Chapter 275: Don’t be afraid of the clouds covering your eyes, just because you are at the top!
As soon as he said this, the whole place was in an uproar.
Everyone was shocked by Xia Zhibai's words.
They did not expect that Xia Zhibai would say so much to them, and be so deeply involved. The imperial court not only wanted to supervise the salt industry, but also gradually control the coal industry, and would even launch diplomacy in the future to re-establish The reopening of the sea has been restored, and every news about this is enough to cause shock in the world.
Now it is said out loud.
As people with interests, they couldn't help but feel what they felt when they heard these words.
For the first time, they truly realized what the court was going to do.
The so-called official and business meeting is actually a guise. It is only used to convey the will of the court and give the outside world the illusion of discussion. In fact, it is just a speech. It has been decided long ago. What they say is not important at all. , the court would not pay any attention to it.
The only purpose of their presence is to clear their name.
Only the salt merchants present will be qualified to make and sell salt in the future, and the rest will be banned.
In order to ban other salt merchants, the imperial court went to great lengths, not only to investigate the situation of suspended salt factories, but also to track the whereabouts of those 'steam engines', and even to control the supply of coal, although coal was not only used for salt production. , even if you don’t use coal, you can use firewood, but coal is indeed more convenient than firewood, and just using firewood alone requires too much firewood in a year.
Easy to spot.
If someone reports it to the higher authorities at that time, I am afraid that many people will be implicated in muddy matters.
Is this what these people want?
And now, even those who are slow to react have realized that the imperial court is trying to seize control of the south, and the salt policy is just an excuse to intervene. The imperial court no longer allows the south to take charge of the place. Whatever the south wants to do must be brought under the control of the imperial court.
This is a power struggle between the imperial court and local governments!
Zhang Tong’s face turned pale.
He also realized that the matter was serious.
It only involves the salt policy, and at most they can cut off their flesh. But if the imperial court reaches out and gradually strengthens its control over the south, I am afraid that many of their financial paths will be cut off, and they will try to do it behind the imperial court's back in the future. Some things will become extremely difficult and even more constrained.
Zhang Tong had a gloomy face, staring at Xia Zhibai closely, and said in a hoarse voice: "Master Xia, is this your idea or the court's?"
"I represent the imperial court!" Xia Zhibai said.
Zhang Tong swayed slightly, his whole body was a little unsteady, and his face was even more bloodless.
Xia Zhibai stood tall and said calmly: "Since you don't really have the intention to sit down and talk, then let's stop this discussion. The thoughts and opinions I want to express have been explained. I will postpone it for two days to let you get used to it. The official and business meeting will be held again in two days. "I hope you can relax a little then." Reform involves not just a small thing, but also your vital interests.”
"The Ming Dynasty allowed merchants to make money, but the money earned needs to pay taxes."
"It must also comply with the laws of the Ming Dynasty."
"The money must be clean!"
" Otherwise, Ming Dynasty will ban these illegal activities one by one, and will severely punish the offenders."
"Go down and think about it."
"I believe you can sort out the pros and cons."
Finished.
Xia Zhibai waved his sleeves, as if he didn't want to get too much dust, and walked out of the lobby.
When Xia Zhibai walked away, Zhang Tong could no longer stand. His legs gave out and he collapsed directly to the ground. His face was ashen and he murmured: "Something happened, something happened. It’s a big deal, Xia Zhibai is here to kill people, he wants to kill people!”
“.”
The eyes of Fang Rengang, Wang Chongde and other salt merchants were rolling. They glanced at Zhang Tong, Zhang Jing and other officials imperceptibly, but there was a meaningful look in their eyes. If what Xia Zhibai said is true, then they These salt merchants have a huge advantage.
He can even control the supply of salt in several provinces.
This is a big deal.
And if they are really integrated into a large factory, their respective transportation channels can also be integrated, and the transportation costs can be further reduced by then. Moreover, what they now operate is not only salt, but also For other goods, we may be able to save a lot of money by discussing with each other.
However, they couldn't help but frown when they thought that the production and sales of salt would be strictly supervised by the court.
As a businessman, he is most afraid of being watched by the court.
Because this problem can easily be caught by the court, various blackmail warnings will come. If that time comes, they can only hope that the Salt Association can work, otherwise it will just be a fire pit. Jump to another fire pit.
But if it can benefit in other ways, it is not unacceptable.
With this thought in mind, Fang Rengang and other merchants showed no expression on their faces. What's more, there was a look of worry on their faces, as if they were very shameless at Xia Zhibai's suggestion. They were very disgusted, but Fang Rengang and others knew that this was deliberately staged for Zhang Tong and other officials.
After all, the court has tightened supervision, and those who are most affected are none other than these people.
As businessmen, they were very well-informed. They had heard long ago that the imperial court was going to abolish the kitchen household system.
