In the early Tang Dynasty, the system of the Sui Dynasty was inherited, that is, the control of salt was not strict. In the early Tang Dynasty, people were actually allowed to produce and sell salt by themselves, but they had to obtain the so-called "license" of the country to sell it, otherwise they would be sold private salt. However, at the same time, although the ban on salt had been relaxed, the control was very strict on the corresponding steel. Not only did steel not relax its control, but they were uniformly produced by the government. This was to control steel and prevent these steel from flowing into the hands of the rebel forces. After all, steel was meant to weapons in ancient times. Once those rebel forces had weapons, it was equivalent to having the power of rebellion. This was the factor in controlling steel in the early Tang Dynasty.

But now we are facing the situation because of the increase in production speed, steel raw materials are far from being able to keep up with the production speed of weapons. If the raw materials cannot keep up, the final result is destined to be tragic. Therefore, raw materials are actually a factor that limits the production speed, so Li Shimin is also thinking about how to increase the production of steel.

First of all, the first point is that steel is operated by the state, and this cannot be changed. However, Li Shimin also realized that the demand for steel increased significantly this time, because of the production of ordnance, not the increase of the needs of the people. So once the Turks are defeated, there will probably be no need for so much steel in the end. In this way, those responsible for smelting steel will inevitably be unemployed, and the government will not be able to take the initiative to abolish them. This is the most troublesome thing for Li Shimin. It is necessary to maintain the state's official steel, but the other side does not want to bear too much resettlement of workers. This is an unsolvable solution.

"The biggest problem now is that once the iron smelting craftsmen is recruited, then in the end, we will have no way to settle it. Moreover, once we recruit workers, can our government manage it in the end? Once we recruit workers, we need more officials to manage it. In this way, we will definitely be very troublesome to expand the number of officials. The emperor should know that it is easy for the imperial government to set up an institution, but it is very troublesome to lay off an institution." Chen Fei said.

Chen Fei also pointed out a very huge problem, that is, once more workers are recruited, there will be more officials who need to participate in management, which is also a burden to the court. Whether in ancient times or later generations, setting up an institution is actually very simple, because setting up a new institution means that there are more official positions, and a series of people can be promoted. More people can also work in the government and become the ruling class. Therefore, setting up an official position, whether it is the government or the ordinary educated people, is very supportive.

But on the other hand, once an official position meets its historical mission, it will be very difficult to abolition. First of all, these officials have not made any mistakes, so you cannot kick him away directly, otherwise many officials will not be able to work with peace of mind. Therefore, these officials must be properly arranged and they cannot be allowed to lose their official positions. This situation will exist until later generations. First of all, officials who have not made any mistakes cannot be removed from their posts, but can only be adjusted. The abolition of official positions means that the scarce resources of official positions have fewer. Those inside the government and literati who have not become officials outside are also very objectionable, so they must be scolded.

This is why institutions became more and more bloated in ancient times. Then, a lot of redundant officials were formed. The harm of redundant officials was very huge, and they could eat up all the finances of countless countries. Therefore, since ancient times, many people have advocated streamlining government institutions, which is the reason. Both China and foreign countries have advocated streamlining government institutions. This can save a lot of finance and use wealth to the right places. Simplifying government institutions can allow more people to join production, otherwise they are all a group of officials who do not work in production, so what hope does the country have? If we want to achieve ten sheep, then the country will be finished.

During the Song Dynasty, that was the most terrifying time. During the Song Dynasty, there were three "redundant" officials, redundant officials and soldiers, which caused them to gradually destroy the country. First of all, redundant officials, they set up various official positions everywhere, and these official positions were all managed by paying salary. Later, the terrible statistics of the Song Dynasty's redundant officials exceeded the standard by several hundred%. Less than one-third of the officials in the country had actual work tasks, while the remaining two-thirds were leisurely taking the salary and benefits of the court! The salary of officials in the Song Dynasty was simply huge, so although the Song Dynasty seemed very wealthy, the finances were eaten by these redundant officials.

"Your Majesty, we might as well try the contracting method and contract this official steel workshop of the court to outside merchants. Our court just needs to be responsible for supervision and not let them leak out of the outside, and check the quality. In this way, we can not only use the management methods of merchants, but we can no longer set up so many officials and directly ask those merchants to recruit them. In this way, the craftsmen they recruit have nothing to do with our court, so we don't have to place these craftsmen at that time. And in this way, we can buy better steel at a lower price and then create more sophisticated and better weapons. What do you think this is the case?" Chen Fei asked.

"Contract, what does this mean?" Li Shimin asked.

Li Shimin really couldn't understand the terms in later generations in Chen Fei's mouth, so he took the initiative to ask many times. However, the methods proposed by Chen Fei are very suitable, making Li Shimin feel that he can solve many corresponding problems. This is what Li Shimin is willing to listen to Chen Fei's opinions, because Chen Fei has a very good idea to solve problems.

Chen Fei heard that Li Shimin wanted to maintain the official business of steel, but he did not want to bear the high cost that would increase. Therefore, Chen Fei combined some management methods in later generations, especially the reform of state-owned enterprises, and had some methods. Because Chen Fei felt that the ancient official handicraft workshops were not much different from the later state-owned enterprises. Although the production tools in later generations were advanced, they were essentially similar to the management methods of ancient official workshops, and they all had the same problems. So Chen Fei could also borrow the management methods of later generations to solve the problem. Anyway, they were all the experiences of later generations of politicians, so of course they could be used. (To be continued, please search for astronomy, novels are better and faster!

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Chapter completed!