Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2324: Fengshan (XXI) "Saintly King and Wise Minister"

It doesn't matter that it's a long story. The emperor is now on a journey, and the two major events of this trip are the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai and the visit to the Xiaoling Mausoleum. Zhu Yijun followed the itinerary and etiquette formulated by the civil service group headed by Gao Youshi, and basically put an end to all personal entertainment activities.

So, since there was nothing else to do now, it was a good way to kill time to have a serious chat with Gao Youshi about the problems of the Changlu Salt Field. At least, if this kind of diligence in state affairs was known, he would definitely not be scolded.

Therefore, Zhu Yijun said solemnly: "Prime Minister, please tell me, I am all ears."

Gao Youshi knew that Zhu Yijun, the hands-off manager, had suddenly become so diligent in his work because he had no choice but to do so because there were so many things he could do. However, he still looked serious and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, the salt system of the Ming Dynasty follows the Yuan system. The Du Zhuanyunshi was set up in Changlu, with two branch offices in Qingzhou and Cangzhou and two inspection offices in Changlu and Xiaozhigu. Each of the two branch offices governed twelve salt fields. Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, the court set up a total of 24 salt fields in Changlu.

Our dynasty implemented a salt monopoly system, that is, the salt produced in the salt fields was gradually transported to the salt farms, and then the salt merchants would withdraw the salt from the salt farms, transport it to the inspection office for inspection, and then transport it to the designated areas for sale. However, due to the differences in transportation convenience and inconvenience of salt transportation and the distance from the inspection office, the salt merchants who were good at calculating costs and benefits would inevitably pick and choose the salt farms when opening the salt farms.

In simple terms, merchants were willing to open salt fields that were convenient for transportation and close to the inspection office, and would avoid those that were not. As early as the sixth year of Chenghua (1470), the salt inspector Lin Cheng pointed out that merchants were not willing to open salt produced in the Changlu salt field, which was inconvenient for transportation.

"Although the six salt markets such as Changlu and Xingguo are open by water, and the five salt markets such as Yanzhen are slightly more convenient for opening by land and water, in addition to the fees paid by merchants, some of them have accumulated salt taxes for several years. The thirteen salt markets such as Shenzhou and Haiying are far away by land, and each market is assigned to merchants. Due to the heavy fees, there is a fear of losses. They are willing to pay the invoice, but they do not know that the salt taxes have no other expenses. Although officials are sent to sell the salt, no one buys after the notice is posted for several months. Even when the price is reduced, there is little movement. The salt taxes are piled up in each market, and the brine is consumed over the years, which is a burden on the kitchen workers. It is difficult to recover the money, and the country does not get any real benefit."

Your Majesty, if no merchants are willing to open the salt mines, the salt produced in the salt mines will have to be piled up in the salt mines. As the saying goes, "Salt melts when it sees water and turns into brine when it sees wind." However, according to the laws of this dynasty, if the salt piled up in the salt mines melts due to rain or strong winds, the salt collectors will have the risk and obligation to pay compensation.

At the same time, if the merchants did not open the market, it meant that the salt produced by the salt farmers could not be transported and sold by the merchants, thus realizing the high profits of the salt monopoly. Therefore, this situation was disadvantageous to both the salt farmers and the court.

For this reason, Lin Cheng petitioned to implement the salt tax-color system at Changlu Salt Field. He said: "I have learned that the salt tax of seven salt fields including Xinyang under Shandong Transport Bureau is all converted into cloth. I would like to take 10% of the salt tax from 13 salt fields including Shenzhou Haiying, and boil 5% of the salt tax into cloth. The remaining 5% will be collected by Shandong Transport Bureau. Officials will be appointed to supervise the collection of salt from each salt field, and the salt tax will be stored in the canal and government warehouses for use by all border areas."

After the memorial was approved by the court, the eight salt fields of Shenzhou Haiying, Haiying, Fucai, Fumin, Haifu, Runguo, Yimin and Hairun under the jurisdiction of Cangzhou Branch and the five salt fields of Yuezhi, Jimin, Huimin, Shibei and Guihua under the jurisdiction of Qingzhou Branch took the lead in implementing the half-salt tax discount in Changlu Salt District.

