Lin Ruhai was very familiar with Cui Jingrong, had dealt with him countless times, and even had many disputes.
Every year, the salt transfer envoys from Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers have to communicate with the Ministry of Household Affairs about the salt department's money, and negotiations are inevitable.
The Ministry of Revenue has always been extremely dissatisfied with the original standards, believing that this convention was a rule set by Emperor Yuanxi in the early years. Now, although the population in the Great Zhou Dynasty is increasing day by day, and the amount of salt used by the people has increased greatly, this part of the salt class money that belongs to the Ministry of Households
It should definitely increase and the original standards should not be continued.
For this reason, Cui Jingrong also wrote to the cabinet many times, asking for an adjustment in the amount of money turned over to the salt department of the Ministry of Household Affairs by the Yamen of the Huaihe and Huaihe capitals. However, it was like a stone sinking. No matter from the cabinet or the emperor, there was no sound. However, Cui Jingrong also never heard of it.
Don’t be discouraged, I will still submit the letter every year and refuse to give up.
Lin Ruhai, an "old friend" from the Ministry of Finance, knows him well. He is a person who does real things. There is absolutely no way he can do some frivolous things in Yangzhou City. Since such a big war is going on, he must have a big relationship with Kaihai.
association.
"I don't know. You said they evaluated and verified the size and number of silk workshops, port terminals, and shipping companies. This makes sense. After all, after the sea is opened, we in Yangzhou Prefecture will definitely have a large amount of goods going out through here, such as shipping
Go to Ningbo, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and other places and then go to sea. Silk and medicinal materials like our Yangzhou Prefecture can be like this, but Dong Weng, you said that things like Qianpu, Yinzhuang, Mipu, Cloth Shop, Timber Store, Nanhuo Store, etc.
Statistical verification, this is so weird.”
Wang Wenyan can be considered a veteran who has worked below for many years, and is very familiar with the situation in the county and prefecture. Although She County is not as good as Yangzhou Prefecture, it is still a quite prosperous county in South Zhili, like She County
Paper, ink, and tea are all materials that are exported in large quantities, and many of them have to be shipped to Yangzhou for transshipment. However, things like Mipu Buzhuang and Qianzhuang Timber Store have nothing to do with opening up the sea.
"Wen Yan, maybe their business is not just for opening up the sea." Lin Ruhai realized something, "In other words, the opening up of the sea in the eyes of the imperial court may not be as simple as opening up the sea after opening up the sea.
, you might think that the opening of the sea should bring greater changes to our Jiangnan, and Jiangnan should also give more rewards to the court."
Wang Wenyan was startled. He was from Huizhou Prefecture, and Lin Ruhai was from Suzhou Prefecture. They were both from Nanzhi. The area south of the Yangtze River had always been a land of wealth, and the imperial court had always been very tight.
This time, the policy of opening up the sea was implemented so quickly and smoothly, which surprised many Jiangnan gentry.
They all felt that according to the nature of the Zhou Dynasty, it would take a year and a half to come up with an explanation, and then it would take another year and a half to come up with a statement. In the end, it might take some time to finalize it.
It can be said that it is implemented, but it is impossible to implement it within two or three years.
I didn't expect that the court would come out with the documents only a month or two ago. It just needs further verification and investigation. According to this situation, it might be possible to officially open the sea next year.
"In this way, the imperial court's plan is very big." Wang Wenyan also began to think about it, "This is an almost all-round investigation, and it is no longer like a simple open sea. The emperor has been on the throne for six years now.
Maybe I have some ideas."
These words made Lin Ruhai's expression change slightly.
In any case, Emperor Yuan Xi has abdicated. No matter how prestigious he was when he was on the throne, he is still a seventy-year-old man after all. Even if he can still keep his word now, how long can this situation last?
Sooner or later he will retire from the stage.
Regardless of his condition, he should consider his options, and now that his condition is like this, he needs to consider this matter even more.
But similarly, the Supreme Emperor is not unaware of his illness, and may be waiting for his memorial.
There is still considerable power among the Dragon Guards in the hands of the Supreme Emperor. There are also many Dragon Guards in the Yamen, the salt envoys of the two Huaidus. I am afraid that the Dragon Guards will belong to both sides.
,Similarly, among his deputies and subordinates, there are also people from the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor.
It's just that before they lose control, everyone tacitly agrees to go back to their respective positions and do their own thing well.
Wang Wenyan's words reminded Lin Ruhai that it was time to consider other things. Although Lin Ruhai had been mentally prepared for this for a long time, she did not expect that it would come so quickly. Not only the Supreme Emperor might be considering it, but Emperor Yonglong was also not idle, and
I am afraid that his serious illness will speed up the pace and rhythm of their actions.
"Wen Yan, it seems that I should introduce you to Feng Keng." Lin Ruhai finally made up his mind, but this determination only meant that he wanted to carefully examine whether Feng Ziying was reliable, and he had not yet reached the point where he would confide in him before leaving home.
, he believed that with Wang Wenyan's ability, he should be able to find out the details of Feng Ziying soon.
