King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

Chapter 104 Lao Zhu is shocked! Emotions, salt can still play like this!

The words fell.

The Xuanzheng Hall fell silent for a while.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan with anger on his face.

"Old Shi! Do you think we are fools? Or do you think that all the civil and military officials in this dynasty and everyone in the world are fools?

We felt something was wrong at the beginning. How could you ask for the Changlu Saltworks and still give the court an extra 10 taels of silver every year!

Now we know what you have in mind!
  The court's salt tax this year is expected to be 257 million taels!

Now, because your Lushang Salt Company sells salt across the country, the salt tax revenue in various places has almost dried up!

Only your Changlu Salt Farm can still make money!

Even if your Changlu Saltworks gave the court 100 million taels of silver, the remaining 157 million taels of silver would all fall into your pocket!

Do you admit this alone? "

Zhu Tan nodded and said, "I admit it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and said: "Just admit it, we thought you dared to do it or not!"

talking.

Zhu Yuanzhang said again: "We also paid a private visit to your Lu Shang Salt Store in Weifu!
  The shopkeeper was right. We also saw the salt sold for eight cents a pound!
  The quality is indeed good, and the people like it, and even feel grateful to the court!
  You have done a good job in this regard, so although you have harmed the interests of the court, I think it is still worth spending more than 100 million taels of silver to buy people's hearts!
  We are the emperor of tomorrow and the head of the entire world.

Do you still not know how much potential Daming has?
  No matter where you are, just find some and you can easily make up for this shortfall!
  I'll leave it up to you to do whatever you want. In short, you won't lose too much from the salt tax. In the future, it will be transferred from the account of the Changlu Salt Farm to the Ministry of Accounts! "

talking.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan and frowned: "But why did you later set the price of salt to four cents of silver per pound?
  We know that you have old grudges with those Shanxi merchants, and we are thinking behind the scenes that if they dare to bully you too much, we will confiscate all their homes and exterminate their families to vent your anger!

A mere group of merchants can be wiped out with just one hand!
  But those Shanxi merchants had learned their lesson at that time. Even if they sold the salt in their hands at eight cents of silver per pound, they would still lose miserably!
  Why do you press forward step by step and insist on squeezing them to death with a price of four cents per pound?

We don’t care what kind of losses these merchants suffer!

But you caused the Ming Dynasty to lose all its salt tax!

In addition to the loss of salt tax, there is also the loss of the court's credibility!
  How can the current price of four cents per pound be maintained?

When we take the salt farm back from you in the future, we will have to raise the price!

What will the people think then?
  How much support do we have to lose in one fell swoop? What can you say about this loss! "

When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, he was extremely angry.

Staring at Zhu Tan coldly, he would get angry if he disagreed with her.

When Zhu Tan heard this, he suddenly smiled and said: "Father, I admit everything else! But for the matter of selling salt, you have wronged me."

Lao Zhu sneered: "You still dare to laugh? You still haven't admitted it until now! Then tell me! Can you still send one million taels of silver to the court this year? How much silver can be left in Changlu Salt Farm? "

Zhu Tan chuckled and said: "According to the estimation of my ministers, after giving the court 100 million taels of silver, Changlu Saltworks will still have more than 800 million taels of silver left."

After the words fell, the entire Xuanzheng Hall was silent!

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Zhu Tan, as if he was listening to a fantasy.

Zhu Biao also looked at Zhu Tan with surprise on his face.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened, he picked out his ears with his fingers, looked at Zhu Tan, and asked in disbelief: "What did you just say? How much is left?"

Zhu Tan saw that Zhu Yuanzhang looked like he had never seen the world.

"More than eight million taels of silver. Alas, I don't like making money. Otherwise, it would be easy to earn more than 1000 million taels!"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

He stood up and walked slowly to Zhu Tan.

Touched Zhutan's forehead, and then touched his own forehead.

"Did you have a fever or did we? Is that eight million? Two silver coins?"

Zhu Biao couldn't help frowning and said: "Tenth brother! You can't speak nonsense in front of the father. How can there be so many?"

