Chapter 5 "Release the micro, control the macro"

Guan Zhong's juxtaposition of the four peoples is not only his personal consciousness and awareness, but also the embodiment of his philosophy of governing the country.This politician with many years of experience in business has already discovered that the profitability of industry and commerce is greater than that of agriculture, and the revitalization of the commodity economy is the best way to enhance national strength.He carried out overall supporting reforms involving industries, taxation, prices and other fields in Qi State.What he did, in today's words, is to "let go of the microcosm and control the macrocosm".

The so-called "freeing the microcosm" is to stimulate the development of the commodity economy internally and reduce tariffs externally, forming a market aggregation effect of "like water returning to the abyss". Qi State is located on the seashore, and the fishery and salt cooking industry have always been developed. Guan Zhong stipulated that fish and salt can be exported freely, and the pass is only registered without taxation, so as to facilitate the princes and states.A single tax system is also implemented for other export commodities. Those that have been levied at the pass will no longer be levied in the market, and vice versa.

For the businessmen who came to Qi to do business, he opened the door to the country and welcomed them endlessly. He proposed, "Don't ask for taxes and fees for those who come by empty vehicles, and don't collect taxes for those who come on foot, so that more and more people will come. more".He also suggested that Duke Huan of Qi should set up special guest houses for foreign businessmen. There would be one every 30 miles. staff.From then on, "the merchants of the world return to Qi Rushui". In order to enliven the market, Guan Zhong even started the state-run sex industry for the first time.He opened seven government-run brothels ("female markets") in Linzi, the capital, each with 100 prostitutes ("female houses"), a total of 700.Guan Zhong used this to attract foreign business travelers and collected a lot of taxes from them.In later generations, Guan Zhong was therefore worshiped as the "father" of the prostitution industry, just like Lu Ban's status in the carpentry industry.

Encouraged by this free trade policy, it is conceivable that the prosperity of Qi State’s commerce and the activity of merchants. "Warring States Policy Qi Ce" records the prosperous scene of Linzi, the capital of Qi State, in this way: "Linzi is very rich and real. All the people play the yugu, the zither, play the zither, play the zither, fight cocks and run the dogs, and beat the jujube. On the road to Linzi, the car hubs are beaten, the shoulders of the people are rubbed together, the curtains are formed, the curtains are formed, and the sweat is raining. It is estimated that Linzi had as many as 300,000 residents, making it the largest, most prosperous and affluent city in the world at that time, while the population of Athens at the same time was less than 50,000.

The so-called "macro-control" is to emphasize the government's macro-management of the economy, and its means are to comprehensively start from the three aspects of finance, taxation and price. In the farming era, the most important commodity for a country’s internal affairs was of course grain—commodity grain trade has existed in China since ancient times, and for a long time, commodity grain accounted for 80% of the total grain trade.Guan Zhong attaches great importance to food policy. In terms of important agricultural taxes, he is not like ordinary rulers who either extort excessively, or blindly lower them. The agricultural tax of 10% is an iron standard.Guan Zhong's policy is to levy taxes every two years. In the year of great harvest, 15% is levied each year, in middle years, 10% is levied each year, and in poor years, 5% is levied each year. In case of famine, tax-free.This mobile tax rate is obviously much more flexible and realistic than Mencius' "Tithe One".In addition, Guan Zhong also established a national grain storage system. The state procured and hoarded a large amount of grain, which was sufficient to control fluctuations in market grain prices and achieve a balance between abundance and hunger.Guan Zhong attached great importance to grain. He did not allow anyone to manipulate grain prices. He strictly forbade the use of grain trading to oppress farmers in times of famine. The fluctuation of grain prices must be controlled by the state. In the farming era, this view is undoubtedly very important.

Guan Zhong was also a master at using price levers to regulate the economy and increase national income.For example, he once said that if the country has a large amount of cloth, it is no longer necessary to levy cloth tax, but to levy the raw material hemp, and the price of hemp will increase ten times due to the tax, and the price of cloth may rise to fifty times; the same reason , If the country has a large amount of silk weaving, it can levy a tax on the raw material silk, which can increase the price of silk weaving tenfold.In terms of foreign trade, he advocated controlling commodity prices according to different situations, that is, "control the world because of the world": if the quality of foreign goods is higher than that of the home country, the sales price of the goods in the country should be increased to control the import of foreign goods , if you want to encourage exports, you must lower the selling price, "the world is high and I will be low."