Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1037 Great Success ([-])

Of course, looking at the reform only from the perspective of salt tax, it was indeed quite successful.

But from the perspective of implementation and policy, there is a big gap with Lin Min's original idea of ​​salt reform.

But just now when Liu Yu asked him what he thought of the appeal for injustice, he chose not to ask or talk, but to go to see the steam engine, which showed his attitude.

Liu Yu still saved a lot of face for these head-slapping reformers, and found a good step.

In these years, Zhou Shuren's article naturally does not exist, and Liu Yu can't directly say the compromise of opening windows and demolishing houses, so he uses existing allusions.

Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty said: If you take the law from the top, you can only be the middle, and if you take the law from the middle, it is the bottom.

Sun Tzu said: If you seek the top, you will get the middle; if you seek the middle, you will get the bottom; if you seek the bottom, you will lose.

So the steps are about to come out: it is precisely because of the nonsense ideas put forward by these brain-slapping reformers that the reform of the salt administration has been promoted and succeeded with a compromise.

The head-slapping reformists want to implement comprehensive abolition of supervision, so there is Liu Yu's reform of continuing supervision.Therefore, the first credit is to slap the reformers on the head.

Take the method from the above, only get it.That's what you think, right? Otherwise, would this reform be successful?
As for the process of issuing tickets, in Lin Min's view, it was a slap in the face of ideals and beliefs.

The release of votes a few months ago was naturally done according to Liu Yu's method of "quoting the tickets implicitly, and half the tickets half the time."

As long as the mind slips, there are plenty of ways.

As long as you want to cheat and engage in insider operations, it is not easy.

Some of the ex-salt dealers on Liu Yu’s list who were found to have “transportation capacity, capital turnover, and market share” after being investigated by Boyer Army “just happened” to get enough salt tickets in a fair lottery.

And quickly changed, from a smuggler with the highest death penalty to a seller serving the court and the people.

At this time, it is not the time to directly carry out the reform of the Xiangchu salt area, and it is still in the preparation stage, so it is only a matter of the Huaibei salt area.

Things couldn't be simpler.

A few months ago, in order to take back Liu Yu who had said too bluntly, he said that the current court wanted to restore Liu Yan's salt policy in the Tang Dynasty, but in fact it was still a compromise.

The original salt introduction method is direct communication between sellers and manufacturers.

Now, it is the salt government that takes off its pants and farts. It first sets the purchase quota for the manufacturer according to the order, and then sells the salt to the seller.

It seems that this is just a way to take off your pants and fart.

Actually it is not.

Of course, he may not understand it clearly, but in Liu Yu's view, the essence of this salt reform is that industrial capital dominates commercial capital, replacing the previous commercial capital dominating industrial capital.

The previous Yanyin was dominated by commercial capital, so it would inevitably create scarcity and shortage, thereby raising the price and increasing the value of Yanyin in their hands.

For example, the Yanyin hoarders before and after Yuan Shizhen’s reform, why were they able to buy Yanyin at a low price?Because there is no salt, they can earn the price difference only if production is suppressed and production is insufficient.

If the production is sufficient, people are stupid, and they can get salt tomorrow with quotations, but today the tickets worth 100 taels are sold for 60 taels to hoarders?

Liu Yu has seen a lot in Nanyang. The Dutch curb production, cut down cloves, and burn cardamom. Isn't this the same way of thinking?

The Dutch East India Company is a standard commercial capital, and their logic is of course consistent.

But now, after the simple factory transformation of salt production, for the industrial capital of salt production, their purpose is only one: to sell more salt, and if they sell more, they will earn more.

At the same time, the infinite split of merchants who sell and transport is also an anti-monopoly method.

The several large salt merchants who originally controlled Yanyin were dismantled into hundreds of large and small salt merchants by means of extreme violence, and even directly refusing to recognize the customary law contract and the former court's salt quotation rights.

Now it is the industrial capital that has joined together to form a large salt production company; while the commercial capital has been dismantled from a few to hundreds by Liu Yu, and it is powerless.

How to prevent the salt industry from reducing production on its own?In this, the role of salt officials is reflected. In essence, this is an order industry.

The order contract was signed in advance by the imperial court, and the violent machine of the state told these salt producers what "fines" and "liquidated damages" were.

Of course, it's not without benefits.The conditions given by the imperial court are that if there is a shortage of capital in the operation, there will be internal funds to provide loan support, and the loan interest rate is very low, only 1 cent interest, which is 12%, which is an absolute low-interest loan in Dashun.

With this set of logic, the Dashun court's idea of ​​supporting the chaebols is vividly reflected.

Because, there is a very simple judgment in it.

That is: if there is a conflict between the employees of the salt farm and the owner of the salt farm, who will the court stand for?If there is a conflict between the big salt farm and the small salt household, who will the court stand for?
What is a propped up chaebol?This is called a supported chaebol.

In theory, no one stands in the imperial court, standing in the middle, is not only the emperor of capital, but also the emperor of hired workers.

However, the orders placed by the imperial court must be fulfilled. The imperial court must lower the cost to crack down on salt smuggling. The imperial court must make a hole to facilitate anti-smuggling.

So with this as a starting point, isn't it clear who should stand?
Unexplained, it doesn't mean that these investors are stupid and don't understand the unspoken rules here.

Of course Lin Min understood, so Liu Yu asked him what he thought of the complaint, but he didn't even look at it.

It's not because he thinks this is the direction of the development of productivity. His Three Views don't recognize productivity at all.

It's because he knows that the court's order model means that the court must stand on the side of the big producers.