Zhu Tan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said with a smile: "Father, this is what I want to explain to you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan and took a deep breath.

Calm down your emotions.

He nodded and said, "Just tell me!"

Zhu Tan smiled and said: "Father, may I ask what the population of Ming Dynasty is?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao and said as if he was trying to teach something: "Prince, tell me about your tenth brother! How many people are there in our Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Biao laughed and said: "In the 1065th year of Hongwu's reign, my father ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to conduct a population census across the country. There were more than 5983 million households in total, and the actual population was more than million people!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "This population number is not necessarily the most accurate. After all, those rich bastards might conceal the number of people.

What's more, there are bound to be mistakes when doing things below. In addition, in the past four years, there has been little turmoil in the world, and the population is estimated to have increased a lot!
  We think that around 6300 million is reasonable! "

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "Does your father know how much salt a person should eat every year?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and said: "About 10 kilograms! It must be 10 kilograms no matter what!"

Zhu Tan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said with a smile: "In other words, the people of Ming Dynasty can eat 257 million jins of salt a year! But how much can the annual salt tax collect now? It's only million taels! Father! , have you never thought about this number?”

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said: "How could we not have thought about it! But you think that the people in the world are too rich. The price of salt is so expensive, how can the people afford it!
  What's more, there are private salt dealers who are everywhere, and those damn things can't be killed. How can everyone in the world eat official salt? "

Zhu Tan looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile.

"Of course the people in the world cannot afford to eat one penny, four cents of silver per pound of salt!
  So, can the common people afford to eat four cents of silver per pound of salt? "

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan and suddenly his eyes widened.

Zhu Biao was also slightly absent-minded for a while, and then he came to his senses.

With a face full of shock, he looked at Zhu Tan.

That's it!

Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised and said: "It turns out that your salt is sold at a low price so that people who can't afford salt can also afford it!"

In this case, your salt will naturally sell more!

That’s why you earn a lot of money! "

Zhu Tan smiled and nodded.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said: "The Ministry of Revenue has calculated your cost for us. A pound of salt is about 5 cents of silver! After all, you have to obtain salt and make salt. Aren't you paying for whatever you sell now? What's so cheap about it? use!"

Zhu Tan smiled and said: "How can those people in the Ministry of Revenue calculate and understand the cost of making salt for Erchen! They don't even know how Erchen makes salt!"

Hear this.

Zhu Biao suddenly said: "That's it! Tenth brother! The Changlu Salt Farm stopped production before to change the method of making salt?"

Zhu Tan smiled and nodded.

"Brother is smart!"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned immediately when he heard this.

"Why didn't Jin Yiwei even report such an important matter!"

Zhu Tan said with a smile: "The men of Jinyiwei may have taken revenge, but those guys may be good at tracking people for rebellion and loyalty. I'm afraid they don't know much about changing the method of making salt!"

In other words, even if they knew it, they might not dare to report it to their father! "

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

In fact, this is inevitable. After all, the establishment of Jinyiwei is not to monitor everything in detail.

If that happens, he, the emperor who reads intelligence, will be exhausted to death.

Of course, I only picked up some key points to report, such as what changes happened in Zhu Tan's house, who I met, who I talked to, and what the content of the conversation was.
  As for the change in the salt production method of Changlu Salt Farm, Jiang Wei would not dare to report it casually.

After all, based on his imagination, it would be difficult to imagine that the emperor would care about the change of salt production methods in a salt farm.

Zhu Yuanzhang said slowly: "In other words, you have changed the salt production method of Changlu Salt Factory, so you can produce salt of such good quality, and the output is so large! It can be used by the whole country!"

Zhu Tan smiled and said: "Father is wise!"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "In this case, how much would it cost for the Changlu Salt Farm to produce salt that could be used by the entire Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Tan said indifferently: "About two to three hundred thousand taels of silver! Mainly to take care of the three meals a day for those kitchen households, and pay them on time!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply shocked when he heard this!

