Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 266: Don’t speculate!

No one was prepared for Xia Zhibai's sudden attack.

No one expected Xia Zhibai to be so determined.

Zhou Ziliang, who originally did not want to say anything more, could not sit still at this moment and said, "Imperial Envoy Xia, isn't this a bit too hasty? After all, many people are involved in the salt administration, and if too many salt merchants ignore it, I am afraid it will cause a great panic of salt shortage in the local area."

"I'm afraid it will cause chaos in the South."

"Let's wait until Imperial Envoy Xia understands the actual situation in the area before we make any further comments."

"What do you think, Imperial Envoy Xia?"

Zhou Ziliang asked with some questions, but his tone was very firm.

Xia Zhibai had a stern look on his face. He glanced at Zhou Ziliang indifferently, as if he didn't understand the implication of Zhou Ziliang's words. He shook his head and said, "Why does Minister Zhou say that? The South's affairs have stirred up the hearts of the people. If they are resolved sooner, the world will be able to live in peace sooner. Besides, isn't this what Minister Zhou wants?"

"This should be done as soon as possible!"

"I've been passing these words along for some time."

"Just because some people don't cooperate, don't accept, and deliberately delay, do we have to wait here forever? How long will it take? Can I wait? Can the court wait? Can the governors of Zhejiang, Fujian and other southern provinces wait? Can the people in the localities wait?"

"If you don't obey, you are a rebel."

"The court should deal with this severely!"

"Only by using thunder and lightning can we deter the villains and bring peace to the world as soon as possible."

"It's settled."

Xia Zhibai's tone was equally tough, leaving no room for easing.

Zhou Ziliang's expression changed.

He looked deeply at Xia Zhibai, his hands hidden in his sleeves had long been clenched into fists, but his face was still calm. He said gloomily: "Since Imperial Envoy Xia is determined to do so, I can't dissuade him. But as I said before, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration will definitely cooperate with all its strength."

"I will do what I say."

"I will pass on the message later and tell the lower ranks what Envoy Xia meant."

"It's just that time is urgent, and I can't guarantee the outcome."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhou." Xia Zhibai bowed to Zhou Ziliang with gratitude.

Zhou Ziliang turned his head and ignored him.

At this moment, Li Benmo only felt his scalp tingling.

Three days is too tight.

I’m afraid that many merchants from the salt factories won’t be able to make it.

If this were true, many salt factories would probably be confiscated, and he could not afford such a huge loss.

At this point, although Li Benmo was very reluctant, he had to bite the bullet and stand up. He bowed slightly to Xia Zhibai and said in a deep voice: "My Lord, three days is really too short. The transportation in the south is indeed convenient, but it takes a long time for your order to come down, for the local government to make a decision, and for people to be sent later. Especially in places like Fujian, the mountains are high and the roads are long. I am worried that many people may not be able to make it."

"Can't get there?" Xia Zhibai said coldly: "I don't think we can't get there."

"The waterway in the south is unobstructed. Three days is enough time for them to leave, unless they have not made a decision beforehand."

"Besides."

"As you said before, the Salt Transport Bureau was responsible for production and sales in the past, but now it is only responsible for collecting taxes. That naturally means that production and sales have fallen into the hands of the salt factories themselves. I have been involved in business and have learned some information. Merchants have their own transportation channels, which are sometimes faster than official roads."

"Li Yanyunshi, you don't need to speak for the merchants."

Li Benmo shook his head and said sternly, "Your Excellency, I still feel that this is inappropriate."

"Especially since you want to confiscate the salt factory facilities, I am really terrified. What is the difference between such behavior and thieves and bandits?"

"After all, we represent the face of the imperial court."

"How can you act like a robber?"

Li Benmo expressed his protest with eloquent words.

Xia Zhibai disagreed. He looked at Li Benmo indifferently and chuckled, "Li Yanyunshi, I said before that it's not that I'm reckless, but that they are disrespectful to the court. If they really had respect for the court in their hearts, I'm afraid they would have gotten up and set off early. How could they not arrive?"

“Even if you haven’t decided yet, you can always discuss it as you go along.”

"As long as there is nothing wrong with your thinking, there are always more solutions than problems."

"Now they are focusing on the difficulties. Isn't that telling the world that they don't take the court's words to heart?"

"So this is not an act of robbery, but a punishment for disrespect for the court."

Li Benmo shook his head and said, "You can't say that."

"Salt is a necessity for people's lives. If there is a problem, I cannot bear the responsibility."

"Even you can't afford it, Xia Qincha."

Xia Zhibai sneered and said disdainfully: "It seems that you didn't listen to me seriously before. I said before that I brought a lot of engineers and the latest salt-making machines with me this time. Salt is indeed a necessity in life, but it doesn't mean you will die if you don't eat it every day."

"Besides, it is already late autumn, and people will choose to tighten their belts and tighten their belts."

"Salt consumption will be much lower."

"What you are worried about is that these merchants will cause chaos and disrupt the normal production and sales of local salt, which will then cause local riots. However, you overestimate them. Things are different now. In the past, salt was produced by salt farmers. Once there was a problem with the salt farmers, the price of salt would fluctuate greatly."

"Therefore, ensuring a stable supply of salt is an important responsibility of local governments."

