Emperor Sui Yang

Chapter 759: Surrounded Prisons in Salt Pond

Pei Shuying is a very easy-to-get-together person. She used to be straight-tempered and would easily offend others when she spoke inappropriately. But after she became a mother, she changed a lot.

Especially when you are in a high position, you know that talking more will make more mistakes, so you develop the habit of talking less.

Of course, this is in front of outsiders.

She looked at Cui Yi outside the palace gate for a while, whispered a few words to Chen Shuyi, and then left.

Cui Yi was even more at a loss. He thought Pei Shuying would ask her questions when he called her out, but she didn't say anything.

The first impression is very important, and Pei Shuying left Cui Yi with the impression that this mother-in-law is not easy to mess with.

Dugu Huaien, the leader of the Hedong refinery, came to Luoyang. Yang Ming asked him to come.

The country wanted to reclaim wasteland and needed agricultural tools. Yang Ming asked him to come to Taifu Temple to discuss ordering tools.

The top priority of the imperial court this year is to measure acres of land across the country and reclaim wasteland, so that the people can have as many acres of land as possible.

The increase in acres of land in the hands of the common people had little impact on national taxes, because taxes were paid per capita in the Sui Dynasty, but it was of great significance to the stability of the country.

If they have more fields, they will have more food, and they will have spare money for consumption, which can promote the domestic economy.

Then the development of handicraft industry will be put on the agenda.

Ancient commerce mainly came from three aspects, trade, handicrafts and agriculture, among which trade was based on the latter two.

Yang Ming believes that the handicraft industry can gradually transform from government supervision to private supervision. In other words, the state will open up monopolies in certain industries.

Regarding this point, the family members are very supportive. Why?Today's private sector is actually run by aristocratic families. Can ordinary people run it?
The purpose of the official supervision is to supervise the private sector not to do random things, such as forging weapons privately.

"Some smelting techniques can be released appropriately. Let's find some people to try it this year and see the effect," Yang Ming said at the meeting.

First of all, the Pei family was willing to take over this project. The largest refining site in the Sui Dynasty was located in Hedong. After several years of penetration, the Pei family had gradually mastered the core technology.

It can be said that as long as the state approves it, several refineries can be built in an instant.

So Pei Yun said: "The land east of the river is densely covered with salt and iron, so it is suitable to go first."

"Okay, then find some people from Hedong and allow them to open a training ground," Yang Ming smiled.

Do you think it was in vain?The private handicraft industry is subject to heavy taxes, very heavy taxes. The prices of the products you manufacture will also be controlled by the court. If you sell them too high, the court will not allow them. If you sell them too low, the tax will be too heavy and you will lose money.

Therefore, product quality can only be reduced, and the desire to pursue process innovation will increase, which will facilitate process improvement and sales will be very good because it is cheap.

This is a big cake. In a well-established family like the Pei family, there are side branches with no hope of career, who are dedicated to making money for the family. There are experts in all walks of life, and it is easy to get started.

But it must be controlled, otherwise trouble will occur.

In addition, Yang Ming will give twenty places in the south and north, three in Shanxi, five in Hebei, two in Shandong, four in Henan, six in the Jianghuai region, and none in Lingnan and Longyou Road.

If these refineries were built, they would only account for one-tenth of the country's total, but they would provide nine-tenths of tax revenue.

It sounds so sad, but that's what it does.

After the country recovers, it will continue to inherit the Kaihuang system and implement no tax.

Yes, the policy after the founding of the Sui Dynasty was no tax, because iron was government-run during the Kaihuang period.

The monopoly on salt and wine was abolished by Yang Jian. There was neither monopoly nor taxation. Yang Jian formulated a national policy: the benefits of salt should be shared with the people.

So Yang Ming is equivalent to abolishing the last iron monopoly.

After Yang Guang succeeded to the throne, he had been short of money for so many years and never thought of taxing salt. Historically, it was not until the tenth year of Kaiyuan, after the Anshi Rebellion, that Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty levied a salt tax in order to raise funds to fight the rebellion.

"Salt matters are now a democratic system, official collection, official transportation, and official sales," Yang Ming said: "Now we must also change it to a democratic system, official collection, official sales, commercial transportation, and commercial sales, so as to save national expenses and use Salt merchants expand sales."

Cui Mintao frowned and said: "Then how should we define a salt merchant? Who can be a salt merchant?"

"Salt merchants were set up as professional household registration, and the business was passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, and the court selected suitable people in the local area," Yang Mingdao said.

The eyes of the group of people below suddenly lit up, good guys, we can also sell salt.

Yang Ming continued: "Those who are salt households are not allowed to be officials in their families, and the same is true for future generations. They can only sell salt, not other goods. No one in the three generations of our ancestors is allowed to be an official."

This means that aristocratic families are not allowed to interfere, because in the Sui Dynasty, at most three generations of your ancestors can serve as officials in the Sui Dynasty. The fourth generation is the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi. The Sui Dynasty does not recognize officials from the old dynasties.

