Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 273 Salt is shipped out to sea?!
The lobby was silent.

Everyone was silent.

Xia Zhibai stood up and looked down calmly, a hint of contempt flashed across his lips, and he continued: "The salt administration of the Ming Dynasty is in chaos, and the north and the south are inconsistent. This phenomenon should have been thoroughly rectified, and..."

"Your salt works?"

"How much money did you invest in the salt works?"

"How many instruments and machines have you purchased? Isn't it the imperial court that pays for it in the end?"

"You are the ones who finally got the upper hand. How dare you say how much you have contributed? If we really talk about contributions, the cooks working hard in the salt factory are the ones who have contributed the most. They spend almost all day by the stove. Aren't they working harder than you?"

"Your response is complete nonsense!"

"also."

“Salt administration must be formalized and institutionalized.”

"This is the main purpose of my visit. What the salt merchant said just now is correct. Officials have two mouths, and sometimes it is inevitable to run into officials with ulterior motives. Many merchants will choose to spend money to avoid disasters, or even take the initiative to bribe. The atmosphere in the Ming officialdom is so corrupt."

"This phenomenon must be corrected."

"Therefore, there must be strong supervision between officials and businessmen."

“A salt association must also be established.”

"First, it guarantees the production and sales of salt, so that the salt produced by the salt factory will not have no place to sell, and it will also avoid causing dissatisfaction among other salt factories. It can also be used as an opportunity to hunt down and intercept private salt. Secondly, the emergence of the association gives salt merchants the opportunity to directly connect with the court. If there are local officials who really ask for bribes, they can report it directly to the higher authorities."

"The court will make the decision for you."

“This is also to protect your legal rights and interests.”

"Indeed."

"The large factory system and institutionalization will cause you a lot of inconvenience, and will make you feel that you are being watched all the time, but this is inevitable. If you are not watched by the court, you will be watched by the local devils. At least the court is far away and will not blackmail you, and you also have a certain ability to protect yourself."

“It’s a win-win situation!”

"Why not?"

"In the past, you had to pay to ensure safety, but now the court is taking the initiative to protect you."

“This is a great favor.”

"You won't obey? Could it be that you are doing something dirty behind the scenes, doing something illegal behind the imperial court's back? That's why you are so unwilling to be supervised by the imperial court?"

Xia Zhibai's eyes suddenly turned cold.

Fang Rengang and Wang Chongde's expressions changed slightly and they looked at Zhang Tong as if asking for help.

Zhang Tong's face wasn't looking good either. He didn't expect Xia Zhibai to be so eloquent. With just a few words, he made these salt merchants throw away their weapons and armor. They didn't even have the courage to speak. It was really embarrassing.

He took the initiative to speak: "Master Xia, this is the truth, but saying and doing are two different things after all."

"I think we should not rush into this."

"At least we have to give them some buffer time."

"in addition."

"If I remember correctly, the court has not yet given its opinion on some of the opinions you mentioned. Is your arbitrary decision a bit excessive? If the court knew about it, they would probably accuse you of authoritarianism."

"My Lord, be careful with your words."

Zhang Tong 'kindly' gave Xia Zhibai a reminder.

Xia Zhibai nodded and said with a smile: "Thank you for the reminder, but this reminder is not very meaningful. Since I am here on behalf of the court, I must help the court solve its problems. If I can settle this matter locally, I believe the court will agree."

"at the same time."

"For this reason, I also specifically told His Royal Highness the Crown Prince something."

"It is to open up trade routes!"

"Open up more trade routes?" Zhang Tong's eyebrows jumped, and a bad premonition suddenly emerged in his heart. He forced a dry smile on his face and said, "Excuse me, sir, what trade routes are you opening up?"

"It's the trade routes along the coast, of course."

"If the salt administration reform is completed, with the integration power of Ming Dynasty."

“Local salt production capacity will be greatly improved, and the operation of the steam engine itself has costs.”

"As a machine made of iron, it cannot be easily shut down."

“So the salt produced will eventually need a way out.”

"I heard that Japan has a population of several million, and there are also Luzon and even further away. These areas are all places where Ming salt can be dumped. Then the salt can be transported to other areas by sea and exchanged for food, gold, silver, jewelry and other things to enrich the national treasury."

"The world has just been settled, and we need to rest."

"Therefore, the closed state in the past will gradually ease. At that time, the court may send officials from the Ministry of Rites to go out to sea to establish diplomatic relations with other southern sea regions. Then, according to the population of these regions, they can provide sufficient salt supply, so that their salt supply can only rely on the Ming Dynasty!"

"Then control the southern countries over salt."

Hearing this, Zhang Tong's face changed drastically.

He just felt a chill on his back.

The eyes looking at Xia Zhibai were filled with fear.