The method of payment is: every two large salt levies are combined into four small salt levies, weighing a total of 800 jin, which are folded into a piece of wide white cloth (32 feet long), and are collected and delivered to Tongzhou Tongji Treasury for salary payment. From then on, half of the salt taxes in 13 of the 24 salt fields were no longer required to pay the original salt, but were instead required to pay the cloth in the form of salt. Your Majesty, do you know what such a wide-ranging and large-scale salt tax payment means? "

Zhu Yijun was used to being a hands-off manager. When he heard such a complicated situation, he pondered for a moment before roughly understanding the problem. He frowned and said, "I think what the Prime Minister meant was that many salt fields in Changlu Salt Field are in a bad location for transportation, so merchants are unwilling to open them, so the salt workers in these salt fields are having a harder and harder time making a living?"

Gao Youshi breathed a sigh of relief, as long as the emperor understood. He sighed and nodded, "Your Majesty is wise, that's right. The stove people are just like the military households and artisan households. They are restricted by the law and have made a living by making salt for generations. If the merchants are unwilling to come and open up the business, they will have no way to make a living.

Therefore, Your Majesty should know why there are always many people who sell private salt and never stop despite repeated prohibitions, even at the risk of being beheaded? Firstly, these cooks have no means of livelihood. If they cannot sell the salt that no one wants to take, not only will they not be able to make a penny, but they will also be severely punished by the court. And they cannot change their careers to do something else, so aren't they just waiting to be killed?

Secondly, the salt fields that merchants were unwilling to come to were not necessarily unprofitable, but rather they had more options, such as opening other salt fields, which not only reduced costs but also did not affect the sales price, and they could obviously make more money. For private salt dealers, the small amounts of money that the big merchants looked down upon were still huge profits in their eyes, or even if they were not huge profits, at least they still had great potential.

Therefore, the private salt dealers and the poor farmers have similar interests, so they naturally hit it off. Under such circumstances, is it any surprise that private salt is still rampant despite repeated bans? Your Majesty, if the court is only focused on cracking down on private salt, what is the difference between it and Gun's attempt to control floods by blocking them?"

Gao Youshi's arguments were always simple and easy to understand. Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly and sighed, "What Yuanfu said makes sense. If those stove people can't even survive, it's not surprising that they are lured by private salt dealers."

After a pause, he continued, "Then half of the salt tax from the thirteen salt fields mentioned above can be converted into cloth, which can also be regarded as a measure to help the local residents. I think this should be able to alleviate the suffering of the local residents to a certain extent, right?"

Gao Youshi touched his chin and said, "It is indeed a slight relief, but the problem is that if the merchants do not come to Kaizhong as usual, then the stove households will still have to continue to bear the risk and burden of paying the remaining half of the salt tax after it is melted.

At that time, the imperial court also saw the problem, so in the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), the imperial court issued a policy to match the high and low salt fields in Changlu Salt Field. It was agreed that the Changlu Transport Bureau would "divide the salt fields into four grades according to their distance, and invite merchants to sell them in the middle, matching the high and low salt fields."

In addition to the internal and external matching of the Changlu Salt Field, the imperial court also implemented the policy of matching the north and south. However, some salt merchants successfully avoided the internal and external matching of the Changlu Salt Field by bribing the salt field officials. It was recorded at the time that "the officials have been corrupt recently, and the northern field has sent more and the southern field has sent less. In five or six years, the southern field has accumulated hundreds of thousands of jin, which has burdened the salt workers." Therefore, the internal and external matching of the Changlu Salt Field only treats the symptoms but not the root cause, and the effect is not obvious. "

Zhu Yijun was very displeased and said bitterly: "The salt merchants are greedy and the salt officials are greedy and forget their principles. They should all be killed!"

This was just an angry remark. Gao Youshi had been an official for many years and knew that people were selfish. If there were no institutional restrictions, it would be a pipe dream to expect salt merchants and salt officials to put selflessness above all else.

On the other hand, the so-called "all can be killed" is also impossible - can they be killed? Can they all be killed and replaced? Zhu Yuanzhang skinned and strawed many people and killed them, so did there not be fewer corrupt officials in his Hongwu reign? If there is a problem with the system setting and the distribution of benefits is not clear, it will be useless even if you kill a million people.

"Your Majesty, why don't you listen to me on the other side?" Gao Youshi said calmly, "Because the court opened up the salt market too much later, the salt fields with convenient transportation and close to the inspection office could not pay enough salt taxes to meet the salt merchants' needs, so the salt merchants were forced to keep their salt business for a long time.

