pair of discerning eyes?
From the emperor's suppression of the aristocratic families and equal distribution of land, to the small-scale distribution of monthly wages in Hebei to allow the people to have a certain degree of resistance in the face of natural disasters...all of these illustrate the emperor's disgust for moneylenders.

Although it is easy to make money from “agricultural loans” and the profits are huge, you still have to be alive to make that money!
Instead of worrying about government officials coming to your door every day to offer you warmth and support, it would be better to take advantage of this opportunity to do a long-term business deal directly with the emperor!

And the court was also very sensible.

On the third day after the grand court meeting, a price list for official positions was quietly leaked.

There are twenty-nine ranks of officials.

The highest rank among them is the third-grade Jinzi Guanglu Doctor.

price……

One million taels of gold!
This price made countless people gasp and they all looked down decisively.

One million taels of gold?
What's going on?

Converted into five-zhu coins, that would be equivalent to one hundred billion five-zhu coins!
hiss……

Is the emperor crazy about money?
but……

Compared with Emperor Xiaoling of that year, the emperor is still relatively merciful after all.

Because Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, actually spent 1 million yuan to buy a position as a general! (Note )

Nowadays, the price of purchasing "Jinzi Guanglu Dafu" is ten times cheaper than a position of one of the Three Dukes, which is considered a fair price.

But even so, not many people can afford this price, so everyone decisively looks to the next level——

"Silver and Green Guanglu Doctor, third rank, seven hundred thousand taels of gold."

"Official Counsellor, fourth rank, five hundred thousand taels of gold."

"Grand Doctor, fourth rank, three hundred thousand taels of gold."

"Middle-ranking official, fifth rank, two hundred thousand taels of gold."

"Councillor, fifth rank, one hundred thousand taels of gold."

"..."

"Wenlinlang, ninth rank, 10,000 taels of gold."

Such a high price immediately made some people look pale.

Even the lowest-level "Wenlinlang" would cost a fortune of ten thousand taels of gold!

How could an ordinary family come up with such terrifying wealth?

Therefore, even if the emperor offered "scattered officials", ordinary people could not afford them.

After all, the emperor will not cheat the poor. If your family does not have much financial resources, the right thing to do is to take the imperial examination!
However, some wealthy people began to inquire about which level of officialdom was the ticket to the new Chang'an City's commercial tax dividends.

There are different opinions.

But everyone agreed that five hundred thousand taels of gold should be the emperor’s bottom line this time!
After sorting out these issues, some merchants immediately went home to sell their properties.

Among the first group of people, naturally, was the current emperor’s brother-in-law Zhen Yao.

After investing all of the Zhen family's assets into it, Zhen Yao managed to collect 700,000 taels of gold and bought the title of Silver and Green Guanglu Doctor!

Zhen Yao's actions made some merchants who were originally hesitant completely put aside their worries!

Even the emperor's brother-in-law bought it, so he must have got inside information!

Who knows, this might even be news that the emperor himself has taught him in person!

Even the Zhen family has invested, why are others still hesitating?

For a time, Hedong salt merchants, Yizhou tea merchants, and local merchants in Jingzhou all rushed to Chang'an like crazy!

The Zhengyi Doctor with a salary of 500,000 taels became a "hot-selling product" among the court officials.

Some merchants who wanted to show off in front of the emperor gritted their teeth and directly bought the same Yinqing Guanglu Doctor title as Zhen Yao, becoming an official of the third rank.

until……

“This is a million gold!”

Shock Chang'an!

Damn! Where did this rich man come from? He actually bought the highest grade Jin Zi Guang Lu Doctor directly!

Even the emperor in the Weiyang Palace was stunned for a long time after hearing the news.

Make sense.

Liu Xie never thought of selling this position.

That’s one million taels of gold!

One hundred billion dollars!
It accounts for more than ten percent of the Han Dynasty’s annual tax revenue!

In other words, it is equivalent to the annual output of a state!

If you use 500,000 taels of gold to purchase the future dividends from the business tax in Chang'an, you might be able to make a profit in your lifetime... But if you spend a million taels of gold, there will be no possibility of making a profit in this lifetime!
“Who is buying the office?”

"Your Majesty, it is Lou Gui from Jingzhou."

"It turns out to be him!"

Lou Gui.

This is a wealthy man with so much money that even Cao Cao would envy him! (Note 2)

And I don’t know if it was for this reason, but Lou Gui was eventually killed by Cao Cao anyway…

But no matter what, this money is now in the pocket of the court! In this way, isn't the money enough to build a new Chang'an?

Liu Xie immediately called the former Jingzhao Yin, who is now the Minister of Revenue, Zhang Ji, and asked him how much profit he had made from selling official positions to the court.

"Your Majesty, more than nine million taels of gold have been deposited into the warehouse... but not all of it is gold. Some people still use five-zhu coins and goods as collateral for exchange."

