Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 445 Salt Method! the foundation of the country

In the second year of Tianqi, the seventh day of the first lunar month.

Qianqing Palace.

Dong Nuan Pavilion.

"The Salt Law is the foundation of the country!! All dynasties have attached great importance to the salt policy. If there are any problems with the salt policy, it will not only be the loss of the national treasury, but also the situation where the salt is expensive and hurts the people, especially the smuggling and trafficking of salt. This is even more serious. We need to crack down hard!!”

A sonorous and powerful voice sounded in Dongnuan Pavilion. The eunuchs, eunuchs, and Han generals on duty outside the palace all felt the oppressive atmosphere.

In fact, this is the case.

Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting on the throne, looked at Yuan Shizhen, who had gone through many vicissitudes of life, with emotion and sigh in his heart. Even he did not expect that Yuan Shizhen would change so much when he left the capital to inspect various places.

blacken.

Thin.

From this, it is not difficult to imagine what Yuan Shizhen went through in the past few months.

"Shilang Yuan, you just said so much that it is a good idea to rectify the salt policy, but have you thought about it?"

Qian Qianyi, the second assistant to the cabinet, said with a serious expression: "How much risk does the imperial court have to take when trying to implement salt reform in Shandong? Not long ago, a group of ghosts and monsters such as Bailian remnants and Jianlu hidden stakes were suppressed and suppressed by the strong army under the command of His Majesty. The hospital is still supervising the water transport case, and people in Shandong are panicking right now. At this time, you want to try salt reform in Shandong, are you afraid that Shandong is not chaotic enough?"

"That's right!"

Sun Ruyou, the assistant to the cabinet group, followed closely and said: "For the imperial court, the top priority now is to stabilize the place. This is not just a matter for Shandong. No one expected that Shandong would hide so many remnants of White Lotus. Since it is in Shandong, Found it, is there a white lotus nearby..."

"When discussing salt law, just talk about salt law and don't waffle about other things."

Before Sun Ruyou finished speaking, Zhu Youxiao frowned and interrupted: "Someone will handle the matter of clearing up Bailian. If there is any problem, I will hold them accountable. The current imperial court discussion is about salt reform. Is it possible? According to your opinion, when you encounter some problems, you don’t do other things?"

This time Sun Ruyou's expression became a little unnatural.

The atmosphere in Dongnuan Pavilion also became subtle.

In fact, before the imperial meeting was held, all the ministers in the cabinet were thinking about Shandong. After all, such a big turmoil had never happened before. This year, it was indeed so... Many people are not living well, especially those involved in water transportation.

In addition to the Qi Party, the Zhejiang Party, the Donglin Party, and even the Xuan Party, Kunming Party and other parties in Jingxiang are all trembling with fear.

too suddenly.

Originally, it was just to investigate a water transport case. Although this made many people passive, everything could still be done by the rules. It was nothing more than finding some scapegoats.

However, without warning and without anyone knowing, the emperor actually mobilized a large number of troops to suppress a group of white lotus remnants, Jianlu hidden stakes and other evil spirits in Shandong.

This matter itself is nothing, but the key to the problem is that they are ignorant. They cannot know the emperor's intentions and cannot figure out the emperor's thoughts. This is the most dangerous signal.

Not to mention that in this cold winter, Duke Yan Sheng died in Beijing, and in Shandong, the Integrity Council led by Cui Chengxiu arrested Kong Yinzhi. The key was not only him, but also some people from the Kong family in Qufu. Got caught.

When the various things that happened came to the capital within a short period of time and were known to people from these factions, the shock and impact it caused was too great.

This has never happened before! !

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Yuan Shizhen stepped forward and bowed: "I originally wanted to try the salt reform in Beizhili, but after hearing about the incident in Shandong, I changed my mind." "Since there are so many problems hidden in Shandong, not only are there hidden dangers in the place, but also There are still problems with water transportation, so I think there must be problems elsewhere."

"Since the hidden dangers and problems have been exposed, why not take advantage of this chaos to sort out the salt policy that the court attaches great importance to in Shandong?"

"You must know that Shandong is also a major salt-producing area, especially sea salt. If Shandong's salt policy can be straightened out, I can assure your majesty that the previous salt tax will not be the upper limit!!"

The whole party is about to be finished.

After hearing this, Qian Qianyi and Sun Ruyou exclaimed secretly in tacit understanding. A single canal transport case would make them the target of public criticism, let alone the remnants of White Lotus in Shandong, especially in Yanzhou and Dongchang. In other places, there are still things that are concealed from the Shandong governor's office and privately collected corvee services. Under these incidents, the Shandong officials in Beijing, especially the group who gathered together, did not have a good year at all. Even uneasy.

"Bi Qing, you are the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, what do you think?"

Zhu Youxiao leaned on the cushions, looked at Bi Ziyan, who had been silent, and said.

"I think the salt reform is feasible."

Under the gaze of many people, Bi Ziyan stepped forward and said: "I have seriously thought about what Yuan Shilang said just now. Since the salt policy is the foundation of the country, some things must change."

“For example, the hierarchical control of salt administration in each province, the establishment of salt administration tax police, the deepening of official supervision of commercial sales, the rectification of government-run salt farms, the reform of sea salt drying, and the transfer of kitchen households to civilians, etc., I feel that there is no such thing as the above-mentioned ideas. One place is more suitable than Shandong. Although Lianghuai is the most suitable, it is still too far from the center."

Now, some people became alert.

The salt policy in Lianghuai cannot be touched lightly!

"Where is Zhu Qing? You are the chief minister of the cabinet. Tell me what you think."

Zhu Youxiao was keenly aware of this, looked at Zhu Guozuo and said.

"Your Majesty, I think it is better to move Shandong than to move the Huaihe River."

Zhu Guozuo said with a serious expression: "Apart from what Bige Lao said, I feel that the salt reform must indeed be carried out. Let's talk about the national treasury. Although it has been relieved in the past, there is not much movable silver in the treasury, and most of it must be allocated in advance. The new year has just begun, who can ensure that the court will not encounter other things in the future?"

"If the imperial court really encounters a problem, but the national treasury does not have enough silver, then it will be in trouble. The salt reform is not only as simple as open source, but also a matter of showing determination."

This is the style that the chief minister of the cabinet should have!

Zhu Youxiao showed an expression of approval. It is normal for factional fighting in the central court and local government to exist. If it does not exist, it is abnormal. As long as there are people, there must be differences of opinion and disputes over interests. The more people there are, the more likely this will be. The phenomenon becomes more and more obvious. It is unrealistic and impossible to completely isolate the parties.

But everything must have a degree.

Balance is best.

Losing control is the worst.

Under such circumstances, the vision and government of the superiors will be extremely tested. How to control the factional disputes within a controllable range must be accomplished.

This is also the reason why Zhu Youxiao promoted Zhu Guozuo to be the chief minister of the cabinet.

As for Fang Congzhe or Ye Xianggao, no matter how noble they are, they should stay somewhere cool and cool. If they are asked to sit in the position of chief minister of the cabinet, the party struggle will be impossible to control.

No matter how good you are personally, but you don't have any certainty and hesitate when encountering problems, that's the biggest bad thing!

"Then form a ticket as soon as possible and submit it to the emperor."

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao looked at the cabinet ministers in front of him and said: "The national treasury does not have a large amount of silver at its disposal. This is indeed the most dangerous thing. This matter must be clarified as soon as possible. In my opinion, the chaos in Shandong is unacceptable. As a result, after the canal transport case is investigated, the cabinet will issue an edict to me and circulate it to all places!!"

(End of this chapter)