Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 79: Competing with officials for profit! (Subscribe)
"Is there any difference?" Zhu Biao sat upright.

Isn't it true that government business is ultimately left to officials? Isn't it true that the court can only collect salt taxes from it?
Xia Zhibai shook his head and said, "It's different."

"And this is the biggest problem facing the Ming Dynasty right now."

"Your Majesty has read too many books. To some extent, he has read books to death."

“I just read from the script.”

Zhu Biao's face darkened, but he didn't get angry.

Xia Zhibai said: "Since the Han Dynasty, all dynasties have adopted the policy of government-run salt and iron, setting up special salt households to produce salt, which was collected by the court and then sold through various merchants. The court collected high salt taxes from them."

"Since the Song Dynasty, officials and businessmen have gradually merged."

"Many officials used their power to monopolize the supply of salt in a certain area and reaped huge profits."

"The Ming Dynasty learned from experience and strictly prohibited officials from engaging in business, and imposed various restrictions."

"In the end, it narrowed the road."

"The court only saw the collusion between officials and businessmen and the exploitation of the people, but did not see how much profit the officials made under this path, nor did they see how much salt tax the court of the Song Dynasty collected. The salt tax in the Ming Dynasty now accounts for nearly half of the commercial tax."

"But I only got a mere one million taels."

"How shabby."

"But Your Highness, do you still remember how I criticized His Majesty?"

"Your Majesty wants to be the only landlord in the world."

"But your Majesty's idea sometimes makes people laugh, because the landlord you want to be is a weird one. You only think of treating the people as slaves and the officials as farmhands, but you have never thought of treating the world's property as the official property of the court."

"It takes the past of official business a step further."

"It has directly become a government-run business, and the surplus profits of these highly profitable industries have all gone into the pockets of the court."

"If your majesty had a broader vision, greater ambition, and more greed, you would have been jealous of the commercial taxes collected by the Song Dynasty court. But what did your majesty do? You have countless crops growing in your own fields, but you always cling to that broken begging bowl, wondering where to get some food."

"It's a laughing stock."

Zhu Biao's eyelids twitched and a hint of annoyance appeared on his face.

After all, this is his father.

How can it be so humiliating?

He pondered it secretly in his heart, and felt that it made sense.

But this opening is difficult.

This is too unorthodox. How could anyone in any dynasty do this?

If the government engages in business, isn't this competing with the people for profits? And isn't this also indulging the corruption of officials?

Once this trend starts, the consequences will be unpredictable.

There are too many variables.

After hesitating for a while, Zhu Biao shook his head.

It's too risky.

And a lot of things need to be changed.

This will cause great turmoil and unrest in the world.

Zhu Biao took a sip of tea, held the cup in his hand, and said slowly: "Your ideas are very radical, and they do have some merits, but you can't be so eager for quick success in governing a country. And you can think of these ideas, how could the court officials of the Song Dynasty not think of them? How could the officials of my Ming Dynasty not think of them?"

"But no one has ever written such a memorial."

"This may also be enough to prove that your ideas are difficult to verify."

Xia Zhibai nodded, then shook his head.

He said in a deep voice: "This is the purpose of my visit this time."

"I want to practice it myself."

“But I actually know the general problem.”

"First, the Song Dynasty shared the country with the literati. The government and the literati were not one and the same. The literati would not give up the profits if they made profits themselves."

Zhu Biao frowned.

Xia Zhibai continued, "As for why no Ming officials submitted a petition, it's because His Majesty is unwilling to listen."

"Your Majesty has his own ideas about business operations."

"The salt production quota of the Ming Dynasty was, to some extent, fixed. The imperial court calculated the population and then established a salt rationing system, mining according to the income and expenditure."

"The world your majesty wants is a relatively static one."

“It’s even unchanging.”

"The quotas set for land rents collected from the country, the quotas for the production of salt, ironware, etc., keep the country in a state of lack of change. In this way, the country can remain stagnant for a long time, reducing the greed and desire that may arise due to increased demand and increased production, so that the country can continue to exist."

"The officials of the Ming Dynasty are well aware of this and will not seek trouble for themselves."

"And the stricter the imperial court's restrictions, the more opportunities it gives lower-level officials to take advantage of the situation."

“They themselves are not willing to change.”

“The last point, which is also what many officials are afraid of, is the transportation problem.”

"Salt transportation is not easy. If the imperial court is responsible, it will certainly have to spend a lot of money and grain, which the imperial court cannot afford at the moment. In addition, some officials deliberately exaggerate the transportation costs and selling prices, which makes Your Majesty reluctant to do so."

Zhu Biao closed his eyes slightly.

He had roughly understood Xia Zhibai's purpose.

He wanted to change the salt administration system of the Ming Dynasty.

But these three reasons alone are not enough, and they are far from enough. Xia Zhibai is not in a hurry.