He calculated the length of the salt field in Zhutan in his mind. If he sold it to the people of Ming Dynasty for 630 million kilograms of salt a year, how much money could he make!
  Even if it is only 4 cents of silver per pound, there are still 2500 million taels of silver left!

After deducting the cost of obtaining salt, there is indeed about 10 million taels of silver left!
  Even if he handed over 100 million taels of silver to the court, Zhu Tan could still have eight to nine million taels of silver left!
  This number made Zhu Yuanzhang a little dizzy!

Even if he is the emperor, he will collapse when faced with this number!

After all, this is just a salt tax!
  At that time, the annual tax of the entire Ming Dynasty was only about 10 million taels of silver, and all in-kind payments had to be discounted!

Zhu Biao also calculated this number at this time.

The father and son were both extremely shocked at the same time!
  At this time they looked at Zhu Tan.

Only two words can come to mind.

genius!

If you add two more words.

That is a peerless genius!
  This kind of talent is comparable to that of ghosts and gods.

If we talk about the last time we eliminated Japanese pirates, Zhu Tan had a flash of inspiration.

So this time, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao really got to know him again!
  Zhu Tan was very satisfied with the performance of Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao.

To be honest, Zhu Tan would not be surprised if they showed no concern for the tens of millions of taels of silver.

After all, the emperor is rich all over the world. If he wants to collect money arbitrarily, he can easily make 1 million taels of silver a year.

But now look at their expressions.

Obviously not caring.

But they were almost stunned with shock.

This look made Zhu Tan feel so happy.

Zhu Tan looked at Lao Zhu and smiled: "Father, the reason why I punished the Ambassador of the Salt Department before was because he defaulted on the Zaohu's salary!

The original salaries of those kitchen households were deducted and halved by him, and the people's lives were already very tight!

Who would have thought that the Ambassador of the Salt Department would not only deduct money but also default on arrears, even three months in arrears a year!
  Many kitchen households are making salt while they are hungry.

When Erchen went there, he found that he was beating a poor farmer with a whip!
  Just because the kitchen household had been without food for several days and was too hungry to chop wood, so he made salt slower than others! "

Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked when he heard this!

He said in a trembling voice: "There are such cruel officials under our rule?"

Zhu Tan nodded.

"Er Chen couldn't get angry at such a villain, that's why he took action!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "You did a good job. You killed well. You deserve to be killed! You must kill!" Zhu Tan smiled and asked, "Can I be exempted from this crime?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Zhu Tan and said, "What do you think?"

Done.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned again and said: "Tan'er, you are doing a lot of good things, but there is one problem that is really too serious!

That's too informal!
  The Ambassador of the Department of Salt Affairs could have been taken back and interrogated strictly, and then executed according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty!

In this way, you can not only gain a good reputation, but also convince the public!

If you report the matter to us afterwards, we will not misunderstand you, and everyone will only say good things about you!
  Why do you have to find a reason on the spot to kill someone?

You will not gain prestige by doing this!

You see, how can a person gain the support of everyone?

Do things according to the rules!
  You should try to have as few flaws as possible in your life!
  Look at how your elder brother behaves.
  Why do all the civil and military officials, brothers and sisters respect him?

It’s not unreasonable!
  Why can't you learn from him? "

Zhu Tan complained secretly in his heart.

Lao Zhu was also confused. Why did he ask himself to imitate the prince?
  Can you still establish two princes?

Or maybe you, Lao Zhu, are also a time traveler, and you have known for a long time that this prince can only be a prince for a lifetime?

Although I think so.

Zhu Tan said indifferently: "Father, I don't expect to convince everyone! As long as my father approves, that's fine!
  This prince, my son, was not obtained by convincing the public, but by the gift of his father!
  I don’t care what others think! "

The words fell.

Lao Zhu couldn't help but frowned.

Then he suddenly froze.

Tan'er said yes!
  What kind of people can he serve if he has nothing to do?

Why should he learn from his elder brother!

His eldest brother is a prince, is that something he can learn from?

