Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1380 Nancha Disturbance (May [-]st) Salt Disadvantages
After the "chance encounter" between Shen Yongmao and Gao Yushi, the situation in the court hall eased slightly in the next few days, and the emperor also responded to this, and replied in a belated Southern impeachment: "Old things have long been settled, There is no need to discuss it again. Kuang Hairui is in charge of Nancha, so what is the meaning of impeachment when you all gather together at this time?"

After all, there is not only one Nanjing in the south of the Yangtze River. Some memorials arrived earlier and some later. Such a warning.

The warning was pretty good, at least it didn't offend the emperor, and he would end up losing his job.Speaking of it, it was thanks to Shen Shixing's quick peace. The emperor saw that Gao Wushi's side didn't react much. Considering that the government needs to be stable, he didn't get angry.

Since the government is stable, there is no need to delay the award.The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households are both heads of the Practical School, so it is easier for the two parties to discuss rewards, but Liang Menglong is still a little bit upset about Li Chengliang's question.

Liang Menglong believes that even if the imperial court is extremely lenient to the honored ministers, and Li Chengliang does have a Liujue of Uncle Ning Yuan, no matter how tolerant he is, he cannot be indiscriminate in rewards and punishments.

What is the nature of the private sale of gunpowder to Chahar?At the very least, he is also an enemy!For this kind of big mistake, even if he is a minister, he can only be punished lightly, but he must not cover it up, let alone deliberately cover it up for him.

In theory, Liang Menglong's point of view is completely correct, and Gao Pragmatism also agrees that a country cannot lack institutionalized rewards and punishments, otherwise it will be messed up sooner or later.

However, etiquette has authority and priorities, and now it is not an appropriate time to punish Li Chengliang. This will cause the court to instantly lose order, and some steps that Gao Yushi has already set will be accidentally disrupted.Even Gao Wushi, who is good at analysis and deduction, can't tell what kind of variables will be caused by this.

Anyone who is good at analysis and deduction and has been in control of the situation for a long time will certainly not be able to tolerate the development of things showing signs of getting out of control, and the same is true for Gao Pragmatic, so he proposed a compromise plan.

The main meaning of this plan is that the rewards will remain as usual, and Li Chengliang's actions will not be investigated for the time being, but the Ministry of War will not publicly confirm his innocence.Gao Wushi sent people to quietly collect evidence, trying to find out the matter and get enough evidence, and wait for the court situation to change in the future, and then choose a suitable opportunity to settle accounts with Li Cheng and Liang Qiuhou.

People who can't stand overnight hatred are not suitable to be officials, but any person "inside the system", no matter how high or low his status is, must have someone or something that he can endure temporarily.Happy grievances are usually only suitable for desperadoes, and settling accounts after autumn is the routine operation of officials.

Liang Menglong also understood this truth, so after Gao Yushi explained his words, although he was full of unwillingness, he finally agreed.

In the end, Cao Yu's position remained the same, but he was promoted to one level, and he was added to the governor's office of the right army. He was rewarded with 30 taels of silver and a red silk flying fish suit; Shanxi Xingdu Commander Division) all commanded Tongzhi, and rewarded 20 taels of silver; Zhang Wanbang defeated the enemy head-on, and Jia Benwei (Datong Yanghewei) commander, rewarded [-] taels of silver... A group of people waited regardless of whether they had formally fought or not. Almost everyone who participated in the expedition won meritorious service, and everyone received a reward.

As for the lieutenant generals, of course it depends on the number of heads.However, according to Gao Yushi's principle of leading troops at the beginning, the meritorious service reported by Cao Yu this time is not just based on the level of someone's beheading, but according to the low-level combat units (such as the small mandarin duck formation is an actual "squad") .

In this way, there is less personal "creation of wealth", but the benefits are distributed to more people.As for the specific rewards for each small combat unit, a system that Gao Yushi had promoted in the past was also promoted by Cao Yu, that is, secret ballots were held within the unit.

The specific method is to use copper coins as seals for each person, and stamp one to five copper coin seals on the list of people on the distribution list. In the end, those with more seals will have higher merit, and those with fewer seals will have lower merit. All ballots will be put together on the spot A ballot box.After the voting is completed, the superior military officer opens the box and counts the ballots in person, and the ballot box is not allowed to leave the sight of the public during the process.

Generally speaking, this method is fair. Although sometimes it may cause some people with good interpersonal relationships to get more "coins", Gao Yushi believes that this is understandable and tolerable: since he has good interpersonal relationships, it means that everyone If he is willing to listen to him, then it is normal for him to get a lot of credit, after all... this is also a kind of prestige.

