prosperous age

Chapter 129 Chapter 128

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a relatively complete system was set up. Among them, a special yamen was set up in the Ministry of Households, one of the remaining steps, for the management of salt and iron tea.

The method of obtaining Yanyin in the early Ming Dynasty was mainly the Kaizhong method. The Kaizhong method was roughly divided into three steps: reporting the middle, keeping the expenditure, and changing the market.

According to the report, the salt merchants transported grain, horses, even cloth, and money to the designated granary in the frontier defense area in accordance with the requirements of the Ming court's investment promotion bulletin, and exchanged them with the Ministry of Households for Yanyin; , lead the salt to the designated saltworks to wait for the salt; Shiyi is the salt merchants transport the obtained salt to the designated area for sale.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the treatment of kitchen households was relatively generous. They were often allocated grassland and cultivated land to kitchen households, and were exempted from miscellaneous labor.

But after orthodoxy, Zao Ding’s life became more and more impoverished, most of his land and pastures were seized by tyrants, and there was no place to dry salt. When the enthusiasm for production was frustrated, they often couldn’t complete the task of cooking salt, so they had to go bankrupt and go into exile.

The instability of salt production directly led to problems in the procedure of keeping income. Merchants paid grain and grass, and horses obtained salt, but they were unable to pick up salt from the salt field. The entire salt sales cycle was lengthened and the cost increased.

At the same time, ordinary salt merchants may not be able to line up to get their own salt even if they have Yanyin in their hands, because at this time there is still a group of people who can obtain a large amount of Yanyin, and this is honor.

Since the Chenghua Dynasty, there have been a lot of honorable and wealthy households begging for salt from the emperor. In the Hongzhi Dynasty, such begging continued unabated. Hou Zhang Heling's family bought 80 citations of Changlu and Lianghuai residual salt.

These powerful people intervene in the salt industry, and the result is that merchants may have salt in their hands for several years, but they will not be able to raise salt for decades, because the salt was taken away by the powerful.

"Businessmen have kept their branches for decades, and they can't support them when they die of old age, and their brothers and wives take their place."

Under such circumstances, some merchants began to directly negotiate transactions with kitchen households, which is the origin of private salt.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the punishment was harsh and the Zao households lived a good life, so naturally no one took the risk.

But in the mid-Ming Dynasty, in order to make a living, the connection between merchants and kitchen households inevitably emerged.

Wei Guangde did not just read the Four Books and Five Classics while studying in the government during this time, he also carefully pondered the previous imperial palace newspapers. After all, if he wanted to become an official, he must understand the changes in the imperial court policies, not just reading the Ming Law.

In the past, Wei Guangde thought that Kaizhong method was the method of salt, but after reading books during this time, he realized that tea leaves are also suitable for Kaizhong method. , thus transporting tea to surrounding areas.

However, in the Hongzhi Dynasty, Ye Qi, the Minister of the Household Department at that time, reformed the salt law. Merchants did not need to pay grain and grass and other materials to the border towns in exchange for salt, but directly paid silver to the Nanjing Household Department.

In the short term, this change allowed the Ministry of Households to quickly accumulate millions of taels of cash. Perhaps this is the truth of the so-called Hongzhi Zhongxing.

Wei Guangde didn't understand these things, but he also saw from the newspaper in the mansion that there was a mountain of silver piled up in the Tawarehouse of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

He felt something was wrong, the merchant's money was not so easy to get, but he didn't understand it after thinking for a long time.

However, this seemingly complicated problem was explained by Zhang Hongfu casually, because when the money reaches the central government, it can be deducted layer by layer when distributing military salaries. In the past, the grain and grass went directly to the border towns, and the officials of various ministries did not share the money.

In addition, in the border town, it is estimated that rations will be more difficult. It is no wonder that I Dahan was sent to Beijing, fearing that the frontier army could not have enough to eat.

Only at this time did Wei Guangde realize that Ye Qi's salt law reform had directly weakened the frontier defense force.

Now that he suddenly heard that his father had something to do with private salt, Wei Guangde couldn't help thinking more.

"Have you found the salt merchant?"

Wei Guangde asked cautiously.

"You are still afraid that he will come to us. If he dares to come, he will come or return with his life."

Father Wei said nonchalantly, "It's true that the salt merchants are rich and powerful, but that depends on who they meet. The Japanese pirates snatched it away. Whoever you ask to take it out has the ability to find the Japanese pirates."

Of course Wei Guangde was not afraid that private salt dealers would dare to come and retrieve the salt shipments, in fact, what he was thinking about was the huge profits of private salt.

In the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde had already deeply realized the importance of money, especially during this period of time in Jiujiang. Everyone just went to Cuixiu Hall for drinks on the [-]th day of the Lunar New Year, but that place was the Grotto of Selling Gold.

Wei Guangde has really realized that no matter what era the entertainment industry is in, it is huge profits.

Cuixiutang also mainly plays the card of the nobles, but it is also the one that burns the most money. On the contrary, the prostitutes are not favored by rich businessmen and wealthy businessmen. Very average.

Perhaps when they were still nobles, many wealthy businessmen were willing to spend thousands of dollars to worship under the skirt of pomegranates, but once they became red nobles, well, that is, no one paid money to redeem themselves, and those so-called vows of eternal love became a thing of the past up.

Those classmates of Wei Guangde are willing to spend a lot of money to win the smile of a noble lady, but they are not willing to spend a small amount of money to make a famous lady, because they feel that doing so is worthless.

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde didn't intend to say what he really thought, since his father is back, how can he find those private salt dealers.

But Wei Guangde immediately thought of Zhang Fugui and Uncle Zhang. He was afraid that he and the private salt dealer, no, it should be said that the salt dealer had a little friendship, otherwise the batch of goods should not be easy to sell.

"Father, you are in Zhejiang"

Wei Guangde didn't intend to continue the topic of salt smuggling, and shifted the topic to Wei's life in Zhejiang.

"It was tense at the beginning, but after the capture of Dinghai County, it became stable, and the Japanese pirates did not dare to come.

He should have come back a long time ago, but several defeated guards were still re-selecting soldiers there, so it was delayed for a while. "

Father Wei smiled and briefly introduced his life in Zhejiang.

"It was only because Yu Dayou, the new general in Zhejiang, took office that we were able to get away. He is also a formidable figure, much more formidable than your cousin Wu Dong. He was admitted as a scholar at the age of 15, and later won the Wujinshi in the martial arts examination. , a hundred households become a thousand households.”

When Wei Guangde heard the name Yu Dayou, he felt a little familiar. Now that Wei Guangde is more literate, recalling the names he had seen before, he already knew that the famous anti-Japanese general who was similar to Qi Jiguang was called Yu Dayou, but he didn’t know whether he was a scholar or a martial arts scholar. .

"He is a scholar, why did he go to participate in the martial arts? That's not it"

Wei Guangde didn't say that he was willing to fall, but he just felt wrong. Who can go to the army these days who can read.

"He is similar to your cousin. He is the only seedling in his family. Like ours, his family has a hereditary position. His father is dead, so he can't go."

Father Wei said with a smile: "Hey, this time when your uncle returns to Pengze, he must train Wu Dong hard. He joined the army in his 20s, and he has been promoted from a hundred households to a commander in 20 years. Japanese generals, have the right to command the army"

(End of this chapter)