Therefore, the imperial court introduced a policy of buying and subsidizing surplus salt. The so-called buying and subsidizing surplus salt means "ordering merchants to assign designated salt fields to guard the salt fields and then take them out of the salt fields. If there is no salt, they can buy it from the salt fields themselves." This means that the salt merchants in the market are allowed to buy surplus salt from the salt farmers to make up for the regular salt. This solves the problem of salt merchants keeping their surplus salt by breaking the old rule that the government collects surplus salt and that it is not allowed to buy and sell it privately.

In the fifth year of the Zhengde reign, it was decided that the Changlu Transport Office should be allowed to collect salt from the government. "In the past few years, the government has made laws to allow the remaining salt to be traded among the government."

Zhu Yijun frowned and asked, "Will this strategy be effective?"

Gao Youshi said sarcastically: "On the one hand, the practice of selling surplus salt to make up for the loss has stimulated the enthusiasm of salt workers in areas with convenient transportation, thus promoting the development of their salt industry; on the other hand, it has further worsened the situation of salt workers in areas with inconvenient transportation, forcing them to engage in the path of selling private salt.

At that time, the imperial censor Zhu Tingli pointed out that "(merchants) buy and sell salt near the convenient market to save the cost of traveling. As a result, even if there is excess salt in the local salt market, merchants are unwilling to buy it. If they want to sell the salt, there is a ban on private salt. Therefore, the salt market cannot make salt for frying and cannot make a living. Whenever there is a famine, many of them flee."

In other words, if the salt merchants did not go to the remote salt fields to collect salt, and if the salt workers in those salt fields did not sell private salt, they would have to flee. Therefore, the policy of buying and subsidizing surplus salt did not effectively solve the problem of salt fields being difficult to sell due to inconvenient transportation. "

"What happens next? There must be a solution, right?" Zhu Yijun's face already looked a little ugly.

"Later, the salt station tax at Changlu Salt Field was changed to silver." Gao Youshi sighed, "Afterwards, the official warehouses were depleted by wind and rain, which led to corruption, so it was decided to require salt station households to store two cents of their salt bills at a discount, and give them to merchants who paid millet to buy salt from the field, so that they could buy salt from the field. This was the beginning of the silver tax.

I don't remember exactly when the salt tax at the Changlu Salt Field was converted into silver [note: I didn't find the data], but it was no later than the 1530th year of Jiajing (). At that time, because it was "far away from the Xiaozhigu Inspection Office, it was difficult to support and the salt tax was reversed one after another", so in the th year of Jiajing, with the approval of Fu Jiong, the Imperial Censor of Changlu Salt Inspection, the salt tax at the four salt fields of Jimin, Shibei, Huimin and Guihua under the Qingzhou Branch Office was converted into silver after the cloth was converted into cloth, "ordering each salt collector to pay one silver coin for each salt draw, and to buy the surplus salt from the diligent salt collectors to make up for the amount". By the th year of Jiajing, the salt tax of the twelve salt fields under the Cangzhou Branch Office was almost all converted into silver.

Specifically, it was agreed that the households in the Haiying field of Shenzhou, Cangzhou Branch Office, except for the 13 households near Yanshan County, should pay the original tax. The households living in Hengshui County of Zhending Prefecture should pay one cent of silver for each ton of rice; the 11 fields such as Liguo should pay five cents of silver for each stone of rice to be transported to Tianjin warehouses every year; the silver for the conversion of rice and salt in the 13 fields such as Haiying was 7.5 cents in the old rules, but now it has been reduced by one cent. All the taxes should be paid and submitted to the office.

Zhu Yijun frowned, thinking seriously, and said slowly: "I think this salt tax reform is in line with the interests of the salt field stove owners, and also conforms to the overall trend of reforms that Gao Wenzheng and you have been carrying out over the years. So this time there should be some improvement, right?"

Gao Youshi smiled and said, "The salt tax can be converted into silver and paid to the transport department to give to merchants. This can really kill two birds with one stone. This can effectively solve the problem of salt workers suffering from the loss of salt and meet the merchants' wishes to open salt fields in areas with convenient transportation, thus achieving the effect of helping the salt workers and benefiting the merchants."

Zhu Yijun's expression relaxed, and he was about to praise "Your virtuous uncle and nephew are truly capable ministers of the Ming Dynasty", but unexpectedly Gao Youshi hadn't finished speaking.

