Xinshun 1730

Chapter 967
Regarding whether the emperor can agree, Liu Yu believes that the possibility of agreeing to play a big game is very high.

This is still about economic relations.

In history, similar salt cases broke out no matter during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty or during the Qing Dynasty.

The handling of the salt case also follows the basic law of economic relations.

Speaking of the cause, or fuse, of the salt case in history, it is also very simple.

Salt merchants have money, and Confucian scholars have the right to public opinion.

The two must cooperate closely, salt merchants spend money to support Confucianism, Confucian scholars and public opinion feed salt merchants.

If you have to make an analogy, it seems to be similar to the doormen in the Warring States Period.However, the lineage system of the Warring States period was different from the Confucian system of imperial examinations in later generations, so it was actually more similar to... the big V of public opinion in later generations.

There was a literati named Luo Yu who wrote couplets in exchange for money.

As far as his couplets are concerned, to put it bluntly, they can be exchanged for 50 yuan in the market, but he asked the salt merchant for 16 taels of silver.The salt merchant gave it to him, and after giving it, Luo Yu felt that it was not enough flowers, and hoped that the salt merchant could help him "sell" couplets, one for 4 taels, and help sell dozens of couplets... I understand what this means. Understand.

As a result, the salt merchant felt that his appetite was too great. Today it is 16 taels, and tomorrow it is 100 taels. What about the day after tomorrow?So he directly chose to break up the relationship.

Luo Yu thought to herself, "Fucking fuck, if you don't give me money, isn't this being rich and unkind?"See if I don't kill you.

So he wrote a "On the Law of Salt" to explain the harm of the current salt administration.

Of course, the Confucian scholars took action and recruited and killed them. The direction of the attack was not the corruption of the salt merchants or the like, but that the salt merchants "made friends with the harem", "giving money to the ministers of the DPRK and China is too expensive to make friends with", and "capital meddling in politics".

But this kind of thing, to put it bluntly, is similar to the Ryukyu incident. It is all deception, everyone knows and pretends not to know.

The attitude of the imperial power depends on the economic relationship in it.

The imperial power gave the salt merchants a monopoly.

Salt officials are just doing business.

Therefore, the result is obvious. The imperial power dealt with the salt officials severely, but treated the salt merchants lightly.

The reason is simple: the economic relationship is here, if there is no salt official, you can change it, but if there is no salt merchant, it will be troublesome.

Power rent-seeking, who gives this rent?Given by the imperial power.

Who is looking for rent?merchant capital.

Is there anything wrong with trading power for money?From the perspective of the imperial power, yes.

But whose right is it?Who should the money go to?
Damn, you salt officials are just part-time workers, don't you have any ideas?

The salt merchant's money is not given to me, who is the emperor, but to you salt officials?
Even if you take [-]% and give me [-]%, sometimes you don’t even give it to me.

I really don't know what my surname is. Do you really think that your power belongs to you?You are just representatives of imperial power, your power is not your own, and you are not entitled to [-]% of it.

I'm raising pigs here, and I'm going to cut the meat after fattening it up.In the end, you don't wait for him to fatten up, you unload some tenderloin today, and cut some back meat tomorrow, isn't that bullshit?

And this is not only the "emergency financial" problem of the "salt merchants" that Liu Yu said; it is also the economic vassals of the imperial rent-seeking.

The reason why Liu Yu is convinced that the emperor will support him this time is also very simple, the economic foundation has changed.

The emperor's domestic funds had overseas trade.

However, due to the increase in internal revenue and the insufficient fiscal revenue of household governments, many local household governments that spend money cannot afford the money. They urgently need a system that "does not affect internal revenue and will not cause a huge burden on the people and lead to uprisings." People-oriented, but because of the suppression of the uprising, money has to be spent—a new source of taxation.

In other words, the main force of the imperial power's economic vassals are now those who monopolize overseas trade in Songjiang Prefecture.

The household government has no money and needs to be reformed. Where should it be reformed?
Of the two major taxes, land tax and salt tax, which one is easier to mobilize?This goes without saying.

Why do we have to change, can't we not change?

No.

Two reasons.

The canal was abandoned, and the old salt transportation route was changed. Correspondingly, new anti-smuggling, inspections, investigations of smuggled salt, ferry inspections, etc. were spent, all of which required money.

Anyway, if you want to change it, it is better to change it together.

The second point is that the court needs money.

It is planned to invest more than 3000 million taels of silver in the construction of the Huaihe River. Then, should the Liaohe River in Yingkou and other places, and the Haihe River in the Gyeonggi area be repaired?Immigrants from the Western Regions, do you want to spend money?Northeast immigration, do you want to spend money?Do we need to spend money to continue the military reform?
Can the money not be spent?No, because Dashun has sequelae of the late Ming Dynasty.

Since a small tribe of 20 people almost let the Shenzhou land sink, the control of the border areas must continue to expand the buffer space to prevent the late Ming Dynasty. The Raksha people and the Mongols are very dangerous. Beware of them.

How to prevent?
immigration.

Repair the bastion.

How much is a serious bastion?How much is one person to immigrate to the Western Regions?
In short, no money is not enough.

The money of Haimao cannot be moved for the time being, because the emperor saw the profits of overseas trade, and the vain money fell in front of his eyes. To prepare for the future "India collects land rent, opens European tariffs and sells tea and porcelain", Haimao Group cannot move. .

The monopoly power of the Maritime Group is also the rent-seeking of the imperial power.Now it seems that these maritime business groups have no middlemen to make the difference and give more, and they are also pawns for future external expansion.

