Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 49 Salt

Sitting on the dragon chair, Li Heng looked at the middle-aged official.

Wearing a green robe, Wu Qi was tall and thin, but with a fair face and beard, it could be seen that he should have been a handsome scholar when he was young.

Although Lixing, the supervisory censor, is only a sixth rank, it is indeed a very important official position in the official sequence of the Tang Dynasty.

The responsibility of the Supervisory Yuan is to picket and impeach officials for illegal activities. Since the court of Wu Zhou Dynasty, the court has granted considerable power to supervise the censors.

The supervisory censor can choose the object of investigation by himself, and can even investigate the illegal activities of the prime minister.

Many prime ministers were impeached by the little supervisory censor, and they were properly humble.

And this important position is either held by a new scholar, or a close minister of the emperor.

However, Fifth Qi's supervisory censor lixing was conferred by the emperor Li Longji before he abdicated. Before that, his official position was under Wei Jian's account as marching commander.

Hearing that Fifth Qi met the Emperor from Sichuan, Li Heng immediately asked, "Is the Emperor all right?"

Fifth Qi looked at Li Heng secretly, seeing the emperor's expression in his eyes.

Fifth Qi immediately said: "After the emperor entered Shu, the dragon's body was not safe. Later, when he heard that his majesty was enthroned, the emperor unloaded the burden and said to the left and right ministers, 'With your majesty taking up the Tang Dynasty, I can finally rest'. From then on Every day, the emperor brings his courtiers to feast in Sichuan."

Hearing this, Li Heng's complexion improved a lot, but he also knew that Li Longji's abdication was not voluntary, but that everyone in the world hated him at that time, so he had no choice but to admit Li Heng who was enthroned by Lingwu.

Moreover, the mutiny at Maweipo also frightened Li Longji's courage. If he continued to be the emperor, Li Longji would personally lead the troops to recover the two capitals, so he simply abdicated and gave way to his son.

However, Li Heng had been the prince under Li Longji for decades, so he didn't know the emperor's tactics, so he was still worried, for fear that Li Longji would finally reap the fruits of victory.

After inquiring about Li Longji's recent situation, Li Heng said: "What is the purpose of Qing coming to see me from Yizhou?"

Fifth Qi bowed to Li Heng: "Your Majesty, I came here for the important event of countering the rebellion. May I ask Your Majesty, what is the most important thing about countering the rebellion?"

Li Heng blurted out: "It goes without saying, of course it's the army!"

Fifth Qi shook his head and said: "No, no, there is only a large army, but the sergeants don't work hard, no matter how many troops there are, they will inevitably be defeated."

Li Heng said again: "In the legal system? I am the Son of Heaven, and it is the destiny to put down the rebellion. With this destiny, there will be a day when the rebellion will be put down."

Fifth Qi shook his head and said: "In terms of legal system, Yang Guang, the second generation of the Sui Dynasty, won the country, which is not injustice, but Yang Guang led the elite to settle in Yangzhou, and finally sat in poverty and was defeated. Does the legal system alone make the people of the world loyal?"

Li Heng thought for a while and then said: "Talents? I have Li Mi, Guo Ziyi and other civil servants and generals serving, so why worry about the world being injustice."

Fifth Qi shook his head again and said: "Yang Guang, the Second Emperor of the Sui Dynasty, also had civil servants and generals such as Su Wei and Han Qinhu under his command."

Now Li Heng is a little unhappy, you fifth Qi keeps using Yang Guang as an example, so is it Yang Guang?

Wu Qi saw that Li Heng's face had changed, he knelt down and bowed down and said, "Saint, I think the most important thing to calm the world is wealth."

"Only when the court has property in its hands can the army be rewarded, and the soldiers can use their lives."

"Only when the court has wealth in its hands can it be able to pay the salaries of hundreds of officials, and only civil servants and generals can be loyal to the court."

Li Heng nodded immediately, this Fifth Qi is a talent!

He got off the dragon chair, helped Fifth Qi up and said, "Please teach me, how to gather wealth from all over the world to put an end to the rebellion of bandits?"

Fifth Qi said: "Nowadays the world is in great chaos, and the people have suffered for many years, I am afraid it is not appropriate to increase the rent."

Li Heng nodded, now the imperial court has collected enough rents, and with the addition of exorbitant taxes, the life of the people is already very difficult.

The last time Li Heng sent Huangmen to Shuofang to collect "military donations", it almost triggered a civil uprising. In the end, it was Guo Ziyi who sent his own soldiers to pay the compensation while cleaning up, which suppressed the civil uprising.

If taxes continue to increase, Li Heng's throne would have been overthrown by the peasant army without the need for An Lushan to call.

At this time Fifth Qi said: "Everyone in the world says that the wealth of the world is one that benefits the other. The wealth of Yizhou will naturally be transferred to His Majesty by the Emperor, and I can go to Yangzhou to raise money and food for His Majesty's suppression of the rebellion!"

Li Heng shook Fifth Qi's hand and said, "How will Qing raise money and food from Yangzhou?"

Fifth Qi said loudly: "Salt!"

"Salt?"

Li Heng looked at Wuqi suspiciously, only to hear Wuqi say: "Salt is something that every household must use every day. If tax is added to salt, even if the price is a little higher, the common people will still pay for it." Need to buy salt, whether rich or poor, the imperial court can collect taxes from them.”

Hearing Fifth Qi's proposal, Li Heng nodded, but he asked again: "But in the Taizong Dynasty, salt was exclusively owned by the government, but private salt was rampant, and the salt administration was corrupted. In the end, Emperor Taizong still avoided private ownership."

Fifth Qi said: "Your Majesty, the Taizong Dynasty set up salt shops in various places and stipulated that the court can only sell salt, but it is impossible to set up salt shops in every township. It is convenient for the people to sell salt from salt dealers in the end. Taizong also took pity on the hard work of the people, so he avoided the franchise system of salt shops."

"However, the minister's method is that the imperial court does not need to control the sale of salt. It only needs to control the industry of producing salt, and then sell the salt to salt merchants at a high price."

"There are only a few places where the imperial court produces salt, and most of the salt in the world is produced from the Jianghuai River. The minister went to the south of the Yangtze River and organized Yan Dingqi into salt households, and strictly managed them like military households. Let them only Salt can be made in the imperial saltworks."

"Your Majesty will give some sergeants to the ministers to fight against the dealers who make private salt. As long as the salt farms are in the hands of the imperial court, tax will be added to the salt and sold to those salt merchants, and finally the salt merchants will resell them to the people. If you can be famous but not endowed, the country will be rich. Your Majesty will also be able to reward the ministers of civil and military affairs and soldiers who dare to die to serve."

After listening to Fifth Qi's method, Li Heng and Longyan Dayue, this method is good!
Indeed, as Fifth Qi said, for the imperial court, the most important thing is to be able to distribute rewards to soldiers.

Li Heng, who had personally experienced the Maweipo mutiny, knew that these big-headed soldiers were the sharp swords that guarded the Tang Dynasty, but if they owed their military pay, they would also violently ask for their salary. As long as you don't give money, you will be cut off.

When he first arrived in Shuofang, Li Heng was often despised by the arrogant generals in Shuofang because he couldn't afford to reward the army.

That is to say, now that money is abundant, the army gradually obeys him. After thinking about this, Li Heng said to Fifth Qi:
"I ordered Aiqing to be the supervisory censor, to join the Jianghuai Zuyong envoy, and the salt and iron transfer envoy, to take charge of the salt affairs of the five states in Jiangzuo!"

(End of this chapter)