The six-dimensional pictures of emperors of all dynasties were exposed, and the ancestors panicked

Chapter 569 Where did Ming Dynasty’s money go?
On the canopy.

He no longer has the high spirits he had when he first became the emperor.

Zhu Youtang rubbed his eyebrows and sighed as he looked at the old minister in front of him.

"During the Yongle reign, Emperor Taizong led his army to the north every few years, moved the capital, and built the Great Wall, all of which cost a huge amount of money."

“But I haven’t heard of any financial difficulties.”

……

Zhu Gaochi glanced at Zhu Di quietly.

Zhu Di remained calm.

……

Zhu Youtang put down his hands and leaned back.

"Now, since I am not building any palaces and am being frugal in every way, why am I running out of money?"

"Sima Wenzheng once said that the wealth of the world is not in the court, but in the people."

“Now, the court has no money, and the people have no money either!

“Where did all this money go?”

……

【As we all know, Rome was not built in a day, and a fat man is not made in one bite. 】

[The Ming Dynasty's borders were not destroyed overnight, but the Ming Dynasty's money was completely gone during the Hongzhi period. 】

[If you want to know why, it’s because an unprecedented combination of interests has been born. ]

……

On the canopy.

A little man in official uniform stands in front of a pile of salt.

Behind him was a black figure whose face could not be seen clearly.

"Salt"

……

[Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up the salt and iron monopoly, salt has always been controlled by the government. The private sector is not allowed to manufacture and sell salt, and selling private salt is a serious crime punishable by death.]

[When Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, someone suggested that military rations were needed on the border, but it was very troublesome to transport grain from the interior. He suggested that civilians help transport grain. For every stone of grain transported to Datong, they would be given 200 kilograms, which was a receipt for one yin of salt, also known as "Yanyin".]

[Then he could take this voucher to the official salt fields along the coast to get salt, and then sell it for a profit to make up for the production and transportation costs of grain.]

[After transporting to the border, merchants can also hire people to develop wasteland and establish merchant settlements at the border. ]

Zhu Yuanzhang adopted this method and established it as a system, which was called "Kaizhong Fa"

……

{The advantage of the Kaizhong Law is that the imperial court does not have to directly organize the transportation of grain. Whenever a place needs military grain, it can apply for "Kaizhong" and let private merchants transport it. Whoever wants to make money can do it.}
{This is actually more convenient and quicker.}
{Because if the imperial court were to do it, it would have to build a huge transportation system and employ a large number of people, which would be very laborious and prone to corruption.}
{Therefore, the Kaizhong Law and the military settlement system became the two most important institutional guarantees for the food security of the border towns of the Ming Dynasty.}
{Lao Zhu's system is a bit like "PPP"}
{Public and Private Partnership, cooperation between government departments and the private sector}

{This concept is really advanced and practical.}
……

The period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
Liu Che's acceptance radar was turned on and his eyes lit up.

“This system is interesting.”

He tapped his fingers subconsciously.

Bundle business with franchising.

Transporting military rations was a public matter, but the right to monopolize salt was a right that only the imperial court could grant.

Bundle the two together and solve the food problem at the border.

The more Liu Che thought about it, the more he felt that there was a way forward.

"Isn't it true that all of Mr. Zhu's systems are backward?"

……

Period of Emperor Guangwu of Yanhan Dynasty

Liu Xiu did some calculation in his mind.

Merchants could not only organize the transportation of grain, but also allow them to hire people to cultivate land in border areas, grow grain locally and then sell it to the military.

Then get the salt.

This saves the trouble of long-distance transportation.

It also promoted the population development in border areas and consolidated national defense!

“Is this a good thing?”

Liu Xiu frowned.

"Then why do you say you have no money?"

……

【But there are four reasons why this system has become a decoration. 】

[First, too much profit was given, which attracted the covetousness and intervention of the powerful, suppressing the participation of merchants. ]

【Secondly, the Ming Dynasty had been engaged in military warfare since Zhu Yuanzhang, and military expenses were very high.】

[In addition, the separation of salt production and salt permits meant that more salt permits could be used to collect more taxes and use them for opening up the economy, which led to excessive issuance.]

[Merchants were often unable to exchange salt for years or even decades.]

【Third, with the improvement of productivity, private salt gradually became rampant, and compared with official salt, it was more cost-effective and better quality, which led to the sluggish sales of official salt.】

【Fourth, Zhu Di implemented the household registration salt system at the same time as opening the capital, that is, in order to reduce the problem of excessive issuance of paper money, he collected paper money from the people and distributed salt. 】【This was equivalent to reducing the sales market of salt merchants in disguise. 】

【Under these circumstances, private businessmen are becoming less and less interested in "Kaizhong".】

……

Ji Han.

Liu Bei couldn't understand it either.

"How come good things always end up in such a mess?"