Gao Yuanfu's tone became solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "However, the conversion of salt tax into silver has also bred some new problems: first, compared with the previous salt field operation model, there is an additional link for salt farmers to sell salt and get silver, and in this link, salt farmers are often prone to the risk of salt merchants deliberately lowering the price of salt.

Secondly, it was inevitable that the salt farmers would break free from the constraints of the salt fields, leave the salt fields, and change to other businesses. Especially after the salt fields and grasslands were invaded by the powerful, or sold to each other, the poor and weak salt farmers who lost their means of production were obviously unable to guarantee production and were forced to flee.

  Zhu Yijun was shocked when he heard this, and he was a little embarrassed to ask immediately: Is your uncle's family, the Zhang family of Puzhou... considered a powerful family? Did the Zhang family of Puzhou force the sale by becoming the "major shareholder" of Changlu Salt Field?

Gao Youshi seemed to know the future. He smiled at the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, do you want to ask about Zhang family in Puzhou? I'd like to let your Majesty know that although my grandfather started his business by doing business, he always hoped that his children would study for the imperial examinations and become a poetic family from a merchant family. Therefore, in order to avoid future generations becoming officials and being ridiculed by the public, he never forced them to buy or sell.

Of course, after he had some success in business, he relied on his strong capital to force some rivals not to compete with him. After that, my uncle Feng Pan passed the imperial examination and his career became more open. Naturally, there were more merchants who did not dare to compete with my grandfather, which made it easier for Zhang family in Puzhou to buy more salt permits bit by bit and become the leading salt merchant in Changlu Salt Field...

However, I am not afraid of the emperor's blame. I think this is normal business competition. For example, if Jinghua takes a fancy to a newly discovered mine, as long as Jinghua expresses its intention to buy it, many merchants who originally intended to buy it will back out.

First, they know that their capital is not as abundant as Jinghua's, and even if they bid, they will not be able to beat Jinghua, and it may even offend Jinghua and make their business difficult in the future; second, they are probably worried that participating in the competition will make me hate them. No matter how I ask myself, I will not take these things to heart, but do they really dare to bet on how big my mind is? Unless I retire and return home, there is no solution to this matter. "

Zhu Yijun also understood this principle. With Gao Youshi's current position in the court, who among the ordinary merchants would dare to offend him? Even if the matter was so small that Gao Youshi might not even bother to ask, he would still not dare to do what he should not.

Whether it was real power, prestige, or even unparalleled commercial capital, Gao Youshi had everything. Apart from the Jiangnan chaebols who formed an alliance and dared to resist, the rest of them could only think about how to take advantage of Jinghua's wind. If they insisted on going against Jinghua, it would be like carrying a lantern into the toilet.

So Zhu Yijun could only nod to show his understanding.

Gao Youshi saw the emperor's words and continued, "In short, the introduction of policies such as converting salt taxes into cloth, opening up the salt fields in a balanced way, buying subsidies for surplus salt, and converting salt taxes into silver are the court's response to the problem of salt being piled up in some salt fields in Changlu and no merchants being able to withdraw it. I call this series of measures 'market-oriented reforms'.

However, the characteristic of "marketization" is free competition. In the Changlu Salt Field, this is reflected in the fact that salt fields with good conditions are becoming stronger and stronger, while salt fields with poor conditions are becoming weaker and weaker. Some salt fields eventually have a situation where there are salt fields but no stoves (people). These salt fields are only in name.

In the third year of Emperor Longqing's reign (1569), with the approval of Fu Mengchun, the imperial censor of Zhili, the imperial court merged Yimin Salt Field into Fucai Salt Field, Haifu Salt Field into Hairun Salt Field, Runguo Salt Field into Fumin Salt Field, and Sanchagu Salt Field into Fengcai Salt Field. As a result, the number of Changlu Salt Fields was reduced from at the beginning of the country to .

At that time, the southern salt field (the salt field under the jurisdiction of the Cangzhou branch) was mostly land-based and not accessible by boat. The price of salt was three times higher than the price of salt, so all the merchants in the middle were willing to pay the price to buy salt from the northern salt field (the salt field under the jurisdiction of the Qingzhou branch). The salt cooks were abandoned, and only one or two near the river continued their old business. The rest changed to farming and business, and paid a discount to the transportation department to give to the merchants.

Zhu Yijun nodded, but soon asked, "I already understand the reason, but why did I lose four salt fields during the Wanli period? Is it because of your so-called 'marketization' and 'free competition'? How did these four lose in the competition?"

