Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1070: Evil Dragon Afterimage ([-])

"Let's do this... this matter has to be resolved after all. Now I'll ask you a few questions, and each of you should answer according to your own conscience."

"Duke Zhou and Master are in front, each according to his conscience."

"Those who think that the current salt policy, salt household policy, and the system of salt introduction, business introduction, and subsidy business are no problem, and do not need any changes at all, stand on the right side."

"Those who think that the current salt policy and salt household policy are problematic and need to be changed should stand on the left."

A simple small problem caused these forty or fifty students to quickly divide into two factions.

One faction stands on the left.One faction stands on the right.

There are about seven or eight people on the right, and the remaining forty are all standing on the left.

Liu Yu looked at the seven or eight people on the right, and said with a smile: "You guys give way first, go to the side and wait."

After these seven or eight people stood on the side, Liu Yu asked again: "Those who support the method of drying salt instead of boiling salt, and those who squander spare grass to reclaim wasteland, stand on the left; There is indeed a problem with the salt household policy, but those who can modify and change without changing the sun-dried cooking method and the salt method, stand on the right.”

After splitting again, Liu Yu continued to ask many small questions. These small questions were very simple and not profound at all.

Those who support land reclamation, do they support large companies' capital land reclamation?
Those who support land reclamation and oppose capital land reclamation by large companies support the self-reclamation of salt households?

Those who support the self-reclamation of salt households, do they support cooperation and mutual assistance, government support, and low-interest loans such as green crop loans?

Those who support the imperial government's support and grant loans support the abolition of preferential treatment for students and the collection of progressive land taxes to provide low-interest loans for the development of the poor?

Those who support the abolition of preferential treatment for students and the collection of progressive land tax, what is the standard of progressive land tax? 200 acres? 500 acres? 1000 acres?
Those who support the self-reclamation of salt households, do they support the investigation of the grasslands and return the grasslands illegally occupied by the dealers to the salthouses?
If you support refund, do you support compulsory refund without compensation?Or support long-term redemption?

Those who support long-term redemption support the sale of land by salt households that will be reclaimed in the future?
Those who do not support land sales, do they support a full return to the well field system?

Those who support the return to the well field system support 30-year redemption?Or support free land equalization?
These few simple problems quickly dismantled the 45-member local community into many small circles.

The people in these small circles stood on one side, you looked at me, I looked at you, momentarily stunned.

"Look, what is empty talk? What is not empty talk? It is useless for you to talk about compassion and awe-inspiring spirit."

"The ancients said that comrades are friends and classmates are friends. You are only four or fifty people, and you have so many different views on this matter."

"There will be a retrial in a few days. Among you, there are those who hit the dealership, some who took money, some who were out of righteous indignation, and some who made salt at home... In fact, let's speak out your appeals openly and don't mess with them. Moral talk, isn't that nice?"

"Now that you've all been split up, how can you characterize this matter?"

"It's all gone. After you go back, you might as well find friends according to your respective attitudes towards this matter. Then write articles to discuss specific things, whether it's the specific allocation of land, or the specific strategy of reclamation. Better than talking nonsense here."

"Let's go away..."

All the students who have never seen such a game before, are all stupid.

Just now they were united and wanted to avenge their grievances, but now they have been split into so many factions by Liu Yu's few words, and their views on some issues are not harmonious at all.

It really doesn't make sense to insult each other as traitors.

When they came back to their senses, Liu Yu had already drifted away.

These students were extremely embarrassed with each other, and after leaving the Confucian temple, they started arguing on the street.

After arguing for a while, a fight soon broke out.

These few small issues changed the matter from "the people from southern Jiangsu beat up the people from Yangzhou" to "a dispute over moral principles".

Looking at the students who were fighting because of these problems in the distance, Liu Yu smiled and shook his head.

If you want to say whether there are any of these people who really have a conscience, there must be some.

Is there anyone who is really willing to give up their land and preferential treatment to support the real kingship in their hearts? In fact, there must be some.

This kind of thing, naturally, the more chaos the better.

The more chaotic it is, the less power the salt merchants can gather, instead of many angry students being fooled into following along.

The more chaos there will be, the more factions there will be, but at least one thing, the Confucian scholars who are really awakened out of anger, will stand in the middle.

Salt merchants are bastards.

Land reclamation company is also a bastard.

If they can think that way, that's enough.

Because Liu Yu doesn't need allies anymore, he just needs a neutral side not to stand opposite.

If everyone is a bastard, the bastard here has a huge advantage.

…………

When creating chaos here, several major salt merchants in Yangzhou City are struggling.

People's hearts are scattered, and the team is not easy to lead. This is the predicament they are facing now.

As they went on, a large number of sellers and transporters did not object to the imperial court's salt policy reform.

It has to be said that Huaibei's salt policy reform policy, as well as the seemingly fair ticket law policy, directly divided the originally cohesive salt merchant group.

For these sub-salt merchants who have been exploited by general contractors, of course they don't like someone making a difference on their heads, and they hope to enter the market with their own small capital, buy salt tickets, and start the business themselves.

These big salt merchants actually feel that they are also quite wronged.

