Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 642
Wang Fuzhi also met Du Yinxi who came to Beijing for dinner yesterday. He said that the income of the imperial court is quite high this year. The whole country has sold land for tens of millions of silver dollars. The salt tax, sales of salt and salt smuggling also brought in tens of millions of dollars. silver dollar.

When he heard it, he couldn't believe it.

Not to mention selling land for tens of millions, just say that this salt can earn tens of millions?
The salt tax income in the Song Dynasty was extremely high, but the price of salt in the Song Dynasty was so high, several hundred renminbi a catty of salt.

Daming now only sells a few renminbi, more than a dozen renminbi, and the highest is no more than [-] renminbi. Sichuan mainly uses well salt and mine salt, and will also import some Qinghai salt, Huai salt, etc. for supplementation. The price of salt is only [-] renminbi, and Guizhou also sells Almost like this, the price of salt is one-tenth of what it used to be.

Du Yinxi said that he didn't believe it at first, but this is already public data.

The main reason is that it sells a lot. Now Daming controls almost all the salt farms across the country. Its salt production is very high, and there is very little private salt now, so don’t look at the cheap salt price, but it still makes money by collecting taxes and selling salt plus smuggling. many.

Du Yinxi also said that after the recovery of the whole country, the income may decrease, because the imperial court officially smuggled salt to the north, which accounted for a large proportion.

But in the future, it is very possible to reach 800 million silver dollars a year, or even reach [-] million.

Du Yinxi also said that this is the emperor's kindness and compassion for the people. He said that salt and food are the necessities of the people, and they are indispensable for a day, so the price should not be too high. The ten-thousand-salt tax also lost popular support.

The emperor's attitude is still very firm. In fact, this year, special campaigns against salt smuggling have not stopped in various places. Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and even the police station of the imperial camp have all cooperated with each other, showing no mercy to those smugglers.

Those who smuggled salt under one shi were only fined ten for one smuggling, but those who smuggled more than one shi directly ransacked their homes.

There are also arbitrary price increases and adulteration, all of which are severely punished.

The original official salt merchants have all fallen into the altar now, and they can no longer sit and make a fortune. If they want to continue to do this business, they can only compete with everyone and can no longer monopolize.

Some salt merchants also tried to bribe officials according to the old rules and engage in unfair competition. As a result, they were found out, and a dozen large salt merchants were directly chopped down, hundreds of them were copied, and thousands of them were exiled.He followed the clues and arrested a group of corrupt officials, who were punished with a higher crime.

The emperor copied these salt merchants and officials, and they all copied tens of millions of taels of silver.

Taiwan has newly established three prefectures, and there is still a shortage of people to reclaim wasteland and guard them. Not to mention that the imperial court is desperate for military expenses to raise soldiers and fight wars.
Du Yinxi also chatted with him at dinner yesterday that the imperial court wanted to increase financial sharing for the localities, land Dingyin, local six imperial courts four, and several other taxes, all of which were shared by the central four and local six.

Although items such as salt, tobacco, tea, wine, sugar and ginseng, mineral resources, lijin, and tariffs are all owned by the central government, the local government was able to increase tax revenue by at least 2000 million yuan last year, which is almost several times what the local government retained during the reign of Chongzhen.

There is no need for surcharges, no various levies, and no need for all kinds of fire consumption and floating income, which is more than the original money and food that I tried my best to get.

When the salt tax was collected in the Tang Dynasty, the price of salt was [-] renminbi, and the tax was increased by [-] renminbi, which was ten times the price of salt. In the Song Dynasty, the price of salt was even worse. A huge proportion of Song's national revenue.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were various salt methods, but the salt could not be collected. The common people ate private salt, which only enriched a group of salt merchants and corrupt officials.

But now, from the Yanding kitchen households to the salt merchants and salt dealers, the imperial court has completely relaxed the discipline, but the salt government has been established, and the income has increased.

This has to make Wang Fuzhi sigh, it is also the sun and the moon flag, how can Shao Tianchao do this?
Even the officials of the Shaotian Dynasty and the Chongzhen Dynasty were still such a group of people, such as Ruan Dacheng, Ma Shiying, Yang Wencong, Liu Kongzhao, and Zhu Dadian, who were previously called corrupt officials and treacherous officials, but now they are all able ministers and officials?

But Wang Fuzhi walked all the way from Huguang to Jiangsu and Shandong via Jiangxi and Anhui, and he really felt that the world is different, and the atmosphere of the Tokyo court is completely different.

Even Qian Qianyi, Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozong, Qi Biaojia and other Donglin party members in the past seem to have no intention of fighting and eradicating traitors now.

Zhu Dadian, who used to be a famous corrupt official, is said to be famous for his integrity now. Even when he went to the Prime Minister's office to discuss matters, he would bring his own tea, eat in the cafeteria, and even take the initiative to pay for it.

Du Yinxi even said that this time the court envoys from all over the country came to the Beijing court, and when they were doing business in the yamen, they had to pay for meals and tea by themselves, which was not much. It's only a few tens of pennies, and the tea fee is only ten cents.But this kind of thing that I have to pay for the meal and tea money, I have never experienced it before.

Even the governors and governors have to pay.

It's not that the yamen in Beijing can't afford a meal and a cup of tea, but try to be frugal and avoid extravagance by eating and drinking at public expense.

