Chapter 232 Numbers don’t lie! (Third update)
Hearing Xia Zhibai’s accusation, Mei Sizu couldn’t help but snorted coldly.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes brightened slightly.
He actually knew that there were problems with the local salt administration, but he could not find a way to solve it. When he heard Xia Zhibai's suggestion, he was thoughtful. If this move was really feasible, the court would The supervision of salt administration can also be greatly improved.
At this time.
Tian Jing stood up again.
He had returned to his normal state of mind, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, I have something else to report."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xia Zhibai, then at Tian Jing, and nodded. said: "Accurate."
Tian Jing said: "Your Majesty's emphasis on the salt industry is known to the world. Today, the Ming Dynasty has six main salt-producing areas in Lianghuai, Liangzhejiang, Changlu, Shandong, Hedong, and Fujian. , have set up the Capital Transport Salt Envoy Department, and in other salt-producing areas, there are 7 Salt Class Lifting Departments and other yamen responsible for managing the salt production and marketing affairs of each salt field."
"Transportation Department and other salt industries. The department is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs and is not subject to the control of local government. ”
"I have been a salt official for some time, and I have some understanding of the internal situation of the Salt Transportation Department."
"As far as I am concerned, the salt industry management agencies of the Ming Dynasty are scattered all over the country, and the mountains and rivers are far away. Management is often out of reach. In addition, the salt industry is highly profitable and both production and sales are controlled by one agency. In the absence of limited supervision, salt management systems in various regions have fallen into corruption. ”
“This. The chaos in the south was also caused by corruption."
"The salt administration of the Ming Dynasty had been corrupted to a considerable extent."
"In the early years of Hongwu, every effort was made to prevent and control the salt. In recent years, officials have been slack and there is no accumulation of salt in the warehouse. Merchants have been waiting for a long time to pay. However, in recent years, the country's border management has relied on salt, and there have been many people selling salt, so the official price of salt has increased. There are few who are light and moderate.”
"Corruption is rampant in today's salt class, the salt class has been failing year after year, and local illegal salt is prevalent."
"I believe that the court should also rectify the salt officials."
"Now the Ming Dynasty The salt production and marketing system has been seriously damaged, and the imperial court should correct this."
Hearing this.
The faces of Wei Heng and other salt officials changed drastically.
They looked at Tian Jing in horror, never expecting Tian Jing to say these words.
Moreover, what Tian Jing said was without consulting them in advance. This was a direct stab in the back.
Zhu Yuanzhang's face showed a strange color.
He took a deep look at Tian Jing, with a smile on his lips, and said: "This matter is not urgent. Judging from the situation of salt administration and salt works, there are indeed many problems. The court may really need to focus on rectification. , since you are interested, tell us how you think our salt policy in Ming Dynasty can be changed."
Zhu Yuanzhang became interested.
He was completely in no hurry now.
Tian Jingdao: "In the past, the salt industry management agencies were scattered all over the place, and the kitchen households were scattered around. The Ministry of Households could not manage it at all. If the imperial court reformed the salt administration, abolished the kitchen household system, and at the same time set up large-scale salt industry in local areas, factory, the household department would not have to disperse manpower to manage it, and the management of the local salt industry would be more effective. "
"At the same time, the local salt production will be more effective. The same needs to be restricted. "
"So I boldly proposed to your Majesty that the system of "big factories" for salt should be implemented throughout the country, and then the local transportation departments would be responsible for managing and verifying the production and sales of each salt factory. "< br>
"However, this is still a bit one-sided, so I took the bold step to unite six transportation departments, seven salt class promotion departments and other yamen across the country to form a salt organization under the leadership of the Ministry of Household Affairs to review the production and sales of salt in various places. , to ensure the supply of salt in various places. "
"Any legal salt factory in the Ming Dynasty must be included in the salt organization."
"Otherwise, it will be illegal and will be regarded as smuggling."< br>
“In this way, the salt transportation departments in various places can directly supervise the local salt industry by managing local large factories, while the Ministry of Household Affairs can effectively supervise the salt transportation departments in various places by supervising the Salt Association. , and the existence of the association can also help the production and development of salt companies in various places, and at the same time, it can also jointly combat smuggling."
"Thus ensuring the normal operation of the Daming Salt Industry."
"This is a way that I suddenly thought of. If there is any inappropriateness, please calm down your Majesty."
Tian Jing bowed respectfully and then retreated.
The palace was dead silent.
The whole place was silent.
Everyone was shocked by Tian Jing's words.
Xia Zhibai just wanted to rectify the salt administration, but Tian Jing actually wanted to rectify the salt affairs directly. If he really did this, it would be more difficult for the place to get involved in the salt industry, and everything he did would fall into the eyes of salt officials from all over the country. , and the Ministry of Household Affairs can also easily carry out supervision, and the situation of mountains and rivers hanging far away in the past will also be greatly reduced.
This is indeed a great benefit to the court, but it is a great disadvantage to many of them.
Salt is a huge profit.
Now that they have managed to get a share of the pie with the help of steam engines, how can they be so willing to hand it over?
And if all the salt in the world is produced in large salt factories in various places, wouldn’t the imperial court know the output and sales volume of salt in the world? How will the local governments line their own pockets? How to raise and lower his hands?