At this time, the ministers were in a daze again. In other words, those who sell salt will always be those who sell salt. But this is easy to say. There are policies above and countermeasures below. We can control it behind the scenes.

Of course Yang Ming has also calculated it, so the official sale is aimed at aristocratic families. First of all, it is a democratic system, but it can only be sold to the government, and then the government can sell it to salt merchants. I will not sell to you the kind of salt merchants supported by aristocratic families. , then there will be no supply.

Therefore, the director of Yanchi must be someone from a poor family, with Yang Ming backing him up to make them go against the rich.

In the Sui Dynasty, there were four prisons on all sides of Yanchi, namely the east, west, south and north. They were subordinated to the province and were only officials of the eighth rank.

But Yang Ming suddenly mentioned the fifth rank, and changed four people in one breath, Lu Zhiming of Yushitai, Chen Xiaoyi of Southwest Xingtai Province, Huang Fenglin of Donggong, and Kong Yingda of Imperial Academy.

Opening up the monopoly is good for the family, but it is more beneficial for the country. So what Yang Ming has to do is to squeeze the interests of the family and strive for the interests of the country as much as possible. Of course, he must control it to a certain extent.

After all, he does not have the ability to deal with the aristocratic family now, so he has to rely on the aristocratic family. However, if the salt monopoly is abolished, it will take one or two years to prepare. He is not as impatient as Yang Guang. Take your time, I can't do it, my son will do it, and my grandson will do it.

After the court meeting, there is also a small court meeting, and the participants are only a few big shots.

What they want to say between them is definitely something that cannot be discussed in court.

"A Tongji Canal maintains nearly [-] ships. This is a huge investment. How can you solve it?" Yang Ming asked.

These [-] boats are Yang Guang's cruising fleet. Half of them cannot be used by others. Instead, they need to consume the national treasury and maintain them every year.

Now it is impossible for Yang Guang to tour Jiangdu anymore. Even if Yang Ming goes in the future, he will not do so with such fanfare, so he needs to get rid of half of the big ships now.

If he raised it in court, it would be equivalent to telling everyone that Yang Guang would not be able to come back, which was inappropriate.

Pei Ju said: "Sell it. It can temporarily solve the urgent need. The country's debts abroad are too large. Disposing of these ships can also deal with emergencies."

Yang Ming smiled. No one else dared to say it. Well done to you for saying it.

After everyone else looked at each other, they all agreed with Pei Ju's intention.

"Luoyang is the hub of the canal, and the state treasury owes these families in Luoyang a lot of money. How about giving it to them?" Cui Mintao suggested.Dugu Zun nodded: "I can do it here."

What can you do?I don't even plan to pay back your money, so you still pay me the debt?
Yang Ming said with a smile: "First solve the other family's problems, and then talk about your problem. The Dugu family and the Xiao family eat both sides of the Tongji Canal. If the other family takes the ship, they have to give some to others in the canal trade. You have been suffering for so many years, no matter what Even if you spread out some, it won’t be easy for me to explain.”

In fact, it is to weaken the monopoly of the Dugu family and the Xiao family on the canal. After more than ten years of eating, it is too fat.

Regarding this aspect, there are many people who have opinions. In the past, when there was war, these two families worked hard to support the logistics. Now that there is no trouble, many people have begun to be dissatisfied.

Dugu Zuan also knew in his heart that a Tongji Canal, the largest trade line between the south and the north, to be honest, he and the Xiao family could not afford it.

Now that the country is gradually getting on the right track, North-South trade will undoubtedly flourish again, and there will definitely be many people who miss them.

If you don't let go at this time, big trouble will happen.

The reason why aristocratic families remain standing is because they know how to advance and retreat.

"Whatever your Highness arranges, I will listen to you," Dugu Zuan said.

Yang Ming nodded: "The Ministry of Industry wants to discuss it, open half of the trade to the private sector, and you divide the rest. Now that the country is in decline, we need to give blood to the private sector. When the situation improves in the future, we will discuss it again."

In fact, as long as there are no more wars, the country will not allow wealthy people to monopolize the canal. The concentration during wars is also for the convenience of the country.

Dugu Zuan nodded with a pity look on his face.

Good luck will not last forever. Life is full of ups and downs, and misfortunes and blessings depend on each other.

After the small court meeting, Pei Ju approached Dugu Zuan with a smile, and the two walked hand in hand:

"Don't be sad, Duke Zhao. The prince is also doing this for the overall situation. There have been many complaints from various parties about your occupation of the Tongji Canal water transport. The Yushitai has also complained many times. The prince is also in trouble."

Dugu Zun smiled and said: "Of course I know the prince's difficulties. It's normal for others to be jealous when the family fortune is big. There are gains and losses, and I don't care."

"I heard that your daughter is pregnant again. I would like to congratulate Mr. Zhao Guo first," Pei Yun said with a smile as he cupped his hands.

Dugu Feng'er is pregnant again, because she and Gao Yue live together. When Yang Ming usually favors Gao Yue, he will go to her for a change.

