"Your Majesty Bi Maokang pays homage to His Highness."

"Bi Qing is exempt from the courtesy."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Well, Bi Qing, do you know what I am doing by transferring you to Beijing this time?"

"When I received the order from His Highness, the father-in-law who delivered the order had already reminded me. Your Highness' intention is to rectify the salt administration."

"That's it. How about it? Does Bi Qing have any strategy?"

"There is something wrong, please correct me, Your Highness."

On January 15, 1615, Bi Maokang, who served as the salt patrol censor in Shandong, quickly entered the capital after receiving the transfer order, and was immediately received by Zhu Youdong. When the emperor and his ministers met, Bi Maokang generally explained his views on rectifying the salt policy.

idea.

"Your Highness, I think that after I have served as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Beijing for a month and become familiar with the operation of the Ministry of Household Affairs and become familiar with colleagues in the Ministry of Household Affairs in Beijing, Your Highness should let me go south to Nanjing to be the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs."

Why did Bi Maokang say this? It was not because he wanted to be promoted, but because all salt production in the Ming Empire was printed and managed by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue.

However, Zhu Youdong did not comment on Bi Maokang's idea. However, Zhu Youdong, who had become more and more qualified as a mature ruler, had become accustomed to observing his ministers first and then gradually guiding them.

"If Bi Qing goes to Nanjing, what are you going to do?"

"After I go to Nanjing, I must first repay the salt that the court has owed to the good people over the years. Otherwise, no one will be convinced by the new salt industry policy in the future."

"Well, it should be so. Then Bi Qing, how are you going to repay it?"

"Your Highness, now the salt field cannot provide salt to good people who have salt. There are two main reasons. First, the clan and various dignitaries have taken away too much for free. Second, the salt field officials themselves have been too greedy.

After I go to Nanjing, I will first issue an order to suspend the production of salt in all salt fields. Let good people who hold old salt quotas that have been unable to redeem them come to Nanjing. After I replace the new salt quotas with new ones, I will directly urge the salt fields to repay this part of the salt.

lead."

"No."

"Your Highness?"

"Bi Qing, if you do this, those profiteers will take the opportunity to raise the price of salt. The price of salt in the Ming Dynasty is now about 250~300 copper coins per pound, which is the highest in all dynasties since the First Emperor unified China. The people are suffering.

It’s been a long time. If I were two or three times taller..."

"Your Highness is wise, but if you don't first repay the salt imports of those good people who honestly transport grain to the country, how can the country's salt policy win the trust of the people?"

"...Bi Qing, let's skip this step first and let's talk about it first. If you successfully repay all the salt of the past dynasties, what will you do next?"

"Of course all the old salt seals have been scrapped! Your Highness, I have noticed that the imperial court has recently sent special yellow paper to various chief secretaries. The paper is strong in toughness, does not absorb water, and has hidden flowers. Such paper can be used.

Make a new salt guide."

"Then what?"

"Then I will naturally strictly follow the rules on how to release salt. Your Highness, rest assured that I have a strong command. I will never release salt indiscriminately just because of the pressure from the royal family, princes, and dignitaries. In this way, the salt administration can be standardized and open to the law."

It can be restored.”

After listening to Maokang's words, Zhu Youdong felt very disappointed: After all, this person's idea was not free from the shackles of the past, thinking that as long as strict management and honest officials could handle everything.

If things in this world are so simple, why have the reforms in the past dynasties been so difficult?

Well, there are specialties in the field, and I know your integrity and strengths, Bi Maokang. However, your talent is really not in this area. When the salt administration is rectified, you should go to Fangshan Laboratory.

Due to the method of enclosing the sea and drying salt in the Ming Dynasty, the amount of salt produced in the Ming Dynasty was far greater than that of the previous dynasties. After more than two hundred years of peace, the population of the Ming Dynasty was also far greater than that of the previous dynasties. Moreover, salt is a very important thing for human beings.

Rigid needs must be taken in every day.

Make a simple algorithm: Assume that the population of Ming Dynasty is 100 million, and the daily salt intake per person is 4 grams (the national recommended dose in the 21st century is no more than 6 grams per day. In ancient times, non-staple food was lacking, so it should be more than 6 grams).

Then, the annual salt consumption in the Ming Dynasty should be: 292 million kilograms. Based on the current tax of 20 kilograms of salt per kilogram in the Ming Dynasty, the annual salt tax should be 5.84 billion kilograms.

The price ratio of silver and copper in the Ming Dynasty was always changing. On the one hand, there was an influx of large amounts of overseas silver, and the price of silver continued to depreciate. On the other hand, the court was in financial difficulty, and the quality of copper coins was getting worse and worse. Therefore, the price of silver and copper coins was constantly changing.

In the case of devaluation, even if a relatively large value is used, one tael of silver is exchanged for 1,000 copper coins. Theoretically, the annual salt tax collected by the Ming Dynasty should be 5.84 million taels of silver. And if based on the current silver dollar and the new copper coin

Calculating the exchange ratio of 1:25o, tsk tsk tsk, just from the salt tax, Zhu Youdong should have an income of 23.36 million silver dollars every year! Even if the new version of copper coins contains more copper than the previous coins, the salt tax will be 20 cents per catty.

Prices may go up or down, but no matter what, Zhu Youdong's salt tax revenue should be at least 1,000,000 yuan every year.

In fact, the current national salt tax in the Ming Dynasty is only 1.3 million yuan.

Last year, Zhu Youdong gave a subsidy of 3.7 million yuan to the Beijing Ministry of Household Affairs. If the salt tax could be collected, why would the country's finances need Zhu Youdong's subsidies? Wouldn't he have more money to expand the army?

