Shen Shangshu is a smart man, so he rarely confronts the emperor. At most, he only complains a few times.
But even if you complain, you are showing your merits to the emperor in disguise.
However, this time, Shen Shangshu really felt that he could not agree to the emperor's request.
“Your Majesty, I do not disbelieve in your Majesty, but salt and tea are one of the lifeblood of the country. If it is sent to the imperial store today, relatives, ministers, and clan members in the imperial court will flock to it in the future.”
“Your Majesty is wise and wise, and can restrain the eunuchs and pay taxes on time. However, once this example is started, the legal system will inevitably be abolished, and the salt law will be disrupted, which will definitely cause turmoil in the court.”
“In addition to the Salt Law of our dynasty, we implemented the Kaizhong Law. Merchants transported grain to the border in exchange for salt, and the people’s efforts were used to maintain the daily expenditure of grain and grass on the border, which greatly saved the court’s waste.”
“If the Salt Law is disrupted, border expenditures will inevitably increase. This is a major matter involving the national economy and the people’s livelihood. I should be on guard against minor delays and dare not agree to your Majesty’s request without permission.”
Shen Shangshu spoke rather tactfully, which was enough to give the emperor face. He did not say that the imperial store would affect the salt tax, but only said that other ministers would follow suit.
The implication is that Your Majesty can control the eunuchs, but you may not be able to control the relatives and clan families who are greedy for profit.
It should be said that Shen Yi was indeed the great Situ in charge of the household department, and he immediately sensed the risks involved.
The salt introduction system of the Ming Dynasty is closely related to the Kaizhong Law.
The so-called Kaizhong method is the method used by merchants to obtain salt.
If private merchants want to obtain salt, they need to transport grain to the granary at the border.
Depending on the amount of grain transported, salt can be exchanged from the court, and then used to transport salt to the corresponding salt farm to make a profit.
The implementation of the Open China Law, as Shen Yi said, is to reduce the court's expenditure on border military expenditures through the power of the people.
In fact, the reason why a large amount of silver was spent on military expenditures every year in the late Ming Dynasty was because of the abolition of the Kaizhong Law.
Without the support of Kaizhongfa, the border armies can only rely entirely on blood transfusions from the imperial court, which naturally consumes a large amount of military expenditures every year.
However, the core basic requirement for the Kaizhong Law to be effective was the court's strict control over salt introduction.
Businessmen pursue profit and will always use the minimum cost to obtain the maximum profit.
The reason why they were willing to transport grain to the border was because there was no other way to obtain salt.
Without salt, the business of selling salt, which is a sure profit without losing money, becomes a beheading business.
Shen Yi’s meaning is very clear.
Twenty thousand yuan of salt is nothing in itself (cross it out). Although it is a sum of money that makes Shen Shangshu feel distressed, it is not enough for him to fight against the emperor.
But once this hole is opened.
Then relatives, clan members, and even other ministers of the imperial court would follow suit and not go through the Kaizhong method, but would take the emperor's way to obtain salt.
Even if the emperor can bear it for a while, he cannot bear it forever.
After all, as long as it is profitable, it is very easy for the people below to find legitimate reasons.
For example, the imperial court has recently implemented the policy of reducing the salary of peppercorns. Since peppercorns can offset the salary, can salt and tea be used as well?
Shen Shangshu knew without thinking that there must be a censor with such a good book.
Once these people obtain salt in a legitimate and reasonable manner, the salt tax will be affected. Secondly, the most important thing is that the opening ceremony will be destroyed, which will directly affect the stability of the border.
The best way is to stick to the method of opening the middle and not open any holes at all.
Shang Shu Shen looked at the Emperor sincerely, hoping that this ancestor would not cause any more trouble to him.
Wouldn’t it be better to stay in peace and quiet for two years instead of recuperating?
Zhu Qiyu tapped the table with his fingers and frowned slightly.
