Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 517

Here, I have to emphasize again that economy, economy, economy determines the foundation of a country.

Shanxi merchants, represented by the Eight Great Imperial Merchants, are equivalent to modern compradors. They were desperate for money and made outstanding contributions to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this is also due to the weak control of the border by the imperial court in the late Ming Dynasty, so that the so-called seal and control became false, and the smuggling of materials became popular.

In the final analysis, Shanxi merchants are only appearances, but in essence, after more than 200 years, the small peasant economy that the Ming court relied on for support went bankrupt and collapsed.

When the gentry and officials, coupled with some disasters, make it difficult for the self-cultivating farmers to survive, and Shaanxi, the shortest link of the barrel, becomes a loophole, and it will be useless to fill it up.

Upper decision decided by the economic background.

The small peasant economy of the owner farmers can only give birth to a feudal dynasty. Even if some kind of constitutional monarchy or republic is implemented, it is just a castle on the beach, which can be washed away with a piss.

Anyone who knows a little bit of historical knowledge knows that the Celestial Dynasty did not enter the society until the three major transformations were completed, but it was not a society for a few years after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The question is out, whether it is a feudal society or a capitalist society, the economy has played a decisive role.

As for the newly born Ming Dynasty, once the blockade policy is completely implemented, for the Manchu Qing, which only occupies a corner of the world, the destruction is only a matter of time.

But such a strategic vision is not seen by many people.

Even in the cabinet, the auxiliary ministers still evaluated the Manchu Qing in terms of soldiers, population, food, etc.

According to their predictions, the Manchu Qing still maintained a scale of nearly [-] soldiers and horses. Although they lost some elites, their strength was not much different from that before they went to the pass.

Therefore, if it is said that Ming Dynasty is number one in the world, then Manqing is the number two after catching up, which should not be underestimated.

But the emperor bluntly said that Liaodong can be recovered in one or two years, which is no less shocking than the bald eagles of later generations trying to exterminate Maozi.

There are many retired generals in steel mills.

"Your Majesty, war is not a joke."

Zhao Shu frowned with an ugly expression.

"Surrender without fighting!" Zhu Yixi chuckled and said, "This is the severity of the trade blockade. The Mongols have knocked on their side repeatedly. How can slavery be avoided?"

"Just wait, Jiannu will either fight the Mongols, or he will go into the pass and plunder him."

Such confident words made several people in the cabinet feel in a daze, thinking that the emperor's words over the years were basically right in ten words, could it be true this time?
As a result, the topic changed immediately, and several people began to chat about how many years it took to quell Liaodong.

After fooling the cabinet, the emperor breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that there were only a few months left, and he still had some inexplicable nostalgia for Nanjing.

However, when talking about the economy, he thought of the Yanzheng government for Jiangnan's persistent illness.

If the land tax and commercial tax are bright swords, then the salt tax is a soft knife to cut flesh, with less response, and there are salt merchants who are pulling hatred.

In the Song Dynasty, the salt tax reached tens of millions of guan. In the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the salt tax exceeded 30 million taels, and in the last years of Guangxu, it was as high as [-] million taels, which was the peak of all dynasties.

Regarding the salt tax, in Huguang, the guild system was implemented, and merchants took salt at a specified price and then sold it within a certain price range.

Strictly control the price of official salt, thus collecting a lot of money for the shogunate.

In the Jiangnan region, however, the Ming Dynasty's Gang Salt Law has been implemented, and Lianghuai salt merchants are prevalent.

Many people wonder why salt merchants were so famous in Ming and Qing Dynasties, but salt merchants in Tang, Han and Song Dynasties were rarely heard of?

In essence, it was because of the salt introduction system invented by Cai Jing that it completely collapsed during the Wanli period.

That is to say, similar to the Daming banknotes, salt drinks have been over-issued and flooded, so that there is an embarrassment of not being able to get salt.

In this case, in the 45th year of Wanli (1617), Yuan Shizhen, the Taoist of Yanfa, performed the Salt Method.

To put it simply, it is to eliminate those fake salt merchants and let the real salt merchants get the salt, so as to balance the salt price and increase tax revenue.

Professionals do professional things.

This kind of idea is good, and it also had miraculous effects at the beginning, but in the end it evolved into a hereditary salt merchant, who made a fortune from this, and the wealth continued.

It fully demonstrates that policy is one thing and implementation is another.

The imperial court knew it was not good, but they had no better way, because these large salt merchants were rich and could pay taxes as much as possible and sell salt to the whole country, while there were too many small salt merchants, too scattered to take care of them.

In this regard, for Emperor Shaowu, who was determined to change the country and make the country's rule stable, this kind of salt system must be changed.

Soon, salt merchants and Lianghuai salt transport envoys received the emperor's edict in Yangzhou.

However, during this interval, Zhu Yixi received a secret message from Zhu Jing in Beijing.

Basically, it belongs to the statement, the affairs in Beijing, the conflict between Jiang Yueguang and Chen Dong, and the views on the Chahar Ministry, etc., are described one by one.

"Beijing is generally stable."

The emperor smiled. He stood up and looked at the scorching sun outside the window with a bit of refreshment in his heart.

Daming is a newborn giant ship, and it is slowly turning the rudder according to his direction.

The future may be bright or bleak, but who can predict it hundreds of years from now?

Yangzhou is very close to Nanjing. If you hurry, you can arrive there in one day.

The next day, Wei Kang, the envoy of the Lianghuai salt transport, came to the palace in small steps.

He is a native of Southern Zhili, and now a native of Tongcheng, Anqing Prefecture, Anhui. He was a second-class Jinshi in the first year of Chongzhen. After more than ten years, at the age of nearly 50 years old, he climbed to the position of a third-rank salt transport envoy.

It can be said that this is a fat position, but it is also an extremely important official position.

During the Hongguang period, no, it was the 18th year of Chongzhen. He wooed Ma Shiying and won the position of salt transport envoy. In the first year, he handed in 150 million taels.

And you must know that the salt tax in Ming Dynasty was only 250 million taels at most, and Huaiyan accounted for half of the salt industry, but it was only more than one million taels.

When the Manchu Qing Dynasty came, he lived in seclusion, so he escaped the second year of cleaning, so he was reinstated as an official and once again served as a salt transport envoy.

For the Shaowu court, to improve finances in a short period of time, using the old man Wei Kang is the best choice.

So, what appeared in front of the emperor was a thin man with a serious face, and his impression was not bad.

"How much Huaiyan can I get this year?"

Seeing him, the emperor asked directly without beating around the bush.

Wei Kang was stunned, then lowered his head in the blink of an eye, and reported in a low voice: "His Majesty, although the second year of Shaowu has just passed halfway, thanks to the peace of the world and the smooth development of the salt industry, if there are no accidents, this year Huaiyan can get 150 million taels, which is a new high over the years."

Although what he said was boiling, Zhu Yixi was not satisfied.

You must know that in the Ming Dynasty's Gang Salt Law, Huai salt was a monopoly system, and Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang had the highest profits, ranking first in the world.

This amount of money is almost the same as sending a beggar.

(End of this chapter)