Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 230: The whole country is like a chessboard! (First update)
There was a great noise in the hall.

Tang He raised his eyes, glanced back a few times, and then looked away.

He just looked quietly at the figure in the hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang also had a strange look on his face at this time. He did not let Tian Jing speak. Tian Jing's sudden words this time were completely beyond his expectations. However, after Tian Jing said this, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually figured out some of the meaning.

Naturally, he had heard about what was happening in the south.

After pondering for a while, he originally did not plan to do too much for the sake of peace and stability. He just hoped that the South would be settled as soon as possible. As for those people who were doing things behind the scenes, he would find time to clean them up slowly in the future.

but now.
After Tian Jing spoke, everything changed again.

These evil bastards from the South originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos among the stove owners to threaten him and force him to make further concessions. To some extent, the reason why the South could be so radical was that he cleaned up the place too harshly, causing these stove owners to lose their way to make a living.

Of course, the main reason is the local mischief.

The officials of the Salt Transport Bureau in the court had already been sentenced to death in his mind.

But now everything is different.

Because the South had originally been stirring up trouble in an attempt to force him to back down, but Tian Jing's interference had only magnified the situation, turning the issue from the local government targeting the court into whether or not to abolish the stove household system and whether or not to relocate those extra stove households to the north.

A smile appeared on Zhu Yuanzhang's lips.

There was also a hint of relief in his eyes when he looked at Tian Jing.

However, he was still a little hesitant about abolishing the stove household system. Firstly, the stove household system of the Ming Dynasty was inherited from the Yuan Dynasty. Now these people have not been stove households for a long time. Isn't it too hasty and arbitrary to change their nationality in such a hurry?

Secondly, the steam-made salt production was in a mess in the south, which made him very unhappy.

There is even the idea of ​​banning steam-made salt.

He didn't like to see chaos in the Ming Dynasty.

Faced with the attacks from important officials such as Li Shanchang and Mei Sizu, even though Tian Jing had already prepared himself mentally, his face turned pale and he felt choked up and trembling all over. It was too much for him to face such pressure alone.

He looked towards the crowd, trying to find a figure.

finally.

Saw it at the end of the hall.

Summer white!
Xia Zhibai naturally had to attend today's court meeting, but he did not expect that Tian Jing would be so tough and directly launch an attack at the court meeting. This was also something he was not expecting. Moreover, not only him, but also Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shanchang and others were also caught off guard and had no time to make any preparations.

But this absent-mindedness only lasted for a moment.

He sobered up quickly.

When others were confused or even angry, he saw these things clearly. Since things were already a little messy, he had to win in the chaos and defeat the master with a random punch. Otherwise, when old foxes like Li Shanchang came to their senses, they would be able to suppress many situations with their status and position.

This is not what Xia Zhibai wants to see.

Xia Zhibai said: "I second the motion."

"Your Highness Xia Zhibai agrees with Vice-President Tian Yun's idea."

"It is an indisputable fact that unrest has arisen in the South."

“Even if the imperial court intervenes, since it allows the imperial court to support the salt farmers, or even finds a livelihood for them, the conflicts between the salt farmers and the local salt merchants and local government officials have already intensified. If there is any more trouble one day, it may turn into a major turmoil.”

"It is very detrimental to the stability of the country."

"Moreover, the stove owners don't trust the local government at the moment, and the local government doesn't trust the stove owners either. Even if they can barely achieve stability, how can the stove owners believe that the local government won't make things difficult for them? And how can the local government not be afraid that they will cause trouble again?"

"The sword has been unsheathed, and it is difficult to turn back."

"The imperial court cannot and will not continue to clean up this mess."

"Besides, after what happened this time, if someone stirs things up again in the future, these people will taste the sweetness and will surely follow suit again."

"So moving the unemployed stove owners to the north is the best option."

"First, it enriched the population of the north, accelerated exchanges between the north and the south, and made the bridging of the north and the south smoother."

"Secondly, the north is vast and sparsely populated. These farmers have more options when they go to the north. They can not only choose to work in salt factories, but also choose to farm locally. These are all options that the governors in the north can agree to."

"Third: They had no conflict with the northern authorities. To a certain extent, they were 'exiled' as a punishment."

"They dare not cause trouble or provoke the government again."

“Both the north and the south can have stability.”

"Fourthly, the imperial court will undoubtedly spend a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to relocate the population. In the short term, the huge amount of material consumption is indeed not cost-effective. However, in the long run, the imperial court can use this opportunity to abolish the stove household system, and in the future it will save hundreds of thousands of stove households money and grain every year. In a few years, the imperial court will benefit from it."

"And it can completely solve the local chaos."

"The local salt administration is now corrupt. It maintains the 'stove system' while promoting the 'factory system'. On the one hand, local employment has been greatly reduced, and on the other hand, salt production has been continuously increased. However, all costs have been passed on to the court. How can this chaos continue?"