This matter is very new, but after thinking about it carefully, I feel that it is a good start.

After all, the yamen of the Ministry of the Capital is like this, and these governors and governors must pay attention to this aspect when they return to the provinces, and they will not dare to mess around with public entertainment in the future.

He did not believe that the imperial court was stingy.

Because officials from all over the country entered the court, the court gave them an extra sum of money, which was equivalent to the expenses of traveling to Beijing, food and accommodation, and they were all reimbursed, but there were standards for reimbursement.

According to the corresponding rank, each official can only bring how many followers he can bring, and what kind of carriage and horse treatment he can enjoy.

There have been many changes this year. Not only is the first court system started, but there are also many new rules. For example, when the local governors come to the court, according to the previous practice, they must go to various Beijing government offices to make arrangements. Anniversary ceremony is also indispensable.

But this year, all officials in all yamen will not receive salutes from foreign officials.

If they were in a hurry, they would send people directly to the Court of Remonstrance and the Procuratorate to call for people to come. Many people ended up being unable to get off the stage. Even fined salary, downgraded.

There was an inspector who secretly sent local specialty smoked chicken to the officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the result was stuffed with small yellow croakers. In the end, he was severely punished by dismissal from office and was even published in the newspaper.

Because the official department did not dare to accept his gold, after voluntarily reporting it, it attracted a joint investigation by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Remonstrance Court, and finally found that the inspector had only served in the local area for one year, but he did not violate the law.

Originally, the governor of Guangdong, Zhang Huangyan, had already reported to the imperial court that there was a problem with Wang Huacheng, the inspector of Guangdong, and asked the imperial court to investigate. The imperial court also secretly investigated for a long time. This time, he was quietly summoned to Beijing Chaoji, and he was originally here to accept him.

He even dared to send the little yellow croaker.

Immediately arrested, the three divisions interrogated, and all kinds of evidence were presented, but Wang Huacheng was unable to refute it, and even implicated a large group of Guangdong officials.

The final result of the trial was that although Wang Huacheng had served as an inspector in Guangdong for less than a year, he had embezzled more than 20 taels of silver, just like Ding Kuichu, the former governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. Ding Kuichu had embezzled more than 80 taels.

The situation was not stable before, and the emperor treated Ding Kuichu fairly politely. He confiscated his stolen money and said it was a donation, and then let him retire.

But now Wang Huacheng is out of luck. As the inspector censor, he dared to be so greedy, especially now that it was the end of the third year of Shaotian, so the result was that he was first dismissed from office and then prosecuted for the crime. The whole family was exiled to Taiwan.

Beheading at the Meridian Gate, the emperor ordered the public beheading at the Meridian Gate on the [-]th day of the first lunar month of the new year, and all court officials watched the punishment together.

Chosen to beheaded in such a place, the emperor personally imprisoned him on the Meridian Gate, and all officials watched the execution.

Although Wang Huacheng was not beheaded for giving gifts to the capital, when the news was announced, all court envoys were undoubtedly taken aback. They might not have paid much attention to it at first, and gifts are reciprocal, but now who dares to give gifts indiscriminately?

As long as there are souvenirs worth a little money, I dare not give them away.

Wang Fuzhi doesn't feel sorry for Wang Huacheng at all. Wang Huacheng is from Jiangxi. He was a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen, and he was first awarded the county magistrate of Mengcheng. At that time, locust plagues were everywhere, thieves invaded the city, and the people were hungry.Later, when the magistrate of Qingyang County in Tiaochi Prefecture, the rebel army went south and besieged the city, Wang Huacheng was still able to show his righteousness, and the rebel army broke away from the siege.

Because of these official achievements, Zhu Yihai also gave great importance to this young hero after he proclaimed himself emperor. He successively held the positions of Shizhong and Yushi.

Who knew this guy would dare to be so greedy for money.

Wang Fuzhi hated this person because when he was in Hunan, his father, brother and other clansmen fled to Guilin to avoid chaos because of the rebels plundering their hometown. After Wang Fuzhi knew about it, he reported it to the court, but he didn't expect that he had been corrupted so much now that he was sacked.

This person still has abilities, but he likes to cling to the powerful. For example, he clinged to Governor Ding Kuichu before, and even recognized Ding Kuichu's son-in-law as his righteous brother. Ding Kuichu was able to covet so much money back then, and Wang Huacheng also had a share of credit.

It was because he didn't know how to restrain himself that he just fell off the horse now. If he could know how to turn back when he lost his way, maybe the emperor would forgive him for his mistakes in the past in special times.

But when he went to Guangdong, he still dared to continue to be greedy under Zhang Huangyan's eyes. Isn't he looking for death?

Wang Fuzhi is very ashamed of this kind of person, he doesn't want a bright future, he insists on greedy for that little money, won't the imperial court give him a salary, is it still too little?

Patrolling is an important position in the Shaotian Dynasty, and the future is boundless.

Tomorrow will be the first day of the first month of the fourth year of Shaotian, and soon the examination will begin. Wang Fuzhi is very sure of himself. He left Hunan to embark on a dignified and bright official career. Starting from the county magistrate and the principal, he also aspires to be a virtuous minister who assists the Holy Emperor in reopening Taiping, and to leave a strong mark in the history of the future.

What I cherish in my heart is not fame and wealth, but peace of the people, helping the world, governing the country and the world!

(End of this chapter)