Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1047
The emperor's anger was only to express his attitude in the court, and the corruption of the grassroots in the administration of officials has not been a day or two. At this time, anyone who wants to say that it can really be cured is pure fart.

Using this attitude is nothing but giving momentum to the reformers.I will clean it up slowly in the future. After all, the story of the former emperor Taizu told Li Gan that killing people is not good enough.

Now the reformers of the salt administration, the anti-reformists, and the big rebel faction mixed in like Liu Yu have conflicts and disagreements with each other, and sometimes they agree on some issues.

Now people with discerning eyes from all three sides understand one thing:

That is, the sun-dried salt method combined with the steam engine to extract water has solved the problem of insufficient production that plagued the salt administration of the past dynasties.

The counter-reformers have no chance of winning against the reformers on production issues.

The only place where the two sides are likely to decide the outcome is in the "outlying areas" of the salt area.

Two major problems in salt administration are production and transportation.

The production problem was solved, and the victory or defeat in the remote areas determined the depth of Huainan's salt reform.

For general contractors and Yanyin hoarders, although sufficient production will damage their interests, the biggest loss is the cancellation of the general contractor system and the cancellation of the Yanyin zoning system.

The direction of the fight must also be grasped within this range.

In other words, it proves that in remote areas, the reform of this set of anti-monopoly laws will be counterproductive.

So, why was Jiangxi mentioned at the meeting today?Because this is a "salt border province" like a template.

But it is also a province on the edge of the salt area, and there are differences in the interior.

Jiangxi, in fact, is not too far from the Huainan salt-producing area.The edge of Jiangxi stems from the flood of private salt in Jiangxi, or from the export of Fujian and Guangdong from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, which caused the problem of carrying private salt from Fujian and Guangdong on commercial routes that could not be solved.

But now, the Jiangxi issue, along with the northward relocation of the trade center, can be completely resolved in essence.

Therefore, the anti-reform ministers immediately opposed using Jiangxi as an experiment.

Because they are keenly aware that after the production problems are solved by the sun-dried salt method and steam engine water extraction, the most prone to problems in salt administration are "logistics problems."

The farther away, the more difficult it is for the reformists to realize the effect of reforms, and the easier it is for big problems to occur.

With overseas trade, Jiangxi is no longer considered "far".

So Jiangxi can't be the competition venue, where should I choose?

After getting angry, the emperor named Lin Min's name, and then he said: "You are in charge of the Lianghuai salt administration, and Xingguo is talking about land reclamation. Although it is related to the salt administration, it is not his main business. .According to Qing, where is the problem of salt administration?"

Lin Min was still familiar with his job, but the emperor gave him some verbal output before asking, so he simply could only uncover Dashun's rotten scars and explain the matter clearly.

Since Jiangxi's salt administration issue has led to conflicts between the local government and the central government, the truth he said is not bad.

"Return to Your Majesty. The Jiangxi Salt Administration collapsed in a short time."

"Over the past years, the Jiangxi Salt Administration estimated that the amount of quotations was about 25 yuan. For every 350 catties of salt, 8000 million catties of salt are needed every year."

"However, the actual sales of official salt in Jiangxi over the years have only fluctuated around 50%. In the highest year, only 55% were sold."

"But in fact, people in Jiangxi do not lack salt."

"In Jiangxi Province, private salt is flooding everywhere."

"And the place where private salt is the most common is in Ji'an Mansion."

"I have the courage to take the Ji'an Mansion as an example to explain clearly what went wrong with the Jiangxi Salt Administration."

The emperor signaled his permission. Indeed, Jiangxi's annual sales of salt imports are about half, which is already a long-standing problem.

Lin Min used the example of Ji'an Mansion to explain this matter thoroughly.

It turns out that the salt in Ji'an Mansion belongs to Guangdong, and the salt they eat is Guangdong.

The great chaos at the end of Ming Dynasty also involved the issue of recovering the Taiwan government.

Guangdong and Fujian were always the front lines in those years, see-saw, naval battles, landing against landing, looting against looting, Dashun played the banner of protecting the world, and could neither collude with the Dutch nor the Portuguese.

The war caused a sharp drop in salt production.

The sharp drop in salt production in Guangdong and Fujian has brought about new problems.

