Borrow the day to change the day

() The Salt Administration Conference was held in Wenhua Palace.

Emperor Chongzhen sits at the top, and the cabinet members are on the left, with Wen Tiren at the top.On the right is Li Jian, who has been making soy sauce, and this time he also participated in the meeting, with Cao Huachun at the head.The six Shangshu are listed on both sides, and the last one is the transfer envoy and transfer Tongzhi of the Salt Envoy Division, as well as the Salt Class Tiju and Tong Tiju.There is another person, Zhang Tongchang from Zhongshushe.

It was basically the first time for people in Yanzheng to participate in such a high-level government meeting in the Forbidden City, and they were both apprehensive and a little excited.

Standing in front of Cao Huachun, Zhong Jinwei was still thinking about the finished bank sketch, whether there was anything to be added.For this salt administration meeting, he is just an observer, not the protagonist, the protagonist is the Hubu Shangshu.

At the beginning of the meeting, Emperor Chongzhen made his opening remarks: "Continuous wars have caused the national treasury to be short of money every year. Natural disasters continue, and land taxes and commercial taxes are in arrears. But the battle is still going on, and some frontier troops have not paid their salaries for several months; Drought, hungry people waiting for food, and even killing officials and rebelling, the situation in Ming Dynasty is not optimistic."

"Let the father worry, and the ministers are guilty." Under the leadership of the chief minister of the cabinet, everyone spoke out to plead guilty.

Zhong Jinwei didn't have the tacit understanding of theirs, he didn't follow up and stood awkwardly.

Emperor Chongzhen automatically ignored Zhong Jinwei, looked at the many ministers below, and wondered how many of them were sincerely pleading guilty.

He didn't care about it, and continued: "The imperial court is in urgent need of money, and the treasury's income now mainly depends on the monopoly of salt and iron. However, the income in recent years has not satisfied me. After discussing with Uncle Zhongxing, the chief assistant of the cabinet, and the Minister of the Ministry of Households, I have what I have today. Ri's proposal, determined to reform the salt administration."

Even if Emperor Chongzhen didn't talk about this point, everyone knew that if he hadn't discussed the salt administration today, he wouldn't have summoned all the people involved in the salt administration.

Zhang Tongchang was on the sidelines, but he was a little puzzled. Why did he hear about the salt administration? It seemed that his responsibilities did not involve the salt administration.

"Bi Qing, come and explain the details of the reform of the salt administration to the ministers and workers." Emperor Chongzhen named the Minister of the Household Department to explain to others.

The cabinet minister Zhou Yanru immediately glanced at the Minister of the Household Department, regretting in his heart, why did he forget the Minister of the Household Department?He is directly in charge of the Daming Salt Administration, and if there is a change in the Salt Administration, there must be no way around him, and there will definitely be a vent in advance.If I had asked Bi Ziyan yesterday, I might have known the news first.

Everyone in Wenhua Hall looked at Bi Ziyan, who had already left the class, to see what he would say.

Bi Ziyan first bowed to Emperor Chongzhen, then looked around the group of officials and said: "The new salt government abolishes the current implementation of the outline law, restarts the grain opening law, and delivers grain to the disaster-stricken areas of the capital, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and the frontier troops. , in exchange for Yanyin."

As soon as Bi Ziyan said this, he was interrupted by Zhou Yanru.He went out to question Bi Ziyan: "The method of opening food to China has been proven to be ineffective. During the Hongzhi period, the salt government was changed to the method of opening silver to China, and the current law is improved on the basis of the predecessors. Who is so absurd to bring up the method that has been eliminated, which is to miss the court's important affairs."

When Zhou Yanru said this, he bowed to Emperor Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, absolutely not!"

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the excited Zhou Yanru, frowned and asked, "What should I do according to Qing's opinion?"

"Still using the current guidelines and laws, we can increase the proportion of salt tax for the court's expenses." Zhou Yanru immediately threw out the bottom line he had obtained. He never thought that the new salt policy would directly abolish the guidelines and laws. Amendment or modification on the basis of the law.

"Excessive salt tax can be used for military expenses and disaster relief?" Emperor Chongzhen asked directly about the key problem when he heard that he had no better ideas.

"..." Zhou Yanru was speechless, no matter how much salt tax was collected, it was impossible to make up for the gap in military expenditure and disaster relief.

Emperor Chongzhen saw Zhou Yanru standing there in a daze, so he ignored him, and directly announced: "I have made up my mind, and there is no doubt about using the new salt policy that Bi Qing said. Bi Qing, you take the rest of the measures together." After finishing speaking, the ministers will discuss again."

Officials in those places who are only in charge of the salt administration are listening to the excitement. Anyway, no matter how the salt administration changes, they can't change their palms.

