I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 184 Gao Gong’s first move: Salt administration!
Zhu Yijun thought about it and decided to find someone to discuss it.

"Feng Bao, go and invite Mr. Shilu, Mr. Taiyue, and Mr. Dazhou."

"Yes."

Soon, the three were invited to a side pavilion next to the Xiyuan Silijian.

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Gentlemen, please excuse me!"

After the greetings, Zhu Yijun asked the three to sit down and briefly explained the matter of Concubine Jiang.

"Yangzhou salt merchants?" Zhang Juzheng blurted out, "Behind them are those nobles from Nanzhili. These people are meddling in the harem with ulterior motives."

The nobles in Southern Zhili and Northern Zhili were different.

In addition to the relatives of successive emperors, most of the nobles in northern Zhili were hereditary dukes, marquises and earls who had made great contributions during the Chengzu Emperor's reign of Emperor Fengtian, headed by the Duke of Yingguo and the Duke of Chengguo.

The nobles of Nanzhili were the hereditary dukes, marquises and earls during the reign of Emperor Taizu, headed by the Duke of Wei.

The nobles of Northern Zhili had their farmland and estates mostly in the north, and most of them controlled the Beijing military camp, having closer relations with the royal family.

The nobles of Nanzhili were far away from the central government of the imperial court, and like the six ministries and other government offices of Nanzhili, they were just signboards.

Their farm properties were in the south of the Yangtze River, but it was difficult to compete with the prosperous and well-connected Jiangnan families, so they extended their influence to Yangzhou, which was not far away, and colluded with the Lianghuai salt merchants, supporting them and seeking benefits for themselves.

Li Chunfang thought of another point, "God bless the Ming Dynasty. The Jiang family is greedy and immoral. They have committed ugly acts and have been discovered by His Highness. If Jiang is promoted to a noble concubine or gives birth to a prince, it will be troublesome."

"That's right." Zhao Zhenji nodded in agreement. "Only one person has come out. How many people like Jiang are hiding in the Forbidden City with ulterior motives?"

Zhu Yijun agreed with Zhao Zhenji's words, "Mr. Dazhou is right. When you see a cockroach, there may be dozens or hundreds of cockroaches in places you can't see.

This palace is teaching the East Factory to continue the investigation, and the focus is on the beautiful women who were selected into the palace since the first year of Longqing. There is no rush for this matter, let's wait and see the results of the investigation.

Behind the Jiang family are the Lianghuai salt merchants. Gao Gong, the first person to take office as the Minister of Revenue, also targeted the Lianghuai salt administration. Because of this matter, I invited the three gentlemen to discuss it carefully. "

Zhao Zhenji immediately replied: "I have heard a little about the situation in the Ministry of Revenue. The accounts are a big mess, and the various expenditures are a bottomless pit. No matter how much money comes into the treasury, it can be spent in a blink of an eye.

Gao Xinzheng did not put the Ministry of Revenue in order and plug the bottomless pit, but instead focused on the Lianghuai salt administration. I think he might lose the big picture for the small.”

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said, "Gao Xinzheng was also forced to do so. Everyone asked the Ministry of Revenue for grain and money, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to collect grain taxes and silver from local areas.

His Highness rectified the southeastern sea merchants and set up a coordination bureau, which paid more than 2 million silver in customs duties to the Ministry of Revenue through the Maritime Customs Bureau every year. From the 42nd to the 44th year of Jiajing, the Ministry of Revenue took a short breath.

But how could the other five ministries and local governments sit back and watch the national treasury have surplus silver! The expenses of the Ministry of War for post and communication are getting higher and higher every year, the expenses of the Ministry of Works for river management and city repair are getting higher and higher every year, and the expenses for grain transport are getting higher and higher every year.

In the 45th year of Jiajing, the Ministry of Revenue was short of money. This year is even more troublesome. If Gao Xinzheng doesn’t make arrangements, the salaries of the officials in Beijing will not be paid in less than two months! "

Li Chunfang was shocked. "Has the Ministry of Revenue reached this point?"

He had always been in charge of the Ministry of Works, and later of the Lifanyuan and the Ministry of Personnel, and knew little about the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue.

Zhang Juzheng sighed, "I know something about the Ministry of Revenue. There is a surplus in the accounts, but in fact the warehouse is full of worthless things.

Osmanthus wood, candles, lanterns, straw raincoats, dried fish, candied fruits. Some of them were even moldy and no one wanted them even if they were given away. However, in the account books of the Ministry of Revenue, every detail of them was recorded clearly and their value was thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver.

There is not much cash left, and the Ministry of Revenue’s treasury now has a lot of these things. If Gao Xinzheng doesn’t bring back some silver, in two months, he can only give out candles, lanterns and other things as salaries to the officials.”

Li Chunfang turned to Zhu Yijun and asked in surprise: "Your Highness, what should we do?"

Zhu Yijun stood up, put his hands in his sleeves, walked to the window, and looked at the beautiful lake scenery outside.