For example, Ji'an Mansion was originally located in the Salt District of Guangdong. The imperial court had to collect taxes from evaluation officials, and the evaluation officials must involve taxation.

When it comes to taxation, it has to involve official supervision to sell the salt.

The monopoly of the salt industry means that the imperial court must use administrative power to guarantee the monopoly, that is, to ensure that the franchise monopoly merchants gain benefits, otherwise, who pays taxes to buy salt?

Guangdong and Fujian, as the front lines of the confrontation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, reduced the production of salt. This is almost a replica of the Lianghuai salt administration in the late Ming Dynasty, which is just a different form of expression.

The current Huaibei salt policy reform, even the policy before the reform, is different from before.

In the past, in the salt administration of Fujian, Guangdong and other places, businessmen went to the government, state, and county to contract, and then after receiving the contracting documents, they reported to the general ledger, and then released the quotation according to the contracted amount.

The problem is that even if the salt production in Guangdong does not decrease, it is still short of salt.

Why?

Because it is related to poll tax and salt tax.

The larger the population, the more tax to pay.

The more taxes to pay, the more difficult it will be for magistrates to complete.

If the assessment doesn't even include tax assessment, then what the hell is the assessment?

Hiding the population was beneficial to magistrates before the tax law reform.

The poll tax is okay, and it doesn't matter if it is hidden or not collected, or if the local government makes false accounts and pays the poll tax on the court accounts and divides the rest, it doesn't matter.

The key is salt.

The hidden ones are just the heads in the ledger statistics.

But the population that is not included in the account book statistics also needs to eat salt.It's not that if you don't add statistics to the account book, this person doesn't need to eat salt.

Originally because of the war front, the production of salt was reduced.Now there are a large number of hidden people who want to eat salt.

The salt merchants are thinking too much, instead of going to sell salt closer to the salt production area, they went to Ji'an Mansion to sell salt?
Besides, the salt eaten by the hidden population will inevitably lead to a reduction in the production of official salt—a lot of salt production must be reported as private salt, and the hidden population can only eat private salt.

No matter how stupid the court is to eat official salt, it will feel wrong. How many people eat so much salt?Why, in other places, a person eats five catties of salt a year, but this person from Jiangxi is made of special materials and eats 40 catties of salt a year?

This leads to more quotations and less salt on the surface.

Merchants in Ji'an Mansion don't buy Yin at all.

If businessmen don't buy quotations, can the above evaluation control the businessmen?
Naturally, the local officials were mad at the above: What are you doing to eat?Can't even recruit Yanyin?There is a problem with your governance ability, promotion?Up ass!

At that time, Lianghuai Salt was the area where the Yuan Shizhengang Salt Law of the Ming Dynasty was first implemented, and it was different from the old method of Guangdong and Fujian.

The responsibility system of Lianghuai Salt is as follows: the general contractor gets the salt lead, and the seller buys the lead.If you think that market can sell 100 catties of salt, then buy 100 catties of salt.The responsibility of the local officials is to sell the 100 catties of taxed salt.And that city, based on the population, can actually eat 500 catties of salt, but this has nothing to do with the local officials.The salt tax is only linked to contractors.

The responsibility of Guangdong Salt District is: How many people are there in your prefecture-level city?One person counts as five catties of salt. If there are 100 people in your city, you need to sell 500 catties of salt in your city.The 500 catties of salt, numbered, your local officials are responsible for finding merchants to buy the quotations. After buying the quotations, you will calculate and summarize them, and go to the salt area to arrange the numbers to get the salt.The salt tax is directly linked to local officials.

The combination of issues such as the frontline of the war, evaluation, and salt shortage caused by the hidden population made the local officials of Ji'an Prefecture choose to "vote with their feet."

The policy of the Guangdong salt area, coupled with the evaluation and the confrontation with the Straits, the situation that the salt industry is affected, is a dead end:

The population does not increase every day, how can it be managed?What level?The population is not increasing, and you still want to be promoted?It is clear that the administrative ability is not up to standard.Bad review, don't even think about getting promoted.

As the population increased, the population assessment went up, but the Yanyin assessment fell again.What's the matter, you can sell 500 catties of salt, but you can't even sell 100 catties of salt. How do you deal with the relationship between localities and merchants?Bad review, don't even think about getting promoted.

The Lianghuai salt policy is precisely what local officials in Ji'an Prefecture like.

