Following the report of the Ministry of Finance is a special performance by the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Samurai Yu.
He was talking about the sea salt matter. After discussions with officials from the Ministry of Revenue, the price for selling salt to Turkic and other tribes has been set.
Samurai Xun cited many examples, setting the price of salt very high, showing the face of a businessman who wanted to make huge profits from it. In the memorial, he demonstrated the reliability of the price of salt he set and left himself room for leeway.
, I plan to change it depending on the situation.
Li Po didn't care about so much. He only saw that the export salt price set by the Ministry of Revenue was twice as high as the domestic salt price. This was ordinary coarse salt, while fine salt was ten times more profitable. It was obviously aimed at the Turkic nobles.
Specialized in luxury goods category.
Are the grassland tribes short of salt? There is such a shortage. Many grassland tribes do not have reliable sources of salt, otherwise the Central Plains would not regulate salt.
Salt is a necessity in people's lives. In the past, it was very tight for the Central Plains to produce and sell it themselves, let alone the grassland tribes with backward production methods.
Opening up the sale of salt would have both advantages and disadvantages for Datang.
There are many benefits, and I don’t need to describe them one by one. The disadvantage is that once the grassland tribes get a reliable supply of salt, their bodies will become stronger and stronger. Coupled with their living environment, they will have more advantages on the battlefield.
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Of course, the court had already made a decision at this time, so there was no need to waste time on this. Li Po asked people to hand it over to Xue Heng, the regular servant of Sanqi, and dictated it to him to write out the approval.
Continuously reviewing memorials, this was the emperor's daily routine, and the time came to the afternoon before he knew it. Li Po had three meals a day, and it was time for dinner.
Li Po stretched out and felt much better. His nose wasn't running much anymore. He praised himself in his heart. He was in good health now, and it was worthy of his persistence in exercising for so many years.
At the sound of footsteps, Sun Fujia entered the side hall in time for the meal, saluted the emperor, looked at the emperor, and showed a reproachful look. Li Po slowly lowered his outstretched arms.
I just relaxed a little bit when I said this piece of shit in my heart, what are you doing weirdly?
Li Po glared at the other party and stood up. He was going to have lunch. There were not many government affairs today. He did not plan to come to Tai Chi Hall again in the afternoon. He would give himself a break and get better from the cold faster.
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"Why are you following me?"
After leaving the Tai Chi Hall, Li Po looked at Sun Fujia who was following behind him and asked knowingly.
Sun Fujia had become accustomed to the emperor's pettiness and said expressionlessly: "I went to Dali Temple to talk to Dai Shaoqing. I only drank three cups of tea in one morning. After working so hard on state affairs, Your Majesty will not even give me a meal."
Come on?"
This guy is really becoming more and more courageous, Li Po thought, but he smiled and said: "Dai Xuanyin is stingy at all times, and he treats my admonishment doctor harshly?"
Sun Fujia didn't want to make fun of the emperor, so he stopped talking after a joke, and just said: "Dai Shaoqing asked me to turn to your majesty, and we should be able to get married."
As he spoke, he took out a memorandum from his sleeve and presented it to the emperor, "This is the confession of Du Zhili, the Minister of Rites. It has not been reported to Taiwan Province in time, so I would like to ask your Majesty to read it."
Li Po took it over and looked at it while walking around. He knew what Sun Fujia meant. This was the original record. If he felt there was something wrong, Dali Temple would make modifications as appropriate and then report it to Taiwan Province.
In other words, Du Yan has this treatment, and others will not go through this process.
Li Po didn't look carefully, and handed it to the eunuch beside him, and asked Sun Fujia: "It's all about bribery. Did you ask Du Yan, what does he want so much wealth for?"
Sun Fujia: "Du Yan defended himself in this matter, saying that he saw the Tang Dynasty opening up trade routes, and he wanted to save some and resign in the future so that he could use it to buy ships and let people go to sea to make a living..."
After saying that, I felt a little uncomfortable and smiled coquettishly.
Li Po sneered. First he said nonsense in his mind, but when he said it in his mouth, he said, "He does have some vision, but he is not a businessman. Does he believe it?"
After that, he took Du Yan's confession from the eunuch and read it carefully.
Before he reached the Liangyi Hall, he finished reading, frowned and said: "Avoiding the important and taking the easy, what's the point? Continue the trial, you go to Dali Temple again and see Du Yan.
Tell him what I'm telling him, what's the point of struggling in vain when he's going to die? If you don't want to involve the family, tell the truth as soon as possible to avoid suffering the physical pain."
Li Po pondered for a moment, and he remembered Du Yan, the Minister of Rites, who was not on his talent list. He was similar to Changsun Shunde and others. He was a leftover from the time when the world was pacified.
In other words, in order to stabilize the situation in the court as soon as possible, Gao Shen, the Minister of Household Affairs, Liu Shanyin, Minister of Rites, Sun Shunde, the Minister of Rites, Du Yan, Minister of Rites, and Tang Jian, Minister of War, and others.
Even Feng Deyi, who was serving as a minister under the sect at that time, Huang Pu Wuyi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and others were actually the products of compromise with the old aristocratic group.
These people later died one after another, were demoted, and Gao Shen was even punished by the Ming Dynasty. In fact, there are still many left, and now it is Du Yan's turn.
Du Yan is over 50 years old, and he is wandering in the officialdom. He must have some abilities, but the things he did show that he is not only an official fanatic, but also greedy for money. He is a slippery official without any ethics.
Thinking about Du Yan's old face, Li Po felt uncomfortable all over. Most officials in the early Tang Dynasty were determined to make progress. Even if some people were slightly less talented, they still had their own style and integrity.
Changsun Shunde and Du Yan... there is really a reason why they got together and joined forces.
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"The edict was sent to Dai Wei, so there is no need to give him any preferential treatment. Du Zhili still wants to return to his hometown to raise his family. Dai Xuanyin seems to be merciful to him and wants me to convict him of corruption and dismiss him from office?
Then order the inspectors Gao Jifu and Dai Wei to interrogate Du Zhili severely together. If his confession is still so perfunctory, huh..."
Sun Fujia bowed and agreed. He was not sure what the emperor wanted Du Zhili to say, but his attitude made it clear that Du Zhili's life could not be saved.
Although Dai Wei was upright, he still left some leeway when it came to high-ranking officials in the court such as the Minister of Rites. This was preferential treatment for famous nobles, and it was a common practice. If there was no hatred, he would never deliberately kill them all.
That's why we first tested the emperor's intentions. Otherwise, as Li Po said, at most one of them would be dismissed from office, which was the most serious punishment for an official in the world except for treason and other heinous crimes.
Du Yan has been confessing his bribery, and he has not even concealed anything. In fact, what he is pursuing is just to save his life.