Chapter 207 Yan Maoqing’s choice (monthly ticket plus updates)
To talk about salt tax, we must first talk about salt policy.
Because the term salt tax is not very rigorous.
The origin of salt policy has a long history, starting from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong of Qi State implemented the policy of "official mountains and seas", which established the government's monopoly in the field of salt.
Therefore, the so-called "salt tax" collected by the past dynasties is actually not a tax, but a "payment for goods."
The government has a monopoly on the source of salt, and all salt merchants who want to participate in the purchase and sale of salt must go to the government to purchase "salt imports."
Only when you have a salt guide can you be considered a legitimate and serious salt merchant, otherwise you are a smuggler.
So when the imperial court sells salt, it sells salt yin first. Each piece of salt yin corresponds to the salt sales qualification and weight.
If the salt merchant sells more than the quota stipulated by the salt guide, this is also considered smuggling.
So in a sense, Yanyin is equivalent to a "futures" proof for later generations.
But it cannot be freely bought and sold in the secondary market like futures, because the right to issue and trade the salt is entirely with the government. Anyone who dares to sell his salt to others privately will also You're going to lose your head.
Of course, no one would be stupid enough to buy a privately owned salt yin, because ever since the great invention of salt yin was made by Zhu Yuanzhang, it has always been in a super state.
It can be said that in the Ming Dynasty market, the stock of Yanyin is higher than the output of the salt farm.
So, if anyone wants to make achievements in salt administration and make money, he must have extraordinary financial management skills.
Otherwise, every time a salt official takes office, as long as they want to complete the tasks of the court, they will have to increase the circulation of salt Yin and coerce and induce the big salt merchants to continue to eat Yin Yin.
But how can these big salt merchants, who already have countless amounts of salt on their hands, be willing to give in?
So the salt administration is difficult!
But even though it was such a difficult matter, the court still tightly controlled it and did not allow ordinary businessmen and people to directly participate in it.
This shows that salt is still a hugely profitable industry, otherwise salt control would not have been so strict in all dynasties.
And as far as Zhu Zaijing knew, even in the world before he traveled, the era of freedom of salt had been realized, the production of salt was still an official monopoly, and the most private individuals could do was distribute it and make a profit.
If you want to make more money, you will definitely have to pay a price.
It can be seen that salt is so important.
The reason why salt is so important in the developed technological era is not because salt is still hugely profitable, but because salt is a necessity that human beings cannot live without.
People are powerless without salt. It is okay not to eat salt for a short period of time, but big trouble will definitely occur if there is no salt for a long time.
Moreover, the ancient method of producing salt was backward, and salt was almost always produced by boiling.
So salt was considered a relatively valuable commodity in ancient times. Some poor people who could not afford salt sometimes even boiled excrement water and boiled nitrate salt to eat it.
This kind of salt is also called "little salt" by the people, which is different from the "big salt" made from sea water.
However, in addition to its bitter taste, this salt also contains antiseptic sodium nitrite, and excessive intake of this ingredient can cause cancer and is a very strong carcinogen.
So before modern times, if you didn’t come from a well-off family and wanted to eat a mouthful of clean and hygienic salt, you would almost never even think about it.
The reason for this is also very simple. One possibility is that productivity is backward, there is no high salt output to supply, and there are not such good transportation conditions to spread salt across the country.
Secondly... maybe there are people who simply don't want the common people to eat cheap and easily available salt for some ulterior secrets... Of course, this kind of speculation is just the opinion of one family and has no reference value.
The salt administration and salt tax knowledge that Gao Gong taught Zhu Zaijing was also relatively solid.
The high arches since the Spring and Autumn Period are all briefly passed over, and the last focus is on the history of salt administration in the Ming Dynasty.
The salt administration of this dynasty inherited from the Yuan Dynasty, followed the old system of the Yuan Dynasty, and still followed the method.
During the Hongwu period, in order to resist foreign invasion, Emperor Taizu prepared border reserves and implemented the "Open Central Method" imitating the compromise system of the Song Dynasty.
The method is:
The Ministry of Household Affairs will issue a list to summon merchants and order them to transport grain to border fortresses or other food-deficient places. The imperial grain collection yamen will register the amount of grain paid and the amount of salt payable. Fill in the banknotes to the warehouse; the merchants then use the banknotes to transport salt to the salt fields in exchange for salt leads. They then go to the salt fields to support salt and transport it to designated areas for sale.
So this method is still based on the official collection of salt on the spot, and it still belongs to the on-site monopoly system of civilian system, official collection, official sale, commercial transportation and commercial sales.
Therefore, its production, transportation, and marketing systems were largely still those of the Yuan Dynasty. What was even more perfect was that Emperor Taizu assigned the national salt administration to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Then the Capital Transport Salt Envoy Department was set up in the salt-producing areas to take charge of the salt administration of a district; the salt field office was set up, called the Salt Department, to oversee the production and harvest of salt.
There are many salt fields in one district, so a branch was added under the Transportation Department. As the dispatched agency of the Transportation Department, it manages the salt fields under its jurisdiction nearby.
Then in order to supervise the salt administration, the imperial court set up the post of Salt Patrol Censor on top of the salt transportation envoy.
Then the emperor dispatched special ministers on an annual basis to take charge of major salt affairs in a district.
For example, Yan Maoqing was recommended by Yan Shifan and became a special minister. The scope of his management was so large that he directly suppressed the Salt Patrol Censor who supervised the salt administration.
It can be said that he has a unique scenery, and it is not an exaggeration to call him the Salt Czar.
But it is a pity that no matter how hard Yan Maoqing works, he has to find a way to feed Yan Shifan and himself before he can work for Emperor Jiajing.
Therefore, when he was managing the local salt administration, he was destined to offend many people.
Once these people seize the opportunity and use their strength, they will definitely end up confiscating Yan Maoqing's family and exterminating his clan.
After all, he came to take care of the salt just to snatch food from the tiger's mouth. If he dared to snatch the meat from the tiger's mouth, he had to be prepared to be eaten back by the tiger.
But unfortunately, many people always have the illusion that they are the tiger when they are in power.
As everyone knows, his power is actually just the grace of being dependent on others.
Once the person he relies on falls, or treats him as an abandoned son, his end will be extremely disastrous.
So, at this time, Yan Maoqing did not see his fate clearly at all, or maybe he did, but he had no choice.
After all, the only way to make progress for him was Yan Shifan's tall thigh.
If he doesn't hold on tight, he won't even be qualified to fall to death after climbing high. He can only become a dispensable ant that may be crushed to death at any time.
So no matter how we go on the road or what the future holds, we will never be as proud as we are today!
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Due to some personal reasons, I have been using my mobile phone to code these days... There may be a few typos, please bear with me... I will find a way to correct them
(End of this chapter)