eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 402 Buying an Auction House
In early September, there was a light rain in the Lianghuai area.

Yang Tinghe looked at the rain and frowned,
His memorial has already been uploaded, mainly to report to the emperor that the relief of the kitchen households is on the right track. He cooperated with Zhao Shen, the salt director, to mobilize various salt officials in the salt field, and purchased grain from Yingtianfu and other places...

There are many things, and there are uncertainties and supervisions that cannot be done, but if so much food goes down, some leaks will leak into the hands of the stove households.

Yang Tinghe thought so.

Even when it rained, the road was muddy for a few days, which actually delayed the transportation of grain.

Miaowan Salt Field is located in Qinghe County, Huai'an Prefecture. There are more than [-] kitchen households here, which is considered a large-scale salt field.

Yang Tinghe couldn't visit all the salt fields one by one in a short time, but he still had to go to one or two.The corruption in the salt class is too severe. If the emperor fails to get the food allocated, there will still be a civil uprising in the end.
How does he explain this as an imperial envoy?
The reason for choosing Miaowan is because the food consumption here is too fast.More than 2 people, 1 catties of grain a day, 150 shi and 100 million catties of grain are enough to last for more than [-] days.

Even counting the self-inflicted exploitation, 50 days, after all, is it going to last?
The Kemiaowan Salt Field had just received grain for 30 days, and then reported that the grain was about to run out in another 10 days.

The ambassador of Miaowan Saltworks was named Peng Linkun, and Yang Tinghe tied him up without saying a word!

"The life of the kitchen households is hard. They often work hard day and night, and there is no peace in the year. The imperial court can't bear it and allocates the food for disaster relief. As an ambassador of the saltworks, how do you consume more than 100 days of food in 40 days? Do you really think that This imperial envoy dare not kill?"

Peng Linkun stretched his neck and called Qu, "On business, you can find out when you go to Miaowan!"

Only in this section, there is the scene of Yang Tinghe stepping on the mud and going to Huai'an Mansion in the rain.

The group of them hid in a pavilion by the side of the road. There was a dense bamboo forest planted beside it. The rain beat on the bamboo leaves. It was originally refreshing and soothing, but the people in the pavilion were all anxious.

According to Peng Linkun, there are only more than [-] kitchen households in the Miaowan salt field, and there are more than [-].

Yang Tinghe originally thought that there was an old practice in helping kitchen households, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

Just like "registration" such as "army and craftsman", Zaohu also has its own registration, and the Ming Dynasty stipulates that Zaohu is not allowed to withdraw without authorization.

In order to strengthen management, the Salt Transportation Department will also register the kitchen households and their related conditions, which is called the salt book or the stove book.It contains the total number of kitchen households in the saltworks, the number of kitchen households in each household, and the number of salt lessons to be paid by each household, etc. It can be said to be very detailed.

During disaster relief, we only need to distribute food one by one according to the salt book. Although there are deductions, the whole chain is complete.What could be the big problem?

But in fact, when you reach the bottom, you will understand that the amount of salt that should be paid is related to the amount of stoves.

The more stoves there are, the more salt will be paid.

Therefore, over the past 100 years from the early Ming Dynasty to Zhengde, one thing happened naturally: the number of households in Zaoding was concealed.

The number reported from layer to layer is more than [-] kitchen households, but where does it actually stop?

When paying the salt tax at the beginning, the smaller number was used,
Now that everyone is queuing up to receive life-saving food, is it possible that the extra people will let him starve to death?
Peng Linkun can't do such a thing, he distributes food according to the actual kitchen households,
In this way, food consumption is naturally extremely fast.

Even if there is no greed and exploitation, it will take about 50 days, and now he can survive for 40 days, which is considered good for him.

After Yang Tinghe confirmed this point, he had Peng Linkun untied. This skinny monkey like a ruffian hid in the corner of the pavilion and rubbed his arm, probably from being strangled.

But when he looked up at the senior official from Beijing, he felt that his face was full of melancholy and his thoughts were deep, and he probably had more thoughts in his mind than rough people like them.

"No wonder His Majesty wants to distribute so much food..."

Originally, 50 shi and 7500 million catties of grain would take two years to feed 5 people.

Yang Tinghe clasped his hands behind his back and said, "That's why your Majesty often says that the country's affairs are difficult. Sometimes, there are some things that others think can be turned around, but His Majesty just refuses. It's because Daming's illness is more serious than ordinary people expected."

"Brother Jiefu, what about the difference? For those who are not on the register, should they be given money or not?"

"Sir, Salt Director!" Peng Linkun probably heard this, and hastily knelt down and said, "This year, the imperial court rectified the Lianghuai Salt Fields. No matter whether they are on the list or not, the stoves have run out of food. Ding, the remaining people will definitely loot the food! The consequences will be disastrous!"

After all, Zhao Shen had caught thieves before, and he would not be so kind to troublesome people, so he severely reprimanded him and asked, "Then why didn't you expect to be here today when you concealed the stove? How can there be such a reason in the world?!"

Naturally, Peng Linkun couldn't speak, he was just a minor character, and it wasn't him who concealed the number of Zao Ding.

"Brother Huixing (Zhao Shenzi)," Yang Tinghe frowned and stopped him, "This is an old bad habit. It's not a matter of one or two saltworks ambassadors. It can't be blamed on him. But...Peng Linkun, Zhao What Yan Si said is also reasonable, everything must be rational, and the reason here must be clearly explained, right?"

"Although the imperial court has food, if it rains, I don't know how long it will be delayed on the road. Even if we push the shipment every day, it may not arrive within ten days. You said that the stoves that are not on the list will make trouble, so the stoves that are on the list Woolen cloth?"

