Wanli Xinming

Chapter 59

In later generations, some people often explained that they died in Wanli, and some explained that they died in Jiajing.In fact, aside from the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty and the inferiority of the feudal society itself, from the perspective of political pragmatism, Ye Qi overthrew the first domino that destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

When the Salt Law first broke down, if Emperor Hongzhi could be clear-headed and understand the great significance of the Kaizhong Law to the frontier defense of the Ming Dynasty, he would not have been fooled by Ye Qi to change the color of the salt-induced fold, but should solve the Kaizhong Law in reverse. problems that arise.

After changing the color of the salt, it brought three destructive consequences: First, although the imperial court gained a short profit of one million taels of silver a year; but a few years later, the completely collapsed Kaizhong method allowed Jiubian grain and grass to be transported. Costs soared, eventually increasing to more than tens of millions of dollars.When he arrived at Chongzhen, although he madly increased the wages of Liaoning, he was still a drop in the bucket.

The second is the waste of commercial reclamation, resulting in high food prices in frontier areas, forming a vicious circle.The rising food prices in Jiubian led to the depletion of finances, and the imperial court, which was overwhelmed by the depletion of finances, continued to search for the people, and finally it was difficult to return.

The third is to continue to aggravate the corruption of officials in the border defense and the interior.After the color of Yanyin was changed, since Emperor Hongzhi, the emperor rewarded Yanyin indiscriminately, coupled with the secret sales of civil servants and military generals in Jiubian, and the Ministry of Household was entrusted before the introduction, etc., resulting in a large number of Yanyin concentrated in the homes of powerful merchants and the inner court. The big hand, they all take profit as normal.The serious salt merchants cited in the opening have kept their support for many years, and there are thousands of bankrupt people. The court paid the double price of the loss of salt and profit and the self-transportation of border defense grain and grass, and only enriched these rentier classes.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the wise ministers in the early years of Wanli, such as Wang Guoguang, shouted to Zhu Yijun, "Daming is in danger!"

After listening to several people explain the dangers of the collapse of China and France in detail, Zhu Yijun knew that the sooner the salt government was reformed, the sooner the financial blood loss of the imperial court would be improved, which would be of great benefit to future reforms and should not be neglected.

After arranging his thoughts, Zhu Yijun asked: "The drawbacks are known, how to promote the revolution?" After speaking, he looked at Zhang Juzheng to see what good solution this capable minister had.Zhang Juzheng motioned to Wang Guoguang and asked him to play back.

Wang Guoguang said: "The ministers have discussed, there are two methods: forward and backward. Forward is a step further than Ye Qi's reform, using the method of 'woben' to digest unsupported salts year by year, and vigorously encourage salt merchants. In the future, I will take advantage of this year’s time to dry the salt and produce a large amount of salt to pay for all the unsupported salt and return it to the method of opening!” After speaking, he explained in detail what the method of “woben” is.

The method of nesting was proposed by Yuan Shizhen in the 45th year of Wanli in the original time and space, but it had been discussed by the court for many years before that.With Wang Guoguang's ability, it was known that the emperor wanted to revamp the salt administration, and as soon as his brain froze, he came up with the same method as Yuan Shizhen:

Divide all the salts (unbranched) and new ones in the world into ten classes. One class is the old class every year, and the other nine classes are the new ones, which is called the Woben.Jiugang Xinyin was purchased and sold directly by merchants from the salt farm, and the court did not accept salt from then on.The right to buy and sell is vested in the salt merchant, and the salt merchant's nest could have been hereditary.

This method is aimed at the stagnant salt farms of the imperial court—the inevitable result after the increase of drying salt and the current situation of the salt merchants keeping support. It solves the problems of official salt sales and salt import backlog in one fell swoop. As long as the efforts to crack down on private salt are increased, in addition to nine Apart from the unresolved issue of side grain and grass, the existing problems have been basically solved.

Another advantage is that the backlog of salt can be digested for many years, and the rich and powerful businessmen will not rebound - it is considered to legalize the gray fertilizer of salt profits at this time.

Wang Guoguang explained the method of nesting in detail, and after Zhu Yijun understood it, he asked, "I have a few questions."

"One is how many kilograms of the total output of the world's salt farms? How many households and mouths of stoves? All the salt this year, how many kilograms is the expected increase in output? How much is the unspent salt supply?"

Wang Guoguang and the others knew that this question was unavoidable, and they were prepared for it, so they replied at this time: "Your Majesty, in the first year of Wanli, the whole country produced more than 120 catties of salt, and there are [-] stoves.

After a pause, he said, "At this time, the Department of Unsupported Salt Citations and Accounts cannot grasp all of them. From the statistics from the first year of Jiajing, there are 420 million small quotations, more than [-] catties."