"Because of the Liaonan Salt Field." Gao Youshi coughed lightly and said, "The Liaonan Salt Field replaced the old salt frying method with a more efficient salt drying method. At the same time, it was supported by Jinghua's powerful water transportation. The cost pressure made the four salt fields no longer profitable. Therefore, they 'failed in the competition' and eventually had to be closed down."

Zhu Yijun was stunned when he heard this, and then he felt a little embarrassed. It was not for any other reason, but because he, the saintly king, also held nearly half of the shares in Liaonan Salt Field, and he could collect hundreds of thousands of taels of money from Liaonan Salt Field into the treasury every year.

"Uh... this market competition is reasonable and legal after all..." Zhu Yijun said awkwardly, but seeing Gao Youshi looking at him with a half-smile, he couldn't help but stare back at him with wide eyes and said unhappily: "Why are you looking at me? I own 49% of the shares in Liaonan Salt Field, and you own 51%. You have a greater responsibility than me!"

The emperor, who was now getting thinner and thinner due to the praise from the court and the public, did not expect that Gao Youshi was still as thick-skinned as ever. The prime minister completely ignored the emperor's performance and said with pity: "Tens of thousands of salt workers in the salt fields have lost their livelihoods and can only survive with difficulty. But they have spent half their lives making salt and have no other skills. Their lives are really sad and tearful..."

"Okay, okay, I don't know you yet? Are you going to say that so many able-bodied men have nothing to do and can only wander among the people? On the one hand, they are pitiful, and on the other hand, they become a threat to local public security..." Zhu Yijun snorted and waved his hand, saying, "You must have a plan in advance, so just tell me quickly."

"The one who knows me best is the emperor." Gao Youshi said with a smile: "In fact, this matter is not that difficult to handle. First of all, the salt-making method of Liaonan Salt Field is not a secret. If it can be used in Liaonan, it can naturally be used in Cangzhou as well.

Secondly, Cangzhou itself has convenient transportation because of the canal that runs through it, but the roads from the salt fields to Cangzhou have been in disrepair for a long time. If the imperial court is willing to allocate money to repair the road, once the road from the salt fields to Cangzhou is no longer difficult to travel, the salt can be sold along the canal when it arrives in Cangzhou, and its competitiveness will naturally be restored.

As for those who are living outside, they can be called back to participate in road construction at the beginning, and they can be paid monthly wages. After the salt field is restored, they can go back to make salt, and the security risks will naturally be eliminated. "

"Yes, this is indeed the truth!" Zhu Yijun was immediately happy and said with a smile: "I said that there is no problem that can't trouble Ri Xin... Eh?"

When the emperor said this, he suddenly realized something. He squinted his eyes and looked at Gao Youshi. He sneered and said, "Gao Rixin, you are really good at scheming. What? The court will pay for your uncle's family to repair the treasure bowl that you broke? What? You will take all the benefits?"

Gao Youshi laughed and said, "Your Majesty, that's not how it works. Even though the Liaonan Salt Field has increased its production several times, the salt market in Daming and surrounding areas is not saturated. If the Changlu Salt Field can recover, it will be difficult to regain the market share taken away by the Liaonan Salt Field.

This means that Changlu Salt Field needs to open up a larger market, such as extending sales channels further into inland areas. Your Majesty, this is a win-win situation. First, Changlu Salt Field will regain profits, and the court can collect more taxes from it; second, the inland people can eat more abundant and cheaper salt, and their recognition of the court will be higher..."

"Alright, alright, I know these principles, no need for Mr. Gao to teach me." Zhu Yijun rolled his eyes at Gao Youshi, then couldn't help laughing: "How come you can always balance public and private matters? Okay, I've approved this, just write a memorial and submit it when you have time."

Gao Fusi hurriedly stopped him and said, "Otherwise, it is not appropriate for me to take the initiative to submit a petition on this matter... I hope that Your Majesty will visit the salt fields in Cangzhou before ordering me to draw up a plan."

  Zhu Yijun understood the meaning of the song and smiled, "Okay, okay, you don't want any benefits or disadvantages... But it doesn't matter, this method is just like what you like to say, 'win-win', I agree. When we get to Cangzhou, we will perform a good show of a sage king and a wise minister, hey!"
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PS: I am only a few words away from 6K. If I can’t make it, I will save you a penny O(∩_∩)O