New Shun 1730

The case mentioned by the Lianghuai Salt Administration was a case that was brought back to the 40th year of the Wanli reign of the previous dynasty.

And this case was actually the source of the Dashun salt administration reform. That is what the Lianghuai Salt Administration said, "At first, it was like drinking poison to quench thirst, but it was impossible not to drink."

It was also the source of the Lianghuai Salt Administration's mental breakdown, which was similar to the collapse of faith after a huge conflict between faith, ideals and reality.

Basically, private salt was rampant at that time, and even some salt officials believed that private salt was popular and beneficial to the people.

In fact, this is really hard to refute from a logical point of view.

Whether it is Confucianism's benevolence and morality.

Or Liu Yu's free trade theory to open the door in Europe.

It is impossible to refute.

Is it right?

It is absolutely right.

In theory, the court abolished the salt tax, abolished the salt and iron monopoly, and fully privatized and marketized. Smuggling is no longer smuggling, and private salt is no longer private salt.

So, basically, a conclusion can be drawn: salt prices will fall. It is beneficial to the people.

The logic seems to be right.

But reality is not a world run by perfect logic.

There is no perfect world without considering national defense, disaster relief, water conservancy, education, and government operation.

This matter is actually similar to the tea tax problem in the UK.

The solution to the British tea tax problem is to increase the window tax to make up for it. If the Ming Dynasty abolished the salt tax, could it collect the window tax? No money, just wait to die?

At that time, some local salt officials in various places had great righteousness, so with this great righteousness, they really dared to fight against the official salt that could not enter the jurisdiction.

Is great righteousness useful?

It is useful. It is very useful.

It is so useful that private salt dealers also feel that their cause is just and that they have the great righteousness of reducing the burden on the people.

It is so useful that the grassroots officials who investigate and deal with private salt will feel three points lower in their hearts when facing private salt dealers, and feel that they are doing something wrong.

Historically, this mentality continued from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the beginning of the 18th century, so that many places are indeed psychologically inferior to private salt dealers.

Psychologically, I first think that I am at fault and that I am in the wrong.

This mentality is very easy to understand and is not uncommon. It is also common after a long time.

To be clear, the ideological level has completely collapsed.

This kind of thing cannot be said to be blatant, saying that the salt officials must have embezzled money, accepted the money from the private salt dealers, colluded with each other and split the profits 70% and so on.

Although most of them are true, after all, the Boston Tea Party was also the beginning of the country, and welcoming the Dutch to London to weaken the royal power was also a glorious revolution.

If you can't be blatant, you can pretend that this is the awakening of budding consciousness.

To take it out of context, this is almost entering classical liberal economics. If this doesn't count, then what does it count?

However, the next step of awakening should be to raise an army and hold the emperor's head to establish a constitution, and those who dare not agree will be hanged, suppress the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, hang all the peasant uprising troops, slaughter all bankrupt small farmers, and fight against the Tartars in the north.

In the end, none of the three things were done.

It's really a piece of mud that can't be supported on the wall, and it can't be the ruling class.

Against this background, Yuan Shizhen, the governor of Yingtian Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty, was thrown out to sort out the Lianghuai salt policy and solve the long-standing problems.

The collapse of the salt policy, on the surface, is that there are too many salt permits, not enough salt, and production seems to be insufficient.

This salt permit is actually a bit like "national debt" and "bonds", except that the court uses the sales rights and profits of salt to repay, which is also normal. European countries at this time also use taxes as collateral for national debt.

It's just that it can't be redeemed.

This is a congenital disease at the time of the founding of the country. The central finance is insufficient and cannot be cured.

It can only continue to "borrow" and "over-issue paper money" to maintain its livelihood.

In addition, the vassal kings engaged in salt permits, the nobles engaged in salt permits, and the affiliation, investment, and the three hundred kilograms of permits dared to transport 30,000 kilograms, etc., etc. ...

This is very easy to understand, although it shows that Taizu said at the beginning that no one should destroy the salt policy, otherwise he would be caned 100 times. But.

Let's not mention that the emperor later led the vassal kings to violate it, randomly divided the benefits of salt permits, and collapsed the national defense mobilization system.

Let's say an official of Liu Yu's level finds a white glove to get salt, holding a 300-jin permit, loading 30,000 jin, and reporting the name of the backstage, can the local officials really manage it?

In the 45th year of Wanli, some merchants had to wait until 1644 to redeem and withdraw the salt permits.

