I am Da Song

Chapter 386
The water system in the south of the Yangtze River is well developed, and there is already a dense waterway network, as well as canal water transportation.

After a large amount of financial allocation by the Song court, the water transportation network is more convenient, extending in all directions, and connecting every county.

Only in terms of convenient transportation, even the capital Tokyo is no match for an ordinary city in Jiangnan water town.

Starting from Suzhou, Yujia can directly reach any county in Xiuzhou by boat. It only took one day for the fleet to cross Wu County, Wujiang, and Jiaxing to Haiyan County.

Xiuzhou officials all thought that when the officials came to Xiuzhou, they would stay in the government office.

No one expected that the fleet would go straight down the current and go directly to the beach.

There are no giant dragon boats of hundreds of feet in the official fleet, which travel at high speed in the canal and are completely free from the mercy of any local officials.

Therefore, countless officials can only follow behind the official fleet in fear, lest there are some blind people in the local area who will expose the dirty deeds to the officials.

And Zhao Huan's sudden arrival in Haiyan was to inspect the salt field here.

In any dynasty, horse administration and salt administration are the hardest hit areas of corruption.This is especially true in the Song Dynasty, because of national patents, salt is related to the vital interests of countless temple officials in the Song Dynasty.

Although the Song Dynasty released the franchise of tea and salt and allowed the people to sell salt, the state still has a large number of salt farms in its hands.

The salt fields in Xiuzhou are lined up along the coast of Haiyan County, namely Shayao Salt Field, Luli Salt Field, Pudong Salt Field, Yuanbu Salt Field and Qingdun Salt Field.

As long as Zhao Huan inspects from south to north, he can check all the five salt fields.

In Haiyan, Zhao Huan changed to a carriage and led a large group of cavalry to the Shayao Salt Field.

The distance between the two places was too short, and the cavalry rode on horseback, and it took less than half an hour to arrive, and the officials had no time to report the news.

Sitting in the car, Zhao Huan looked at the bright and warm scenery outside, and asked Zhang Jun, the left minister who accompanied him, "Left minister, salt dealers are usually ruthless, and like to fight to the death. Xixia Dangxiang people are typical of them. Show The state is heading for the salt field for me, how is the situation?"

Zhang Jun looked solemn, and said: "Officials, in the southeast, salt dealers are also the source of law and order. Hangzhou, Xiu, Wen, Tai, and Ming have six supervisors and four out of ten."

"However, before the establishment of the industry, tea and salt were government-run, and the price of salt was high, so the common people profited from eating private salt, and the sea people used fish and salt as their industry, saving labor and gaining a lot of money. Therefore, there are many thieves and peddlers. Engaged in The number of illicit salt producers and traffickers was so high that there were 17 illegal salt offenders in the two Zhejiang provinces, and it did not stop in the end.”

In one year, as many as 17 people were tried for illegal salt trafficking!
Hearing this number, Zhao Huan frowned slightly.

This is only caught by the government, and there are bound to be more people who haven't been caught.

These are the most youthful people in the Song Dynasty, engaged in industrial labor, risky commercial trade, and even armed murder. They are the same desperadoes and explorers as the colonial adventurers in the Age of Discovery.

It all depends on the policies of the Song Dynasty whether to become a colonial explorer who opened up distant lands for the Song Dynasty and overcame obstacles, or to become a corrupt party and a coastal seaman like the Japanese pirates of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Jun continued: "The reason why private salt sales have been banned repeatedly is that the salt households in eastern Zhejiang and illegal merchants have made huge profits from private salt. million."

"As long as a caravan transports ten ships, or ordinary people smuggle ten ships a year, they can earn tens of millions and save tens of thousands of wealth. Therefore, the people are greedy for huge profits."

A wealthy family, this is the status that countless people have been striving for since ancient times.

You must know that Prime Minister Su Zhe borrowed money to get together a dowry of [-] guan for his daughter.

And one hundred thousand guan can make two prime ministers dismiss. With a dowry of 20 guan, the Wang family can give Qin Hui a lesson with confidence.

An ordinary person can earn a fortune in one year, which shows his huge profits.

Zhao Huan thought for a while and asked: "The prosperity of the world is all for profit. The hustle and bustle of the world is for profit. It is understandable for the common people to pursue profit. After the third division cancels the franchise of tea and salt, will Zhengshitang resettle these salt households?" ?”

Zhang Jun said: "Zhengshitang proposed a system in the first year of Jianye to turn salt households into customers, and they can freely accept employment from various salt farms."

"At the same time, the temple supervisors no longer set up salt guides, which are the same as the private salt farms, and are supervised by the inspection and lifting department."

Zhao Huan didn't understand, and asked, "How is it different from the past?"

Zhang Jun explained: "The main reason is that the powers of the saltworks and temple supervisors have been taken back. The tea and salt lifting department is under the jurisdiction of the Zhengshitang, and the saltworks and temple supervisors are under the jurisdiction of the third division."

The system in the Song Dynasty is very different from that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the most important thing is commercial behavior.Because of national patents, many grassroots monasteries and supervisors are directly involved in market behavior.It can be regarded as a semi-official government and a semi-state-owned enterprise.

As a result, the bureaucracy is serious. Basically, as long as the state-owned patent industry is involved, corruption is serious and the price is high.Such as tea, salt, wine and horses.

Besides being corrupt, these people are also greedy and exploitative, which is the most troublesome.

Zhao Huan appreciated the result of the power struggle between Zhengshitang and the third division.

Administration and business are separated, making money belongs to the third division, and administration belongs to the political affairs hall.

This is in line with the idea that Zhao Huan has always instilled in the world. The government can concentrate its strength and take advantage of capital and scale to participate in the operation.

But since you become a member of the market, you must abide by the law, be equal to other market players, and compete fairly.

Don't imagine that the left hand is a big stick of power, and the right hand is corrupt in business.That will only become a four-faced image and become a cancer of the country, just like the horse administration and salt administration in the Song Dynasty before.It’s fine if you don’t make money, and it also leads to skyrocketing prices, and the people are in dire straits.

With this reform of Zhengshitang, the temple supervisors under the jurisdiction of the third division are more like state-owned enterprises. Without administrative jurisdiction, they can no longer exploit Yanhu.

Whether the price of his salt can be reduced, regardless of whether the quality of the salt is good or not, at least it will not cause the people of the salt households to live in poverty.

Just as Zhao Huan was thinking about this, the front of the frame made a sudden stop, and the entire convoy erupted in a commotion.

Countless armored cavalry rode forward, and instantly set up shields one after another, enclosing the frame tightly.

The horseshoes on both sides rumbled, and a large number of cavalry charged forward, and the whole land trembled under the trampling of the horseshoes.

Zhao Huan glanced through the car window and saw countless cavalry marching forward one by one on both sides of the carriage.

If it weren't for the emergency, the Imperial City Secretary would never have mobilized so many cavalry in front of Yu Jia.

Zhang Jun frowned, and said: "The salt lords of Yanhu in the eastern Zhejiang province are still strong and cunning people, and those who are strong and strong are fierce and fierce, which is really not good for public security."

Zhao Huan sat back in his seat, obviously it was no longer a matter of law and order!
(End of this chapter)