"The current shortcoming of the salt administration lies mainly in the fact that the output of table salt cannot meet the needs of salt exchange. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the output of table salt, and it must be refined salt."

As soon as Bi Ziyan's words fell, there was a buzz in the hall, especially those transfer envoys and Tiju, who whispered to each other and complained incessantly.

Since the last incident, Cao Huachun has been left in the current tasteless yamen, and has been very depressed.Now I see that there is a lot of discussion in the hall, and there is no peace.He secretly observed Emperor Chongzhen's face upwards, grasped the emperor's state of mind, then turned around and shouted to those civil servants who were discussing: "Be quiet, talk about something, share the emperor's worries, don't whisper in private, it's not decent."

Before the reign of Chongzhen, the Supervisor of Ceremonies was a very prestigious place. There was a saying that the eunuchs and eunuchs of the Supervisor of Ceremonies met the third rank of officials.Although the Chongzhen Dynasty was reduced to a soy sauce yamen because of the emperor's diligent administration, the remaining prestige is still there.After Cao Huachun drank this, the Wenhua Hall became quiet.

Emperor Chongzhen was at the top, seeing all of these, unconsciously nodded slightly to Cao Huachun's actions.

Bi Ziyan saw that he had calmed down, and continued: "The transfer salt envoys and salt class promotion divisions in each capital can use the method of motivating salt workers, and set rewards by grade..."

Zhou Yanru had returned to his original position, and only Bi Ziyan was standing in the middle, introducing the previously agreed method of increasing salt production eloquently, as if the Wenhua Palace had become a stage for him alone.

While listening, Zhou Yanru looked for loopholes and wanted to refute this new policy.

But those who are in charge of the salt administration are listening nervously, feeling a lot of pressure.

After a while, after Bi Ziyan finished speaking, he turned to the people in charge of the salt administration under his command, and asked them, "Did you hear clearly? If you have any questions, ask questions immediately."

In fact, this incentive method is very simple, and there is nothing particularly complicated.So, for a while, no one had any doubts.

These people did not ask any questions, but Zhou Yanru went out to play again and said: "Your Majesty, the increase in salt production will inevitably lead to lower salt prices, and the increase in grain production will greatly reduce the salt tax and silver collected by the court. Your Majesty, this method is not advisable." ah!"

Emperor Chongzhen was a little strange, and Zhou Yanru had never seen such a positive speech in his usual discussions.It has not been long since the discussion of the salt policy started, and Zhou Yanru has spoken several times, and he still opposes the reform of the salt law.

Other people in the Wenhua Palace have less interest in Yanzheng Gangfa than Zhou Yanru. Now that Zhou Yanru is jumping up and down, he is happy to watch the excitement and wait until he sees the situation clearly.

Wen Tiren didn't speak from the beginning to the end, just like Zhong Jinwei.The reactions of these people were taken into consideration during several of their discussions.If you have any questions, the Hubu Shangshu will answer them one by one, and there is no need for them to speak out.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to explain to Zhou Yanru himself, so he looked at Bi Ziyan.

Bi Ziyan had been watching Emperor Chongzhen's reaction to Zhou Yanru at this time, and now seeing his gesture, he said to Zhou Yanru: "This statement is wrong, please listen to my explanation."

The focus in the hall returned to Bi Ziyan, and he told what Zhong Jinwei had said before.Understanding these contents requires a little brain turn.But in the Ming Dynasty, no one who could study and become an official was a fool, and soon realized that the reduction in the price of salt had these benefits.

There are ministers who are sincere for the people, and they secretly think that Jing is wonderful.There are also some ministers who feel that it is a pity. In this way, they will lose a lot of taps.

Zhou Yanru was even more impatient. He knew the money-making methods of those big salt merchants behind him. If the new salt policy is implemented in this way, it will not only increase competitors, but also lower the price of salt. In the future, private salt will be mixed with official salt. There won't be much profit.The biggest loss is probably them.

But he has nothing to do. He can't say clearly that my big boss will suffer heavy losses, and you can't do that.To put it this way, it is the rhythm of courting death.

Emperor Chongzhen saw that after Bi Ziyan finished speaking, no one raised any objections, so he said to Cao Huachun, "Send a copy of Dongchang's report to all the ministers and workers."

Cao Huachun agreed, and then asked the eunuchs under him to start distributing a copy of the materials, each of them got a copy, and one got a lot.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen signaled that Bi Ziyan would also send a copy of the report from the Ministry of Household Affairs to everyone.

Everyone got two reports with the same content, but the numbers were slightly different.The officials in the hall were comparing each other while thinking in their hearts, the emperor came prepared this time, fully prepared, it seems that he is bound to win, and the new salt policy must be realized, but fortunately he did not jump out to oppose it.