Daily Life In Qin Dynasty

Chapter 160 Changes brought about by merchants

loan.

It’s not a good word nowadays.

These days, most ordinary people spend as much money as they have. There is no such thing as "borrowing" or "advanced consumption".

Moreover, today's loans are generally usury loans, which are borrowed according to the nine-out and thirteen-out method.

Once the borrower fails to repay the loan.

Maybe the whole family will have to pay for it.

And this is why Ying Zheng frowned.

Seeing Ying Zheng's expression, Mayor Tie obviously guessed what Ying Zheng was thinking, and asked, "Do you think 'loans' are bad?"

"good!"

Ying Zheng nodded, not intending to hide anything.

"Then you are wrong. It's hard to get loans from other places, but Lord Shengping will not harm poor people like us. Lord Shengping's loan to us commoners, even with the highest interest rate, is only 30% in ten years. It’s just profit.”

"Thirty percent profit in ten years?"

After hearing what Mayor Tie said, Ying Zheng's expression softened a bit.

If it is such an interest rate, it is indeed a very generous loan.

After all, with such interest, even if you borrow for ten years, you will only need to repay one hundred and thirty dollars in the end.

But then Ying Zheng remembered something else.

"Did Mr. Shengping issue loans to the entire Hanzhong? Where did he get so much money?"

"It is said that Lord Shengping used the taxes he collected in Hanzhong County to distribute the money."

"Taxes?"

Ying Zheng was startled, and then he remembered the large commercial taxes paid by Hanzhong County every month during this period.

Under normal circumstances.

The business tax rate that Qin merchants need to pay is about 20%, but as Hanzhong is the actual feudal territory of Lord Mo, they only need to pay 15% of commercial tax, and the remaining 5% belongs to Lord Mo's fiefdom income.

In the past, Ying Zheng did not particularly care about Qin's commercial taxes, because Qin's business had not been developed since he took the throne.

However, since Mr. Mo opened the 'free trading market' here in Hanzhong County, in the past few months, Hanzhong County has brought 200,000 to 400,000 gold coins to the Qin State's treasury in terms of commercial taxes alone. income.

When he first learned about this income, Ying Zheng himself was shocked, and even had the idea of ​​changing the national policy of "focusing on agriculture and suppressing business" in his mind.

But later, the idea fell through.

However, Ying Zheng was originally very happy about the commercial tax revenue that Hanzhong County paid every month, but now after Mayor Tie reminded him, Ying Zheng suddenly reacted.

yes!

If Hanzhong pays 15% business tax every month, he will already have so much money.

So how much tax did Mr. Mo himself collect?

After all, Ying Zheng knows very well that the commercial tax paid here in Hanzhong is not only 20%. Depending on the specific circumstances, the total commercial tax paid by merchants trading here is mostly around 30%.

in other words.

The monthly commercial tax paid by Hanzhong County is now only half of the total tax paid by Hanzhong County.

This is the thought.

Ying Zheng woke up suddenly.

Good guy, after working on it for a long time, it turns out that Hanzhong County is already so rich now?

At this moment, Mayor Tie continued to say: "According to Lord Shengping, this is called taking from the people and using it for the people. Money only has value when it circulates. But I don't know how to deal with these old people." That’s all you understand.”

"And it's not just loans. There are many things in Hanzhong now. Lord Shengping used these taxes to build them, just like the road you are walking on now."

Gai Nie folded his hands and saluted, and said, "May I ask Mayor Tie, where does this road lead to?"

"This road leads directly to [Shengping Town], which is the center of the free trade market. According to the announcement passed down by Lord Shengping, this road has not been completed yet. Lord Shengping's entire plan is to use Gunshan County As the center, this kind of cement road will connect all the counties in Hanzhong County."

As Mayor Tie led the people forward, he explained: "When all these roads are completed, it will be more convenient for merchants coming to Hanzhong to do business."

After Ying Zheng heard this, he couldn't help but frown and said, "Are these merchants really so useful?"

Despite the fact that Ying Zheng and Huang Huan had a pretty good chat just now, in fact Ying Zheng doesn't think highly of merchants. In this era, even as a king, Ying Zheng's thoughts will inevitably be affected by some eras.

"Whether the merchants are of great use, I can't say for sure. But the iron stone town under my feet has indeed become rich because of the merchants from outside."

Speaking of this, Mayor Tie also had a flash of memories in his eyes, and sighed: "When this was still Tieshi Village, the villagers basically had nothing to eat because of the exploitation by the landlords and nobles above and the occasional natural disasters. Not full.”

"Later, when Mr. Shengping came, he distributed new grains to us, arranged many new jobs, and cut down all the evil landlords. Life in the village got a lot better, but it was not as good as it is now. A state of affluence.”

"Because there wasn't much cultivated land near the village at that time. There was a large piece of land covered with a hard iron-like stone."

"Not until later."

"After Mr. Shengping announced the opening of the 'free trading market', a large number of businessmen began to come to our village frequently."

"After a long time, some people in the village began to follow the example of the city and opened an inn. Unexpectedly, they made a lot of money all of a sudden. Then other people began to follow suit, and slowly, the number of businessmen who came here to rest became more and more popular. Come more and more.”