"but now"

“Salt is produced by machines.”

"What is a machine?"

“It’s a tool to reduce manual labor.”

“It doesn’t take many people to make more and better salt.”

"People can run, but machines can't run for a short time. Even if they damage the machine, I have a hundred ways to repair it, and I can quickly return to work. I can even let the cooks resume production directly to ensure the short-term supply of salt."

"As to the reduced supply of salt."

“It’s also easy to solve.”

"Because I have the latest technology, the technology that can increase production, and this time I went south, I had decided to shut down the extra salt factories in the south and restore the salt market in the south to a normal state." "The world has always valued agriculture and suppressed commerce since ancient times."

"The court allows merchants to sit at the table, and merchants are qualified to sit at the table. If the court does not allow it, merchants can only squat in the corner obediently."

"If they really dare to stir up the people and cause unrest in the area."

"The five thousand soldiers I brought with me are not vegetarians either."

"Then fight violence with violence!"

"The court will never give in to lawlessness."

"That's the bottom line."

Xia Zhibai's words were filled with murderous intent.

Everyone can feel Xia Zhibai's determination and ruthlessness.

It seemed that he had already prepared himself to kill people, and he did not take the merchants seriously at all.

Even if there are people behind these businessmen.

He still didn't care.

He only knew that if someone disobeyed, he would force them to obey, and if they refused, he would kill them!

"I've put my words here. How you spread it is up to you. I just want the result." Xia Zhibai swept the entire room coldly, his aura fully open, suppressing everyone else so that they didn't dare to look up, let alone look Xia Zhibai directly in the eye.

Xia Zhibai added: "Besides that."

"In three days I want to see the names of those who will be attending the workers' meeting."

"I want a list of all the kitchen households, not a list of those who are just filling in the numbers, and the local officials must also be present."

“To solve a problem you need to have a problem-solving attitude.”

"Not showing up in front of people, hiding behind everything, what's that?"

"Are the officials of the Ming Dynasty so shameful?"

"Are you so guilty?"

"I don't think so."

“If we want to solve these problems systematically, we must face these problems head on.”

"We must not only deal with the problems of the government, but also the problems of merchants, and also solve the needs of the cooks and the people. Only when the demands of all parties are listened to and taken into consideration, can the salt policy problem in the south be fundamentally solved."

"I, Xia Zhibai, will not try to stop the boiling water by adding more water."

"in addition."

"At both conferences, recorders should be arranged to record the proceedings and speeches one by one, so that they can be brought back to Yingtian Mansion and handed over to Your Majesty for review in the future. This will also provide a practical example of problem solving for all officials in the world. Even if it ends up being a failure, it will still be worth studying."

"So you should still think more about it after you go down."

"Think about it more carefully."

"After all, what you are responsible for is not the stability of one family, but the stability of millions of people in the entire governorate."

“The burden is heavy and the responsibility is great.”

Xia Zhibai glanced across the room, then sat down.

He poured himself a cup of tea and moistened his throat. After saying so much in one breath, his throat was a little dry.

The whole place was dead silent.

Zhou Ziliang and the others looked as pale as pig liver.

His face looked extremely aggrieved.

They didn't expect Xia Zhibai to be so "rogue" and made it clear that he was not representing himself, but the current emperor. Xia Zhibai put this sentence here, and then openly put forward a bunch of "demands" to them, forcing them to obey.

They are all well-known figures. How could they have ever suffered such humiliation?
I was so annoyed.

The key point is that they can't do anything to Xia Zhibai.

Because Xia Zhibai can really hear the ears of the emperor, and he really dares to do so.

He just did things openly and told them clearly everything that needed to be done, but they just couldn't come up with any other ideas. A higher-ranking official can crush a person, not to mention that the person Xia Zhibai brought up was the current emperor.

This was enough to crush them.

Zhou Ziliang snorted coldly. No matter how good his temper was, he couldn't keep a straight face anymore.

He waved his sleeves and said, "Since the imperial envoy has made a decision, I will not persuade him any further. I just hope that the imperial envoy can save the people from their misfortune as soon as possible."

"I have some political matters to deal with, so I won't accompany you any more."

Done.

Zhou Ziliang just stood up and left.

But before leaving, he forced a dry laugh and gestured to Tang He.

He still didn't dare to turn his back on Tang He.

With Zhou Ziliang taking the lead, the other officials looked at each other, stood up one after another, found an excuse each, and left in a hurry. Soon, Xia Zhibai and his group of six were the only ones left in the huge restaurant.

Hua Lun and others looked at each other in bewilderment.

They really didn't expect that Xia Zhibai had such an impatient personality.

Zhou Ziliang was considered to be very easy to talk to, but Xia Zhibai made him angry with just a few words.

What else can one say?
Xia Zhibai looked calm, as if he didn't care about what was happening. He picked up the chopsticks, picked up the remaining fish skin on the plate and put it into his mouth, and said, "Brother Ding, remember to record what happened at this banquet and send it to Yingtian Prefecture."

Hear the words.

Ding Zhifang was stunned.

He looked at Xia Zhibai blankly, with a look of suspicion and surprise on his face, "Do you really want to report this?"

(End of this chapter)