Isn't he right to think so?
  What on earth is this old fool like me thinking?
  Although he realized that he was wrong, Zhu Yuanzhang did not immediately change his mind. He just coughed lightly and said: "You don't want to make progress! But, cough, let's do this for now!

It's all because we dote on you brothers too much."

talking.

Zhu Yuanzhang secretly glanced at Zhu Biao.

The prince won't be too worried, right?
  Hope he won't!
  If he really overthinks it, we have to explain it clearly to him.
  In history, there have been more than one instances of father-son mistrust between emperors and princes, whether it was between Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Liu Zhi, or between Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and Li Chengqian.
  But Lao Zhu found that Zhu Biao was smiling and didn't seem to think much.

Only then did I feel relieved.

Zhu Yuanzhang coughed slightly, as if to get rid of the embarrassment of his mistake, looked at Zhu Tan and asked: "Now we probably know how much money you can make!

But why don't you always set the price at 8 cents a pound?
  In this case, wouldn't it be possible to earn more money?
  We have seen the quality of that salt!
  very high!
  People from the Ministry of Household Affairs said that the normal market price of this kind of salt is three taels of silver per catty, and wealthy households would also buy it. "

talking.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said: "Are you really so petty! You would rather lose hundreds of millions of taels of silver a year to kill Shanxi merchants, their mortal enemy?
  If so, no need to!

We can send troops to help you!
  No matter what the Shanxi merchants are, they will be dead in a few days! "

Zhu Tan couldn't help but take a breath after hearing this.

Good on you, Lao Zhu!

As expected, he kills without blinking an eye!

How cruel!

but.

Zhu Tan did not agree with Lao Zhu.

Instead, he smiled at Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Father, if it weren't for my son, I would actually be willing to set the price of salt even lower."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan and said, "Are you showing sympathy and compassion to the people?"

Zhu Tan smiled and said, "This is just one aspect."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Tan with curiosity on their faces.

Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "Keep talking!"

Zhu Tan nodded and said: "Father, throughout the dynasties, the reason why salt has been listed as an important weapon of the country and has been resolutely controlled and managed by the government is mainly because of its importance!
  People can't live without salt for a day. If they don't eat salt, they will have no strength. If they don't eat salt for a long time, their lives may even be in danger. Therefore, everyone in the world must eat salt!

This also makes the salt tax the most important tax in all dynasties! "

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "So the price of official salt has been very high in all dynasties, and salt tax has also been the most important revenue in all dynasties!"

Zhu Tan laughed and said: "I think it is wrong to set such a high original price!
  Salt is obviously needed for people's livelihood and a necessity, so why is it sold so expensively?

The common people are forced by such high salt prices to either buy private salt or cannot afford salt!

Whether you can’t afford salt or buy private salt, it will actually affect the sales of official salt and ultimately the salt tax revenue! "

Zhu Tan said with a smile: "That way it wouldn't be like this now! Erchen's official salt is cheaper than private salt, and the quality is countless times higher! Now the people of the Ming Dynasty can afford salt. But the actual salt tax revenue has increased instead of falling!”

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "What you are saying here is wrong! We are clear about the setting of the salt price! It was originally set based on the court's ability to collect as much salt tax as possible.

Now you can pay 4 cents per pound and still make so much profit, just because you changed the method of making salt! "

Zhu Tan laughed dryly when he heard this.

What Lao Zhu said makes sense.

If you still make salt according to the previous decoction method, the cost will be really scary.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan and said: "Continue to talk about your reason for selling salt at a low price! Isn't the only benefit is to increase income as much as possible?"

Zhu Tan shook his head and said: "Of course it's more than that!
  Salt is a daily necessity for people, but if the price is set too high, it will lead to a result.

That is the income of the people who have worked hard for a year, and probably a large part of it is taken up by the expenditure on buying salt!
  As a result, people will have no money to raise their children!

Our Ming Dynasty has always encouraged people to import more children. After all, people are wealth!

However, high salt prices have severely suppressed people’s enthusiasm for childbirth!
  Now that I can make good use of the low salt price, I can better encourage people to have children!