"They pay the salt tax to the imperial court on weekdays. The imperial court will rectify the Lianghuai salt field and will not leave them alone. This is only right and proper. Now the total amount of food is not enough, what if they know that it is because they have also fed the stoves that are not registered? These Are people making trouble?"

Peng Linkun's face was sunken and his eyes were slender, his whole face looked miserable.At this time, I was speechless.

A high-ranking official is a high-ranking official, and what he considers is thoughtful.

The problem does exist.

"That's right!" Zhao Shen said sternly, "As many people as you have reported, the imperial court will naturally provide relief. Now that Dingkou has been concealed, can it be blamed on the imperial court?"

"The lower officials are responsible for this matter." Peng Linkun kowtowed, "Zao Ding is a family of several people, and the hidden Dingkou is also in their own homes. They will not compete with their own family members."

It's hard to say.

When people are going to starve to death, why care so much?
Yang Tinghe thought about it carefully and said: "When the rain stops and we arrive at Miaowan, you will issue new regulations. The registered Zao Ding will receive two catties of grain per day, and the non-registered Zao Ding will receive eight taels of grain per day. .Moreover, those who are listed first, and those who are not listed later. The imperial court did not ignore them, but in life, they cannot take all the advantages!"

It is impossible not to give up at all.

As Peng Linkun said, it's not good if something happens.

The emperor only looked at the result, not the process.Food was given, but there was a civil uprising in the end. Even if you have a reason, at least you are not capable enough and do not know how to adapt.

But no matter what, let those people know that you usually take advantage of it, and you should stand back at this time. This is also a kind of punishment, and you can't treat them too well.

The main reason is that the amount of food is not enough, not enough to feed everyone. It is raining and muddy, so the gods will come to transport it?
On the way, Yang Tinghe continued to talk to Zhao Shen,

"The relief of the kitchen households is one aspect. The auction of the saltworks also needs to be speeded up. Only in this way can the transition be completed as soon as possible, and the merchants will be allowed to operate the saltworks and make the saltworks operate again. After we return, we will present this memorial."

Actually the emperor has already started.

Because he also knows that this matter cannot be delayed, and there must be a result in the first year of Zhengde.

According to the discussion in the Qianqing Palace that day, after the imperial court rectified the Lianghuai Salt Fields, it removed the Department of Transportation, the Approval Office and other yamen, and re-established an auction house.

The auction house divided the 30 salt farms in the Lianghuai Salt Farm, 6 of which were auctioned off, and the remaining 24 salt farms were still temporarily operated by the government and were also placed under the auction house.

In these 24 saltworks, all the income from the salt class will no longer be turned over to the household department.Among them, there are 6 salt classes, all of which are used for the distribution of labor costs and rice to the kitchen households in the 24 salt fields in Lianghuai.The remaining 18 salt farms will be set up as Duizhi Salt Farms, so that 40 salt can be imported a year, which is specially used to pay for the salt that has been issued by the previous dynasty.

The auction house doesn't go anywhere, it's not located in Huai'an, nor in Yangzhou, it's just in the capital, the east city of the capital, the city that never sleeps to the south, and Jinyiwei to the west.

How nice, if something happens here, it can be sent to Jinyiwei over there.

The auction house has one principal envoy and one deputy envoy on the left and right, who are in charge of 6 and 24 saltworks respectively.It seems that the amount of the latter is huge, but in fact, those who manage less will get more money, and those who manage more will have more things and less money.

The auction is held according to the year and month. This year, 6 sites will be auctioned, and 6 sites will be auctioned next year. The number of Duizhi salt farms will be reduced in turn, until the last 6 salt farms will be kept until the salt owed over the years is exhausted.

As for how long it will take to complete the redemption, the Ministry of Households does not have a number. From the beginning of Yongle to the present, the emperors of the Zhu family have issued too many salt quotations, giving them every once in a while, and one time is [-] to [-] quotations. Who can count them?
But in any case, the imperial court set up a salt field dedicated to cashing, showing a completely different attitude from the past.

From the court up and down to the people, there is no one who says they don't support it.

In the first year, there will be some difficulties. The 24 salt field households need to be distributed by the court. However, in the next few years, the number of salt fields auctioned will gradually increase, the pressure on the court will gradually decrease, and the number of officials in the auction house will be much less than that of the salt transport. Secretary, so simple and light, may be able to change the shortcomings of the salt administration.

On the [-]th day of September, the emperor issued an imperial decree: Chen Jili, a minister of the Shaofu, was transferred to be the left deputy envoy of the auction house, and he was in charge of the auction of the salt field, the supervision of the salt merchants, the regulation of the salt price, and the livelihood of the kitchen households;
You Simeng, the former transfer salt envoy of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, was dispatched as the right deputy envoy of the auction house, in charge of the management of the remaining 24 government-run salt farms.This is not much different from the previous ones, that is, to manage the salt farms, follow the old practice to urge the collection of salt tax, check the salt import and write off the salt after verification.

This person is one of the seven officials who "survived" from the original Lianghuai Transportation Department.

And the experience department is in charge of the document exchange in the yamen, a bit like the director of the general office. After working in this position for a long time, he is very clear about the process of handling various matters in the yamen, so let him act as the agent for the remaining 24 Saltworks can be called fit.

On this matter, the emperor persisted for a while, leaving all the innocent people involved in the case in Gaosheng.

You Simeng is just one of them, and the remaining 6 people are also in the auction house. They have changed from local officials to Beijing officials, and their grades have been improved to varying degrees.

Corrupt officials die, clean officials rise.

Only when the emperor is in this position can he have a sense of accomplishment.

As for the current position of the auction house, this position is still pending...

(End of this chapter)