Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 178: The Actions of the Salt Transport Bureau! (rd Update)
Peking is working in full swing and everything is on track.

Ying Tianfu.

The new Salt Transport Commissioner has been in office for more than half a month.

During this half month, officials under the Yingtian Prefecture Salt Transport Bureau were gradually filled in, and officials such as transport assistant, transport deputy, transport judge, and supervisor were also arranged one after another. The official position of the Ming Dynasty Salt Transport Commissioner was not low, it was the third rank.

It's also a lucrative job.

In this Guo Huan case, all the officials from top to bottom in the Yingtian Prefecture Salt Transport Bureau were brought down.

The new salt transport envoy was Wei Heng.

Now, a small banquet is being held in Wei Heng's mansion. The guests are mainly some officials from the Salt Transport Bureau. In addition to these officials, there is also a stranger. This person is not an official from the Salt Transport Bureau, but from the Ministry of Works.

Wei Heng, the salt transport envoy, sat in the main seat, and his two deputies, Yun Tong and Yun Fu, sat next in line.

The three of them looked at each other, and raised their glasses towards Li Sheng, who was sitting at the end. They smiled and said, "During this period, your majesty has been strictly investigating officials and confiscated many officials. Many officials in our Salt Transport Department have been in trouble. I, Wei Heng, was lucky enough to catch your majesty's eye and was promoted from a prefect to the chief of the Salt Transport Department."

"I wanted to invite my colleagues to a banquet, but I am really short of money, so I can only use wine to entertain them."

"I'll drink this glass of wine first."

Wei Heng smiled at everyone around him and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.

Li Sheng looked around nervously, feeling uneasy. In fact, he had no right to attend the event. The reason he came this time was because he suddenly received the invitation. He did not dare to refuse and hurried over. He was really panicked and didn't know why he was asked to come.

But seeing that Wei Heng said so, he did not dare not to drink. He raised his glass and drank with everyone else.

See this.

Wei Heng laughed.

Then, Wei Heng's expression calmed down and he said in a deep voice: "The reason why I invited you all here this time is that I really have something important to discuss. The salt tax has always been an important position since ancient times, but now it is a little different. Since I took office, I have discovered something very bad."

"As the salt transport commissioner of Yingtian Prefecture, I am in charge of the salt tax of the 14 prefectures and four counties in the former Zhili Province, with Yingtian Prefecture as the main one."

"Now, with the rise of the Jingdu Salt Industry, many prefectures and counties that used to belong to the Zhili Zhongshu Province are now affected by the Jingdu Salt Industry. Salt production and sales no longer go through the hands of the court, but have all fallen into the purview of the Jingdu Salt Industry. The court has no way of supervising this."

"Salt is one of the lifeblood of the country."

"Although Xia Zhibai is called a merchant official, he is actually a salt dealer. He has seized the power of local salt administration, which makes me feel uneasy. It is only in Yingtian Prefecture and a few other places, but Xia Zhibai recently wrote to the court, intending to control the entire northern salt market."

“This makes a lot of people in the world uneasy.”

"Especially the salt-producing provinces such as Lianghuai, Liangzhe, and Fujian are all dissatisfied with Xia Zhibai."

"Xia Zhibai is too ambitious. If he really takes over the northern salt market, he will definitely not let go of the central and southern parts. By then, our Salt Transport Bureau will become a mere decoration and we will have to depend on Xia Zhibai's wishes."

"I can't interfere in the affairs of the North."

"But I cannot give up the salt tax within Zhili Province again and again."

"I can promise that."

"The officials below will not agree to it."

"As you can see, this time I invited not only officials from the Salt Transport Bureau, but also a special person."

"It's Li Sheng from Kyoto Salt Industry."

Wei Heng looked at Li Sheng with a smile on his face.

Li Sheng quickly stood up and saluted respectfully to the officials.

He knows his identity.

At best, he was just an "official", and his status was completely different from the officials present. He did not dare to be careless or disrespectful at all.

Wei Heng smiled and said, "I'm sure you've all heard of Li Sheng's name. He's been a household name in the city for a while now. Xia Zhibai's Jingdu Salt Industry has been able to progress so smoothly, mainly thanks to Li Sheng's hard work and dedication to putting that steam engine into practice."

“It has changed the salt production situation in the past.”

Hear the words.

Li Sheng's cheeks turned slightly red.

His family knew their own situation and knew that they had not accomplished so many things. Many of them were done with the participation of Zhou Ning and others. However, they did put a lot of effort into improving the steam engine and did provide support for the boom in Kyoto's salt industry.

Wei Heng glanced at Li Sheng indifferently, with a hint of contempt in his eyes, and then said: "Li Sheng is a talented person. In the past, because his father worked for the old dynasty, he was targeted and suppressed by some people in the court, and his talents were difficult to display. But once he was given the opportunity, he immediately showed it."

"The steam engines he worked on were praised by the world."

“It attracts more attention from the people.”

"But I recently heard that such a talented person is not having a good time in the Kyoto Salt Industry."

Li Sheng smiled awkwardly. Seeing Wei Heng had said so, he couldn't deny it. He said casually, "It is true. Xia Jinshi wanted us to design a textile machine for him, but he didn't want to pay too much. He also imposed various restrictions on us engineers. He didn't take our ideas into consideration at all."

"There are many people in the salt factory who are dissatisfied right now."

