Borrow the day to change the day

() At this time, the sky was completely dark, and Wang Chengen consciously went to light up the lights in the main hall without letting others intervene.

Zhong Jinwei didn't wait for Wang Cheng'en, he chuckled and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I have already said before that it is to use market means to lower the price of official salt."

Wang Chengen heard it from the side, and couldn't help saying to Zhong Jinwei: "Uncle Zhongxing, you may not know that after Yuan Shizhen's reform of the salt administration, the salt industry of the Lianghuai generation has been completely run by merchants, that is, it will no longer be sold by the government. What Uncle Zhongxing means is Let those merchants forcefully lower prices?"

Emperor Chongzhen continued from above: "I think it's okay. They are so rich that it is a merit to let them lower the price and give a little profit to the people of Ming Dynasty."

Zhong Jinwei shook his head, and said, "Your Majesty, forcibly lowering the price is not good, they must not be reconciled to the reduction in profits, and will definitely think of other tricks to earn back the profits. As long as their monopoly position remains unchanged, this phenomenon will not change. "

"What does Master Zhong mean, that the imperial court also wants to sell salt to break the monopoly?" Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to ask Zhong Jinwei for advice.

"This is not good either. It is better for the imperial court to be the referee and the rule maker, and let the merchants sell it. According to the usual practice, is there any way to increase the merchants who sell salt?" Zhong Jinwei first vetoed Emperor Chongzhen's idea, and then asked another question The problem is that he doesn't know much about the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen knew that the emperor asked him to speak, so he replied Zhong Jinwei: "In addition to the normal channels, the imperial court also used the opening method, which is divided into two stages. Before Xiaozong Hongzhi, grain was exchanged for salt; after Xiaozong Hongzhi, Ye Qi was the secretary of the household department, and the old system was changed so that merchants replaced rice with silver."

Wang Chengen briefly explained the unique opening system of the Ming Dynasty.

"Why should it be divided into two stages? Wouldn't it be good to exchange grain for salt?" Hearing what Wang Chengen said, Zhong Jinwei also thought of the thing of opening Chinese and French.

"Because grain is transported to the place where it is needed in exchange for salt, and the salt that is exchanged may not be able to exchange for salt. People often have to wait in line. Those who transport grain can't afford to wait and often lose money, so this method is becoming less and less popular. There is no choice but to let them buy salt with silver, and the court will allocate the needed land to buy grain after receiving the silver taels.” Wang Chengen explained carefully.

"I'm dizzy, how did you come up with this trick? These brains are all sick." Zhong Jinwei felt a little unimaginable about the behavior of these smart people.

"Master Zhong, why did you say that?" Emperor Chongzhen asked in confusion.

"Your Majesty, I can assure you that Ye Qi, Minister of the Household Department, must be an agent of a salt merchant. Where is he from?" Zhong Jinwei turned around and asked Wang Chengen a question.

"Shanyang Renshi." Wang Chengen replied.

"Shanyang? Never heard of it, is it from Lianghuai?"

"Yes, in the north of Jiangsu, east of the Jianghuai Plain."

"That's it. He is working for the welfare of the people in his hometown, and he has a very bad conscience." Maybe because he watched too many anti-Japanese TV dramas, Zhong Jinwei accidentally used a devil's line.

Emperor Chongzhen had already asked a lot of questions, and he didn't want to speak any more, so he signaled Zhong Jinwei to explain with his eyes.

"Your Majesty, the Secretary of the Household Department changed his method just because of the backlog of salt quotations. This method is obviously problematic. He could increase the production of salt to digest these salt quotations, but he didn't do so. Instead, he converted them into cash and bought them directly. This is actually not beneficial to the imperial court at all, but it is beneficial to them who are officials and those salt merchants."

"What are the benefits?" Wang Chengen took the initiative to take over the role of cooperating with Zhong Jinwei and asked Zhong Jinwei.

"First, salt merchants reduce the uncontrollable risks of grain collection and transportation, and buy directly with salt, which allows them to save costs."

"Second, after the food is turned into taels of silver, the responsible officials can grab some of it, and everyone benefits."

"Third, when the imperial court receives the silver and allocates it to the necessary places to buy grain, the relevant officials can waste a little bit."

"Fourth, after silver taels arrive where they are needed, how much silver taels will be used to buy grain is another question."

Zhong Jinwei finally concluded: "So, it seems that the treasury has too much silver, but in fact, it is very unwise for the imperial court to exchange silver for food."

