Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 27
Taichang came to see Sheng Huaixuan because he wanted to understand the reason for the severe production reduction of Tongling Copper Mine. Corrupt officials or mine supervisors and tax envoys must be involved. Ordinary merchants would dare to offend these people.

Therefore, before coming here, he boasted a lot in Wu Yangsheng, saying that he has a good relationship and that any local officials or eunuchs can handle it.

Wu Yangsheng immediately understood his hint.

This Sheng Huaixuan was shy, and he must have had some scruples in his refusal to speak.

Wu Yangsheng hurriedly bragged for Taichang: "Shopkeeper Shengda, what are you worried about? Haven't you heard of Mr. Zhu's ability? Many people, you may be afraid, but will Mr. Zhu be afraid?"

When Sheng Huaixuan heard the words, he couldn't help but suddenly realized.

That's right, this Mr. Zhu is the one who dares to be beaten up by the princes of the Marquis of Linhuai. Can he be afraid of some mine supervisor and tax envoy?

Perhaps, following Mr. Zhu, he could really return to his old business and earn a little money.

Thinking of this, he plucked up the courage to grit his teeth and said, "Young master Zhu, the little old man here can talk to you. If you still think that things can be done, that's naturally the best. The little old man also wants to go back to his old business. Drink some soup behind you, if you feel that something cannot be done, the little old man told you, you must not dare to spread it."

Hehe, as expected.

Taichang immediately put on the appearance of the deputy second generation ancestor, and said arrogantly: "Don't worry, I still have something to do with the court, and local affairs are nothing to me. As long as you are really capable and can help I make money, not to mention drinking soup, it’s okay to eat delicacies from mountains and seas.”

Uh, is this guy bragging?

Certainly not!

Didn't you see that the servant of the household department is like a follower in front of others?

Sheng Huaixuan secretly rolled his eyes at Bi Maoliang, then gritted his teeth and said, "The little old man said that, in fact, mining can't make much money at all. Mining ten thousand catties of ore can make a small profit of one or two. It has to be packaged together with copper smelting. However, this copper smelting is not that simple, and people who don’t understand will probably lose money if they do it, and our Sheng family relies on this to make a living.”

He was showing off his ability and emphasizing his importance, but he didn't get to the point.

Taichang could only nod his head slightly, signaling him to continue.

Sheng Huaixuan took a breath and continued: "Copper smelting is divided into water smelting and fire smelting. The water smelting method requires special bitter water, and the fire smelting method consumes a lot of coal, regardless of whether it is the water smelting method or the fire smelting method. The method of smelting must be purified by the method of lead pendant. In fact, the difficulty of copper smelting is not only because of the complicated refining method, but also because of its relatively low output. , and based on the purchase price given by the imperial court, a total of more than [-] taels of silver can be obtained by refining ten thousand catties of ore. After tax, labor, materials and other losses are taken into account, a gross profit of [-] taels is considered remarkable. "

Well, this guy is really an expert, question, why do you keep talking about this?
This is not what I want to hear!
Taichang couldn't help reminding: "You should talk about why the copper-clad mine can't make money."

Sheng Huaixuan couldn't help shaking his head and sighing when he heard the words: "Well, it's not that the copper-clad mines can't make money now, but they have to lose money in it, because they can't afford to pay taxes alone. About two taels, now it is ten taels, and those master mine supervisors are still thinking of ways to blackmail, you have to buy shovels for mining, bitter water and coal for smelting, etc., from them, otherwise, the mine will be closed Beat people! Refining ten thousand catties of copper mines and paying taxes for ten taels of money even lost all the gross profit. If you are extorted again, you will not be able to die! So, after a few years of losing money in the business, the little old man He lied that he had no money and couldn't continue working, otherwise, my Sheng family's savings of more than [-] years would have to be sucked up by those mine supervisors."

Sure enough, those mine supervisors did a good job!
Taichang nodded calmly, and then asked: "How much copper can be produced every year in Tongling, and how much copper can it produce every year now?"

Sheng Huaixuan said without hesitation: "Copper has been produced in Tongling since ancient times. In the Song Dynasty, Tongling produced more than one million catties of copper a year. When copper smelting was the most prosperous in this dynasty, our Sheng family alone could smelt more than one million pounds of copper in a year." One million catties, the entire Tongling weighs more than two million catties. Alas, now that the tax is so heavy, who would dare to contract copper mines to smelt copper?"

The previous output was so high!

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help being surprised and said, "You said that Tongling can produce 200 million catties of copper a year? If you say that the tax is about ten taels per hundred catties, wouldn't it be more than two hundred thousand taels a year? It’s just a copper mine in Tongling, Daming doesn’t know how many gold mines, silver mines, iron mines, and coal mines there are, if you add them all up, wouldn’t the mine tax alone cost hundreds of millions of taels a year?”

Alas, do you know how greedy these eunuchs are?
Sheng Huaixuan hesitated again, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "If those eunuchs pay all the taxes they collected, Daming's mining taxes are really hundreds of millions of taels. The problem is that they are not doing this for the court, but for themselves. , These mine supervisors who came out of the palace have an unwritten rule, that is, they will charge ten times as much as the imperial court stipulates. However, one tael was handed over to the imperial court, and the remaining nine taels were corrupted by them, this is the rule of the mine supervisor, ten taels will be collected and one tael will be handed over."

It turns out that this is the famous "collect ten and pay one!"

And one last question.

Taichang held back his anger and continued to ask: "Aren't they ruining their own way of making money by fishing so hard? You don't contract mines. Where are they going to get money?"

Sheng Huaixuan couldn't help sighing: "They have many ways to make money. We don't contract mines, so they recruit some local ruffians to act as thugs, and forcefully recruit strong men to mine ore and smelt copper. Although the output is not high, hundreds of thousands of catties a year There is always, and they also told the court that the Tongling Copper Mine is almost finished, and there is not much copper to be produced at all. In fact, most of the copper was sold by them privately, and very little was handed over to the court. The price of copper is much more expensive than the purchase price of the imperial court. Those who build temples and cast golden bodies, and those who cast bronze lions for rich families use a lot of copper, and they can still earn more than 20 taels a year. Alas, in order to earn this black-hearted money , I don’t know how many young and strong people died in the mines and beside the copper furnaces, what a crime!”

These damn things!
Taichang really wished he could arrest all those mine supervisors and cut them down immediately.

Now, he already understands why Tongling Copper Mine has severely reduced its production, and also understands why there are so many mines but no mining tax.

These dead eunuchs do this, who would dare to contract mines!
The question is, if these eunuchs are not allowed to supervise the mining, who should be allowed to supervise the mining?

I'm afraid it won't work to use local officials. After all, the interests here are too great, and it is inevitable that some people will take the risk and report it to their own pockets.

Alas, it looks like I have to think about it carefully.

He sighed secretly, then nodded and said: "Well, I know about the mine supervisor's problem, and it shouldn't be difficult to solve it. However, I need a little time, or you can wait until I make arrangements."

After speaking, he left with everyone.

(End of this chapter)