Wanli Xinming

Chapter 58

In the Xinuan Pavilion of Wuying Hall in the Forbidden City, there is still a small meeting of the Cabinet, the Minister of Lijian and the Ministry of Households.

After the Jingying Great Review, Zhu Yijun took the initiative to intervene in the political affairs.Its intervention method is to use the "meetings" that are annoying to death in future generations.If there is an important matter, a small meeting will be held with the cabinet, the supervisor of ceremonies and relevant ministries; if there is a major matter, it will be discussed with the court officials.

Therefore, since the second year of Wanli, the courtiers have clearly felt that the time of the morning court once every three days has become longer, and the nature of etiquette has become less and less obvious.There are many places to study a major event until noon.

This is still the case when Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng and others held a small meeting to unify the thoughts of important ministers.If there is no prior meeting, it will take longer.

After two months, Zhang Juzheng couldn't take it anymore.He himself has a lot of various affairs, and within two or three days, he will spend a little time with the emperor for a meeting. In order not to lose the chain before the meeting, he also has to hold a small meeting with the minister before the emperor's small meeting.In addition, Zhang Juzheng has to attend the rituals such as the classics, so the office hours are getting less and less, and the overtime hours are getting longer and longer.

Therefore, he has written to the emperor and suggested to increase the cabinet members. Zhu Yijun expressed that he was happy to see it and Xu Ting pushed it.

In this small meeting, Zhu Yijun listened to Wang Guoguang's report on the salt administration.

The origin was to inspect the six matters of Chen Yanfa, the censor of Zhili, and the memorial mentioned several serious problems in the salt law at this time:
First, a large number of kitchen stoves escaped from the salt field, and the salt production decreased year after year;

The second is the indiscriminate issuance of salt quotations by the household department, resulting in some salt quotations that cannot be withdrawn, and can only be waited in line, which seriously affects the enthusiasm of salt merchants to open up;
The third is that the management of the official salt market is out of control, and various salt merchants are selling indiscriminately to impact the market;

Fourth, the Ministry of Household has issued salt quotations, and the imperial court and the inner court still set up salt customs to levy taxes, and the standards are different, resulting in higher costs for salt merchants and lower enthusiasm for buying and selling salt;
Fifth, official salt cannot be sold at all, and there are many cases where official salt is unsalable;
Sixth, the crackdown on private salt was ineffective, resulting in a sharp drop in official salt sales.

After Zhang Juzheng saw the memorial, he knew that Zhu Yijun's temper was bound to have a meeting, and he informed the Ministry of Accounts early to prepare.Sure enough, it was the second day of the third month of the third lunar month to discuss matters in Wuying Hall and discuss the ritual of salt.

The Book of Accounts, the Kingdom of the Ministry of Housing, has the word Ruguan and the number is Shu'an.This person is extremely smart, and he is the editor-in-chief of the "Wanli Accounting Record" published by the Finance Institute of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This guy is a wonderful figure in the political arena of the Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli dynasties.Although he has outstanding abilities, he does not cultivate his personal virtues and has a good sex. He is a bohemian person who loves freedom.He has been repeatedly impeached for half his life on charges of cronyism, arrogance of officials and goods, detriment to public wealth and private interests, and failure to cultivate private morality. From a moral point of view, he looks like a scum.But because of his outstanding ability, he can always resume his official position in a short time.

At this time, he reported to Zhu Yijun the situation of the national salt administration, and explained the reason for the misuse of salt by the Ministry of Household.He said that the main reason was the lack of silver in Taicang, and he had to pay an extra [-] yuan to make up for the shortfall.In other cases, what the censor said was correct, but the abuses had been accumulating for a long time. The Ministry of Household could only focus on the management of salt legal affairs, crack down on private salt, etc., and also asked the emperor to abolish the middle officials sent to collect the salt tax.

Zhu Yijun didn't know about this, and when he heard this, he asked Zhang Hongdao, the head of the Sili Supervisor: "How much was the salt tax collected by the middle officials last year?" Zhang Hong replied: "Back to the emperor, the total is more than [-] taels." Zhu Yijun sneered after hearing this. Zhang Hong saw sweat on his forehead.

Zhu Yijun said: "Look back, you should list the items that are still collecting taxes - not only the salt tax, but also report them to me. When I stop them, let them come back!"

Then he turned to Chen Ju and said, "Do you know about this?" Seeing Chen Ju nodding in the affirmative, Zhu Yijun said, "Take a look at the personal pockets of these middle officials during the tax collection period. If there are those who are honest and serve the public, I will personally commend them. !"

When it was said that it was a compliment, the tone and expression on his face were not meant to compliment anyone. Chen Ju knew what to do and answered loudly.

When Zhang Juzheng saw the emperor act like this, he knew that he was going to kill again.This emperor made great efforts to govern himself, and he acted vigorously and resolutely.

Years before and after the year, the top eunuchs in the inner court, such as Liang Yonghe Zhang Zhong of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, Mu Jinde of the Shangshi Supervisor, and Cui Min, the eunuch of the Inner Carrier Library, were all dug up for corruption, etc., and were punished and expelled. Out of the palace, shaking the palace.