Under the Zaohu system, it is not they who benefit the most, but the "local salt officials" who use the Zaohu system to enrich their own pockets. They were under the trend of setting up "salt factories" in the past, but It was very beautiful, and I didn’t know how much profit I made in the secret. Even the clerks who had always been frowning in the past were all smiles in those few months. This shows how much profit the officials in the salt industry enjoyed.
It’s just that Xia Zhibai said it so confidently. In their opinion, they are more jealous of the development of the south and want to get a share of it. What is institutionalization and formalization? That's nonsense. It's impossible for there to be officials in this world who don't stretch out their hands to take advantage of others.
At least they haven’t seen it.
Out of the lobby.
Hua Lun and others came up and asked: "How is the situation?"
Xia Zhibai shook his head and said: "I'm afraid these people have colluded long ago and can't tell. Nothing, no news, but I have told them everything I want to say and do, and now it is they who are panicking."
"But I made an observation. The reaction of these people at the time."
"Most of them had no vision."
"Only focusing on their own immediate interests."
"The same is true for those salt officials. The South has been a separatist force for too long. In the eyes of these people, they only see the South, not the world, let alone the whole world. , they cannot see the world outside the south. To be precise, they regard the places outside the south as a place for their own profit. They never imagined that under the governance of the unified dynasty, the world would be a game of chess, and the whole world would be in the court's sight. "
"Their little idea is destined to fail."
Hua Lun smiled bitterly.
He did not agree with Xia Zhibai's words.
In the world today, only Xia Zhibai has such a foresight, and no other officials, not even His Majesty, have such a vision.
Isn’t the reason why the Ming Dynasty banned the sea because His Majesty persuaded the South? Thinking that the gains outweigh the losses, it would be better to just lock up the coast, so that the court can increase revenue and reduce expenditures. But if Xia Zhibai hadn't intervened and the south had been fooled again and again, would the court really have understood the truth?
I’m afraid it’s difficult.
And the court won’t try.
Because Ming’s treasury didn’t have that much money to try.
The biggest inspiration Xia Zhibai gave them was to look at the world from the perspective of a big country, rather than always maintaining the perspective of a separatist force. The South is currently using separatist forces to deal with the court, and is also trying to use its own views to Treat the court.
They were like this before.
Only after Xia Zhibai reminded him several times, he suddenly realized how ignorant and ridiculous it was.
Looking at what the South is doing from the perspective of a big country, they can only feel a sense of pettiness and selfishness, all for personal gain. Now they are gradually understanding why His Majesty would do it again and again. The butcher's knife was used.
Because from His Majesty’s perspective, the officials below seemed to be playing His Majesty as a fool.
Only they know that it is not the officials below who have fooled His Majesty into thinking he is a fool, but that they can only see so much from the perspective of looking at the world.
Lian Zining sighed lightly: "I heard people say in the past that to cure a county, one has to work hard. I didn't think so. Governing a county is not an easy task. Now that I really sit in such a high position, Only then did I realize how insightful this sentence is. "
Hua Lun said: "When I was young, I read Wang Anshi's 'Don't be afraid of the clouds to cover your eyes, just because you are at the top'. When I first read it, I didn't know what it meant. Now the longer I stay in the court, the more difficult it is to reach this point. It is not so easy to see the world from a high perspective."
"If Brother Xia hadn't reminded us from time to time, I'm afraid we would have. I’ve always been at the bottom.”
Only when you really step into the officialdom can you understand how difficult it is to raise your horizons, and you will also know that your horizons have broadened, and you can see many things that you couldn’t see or figure out before. It will become so simple and naive, Xia Zhibai is at another level.
A level far higher than that of ordinary people.
They are far behind.
It is extremely difficult to even come close to it.
But it is precisely because Xia Zhibai stands too high and sees too far that people will always be suspicious, even scornful, but the facts will prove again and again that Xia Zhibai is right Yes, from the beginning, Xia Zhibai was not on the same level as them.
They pose no threat to Xia Zhibai at all.
It was never even a threat.
In the past, they would have refuted it, but now, they have already accepted it in their hearts.
This is an established fact.
Jie Min looked at Xia Zhibai and asked: "What are you going to do next?"
"Next?" Xia Zhibai smiled and said: "Of course it will be As the water continues to muddy, only by making these people more and more panicked and frightened will they expose more problems and make more concessions.”
"Have you contacted the person you asked to contact?"
"That little beggar?" Jie Min said subconsciously.
Xia Zhibai corrected: "That's my entourage."
Jie Min touched his nose awkwardly and hummed: "We have been contacted."
"In the future, we will have an honest relationship. If we wait one more day, Lu Cang can come back. The drama is almost over. This noisy farce has finally come to an end. The southern salt policy is just the beginning." Xia Zhibai raised his head. Looking at the sky, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
(End of this chapter)