The more people have children, the more wasteland will be opened up!
  The more space you can occupy in the future!
  Our Ming Dynasty will become more and more stable!

Naturally, Erchen's salt can be sold in more and more quantities as the population grows."

Zhu Yuanzhang heard this.

I have been deeply shocked by Zhu Tan’s thoughts!
  I didn’t expect that this kid could see so far and so deeply.

Although it was just a matter of salt, it allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to see Zhu Tan's temperament that was different from other people.

Not to mention comparing with other princes.

Even compared with the prince and the ministers of the court, Zhu Yuanzhang was very surprised, even novel, by Zhu Tan's understanding of population and court taxation.

At this moment, he seemed to be opened to a new world by Zhu Tan and saw a brand new possibility.

It turns out that governance cannot just settle the immediate accounts.

suddenly.

Zhu Yuanzhang also had an idea in his mind.

That was when Liu Bowen, Li Shanchang and a few others chatted with me.

He frowned and said to Zhu Tan: "If the people have too many children, it may not be a good thing. If there are too many people and too little land to support so many people, the world will be in chaos!

We think you are right about selling salt at low prices!

But your understanding of national affairs is not deep enough! You should read more history books, and when necessary, ask a teacher to give you a lecture, otherwise you will make the mistake of shallow understanding! "

Zhu Tan heard this.

Suddenly he was stunned.

Can Lao Zhu still understand this problem?

Going deeper, Lao Zhu can even create his own theory, turning the Malthusian trap into Zhu Yuanzhang's trap!
  Seeing Zhu Tan stunned, Zhu Yuanzhang was also a little proud.

Brat, do you know that old age is still hotter now?

snort!
  Show off in front of your father!

Zhu Tan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Father, it's too early to worry!

The Ming Dynasty is now prosperous, and there is no need to worry about not having enough to eat.

We have to worry about the future. Maybe we will have found a food solution by then, and the population will only increase. "

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted: "You are just too optimistic! We don't believe who can solve the food problem!

This world has gone through so many dynasties, and it has always been like this! Who do you think can solve it?

If anyone can solve it, we are willing to let him be the emperor! "

Zhu Tan couldn't help shouting in his heart.

I go!

Father, take back your life!
  Otherwise, wouldn’t I become a usurper in the future?

Whether it's hybrid rice or sweet potatoes.
  Is it difficult to solve the food problem?

No matter how bad it is, we can still build huge water conservancy projects
  Reform agricultural production methods, manufacture chemical fertilizers, and cultivate excellent crop varieties.
  There is even development of the Northeast Plain.
  A mere few hundred million people are really easy to feed!

Zhu Tan was too lazy to argue with Lao Zhu about this. After all, the things in Zhu Tan's mind were far beyond Lao Zhu's cognition.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Tan angrily, and suddenly said: "You brat! Did you have a plan in mind for a long time! When you set your sights on Changlu Saltworks, did you expect this situation today?"

Zhu Tan smiled and said nothing

Zhu Yuanzhang hummed: "Earn 800 million taels of silver a year! You can't control this much money. It's better that my father keeps it for you."

Having said this, Zhu Yuanzhang also felt a little guilty.

After all, he had agreed to hand over the Changlu Salt Field to Zhu Tan.

Now he wants to put the huge amount of money he earned into his own pocket.
  It really doesn’t make sense!

But Zhu Yuanzhang also had his own reasons.

After all, the court lost millions of taels of silver from the salt tax, and Zhu Tan made a lot of money. It really doesn't make sense.

Zhu Biao was speechless when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

Father, the emperor is so eloquent!
  You changed it too quickly
  Zhu Biao was even worried that the rebellious Zhu Tan would turn against Lao Zhu and start a fight on the spot!
  Zhu Tan smiled slightly and said: "Father, four million taels a year! The other silver, I have important uses!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this number, his eyes widened.

At once.
  So happy?

　Here comes a 6000-word chapter! The author hit 1 updates today! Please support me and thank you all!

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)