The central power of the previous dynasty collapsed, and the jurisdiction was weak. The "commercial atmosphere" among the people was extremely strong.

Speculation, profiteering, hoarding, and futures, that's simply a waste of money.

It's like you are a businessman responsible for selling and transporting salt. You got the salt permit, and when you got to the salt field, you found that there was no salt.

Calculate the time, oh, you want to get the salt, then wait two years. Or, if you are in a hurry, you can get one-third in Huaibei, one-third in Huainan, one-sixth in Changlu, and one-sixth in Fujian.

What do you do at this time?

The capital is insufficient, and you can't wait for these two years. Going to Huaibei, Huainan, Changlu, and Fujian for a round trip, the toll is more expensive than the salt permit.

At this time, a monopoly capital comes to you and says, brother, please sell me your salt permit. I have a salt permit that can be used to obtain salt tomorrow. Sell me your salt permit for 60 taels of silver; sell you the one that can be used to obtain salt tomorrow for 150 taels. Let alone two years, my capital can be turned over in five years.

You say that my salt permit is worth 100 taels, and your salt permit is also worth 100 taels. I feel that I have lost money both ways.

Monopoly capital tells you that it’s up to you, it’s voluntary, and it’s not forced. If you want to wait, you can wait, or go to Fujian to get salt and transport it to Henan to sell. It’s not forcing you. We trade fairly, and the contractual transaction is as fair as the tenant renting the landlord’s land, purely voluntary.

There is no way, buy it, sell it, are you really going to wait for two years?

This situation is easy to solve if you want to.

But as Niu Congyun, the governor of Xuzhou, said, rebellion is the highest legal principle, and it is the only highest legal principle that can completely deny all previous contracts, whether they are written contracts or customary contracts. Although he used the wrong word, simple rebellion cannot completely deny all previous contracts and legal rights, but the meaning is there.

However, the Ming Dynasty court at that time wanted to solve it, but it had no solution.

What should Yuan Shizhen do after he left? Don’t you recognize these salt permits? If he dares not to recognize them, he will die tomorrow.

He is not a traitor, and this is not rebellion. This is when the court is still there, and rules must be followed. The court is the biggest beneficiary of the rules, and these salt permits must still be recognized.

Besides, they are all powerful and intertwined, what can he do?

He can only collect all the old salt certificates and announce that they will be redeemed in ten years. In each of these ten years, 90% of the new salt certificates will be taxed, and the remaining 10% of the old salt certificates will not be taxed.

And in order to get the recognition of big capital, what can Yuan Shizhen do?

He can only make a promise: salt certificates are hereditary.

How many new salt certificates you buy today, and your descendants will own these salt certificates in the future, forever, just like land, hereditary.

Merchants then bought them enthusiastically.

Did he know that this was a poison to quench thirst?

Yes.

It was obvious that this was a necessity of life. How could merchants monopolize it and make it hereditary? No matter how stupid you are, you can't be so stupid as not to understand this.

But what can you do?

It has been the 45th year of Wanli, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that if the money can't be collected, the court will be finished.

You will die of thirst at night, and you are still considering whether this is poison wine? Can you die after drinking it?

When the hereditary salt permit was announced, big capital cheered and bought it enthusiastically.

The butt determines the head. Whoever was a big hoarder or speculator at that time would cheer.

Later, Yuan Shizhen was framed by the eunuch party for taking bribes. It is unknown whether he took bribes or not. He may not have taken bribes. The salt merchants directly issued invoices and paid the money. Ask the court how much money it wants. Quote a price, don't talk nonsense, give a number.

Just hand over the silver to bail him out, and he didn't spend a penny.

Since then, the salt administration has completely deviated from the trajectory of the people's production, official purchase, official transportation, and vendors' sales since the Tang Dynasty to complete the last 100 miles.

Although it actually collapsed a long time ago, the transformation was completed in this year in terms of legal theory.

Originally, Dashun had the opportunity to completely deny and disown it.

However, the martial virtue was not sufficient, and the battle of Yipianshi was lost.

After Jiugong Mountain, Dashun took the initiative to cut down the banner of "equal distribution of land" and set up the banner of "protecting the world".

Protecting the world is actually protecting everything in the past. The essence and the dregs are all preserved.

Just like a land deed, as long as you choose to protect the world, you have to accept it. After the salt permit is inherited, it is actually almost the same as the land deed, and you have to accept it.

Fortunately, in the chaotic times at the end of the Ming Dynasty, a wave of "equal land distribution" was completed in the salt permit area.