People in the inner palace can see the color of the wind and know the direction of the wind.Zhu Yijun usually does not drink or play, and spends all his time studying, exercising and dealing with political affairs.Therefore, the lucky ones stay away, and the righteous people are often attached. This is the merit of setting an example, and the top Zhu Yijun said [-] words himself.

Zhu Yijun was not blindly harsh. He often rewarded Chen Ju, Zhang Jing, Zhang Cheng, etc. who did their jobs wholeheartedly. In addition, as a rule, his nephews were admitted to Guozijian or given political status such as Jinyi Hundred Households. For more than half a year, the inner court Gradually return to heart.

This guy Wang Guoguang can also read words and deeds, and at this time, he saw Zhu Yijun disposing of his own people.He immediately took out his old predecessor from 100 years ago and said: "Your Majesty, since the fifth year of Hongzhi, after Ye Qi, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, canceled the payment of grain and went to the side to get money for the payment of money, the government of our dynasty has completely collapsed. Even if we manage it for a while, problems will still arise after a long time."

Due to the young age of the emperor, Guo Chaobin, the right servant who had just been promoted by the Ministry of Household, explained to Zhu Yijun: "Your Majesty, in the early days of the kingdom, the court implemented the opening of the Chinese law. All the salt was produced by the government, and the salt merchants had to pay grain and grass to the frontier army in order to obtain the salt lead. Only if you have leads can you go to the salt field to support and sell salt.”

"This is a matter of three benefits. First, the frontier army is self-sufficient without the need for the imperial court to levy transshipment; secondly, in order to save the cost of transshipment, the merchants call the homeless to the border to reclaim the wasteland. This is the commercial reclamation. The police station and patrol team are the eyes and ears of the official army; the three are the official salt marketing of the imperial court, and there is no worry of stagnation.”

Chen Zan, the left servant of the household who attended the meeting, also remarked: "Your Majesty, Taizu made eight expeditions to the north, and Chengzu made five expeditions to the north. There was no boiling in the country.

Zhu Yijun, who knew the Kaizhong Fa before, heard this and asked, "How can such a good Fa collapse later?"

Wang Guoguang bluntly said: "Returning to the emperor, a relative of Xun's family invaded and seized the salt, so the salt merchants in Kaizhong could only wait for the salt-this is keeping the branch. 50 years ago, salt led to branch salt, which shows the suffering of salt merchants waiting for salt!"

"Secondly, during the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, the borders were peaceful, there were few openings, and the salt in the salt field was unsalable. At that time, the court changed the method of opening up to buy surplus salt, and the salt merchants could directly buy the salt in the salt field with silver. This is Ye Qi's change The first cause of the Salt Law."

Zhang Juzheng interrupted Wang Guo's talk and said, "Let me tell you about the third point. Your Majesty, when Ye Qi used salt to induce color, the price of salt was high and the price of grain and grass was low, and the interest rate difference was more than five times. It is quite abundant. Although the salt of the two Huaihe Rivers occupies half of the world, the salt industry is all owned by the northerners such as Shaanxi and Shanxi, and is envied by the local officials and businessmen. Ye Qi, a Huai'an native, also advocates salt and color, but he does not know that the court transfers grain and grass. The fee is several times as much as the price of salt and color? The minister thinks that his selfishness is very serious."

After listening to the two talk about ancient times, Zhu Yijun basically understood the original cause of the collapse of the Salt Administration.Nai asked: "In your opinion, the court wants to change the salt law at this time, how should it be done?" Wang Guoguang glanced at Zhang Juzheng, but did not dare to speak out.

Zhang Juzheng replied solemnly: "Your Majesty, since the ministers have been in power for two years, the imperial court has issued every year, but still according to the amount of salt produced in the salt field. Because the salt can be bought and sold, and due to the accumulated malpractice over the years, seven or eight out of ten unsupported salts are still there. The rich and powerful family, they hold the profit, the salt merchants can only be exploited by them or buy the salt from the Ministry of Household separately, causing the salt to go out, which is one of the big drawbacks.”

"And the benefits of private salt are also in the homes of wealthy businessmen and tycoons of aristocratic families. Their 'friendship, wielding weapons, and fighting lawsuits and arrests for profits' are difficult to control locally. This is the second major disadvantage."

After these two words, Zhu Yijun was already sweating on his forehead.At this time, Wang Guoguang suddenly knelt down and played: "Chen Cha Liang Huai Yun Division said last year that the amount of salt was more than one million yuan, and the merchants paid less than two-tenths of the cut angle, and the rest were all occupied - if you don't start the revolution, Daming is in danger!"

　Thank you for your support, Lao Mo has a serious cold, and he wrote a chapter with low fever.If I don't have a fever tomorrow, I will continue writing. If it gets worse, I may ask for leave.Since the beginning of this book, Lao Mo has never stopped updating. If he couldn't hold it, he wouldn't open his mouth - I hope it will be better tomorrow!Thanks!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)