Cao Yu now considers himself a descendant of Gao Yushi, and of course he closely follows the system created by Gao Yushi, so this time the reward will also be handled in accordance with this method.

Of course, these details are highly pragmatic and will not ask again. His main responsibility is to transfer money... oh, transfer money.Fortunately, Liaodong's salt tax has come up this year. Although the reward is not low this time, it can still be handled.

By the way, Liaodong's salt tax this year was actually paid by Gao Yushi and the emperor, and it all came from the Liaonan salt field.High pragmatism has always paid "heavy taxes" to prove its innocence, and the emperor paid according to the high pragmatism ratio because he avoided giving the facts. This also led to a result that made the emperor very dissatisfied.

It's not that he was dissatisfied with paying more taxes with Gao Pragmatism, but that the salt tax paid by the Liaodong Salt Farm this year has reached [-]% of Yangzhou's, which is simply mocking in the eyes of the emperor.

When did the scale of Liaodong Saltworks reach [-]% of that of Yangzhou?The first generation of Huaiyang is where salt merchants gather and is also the largest salt field in the world. Even though the highly pragmatic Liaodong Salt Field is expanding rapidly, the Yangzhou Salt Field is at least three to four times the size of Liaodong Salt Field.Even if Liaodong pays high, it shouldn't be this ratio, so it is obvious that there is something tricky in the Huaiyang salt tax, a lot of tricks.

However, Gao Pragmatic did not express his position on this matter. Although the emperor was angry, he didn't know where to intervene for a while.It is not impossible to use the "transcript" of the Liaodong Salt Field to blame the Transshipment Salt Envoy of the Two Huaihe Rivers and even the Nanjing Household Department, but Zhu Yijun knows that it will be of no use. There are a lot of reasons cited in the memorial to explain that they can only receive so much.

One of the reasons why Gao Pragmatism wanted to infiltrate Nanjing was that he wanted to take back the Ministry of Household Management's right to manage the salt industry.It's not that he particularly loves to seize power, but that he knows that without him to reform, the Ming Dynasty's salt affairs problem cannot be improved at all.

Now that he is the Secretary of the Household Department, in the long run, it is impossible to rely on his family to pay taxes desperately to keep the court alive. The root problems must be solved before Daming can recover.In the short term, only by increasing the revenue of the treasury can we avoid causing another chaos in the Northwest in the past few years when we are extremely short of money.

It is well known that in the Ming Dynasty, in order to strengthen the control over the production and sales of the salt industry, there were salt transfer divisions and salt promotion divisions throughout the country.

Among the salt-producing areas, Lianghuai Salt Area ranks first in the country due to its large output, dense population, developed economy, and convenient transportation.Therefore, small changes within it may have a serious impact on the situation of the entire country.

The imperial court also frequently appointed officials to the Lianghuai salt area, not only because of the important position of the Lianghuai salt area in the country's finances, but also because the marketing of Huai salt in this area is not easy, and the imperial court often needs to intervene.Thanks to his third uncle Zhang Sijiao staying in Yangzhou for a long time, Gao Yushi knew that among the many factors affecting the distribution of salt in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, the most important and most direct one was the prevalence of private salt.

What is private salt?Jing Xueqian, an expert on salt affairs at the beginning of the Republic of China, once said: "What is private? For officials, what is official and what is private, everyone knows, everyone knows: there is tax for an official, and no tax for private."

In other words, private salt is salt that has not been produced and sold in accordance with national laws and regulations, especially without paying taxes, so that it cannot provide legal tax revenue for the country.

There is no distinction between official and private salt, but since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty implemented the official management of salt and iron, there has been so-called private salt from the government's point of view.

After the mid-Tang Dynasty, the problem of private salt gradually became prominent, and became a difficult problem that could not be overcome in subsequent dynasties. The trend of people selling private salt intensified.

For example, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao, the leader of the rebellious army, had smuggled smugglers; in the Song Dynasty, Qianzhou in Jiangxi and Tingzhou in Fujian "many people stole and sold Guangnan salt for profit." Zhang Shicheng at the end of the Yuan Dynasty "stolen Wuhui as a salt disciple, and his small business, although it was a peaceful world, did not end."

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly enforced the law of prohibiting smuggling, stipulating that "the person who carries the load will be charged with a hundred rods." Therefore, large-scale private smuggling activities have been slightly restrained.