Emperor Chongzhen was shocked by Zhong Jinwei's analysis. In this way, the salt merchants and the officials they contacted were cheapened, and in the end the people, or the army and the court were taken advantage of.It is no wonder that the officials all praised the innovation.

"Master Zhong, please speak out your thoughts quickly, I can't wait." Emperor Chongzhen's eyes glowed red, looking forward to it as if staring at a gold mine that was about to be mined.

"Your Majesty, after listening to the words of Eunuch Wang, I have a more specific idea. If I say it, Your Majesty will see if it is reasonable." Zhong Jinwei said modestly.

"Master Zhong, if you delay, I will deduct your salary." Emperor Chongzhen pretended to scare Zhong Jinwei and said.

Zhong Jinwei said with a chuckle: "Your Majesty, please don't, I'm a poor man just like Your Majesty, and I only have a few hundred taels of silver on hand." idea.

However, he didn't dare to let Emperor Chongzhen wait too long, and said directly: "Your Majesty, I think that increasing the production of salt, re-introducing the method of exchanging salt for salt, and setting the price at a lower level will make the merchants profitable. By the way, Isn’t there a war in the Northeast and a disaster in the Northwest? Let merchants transport grain to these places, and then exchange for low-priced salt, so that small-capital merchants can also exchange grain for salt. This degree can be measured specifically. Anyway, it is to break the current The monopoly of big salt merchants is enough. Of course, the price cannot be released all at once, and the current salt sales pattern must be slowly impacted until there is no room for private salt.”

"Uncle Zhongxing, you may not know that now the kitchen households are often fleeing, and the amount of salt cannot be increased." Wang Chengen took a peek at Emperor Chongzhen, and seeing that he did not have the slightest intention of blaming him for what he said, he said again: "Use Shanxi to solve the problem." Take Yanchi, Zhouzhou as an example, there were more than [-] people in Yanding at the time, but now there are only about [-] people."

Emperor Chongzhen knew a little about the situation, not only kitchen households fled, but also military households and civilian households had this phenomenon, but he didn't expect that the situation of fleeing was so serious that he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Unexpectedly, Zhong Jinwei said with a chuckle: "It doesn't matter, they will definitely not be able to survive if they flee. As long as we change the policy, we will not only let them live, but also make them rich, and see if they still escape. Competing to be this Yan Ding."

"Master Zhong, please continue." After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly ordered Zhong Jinwei to speak quickly.

"It is to mobilize the enthusiasm for the production of salt dices. It doesn't matter what the salt dices do, as long as the salt is handed in. The imperial court can stipulate this: how much basic salt a salt dices needs to pay a day, and after paying these salts, the salt handed over, It can be exchanged for additional rewards. The more you pay, the more rewards you will get. And whoever pays the best salt will be rewarded with a sum of money, and then teach that person's salt-making method to others, so that the quality will also improve. Yanding If you do more, do well, and get extra rewards, you will earn more. The court no longer has to worry about output and quality.”

Emperor Chongzhen listened to Zhong Jinwei's words, thought for a while, and couldn't help saying: "It really is a good way." In fact, part of the reason why Yanding fled was that the imperial court stipulated the method of making salt from Yanding, for example, making sea salt, Be sure to cook the salt by boiling the salt, so as to control the output and prevent the salt from being stored and kept illegally.

"Of course, Your Majesty, before doing anything, I'm afraid we must first rectify those people in the current Yanzheng. Otherwise, good things can turn them into bad things." Zhong Jinwei looked at Wang Cheng'en at this point, and then said: "Fortunately, now The factory guards have all come out of the mountain again, His Majesty will send competent people to rectify the salt administration, and at the same time let Dongchang and Jinyiwei supervise separately, so it should be better."

"Okay, I know the truth that if you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools." Emperor Chongzhen quickly expressed his opinion.

Zhong Jinwei was still talking about the benefits: "Your Majesty, after the price of salt comes down, not only will there be no room for private salt to operate, but after the production increases, the annual salt tax will generate a lot of income, and the salt price will take up a large part of the people's living costs. The ratio is greatly reduced, and the money can be freed up to buy other things to improve life, such as buying some meat and making some clothes, all of which are the benevolent government of your majesty! In the world of ministers, clothes are worn casually, and no one wants to throw them away if they are old. As it is now, there are not many old clothes that can be donated in charity donations."

"What, ordinary people can have so many clothes? Clothes in your world are so worthless?" Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Cheng'en were a little bit in disbelief when they heard this.