His Royal Highness, he is plotting against me

Chapter 101 As You Wish

This is the first time the prince has called him uncle in so many years.

How ironic?
He remembered that although the prince was serious when he was a child, he was still very respectful to him.

Since he was ten years old, he has only been called "Wang Shangshu" indifferently and distantly.

This nephew has been eccentric since he was a child, he is neither hot nor angry in everything, and his intelligence is also very mediocre.

After Wang Shangshu's disappointment and regret at the beginning, he was very relieved.

Isn't such a prince suitable for their royal family?
But when the prince was a teenager, he was only thinking about how to weaken the power of the family.

Wang Shangshu closed his eyes, "This is the court hall, the place where government affairs are discussed. What is the crown prince doing with a young child?!"

Qin Ao waved his hand, motioning for Xiao Ze to take him down.

He smiled and said, "Of course I can't bear the separation of uncle and cousin, and I just want you to reunite for a few more days."

Wang Shangshu calmly said word by word: "Your Highness doesn't need to worry about your family affairs, and your Highness doesn't have to threaten Yu Chen with your family. It's still the same sentence, everything must be proved!"

"Although the minister is not as good as my father's elders of the three dynasties, he also asks himself that he has devoted himself to me, Dajing, and has worked hard for more than [-] years in office, and dare not slack off. If the crown prince wants to be a minister, he can't do it without proof!"

"Yes, what about the evidence?"

"False accusation and rebellion, even His Royal Highness must abide by my Dajing law!"

All of a sudden, officials from the Wang family jumped out one after another.

Shouting for the prince to come up with evidence.

Otherwise, he will be punished for rebellion!

Qin Ao clapped his hands, "Since that's the case, I'm just as uncle and all the adults want."

Several royal guards brought up two boxes.

Wang Shangshu watched the show with disdainful eyes.

He wants to see what evidence his nephew can produce!
"The Jiangnan Salt Field was established in Longyu ten years ago. It has been 40 years so far. The annual salt production of the salt field is no less than ten thousand stones. The lowest price of salt on the market is a hundred yuan. But in the past 40 years, our Dajing State Treasury has received Jiangnan salt. The tax is less than 10 taels..."

Wang Shangshu's contemptuous expression disappeared.

He listened to the crown prince detailing the current market price of Dajing's salt market bit by bit.

Then he distributed the ledgers in the two large boxes one by one to all the people present who were shocked by the figures revealed by the prince.

"This is the account book of Jiangnan Salt Works in the past ten years. Coincidentally, it does not match the number of account books submitted to the Ministry of Accounts every year."

"For example, in the first quarter of this year, the Jiangnan Salt Field produced [-] shi of salt. This is a record kept by the Ministry of Household Affairs, but in the original account book it says "[-] shi of salt produced"!"

Wang Shangshu sneered, "It's ridiculous!"

"I don't know where I found the account book, but I dare say it is the original account book of the Jiangnan Salt Field! Every year when the salt field enters and exits, the salt transport envoy personally inspects it and then enters it into the account of the household department. In such a large court, the prince should learn more. Say it again."

He almost pointed to the prince's nose and said that he was a child, didn't know what to say, was ignorant and stupid.

The Salt Transport Envoy is a relatively special institution under the Ministry of Household Affairs.

It is responsible for monitoring the two salt farms in Dajing, and every quarter, it will send salt transport officials to the two salt farms to supervise the accounts of the salt farms.

Finally, enter the account of the household department.

In this way, there will be no problems with the accounts of the saltworks.

At least on the surface.

In fact, Dajing's official salt exists in name only.

The official salt shop on the street outside has extremely high prices and a lot of impurities.

And some private salt shops, not to mention the cheap price, are crystal clear and of better quality.

As a result, those official salt shops are even more neglected.

Naturally, the imperial court couldn't make much money from these official salts.

The real money is the private salt hidden by the salt field!

For so many years, everyone knew that there was something tricky in it, but because there was no substantive evidence, they couldn't figure it out.

The reason why the Qingzhou Salt Farm was completely taken back by the court was because the salt transport official in charge of Qingzhou's accounts went wrong.

It made the court seize the handle, so it gave them an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Borrowing the Qingzhou garrison to take back the Qingzhou Salt Field.

Qin Ao didn't take it seriously either, "Oh? But Gu brought these account books, it was from the salt transport envoys of the past..."

What he said lightly made Wang Shangshu's expression change again.

The corner of Wang Shangshu's mouth twitched, and he wanted to say "ridiculous" again, but he couldn't open his mouth when he met the prince's restless gaze.

impossible!
It is true that the salt farms have yin and yang accounts, and the salt transport envoys also have a private account.

But the private accounts of the salt transport envoys of the past dynasties?
Can the prince get it?
This is ridiculous.

Not to mention that some people have already been turned into piles of loess, would the living people seek their own death?
"But what does this have to do with the minister? My Wang family is far away in Taiyuan, and I have nothing to do with Jiangnan!"

Wang Shangshu continued to argue for Wang.

Qin Ao happened to turn to an account book, "But uncle, what is written here: In July this year, Taiyuan Wang's silver was 10 taels, Yingchuan Xu's silver was 8 taels..."

"Oh, this should be settled on a quarterly basis. Every year, no less than 50 taels of silver flow from Jiangnan to Taiyuan. Tsk tsk tsk... Is this what uncle said about being out of reach?"

Wang Shangshu's head was full of blood, and before he could say anything, the ministers in the palace couldn't hide their excitement.

"What? 10 taels a quarter? My God... one quarter is worth 40 years of salt tax!"

"Yeah! This is too profitable! The food is still too ugly..."

"The aristocratic family of hundreds of years is still greedy for such yellow and white things. It's really... not as good as us poor families!"

Ha ha.

I have to say that everyone is naive.

Do you think that the aristocratic family is full of spring and white snow, eating the wind and drinking the dew, with a fairy air?

No!

The more the so-called old family, the more decadent the inside.

Big tree with deep roots?

Indeed!

But what followed was "flourishing".

The main branch, the direct line, the collateral, the servant, the trilogy...

People from an established family are no less than people from small countries with only a few people around Dajing.

To support these people, some aristocratic families will send out special collateral to do business and support the direct line.

The methods are even more disgusting, and they will do everything to make money.

If it is for profit, everything can be thrown away.

The cost of salt is not high, but the salt tax is high.

Coupled with several turnovers, the price of salt will be higher.

But salt is just what the people need, just like food.

Naturally, the imperial court had already brought important materials such as salt and iron back to the official camp, but it couldn't stand the weakness of the imperial court.

Taking it is the same as confiscating it.

Over the years, the imperial court's own army rose up, and only then did it gradually take iron ore and ironware into its own hands.

The next step, of course, is salt.

How could the imperial court have allowed such an important and profitable thing to be kept in the hands of those people?

Not just for the benefit of the treasury.

More importantly, it is for the price of salt in Pingyi, so that more people can afford salt.

The rice on the market is only seven or eight pennies a bucket, but the salt is more than ten times that.

The common people couldn't afford salt, but they had to eat salt.

So it can only be deducted elsewhere.

If things go on like this, whose pocket is fat?
Whose interests are harmed?

What is destroyed is the foundation of the country.

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(End of this chapter)