After Zhu Yuanzhang announced that the prince was guarding the border, he took the wine glass and went to other tables... Except for the important civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, everyone else kept a little distance.
When the emperor awarded the meritorious officials and gave out titles, they also shouted long live together and were beaming with joy. It was naturally an honor to be able to participate in such a big scene and witness history.
Next, Zhang Ximeng talked about garrisoning the fields and guarding the border, and they also knew some about it.
Later, the generals talked about specific measures, even loudly and quietly. Some of the disputes were not heard very clearly due to the distance and the noise of people.
But everyone is not a fool and can feel the solemnity in the air.
For these people, it was quite surprising.
After all, as the Son of Heaven, the Nine-Five Supreme Being, with the power of recovering most of the capital, he rules the world. What is the matter with just one sentence? How dare anyone dare to refute His Majesty the Emperor?
Tired of living?
Obviously, ordinary people still cannot understand the complexity of government affairs.
The emperor has such great power, there is nothing he cannot do. As long as you want to do it, you can definitely do it!
If it doesn't work, then there are treacherous officials who are blocking it.
As for whether the emperor is fatuous and incompetent, at least with Lao Zhu, people still dare not speculate randomly.
But Zhang Ximeng, who was in the middle of the game, was very aware of Zhu Yuanzhang's helplessness.
It’s really not that Lao Zhu is stingy about his fame and title and is unwilling to reward the big guys. It’s just that he really has no choice.
Take the current situation as an example. There is no problem at all in destroying the Yuan Dynasty, regaining the homeland, rewarding merits, and granting great titles to the heroes. It can even be said that it is a bit late. This should have been done when he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.
It's over.
Lao Zhu has been delaying it until today, and some people are already talking privately, saying that the emperor is stingy.
But the problem is that after being granted a title, some shortcomings will be exposed. Among these twenty-odd military generals, they asked themselves, not all of them are ruthless people who can stand alone, and only a few can truly leave their names in history.
If you become a hereditary and irreplaceable prince, your life will be over.
After working hard for so many years, it’s time to enjoy it!
Let us continue to suffer and suffer. I'm sorry, we don't want to do it anymore. Whoever wants to do it will do it.
These people have followed Lao Zhu through life and death. They are not corrupt or treasonous, they are just passive and sabotaging their work. What can you do?
The best thing to do is to alienate them?
But the problem is that they don't ask for more, and they aren't afraid of alienation.
What else can be done?
A pure minister like Hu Dahai, who is devoted to the public good, is really rare.
This is why he has been criticized by many people.
You are noble and great, but why don't you think about the big guy?
Zhang Ximeng saw everything in his eyes, and he saw at least two things clearly; first, why pure ministers were excluded; second, why did the emperor hate honorable nobles!
Disasters often accumulate at the slightest moment, and the wind arises from the end of green grass. This is probably the truth.
Zhang Ximeng took advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang to go to other tables, came to Hu Dahai, pulled up a chair and sat down.
"How is it? How do you feel now?"
Hu Dahai chuckled, "I'm used to it, it's nothing."
Zhang Ximeng shook his head and said: "Nothing is impossible! You still have to work hard! Such a heavy burden falls on you. If you don't do a good job, how can you explain it to the world?"
Hu Dahai was startled and said quickly: "Prime Minister Zhang, I know you are resourceful and strategizing. Please tell me quickly, what should I do to build Yanyun Land? I, I am a straight person, you let me
It’s okay for me to work hard, but it’s really difficult for me to do other things.”
Zhang Ximeng laughed and said, "The Duke of Yue wants to be down-to-earth and hardworking. Open up wasteland, build forts, farm and guard the border. These are all what you need to do. I don't have a better way. But in order to make it easier for you to guard the border, I
I can use some tricks to make it even better!”
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile, his voice was not high, but it attracted a lot of attention. As Zhang Ximeng, if you don't say golden words, then they are silver words. What you say will work!
Xu Da, Zheng Yuchun, Li Wenzhong and others gathered around.
Xu Da even said: "Mr. Zhang, it's really hard to cultivate and guard the border. It's all starting from scratch, and the road is full of obstacles. You need to help me find a way."
Zhang Ximeng smiled and nodded, "As I said, the hard work must be done by Yue Guogong and others. The only way I can think of now is to give them the Changlu Salt Farm."
The mention of salt made Xu Da tremble.
He knows how profitable this thing is.
Zhang Shicheng relied on a small area to raise hundreds of thousands of troops. Under the pressure of Lao Zhu, he maintained this for ten years. He relied on two things, one was silk from Suzhou and the other was salt from Lianghuai.
Table salt is essential for everyone.
If you don't eat salt for a day, you will have no strength.
Traffickers and footmen, farmers in the fields should eat more, and dignitaries and dignitaries may eat less, but no matter what, the average person is ten pounds, so there is not much difference.
The sales volume of salt can even be used to estimate the population.
It is said to be quite accurate.
Today, the largest salt fields in the world are naturally located in the Huaihe and Zhejiang provinces, and their income is enough to supply one-third of military supplies.
A large part of the expenses of this Northern Expedition were supported by salt taxes.
In the north, there are also such salt fields, which are even larger than those in Lianghuai and Liangzhe!
