Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 332 National Debt

On the fifth day of August, Umrah will be held.

The small court assembly was attended only by officials with a salary of 2,000 shi or above and their deputies. There weren't many people, and the topics discussed were limited, mainly involving the division and transfer of spoils.

Liu Bei mentioned a good thing to the various officials: "Gentlemen, the court is currently short of funds. If any of you have spare resources, you might as well lend some supplies to the court. You will receive annual interest, and the principal can be withdrawn at any time..."

"Is Lord Xuande short of money? If you need to borrow some goods, there's no need for you to pay any interest..."

Mi Zhu generously offered to lend the money, which clearly meant that it didn't need to be repaid.

"No, no, no, this is not a loan, this is an investment."

Liu Bei waved his hand and declined Mi Zhu's offer: "The court does not accept money, but it will accept iron, rice, cattle, horses and other goods. Although we are short of supplies at present, the court is improving every year, as you can all see, so this can be considered an investment in the court."

"Does Lord Xuande want us to emulate Lady Wuyan?"

Cao Cao asked with some curiosity.

In fact, lending or venture capital was very common in the Han Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han, the Rebellion of the Seven States occurred. The marquises and nobles of Chang'an were required to raise funds for military supplies themselves, but due to the uncertain war situation, most money-lending families refused to lend money.

Wu Yan provided a loan to the marquises with a principal of one thousand gold pieces and an agreement to pay ten times the interest.

After the rebellion was quelled, Wu Yan received a tenfold return on his principal and interest, making him the wealthiest person in Guanzhong. This was a typical example of risky investment.

"That's true, but whether you can continue to reap the benefits depends on your abilities."

Liu Bei nodded and said, "I will use the regular taxes of the imperial court as collateral. If six provinces pay their taxes next year, you will receive 30% of your principal. If ten provinces pay their taxes, you will receive 150%. If all thirteen provinces of the Han Dynasty pay their taxes in a certain year, you will receive three times your principal as profit that year..."

There are actually only two types of regular taxes: grain tax and land tax. Other taxes, such as poll tax and head tax, are all considered taxes. Although the Han Dynasty made many taxes regular, they were still additional taxes and not regular taxes.

"What if only three states pay taxes?"

Dong Zhuo asked astutely.

"That means you gentlemen have not been devoted to the affairs of the kingdom, and the invested capital will be reduced to 60%. Based on five states, for each additional state that pays taxes, the profit will increase by 30%. For each state less, the capital will decrease by 20%."

Liu Bei smiled and said, "Gentlemen, you are all the officials in charge of your respective provinces. If we can't even collect taxes for five provinces by working together, then what kind of officials are we... right?"

Liu Bei was in Qingzhou, Tao Qian was in charge of Xuzhou, Dong Zhuo was able to effectively control Yongzhou and Bingzhou, and Cao Cao was in charge of Yanzhou—that already made up five provinces.

From another perspective, Liu Yu was the governor of Youzhou, while Cao Cao was in charge of military affairs in Yuzhou and Yuan Shu actually controlled Yuzhou. Given the current situation, it wouldn't be difficult for Liu Bei to collect taxes from Jizhou, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Liu Yao in Yangzhou probably wouldn't rebel... Collecting taxes from ten provinces doesn't seem difficult.

Moreover, Liu Bei issued a tender notice, and many people would help collect taxes—now many people are used to Liu Bei's tender notices.

The only places where it's truly difficult to collect taxes are Liangzhou, Yizhou, and Jiaozhou.

In other words, as long as everyone participates, this is a sure way to make money, with a high probability of doubling your investment in a year.

But... is it really possible to collect taxes from more than five states?

If he could actually receive the money, Liu Bei would naturally pay the interest as agreed.

This is simply distributing tax revenue from other states to investors... but that will be paid next year, a year later.

The difference between one year earlier and one year later is huge... "...Calculate interest based on the amount of taxes paid by the imperial court?"

Dong Zhuo counted on his fingers: "This seems to be a win-win situation. The more taxes the court collects, the greater our benefits will be... If the court cannot collect taxes, then we, the governors of this region, will indeed have no face to benefit."

“That’s right. Based on the prices in Qingzhou, I will only accept investments equivalent to the grain tax revenue of Qingzhou and Xuzhou this year, so that the imperial court can afford to pay the interest…”

Liu Bei spread his hands: "So, gentlemen, if you want to invest, you should hurry up. This year, the grain tax of Qing and Xu provinces is about two million shi, and the total investment amount is only this much. Nowadays, the value of money varies from province to province. For the sake of fairness, the court will not accept money, but only equivalent grain, iron, cattle, horses and other goods."

"Withdrawal of investment is also free, but the investment will be returned in monetary terms based on the current market price, and there will be no interest. This is to be agreed upon beforehand to avoid future trouble."

"Gentlemen who wish to invest should act quickly. This is a small business; we only accept investments of two million shi (a unit of dry measure)."

Prices in Qingzhou are currently relatively stable, so using Qingzhou's prices as a benchmark seems fair...

But that's just how it appears.

The theoretical tax amount of two million shi in Qingzhou and Xuzhou is actually quite high. In reality, it would be good if one-tenth of the grain tax could be collected. However, there are a lot of government-run farms in Qingzhou and Xuzhou. If we really talk about the share of the tax collected from these farms, it would actually exceed two million shi.

However, it seems there are no problems, since the investment can be withdrawn at any time.

Lending money at exorbitant interest rates? Everyone here has done this kind of business in their family. If everyone works together, wouldn't the annual profit double?
Mi Zhu was still the first to support it: "Lord Xuande, I, Mi Zhu, agree to invest 200,000 shi of iron."

Seeing that even someone as skilled in business operations as Mi Zhu was eager to invest, Tao Qian considered it carefully and also felt there was no risk, so he immediately agreed to invest: "I have 300,000 shi of rice to invest."

Everyone was taken aback; Tao Qian actually had so much grain stored up?

Looks like they really robbed a lot of big spenders before...

These two have essentially set the tone: those who consider themselves to be of higher status than Tao Qian should invest more, while those who consider themselves to be of lower status should invest less—because this isn't a loan, but more like giving everyone a benefit.

Cheng Yu remained silent in the back, while Li Ru frowned in thought. Both of them seemed to feel that something was amiss, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it.

After all, Liu Bei had said from the beginning that it would depend on everyone's ability, and everyone was certainly doing what they could. Liu Bei didn't mean to deceive anyone, because the extent of the benefits really depended on everyone's joint efforts.

"Zhongde, what do you think Lord Xuande means by this?"

Cao Cao quietly asked Cheng Yu.

"...Perhaps it's to foster unity and mutual benefit among everyone...and also to ensure that everyone doesn't betray the court and pays taxes on time..."

Cheng Yu considered it for a long time before giving an answer.

Dong Zhuo received a similar answer from Li Ru.

After all, it seems that way... there's no risk involved.

Before long, the two million shi of "national bonds" were subscribed by various parties. Cao Cao subscribed for 400,000 shi, Dong Zhuo subscribed for 600,000 shi, and other officials shared the remaining 500,000 shi.

Everyone felt that they wouldn't lose money, and the supplies worth hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of bushels of grain weren't too much for these people.

Liu Bei has now turned the IOUs in his hands into usable supplies, but of course, he still has to wait for each household to deliver the supplies.

(End of this chapter)