In the East Palace, except for Yang Yinjiang, who has three, and Pei Shuying, who has two, the others are all one. The reason is that they are all small.

It's not that they don't want to have children, it's that they can't have more children. This is the rule. Except for Yang and Pei, who have no restrictions on their children, others can have up to two.

It's an unwritten rule.

Dugu Zhuan stroked his beard and said with a smile, "This is my little girl's blessing."

"Alas" Pei Yun sighed: "Things in the world are unpredictable. If it hadn't been for what happened back then, Zhao Guogong would have had thousands of grandchildren."

Dugu Zuan's expression remained unchanged and he smiled slightly.

Pei Yun was alluding to the fact that Dugu Feng'er was crazy back then. If she hadn't been crazy, no one would be able to take away her position as the concubine. After all, Feng'er was protected by Dugu Jialuo.

If Dugu Feng'er is the royal concubine, she can have as many children as she wants. The more children she has, the higher her status will be.

Dugu Zhuan also knew that there must be someone behind this old case, otherwise his daughter would not have stayed in Luoyang after she recovered from her illness.

"Shang Shu Pei brought up old things again, is he trying to remind me of something?" Dugu Zuan said with a smile.

Pei Yun laughed: "Mr. Zhao is overly worried. What can I remind you? I am just an outsider. I don't know what happened back then. I just suddenly thought of it and feel sorry for it."

"Old things have gone with the wind, so don't mention the sad things again," said Dugu Zhuan and left.

However, he did not go far. Instead, he waited until Pei Yun returned to Shangshu Province and then circled back to the East Palace on the pretext of visiting his pregnant daughter.

"You have already remembered what happened back then, right?" Dugu turned away from the maid and said to his daughter.

Dugu Feng'er frowned and said, "Why do you ask this so seriously? I didn't think of it."

"Tsk~~~You kid, I'm asking you something serious?" Dugu Zuan said with a straight face.

Dugu Feng'er raised her eyebrows and said, "I'm telling the truth. It's you who doesn't believe it."

"Haha, my dearest daughter, Mo Ruofu, I brought you up with my own hands, and I still don't know you?" Dugu compiled: "Is there something unspeakable that I can't tell your grandpa?"

Dugu Feng'er smiled: "Don't think too much about it, just help the prince handle state affairs."

Dugu Zuan kept asking for a long time, but with no results, he left angrily.

The daughter's matter was a thorn in the side of the Dugu family back then. The clan had not investigated it at that time, but to no avail.

At first, Dugu Zuan gave up and stopped thinking about it, but later, after his daughter came to Luoyang to visit relatives, she refused to return to the prince, and he knew there was something wrong.

Considering the daughter's deep love for the prince, there must be a reason why she refuses to go back.

The reason is not the prince's fault, but the prince's female relatives.

Back then, there were only a handful of people who had the ability to attack Queen Dugu's Yong'an Palace. Among Yang Ming's harem, only the Yang and Pei families had this ability and had this motive.

Because Yang Yinjiang and Pei Shuying were married to Yang Ming one after another, if Yang Su hadn't been Yang Guang's party to the Jin Dynasty at that time, there's no telling who would have dominated the other.

At that time, Yang Suji was highly regarded by Empress Dugu, and Pei Ju was the internal history minister. The closest minister to Yang Jian could enter and leave the palace at will. Only the two of them could do so.

Gao Xi could also enter Yong'an Palace at will, but Gao Xi would not do such a thing.

Dugu Zuan had only doubted these two families, but today, he doubted one family because Pei Yun was clearly reminding him.

Although the other party didn't say anything, his words were provocative and seemed to induce him to continue investigating the matter. In other words, the Pei family knew who did it, but they would not tell you and let you think for yourself. Method.

The more Dugu Zuan thought about it, the angrier he became. He didn't expect that Yang Ming could become the prince, so he didn't take it seriously. Now it's too late to regret it.

He simply didn't go to the official office and went directly home to find Dugu Bailou.

I thought that if I inquired more carefully, I might be able to get some clues from her about the past.

After Yang Ming came to power, Dugu Zuan resumed his old position, and Dongdu Yin also served as General Zuohouwei. In addition, the family played a great role in the palace coup, and he was also very influential in the court.

　Let’s take a rest in the morning and return in the afternoon. The funeral is over. Today is still a chapter. Brothers, because my eldest uncle has three daughters, my second uncle has two daughters, my father is the third child, and I am the eldest grandson, so there are many things going on here. According to the custom, women are not allowed to go to the cemetery, so I have to go to the burial. It was only when I returned to my hometown this time that I found out that my grandfather and his brother fled from Lin County, Henan to Shanxi, and then they got married and started a business here. I am from Hanzhong, Shaanxi. I was a party member and soldier before the founding of the People's Republic of China. I was injured in the battle in Luoyang and was settled in Shanxi by the state. I used to be a company commander, so I am of mixed blood from Shaanxi, Henan and Shanxi provinces, haha.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)