Shaanxi merchants, Shanxi merchants, and Huizhou merchants all stood on their own sides at the beginning. So without changing the legal rights, the new people replaced the old people.

In the recovery period, this hereditary salt permit law was also okay.

Of course, the reason why the Li Dynasty of Dashun finally decided to change the salt policy was that overseas trade replaced the national debt attribute of salt tax, and the strategic focus of the end of the northern war was difficult to shift. The final military mobilization law of salt policy no longer had any meaning.

But in fact, the emperor was also playing rogue: I don't recognize this past contract, what can you do? If you don't accept it, just pull a team to fight for a while. If you are cruel enough, come and chop me, I'll wait for you in the Forbidden City.

The "public opinion" basis for this salt policy reform was that Dashun had just completed the East Expedition, West Expedition, Southward Expedition, and Huaihe River Repair. Showing off the court's muscles to the world - I have done several major things similar to Emperor Yang of Sui in 20 years, but the country has not been destroyed.

After sorting out the seemingly inevitable path from the central fiscal policy of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, to the later Kaizhong Law, and then to the final Gangyan Law, I also understand why the Lianghuai Salt Administration said that Liu Yu made his faith collapse.

Originally, he was ambitious and thought he could solve the salt administration problem once and for all.

But from books to the real world, a few small problems made him unable to come up with a perfect answer.

Ask Liu Yu what to do. Liu Yu said that there must be a road transportation network that starts from the East China Sea on the first day of the month and reaches the Western Regions at the end of the month, otherwise there is no solution.

In other words, in Liu Yu's view, if you want to fundamentally solve the salt administration problem, it is fundamentally in logistics and transportation, not in this policy or that policy.

It is both in production and not in production; it is also in ticketing and not in ticketing; it is both in policy and not in policy.

As long as there is no transportation and logistics system that he said, which can send people from the East China Sea on the first day of the month and arrive in the Western Regions on the last day of the month, or the real implicit statement is that productivity cannot reach a certain level and cannot achieve the next step.

Then, under the current conditions, no matter what to do, it is just patchwork. Because the real solution is not supported by the current level of productivity.

Liu Yu felt that it didn't matter and was full of confidence.

But can the Lianghuai Salt Administration dare to believe it? Do you dare to believe that one day, there will be a means of transportation that can run from the East China Sea to the Western Regions in one month?

Since he didn't believe it, and looking back at the series of changes that had begun in the previous dynasty, his remaining ideals and beliefs really collapsed.

He didn't believe in the free trade theory that Liu Yu was selling everywhere in Europe, but he believed in benevolent government and the kingly way, and he could draw the same conclusion, although the reasoning process and axioms were completely different.

The deduction of benevolent government and the kingly way, legalizing private salt and lifting the salt ban, is beneficial to the people. This was already a mess during the Salt and Iron Conference.

There is no need to quibble about who is the "people". If this is a purely theoretical issue, and does not consider the expenditure of national defense, disaster relief, water conservancy, etc.; does not consider the economic transfer of remote areas under the control of the state; does not consider education and other perfect conditions, it is indeed beneficial to the people, and it is indeed the people of the common people.

However, the actual result is that he almost lost the world because of lack of money.

This is a conflict between belief and reality.

The conflict between ideal and reality is that he believes that there is a good way to guarantee the tax revenue of the court and reduce the price of salt to benefit the people, and take a "compromise" benevolent government and the kingly way.

The reality is that he came to Haizhou with great ambitions, but the two small questions made him lose his mind. In the end, Liu Yu's solution was to tell him that patching up, equalizing the land and merging and equalizing the land again would not cure the root cause.

The sages' knowledge he learned from reading told him that there are ways to cure the symptoms and the root cause.

However, reality ruthlessly told him that under the current conditions, anyone who said that he could cure the symptoms and the root cause was pure nonsense.

When it came to the production link, Liu Yu was even more straightforward to a certain extent, without any warm and affectionate coat, and spoke frankly.

But, in his ears, these methods were really effective.

He was not a child, nor was he ignorant of the world, but there was still a little bit of faith in the sages' knowledge in his heart.

And within just a few days, this only thing was trampled on by Liu Yu.

Tell him that it is meaningless to do anything.

They are just patching up, and they will fall into the reincarnation of the dynasty forever, and they cannot transcend.

Dashun will eventually be destroyed, and the destruction itself is also a patchwork of equalizing land and annexing and then equalizing land again.