I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 331 Banning Human Teeth
Zhu Yijiong took the class directly by boat and only stopped briefly in Yangzhou on the way.

Tang Zeming, the magistrate of Yangzhou, and Yan Jie, the magistrate of Jiangdu, together with officials at all levels in Yangzhou, came again to welcome His Majesty.

Zhu Yijiong did not get off the ship, but directly met with the Yangzhou officials on the ship.

Within one year, two interviews.

In any case, with this kind of attention, Tang Zeming, an upright and upright official who is not afraid of the powerful (offending others), does not have to worry about his future promotion.

Tang Zeming, Yan Jie and other Yangzhou officials saluted in the cabin and shouted: "I pay homage to your majesty and welcome your majesty's victory and triumph!"

"Everyone is free of charge!" Zhu Yijiong said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The officials straightened up carefully.

Zhu Yijiong asked casually: "How is Yangzhou Salt Industry doing now?"

Although I asked about it last time, it was just casually.Moreover, the salt industry is not only related to people’s livelihood, but also to the national destiny.

The reason why the Manchu Qing Dynasty was able to close the country without any scruples was largely due to the fact that the income from salt and iron was enough to meet the needs of the court's operations, and it was even possible to be extremely greedy.

This was the same in the previous Ming Dynasty. If there were no state-controlled wealth industries such as salt and iron, not to mention officials, Qianlong himself would have to open up the coastal countries.

Tang Ze made preparations in the morning and handed over a memorial: "Yangzhou Salt Industry is here to report. Your Majesty, please read it!"

Zhu Yijiong took it and only glanced through it. The content was written in great detail.Since the trial implementation of the new salt law, the imperial court has controlled government-run salt farms and completely banned the salt introduction system.

Without salt, salt production will be stuck, and with the opening up of private retail sales, the competitiveness among salt merchants will be further increased.

The monopoly model of Yangzhou salt merchants is naturally difficult to continue to exist. Even if countless small salt merchants cannot compete, they can join forces to raise funds and form chambers of commerce to take part of the retail sales.

There are even many non-salt merchants, such as Yijia (Yifujiu) in Ningbo, who are taking the opportunity to try to expand the salt business.

As long as there is competition in the market, there is almost no need for the court to set the market price, and these salt merchants will drive down the price of salt themselves.

As soon as the price of salt drops, the market for low-quality salt such as private salt will naturally be quickly eliminated.It is definitely impossible to completely eliminate it, but the profits are too low and it is a serious crime if caught. Many private salt dealers will choose to go ashore with their names clean.

Tang Zeming also gave an oral report: "Since the trial implementation of the new salt law, a large number of salt sales shops have appeared in Yangzhou, and many of them are not even former Yangzhou salt merchants."

It's not the Yangzhou salt merchants, it's the private salt dealers who came ashore with a clean slate. Only they had the strength to compete with the Yangzhou salt merchants who were once local snakes in Yangzhou in the early days.

Regarding these whitewashed private salt dealers, Tang Zeming's attitude was that as long as they came ashore legally now, forget the blame.

After all, catching these people is nothing more than stealing some family wealth. Keeping these people can also help suppress the Yangzhou salt merchants so that they will not become the only one.

At this stage, the new salt law has been initially implemented on a trial basis. It is hard to say in other state capitals. It is difficult for merchants in Yangzhou to compete with Yangzhou salt merchants. They can only rely on those private salt dealers who are also local snakes.

The private salt dealers will definitely not be able to compete with the Yangzhou salt merchants, but they can allow other small salt merchants to take the opportunity to encroach on their market share during the fight. .

Just like the civil war between Red Bull in later generations (the civil war between Thai Bull and Chinese Bull), the result was that the market share of both parties shrank significantly. Instead, a certain Pengte drink took the opportunity to encroach on the territory.

"Tang Qing did a good job this time."

Zhu Yijiong nodded slightly. Without going into too much detail, just looking at the changes in salt prices listed at the end, you can see that the new salt law in Yangzhou is still successful.

The basic salt prices of salt merchants such as Yangzhou have dropped significantly, and other state capitals will naturally have no problems implementing it.

If the price of salt falls, people's survival pressure will be reduced and they will have more money to spare, thereby stimulating consumption and promoting further development of the market.

It's a slow process.

Tang Zeming cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty!"

Since the salt merchant was mentioned, Zhu Yijiong suddenly asked: "Are there still thin horses in Yangzhou now?"

All the officials were stunned. Previously, the Yangzhou salt merchant offered one and was scolded and scolded by the emperor. Why did His Majesty suddenly mention it again? Could it be that he said he didn't want it, but he was actually very honest in his heart?