"Now is not the time to talk about factional disputes. If Gao Da Huzi is willing to do practical things, then I will support him. This time Zhang Siwei submitted a petition to the Eastern Palace, but Gao Gong and his party did not interfere. This shows that he has hit his head against the wall twice and his head is hurting."

Zhu Yijun turned around and said to Li Chunfang and the other two, "Gao Gong has summoned his students and former officials to discuss matters in his mansion. The topic of the discussion is the Lianghuai salt administration.

I support the idea of ​​beating up the salt scoundrels in Lianghuai and collecting more money for the national treasury. As long as it is done for the right purpose and not for messy party struggles, I support it! "Li Chunfang, Zhao Zhenji, and Zhang Juzheng responded in unison: "Yes!"

The three of them left the Imperial Household Department and walked towards Xi'an Gate.

Zhang Juzheng looked back at the Imperial Household Department, shook his head and said, "After being scolded twice by His Highness, Gao Xinzheng finally got down to business. But I'm worried that this won't last long."

Zhao Zhenji echoed, "Gao Xinzheng's personality is such that he becomes more courageous when faced with setbacks, but once he gains a little advantage, he will become cocky."

He glanced at Zhang Juzheng.

In his opinion, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong had similar personalities, both good at planning for the country but not good at managing themselves. But Zhang Juzheng was more patient than Gao Gong and would also put in more effort.

It’s just that Zhao Zhenji is having a headache now. The situation in the court is in chaos, which is completely different from that from the 42nd to 45th year of Jiajing.

At that time, there were only the Crown Prince's Party and the Non-Crown Prince's Party in the court. Those who were willing to cooperate with the Crown Prince's Party would cooperate, and those who were unwilling to cooperate would be fought. It was simple and clear.

It’s different now. The Crown Prince’s Party is powerful. Looking around, it seems that there are no enemies, but there are enemies everywhere.

Li Chunfang looked at Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji and simply replied, "When the crown prince was the heir, we were weak. Now that the crown prince is the heir, the general trend is clear, and everyone wants to follow him. It's a mixed bag, and it's not as smooth as before."

The three of them felt sad and said no more.

Zhu Yijun stood at the door of the side pavilion, looking at the backs of the three gentlemen, and had the same thoughts in his mind.

But he knew in his heart that the Crown Prince's Party used to be a group of isolated officials who were isolated from the mainstream of civil servants.

Now the Crown Prince's Party has become the Prince's Party and has become a major mainstream in the court. Conversely, the civil service group has dissolved the current Crown Prince's Party.

His various new policies and measures are gradually entering deep waters and may infringe on the interests of the core members of the Crown Prince's Party.

Will surveying the land infringe upon Li Chunfang's interests?

Will the tax distribution based on land use infringe upon Zhao Zhenji's interests?

Would it be against Zhang Juzheng's interests if officials and gentry paid taxes together?
That's why I'm so cautious.

At the moment, he wanted to use Gao Gong to explore the way ahead, to test the reactions of the court and the public, as well as the reactions of his subordinates.

At Gao's house, Gao Gong summoned more than twenty students and former officials to the flower hall.

Looking at the room full of young talents, Gao Gong felt a little proud.

Those present were all carefully selected by him. They had not yet been "assimilated" into the officialdom, and their ambitions and passion had not been taken away by prospects and fame and fortune.

"Everyone!" Gao Gong coughed and said loudly, "Salt tax is an important source of tax revenue for the country. At the peak of its prosperity, Changlu and Lianghuai contributed millions of taels of silver in salt tax to the Ministry of Revenue.

But since the Hongzhi reign, the salt tax has been decreasing year by year, and at most it has only been over a million taels. It is hard to imagine!"

Gao Gong glanced at everyone and found that they were all listening attentively, so he continued: "I went to the Ministry of Revenue and looked through the documents in the cabinet. The country produces about 400 million catties of salt every year, and the Changlu in Lianghuai accounts for two-thirds.

Every year, 4.5 million salt permits were issued to the Changlu and Huaihe River regions, but less than 900,000 of them paid the salt tax or the intangibles. Where did the salt tax and the intangibles from the remaining 3.6 million salt permits go?
They were all eaten by rats and borers.
Now, I have made up my mind to beat these rats and termites. So I ask all the heroes to help me inspect the salt administration, reform and eliminate the malpractices, and restore a bright and clear world to the Ming Dynasty! "

After Gao Gong finished speaking passionately, he stood up and bowed to everyone.

"Everyone, the Ministry of Revenue's treasury depends on you, and the Ming Dynasty depends on you!"

More than 20 young talents all stood up, their faces flushed with excitement, and said in unison: "Master, rest assured, we will go through fire and water to clarify the Lianghuai salt policy!"

Gao Gong let out a long sigh and said loudly, "Okay! Everyone, please take a seat. Now De Zhong will assign tasks to everyone."

He gave the hosting position to his favorite student Yang Bing and stood aside.

The servant walked up to him and whispered a few words. Gao Gong's face changed slightly and he quietly left the hall.

(End of this chapter)