I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 164 The Use of Newspapers (Please subscribe)
"Your Majesty, I have one more thing to ask your Majesty."

"Oh, what's the matter?"

Seeing Liu Yishen's inquiry, Zhu Youxiao also became interested.

"His Majesty decided to open the Encore last year, and the cabinet also attached great importance to the matter. According to the examination practices of previous years, the Encore was scheduled to be held on February 25 this year. However, now that the scientific examination is approaching, the examiner and accompanying examiner have not yet been determined. His Majesty’s decree is required for appointment.”

February, wasn't it already next month? It would be soon. Zhu Youxiao counted the time.

He is quite concerned about this matter. After all, it is his first imperial examination after taking the throne. This matter needs to be paid attention to, and he also knows that many historical celebrities will appear in this imperial examination.

"I know this. I will finalize the list of examiners in the next few days."

"Your Majesty is wise, I can rest assured that I am waiting for you."

Afterwards, Liu Yishui and others resigned after seeing this, leaving Zhu Youxiao alone in Dongnuan Pavilion to continue reading the memorial.

Seeing that all the cabinet ministers had gone out, Zhu Youxiao was also thinking about reforming the salt policy.Since he started thinking about reforming the salt policy, he has also been thinking about how to reform the salt policy in the past few days, and also asked the Supervisor of Liturgy to send many memorials on reforming the salt policy.

After sorting out the policies in the past few days, he discovered a problem, that is, the Kaizhong Law cannot be blindly restored, and the current "Compendium Law" salt policy cannot be blindly abolished.

First of all, some people have been trying to restore the Kaizhong method in the Ming Dynasty, but it has never been successfully restored. This is because the Kaizhong method only allowed the salt merchants to exchange grain with Yanyin, returning to the form of barter. In addition to the supply of grain and grass, the court also There are no other benefits besides reducing the food and fodder pressure on the frontier army.

Moreover, during this process, there was a long time lag between when the grain arrived at the border and when the salt merchants took the salt from the border and exchanged it for salt for sale. As a result, the efficiency of official salt sales was very low, and some even experienced overproduction of salt. All kinds of problems.

But if all the grain is converted into silver and directly exchanged for salt, this will greatly improve the efficiency of the salt administration, and the government can also obtain a large amount of salt tax revenue. For example, the amount of salt tax this year is 1608 million taels. If it is implemented suddenly now If we open China to France, let alone whether food can be supplied to the border, government revenue will plummet by nearly 200 million cars.

This result was not only opposed by the ministers, but also unacceptable to Zhu Youxiao.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao thought about it and felt that farming still needed to be carried out, encouraging private sea transportation of grain and grass should also be carried out, and salt policy reform should be carried out, but it was not necessary to completely adopt the method of opening up the country.

Even though he knew not to use the method of opening the middle, he still held a meeting in the Wenhua Hall just now to discuss the issue of opening the middle.He knew that as soon as this news came out, those with vested interests in the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty's "Compendium Law" would be terrified and would do everything possible to obstruct the implementation and passage of the Kaizhong Law.

When the time comes for the Wenhua Palace to compete, there will be many courtiers competing against each other, each talking about their own advantages and criticizing each other for the shortcomings of Kaizhong and the "Compendium of Laws".

When they were quarreling red-faced, he would pretend to "reluctantly" agree not to implement the Kaichu method, and then someone would come up with a compromise plan. By then, the compromise plan would be accepted by the courtiers of both factions. .

For example, Brother Xun once said that Chinese people always like to reconcile and compromise.If you say that this room is too dark and you need to open a window here, no one will allow it.But if you advocate removing the roof, they will mediate and be willing to open the windows.

It’s just that you have to find someone trustworthy to cooperate and propose this compromise solution. As for who to find?Zhu Youxiao needs to think carefully.
-
At Dengshikou of Tianjing Hutong in Beijing, there is a restaurant with a history of more than 40 years.

Although this restaurant has been open for many years, its business has always been tepid. But as soon as the Lantern Festival is over, the business here is very good. Not only are there a lot of people eating every day, but now many people like to order a pot of tea here every day. Then some more melons and peanuts for a tea break, and we stayed there all day long, making jokes and making fun.

Seeing that the business is getting better and better, this store owner is both happy and tired. Now he is really grateful to Huang Dong. If he hadn't listened to his words and hired someone to give daily reports, why would so many people come to his store specifically? Chatting and drinking tea.

"Shopkeeper Li, has today's newspaper arrived?"

A tea guest wearing a square hat and dressed as a scholar couldn't wait to ask. He was originally a scholar, but he failed the provincial examination many times. Fortunately, his family was well-off. Now he has given up on this thought and spends the whole day drinking tea and chatting. How is it? comfortable.

But after having tea after the Lantern Festival and learning that there was a dedicated person explaining the newspaper here, he has now become a regular visitor every day.

After all, it is not as satisfying and satisfying to give advice in front of a group of people as one person can do in his study.What's more, there are many key political experts who criticize the current shortcomings with him. This kind of refreshing feeling is unprecedented before.

"Master Li, don't worry, it will probably arrive in a quarter of an hour. I specifically asked him to deliver the newspaper as soon as possible."

"You said you can't be in a hurry. During this period, there were waves of messengers from Liaodong, shouting about the great victory in Liaodong, the great victory in Liaodong, which made people feel really itchy. If the newspaper hadn't detailed the details yesterday, we would have I don’t know when these civilians will find out.”

