The infinite heavens start from the red building

Chapter 298 10.11 Salt Service and Salt Tax
Chapter 10

10.11 Salt affairs and salt tax, deep meaning of Beijing

At the same time, in Yangzhou, patrolling the Yan Yushi Yamen.

"Your official sees the lord!" Lin Ruhai saluted the loyal and obedient king Li Shi, who was dressed in casual clothes and had obviously had a "private visit" in front of him, with impeccable etiquette, but his tone was neither humble nor overbearing.

In fact, this is also normal. The ancient emperors were indeed supreme in theory, but the princes below them did not necessarily have much status. Lin Ruhai paid homage to see him, but it was actually for the sake of "visiting by order". King Zhongshun is really nothing special to him .

"Hahaha, Mr. Lin is polite." King Zhongshun immediately stepped forward and helped Lin Ruhai, who had not yet knelt down, to his feet. , Your Majesty has mentioned it repeatedly."

"Your Majesty's kindness is so great, and your subjects should repay you with loyalty!" When Lin Ruhai spoke, he waved his hands in the direction of the capital seriously, "Besides, this is what a subject should do, Your Majesty's absurd praise—Please come in, my lord!"

"Hahaha, Mr. Lin, please!" King Zhongshun backed away with a smile all over his face, and then strode into the Yamen, his expression was no longer as relaxed as before, and even a little gloomy.

"My lord's arrival here surprised the lower officials, and I didn't receive a notification from the court, so I was rude and failed to greet you personally. Please forgive my sin!" just now at the door was the procedure of hello, me, everyone, and entered the yamen. After the living room, Lin Ruhai apologized immediately.

"This king also got interested for a while, and wanted to visit this treasured place in the south of the Yangtze River, which surprised Master Lin." King Zhongshun also apologized insincerely, "It's just that this king was very surprised by what he saw along the way.

This Jiangnan has just experienced wars, and the White Lotus Rebellion has not been completely pacified so far, but the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. Except for a few remote counties and even towns, most of Jiangnan has recovered now. "

"Thanks to Pingyuan Hou's use of soldiers like gods, the Bailian bandits who were defeated by the Jiangnan army alone had nowhere to go and nowhere to go. After suffering heavy losses, they had no choice but to escape into Jiangxi Province. It was really hard for the people of the province. " Lin Ruhai said lightly.

"Haha, the name of Marquis Pingyuan for using soldiers is now recognized by the whole world." Even though his heart was twitching, King Zhongshun did not dare to deny Wei Xu's contribution in the south of the Yangtze River on the surface.

In fact, the chaos has been delayed until now, and basically anyone with a little brain can see that there is a problem. The difference is nothing more than how deep they look. The thief has played it seriously.

As for Dongfang Bai's identity, in fact, only the queen guessed it. Others would never have guessed that she turned out to be Wei Xu's concubine, or no one would think about it at all—even Yongzheng himself, now I feel that Wei Xu is trying to "hereditary replacement", and absolutely can't think of the rebellion.

"The lower official is stupid, I don't know the prince is here." Lin Ruhai asked politely with a blank expression, but in the eyes of King Zhongshun, this was completely hypocritical.

If it was when he first came, it would be fine for Lin Ruhai to say he didn't know, but he has been wandering around Jiangnan for more than half a month, and if he said that Lin Ruhai and Wei Xu didn't know yet, it would be an insult to his intelligence.

In fact, although King Zhongshun had disguised himself and concealed his figure since he set off from the capital, Wei Xu had no secrets at all, because when he set off, the intelligence network in the capital had been following him.

Along the way, more than 20 people led by King Zhongshun dressed up as a caravan, but Wei Xu had accurate information on every node they passed, every inn they stayed in, and every restaurant they ate at.

After entering Jiangnan, they were under surveillance throughout the whole process, including what questions they asked and what their purpose was. Now they have been investigated and analyzed, and all the information has been sent to Lin Ruhai.

Of course, there are some things you can do but can't say, and some things you can say but can't do. Anyway, Lin Ruhai will never admit that he has been monitoring the prince.

"Hahaha, of course it is to check the salt tax." Even if you are MMP in your heart, you have to smile on your face. This is the so-called "scene". Master Lin also knew about it.

Last year, Master Lin sent 800 million taels to Beijing, which greatly relieved His Majesty's urgent needs, but under the current situation, the consumption of money and food is almost bottomless, which makes people need to work hard for Master Lin.

It was a special situation last time, and this year is naturally impossible, but if I want to come, I should still have half of the income, right?I don't know what Mr. Lin thinks? "

"My lord was joking." Lin Ruhai pushed back without hesitation, "In the past, when I was dismissed from an official position, I would work harder, and it only cost more than 300 million taels a year, and half of it had to be handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs. , Xiaguan can't change money.

Not to mention 400 million taels, it is a total of 200 million taels. The lower officials are not sure. The last war caused heavy losses to the salt merchants, so that the lower officials had to take the salt roads back to the government, and finally hand them over to retail investors in various places for shipment.

For this reason alone, Xiaguan has not been able to provide reliable salt suppliers in all areas of Jiangnan. This kind of construction method, which is almost starting from scratch, has really consumed a lot of money. "I naturally saw this." "King Zhongshun's attitude towards Lin Ruhai was not surprising at all. After all, 400 million taels was a bit exaggerated, and he was just asking for a sky-high price. "But in this way, all the profits from the salt products will naturally go to the hands of the government.