His request for salt and tea from Shen Yi was not simply for profit, he had his own considerations.
But it has to be said that Shen Yi's concerns are also justified.
Zhu Qiyu has the foresight of the future, so he naturally understands the dangers of indiscriminate use of salt.
In the early years of Chenghua, in order to increase the revenue of the state treasury, Ye Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, abolished the Kaizhong Law, so that private merchants no longer needed to transport grain to the border, but instead could obtain salt by paying money and grain directly to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
This move quickly enriched the national treasury at that time, but it also laid the foundation for the chaos of the Salt Law and accelerated the erosion of the border.
Without the support of the Kaizhong Law, the distribution of salt became more flexible, and it was often used as a reward, or even as a minister's salary, by the emperor and the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The result was a large-scale over-distribution of salt.
There is a limit to the annual salt production of the imperial court. The amount of salt introduced should correspond to the amount of salt produced.
However, because the Kaizhong Law was abolished, salt quotations were issued excessively and indiscriminately, which resulted in a backlog.
The backlog will lead to the bankruptcy of salt merchants.
This is a truth that is easy to understand, if the clan, relatives, ministers and ordinary businessmen all have salt in their hands.
Then the first three must be able to receive the salt first, while ordinary salt merchants can only wait in line. It is common for them to wait for three to five years without getting salt.
This will cause two serious consequences.
Since private merchants could not afford salt, they were naturally unwilling to send grain to the court in exchange for salt. Naturally, the court's salt tax would be greatly affected.
The formal channels for merchants to obtain salt through salt channels were completely blocked, and one can imagine the proliferation of illegal salt.
Ye Qi's reform of the Salt Law, although it achieved temporary results during the Chenghua Dynasty and enriched the national treasury, it also led to the overproduction of salt and the proliferation of private salt, at the expense of long-term interests.
Not to mention, after the abolition of the Open China Law, the border lost an important way to supply food and grass.
When the Open China Law was implemented, the exchanges between the border and the mainland were extremely frequent.
Although the imperial court repeatedly banned the sale of salt, merchants gradually divided into frontier merchants and internal merchants in order to obtain salt.
Border merchants have been stationed at the border for a long time, reclaiming a large amount of farmland, growing food, and forming merchant settlements.
After harvesting, they sent it to the local granary in exchange for salt, and then used the salt to trade with local merchants in exchange for other materials, and then sold these materials to the local people.
This allows the border to form a stable trading system.
However, after the Kaichu Law was abolished, domestic merchants were no longer willing to go to the border. Merchants on the border gradually moved inland, the merchant villages were depleted, and the border economy was depressed, and it needed to rely entirely on blood transfusions from the imperial court to maintain.
Hence, the method of opening the middle must be maintained.
Zhu Qiyu himself recognized this point. After thinking for a moment, he spoke.
“Don’t worry, Qing Shen, I naturally understand what you are worried about. Opening the Central Law is the cornerstone of the Salt Law and the foundation for border stability.”
“I have never thought of making salt and tea private to the emperor, otherwise I would not discuss this matter with Shen Qing here.”
In fact, the indiscriminate distribution of Yanyin only started in the Chenghua Dynasty. Before that, the only way to obtain Yanyin was through the Kaizhong method.
Theoretically speaking, Zhu Qiyu could just like one of his eldest nephews and directly give the salt as a reward to Huangdian.
But he didn't because he knew the harm to the Salt Law.
The fact that he was willing to sit down and discuss with Shen Yi today instead of directly issuing an order already illustrates his attitude.
Shen Shangshu made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and continued.
"I thank Your Majesty for your consideration. I know that now that the New Year is approaching, a large number of royal families will come to the capital. The ceremonies and banquets in the palace will be very complicated and a lot of money will be spent. If Your Majesty will not give up, I would like to hand over the banquet for foreign ministers to Honglu Temple. Responsible."
This chapter has been completed!