Moreover, the salt industry is not subject to local government control.
This is equivalent to a large local tax source being directly controlled by the court.
This is all wasted money!
What frightens them even more is that if this happens, will the iron smelting industry be able to do the same in the future? Can other industries such as textiles also be regulated in this way? If things go on like this, won’t all local tax sources fall under the supervision of the imperial court?
This affects all their private property.
For a while.
All the officials wanted to eat Tian Jing alive. The eyes they looked at him were more like looking at a dead man. If looks could kill, Tian Jing would have been riddled with holes. Even so, many officials had no interest in Tian Jing. Jing's anger and dissatisfaction were directly displayed on his face, and he even glared angrily. Tian Jing's body trembled slightly.
He took a deep breath and stood firmly in the hall, without wavering at all.
He had no choice.
If you are not crazy, you will not survive.
If he wants to survive now, he can only make a desperate move.
And it is even crazier and more frightening than the suggestions given by Xia Zhibai. Only in this way can he become a knife in His Majesty's hands. As long as he is still useful to Your Majesty, he can continue to live. Go down, not to mention that he was holding a breath in his heart and wanted to tell those who plotted against him that if they plotted against him, they should be prepared to be retaliated by him.
He is a man of letters, but he is also bloody.
Other people asked for it!
Aren't they treating him as a pawn? Decide your life and death at will.
Since the opponent had already done this, how could he let it go so easily? He chose to lift the chessboard directly, causing these people to completely miscalculate.
Xia Zhibai looked at Tian Jing, whose eyes were bloodshot, and was slightly stunned.
It was completely unexpected that Tian Jing was so radical.
In this way, he also pushed himself to the forefront and became a thorn in the side of all officials. He even wanted to kill him quickly. He didn't know whether this was good or bad for Tian Jing, but He respects Tian Jing's choice.
However, Tian Jing's formulation is too idealistic.
He hoped that the Ministry of Revenue, the Salt Transportation Department, and the Salt Class Association would supervise each other to clean up the salt field officials, improve the salt industry regulations, and maintain normal order in the salt industry. However, the power was too much. Centralization, coupled with the fact that the Salt Transportation Department was originally managed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, but now production and sales are indirectly supervised by the court. When the system becomes increasingly rigid and interest groups gradually solidify, Tian Jing's suggestions will actually accelerate the corruption of salt administration in the future.
It’s just that it’s appropriate right now.
And it is very likely that Zhu Yuanzhang will agree.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to take the local tax sources into his own hands.
If it can be managed by the imperial court, it will be equivalent to directly depriving the local government of the salt industry, a major tax source. This is something that any central dynasty would like to see. However, salt has always been regarded as a profit, involving the interests of many parties. It wants to deal with it. If we carry out reforms at all levels of the salt administration, we will encounter too much opposition.
Li Shanchang came out and said: "I think this matter is inappropriate."
"Salt politics is related to the stability of the world and should not be easily disturbed. There is a faint trend of instability in the local area. If it is done here A rash move would only aggravate local turmoil and cause chaos at the top and bottom, which would be a good thing for the Ming Dynasty?"
"Furthermore, it is also undesirable to consolidate the salt factories into a large one. .”
"The local area already has a large population and is currently facing a lot of unemployment pressure. Wouldn't this move increase the number of unemployed people? Not only will it not solve the problem, it will also worsen the local situation. Such suggestions are really ridiculous. , only focusing on the salt policy reform, completely ignoring the impact on the world. "
"As for the establishment of any salt association, it is also unreasonable, flashy, not realistic at all, and will only waste people and money."
"When trouble happens in the south, we should solve the problem in the south instead of exaggerating the situation."
"There is a difference between the north and the south."
"What happens in the south should not be affected by the north." Can you follow suit? ”
"Xia Zhibai and Tian Jing just made so many impassioned speeches, but they were all absurd, without a single word of truth, and without any practical reason."
"It is inappropriate to intensify local conflicts at the moment, and it is also We should not rush to reform the salt administration."
"We should focus on stabilizing the situation."
"There may be corruption or wanton corruption in the local salt administration. We will wait for the situation in the south. Just calm down and send the imperial censor south to conduct a thorough investigation. Isn't this a waste of the court's power? There are many places where the Ming Dynasty needs money, so even a penny should not be wasted on such a trivial matter."
“The discussion just now is meaningless.”
Li Shanchang spoke indifferently.
This matter is directly assigned sex.
There is no room for discussion or forcible fabrication. We should only focus on the south.
After Li Shanchang spoke, the atmosphere in the palace instantly relaxed. The officials who were still a little tense now also relaxed and looked at Tian Jing with a sarcastic look.
Looking at the expressions of His Highness and the officials, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes turned cold.
This is what he hates the most.
Officials have the same interests, and they protect each other, collude with each other to seek wealth, and fight against the imperial court as one body.
This is a problem that he has been thinking hard about for so many years and is bound to solve it, but now he has faced it again.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Shanchang coldly, with a strong killing intent in his eyes.
At this time.
Xia Zhibai's voice sounded again.
“Since Taishi Li is so convinced, let’s do some calculations.”
“Numbers don’t lie!”
(End of this chapter)