However, since Xuande, "the ban on salt has been slightly relaxed, and there are many smugglers", such as Xuande's ten-year trip to the household department: "The price of salt in Lianghuai is low, and there are few buyers from merchants, because it is the home of powerful military guards." , connive at servants, stop the destruction of the salt law, privately sell and trade, and have hundreds of ships. Armed with weapons, they will be plundered."

In the first year of Zhengtong, the imperial court appointed He Wenyuan, the right servant in the Ministry of Punishment, Wang Zuo, the left servant in the Ministry of Households, and Zhu Yuyan, the right deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Changlu, Liangzhe Salt Transport Envoy, and various salt officials did not abide by the constitution, indulged in corruption, connived at kitchen households to fry private goods; Those who sell goods privately include those who pretend to rely on the rich and powerful to burn and fry themselves, and those who swindle and swindle customers and sell them along the way; there are even those who arrange weapons and commit crimes according to the boats.

From these two cases, it can be seen that as early as the orthodox years, the problem of illegal salt had already existed widely across the country, and the prevalence of illegal salt had posed a threat to the imperial court's official salt sales system.

Although the Ming court was well aware of the prevalence of private salt, it had no effective countermeasures.In December of the third year of Zhengtong, the imperial court had to order the supervisory censor to inspect the Lianghuai and Lianghuai salt departments. Before that, "the imperial censor Yin Ting was ordered to go to Yangzhou Prefecture to admiral the Lianghuai salt department, and he was called back for a long time, and privately fried smugglers and transportation department The disadvantages of deprivation are very beneficial."

Also because of this, the post of inspector salt censor was temporarily appointed by the imperial court and gradually became a permanent official position, "renewed according to the routine of the inspector".In addition, referring to these two cases of officials appointed by the imperial court, it can be seen that the imperial court had at least appointed He Wenyuan and Yin Tong to supervise the Lianghuai Salt Division three years before Zhengtong, but the problem has not been resolved, and supervision still needs to be strengthened.

Based on this, two kinds of conjectures can be drawn from a high level of pragmatism. One is that the private salt in the Huaihe River and the Huaihe River has accumulated for a long time, and it will not be resolved overnight; .

However, judging from historical data, in the early orthodox years when the official administration was still good, it was less feasible for several censors to violate the will of the imperial court and intentionally favoritism. Therefore, the first speculation is more likely.

The seriousness and persistence of the problem of private salt in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River has already posed a serious threat to the imperial government's fiscal revenue, which in turn affects the border defense reserves.Therefore, the imperial court also repeatedly declared the ban on private salt in the 12th year of Zhengtong, the [-]rd year of Jingtai, and the [-]rd year of Chenghua.

Especially since the second year of Chenghua's salt law was broken, private salt was mostly sold across the border, official salt was not available, the salt law was abolished, and there were many disadvantages.According to Gao Pragmatic investigation, there were mainly two types of private salt in the Lianghuai Salt Area at that time.

One is Huai private, that is, private salt that flows directly from the Lianghuai salt area.Part of this is that the kitchen households privately sold the remaining salt in their hands to private merchants or salt lords, who then sold it under the official seal.

At that time, although the imperial court issued an example of buying surplus salt, the kitchen households in remote places were often not favored by salt merchants, and they were rarely willing to go all the way to collect them. In this case, they had to sell to private merchants or salt lords.

On the other hand, after the implementation of the system of levying silver for salt tax, kitchen households had to sell salt for silver to pay salt tax, which intensified private frying and selling.Especially in the year of disaster, kitchen households are often "struggled with food and clothing, stealing and selling salt for emergency."-See what this looks like?That's right, it's like the poor people who were forced to sell grain and pay taxes after Zhang Juzheng forcibly promoted it in Shaanxi and other places.

However, Gao Yushi knew in his heart that the private frying and selling by kitchen households was not for the purpose of deliberately confronting the imperial salt law, but more often as a last resort, and because the scale of their smuggling was small and the amount of each transaction was small The impact on the salt law is actually not very strong, only appearing in the coastal salt fields and surrounding areas.

The other part is the outflow of official salt.For example, in the third year of Chenghua, the Criminal Division gave a report to Zuo Xian in the matter: "Since Yizheng arrived in Nanjing, along the river, from Wuhu to Huguang, Jiangxi and other places, there are salt gangsters driving large ships covering the ocean and looting wantonly. Although there are patrols on the river General soldiers and other officials are often manipulated by wealth." This is an example of salt lords ganging up to rob officials and salt.

Another example is in the second year of Jiajing, "the eunuch Li Tan traveled between Huaiyang and Jiangzhou, carrying private salt vends to sell, and Cheng Jinggui led a patrol to search for them." This is an example of eunuchs involved in smuggling.