As soon as Li Xiucai heard his boss tell him not to worry, he immediately explained the benefits of this newspaper, which really allowed him to understand the major events in the world.

"Yes, I heard that this was done by His Majesty himself. The purpose is to let us and other people understand the government affairs and not be fooled by corrupt officials."

Upon seeing this, a middle-aged businessman wearing a sky blue robe with a shrewd air also started talking about what Li Xiucai said. "It's just a joke. It's just a newspaper that understands the government affairs. Why did you say this? Even if you know the government affairs news, you can use it to question corrupt officials. Those who should be corrupt are still corrupt, and the assessments that should be paid must still be paid. .”

Seeing everyone praising the benefits of newspapers, some people disagreed. A harsh voice came from the door. Everyone took a closer look and saw that it looked like a traveling businessman who had been traveling all year round.

Li Xiucai immediately became unhappy when he saw someone singing the opposite tune. Although the businessman's words had some truth to them, they could not completely negate the role of newspapers. How could they be so disappointing, so he refuted them.

"This statement is wrong. Although what should be greedy is still greedy, and what should be apportioned is still apportioned, but at least the news is smoother than before, isn't it? Now we, ordinary people who are fighting for success, can all understand the major events in the DPRK. It is better than before when the news was just It would be better if those officials know about it."

"Besides, I see there are great reasons in this newspaper. If you listen closely, you can find opportunities to make a fortune, and even get fame."

As soon as these words came out, everyone's attention shifted, and they were all wondering how this newspaper could make a lot of money and gain fame.

Seeing that everyone's curiosity was piqued, Li Xiucai felt happy. He picked up a pot of tea and took a sip, then slowly knocked the melon seeds in his hand without saying a word.Everyone's appetite was aroused by him, and they all looked forward to it. This man's anxious tone made everyone scratch their heads and scratch their heads.

The businessman wearing a sky-blue cloth robe knew what he meant, looked at him, smiled, and shouted.

"Brother, give Mr. Li a pot of good wine and two plates of good food. Charge it to my account and let Mr. Li talk to us. Let us make some money and gain fame from it."

When Li Xiucai heard that the businessman was so polite, he immediately smiled and quickly handed over to the businessman.

"Youdao, the emperor is not in need of hungry soldiers. It is Mr. Zhang who is responsible for the matter. Otherwise, why is this business so big? Since Mr. Zhang is so generous, I will explain it carefully."

Seeing that Li Xiucai was about to explain, the others were also listening attentively.

"Speaking of making money, there is a lot of information revealed in this newspaper. Not to mention that on the third day of the twelfth lunar month last year, the newspaper said that the Ministry of Industry was preparing to build a workshop in Tongzhou. In the past, when the imperial court built workshops, they only sent soldiers from the Beijing camp to repair them. But after His Majesty reorganized the capital camp, this path was blocked, and we could only recruit local migrant workers in Tongzhou.

After a friend of mine from Tongzhou learned about this news, he immediately spent a lot of money to find connections that qualified him to send migrant workers to the workshops in Tongzhou. He earned the price difference from this, which was a profit of at least 1000 taels of silver a month. "

1000 taels of silver, this is not a small amount. Everyone was excited when they heard this. However, some people were dissatisfied and felt that it had nothing to do with the content of the newspaper, so they directly said something related to the money route. They immediately shouted that Li Xiucai was a liar. Let him say one more thing, otherwise he will be called nonsense.

Although Li Xiucai knew that they were irritating him, he also enjoyed the atmosphere of receiving eager attention from everyone, so he began to explain.

"Since you don't believe this, let me tell you two more things. I wonder if you still remember the newspaper saying that the imperial court is planning to set up palaces in Tianjin and Denglai, lift the maritime ban, and build a navy."

Everyone nodded after hearing this, they knew the news.

"He who hears the truth is the first to act first. The imperial court previously prohibited ships from entering the sea, and now it has suddenly opened the sea ban. Although it is sudden, it is not an opportunity. To build a navy, the imperial court needs wood and ships. How can these be readily available? There is no need to purchase and transport goods, which is not a business opportunity.”

Seeing that everyone, including Mr. Zhang and the merchants who objected at the door, thought deeply after hearing the words, Li Xiucai couldn't help but feel proud and continued to speak.

"Even if we don't do this, after the sea ban is lifted, the time it takes to travel by land to Liaodong, Shandong and other places can be shortened by more than a month, especially in Liaodong, where there are many mountain goods and furs, and the price of food is extremely high."

"As long as you transport food when you go and medicines and furs when you come back, you will make at least five times more profit when you come back. If you are brave, you can also take a boat to North Korea or even Japan to trade, and the profit will be more than ten times more."

"Huainanzi" once said: From the small Ming Dynasty to the great Ming Dynasty, you can know the end of the year when you see a fallen leaf; you can know the coldness of the world when you see the ice in the bottle. Now the "Da Ming Daily" contains all the major and minor affairs of the court in detail It is recorded above, so that all the information that was previously mastered by high-ranking officials can be made known to us. Isn't this an opportunity?"

"When you see a fallen leaf, you know that the year is about to end; when you see the ice in the bottle, you know how cold the world is."

General Shang Zhang murmured these words, and couldn't help but admire him in his heart. He immediately walked over and bowed to Li Xiucai to thank him.

"We are also drinking tea and chatting here. I really benefited a lot from your remarks today. Please accept my respect."

　Please subscribe!Ask for a monthly pass!

　　There is a book club link below. If you want to join, you can click Add Book Club.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)