More than nine million taels of gold!
Liu Xie’s breathing quickened!
Nearly 10 million taels of gold! Nearly 100 million yuan!
No wonder the late Emperor Xiaoling sold official positions and titles!

Who wouldn’t be tempted by the speed at which money is made?
If Liu Xie had known this earlier, he would have sold official positions and titles long ago!
Besides, Cao Cao's father was really rich! Fortunately, Cao Song foolishly used the money to buy an official position, otherwise it would have been a disaster if all the money was left to Cao Cao to recruit soldiers and horses.

……

Of course, Liu Xie also knew that selling official positions and titles in advance was a joke.

If this had been done before defeating Yuan Shao, it is likely that few people would come to buy the "casual officials" from the court.

After all, the outcome was still uncertain at that time, and it was unlikely that these wealthy people would bet their entire fortune on the imperial court.

Moreover, a big part of the reason why business is so good this time is that most of the buyers are from Kanto.

They missed the imperial examination in the fifth year of Jian'an, which was considered an offense to the emperor.

If you don't spend this "life-saving money" now, you are really courting death.

What's more, the scholars who have taken office in various places in Guandong are now waiting to use them as political achievements!

Instead of waiting for the money to be taken away by the government, it is better to directly respond to the court policy and buy a "casual official" position!
Liu Xie suppressed his excitement and immediately asked Zhang Ji: "Is this money enough to rebuild Chang'an?"

Zhang Ji thought about it for a while, but shook his head decisively.

"not enough!"

not enough?

The joy on Liu Xie's brows turned into dullness.

"Isn't that enough?"

"not enough!"

……

Zhang Ji helped to settle the accounts——

"The layout of the new Chang'an was designed by the Minister of Industry Zhuge Liang, and it is located on Longshouyuan, south of Chang'an today."

"Just the building materials alone will probably cost nearly eight million taels of gold."

"Also...it would take at least a year to build Chang'an and the palace. The people's corvée service is only one month."

"Among these, we must pay the people monthly wages, which will cost three million taels of gold."

"That's why I said this money...is not enough!"

……

Liu Xie always felt that war was the most expensive thing in the world.

Even if we spend more money on large-scale construction, it won’t cost that much.

But today he realized how wrong he was!

Liu Xie couldn't help but feel like backing out.

How about rebuilding Chang'an two years later?

No way...

In Chang'an today, due to the large-scale movement of people, a terrible plague may break out at any time.

If such a big event really happens, then everything will be over!
Liu Xie tapped his thigh with his lowered fingertips, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

"I am confused!"

"It's true that he has been the emperor for so long that he doesn't even know how to run a poor family!"

If the cost is high, just cut it! Why do we have to wait for the money to come into our pockets?
When Zhang Ji saw the emperor's expression, he suddenly felt something was wrong!

"His Majesty!"

Zhang Ji advised: "We must not neglect the wages of the people! Otherwise, something terrible might happen!"

When a country runs out of money, it will first turn to businessmen and then to ordinary people.

Selling scattered officials is essentially about finding businessmen.

Now that there is still a shortage of money, Zhang Ji naturally thought that Your Majesty wanted to withhold the people's wages in order to save costs.

But is this the way the cost is saved?
The tragic end of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty is still vivid in our minds. If you don’t treat the people well, they will really dare to turn the table against you!

"What is De Jong thinking about?"

Liu Xie smiled.

"Why would I deduct the wages of the people? Even if I want to save costs, this is not the way to save money."

Zhang Ji suddenly realized, but then he smiled bitterly: "I have wrongly blamed Your Majesty... But the cost of building materials was calculated by me based on the best available plan, and there is no room for reduction at all."

"How do you know if you don't try?"

Liu Xie rubbed his hands excitedly, and several ideas flashed through his mind.

"De Jong, please give me a detailed list of all the construction material costs."

"By the way, bring Kong Ming to me and tell him I want to ask him something!"

"Here!"

Although Zhang Ji did not believe that the emperor could reduce the cost of building a new Chang'an.

But the emperor is the emperor after all!

Moreover, there are such talented people as Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, Xun Yu, Xun You, and Zhong Yao. Can't they clean up this mess?

--------

Note 1:

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Biographies of Eunuchs" records: Song, during the reign of Emperor Ling, bribed eunuchs and paid 100 million yuan to the Western Garden, so he was promoted to the position of Grand Marshal.

Note 2:

"The Records of the Three Kingdoms: Wei, Volume 12, Biography of Cui Mao, Xu He, Xing Bao, and Sima, Volume 12": ...Lou Zibo was favored and his family wealth was a thousand gold. Cao Gong said: "Lou Zibo is richer and happier than me, but his power is not as good as mine!
(End of this chapter)