Xu Da thought about it: "Mr. Zhang, when we went north, we did pass by Changlu Town. There was a salt mountain there. We seized one million kilograms of sea salt. But although there is salt here, it's not much, right?
Can it supply military supplies?”
Zhang Ximeng couldn't help laughing, "This is just knowing one thing but not knowing the other. Changlu Town began to produce salt during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a lot of salt was produced, but it declined in the Yuan Dynasty.
sharp."
Xu Da frowned slightly and immediately said: "Prime Minister Zhang, are you saying that there is salt in the Changlu Salt Farm, but it was Yuan Ting's illegal management that ruined the salt farm?"
Zhang Ximeng nodded with a smile, "This is also related to the fact that the Mongolian cavalry went south, killed too much, and tried to enclose the land. Even if there were salt fields in the north, they could not be developed. Whatever the Yuan Dynasty lacked, it took it from the south and squeezed the people, which caused the people to
Change."
Zhang Ximeng sighed softly and reached out to pat Hu Dahai on the shoulder. "Don't worry about anything else. I'll take the time to go to the beach with you. Let's get the salt out first. With salt, you won't have to worry."
Hu Dahai did say that he was a bit upright. He smiled naively and said: "Mr. Zhang, brothers can indeed eat salt. You can find it nearby. It is really helpful. Mr. Zhang took the trouble!"
After hearing this sentence, everyone immediately laughed.
Xu Da couldn't help but turned his head to one side... Li Wenzhong leaned back and forth, and Lan Yu slapped the table.
"I, I made a mistake? Don't you all eat salt?"
Lan Yu burst out laughing and said: "Eat, eat everything! How can you make money without eating salt?"
Hu Dahai was stunned for a moment, then he realized the problem, "You mean, let me make money by selling salt! This seems to be the way to go!"
Zhang Ximeng can't listen anymore, this fool is so ignorant!
"Mr. Yue Guo, I gave you salt, but you don't know how to play with it? You just need to make a list of what is missing, openly buy it from all the merchants, send the things over, and after acceptance, you give a salt certificate. Then.
The merchant takes the salt lead and goes to Changlu Town to get a corresponding amount of salt, and then sells it to make a profit."
Zhang Ximeng said: "You don't need to worry about the whole process. Even to produce salt, you only need to recruit people and arrange them for businessmen."
Hu Dahai hesitated more and more, and he said in confusion: "So, so, I can just sit back and enjoy the benefits without doing anything? This, this always makes me feel uneasy!"
Hu Dahai looked at Xu Da and then at Zhang Ximeng, "Let me rely entirely on businessmen. I'm afraid something will go wrong...or else, let the salt field be under the control of the imperial court."
Zhang Ximeng couldn't help but laugh, "Duke Yue, Duke Yue! I don't know what to say. Are you a straightforward person or a clever person? Are you trying to tie the lord to the carriage?"
Hu Dahai waved his hands quickly, "How can you say that! Prime Minister Zhang, I don't dare, I don't dare!"
Zhang Ximeng simply said nothing more.
As the saying goes, it is definitely not easy to garrison the fields and guard the border. It requires both blood and sweat.
But to say that it is just about enduring hardship would be an underestimation of Zhang Ximeng’s methods.
In fact, when Zhang Ximeng mentioned doubling military pay earlier, he was planning on Changlu Saltworks.
The Kaizhong Law is generally recognized as a good law that benefits the country and the people. However, it was eventually destroyed by the greed of salt merchants and the shamelessness of officials. However, during the years of implementation, it achieved remarkable results.
Zhang Ximeng plans to play a bigger one.
First of all, it is natural to mass-produce salt in Changlu, and the quantity must be large enough.
After having the salt, we invited bids from merchants all over the world.
Grain, cloth, farm tools, wood, bricks and tiles... whatever you want, you will have.
Anyway, after the things are delivered, we go to Changlu Salt Farm to collect the salt. After getting the salt, we go to the designated area to sell it.
The current salt law of the Ming Dynasty still continues many of the old systems of the Yuan Dynasty, and the price of salt is not cheap at all.
There was no way. After all, Huaidong had been in the hands of Zhang Shicheng for a long time, and before Fang Guozhen surrendered, the salt in the two Zhejiang provinces did not completely belong to the Ming Dynasty. It had always been a way of exchanging grain for salt.
Now the situation has finally changed, and all coastal salt fields are in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
We worked hard from Changlu to provide a large amount of cheap and high-quality salt to reduce the burden on the people.
The income from salt nourishes the reclamation army, which can develop the north as quickly as possible and defend the land of Yanyun.
By the way, the salt tax in the Ming Dynasty can be increased a little, and collection will be much easier.
If anyone is going to suffer...it is probably the salt merchants who have been here since the Great Yuan Dynasty. Their good days of making money are finally over.
From the cultivation of land to the opening of the Central Plains, the design of the system in the early Ming Dynasty actually had many subtleties.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had already turned around, and behind him were two people, one was Timur and the other was Shen Rulan.
Lao Zhu was very emotional, "I first heard that the imperial court wanted to colonize and guard the border. He planned to donate all the cattle and horses he brought this time. Boss Shen was also willing to donate a batch of silk cloth to make clothes for the soldiers. Although they are businessmen, they
They are all thoughtful people! They did not push or hold back, so they should be rewarded!"
As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, Hu Dahai said: "If you really deserve a reward, just give him some salt!"