Chapter 122 Use the post to support the post! (Third update)
When Xia Zhibai began to plan to go further, Fengtian Palace was not silent at the moment.
What Xia Zhibai said attracted Zhu Yuanzhang's attention.
The salt administration of the Ming Dynasty followed the old system of the Yuan Dynasty and implemented the management system of counting ding by household and calculating salt by ding. There were big problems.
The size of the population caused a large gap in the salt production of each kitchen household. The court only collected salt based on the number of kitchen households. It was easy for kitchen households with a small population to bear a heavy burden of salt production. However, the Zao households with a large population produced so much salt that the court could not collect it all, so they went to smuggle it.
Zhu Yuanzhang was willing to change this system, which had serious shortcomings.
Because this is benevolent government.
However, Xia Zhibai reminded me that although the north has agreed to set up state-owned enterprises as Xia Zhibai said, the south will not know how to do so in the short term, so I would like to take the opportunity to ask the minister about the salt policy. views, and see if they can come up with some reasonable changes.
Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to test whether it was true as Xia Zhibai said.
Under your own rule, ministers will have ‘no real talent’!
Fengtian Temple.
All the six ministers are here except the Ministry of Household Affairs.
And it should be the highlight of the Household Department, but now there is no Household Department official in the palace.
The Guo Huan case broke out a few days ago.
Most of the people from the second-rank minister of the household department to the seventh-rank minister were imprisoned. The entire household department was almost wiped out, leaving only a few officials who had just taken office. However, The current occasion was obviously not one that newly appointed officials could participate in.
So there were only five people present.
Zhao Hao, Yu Xun, Wen Xiangqing and other six ministers stood respectfully in the hall, without squinting their eyes and with extremely correct attitudes. They did not dare to be relaxed or disrespectful in the slightest. What happened recently in the Ministry of Revenue made the rest The officials of the fifth department were all trembling, fearing that they would be implicated.
Not long after.
Zhu Yuanzhang walked into the palace with dragon and tiger steps.
Zhao Hao and others quickly saluted.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "We all love you, and we don't like to talk nonsense."
"I called you all here this time just to ask your opinions on the current salt policy."
>"We have heard that many kitchen households among the people are quite resentful of the Ming Dynasty's continuation of the salt policy of the old Yuan Dynasty. They believe that these systems are unfair and have brought a great burden to kitchen households."
"We I originally wanted to ask the Ministry of Household Officials.”
“But you must have heard about the recent events.”
"Our officials in the Ministry of Revenue, pretending to be neither official nor corrupt, accused Guo Huan of being the culprit. The Yushitai found out that he colluded with local officials, embezzled taxes from Taiping Prefecture, Zhenjiang Prefecture and other prefectures, and also embezzled Autumn grain from western Zhejiang. "The autumn grain from western Zhejiang should have been handed over to us for 4.5 million shi last year, but do you know how much Guo Huan handed over to us?"
"More than 200 yuan?" Ten thousand stones!"
"He even stole five hundred thousand stones by himself."
"Why don't you dare to steal even the autumn grain you want?" br>
"What's even more surprising to us is that we worked hard to design a fixed tax system, just to make the people suffer less and save more food. As a result, these idiots from the Ministry of Household Affairs used all kinds of cunning excuses behind our backs. We saw that The names that the censor found out made us all blush."
"Water money, food money, treasury money, sacred and Buddha money, there are all kinds of taxes."
"What kind of tax is this. ?”
“When did we collect these taxes from the people?”
“When did our treasury receive these taxes for so many years?”
“They all went into the pockets of these bitches.”
“Let me ask you guys, do you think we can stop killing them?”
“What if we don’t kill them? The local people, But you want to poke our spines and scold us.”
“We are really aggrieved. We only want to make people’s lives better, why do these bitches have to go against us?”
< br>Zhu Yuanzhang cursed bitterly.
Zhao Mao and other officials said tremblingly: "Officials from the Ministry of Revenue took advantage of their powers to steal national grain depots and embezzle national taxes with local officials. They committed a heinous crime and deserved death. I did not have much contact with officials from the Ministry of Revenue and failed to prevent it in advance for Your Majesty. I really feel ashamed of your Majesty's trust. "
"I sincerely ask your Majesty to investigate the household department and bring all the officials involved to justice, so as to rectify the situation and bring order to the world. "
Other officials. They all spoke indignantly.
Everyone hates evil as much as they hate it.
They also unanimously drew a clear line with officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at it coldly, seeming to be satisfied with the statements of Zhao Hao and other officials. He waved his hand and said: "Let's not talk about this anymore. The people have paid so many more taxes for nothing. There must be fierce public opinion and excitement. It's just that The case has not yet been investigated, but we cannot sit idly by and change the bad governance and tyranny left over from the Yuan Dynasty."
"Tell us about this salt policy."
“We know that you are not officials from the Ministry of Revenue and may not know much about the salt policy, but we have also heard the old saying that three cobblers are equal to Zhuge Liang. This time, we will bring someone with high authority to the court. Officials from the six departments have been called.”
“With so many people, how can we think of anything?”
“Let’s think about it!”
Zhao Hao, Yu Xi and others looked at each other, not daring to be careless at all, and they all frowned and thought deeply.
A little.
Yu Ji cupped his hands and said: "I have just thought about it and found that it is indeed inappropriate for the imperial court to follow the system of the old Yuan Dynasty. The main problem is that the salt class in the world is uneven."