Does the Lianghuai salt merchants also have military and political significance similar to the Maritime Group?
Yes, but they have all been replaced.

The use of troops in the Northwest and Northeast now relies on merchant groups that provide logistics, and is no longer a salt merchant.It is a consortium of merchants in Xijing, Shanxi, and Gyeonggi who sell tea, cloth, and lend money to Rakshasa and Mongolia.

The emergency finance was replaced by the Songjiang Prefecture Chaebol Group headed by Liu Yu, and it was more cost-effective and would not arouse internal conflicts.

When a force can't reflect its value, and when there is a fat batch, then it is the time to be liquidated.

Theoretically speaking, the land issue has a great effect of taxation...but if it is not done well, it is easy to explode, and it is the kind of bomb that is fried to pieces, so I dare not move it.

That being the case, the emperor's purpose for reforming the salt administration was very clear in Liu Yu's view: to tax and to stabilize tax.

The Songjiang Prefecture chaebol provided emergency finance; the salt tax was converted into a stable and stable tax.

Therefore, the problem here is essentially similar to the salt case in history.

The salt case in history: Are the salt merchants guilty?Yes, mortal sin.Fraud, bribery, fraud, corruption.Can it be cured?Just laugh it off, govern officials but not business, as long as you know who to give the money to in the future, you will be fine.

Now, the logic is the same, but in a different form: Now, are salt dealers guilty?mortal sin.Do we need to be severely punished?unnecessary.The emperor gave them grace and let them become full-timers. As long as they pay all the taxes after becoming full-timers, they will be fine.

After figuring this out, Liu Yu's "points" to Shi Shiyong became clearer.

The military control of the child does not care about the private salt dealers?

As Shi Shiyong said, they don't care about it. The Boyer Army is an internal spy organization that manages officials and officials.

However, this line of thinking is wrong.

So after Liu Yu finished writing the memorial to the emperor and the letter to the Songjiang Mansion, he talked to Shi Shiyong about the private salt dealer.

"Brother Shi, as I said before, it's easy to investigate. In the salt administration system, everyone from officials to businessmen has shit on them. The key is to find the right direction to investigate."

"Besides, according to the name, investigation, investigation, these two words, you actually only have one word for investigation, and you can't do it."

"Now, I suggest that you better investigate the private salt dealers. Especially the private salt dealers who want to investigate the coverage of the Huaibei salt area."

"After you find it, don't move, keep an eye on it. When you need it, bring them over, and I'll treat them to dinner."

Shi Shiyong guessed that Liu Yu might have to make a big move. Although it seems that this is not quite in line with their business, it is a matter for the local government and patrol salt, but their investigation of people is definitely more professional than that of the complicated local government.

"Duke, is this going to recruit security?"

Liu Yu said with a smile: "You have to be qualified to recruit security. If you have no skills, there is no need to recruit security. You need the kind of recruitment that is really capable."

"Fortunately, the Huaibei salt area is not big, and it only goes to Henan and Hubei. It is impossible to smuggle salt out of thin air. I can trust your skills. It should not be difficult to investigate them."

Shi Shiyong nodded and said: "As long as we know who to investigate, we can investigate. As the Duke said, everyone has shit on their buttocks. The difficulty is not to find shit, but to find who to find shit. That being said, this matter Just leave it to us, and it will be found out soon."

"I'll send someone to do it myself. I'll accompany the Duke here. First, it's not convenient for me to check, and second, I'm worried that they will be detrimental to the Duke."

For such kindness, Liu Yu could only thank you, and said: "Well, His Majesty's imperial approval will arrive in ten days, so let's not stay here. It will be troublesome to collect money or not. You can arrange it. Tomorrow morning, follow me to the nearby salt field."

Shi Shiyong thought for a while, and then said: "There are too many eyeliners here. If I send someone out to investigate the private salt dealers, will it scare the snake away?"

Liu Yu laughed and said: "No, you know, they don't know; they don't know you know, but you think they know you know. That's why you think you will startle the snake."

"Even to ask for bribes, there needs to be a legitimate reason, right? I pretended to be public servants, investigated the private salt dealers, and asked these official salt dealers to give me some favors, isn't it justifiable?"

"Although this is a bit disrespectful, these merchants still feel that His Majesty felt that Yangzhou paid less service last time. It is hard to say whether the money was collected by me or by me."

Shi Shiyong thought for a while, and said with a smile: "Yes, I understand. Then I wish the Duke an extra 30 million, and I will arrange someone."

Leaving from Liu Yu's side, Shi Shiyong quickly arranged for people to return to Beijing and escort Liu Yu's people to Songjiang.He also wrote a memorial to the emperor, completely using the perspective of a third party to write out what happened today and what Liu Yu said in public to intimidate the salt merchants. After sealing it, he asked someone to send it back.

In the early morning of the next day, under the astonished eyes of all the salt merchants, he and Liu Yu left Haizhou directly.

The salt merchants rushed to see Liu Yu off and asked where Liu Yu was going.Liu Yu only said that he was going to have a look at the salt field, and didn't bother to talk nonsense with these people, so he left Haizhou and headed towards the southernmost Wandu Salt Field by the Yellow River.

The salt merchants thought to themselves, this Wandu Salt Field is almost finished, what are they going to do there?Although it is on the north bank of the Yellow River, it is no better than those close to the canal in the west. There is no unspoken rule of "protecting the north but not the south".

(End of this chapter)