He needs to clarify the problem first.

This way he can ask for more privileges.

Xia Zhibai poured himself a cup of tea and felt his throat was a little dry.

He took a sip and continued, "When I was in Kaifeng, I learned a lot about the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty."

"The salt administration in the early Ming Dynasty followed the old system of the Yuan Dynasty. In the first year of Hongwu, the imperial court sorted out the salt fields and relocated the people to become salt households. The number of people per household was counted and they were called salt households."

"The imperial court stipulated that salt should be calculated according to the number of people, which was called quota salt. One draw of salt was required to pay the salt farmers for their labor every year. Private sale was not allowed. All salt farmers were exempted from miscellaneous duties."

"Some of the Ming Dynasty's salt farmers existed during the Yuan Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court continued to let these people produce salt. Some people who broke the law were forced to change their household registration to salt farmers. In addition, because some places were rich in salt resources, the government would also choose to change the household registration of some ordinary people to salt farmers."

"But the court keeps changing its mind."

"They only wanted to ensure that the salt production quota could be met, without considering the burden on the households at all."

"But the court never considered that some households have more people and some have less, but no matter how many people there are, each household must pay 30 yin of salt tax."

"This has also caused some kitchen households to be overwhelmed, while some kitchen households have a lot of salt stored at home."

"Eventually, the private salt trade became a disaster, and the cooks complained bitterly."

"In recent years, the imperial court has been cracking down on smuggling of private salt, and has been tightening the control of surplus salt in the hands of cooks, trying to maintain the stability of the salt market, but the effect is not good."

"The bottom line is that the Ming Dynasty's salt policy was unreasonable."

"It is not only unreasonable for the salt farmers, but also for the imperial court's tax revenue and for the people who need salt."

"The Ming Dynasty had very strict management of these stove households. Once they were naturalized, their descendants were not allowed to leave the household registration, and they could not change their industries."

"The salt they produce can only be sold to the government, and private sale is strictly prohibited."

"The only benefit the government gave to these cooks was to exempt them from menial tasks."

"The salt farmers worked hard all year to make salt, but in the end they could only get the grain and money stipulated by the government."

"If the officials deduct money, many families will have to go hungry while making salt. In this case, in order to survive, they can only sell private salt."

"Otherwise I can't survive."

"also."

"The annual sales of salt in the Ming Dynasty reached tens of millions of taels."

"The court's tax is one million."

"The cooks don't have any money, the government doesn't receive any money, so where does the rest of the money go?"

"Ming officials say the country is thriving, but they are unwilling to provide more salt to the people, so that the salt that the people can buy is always at a point where it is just enough and extremely tight. Is this the way of governance of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Under such circumstances, how can one not feel dissatisfied and resentful?"

Xia Zhibai's eyes became sharp.

He looked directly at Zhu Biao, slowly stood up, and said in a cold voice: "The system of the Ming Dynasty is deformed."

“Even twisted ones.”

“Stability for the sake of stability.”

“Even forced stability.”

"They clearly know that the world is not suitable, but they still use high pressure, coercion, and brutal methods to force the world to accept this kind of stability."

"From the emperor to the ministers, there are problems in the Ming Dynasty."

"As for your father's problem, it has always been a question of vision."

"This is too one-sided and rough."

“You can only see what you want, but not the actual situation in the end.”

"To achieve his goal, he will stop at nothing. Even if the final result is not what he wants, he will use force to force the world to become what he wants."

"As for the officials of the Ming Dynasty, the problem is actually even bigger."

"Your father is not considerate sometimes because of his family background. However, as officials and scholars of the Ming Dynasty, these people deceive their superiors and subordinates and use various methods to encroach on the interests of the court."

"Saying that the business tax is too high will dampen the enthusiasm of merchants and also indirectly improve their status."

"If people's lives improve, they may develop more desires and greed, which will cause social unrest. But they forget a saying in the books of sages: When people have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace; when their granaries are full, they know etiquette."

"They say they want to speak up for the people, but in reality they turn a blind eye to the hardships of the lower-class people and never think about changing them."

"There's something wrong with the Ming taxi."

"If the entire court is filled with such a group of scholars and officials, how can the Ming Dynasty's policies not have problems?"

"Your Majesty is extremely cautious about all officials."

"But a very crucial point is omitted, which is to compete with the officials for profits and take back the court's interests that have been encroached upon by the officials."

"I will tell His Highness."

"It means learning to compete with officials for profit."

"Take back the 'financial power' that officials have usurped one by one."

"It may be very difficult to take away the 'financial power' that officials have usurped using conventional means, and there will be great resistance, but I have the most advanced technology and tools in the world today, so I may be able to snatch food from the tiger's mouth."

"I will use practical actions to tell the world whether the path that officials are avoiding is really wrong."

"Is the path the Ming Dynasty took wrong?"

(End of this chapter)