Fengxian Jiangshan

As soon as Zhou Xuexi heard that Zhang Tinglan mentioned the Changlu Salt Field, he almost spit out a sip of tea. The old man's face turned red from choking, and it took a long time for the old man to return to normal.

"Zhuoyan, although salt is a huge profit, I advise you not to intervene. There are thousands of threads in it, and it is a muddy quagmire. If you don't do it, you will all fall into it."

Zhou Xuexi only thought that Zhang Tinglan was young and only saw the benefits but not the harm, so he said earnestly: "The salt government in the Republic of China followed the system of the Manchu Qing, and the salt government of the Manchu Qing had many problems, and it was unsustainable. However, since the Republic of China, I have given up trying to reform several times because of too much resistance. In addition, Yuan Gongbao got a big loan for the aftermath, which was mortgaged with salt tax, and the Gengzi indemnity, etc. were also mortgaged with salt tax. , so the foreigners have set up a lot of censorship structures, if you want to move the salt farm, you have to touch the interests of all sides, that's a hornet's nest!"

What Zhou Xuexi said is right at all. Since salt is a necessity of life for everyone, and there are huge benefits in it, the salt administration in the past dynasties has been repeated games.

During the Ming Dynasty, salt merchant groups appeared in China. They used the huge wealth they had accumulated for hundreds of years to bribe officials and formed a huge interest group. Zi, relying on the protection of the Qing Dynasty, continued to maintain the salt government full of loopholes.

After hundreds of years of accumulation, salt has become the most important tool for salt merchants, bureaucrats, gangsters, and governments at all levels to make profits. The chain of interests inside is intricate, and it affects the whole body.

Especially after the end of the Qing Dynasty, the participation of foreigners added another layer of trouble to the already chaotic salt administration. Therefore, Beiyang tried to reform several times, but failed to achieve any results.Zhou Xuexi is well aware of the problems, so he doesn't want Zhang Tinglan to get involved in the salt administration.

But Zhang Tinglan has his own calculations in his heart. The profit in salt is too great. At present, the total salt tax in the Republic of China exceeds 7000 million a year, and it will soon exceed 8000 million. The proportion is second only to Tian Fu.And this is only collected by the government. The profits shared by other salt merchants are even more astonishing. The profit of the entire industry is conservatively estimated to be more than [-] million.

Changlu Salt Field is the largest salt field in China, and its output accounts for a quarter of the country's total.As long as they control the Changlu Salt Field, it will not be a problem to earn 3000 to [-] million yuan a year. It is definitely a very stable source of income.

In addition, salt is definitely the most important livelihood issue in this era. The common people are all tortured by salt, due to layers of exploitation.The price of table salt remains high, and the surplus money in the hands of ordinary people is basically used to buy salt.Unable to purchase other items.

And Zhang Tinglan has also observed the salt that ordinary people eat.At least one-third of it is soil and grass powder, and only two-thirds, or even about half, is coarse large-grained salt. It goes without saying how dirty this thing is, but the common people have no choice but to endure it.

Take it to the saltworks.Not only can it get huge profits, but it can also benefit the people all over the world. This is also one of the means to win the hearts of the people, so the salt industry is something that Zhang Tinglan has to get involved in.

"Duke Zhou. I am very aware of the problem of salt administration, but this problem cannot be avoided. It must be resolved sooner or later. The three eastern provinces are immigrating in large numbers. Within five to ten years, the number of people in the three eastern provinces will exceed 3000 million. If the salt After solving it, how can we get the common people to support us, and how many tax sources have been lost due to the bad administration of salt? development, the problem of salt must be resolved.”

Although Zhou Xuexi has not been in contact with Zhang Tinglan for a long time, he also knows that he must do what he says. Since he is going to attack the salt industry, he must not change it. The salt government must also proceed step by step, and he can’t decide directly on asking Lao Duan for the salt farm, so I advise you to come up with a whole set of action plans.”

Zhang Tinglan also nodded: "You are very experienced and knowledgeable. I just have some ideas about salt administration and I want to ask you for advice."

"I can't talk about asking for advice. I also participated in the management of the salt administration. I know a thing or two. Let's refer to it."

"I've already thought about it. In the first attack on the salt government, I must not offend too much. I have to choose the smallest entry point. I plan to contract the salt tax first, that is to say, to ensure that the amount of salt tax paid to Beiyang remains unchanged. The part of the repayment of the loan compensation remains unchanged, so that Beiyang and the foreign powers will not interfere. Then I cut the knife of reform at those salt merchants. Just this time when I checked the property of the Eight Banners princes, I found many Eight Banners. The merchants have contacts, and even have the shares of the princes and princes of the Qing Dynasty, so we can take them down in one fell swoop in the name of tracking down and restoring the party members!"

Zhang Tinglan often puts forward a very big idea when doing things, almost all of which are beyond the capacity of people in this era. This is the case with the recovery of the Middle East Road, the same with immigration, and the same with road construction.But when it comes time to act, Zhang Tinglan will break down the huge goal into many steps.

Step by step, the resistance will become much smaller. This time Zhang Tinglan is going to get involved in the salt administration, and he does not immediately harm the interests of everyone. Instead, he guarantees the income of the big powers and Beiyang, and concentrates on dealing with the salt merchants. Being connected with the princes of the Eight Banners is equivalent to having a handle in Zhang Tinglan's hands, and can also suppress their arrogance.

After such an analysis, Zhou Xuexi suddenly found that Zhang Tinglan was not dreaming, and there was indeed a reason for this matter.

"To put it bluntly, there are many types of salt merchants. There are big merchants who hold salt leads and have privileges, merchants who are in charge of transportation, and merchants who sell. How are you going to break their chain of interests?"

"Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there have been two most important problems in the malpractice of salt administration, one is production and the other is sales. Both the Ming and Qing Dynasties have a salt introduction system. Simply put, it is to give some big merchants the privilege of experience in salt. Salt is brought to saltworks to extract table salt, and then sold to designated areas. During this process, there is no way to guarantee the quality of table salt, and due to privileged operations and exploitation, the price remains high.”

Zhou Xuexi nodded: "My humble words are correct, not only that, the salt merchants will bribe officials to over-distribute salt, and there is a large amount of private salt. All kinds of problems are entangled together. It is complicated."

"When it comes to the production of table salt, in the past, salt was boiled, but Fan Xudong's Jiuda Salt Industry Company has developed a method of sun-drying salt. In this way, the table salt produced is clean and uniform, and the cost is extremely low. It controls the salt field. After that, I plan to promote this method to greatly increase the output of the salt farm!"

At this time, Zhou Xuexi suddenly realized, and said with a smile: "Zhuoyan. Your idea of ​​playing salt is not a day or two. Otherwise, how could you have encouraged Fan Xudong to Fengtian and received your subordinates!"

"I asked Mr. Fan to focus more on developing the chemical industry. The salt industry is still too rudimentary." Zhang Tinglan explained casually, and then continued: "The production problem has been solved. The next step is the sales problem. I plan to completely abolish the salt introduction system." .In the salt industry. To promote free competition, any businessman, as long as he pays a reserve of 50 yuan, he can go to the salt farm to purchase salt and transport it to various places for sale. In addition, I plan to introduce a new measure, that is, the government proposes salt sales guidance Price. Depending on the distance and the shipping cost, some adjustments can be made to the price of salt, but not too much.”

The current salt administration is monopolized by large salt merchants.They are not only responsible for transporting and selling salt, but also have the power to collect salt tax. At any time, taxation is the power of the government. If this power is handed over to a group of businessmen, the consequences can be imagined.

The salt merchants cheated the top and the bottom, and the common people paid several times the tax, but the government couldn't even collect the money that should be collected.According to Zhang Tinglan's method, salt merchants pay taxes directly when buying salt in the salt field, so that all taxes are settled in the salt field, which ensures a stable source.

In addition, due to the abolition of privileges, all salt merchants will compete with each other, the price of salt will naturally be suppressed, and ordinary people can benefit from it.

"Zhuoyan, your plan was actually proposed by someone in the late Qing Dynasty. The essence is to cut off the improper profits of the salt merchants, and then guarantee the national tax revenue while reducing the burden on the people. However, there is too much resistance and it has not been implemented. , Now I don’t know if Zhuoyan has implemented this bill that benefits the country and the people?”

"Duke Zhou, the biggest backing for me to do this is tens of thousands of gun barrels. If those salt merchants want to fight with me, they should first ask my gun barrels if they agree?"

"Zhuoyan, don't act recklessly. If these merchants cut off the supply of salt, the world will be in chaos. Don't you do bad things with good intentions?"

"If they dare to do this, I can't wait for it. There are many merchants in the three eastern provinces. They are all jealous of the huge profits of salt. Now that these salt merchants are picking up the pick, I have a lot of spare personnel. I can't wait for them to go away."

Zhou Xuexi heard this and fully understood that Zhang Tinglan's desire to get involved in the salt industry was not a sudden whim, but was fully prepared.Moreover, Zhang Tinglan also has sufficient strength, not only military power, but also huge economic influence.

Moreover, Fengjun's rise outside the customs has too many intertwined relationships with these salt merchants, so there is no need to be dragged down. Now it seems that only Fengjun has the ability to break the dirty profit chain of salt merchants.

"Zhuoyan, since you are fully prepared, I will talk to Duan Qirui now and ask him to hand over the Changlu Salt Plant."

After Zhou Xuexi finished his explanation, he hurried to find Lao Duan. After reporting the matter to Lao Duan, Duan Qirui was also very surprised. There is a saying that as for moving some factories and schools, although the old Duan feels pain, it is not impossible to discuss.

Only the issue of the Changlu Salt Field horrified Lao Duan. He never imagined that Feng Jun wanted to get involved in the salt industry. According to Lao Duan's thinking, he was going to reject it straight away. The salt administration was already in chaos. If the army intervenes, I'm afraid it will be even more troublesome.

At this time, Xu Shuzheng interrupted suddenly: "Zhi Weng, the Yan government has always been a bad government. If the Fengjun is willing to contract, it will not harm the government's tax revenue anyway, and the compensation from the big powers can be guaranteed. Let the Fengjun do it. If It is a great merit to be successful.”

When Xu Shuzheng said this, he paused again: "However, the salt administration involves too many aspects, and it cannot be handed over to Fengjun all at once. I suggest that about half of the salt fields from the south of Shanhaiguan all the way to Tanggu should be handed over to Fengjun. Other saltworks are still doing it the old way!"

Xu Shuzheng proposed this suggestion rashly, and Lao Duan didn't understand what was going on for a while, but with the tacit understanding between the two, Lao Duan also nodded in agreement.

"Zhi Weng, cutting someone's fortune is like killing one's parents. Fengjun just offended and killed the prince of the Eight Banners, and then went on to offend the salt merchant. The salt merchant first made trouble for them, so we took the opportunity to drive away Li Bodhisattva."

Lao Duan and Xiao Xu were discussing how to deal with Feng Jun, while Zhang Tinglan was also listening to reports from his subordinates.

“奉军目前一共查抄54位王公大臣的府邸，抓捕八旗贵族一共930二人，缴获大洋、银行存款、金银一共折合四千700万两；庄园140二座；土地两千700万亩，各种商号铺面1万多间！”

Hearing these astonishing figures, Zhang Tinglan only felt that countless gold and silver fell down and hit her head directly! (To be continued..)