Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 746
"It's not as powerful as your supervisory censor."

Zheng Sen enviously said: "This time I go to the place, there are a lot of opportunities to make contributions, and you are afraid that you will be promoted."

"You are at the sixth rank, and I am at the seventh rank. No matter how promoted you are, I will not be able to catch up with you." Huang Zongxi said angrily.

"In other words, as soon as the article in the communiqué came out, Beijing was shaken."

"How to say?"

"The communiqué is under the banner of the cabinet. If it is used through its channels to suppress political opponents, it may be another party struggle."

In Huang Zongxi's words, he was very worried about the expansion of the power of the cabinet.

Nominally, the cabinet is the representative of civil servants, and scholars should all support the cabinet.

In fact, the cabinet and the six ministries have always been in a state of unity of opposites, either the west wind overwhelms the east wind, or the east wind overwhelms the west wind.

For example, when it comes to important personnel appointments, the Nine Ministers recommend that the Six Departments have a great say.

In daily life, although the cabinet cannot directly interfere with the six ministries, it can directly supervise the internal operation of the six ministries through the affairs of the six ministries, thus making the six ministries submit to the cabinet.

The most vivid comparison is the dispute between the governor of a province and the chief envoy.

There is no room for deviation in the struggle for power.

The relationship between civil servants has always been a unity of opposites, and they have never been consistent with the outside world.

"The six ministries dare to oppose the cabinet?" Zheng Sen laughed and said, "The cabinet naturally has means to deal with people, why use the communiqué?"

"The emperor looks down on the top, and his colleagues supervise the bottom. Who dares to mess around?"

"That's true." Huang Zongxi was stunned.

After some wine and meat, the two of them got drunk.

A few days later, under the pressure of public opinion, under the attention of the government and the public, the emperor ordered the Inspectorate to organize a monitoring censor team, with old officials paired with young censors, and protected by Jin Yiwei, which can be said to be very dramatic.

Quite dramatic.

The supervisory censors of the five provinces are mighty, and the team is extremely large, attracting the attention of the whole capital.

But secretly, the emperor extended his sharp knife to the salt class, which is the largest Huai salt.

As early as in Nanjing, the emperor reformed Huai salt, changing from the previous gang salt system to the ticket salt system.

The gang salt system, explained in today's words is:
Selected places to sell salt are responsible for the responsibility of salt merchants.If the rated salt quotations are not sufficient each year, the salt class will be greatly affected.

The advantage of this is that it saves trouble, and the court only needs to control the production, but the disadvantages are also serious. The big salt merchants monopolize the sales channels.

The ticket salt system is different. It is no longer underwriting, but everyone sells through bidding.

As long as you buy salt, you can go to various places to sell salt, break the monopoly of salt merchants, and promote the sales of official salt.

In the past few years, in the Commercial and Taxation Department, the salt tax has been increasing steadily, from the initial 3 million blocks to the current 8 million blocks, of which Huai salt accounts for half of the share.

But with the passage of time, its growth has become increasingly slow, and it seems that it has reached a bottleneck and it is difficult to improve.

However, Jin Yiwei conducted a private investigation, and found that the prices of private salt and official salt in the Jiangnan area still differ greatly, with a difference of about [-]%.

As a result, the scale of private salt is several times that of official salt, and it has all entered the pockets of others.

No way, this is the aftermath of incomplete reform.

In order to do our best for the Northern Expedition, we could only change the general direction of the salt class, changing the general business guide to ticket salt, so as to raise money and food faster.

People are still those people, just changed the track.

There are many disadvantages, and almost all of them are inherited.

All the way down the river, floods surged, and the forests on both sides of the canal were dyed, creating a bleak autumn scenery that can be sung by people.

Unfortunately, Zhu Jing is a rough person.

He was dressed in fish-white cotton clothes, like a son-in-law, with two or three entourages, wandering the streets of Yangzhou.

After the establishment of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou became its capital. Yangzhou Prefecture, which had been reduced by the canal, regained its strength, and its prosperity remained the same as before.

The little snowflakes in winter have become a scene in Yangzhou. A paper-thin layer of snow, which stays on the tiles for less than half a day, turns into snow water, flowing directly from the eaves to the street.

So soon after Zhu Jing walked, the soles of her feet were soaked.

However, the number of pedestrians on the road has not decreased but increased. As the winter solstice is approaching, the city is becoming more and more lively, and there are countless slaves purchasing with great fanfare.

"Jiangnan is rich, and the salt merchants are the richest."

Zhu Jing couldn't help but shook her head as she looked at the rich courtyards.

Although the ticket salt system broke the monopoly of salt merchants, with years of channels and strong economic strength, big salt merchants still accounted for half of the official salt sales.

The salt tax has changed a lot, but it is equivalent to not changing much.

The salt merchants still make money, but they make less money.

Therefore, they made less money on the surface, and they wanted to get it back from private salt.

After all, Huaiyan taxes 5 million silver coins every year. The court should be satisfied, right?

The court was satisfied, but the emperor was not.

"Salt merchants always try their best to make money. If they earn less, they will lose money..."

Recalling the emperor's words before leaving, Zhu Jing walked in a hurry without a trace of nostalgia.

When he arrived at the private room of the restaurant, Jin Yiwei Qianhu Chuyu had already been waiting for a long time.

The body is slightly thin, the eyebrows and eyes are quite round, the clothes are a good cotton coat, the complexion is fair, like a businessman.

Zhu Jing knew him, and this person was in Shandong to link up with the Yuyuan Army, as well as a large number of bandits, thus winning the opportunity for the decisive battle.

Because of this, he was granted the title of baron, promoted to Jinyiwei Qianhu, and stationed in Yingtianfu to supervise the entire situation in Jiangsu and Anhui.

"Jin Yiwei Qianhu, Chu Yu, met the imperial envoy!"

"Please get up." Zhu Jing hurriedly helped, and the two sat down politely.

For Zhu Jing, Chu Yu knew quite well, and the family members were extremely prosperous, and now serving as a special envoy is another good job to gain seniority and meritorious service.

If this matter is done well, it can be promoted from the sixth rank to the fifth rank, and even cross to the fifth rank.

Obediently, 20 years old, equal to myself.

"This time, someone was sent by His Majesty to Huaiyan. If Chu Qianhu gets something, I will definitely ask the Holy One for your credit."

Zhu Jing looked enthusiastic.

Chu Yu cupped his hands, also with enthusiasm:

"The supply and marketing of Huai salt should meet the needs of Tiantian, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, two provinces of Huguang, Henan, six provinces and one place, with tens of millions of mouths..."

If it was during the Tianqi period, Dingkou, where these six provinces are located, must have exceeded [-] million, and it should not be underestimated now.

"What about the disadvantages of the salt class?" Zhu Jing said softly: "After hundreds of years of operation, there must be many disadvantages."

"After the ticket salt law, there is no such thing as key salt. The malpractice of the salt administration has to start from the salt field."

Let's talk about the Huaibei Salt Field first, its long-standing disadvantages lie in the dam.

After the salt is transported from the coastal saltworks, it has to pass through five dams, and every time it passes through one, it has to be weighed and repackaged.

The pole is a bamboo pole, used to carry salt.

Only after customs clearance is completed can the large package be loaded and transported to the designated sales place, which is called "shore".

In the process of five bars and ten dams, they were exploited layer by layer, and money was spent everywhere. Every salt introduction cost ten taels of silver. The money would eventually be added to the cost of salt transportation. When it officially fell into the hands of the small people, it would naturally cause The price of official salt is much higher than private salt.

This is the reason why private salt has been banned repeatedly.

(End of this chapter)