Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 380 I have never intended to plunder the people's money; I will only make money off those who have it!
Cao Song misjudged the revenue of the Shaofu because the Shaofu, which had mastered the core technology and was producing on a large scale, could keep the costs of tea, desserts, and other products such as porcelain and lacquerware extremely low.

The raw materials were all sourced from the royal material fields under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department. The marketing channels relied on the "Food and Commodities" section, which was affiliated with the Imperial Household Department's "Great Han Gazette". The endorsement fee was nothing more than regularly gifting some roasted tea to a few great Confucian scholars.

"The consumer group for this roasted tea and desserts is, in the end, officials. You should be aware of this." Liu Bian's gaze fell on Cao Song, and he said, "Take your Cao family as an example. The monthly purchase of roasted tea and desserts is probably far from enough with your monthly salary of nine thousand coins and seventy-two shi of rice, which is equivalent to a two-thousand-stone official."

Cao Song was taken aback upon hearing this. He lowered his head and lowered his eyes, his mind racing as he pondered the emperor's words. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Does the state mean that... the salaries issued by the court, after going through a circle, ultimately flow back to the court through the Imperial Household Department?"

"Of course!"

Liu Bian was pleased; Cao Song was quick-witted and understood things immediately.

How many aristocratic and wealthy families don't get involved in politics?

The fundamental purpose of accumulating family wealth is to provide for the education and career advancement of one's children and grandchildren.

Only when three generations of a family reached the rank of 2,000 shi (a unit of grain measure) could they be considered a prominent family. Even ordinary powerful families would have members holding low-ranking official positions or serving as assistants.

According to Liu Bian, it wasn't just Cao Song; many officials, after subsidizing their household expenses, simply didn't have enough of their monthly salary to buy much roasted tea and desserts. They often had to withdraw money from their homes to buy these "official necessities."

And what the imperial court earned from them was far more than the 20 billion coins that were initially distributed as salaries.

The net profit of 36 billion coins obtained by the Imperial Household Department in the second year of the Han Dynasty was the net surplus after paying nearly 10 billion coins in market rent (stall fees), customs duties, and canal transport logistics fees to the imperial court.

Although the majority of the revenue went into the emperor's private treasury, commercial taxes actually went into the national treasury.

With this mindset in mind, Cao Song suddenly felt as if the clouds had parted and the sun was shining through, and the previously troubling financial problems suddenly became clear.

The funds allocated by the imperial court to various prefectures and kingdoms for engineering projects and the military pay distributed to soldiers each year would eventually flow back in different forms, much like the salaries of officials. However, due to the differences in wealth among the common people, soldiers, and officials, the speed and proportion of the return would vary.

This set of ideas almost completely overturned Cao Song's understanding of "enriching the country".

In the eyes of Cao Song... or rather, almost everyone in the world at that time, only when the national treasury was as prosperous as during the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing, with "the money in the capital piled up to tens of millions, so much so that the strings holding the coins together had rotted and broken due to long-term storage," could it be considered a sign of a sound national treasury and the achievement of the goal of "enriching the country."

But in reality, it may have only enriched the imperial court, but it was not necessarily a blessing for the common people.

The essence of money lies in circulation; only through circulation can it fulfill its functions as a measure of value and a medium of exchange.

If the imperial court hoards large amounts of copper coins and stops them from circulating, while the total amount of goods and services in the market increases, the relative or even absolute decrease in currency used for transactions can easily trigger currency deflation in the private sector.

In the simplest terms, currency deflation can be summed up in four words: money is expensive and goods are cheap!
It sounds like lower commodity prices and increased purchasing power of currency are good things for ordinary people, but for an agricultural country, it is actually a great harm!
When deflation occurs, the purchasing power of copper coins increases, just like the principle of "low grain prices hurt farmers." In order to collect the same amount of taxes, people must sell more grain, cloth, and other agricultural products.

For example, one shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice used to be worth 100 coins, which was enough to pay taxes. Now, with currency deflation, one shi of rice can only be exchanged for 50 coins, so people have to sell two shi of rice to pay the same amount of taxes.

This has significantly increased the financial burden on farmers.

Of course, whether this is the outcome that those in power are happy to see remains to be seen.

After all, the increase in purchasing power of copper coins was real. One hundred coins in the national treasury could buy two bushels of rice. In essence, it was nothing more than a disguised way of plundering wealth from the people.

Ordinary people, in order to pay taxes or maintain their family livelihood, had no choice but to borrow from wealthy merchants and powerful figures.

