Chapter 274 A great country, prosperous and powerful!
"Other salt merchants who didn't come?" Someone discovered the problem in Xia Zhibai's words.
After this point, the other salt merchants suddenly woke up and looked at Xia Zhibai with a bit of shock and uneasiness. Fang Rengang squeezed out a smile and said: "Did you make a mistake, sir? We are all in the south. Aren’t all the salt merchants here?”
Wang Chongde said: “That’s right.”
“We all followed the imperial court’s orders and arrived as scheduled. Don’t dare to be negligent in the slightest.”
"Not just us, I believe that salt merchants from all over the south are here, and they dare not miss it. Although the merchants are dissatisfied with this official and business meeting, they are not willing to anger the court because of these things. Sir, you must be careful what you say. ”
“.”
There were reminders in the lobby.
Everyone was telling Xia Zhibai that there was no salt merchant yet to arrive.
Xia Zhibai sneered, stood up slowly, glanced at the salt merchant who opened the lobby, and said, "Is everything really here?"
"How come I heard that there are more than just salt merchants here in the south?"
Fang Rengang looked at each other with Wang Chongde and others, with a hint of panic in his eyes. He quickly suppressed his uneasiness and laughed dryly: "My lord is joking, this It must be a rumor, and it is very likely that the local untouchables do not like our salt merchants and maliciously slander us. We are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and we know who is under the rule. How could we do such an unwise thing? "
“Say it again.”
“Your Excellency has given me a heavy order.”
“If you don’t come, the salt factory will be confiscated directly. This will be a huge loss. .”
"We are businessmen, how can we do such a bad thing?"
Zhou Maolin also added: "The younger one also thinks that the adults are too worried."
"If there really is a salt merchant, wouldn't it? Come on, how can the Salt Transportation Department fail to find out? Moreover, we pay the salt tax to the court every month, and the accounts are all there. You can tell the truth at a glance. You should not be affected by these nonsense. Ah."
"."
Xia Zhibai did not look at Fang Rengang and the other salt merchants, but stared at the salt officer Zhang Tong. He looked at Zhang Tong with a half-smile and asked : "Sir Zhang, could you please give me some confirmation? Have all the salt merchants from the various chief secretaries in the south arrived?"
"I advise you to tell the truth."
"You should also be clear about my style of doing things."
"Handle salt affairs on behalf of His Majesty."
Finished.
Xia Zhibai looked at Zhang Tong with a playful expression, waiting for Zhang Tong's final answer.
He was not anxious at all, as if he was admiring some scenery, very leisurely and elegant.
Zhang Tong's face changed again and again. His eyes looking at Xia Zhibai were full of vigilance and suspicion. He thought secretly in his heart, and suddenly became a little uncertain. If it were before, he would have been sure that Xia Zhibai There is absolutely no way to find out the real situation. Xia Zhibai's recent every move is under his nose. There is no reason for Xia Zhibai to know.
But the words Xia Zhibai threw out one after another in front of him had shocked his heart.
He could no longer tell whether Xia Zhibai was deceiving him or whether he really had other clues.
Zhang Tong's eyes were rolling, but he quickly calmed down. He looked at Xia Zhibai with a gloomy look, and respectfully held his hands in his hands and said: "My lord, this is a bit difficult for me. In fact, I don’t dare to guarantee it.”
"This is not because our rule is untrue."
"But there is another reason."
"The steam-driven salt made by adults has been promoted very quickly in the south. They are all being built. As your Excellency said before, too much construction will inevitably lead to the accumulation of output and businessmen are chasing profits. But now there are so many people pouring into the salt industry, which will inevitably cause some people to lose money. "
“In addition, there have been disturbances caused by kitchen households in the past six months, and many salt factories have actually closed.”
“We have not notified these salt factories.”
"So I'm really not sure whether these salt factories will reopen in the future. Please forgive me."
Zhang Tong apologized with fear.
Zhang Tong's explanation is very good. Not only did he solve the problem of the Salt Transportation Department, but he also patched it in advance for new 'salt factories' that will pop up in the future. It is not because of their poor supervision. But during this period, there was too much competition in salt factories, many salt factories were closed, and there may be new salt factories being prepared.
It is understandable that they failed to supervise.
Zhang Tong was also very satisfied with his explanation.
Regardless of whether Xia Zhibai really discovered some clues, he was already in an invincible position, and the salt factory they intended to 'protect' had indeed been shut down in the past few days. There was no explanation for this. Any questions.
It’s all true!
But in his heart, Zhang Tong was even more wary of Xia Zhibai. This person was too smart and had deep thoughts. His words were provoking people's hearts and making it difficult for people to guard against him. Moreover, Xia Zhibai knew very well about himself. The advantage is that he has always relied on his status as an 'imperial envoy' to dominate others.
He had to think twice about everything he said and did.