"People from several nearby villages saw the opportunity to make money here, so many people came and opened restaurants and inns outside the village to start business."

"Then more and more people gathered in Tieshi Village, more and more..."

“In the end, the current ‘Iron Stone Town’ was gradually formed.”

As he spoke, Mayor Tie suddenly stopped in his steps, and then changed the topic: "Here we are, this is the best inn in this town."

At this point.

Only then did Ying Zheng realize that the three of them had been brought to the door of a bright inn by Mayor Tie unknowingly.

There was a hint of astonishment in the eyes of the three people.

Then Ying Zheng shook his head in confusion and said, "No wonder Mayor Tie was so attentive when Zhao came here for the first time. It turned out to be to attract guests to your place!"

Mayor Tie squinted his old eyes and smiled like a fox: "You can tell at a glance that you are very noble. If someone in the town who has no eyesight brings the three of them to some inn that does not meet their status, wouldn't it be a slight? Are you a distinguished guest?"

"Don't worry, although the inns in the small town may not be as good as those in the big cities outside, they will definitely satisfy you."

"Besides this inn, there is our unique 'bath sauna' in Hanzhong. In the cold winter months like today, if you go there to take a hot bath and rub your back before going to bed, even the gods will not change it. What a day!"

Ying Zheng did not reject Mayor Tie's 'kindness', and accepted his compliment, saying: "Really? Then I will definitely try the 'bath sauna' that Mayor Tie praised so much later. What exactly is it?" What a feeling."

Upon hearing this, Mayor Tie immediately smiled and cupped his hands and said, "It's getting late, so I won't disturb the rest of you. I'll take my leave."

"Mayor Tie, please stay."

Just as Mayor Tie was about to leave, he heard Ying Zheng suddenly stop him, and then pointed to a puff of black smoke rising into the sky in the distance, saying: "Excuse me, what's the reason for the black smoke over there?" What happened? Zhao had already seen the black smoke over there before. Could it be that there was a fire over there?"

Mayor Tie glanced in the direction of Ying Zheng's finger and said with a smile: "That's the [iron smelting plant] built by Lord Shengping in our town. Otherwise, Lord Shengping is very human! Before Didn't the old man say that there used to be a large piece of soil covered with iron stones in this Iron Stone Village?"

"This kind of 'Iron Stone' has been in Tieshi Village for decades, and the whole village didn't take it seriously, and even disliked it."

"It turned out that Lord Shengping's people only came once and discovered that there was actually an 'iron mine' buried under that piece of ground. The black smoke was caused by Lord Shengping's digging and smelting of iron ore."

Ying Zheng suddenly nodded and said: "So that's it, I'm disturbing Mayor Tie."

Regarding iron smelting, Ying Zheng vaguely remembered that Mo Jun mentioned it to him once. However, according to Mo Jun himself, the existing iron smelting technology is not yet mature, and most of the smelted iron can only be used to make farm tools and iron pots. , plowshares... and other daily necessities.

It cannot be used in the military.

Therefore, Ying Zheng didn't pay too much attention to it. After all, the mainstream weapon of Qin State was still bronze.

"It's okay, I'll take my leave now."

Mayor Tie bowed his hands towards Ying Zheng, then turned and left.

And Ying Zheng and the other three also walked into the inn.

The cost of this inn is indeed not low. Just staying for one night costs twenty pieces of gold, which is almost half a stone of food.

But such consumption is obviously nothing to Ying Zheng and the others.

The three of them opened three rooms.

Ying Zheng lived in the middle, while Gai Nie and Zhao Gao lived on both sides, so that they could protect Ying Zheng at any time.

The environment of the inn is indeed not bad.

Even compared with some inns in Xianyang City, it is not inferior at all.

The beds in the room are heated from outside.

The bedding is also brand new.

Even in this cold winter, sleeping in the room will not feel cold at all.

However, when Ying Zheng was lying on the bed, he found that he could not fall asleep, because as soon as he closed his eyes, what he had seen and heard outside Hanzhong in the past few days would automatically appear in his mind.

Then subconsciously, I will start to compare the situation in other places with Hanzhong.

Needless to say, the result is natural.

Not to mention that the area north of the Qinling Mountains is still suffering from snow disasters.

Even without the heavy snowstorm this year, there is basically no place in Qin's counties and counties outside Hanzhong, except for the capital city of Xianyang, that can compare with this 'iron stone town' in Hanzhong.

Even in Xianyang, except for those relatively prosperous urban areas, other areas may not be better than Hanzhong.

Since entering Hanzhong,

Ying Zheng has always felt that compared with the outside world, today's Hanzhong County is like a paradise and seems out of place.

The life that ordinary people here are living is the 'peace and prosperity' that Ying Zheng has always dreamed of.

And all this.

But it only took Mo Jun a year to achieve it.

Naturally, it is impossible for Ying Zheng to have feelings of jealousy or fear towards Mr. Mo just because of these.

After all, as the later 'Eternal Emperor Qin Shihuang', Ying Zheng was not so incapable of accepting others.

What he is worried about now is mainly because of the source of the changes in Hanzhong.

"They are just a group of businessmen, but they really have such great abilities?"

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