In a deflationary environment, the actual burden of repaying debts will increase because the money used to repay debts becomes more "valuable," leading to the bankruptcy of many self-cultivating farmers who are forced to sell their land and become tenant farmers or vagrants. Meanwhile, powerful landlords can take the opportunity to consolidate land.

This series of consequences will weaken the purchasing power of the people, which will further lead to the decline of commerce and handicrafts, creating a vicious cycle and even causing popular uprisings!
The reason why the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing were able to make the people prosperous to a certain extent was ultimately due to the light taxes and corvée labor. The latter offset some of the pressure on farmers caused by monetary deflation, while the former preserved more labor force for production.

However, all of this is inseparable from the major premise of the Wen and Jing emperors' crackdown on powerful clans.

Liu Bian never intended to plunder the people's money!
Therefore, he no longer wants to plunder wealth from the people through monetary tightening.

He makes money off whoever has money!

"You may leave now. I will consider the matter of the reward."

Liu Bian waved his hand, ordering Cao Song to leave. Cao Song was still immersed in the unheard-of ideas he had just heard. Hearing this, he bowed and, under Gao Wang's guidance, thoughtfully withdrew from Yuntai Pavilion.

"You may leave now. I will consider the matter of the reward." Liu Bian waved his hand, his tone returning to its usual calm.

Liu Bian strolled to the second-floor corridor of Yuntai Pavilion, leaned on the railing and gazed into the distance until Cao Song's figure disappeared around the corner of the palace wall. Only then did he slowly breathe a sigh of relief, and his slightly furrowed brows relaxed.

Finally, the old Pixiu, who only takes in and never gives out, has been temporarily appeased. If he had continued to pester them, I would have had to spend some of my own money to justify it.

As for the rewards for the soldiers, the soldiers of Yan and Yu prefectures, the good families of Sanhe, and the soldiers of the central army received completely different treatment.

Each soldier of a prefecture or kingdom is given one bolt of silk, and the disabled are given two bolts of silk, with the county providing them with enough food and clothing; those who die for their country are given three bolts of silk, with the county providing them with enough food and clothing for their parents, wives, and children.

The reward for the soldiers from the good families of Sanhe was doubled, and the reward for the soldiers from the central army was doubled again, meaning that the reward for the central army was four times that of the soldiers from the prefectures and kingdoms!
This battle mobilized 19,000 troops from the two prefectures of Yan and Yu, 47,000 good men from the three rivers region, and 44,000 men in the central army.

Among them, more than 8,000 soldiers from the prefectures and kingdoms died in battle, and more than 900 were wounded; more than 13,000 soldiers from the Liangjiazi tribe of Sanhe died in battle, and more than 2,200 were wounded; more than 1,200 soldiers from the central army died in battle, and more than 400 were wounded.

In this battle, due to the intense siege warfare in the early stages, especially the two cities of Yangxia and Fule that the northern army faced after being fortified by Liu Chong, even the central army suffered more than 1,600 casualties.

The soldiers of the prefectures and kingdoms were given a total of 35,900 bolts of silk, the good families of the three rivers were given a total of 150,400 bolts of silk, and the central army was given a total of 185,600 bolts of silk, for a total of 371,900 bolts of silk.

The silk bestowed by the imperial court can be exchanged for about 2000 coins in various prefectures and counties in the Central Plains. In other words, the rewards and relief alone will cost 8 million coins.

But this is only the most basic reward for the soldiers. The military merit rewards for the other junior officers and ordinary soldiers will probably cost about 10 billion coins.

Then came the rewards for the officers of the central army. Liu Bian set the following rewards: each general would receive 10 million coins; each battalion chief clerk would receive 5 million coins; each battalion chief clerk would receive 5 million coins; each colonel would receive 5 million coins; each department (colonel) chief clerk would receive 3 million coins; each department (colonel) chief clerk would receive 3 million coins; and each military commander would receive 1 million coins. This totaled 400 million coins in expenditures.

In total, all the rewards amounted to 22 billion.

Liu Bian wrote down the specifications for this conferment on a piece of paper, then casually handed it to Hu Zhao, the secretary, instructing Hu Zhao to revise the wording and draft the edict. He then sat back on his throne and rubbed his temples.

No wonder that as dynasties gradually declined, they became increasingly averse to using force, and even tried their best to reduce the size of their armies and cut costs.

For example, that cowardly man would rather pay tribute every year than fight.

The cost of war is far too heavy for a country.

Liu Bian sighed softly.

Very well, then so be it. This enormous reward shall be drawn from my private treasury.

(2543 words)
(End of this chapter)