In addition, in the Xuande ten-year trip mentioned just now in the household memorial, there is also the saying, "The family of the powerful military guards, indulged in servants, prevented the destruction of the salt law, and privately sold hundreds of ships." This is an example of local tyrants and military smugglers.

From this point of view, although the participants in Huai salt illicit sales are complex, and the sources of illicit salt are also different, they are all confrontations against the imperial government’s salt administration outside the national law. Economically important, the impact on the salt law is naturally more severe.

The second category of illegal salt is neighboring private salt, that is, the private salt that flows into the Lianghuai salt area from adjacent salt areas.Compared with private sales of Huai salt, neighbors are far superior in terms of quantity and duration.

Geographically, the Lianghuai salt area is located in the middle of Daming, and the price of Huai salt is higher than that of neighboring salt areas (because the marketing area is rich), so the Huai area is invaded and irrigated by illegal salt from neighboring areas.

Gao Wushi found out that as early as the third year of Jingtai when the salt ban was announced, the Ministry of Household Memorial said: "Since the age of [-], private salt has been prevalent, and there are many dealers. The price of official salt is low, but there are few acceptors. And it is like Guangdong. Haibei Erti Jusi’s place where salt is sold, and it ends at Nanxiong in the north. Now it reaches Meiling, Yangjiaoshui and other places and goes to Jiangxi and Huguang. The place where Yanshi carries salt in Hedong and Shaanxi ends in Nanyang in the south. Today And even Tongguan, Neixiang and other places and crossed to Xiangyang, Huguang."

However, the Lianghuai Salt Area is not only affected by Guangdong Haibei Salt and Hedong Salt. In the prefectures of Yuan, Lin, Fu, and Rui, there are a limited number of enlightened practitioners, but unlimited smugglers."

In Huguang in the west of Huai District, there is "Shu salt (Sichuan well salt), which is often smuggled in various counties in Jingxiang. Shu salt is more exquisite than Huai salt. Even though it is strictly prohibited, it cannot be stopped.”

On the Yangzhou canal line, "the ships coming from the north often carry smuggled salt with them, and the grain ships returning empty are even worse. There are hundreds of boats and boats, sailing to rush to the pass. If you search for news, hold stiles and set fire, and crowds resist arrest, there is no way." Stop drinking."

Therefore, the neighbors who flowed into the Huaihe River and Huaihe River not only had a large area and a large number, but also were no less serious than the private interests of the lords.

How big of an impact?Taking Jiangxi as an example, Gao Wushi found the file: "Firstly, Jiangxi province distributed Huaiyan 39 citations, and then Ganzhou, Nan'an, and Ji'an prefectures switched to Guangyan, but Nanchang and other nine prefectures still issued 27 citations of Huaiyan. Smugglers are prevalent, light boats paddle quickly, and gather wherever they are.

For example, the three prefectures of Yuanzhou, Linjiang, and Ruizhou all ate Guangzhou salt privately; the three prefectures of Fuzhou, Jianchang, and Guangxin ate Fuyan privately (Guangxin prefecture is the salt land of the two Zhejiang provinces, not the Huai area).So Huaiyan only sold 16 yuan.Within a few years, the national economy was in dire straits.

Governor Ma Senshang Shuji Chen Qi harm, please build a bridge with Xiajiang County to set up a pass, prohibit the road of Guang and Fu private salt, and still restore the original amount of Huai salt.Slightly increased to 47 quotations. "

Neighbors privately invaded the irrigation and Huaihe area, which not only robbed the court of salt tax, but also made it difficult to sell Huai salt, and the Huai area was related to the reserves of the nine borders, which was obviously a confidant of the imperial court.

Although the imperial court divided part of the Huaihe area into other salt areas, it was often the case that Huaiyan took a step back and neighbors and private interests pushed closer.For example, in Jiangxi, "without the three prefectures, the whole province will be blocked, and the whole Huaihe River will be sick." Therefore, "if the three prefectures are gone, Huaiyan will not be able to compete with Guangxi in the end."

The result of Huaiyan's failure to compete with Guangzhou was that the national economy was in dire straits, border salaries could not be guaranteed, and national security was greatly threatened.If it hadn't been for the high-arch reforms, the court would have received more income from the port, and the Ming army's re-equipment would not have been possible in these years.

But illegal salt is so rampant, is it justified to let it go viral?Since Gao Yushi has become the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, how can there be room for his eyes to be full of sand and sand!It is the right time to take advantage of the power of Nancha to seize the power to supervise salt.
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(End of this chapter)