Hearing Wang Guoguang say that the output can actually reach nearly [-] million catties, Zhu Yijun knew something in his heart and motioned him to continue.

Wang Guoguang also said: "According to the emperor's will last year, the salt companies in Lianghuai, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong should build sun-dried salt flats; in Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan, by June this year, Those who have the conditions should switch from fried salt to sun-dried salt. If the supervision is effective, I estimate that the production may be doubled. By the end of next year, it may reach 15 million catties."

Zhu Yijun nodded and asked, "What are the difficulties in the construction of the salt drying field?"

Wang Guoguang replied: "In reply to the emperor's words, the emperors of various salt drying fields have sent middle officials and craftsmen who have learned to dry salt last year to guide them. There is no problem in choosing a flat beach and setting up a gate to divert water. If there is no silver rice or materials to support, or there is a dilemma, the completion of the project may not be completed as scheduled.”

Zhu Yijun listened and said to Zhang Juzheng: "The revolution of the salt field is the number one project in the second year of Wanli. The old gentleman will then send my will, and let the territorial officials go all out to ensure support. In addition, the imperial court will immediately send imperial envoys to check, Urge all localities to step up construction, and if there are slackers, they will be severely punished!" Zhang Juzheng responded.

Zhu Yijun asked Wang Guoguang again: "With an annual output of nearly [-] catties, what is the price of salt at this time?"

Wang Guoguang said: "Back to the emperor's words, the price of salt is determined by the quotation, the price of rice is determined by the price of rice, and the price of rice is determined by the distance of the frontier. In the first year of Wanli, the price of Huai salt in Jiubian was roughly two hundred and a half kilograms per small quotation. Two silvers, according to the official text, are about four catties of salt and seven pennies. This is the basis for salt merchants to obtain salt."

Zhang Juzheng took over the conversation at this time and said, "But after the salt merchants take the salt, plus the shipping fee, the fee for the banknotes and the distribution, when the salt is sold in the capital, the price of salt is about [-] yuan per kilogram. In other places, ignore it. The salt fields vary from far and near, the lower ones are [-] official texts, and the higher ones are two or three hundred official texts per kilogram.”

Zhu Yijun heard it and exclaimed, "The highest is close to half a tael or a catty?" Zhang Juzheng nodded and said yes.

Zhu Yijun's eyes didn't know where to look, and he wanted to beat people in his heart.He sneered and asked, "Even if it is thirty cents a pound, can the people afford it?!"

Zhang Juzheng and other ministers were silent.Zhu Yijun calmed down for a while, and then asked again, "How much is the salt tax?"

Seeing the emperor's question gradually deepened, Wang Guoguang looked at Zhang Juzheng.Zhang Juzheng replied: "Back to the emperor, two qian of the price of salt is tax. Last year, the quotation was 240 million. Adding up the color and opening, the imperial court received a total of 110 million taels, which is about half of the Taicang silver."

Zhu Yijun nodded after hearing this, and then asked, "How much does the salt farm cost per catty of salt?"

Zhang Juzheng said: "Your Majesty, the production of salt in the salt field is a levy for kitchen households, and the court has not calculated the cost of cooking salt for kitchen households."

Wang Guoguang continued, "Your Majesty, because of interest, I have calculated it myself. Although the cost of labor and firewood varies from one major source to another, the average cost of silver is about six points, and every catty is about one penny. ."

Zhu Yijun did some calculations in his mind, and asked: "The salt merchant took four catties and seven cash from the salt field, where did the remaining half of the cash go? Calculated at 35 million catties, [-] taels a year!" The officials were silent again.Chen Zan, the left servant, wanted to go back to talking about raising salt officials and soldiers, but when he turned around and thought that these people had salaries and salaries, he swallowed those words again.

Zhu Yijun listened to it for a long time, and gradually came to a decision in his heart, but before making a decision, he still asked Zhang Juzheng: "What do you think of the old gentleman?"

Zhang Juzheng pondered: "If you use the nest, it is a good method. However, there will be no time for the exhaustion of the nine sides; if it is still open and the old leads are exhausted, the price of salt will drop greatly, and the salt merchants will not be able to make profits. Zhongye. Difficult!"

　Well, Lao Mo is deeply moved - thank you for your support and encouragement!Last night, Lao Mo took two pieces of Archie and some cold medicine, and I feel better today.

　　Today's article is laborious to write. The key is that this conversion in ancient times caused a headache, which is not necessarily correct, but it helps to advance the plot, and Lao Mo has not changed it.

　　There are too many claims in various papers, do not know who to believe?When I checked the data today, the average price of salt was [-] cents per pound. Lao Mo was sweating profusely—well, after sweating, he felt better.

　　Do you have any good ideas for salt policy reform?See if anyone wants to be with Lao Mo.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)