After the banking system has been streamlined and rectified, in the entire Shanzhou County, there is one deposit and withdrawal outlet in the city and two deposit and withdrawal outlets in the countryside. These three offices can only deposit and withdraw money, and cannot exchange money and food.
As for the exchange points for money and food, a market town has been established on the east and west sides of the county seat.
When ordinary people pay public grain, they can convert it into silver money to pay, or they can directly hand over the grain. The north has not yet reformed yet, and some provinces in the south can only pay in silver, and the common people have to exchange it once.
This kind of reform seems to be taking off your pants and farting, and it leaves room for the grassroots to exploit the people.
However, it is necessary because the administrative cost is too high. The taxation system and the banking system are two separate government offices. If grain is used to pay agricultural taxes, the taxation department has to send a special person to the bank's money-grain exchange point. Although the two systems can cooperate and seem to be very simple, in fact, various conflicts and disputes often arise
Besides, at the two money and grain exchange points in Shanzhou, the grain received every year will be deposited in a specific granary with a fixed amount. This granary is the Changping warehouse.
The grain in the Changping warehouse theoretically belongs to the county-level government, but it is stored by Datong Bank. The loss and consumption of storage is directly deducted when depositing, which is equivalent to the government paying the bank storage fee. Next, no matter whether the grain is eaten by moths or burned, the government will not lose, and all losses must be made up by the bank.
"The bank's food collectors are getting worse and worse!"
A farmer complained to Liu Chuanzong: "In the past, when we paid grain, we went to the exchange point in Chenjiazhuang. When we picked the wheat, the bank clerk came over, put his hand in and stirred it, and insisted that your wheat was not dried, so that you Pick it up and let it dry before returning. Sometimes it is said that the wheat bran inside has not been blown out, and the grain can only be paid after it has been blown out. What is the idea of ??that? Isn¡¯t it just to deduct the fire consumption? Come again. Farmers who are far away have to work back and forth several times, which is time-consuming and laborious, so it is better to confiscate a catty or two of grain."
This phenomenon occurs all over the country, but it is really difficult to manage.
If the imperial court had strict control over the grain collectors, grassroots work would be impossible. Because there are indeed farmers who are greedy for petty gains. When handing over grain to the government, they deliberately do not dry the water, or deliberately mix broken wheat or even wheat bran. Broken wheat and wheat bran are fine. If there is undried wheat, if it accidentally enters the granary, it will damage the entire granary after it becomes moldy.
Liu Chuanzong said: "Didn't the imperial court order that when farmers pay grain, the bank's money-grain exchange point must open the drying yard to farmers? Undried grain should be dried in the nearest drying yard, and those with wheat bran should also be dried in the drying yard." .¡±
The old farmer was surprised: "What else is there? We don't allow farmers to enter the official drying yard here."
Wei Gan, who was squatting next to him, picked up his pen calmly and wrote down the matter in his small notebook.
Liu Chuanzong asked again: "Is there any rumor about the Changping warehouse in the county?"
The old farmer said mysteriously: "In the money and grain station, I heard that there are grain mice, and they steal grain from home every now and then."
Liu Chuanzong was a little disappointed and didn't ask for the information he wanted.
For species like grain mice, petty theft is normal, and it is absolutely impossible to empty out the Changping warehouse, scaring the grain merchants to buy grain at high prices to fill the holes.
Into the night.
Luo Fang, who went to the grain station to stay secretly, came back and said in a low voice: "There must be something wrong with the Changping warehouse. In one day, three large truckloads of grain were transported in. It was the private grain merchants who transported the grain in. The hole in the Changping warehouse must be It¡¯s huge, and grain merchants have been busy buying grain at high prices.¡±
Wei Qian said with a smile: "They are also unlucky. Shanzhou is close to Shanshan. This year, Shaanxi and Henan are in drought together. Although the drought in Shanxi is not serious, it costs a lot of money to transport them from the mountains. If these grain merchants want to go to other places to buy To fill the holes, I have to go to Hubei to buy grain recently. How can there be enough time in the mountains and roads? Even if there is time, it will be snapped up by counties and counties in the south of Henan, and it is impossible for businessmen in Shanzhou. They have already rushed to the doctor. You can only buy from local farmers."
Liu Chuanzong analyzed: "This case is obviously not a case of corruption and deficit by officials, but more like a collusion between officials and businessmen, embezzling the food from Changping warehouse. Under normal circumstances, they will slowly make up for it bit by bit in the next few years. Coincidentally, there is a drought this year, so we have to quickly fill this hole."
Luo Fang said: "The embezzlement of the grain in the Changping warehouse is nothing more than doing business. Moreover, there must be a place where not only the price of grain is extremely high, but also the demand is still high. The grain they normally harvest cannot meet the needs of buyers." appetite."
Wei Qian said: "It's definitely not going to be sold to the south. The price of grain in the south is not too high, so there's no need to let them take risks. In the northern provinces, Henan and Shandong were the first to recover, and the people's livelihood was also the earliest to recover. There are a lot of official grain in these two provinces. They were transported to the nearest north, to Datong stationed in the northMa, everyone said that they were all exchanged for grain. There is also a kind of big cattle with long hair and strong body. I don't know if they are good at farming. "
The smile on Liu Chuanzong's face disappeared, thinking that the inspection department in Shaanxi is rotten, at least those armed police on the border must be turning a blind eye to reap benefits.
Regardless of whether it is the Qinghai grassland or the Mongolian grassland, the government allows horses, tea, and salt to be exported.
However, the export of ironware is restricted, and only daily necessities such as iron pots can be sold. The smuggling of swords and armor is to beheaded if caught. The other is food, which is also prohibited from exporting. Even if food is to be exported, it is the imperial court using food to control a certain tribe.
In these two provinces of Henan and Shaanxi, a large amount of food was smuggled out of the country, and I don¡¯t know how many people lost their heads because of it.