Therefore, the salt policy must be rectified.

And what is the problem with the salt policy? In the Northern Song Dynasty, people used large stoves to boil salt, and the court taxed them 30 Wen per kilogram, but the market price was only 50 Wen. In the Ming Dynasty, salt was dried around the sea, and the court only levied taxes per kilogram.

20 yuan, the market price is 300 yuan...

Therefore, when rectifying the salt policy, the first problem is: profiteers!

However, the salt merchants of the Ming Dynasty were all powerful people. In other words, they themselves were all powerful people!

Moreover, the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty was often a place where clan clans gathered together: the central government of the Ming Dynasty often had no money to pay salaries to such a large number of relatives of the Zhu family on time, so it often used salt to offset it when pressed: anyway, salt is paper

After printing too many treasure notes and turning them into waste paper, the salt seal is still valuable. Then the clan members relied on their status to use the salt seal in their hands to take away the salt in advance and sell it at a high price.

....

Therefore, the second question: clan.

The third question is officials. The fourth question is management. The fifth question is transportation...stop! There are so many problems, don't expect to be able to solve them one by one.

So, is there any way to solve these problems across the board?

have!

"Bi Qing, I mean, starting from this year, we will trial the privatization of the salt field."

"Ah? Your Highness, this, this is against the ancestral system!"

"Times have changed, and there are still fewer ancestral rules that Gu has violated? For example, the abolition of the Peeling and Solid Grass enacted by Taizu is what all the elders and monks unanimously asked Gu to do."

"Tsk!" Bi Maokang smacked his lips speechlessly: Ye Xianggao's departure audit made Zhu Youdong abolish the system of peeling skin and making grass with the unanimous support of everyone. From then on, who said Zhu Youdong changed the ancestral system, Zhu Youdong took this

Come out and talk about things...

"Bi Qing, think about it, after the salt field is privatized, the court can no longer use salt, and those clans and dignitaries cannot use their power to use salt and salt for free. Because in this way, those who bought the salt field will

The businessman will go bankrupt!”

Your Highness, you are very vicious! Are the people who can buy the salt farm ordinary businessmen? Are they not the ones from the clan or even the nobles behind them? With such a move, you will divide the gentry, wealthy merchants and clans in an instant. They will not be able to

Unite to fight against your rectification of the salt industry. On the contrary, they have to try their best to please you and see if they can buy the salt farm at a preferential price! Later, the nobles who did not have a salt farm wanted to take the salt for free, and the noble people who bought the salt farm stepped forward.

Instead of fighting in the ring, the country and the royal family will no longer have to worry about this!

"Your Highness, do you mean that if you want to buy a salt farm, you must first pay back the good people who had salt in the past but did not get any salt?"

"That's right. Compensation in cash or salt is fine. I don't care about it anyway."

"What your Highness means is that after the salt farm is sold, the state will send officials to the site and implement an on-the-spot taxation system?"

"No, no, no." Zhu Youdong shook his head quickly: "With the ethics of officials in the Ming Dynasty, I let officials stationed in the salt field to collect taxes. If something goes wrong, the salt tax of more than one million yuan will become more than one hundred yuan."

We are going to implement a fixed tax system. That is to say, when the state sells this salt farm to you, the amount of salt tax you should pay to the state every year is also marked. If you think it is profitable, just buy it. If you think it is unbearable,

Then don’t buy it. As for after you got this salt farm, you improved the production methods and increased the salt production. That’s because you have the ability, and it’s your turn to earn more!”

"But Your Highness, if this is the case, no matter how many people there are in Ming Dynasty, the salt tax will only be this small."

I just want to quickly increase the salt tax in a short period of time to alleviate the country's urgent need for money. As for the future? After I have wiped out Mongolia, Japan, Southeast Asia, and China has a dumping ground. Especially after the steam engine is developed and the industrial revolution begins,

The salt tax is not that important to the country.

"It doesn't matter, Bi Qing. The state has been in charge of all salt farms for so many years, how much money can it receive? After liberalization, salt taxes will rise sharply, private salt and other issues will also be solved by the major salt farm owners themselves, and salt

The price will continue to drop—the major salt farms will have to seize the market.”

"Your Highness is wise, I have one last question."

"speak."

"What if the major salt farm owners get crazy and join forces to raise the price of salt?"

"This problem is also easy to solve. First, when selling salt fields, you cannot sell out all the salt fields. There must be one or two salt fields directly under the jurisdiction of the country in the southeast, northwest, and northwest. The daily output of these directly-affiliated salt fields does not need to be too much, or even large quantities. Once the market is no longer

If the price is stable, the inventory of the national salt farm can enter the market and stabilize the salt price. Secondly, the country will set a guideline price for salt, and each salt farm owner must not sell salt more than 20% of the guideline price. If it exceeds..." Zhu Youdong

A cold light flashed through his eyes: "I slaughtered his entire family!"

Sure enough, a man with a knife in his hand speaks with a strong voice. When he got here, Bi Maokang no longer hesitated: "I surrender to His Highness's strategy. Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely rectify the national salt administration this year. I ask Your Highness to set a quota. This

Except for a few core salt farms across the country, how much should the sales revenue of all other salt farms in the country not be lower? How much should the annual fixed salt tax in the future be lower than?"

"Well, I won't be too greedy. Let's see. This year, the income from selling the major salt farms will be at least no less than 100 million silver dollars. The annual fixed tax system will be no less than 1.5 million silver dollars."
Chapter completed!