If you are not careful, you may fall into Xia Zhibai's language trap.
Now he finally understood why Li Benmo and others were unwilling to come, and even took the initiative to push the matter out. He was probably already aware of Xia Zhibai's difficulty, and simply didn't want to let himself face Xia Zhibai's difficulties. , but he had to come because he was deeply involved.
Think of this. Zhang Tong's face was also quite ugly.
For a moment, he even hoped that the conference would end soon.
"Really?" It can no longer be left somewhere else, otherwise it will be a huge waste.”
"Master Zhang, when the conference is over, remember to sort out the information."
"Summarize the information on the closed salt factories in the south or the salt factories that are to be planned. I will tell you then. The political department officials discussed it and sent people to receive it to ensure the stability of local salt production. It is our duty to protect the interests of other salt merchants."
"I advocate reform, how can I chill the existing salt merchants present. "
"I should make up for it."
Zhang Tong felt his scalp numb and said, "Is there something wrong with this? After all, these machines are made of real money. Bought, the imperial court's direct forced requisition is a bit too overbearing, and may be criticized. Moreover, many salt factories have been closed for some time. Those machines may have been handed over many times, and may be in the hands of many salt merchants present. The steam engine still comes from these people.”
"This task is too big."
"I think it's better to discuss it in the long term."
Xia Zhibai frowned and said with a bit of displeasure: "This is not negotiable. "
"The South already has a surplus. How can we allow them to continue to disrupt the salt market in the South? Since they are businessmen, then invite those businessmen over and ask them to know their whereabouts. How difficult is it? If If the Salt Transport Department doesn't want to do it, I might as well ask the Chief Secretary or someone from Jinyiwei to do it for me."
"The supply of salt must be taken from the source."
Hear the words.
Zhang Tong’s face froze.
He really wanted to say that Xia Zhibai was in charge of too much.
But he didn’t dare to say anything for the moment, because no one could guess whether Xia Zhibai would really let the Chief Secretary or Jin Yiwei’s people take action. The Chief Secretary was okay, but if Jin Yiwei took action, Bao Qi would follow suit. Find out something.
Zhang Tong looked around and felt his heart heavy.
He gritted his teeth and said: "After all, steam engines are made of high-quality iron. Maybe those steam engines have been melted. How can we trace it back?" Do you want to see a corpse if you want to see a person? Even if the iron thing melts, it will not disappear out of thin air. Moreover, even if a thing as big as a steam engine melts, it can make a lot of things. You can find out with a little investigation. ”
“In addition.”
“In order to ensure the production of the salt factory, the imperial court will gradually strengthen its control over coal in the future and strictly control the amount of coal flowing into the market. Only the salt factories under the control of the Salt Association and the Salt Transportation Department can obtain sufficient coal supply and completely eliminate illegal salt production by outsiders! "
Coal is a commodity. Although the south is short of coal, it is not without it. For example, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places have a lot of coal output. With the vigorous promotion of steam engines, the local coal industry has actually developed significantly, and Xia Zhibai also wants to keep an eye on coal.
He came to the south to gradually collect tax sources.
Economic development must be under the macro-control of the imperial court.
The era of barbaric growth has passed.
The imperial court must firmly grasp energy and people's livelihood-related production in its hands, and must never allow it to fall into private hands.
Fujian official Zhang Jing said: "Sir, is this too much?"
"What we are discussing this time is salt, so what does coal have to do with it?"
"And the coal production in the south is insufficient. Many of them are in remote places and transportation is difficult. If the court strengthens supervision, what will happen? It’s not about adding an iron chain to the already struggling coal production. I disagree.”
“It’s about restricting excessive coal input into the salt industry,” Xia Zhibai said seriously: “It’s not about restricting the coal industry. Development."
"There is an essential difference between the two."
"And one thing I can tell you in advance is that coal is only government-run, and any private sector will be closed in the past six months. It will be gradually eliminated within the country and no private participation will be allowed. Coal, as the most important energy material in the future, will only be in the hands of the government. ”
“It must be strictly supervised by the imperial court.”
“This is decided by the imperial court.”
“It’s just that it hasn’t been promulgated yet, but when the salt policy gets on track, these new policies will be Promulgated one after another, the new dynasty has a new atmosphere. The Ming Dynasty needs to bring order to the chaos and change the popular trends of the past. It also needs to bring the commodities that affect the direction of the court into the court's control."
"This is not negotiable! "
"The Ming Dynasty will then re-establish a new system for the world, so that the world's commerce and manufacturing will gradually be formalized, standardized, scaled, and institutionalized, so as to truly benefit the country and the people. ”
"This long-lasting chaos must end!"
"It will also end!"
"Salt policy is just the beginning."
"You and I will both You will be a witness and participant of this change.”
“A great country, prosperous and prosperous!”
(End of this chapter)