Yanyin has been under the ownership system since the 45th year of Wanli.

The big salt merchants have changed a lot, and they also spent a lot of money to buy salt.

Now, with a swipe of a pen, the imperial court said that Yanyin was abolished.

What is this equal to?It is equivalent to buying it at the purchase price, but now I am told that I can only rent it.

Not to mention anything else, just changing from the life-long inheritance system of Yanyin to the twice-yearly salt ticket, isn't this similar to directly giving the land that was bought with great difficulty to the nationalized contract system?

This is a direct reversal of the question of whether the salt monopoly that began in the 45th year of Wanli was ownership or contracting.

Moreover, the imperial court did not give a penny of compensation.

With people's hearts fluttering, the few big salt merchants whose interests were most deeply bound were really cornered by Liu Yu.

The two major battlefields, Hubei and Huainan, will consume a lot of their energy.

In Hubei, it will take a lot of money to prepare for confrontation with Liu Yu's New Deal.

Here in Huainan, it is necessary to make a good decision-making decision, bind the interests of the people, and portray yourself as a person who "stands up for the interests of Yanhu".

After meeting several big salt merchants, they quickly figured out where their interests lie.

"I shouldn't directly come forward about the Huainan matter."

"One thing to remember, as long as Huainan is still under the Yanhu system, we will still have a chance. But if Huainan is reclaiming wasteland, we will have no chance at all."

"Xingguogong wants to develop salt in Huaibei, which is to imitate the story of the former emperor Cheng Zu who moved the capital to Beijing, and completely cut off our foundation."

"That's right, if you want to win in Huainan, you have to make a trade-off. You have to give up all the benefits of recklessness."

"Let the Confucian scholars go to make noise, hoping to divide the grass equally and keep the salt households."

"The salt household system is the foundation for us to live and work. The leftovers should be put away and thrown away. If we directly come forward, it will easily cause people's resentment. After all, you and I are called 'salt beetles'."

"It is necessary for Confucian scholars to shout for the benefit of the people and the livelihood of Yanhu households, so that we can have a slight chance of winning."

The salt merchants who understood this had already understood it.

They are deeply rooted and flourishing in Huainan.

As long as the imperial court maintains the Yanhu system, they will always have the opportunity to die every day and repeat yesterday's story sooner or later.

And Liu Yu's waste of salt to reclaim land is digging their roots, which is obviously aimed at making them never stand up again.

Perhaps, they have a good relationship with those local land gentry who own the grass.

But at this juncture, they can only be thrown away.

If you don't throw it, it's staying the same.And keeping it the same, as far as it is now, is impossible anyway.

Only by selling them and pretending to be pleading for the lives of the Yanhu and the poorest people, is it possible to drag this matter to the court and dare not move lightly.

The salt household system is the economic foundation of the entire Huainan salt administration.As long as this foundation remains unchanged, the rest will be superficial.

The truth is such a truth, and they understand it in their hearts.

but……

"However, what happened a few days ago made it clear that the other side came prepared. Not only did they come prepared, but they were also very clear about this set of methods."

"When it comes to money, they are not inferior to us. When it comes to feeding, they must have a lot of dogs that bite people."

"Although Duke Xingguo didn't come forward, he was behind all this. Jiedushi seems to be a little dissatisfied with the complete abolition of salt in Huainan. It seems that he doesn't want to bear the bad name of invading salt households and seizing people's property after all."

"Besides, if I support the equal distribution of grass land, although I am righteous, I am afraid that the local gentry will oppose it. They have a lot of grass land in their hands, and I am afraid they will be dissatisfied with us."

"But if you don't use this righteousness, you and I won't even have the chance to struggle. Duke Xingguo's methods are really vicious."

These salt merchants discussed for a long time, and finally discovered Liu Yu's viciousness.

First divide the salt households, and then let the salt households and dangzhu divide.

The differentiation again and again, and the instigation again and again, left these big salt merchants with only the last card in their hands.

Control the permanent production of the people and share the grass equally.

And once this card is played, it will directly offend the gentry and the owner of the salt area.

Those field owners and gentry did not support Liu Yu.But it is definitely opposed to equal distribution of grass.

From the perspective of these salt merchants, Liu Yu has been splitting up since the salt reform in Huaibei.He did not choose to strengthen his own strength, but split the opponent's strength so that the opponent could not hold together.

The most criticized salt beetle in the world played this card to control the people's constant production and evenly distribute the waste. It seems magical, but in fact similar scenes will continue to be staged again and again during this transition period.

When these salt merchants were at a loss, some confidantes rushed in from outside.

"Master! Master! The scholar who took the lead in calling for grievances in Yanhu a few days ago is dead! There is news from over there that the people in the county have already started a riot!"

When the salt merchant heard the news, he was overjoyed and said, "Good death! Good death!"

"Quick! Quick! Ask someone to write a few articles, only talking about the suffering of Yanhu, and the wasteland reclamation company seizing the people's property. The student was so angry that he cried out for the people, but he was beaten to death! He should pay homage and stand as a righteous man! Those who are angry, go to express condolences and send this righteous hero to you!"

(End of this chapter)