< br>“There is only one ding in the kitchen household, but it is necessary to pay thirty yin of salt; there are seven or eight ding, and it is also necessary to pay thirty yin.”
“A household has only one ding, but it has to pay thirty yin of salt. , which is obviously something that this kind of kitchen household cannot support.”
"A kitchen household with seven or eight households can produce a large amount of salt every year, but only needs to pay thirty dollars of salt to the court, and the remaining salt is probably used for smuggling." "This may also be a private matter. The real reason for repeated bans on salt."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked: "Do you have any way to correct it?"
Yu Ji glanced at the other people on the side. Seeing that none of them had any intention of speaking, he thought for a while and then continued: "I think the salt produced by Zao households should be divided into regular salt and residual salt."
"Right salt is the official salt approved by the government. The payment of labor is the food and money given by the government to the kitchen households, and the salt handed over by the kitchen households. ”
"Remainder salt is the salt left after the kitchen households pay taxes. The government can also exchange it with the kitchen households, but I suggest using a higher price. This can ensure that the salt produced by the kitchen households is in the hands of the court, and it is also convenient for the court. The salt will be sold through Yanyin. "I am not talented."
"But I think this can effectively combat the illegal salt trade."
Xingbu Shangshu. Wang Huidi said: "I think the court should promulgate stricter laws to crack down on illegal salt trading."
Zhao Mao also followed: "My suggestion is different from other ministers. Since salt is calculated according to Ding, If there is something wrong with the system, then this system should naturally be changed, and we should not just focus on private salt trading. ”
"I think the tax should be changed to "ding"."
"Since the current problem lies in the fact that the number of people in the kitchen households is different, then the tax will not be calculated based on the number of kitchen households, but directly in "ding". A salt tax of one ding was levied for every ding. The more males in the family, the more salt tax was levied.”
“On the one hand, this move increased tax revenue for the court, and on the other hand, it also effectively cracked down on illicit salt sales. Buy and sell.”
“This is my humble opinion.”
In the palace.
The ministers all opened their mouths to provide suggestions.
Zhu Yuanzhang listened quietly.
As for the suggestions put forward by these ministers, the only one that moved Zhu Yuanzhang was Zhao Mao's 'collection by ding'.
North, he has decided to let Xia Zhibai manage it.
The economy in the north is in decline and the population is declining. Neither the production of salt nor the sale of salt is satisfactory. If Xia Zhibai can really make a fortune, it will be regarded as a cultivation for the people in the north, but this is not the case in the south. , the south has a large population and a prosperous economy.
Selling illegal salt is even more common.
Especially Huaihe, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Zhu Yuanzhang has always hated the salt dealers who smuggled private salt.
His former enemy, Zhang Shicheng, started his business by selling smuggled salt. Even now, Zhang Shicheng has been dead for more than 20 years. Many people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang still miss him. When he unified the world, it was because of Zhang Shicheng's influence on the southeastern literati. , the preferential treatment of the common people, these southeastern scholars caused great trouble for him to dominate the world.
Therefore, after unifying the world, he often targeted and suppressed the scholars in the southeast.
Even the taxes in the southeast are heavier than elsewhere.
This is not only because the southeast is indeed more prosperous, but also Zhu Yuanzhang's intentional revenge.
I want the scholars and people in the southeast to hate Zhang Shicheng.
Because all this was caused by Zhang Shicheng.
It’s just that the effect is not satisfactory.
If the 'levy by ding' is really adopted, it will have a big blow to the private salt sales in the southeast region. The court can also levy a lot more taxes, and it can also grind down the people in the southeast. It can be said that it kills multiple birds with one stone.
But Zhu Yuanzhang also noticed it.
Neither Zhao Hao nor Yu Xi thought of making any big move.
It’s all just mending.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little helpless, he didn't take it too seriously.
Because he got a good tip.
Even the idea proposed by Zhao Mao was more in line with Xia Zhibai's approach.
“It’s a good idea to levy taxes by ding.” Zhu Yuanzhang said.
Zhao Hao looked happy.
In today's precarious juncture, it is not easy to get Zhu Yuanzhang's approval.
Zhao Hao was deeply encouraged.
Zhu Yuanzhang added: "In addition to the salt policy, there are also people who have given us suggestions and think that there is something wrong with our post station in Ming Dynasty."
"Now we have one thousand and five inns in Ming Dynasty. There are more than a hundred places in all prefectures and counties all over the world. Each post station has a post chief and officials and helpers. Even a small post station has dozens of people, and a large post station has hundreds of people. "
"In addition."
"The inn is also equipped with horses, weapons, livestock, cooks, etc."
"For this reason, the imperial court spends millions of money and food on the inns every year."
"Our Ming Dynasty's tax revenue last year was more than 2,700 shi. Now that the world is stable, many inns are idle. Some people think that now that the country is peaceful and the people are at peace, the court is still spending a lot of money on supporting the inn, which is very wasteful for the people and money."
"I want us to change it."
"This person gave us a suggestion. It makes some sense.”
“I just want us to divide the function of the inn into two parts. One part will continue to be used to maintain the transmission of military and state affairs, while the other part will be used for commercial purposes. The court will use it to sell tickets and sell tickets. The transportation rights of the road will then make profits from the inns, realizing the goal of "supporting inns with inns"
"What do you think of this suggestion?"
(End of Chapter)