Salt tax has nothing to do with the locality. It is the responsibility of the imperial court—the Lianghuai Salt Envoy—the general contractor—the subcontractor.

Whether to contract the salt of Ji'an Prefecture is a lawsuit between Lianghuai salt envoys, general contractors, and subcontractors. Go ahead and play.

Our magistrates are only responsible for one thing: you bring in 100 catties of salt, and I guarantee that your 100 catties of salt can be sold; you foolishly transport in 500 catties of salt, and wait for bankruptcy. No merchant will bring in 500 catties of salt.

This responsibility is much smaller than the previous set of "counting population, calculating salt imports, attracting local investment, and paying salt tax".

Therefore, the local officials of Ji'an Mansion quickly reached an agreement, went to the imperial court, and demanded that the Lianghuai Salt District be managed on the grounds of "salt production in Guangdong is insufficient".

After discussing with the household government for a long time, they agreed.

The officials of the entire Ji'an Mansion breathed a sigh of relief.

Is there any problem with this method?
The problem is big!

It completely violates the laws of nature. Is Ji'an Mansion close to Guangdong and Fujian?Or is it closer to Lianghuai?
In the future, Guangdong salt and Fujian salt will inevitably flood.

But the bastard has only been a magistrate for decades.

The problem at that time was solved at that time.

What happened in the future has anything to do with the magistrate at that time?
Therefore, in the years when Ji'an Mansion was merged into the Lianghuai Salt District, the performance of local officials skyrocketed.

The county officials decisively attacked illegal salt, and by the way, counted a part of the population that has been hidden over the years.

Within a few years, the local magistrate evaluations were all top-notch.

The population is increasing, and the salt merchants are satisfied with their sales. They are really capable, so hurry up and promote them!

When that time has passed, troubles will follow in the future.

Lianghuai salt is in Ji'an Mansion, after all, it can't handle Fujian and Guangdong salt, and strict investigation of smuggling can only be controlled for a while, but not for a lifetime.

However, waiting for the poor sales of official salt in Ji'an Mansion and the sale of smuggled salt will completely collapse the official salt.

At that time, the magistrates of Ji'an Mansion were no longer in Ji'an Mansion. Those who should be promoted have been promoted, and those who should have retired have retired.

As for the imperial court, it is not easy to grasp the responsibility.

Whose responsibility?

For the local officials who are determined to be promoted, my responsibility is to sell how many lures contracted by salt merchants in Lianghuai, and I am responsible for selling these lures.It's the salt merchants who don't buy salt from Ji'an Prefecture, so what does that have to do with me?

For conscientious officials, this salt and iron monopoly policy is a legacy of the Han Dynasty, and it should have been banned long ago. The smugglers came to smuggle salt, just make an opening.

As far as the general contractor is concerned, they can make money by holding the salt in their hands, communicating directly with the salt producers, selling some private salt and increasing the contract price of the salt by doing some small tricks. Can the official salt of Ji’an government be sold? Go, none of your business?With so many people hidden, are you afraid that the salt will not be sold?
For the sub-contractors, the official salt in Ji'an Mansion is not easy to sell, so if you don't go, will it be over?Must go?The salt tax is the connection between the general contractor and the court, so it's none of our business?Do you really think that our small salt merchants are serving the common people?Have to sell salt to remote areas at a loss?

For ordinary people, the official salt is so expensive, how loyal should I be to your old Li family, instead of eating the cheap private salt from Fujian and Guangdong, go to eat official salt from Lianghuai?Would you rather eat official salt at [-] Wen a catty than private salt at [-] Wen a catty?Besides, can I afford it?
Lin Min took this opportunity to directly expose these rotten scars of Dashun, and the meaning was very clear.

The reform of the salt administration is not a simple reform.

The game between this locality and the central government is just a part of it, so there is no need to be surprised.

The salt administration reform is an overall reform involving production, contracting, transportation, sales, tax payment, evaluation, and even the re-division of salt areas.

To carry out the reform of the salt administration in Xiaohuaibei, or even Xiaohuaihai, is basically a low-level tinkering in tinkering.

Now that it has been changed to this extent, it should be directly changed.

Although it is all repairs, but the arm is almost rotten, and I am still thinking about finding a pedicure master in Yangzhou to fix onychomycosis. Isn't that nonsense?
(End of this chapter)