The current difficulties are only temporary, and the future benefits cannot be ignored, right?Of course, this king is also aware of Master Lin's difficulties. I don't know how much is appropriate for Master Lin? "

"Halve." Lin Ruhai made a condition without hesitation, "This year, I can only guarantee a total of 150 million taels, of which 100 million taels must be handed over to the Ministry of Households, otherwise it will be difficult for the lower officials to do business."

"Master Lin, isn't it too much?" King Zhongshun's face darkened suddenly. If he dared to bring back only 50 taels for Emperor Yongzheng, he probably couldn't guarantee that he would walk out of the imperial study room alive. "Even if Jiangnan has gone through the war, after all It has been a land of prosperity for hundreds of years.

The White Lotus Rebellion has had a huge impact on the local area this time. Most of the villagers and gentry were killed, and the local villagers were emptied. The impact was almost comparable to the war in the early years of the Dashun Dynasty. How dissatisfied His Majesty is! "

Your son-in-law is the leader of the military in the land of Jiangnan. The First World War made Jiangnan look like a bird. If His Majesty wants to pursue it, I don’t know if he can handle it, and can you bear it?
"Your lord only sees the prosperity in the south of the Yangtze River, but not the poverty of the people? Today, the Bailian rebels have only been mostly wiped out, but there are still remnants of harm, and I don't know when they will be calmed down.

Marquis Pingyuan has many soldiers and horses in his hands, but he has never been able to get enough food and pay. Up to now, he still relies on his own family to support the army. Nowadays, most of the salt goods in the south of the Yangtze River come from the seaside salt farms, and it is difficult to replenish them from other places.

The most convenient way to transport this salt cargo is naturally to rely on the Yangtze River to ship, and most of them rely on Jinling Wharf for transshipment. If they are harmed by gangsters, it will not be a matter of money. " Lin Ruhai said lightly.

You just want money, look at the poor people all over the place, aren't you afraid that the "White Lotus Bandit" will break out again?Not to mention it's a big battle, it's the finishing work now, can you still find someone who is capable of taking over?
My son-in-law raises money by himself when fighting wars, and the salt goods are currently under his control. If you lose this income, are you going to let the imperial court feed all the [-] troops?

"It's just that there are losses, and the people always eat salt. Although the losses in this civil disturbance are huge, the casualties of the people are not heavy." King Zhongshun said with a sullen face.

"The number of casualties exceeds one million, and the number of displaced people is equivalent to this. There are also hundreds of thousands of Bailian bandits raging. If this is not serious, why does the prince think it is serious?" Under the influence of Wei Xu, Lin Ruhai's mentality towards the people is also obvious. Changes, and even the tone is a bit aggressive.

"Then it won't fall so badly." King Zhongshun was no longer polite.

"Since the lord is so sure, why don't you try someone else?" Lin Ruhai sneered, "According to the usual practice, the post of inspector and censor does not exceed three years, and the subordinate official has been in office for almost ten years, so he should have abdicated long ago Let Xian go."

"If you don't even have a total of 200 million taels, I will tell His Majesty that I will serve you a vegetarian meal!" King Zhongshun roared angrily.

"If we only talk about salt tax, there won't be any more this year." Lin Ruhai seemed to be frightened, frowning and thinking for a moment before saying, "It's just that due to the impact of the war, the problem of illegal salt is quite serious, which has already endangered the court's tax revenue.

Xiaguan can seek help from Marquis Pingyuan to jointly crack down on private salt, and may increase some of the salt revenue, but it will not be too much. "

"This king is not unreasonable. The situation in Jiangnan will be revealed." Zhongshun Wang breathed a sigh of relief, "As long as Lord Lin does his best, His Majesty will notice it and won't blame him too much."

After talking nonsense about hello, me, and everyone, King Zhongshun left the Xunyan Yushi Yamen with satisfaction, and even the two of them at the gate performed a very crooked "Jun's grace is as deep as the sea" performance. Others almost spit it out.

"Master Lin, it seems that we will never be able to learn these things." Back in the study, Xu Fei, one of the eight great salt merchants and now the commander of the Yangzhou Guards, cupped his hands with a wry smile, "Still be honest. Dangqiu is good.

Just looking at the meaning of the prince just now, the one in the capital is indeed very short of money, so that he was specially sent to urge him to pay, but his meaning should not be purely for the salt tax, right?This matter does not need a prince. "

"Of course it doesn't need to be used. Although it can't be directly ordered, but a eunuch comes here is almost the same. I can't even discuss it like I did just now, because that is His Majesty's intention and cannot be changed.

Since he has come, it means that there is something in Jiangnan that His Majesty can't rest assured, or wants to solve. When I talked to him just now, although the topic was always the salt tax, he mentioned a person several times! "

"My lord?" Xu Fei immediately frowned, "Does he still dare to have any thoughts that he shouldn't have?"

PS: In the original book, the death of Lin Ruhai and the concubine Yuanchun are basically at the same time point, that is, the 11th year of the Red Chamber and the autumn of the 16th year of Yongzheng in this book.

(End of this chapter)