"The imperial court is not a charity."

"Every copper coin and every bushel of grain must be carefully calculated. How can we waste it like this?"

"besides."

Xia Zhibai paused for a moment, then looked at the ministers who were looking at him coldly, and continued nonchalantly, "The salt policy in the south is already a bad policy, and if the court does not thoroughly rectify the bad policy, it will only hurt the country and the people."

"Local governments are reluctant to change bad policies, mostly because there are huge dividends from bad policies." "Otherwise, this policy would not have been implemented for so long."

“It is even less likely to be allowed to exist.”

"Instead of patching up the problem and always cutting into the bottom layer, why not solve it from the root?"

"Completely solve the long-standing problems in the salt administration?!"

“The whole country is like a chessboard.”

"The policies of the Ming Dynasty should also treat everyone equally."

"Otherwise, if the South has made certain concessions and compromises, should the North also make concessions and compromises?"

"If the North doesn't change accordingly, will the North also cause trouble in the future?"

"If this happens, the world will be in chaos!"

"Therefore, I suggest that we should expand the scope of the salt administration chaos in the south to the entire Ming Dynasty. We should not just focus on the south. We should explain all the pros and cons clearly and delve into them. Only then can we find the fundamental problem and truly find the right remedy."

Xia Zhibai spoke in a resounding voice.

Now that the matter has been made clear, let's speak frankly.

Li Shanchang, Mei Sizu and others looked at each other.

What Tian Jing and Xia Zhibai said was completely unexpected to them, and the direction of the development of the situation was even more unexpected, completely different from what they had expected. They couldn't even steer the topic in the direction they wanted.

Now the topic is too big.

It directly skipped the south and focused on the entire Ming Dynasty.

This makes them powerless.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked down silently and said indifferently: "In your opinion, is there really a problem with the salt policy of our Ming Dynasty?"

Xia Zhibai said: "Your Majesty, yes, and it is not small."

"The current salt policy of the Ming Dynasty is essentially 'salt is calculated according to the number of people'. The court's methods of obtaining salt are generally divided into two types. One is to obtain it directly from the salt producers. This method is a tax, which is also known as the tax based on the number of people. The other is to obtain the remaining salt from the salt producers after paying taxes through government purchases."

"But these two methods have been greatly impacted with the emergence of steam-driven salt production."

"The salt produced by the stove households is very inefficient and not of high quality."

“It’s also more expensive compared to human costs.”

"Besides."

"In the past, after the salt consumption met the requirements of the imperial court, the excess salt could be exchanged for a certain amount of money and grain. But now, the output of steam-powered salt is very large, which can completely cover the salt consumption of the entire Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the salt in the hands of the salt-producing households has nowhere to go."

"Merchants are looking for profits, on the one hand to avoid salt smuggling, and on the other hand to save costs."

"Some salt factories will buy salt from farmers at very low prices."

“After filtering it once, we will sell it at a high price.”

"Under the previous salt policy, the production of salt was guaranteed to a certain extent, but it brought great burden to the salt farmers and severely hit their production enthusiasm. However, under the impact of the steam engine, the salt farmers directly suffered a 'catastrophe', and even the court's salt collection was exploited even more."

"That's why the kitchen owner would get up and cause trouble."

“It’s hard to make a living making salt.”

"On the other hand, the massive outflow of steam engine blueprints has led to a large amount of 'private salt' appearing on the market. This 'private salt' has seriously impacted the salt sold by the government, and the collapse of the salt system will further affect the tax revenue of the court."

"The current Ming Dynasty salt administration is only in name only."

"If the court does not change its salt policy soon, the tax it can collect from salt will only get smaller and smaller."

"Compared to the unrest in the south, I am more worried about the corruption of the salt administration."

"Since the old salt policy has been broken, we should establish a new one under the old one and formulate the most effective salt policy at the moment."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

In fact, he also saw the chaos in the salt administration.

Otherwise, I wouldn't think of "keeping things quiet", suppressing the chaos and sorting it out again later.

Since Xia Zhibai has an idea, he might as well listen to it.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Then tell me, how should we change the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty?!"

Hear the words.

Mei Sizu's face darkened, and he had a bad feeling in his heart. He interrupted hurriedly and said, "Your Majesty, I think Xia Zhibai's words are really alarmist. The salt policy of our Ming Dynasty does have some problems, but the most important issue at the moment is not to discuss how to change the salt policy, but how to solve the unrest in the south."

"How can the change of salt policy be decided overnight?"

"But there is very little time to deal with the unrest in the south. If we delay this precious time, the unrest in the south will be out of control, and that will be a real loss to the country and the people."

"I implore Your Majesty to take the current situation into consideration."

(End of this chapter)