"It's my wish, but I don't dare to ask my ears." Wang Wenyan smiled slightly.
While Lin Ruhai and Wang Wenyan were discussing Feng Ziying, Feng Ziying was also having intense discussions with Cui Jingrong, Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei in Chaoguan, Yangzhou Hubu.
"Why is it necessary to conduct such a detailed investigation? Previously, the official had already made a detailed introduction to Cui Gong, Mr. Wu, and Mr. Wei. Although Yangzhou is not a sea-opening city, it is even quite far away from our sea-opening destination.
distance, but I have told Cui Gong before that opening up the sea seems to be just a strategy to liberalize sea trade. It seems that we only need to see, well, whether the terminal construction in Ningbo can meet the demand, and the Xiejia in Quanzhou
Whether the organization and personnel are sufficient to meet the trade needs after the arrival of overseas merchant ships and merchants, or whether Zhangzhou has sufficient sailors and boatmen, once it opens to sea and ships are built in large numbers, can they meet the needs, and so on..."
Feng Ziying has taught a lot to these people in the past few days, so much so that both Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei felt a little enlightened.
Unlike Cui Jingrong, the two of them had only heard some remarks and opinions about Feng Ziying in the past, but they did not have deep and intuitive feelings. Even in Linqing, Dongchang Prefecture and even Huai'an Prefecture, they were relatively low-key, or
It's normal, but after arriving in Yangzhou, his style suddenly changed.
Previously, Feng Ziying asked Fan Jingwen and He Fengsheng to lead a group of officials to conduct a comprehensive investigation of all walks of life in Yangzhou Prefecture, which left Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei baffled.
You said that you went to Ningbo or Quanzhou to conduct a thorough investigation, which is barely justified, and the coverage is so broad, covering almost the entire business industry, it is too exaggerated. Even in Ningbo or Quanzhou, it feels a bit excessive, let alone this
Yangzhou is hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
However, Cui Jingrong has not expressed his position, and even agreed to Feng Ziying's proposal to conduct a comprehensive investigation of Yangzhou's industrial operations. Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei naturally found it difficult to object.
"But I think it's not enough." Feng Ziying's words made Wu Liangsi and Wei Guangwei prick up their ears.
If it’s not enough, what else should we do?
"As we all know, we in the south of the Yangtze River have more people and less land. The land is narrow and densely populated. Sometimes we have to feed a family on just one-third of an acre. Well, to be blunt, we may be able to barely support it, but think again.
It is difficult to live a better life. Whether you plant rice, lotus roots, mulberries and silkworms per acre of land, there is always only so much output and only so many people are needed. There are too many people.
What should we do? One of the purposes of opening up the sea is to allow more people to board ships and go to sea to feed their families, but this is far from enough..."
When it came to the key point, Cui Jingrong had already listened to Feng Ziying's indoctrination once, but he still wanted to listen carefully again.
"How many people can be accommodated on the ship? A ship plus the boatmen and sailors can only hold a hundred or so people on a large ship, and a few dozen people on a small or medium-sized ship. Even if there are hundreds or even thousands of more ships when the sea is opened, it will only be tens of thousands more people.
It’s just that you can get on the ship, but for the narrow and densely populated areas of Jiangnan, Fujian and Zhejiang, it is just a drop in the bucket..."
"..., also in the Northland, in the past twenty years, everyone knows that the weather has been bad, floods, droughts, and locusts have been constant. If you are not careful, the people will have no choice but to go out to eat. Judging from the situation during the Yuanxi period,
, whenever there is a famine, the number of refugees who go out to eat is often tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, which puts great pressure on the imperial government to provide relief. Sometimes you can't help places at all, and it is easy for the White Lotus Sect to be attracted by Wen Xiang.
These religious bandits were attracted and turned into rioters..."
"Let me tell you one more thing, is it true that there is no food in these places? I'm afraid it's not entirely true. We all know very well that the gentry and grain merchants in various places have a lot of food in their hands, but for
For these people, they think it is okay to provide relief for a while or a small amount. If you ask them to take out all the food for relief, they will definitely not do it. But if these eaters have money in their hands and are willing to buy food, then maybe this
The contradiction will not be so prominent..."
"..., of course there will definitely be people who say that the price of food will be artificially controlled by everyone at that time and soar, and those people will not be able to afford it, but at least this is much less risky than being desperate and becoming a refugee or even a mob, right? The government can do it too.
Using other methods to transport food to reduce pressure is another topic..."
"What I want to say, the problem actually exists in two aspects. One is that there is indeed a shortage of food, and the other is that ordinary people lack purchasing power..."
"Purchasing power?!" Cui Jingrong, Wei Guangwei and Wu Liangsi were all stunned by this term. Maybe it was a new term coined by the man in front of him.
"Well, let me explain this term. It can be understood as the ability of ordinary people to buy things, such as buying grain, buying cotton cloth, buying hoes, buying cattle and horses..., they must have the ability to buy, or more
To put it bluntly, they must have the opportunity and ability to make money..."
This chapter has been completed!