The officials in Yangzhou didn't know how to reply, but Tang Zeming suddenly said: "Your Majesty, please give me one year, and I will make sure that there will be no more thin horses in Yangzhou!"

Zhu Yijiong said: "It's not just thin horses, there are also brothels and Chu houses, people and teeth are good at it."

In ancient times, human trafficking was actually a serious crime. If caught, it was almost impossible to escape death. However, the actual existence of human beings has always been semi-legal.

Take Ya Po as an example. On the surface, Ya Po's business is selling rouge and gouache, but her identity as a woman allows her to easily enter and exit the mansion of a wealthy family.

As a result, the business was expanded to purchase concubines, singers, dancers, etc. for wealthy families.to be honest.It is demand that determines business. Large wealthy families need Yapo to buy slaves and concubines for them, so they must provide them with protection.

As a result, collusion and a community of interests were formed with the government, and the dental business became a legal business.

Even because Yapo mainly buys and sells concubines for wealthy families, Yapo often works part-time as a matchmaker.

The Yapo and the Matchmaker are all included in the three nuns and the six nuns.

Banning brothels and Chu houses and Yangzhou thin horses only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. If the human teeth trade is not completely banned, these industries will never disappear.

After all, Yangzhou Shou Ma is just a name for a prostitute. It's too easy to change her name.

The Northern Expedition was approaching, so in order to stabilize people's hearts, we did not rush into it.But now, the world situation has been decided, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has basically no hope of coming back, so it is time to take drastic measures.

When Tang Zeming heard that the human teeth trade was banned, he was stunned for a moment, and then he firmly responded with his hands raised: "I obey the order!"

His character is that of being upright and not afraid of powerful people. Now that the emperor wants him to stand up to him, he naturally cannot show his cowardice.

Although this will definitely bring great resistance, the opportunity is also not small. If it is done, he will be Jian Zai Di Xin.

And, most importantly, he doesn't go whoring.

"Ah."

Only then did Zhu Yijiong smile. Yangzhou was just the first to bear the brunt.

When he returns to Nanjing, he will officially issue an imperial edict to ban brothels and Chu houses nationwide.It's not a complete ban, it's just a formalization, and skin and flesh business is no longer allowed.

If the girls who were trafficked into the brothel want to leave Chongliang, the brothel must not stop them, otherwise they will all be sealed up and prosecuted.

As for the human teeth business, it must be banned, and all teeth must be voluntarily reported to the government and surrendered.

Those who voluntarily surrender will have their past crimes forgotten. This also prevents people from jumping over the wall in a hurry, destroying corpses and destroying traces, and only harming human lives.

If anyone still engages in the human tooth trade despite strict government orders, he will be punished for both the new and old crimes.

Of course, the outlawing of the human tooth trade means that slavery can no longer exist.

It was also necessary to issue a slave release order, conduct a re-registration and inventory of the wealthy families, and order the return of the deeds of sale.

Even if a servant voluntarily requests to continue to be employed, he must change it to a short-term employment contract, and he can only be employed for a maximum of three years at a time, and must file a fair filing with the local government.

In the future, a new yamen will definitely have to be set up to handle private employment matters.

This new yamen would limit its power, but would not interfere with the local government, so as to eliminate as much as possible the collusion between officials and gentry to continue the slave trade.

The next day, the emperor's chariot set off south.

Many people from Yangzhou and Jiangdu spontaneously came to see him off. Most of them had never seen the emperor and wanted to see what the emperor looked like.

Of course, there were also many people who spontaneously knelt down and worshiped Shanhu after the emperor's fleet passed by the river.

"Long live the emperor, long live!"

This is not a political show, because the shouting is sparse and not standard at all.

The new salt law was tried out in Yangzhou, and the price of salt dropped rapidly. These people, who were shouting for longevity, all got tangible benefits, so they came to express their gratitude.

In fact, it even led other people who were watching the excitement to shout and kneel together, and the shouts became louder and louder.

"What the people want!"

While Tang Zeming was seeing the emperor off at the shore, he couldn't help but sigh when he looked at the people along the shore.

On the side, Jiangdu County Magistrate Yan Jie nodded equally seriously: "Yes! Your Majesty is worthy of obeying orders."

"Your Majesty, it's your Majesty who came out to see us!"

"emperor……"

Suddenly, people shouted. Tang Zeming and Yan Jie looked up and saw the emperor coming out of the cabin.

Although they couldn't see clearly, the people still cheered.

(End of this chapter)