Wei Heng sneered and said disdainfully: "It seems that Xia Zhibai is overrated. He is just like those officials in the Ministry of Works who were content with their positions. He cannot stand people who are more talented than himself. If they are not satisfied, they will be suppressed. I am ashamed to be associated with such people."

"I heard about it."

"Engineer Li Sheng has made many contributions to the Kyoto Salt Industry."

"The fact that Kyoto Salt Industry has been able to reach where it is today and monopolize the salt markets of several prefectures step by step is largely due to the steam engine. However, Li Sheng, who made the greatest contribution, did not receive the reward he deserved. I feel sorry for you and feel resentful."

"I shouldn't have said these words." "It's just that I, Wei Heng, have an impatient and straightforward personality, so I just said what I meant."

"I won't be shy about it. I'll get straight to the point."

"With the emergence of the Jingdu Salt Industry, the salt market in the Lianghuai region has been shaken to a great extent, and the local people have complained about it."

"You should have heard about Lianghuai. In the past, Zhang Shicheng started his business by selling private salt here. Many local people still remember Zhang Shicheng. Now, because of the incident of Jingdu Salt Industry, many people in Lianghuai are remembering Zhang Shicheng's kindness again. To a certain extent, it has aggravated the local private salt trafficking."

“This has to be curbed.”

"It's just that the imperial salt policy is difficult to change in a short period of time, and the best way to change it is to adopt the form of the Kyoto salt industry."

"I heard that you have been dissatisfied with Xia Zhibai for a long time. Have you ever thought about finding another place to go?"

"If you can present the complete blueprint of the steam engine and help us stabilize the salt industry in the Huai River and Huai River regions, I will speak well of you to the court. In addition, I know many officials in the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Works. I will ask them to recommend you. You may be able to be promoted directly from an engineer to an 'official'."

Hear the words.

Li Sheng's expression changed slightly.

He didn't expect that Wei Heng called him over to make him betray Xia Zhibai.

But the temptation is indeed great enough.

Be an official.

In this world, officials are officials and clerks are clerks.

Like Zhou Ning, whom he knew well, if he had not seized the good opportunity, he might never have become an official in his life. If he continued like this, he could only continue to be a "worker" in the Ministry of Works. It would be impossible for him to stand out and become an official.

He is still young.

Even if he is only a ninth-rank official, he may be promoted in the future.

And he thought his achievements were good enough.

With the steam engine alone, he has become famous in Yingtian Prefecture, praised by the people in the city, and envied by many engineers. When he becomes an official in the future, without the constraints of Xia Zhibai, his achievements will only be higher.

Li Sheng was moved.

Yun Tong Qiquan smiled and said, "Li Sheng, why don't you seize this good opportunity?"

"This Xia Zhibai clearly doesn't trust you."

"Will you still have something to eat when you come back later?"

"Xia Zhibai is narrow-minded and cannot tolerate people with outstanding talents. Do you still want to continue to be suppressed and continue to be unappreciated for your talent?"

"You have already proven yourself. Even if you are criticized, what does it matter? And you will not be criticized. If you send out the detailed drawings of the steam engine, it will solve the salt demand in the entire south, reduce the burden on the people, and completely resolve His Majesty's concerns about the Huai River and Huai River regions."

"You are helping His Majesty to solve his problems."

"With such achievements, how could he not be valued by the imperial court?"

"The old saying is true."

"I don't want to leave you here, I have my own place to stay."

"Since Xia Zhibai won't tolerate you, won't allow you to succeed, and won't recommend you to the court, why do you want to stay?"

"The world is vast, and besides Xia Zhibai, there are many people who appreciate you."

"There's no need to hang yourself on a tree."

Qi Quan and others patiently persuaded them.

While persuading him, he also poured wine for Li Sheng.

After a few glasses of hot wine, Li Sheng recalled Xia Zhibai's past harshness. He was always fussy about them, making all kinds of harsh criticisms and demands that annoyed them. He had long been fed up with Xia Zhibai's guidance as an outsider.

For a while.

Li Sheng thought a lot.

He thought of how he would become famous overnight and be praised by many scholars and officials after the steam engine was publicized; he also thought of how his carefully designed "textile machine" was ruthlessly rejected by Xia Zhibai, who directly cut off their future "iron consumption"; he also thought of how he solved the instability in Lianghuai for His Majesty with the help of the steam drawings, which was appreciated by His Majesty and gave him many opportunities that he had not had before to show his talents.

But Li Sheng also had worries.

He was still afraid of Xia Zhibai.

Xia Zhibai did share some steam engine drawings with the outside world in the past, but those were the first few versions. It's not that those drawings could not be put to use, but their efficiency was very low and could not compare to the production of steam engines in the past. The subsequent improved steam engines were the key.

If I hand it over myself.

Kyoto Salt Industry's advantage in salt production will be gone.

Perhaps he can still have some advantages in a few places such as Yingtian Prefecture, but it will be impossible to occupy the southern salt market in the future, and he will be completely hated by Xia Zhibai. At the same time, he can use this opportunity to establish relationships with officials such as Wei Heng, make friends with many southern officials, and even become an official himself.

All kinds of thoughts emerged in Li Sheng's mind.

finally.

His eyes became firm.

He looked at Wei Heng and took the initiative to raise the wine glass: "I am willing to obey the orders of the salt transport envoy!"

(End of this chapter)