Xia Zhibai's words were too scary. If Xia Zhibai really did what he said, then nearby countries, whether it was Korea, Japan, or Luzon, would be forced to be included in the Ming Dynasty's salt supply chain. Wouldn't the sale of salt become unprofitable then?
This is absolutely impossible.

Zhang Tong took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and said in a serious tone: "Sir, please stop joking."

"The sea ban implemented by the imperial court."

"How could you easily decide to open the sea again?"

"Besides, Luzon and Japan can also produce salt. Even if Ming salt can be shipped over, the price will be extremely high. I don't deny that Ming salt is of high quality and will definitely be liked by many people, but for most Japanese, they can't afford it."

"Your Excellency is taking things for granted."

Xia Zhibai shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

"Since it is difficult to transport salt, then we can transport the technology. As long as we control this salt factory in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't it be possible to significantly reduce expenses? We can also gradually control the production and sales of salt in Japan, Korea and other places. To some extent, it can also be regarded as controlling the lifeline of these regions."

"It will play a great role in ensuring the stability of the Ming Dynasty's coast in the future."

"Besides, there are still resources in places like Japan, Korea, and Luzon that the Ming Dynasty does not have. When the time comes, we can return home with a load of gold and silver. Isn't this also a great fortune?"

"As long as your thinking doesn't slip, there are always more solutions than problems."

"As long as the benefits are big enough, we are not afraid of importing technology."

Hearing Xia Zhibai's increasingly bold words, Zhang Tong's face turned completely black.

He could tell that Xia Zhibai was not joking.

But I really had this idea in mind.

This terrified him.

If this suggestion really reaches the court, with Xia Zhibai's eloquence, I'm afraid he can really convince His Majesty. Once the court opens the sea and sends officials from the Ministry of Rites to establish diplomacy with coastal countries, many of their plans will be completely over.

Zhang Tong smiled awkwardly and said, "Your Excellency's ideas are very imaginative, and I really admire them."

"But the most urgent thing is to solve the problem at hand."

"What you said about the salt business going out to sea gives me a sense of unreality. I can't agree with it either. Besides, the Japanese pirates have been violating our borders and have a blood feud with our Ming Dynasty. How can we give our Ming Dynasty's excellent technology to the Japanese? How can we send our Ming Dynasty's excellent salt to them?"

"These pirates are not worthy!"

"Not only the Japanese pirates are not worthy, Korea is not worthy, and Luzon is even less worthy!"

"In my opinion, we just need to take care of Ming itself."

"With the coordination of the imperial court, the salt factory has stabilized its daily sales, which is enough. How can we let the beautiful products of our great country fall into the hands of barbarians?"

"That's absolutely not possible."

Zhang Tong’s denial was very firm.

Originally, he disagreed with all the other ideas that Xia Zhibai had mentioned, and it was even more impossible for him to agree to the salt business going out to sea. The interests of too many people were involved, and it could be fatal. If Xia Zhibai continued to act on his own will, he didn't dare to think about whether someone would be unable to resist and take action against Xia Zhibai.

Cutting off someone's source of income is tantamount to killing his parents!

Fang Rengang and other salt merchants were so frightened that they dared not say a word.

At first they didn't take Xia Zhibai seriously at all, thinking that he was only in his early twenties and no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't be that powerful. But when they really confronted Xia Zhibai, they realized how difficult Xia Zhibai was. He didn't give them any chance to talk back, and his tone became louder and louder, more and more frightening.

Now, they dare not even touch this topic.

It will kill people!

Xia Zhibai glanced at him imperceptibly, a faint sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and said: "I just said it casually, but it is a direction after all. The salt industry in Daming has become more and more formalized and institutionalized. The output will increase significantly in the future. If there are major technological innovations in the future, I am afraid that the output will increase significantly."

"I don't think there will be another wave of layoffs by then, right?"

"Eventually, the extra salt still has to find a final destination."

“The border area is the best choice.”

"Food is the most important thing for the people, and salt is indispensable to the people. As long as the price of salt in Ming Dynasty is low enough, it can be regarded as a strategic resource to control neighboring countries and prevent them from easily plotting against Ming Dynasty."

"As the Art of War says: To defeat the enemy without fighting is the best strategy!"

"China has been the Celestial Empire since ancient times, and will certainly recover in the future, so we should have the magnanimity of the Celestial Empire."

Zhang Tong's face twitched.

He didn't want to talk more about this topic.

He even made up his mind that as soon as this meeting was over, he would immediately report what Xia Zhibai had said to other officials to wake them up, and at the same time target Xia Zhibai and not let Xia Zhibai affect their ambitions of making money!
Xia Zhibai looked around and saw that not many people spoke, so he shook his head in disappointment.

He said in a deep voice: "Everyone, your performance disappoints me. Compared with the salt merchants who did not come, I thought you would be different, but as merchants, you do not have the courage to pursue profit and die bravely, and as officials, you do not have the courage to face the impact. Such a conference is really boring."

(End of this chapter)