Cao Cao took a sip of wine and shook his head.
"There is something wrong with the Ming Dynasty from the very beginning."

"Zhu Yuanzhang set too many goals, but the path was too narrow."

"Future generations will have to navigate a narrow path that cannot be expanded or repaired, avoiding traps."

“From time to time you have to build tools to avoid traps.”

"This road is getting narrower and narrower, and more difficult as you walk on it."

"The problems of the Ming Dynasty were bigger than those of the Song Dynasty."

Sun Quan chewed a piece of roast meat slowly and said calmly:
"The Song Dynasty respected culture over military power, but at least there was still respect."

“So although the ideas and actions of the Song Dynasty scholars and officials were somewhat unrealistic, they still wanted to serve the emperor with all their heart.”

"The Ming Dynasty was different. From the beginning, civil servants were not treated as human beings."

"During the Tumu Rebellion, all the nobles were wiped out."

"Yu Qian and Wang Yue both illustrate the emperor's harshness and lack of grace."

"It is disrespectful to sit on the left and disrespectful to stand on the right."

"The hearts of the Ming Dynasty's civil and military officials are not in the Ming Dynasty. What can we do?"

"Those who sit in the middle position always pull one group against another."

"How can I be against everyone?"

"The Ming Emperor is truly a lonely man."

Liu Bei and Cao Cao glanced at each other slightly.

Then they looked at each other.

This person is not completely useless.

……

[In 1491, the fourth year of Hongzhi, due to the invasion of Batu Mongke, the border needed more food, and the court specially approved a certain amount of "Kaizhong" to distribute food to the army, but there was not enough food shipped to sell to the army. ]

[This reflects that there are major problems with the Sino-French system and that reform is urgently needed.]

[Because the Kaizhong Law has always been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue, the reform measures were also handed over to the Ministry of Revenue for study.]

【The Minister of Revenue, Ye Qi, proposed a reform suggestion: change "transporting grain to the central government" to "paying silver to the central government".】

[In other words, merchants no longer had to transport grain to the border, but instead directly handed over silver to the Ministry of Revenue, which would then give the merchants salt permits after receiving the silver.]

【Then use this silver to transport grain to the border, so that the enthusiasm of merchants to participate can be greatly increased. 】

【This suggestion was adopted and soon put into practice. 】

[Within one year, the treasury revenue managed by the Ministry of Revenue increased by one million taels of silver.]

【At that time, the country's fiscal revenue was mainly grain, and the actual silver was only two million taels. The treasury revenue increased by one million taels in an instant, which can be said to be a huge increase.】

【As a result, the imperial court gained hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.】

【However, the border towns and commercial settlements were gradually abandoned, and the Kaizhong Fa was on the verge of collapse. 】

……

Great Sui.

The corner of Yang Jian's eye twitched.

"You're still growing..."

"You are not far from violent death..."

What is the essence of opening up China-France?
Transporting grain!
What use is there for the money coming into your account?!

Should we set up an institution to distribute food?

Aren't you putting the cart before the horse?
Aren’t you just giving them money to buy it themselves?

But after the ten taels of silver were distributed to the border.

How many coins can you have?
Dugu Jialuo came from a prominent family and knew some things very well.

It is easy to find a solution to the dilemma of merchants being unwilling to participate in the development of the business.

The exchange rate between grain and salt permits can be changed. For example, before one stone of rice transported to Datong could be exchanged for one permit of salt, but now it can be exchanged for 1.5 permits of salt.

Or it could be to crack down on corruption in the salt fields and punish salt field officials who fail to deliver salt on time.

It is also possible to prohibit the powerful and wealthy from obtaining salt permits through special channels.

These practices are all "the right remedy for the disease."

But he did not mention any of these measures, and instead proposed a reform proposal that would only benefit merchants but be detrimental to border food security.

Why is that?
……

{I don’t say anything, I don’t understand anything, I just suddenly wanted to do some popular science.}
{Ye Qi was from Huai'an, Jiangsu. Huai'an was the most important salt producing area in the Ming Dynasty, and was home to many salt merchants.}
{Huizhou merchants were engaged in salt business in Lianghuai. The Ye family had many intermarriage relations with Huizhou merchants. Most of the Huizhou salt merchants had a good relationship with Ye Qi.}
{The Lianghuai region is close to salt production areas, but far from the border.}
{The cost of transporting grain from Shanxi to the border was very low for Shanxi merchants. Therefore, most of the salt permits in the world belonged to Shanxi merchants.}
{To pay the silver, you just need to give the money to the transportation department of the Ministry of Revenue, get the salt permit, and then all that’s left is to collect and sell the salt, without having to consider the distance from the border.}
{After the reform, Hui merchants became the main force of salt merchants.}
{The Ye family, which had extensive marriage alliances with Huizhou merchants, became increasingly prosperous.}
……

(End of this chapter)