Of course, it's not completely bottomless. Liu Yu also has a deterrent method.

That is to say, a large number of new students who are not shareholders are sent to settle in and learn technology.

Another premise of this subtext is the way of disposing of the Bangka Island tin mine during Dashun’s voyage to Nanyang—following the British method, handing it over to the miners’ gang for management and hosting, and it was successful, the output did not drop at all, and it was still possible Ensure that the tin foil industry in Zhejiang has sufficient raw materials.

This kind of deterrent method, just like the emperor often used good family sons to scare the imperial examination officials, cannot be used in practice, but it can be used in theory.

After the industrialization of salt production, in theory, the imperial court can fully take over the Salt Industry Corporation to ensure production at an appropriate time.

What is the basis of this deterrence?
The fundamental basis of this deterrence is who controls the advanced productivity in the Huaibei saltworks?

Obviously, they are the boiler workers who burn the boilers, the technicians who tinker with the steam engines, the salt workers who spread the salt, the old craftsmen who watch the sky and the water and taste the tide, and those new students who were thrown in by Liu Yu to learn technology and basically be responsible for management. student.

It is not an investor who has no technology but only capital.

At the same time, the significance of capital has declined because of the adoption of the imperial government's management of orders and a comprehensive salt ban.

It’s not that its significance no longer exists. From the current level, it is still the best means of allocating resources at this time. It is definitely better than the bureaucratic management of the imperial court, but it is not irreplaceable, and the cost is also affordable. .

So this deterrent system is achievable and deterrent.

Of course, the role of deterrence is to use it before it is used, and if it is really used, under the current conditions, there will be more troubles.

Because, the purpose of the Dashun court was to receive the salt tax.

It has never been to vigorously develop productivity to meet the people's demand for salt.

Many people misunderstand the feudal dynasty, thinking that it is the job and duty of the feudal dynasty to make the people live a good life.But in fact, the job of the feudal dynasty is to guarantee power, guarantee family inheritance, and ensure that there is money to maintain all these.

Liu Yu is very clear about the distinction, so he can only choose to deter and scare, but it is impossible to really do it.

Of course, he couldn't use this as a reason for this whole set of logic. Instead, he had to go through a move similar to a format converter to convert it into a reason that Dashun officials could understand and accept at this time.

The real truth he thinks is garbled on the player of Dashun, which cannot be interpreted.

But no matter how it is explained, for the court, the truth is not important, but the results are important.

Because Confucianism is not a religion, it has its own set of political principles and economic assumptions, but the result of using it is ruined, so the imperial court still attaches great importance to actual performance after all.

This is also in line with the overall trend of thought that under the background that the Ming Dynasty almost perished in the world, it is necessary to talk about the principles of mind and nature, to be pragmatic, to embody righteousness in terms of utilitarianism, and to see things in terms of things.

Even if you don't just look at the salt tax, from other perspectives, this reform is basically successful.

The Huaibei Salt District was able to collect salt tax, which proves that the rest of the "additional options" - such as the common people eating salt, which is purely an additional option in the eyes of the court - have also been achieved.

The Huaibei salt area is different from other places.

There are two major salt farms in Changlu and Shandong on it; there are private salt flat farms in Huaibei coastal areas nearby.

The problem in the Huaibei salt area is not that the people cannot eat salt, but that the people eat private salt.

Now that the second ticket release has been completed, the merchants who came this time are more enthusiastic than the first time, and the salt tax is sufficient, which proves one thing.

It proves that the first wave of salt merchants sold the official salt and made money.

Otherwise, stupid, and continue to come?
The fact that the official salt can be sold proves that the common people eat official salt again.

The common people don't eat private salt, but official salt, so merchants can be more enthusiastic about issuing tickets for the second time.

Why don't the common people eat official salt and private salt?
Because the price of official salt has fallen.

Therefore, allowing the common people to eat cheap salt, the additional option of the imperial court, has also been achieved.

As for why the price of official salt has dropped, there are multiple factors.

There are reasons for the increase in production efficiency and the reduction of costs, the banning of middlemen to hoard salt and profit from the price difference between middlemen, and the fact that the reformers of the salt administration generally "decentralize power, reduce inspection links, reduce procedures, and change transportation routes" factor.

But the root of this factor still has to be traced back to the abandoned water transport.

Otherwise, the salt transportation route must be fixed to prevent smuggling of smuggled salt from the north; inspections must be set up at key points, and large and small salt officials should be placed, so the logistics cost cannot be reduced.

But now, it only needs to set up checkpoints at several important Yellow River crossings to ensure that salt from other places cannot flow in, so that salt traders can change their transportation routes to more convenient ones and reduce the scrutiny of salt officials, large and small.

If this trend continues, after everything is on the right track next year, even if smuggling to other places is not considered, and the scope of Huaibei salt sales area is not considered, it is only the original sales area. Taxes are two to three times what they were before the reform.

With such great political achievements, Lin Min naturally chose the attitude of "not looking at" the people's grievances.

Instead, I am considering whether the Huaibei model can be reproduced in Huainan?Therefore, after he has succeeded in general, he has to investigate the production method here, and feels that if it is possible, it can be promoted in Huainan.

The problem in Huainan is Sichuan salt, Guangdong salt, and Fujian salt, which are pressing hard and constantly compressed. From this perspective, he looks at the direction of Huainan salt reform.

So why can Guangdong Salt and Minyan keep pressing?Because the ex-factory price is much cheaper than Huainan salt.

So he felt that the success of Huaibei Salt Reform gave him the possibility to solve this problem.

(End of this chapter)