The salt tax, the most important source of revenue for the state treasury, is falling step by step every year, and it is still falling by millions, which is unbearable today.
It has dropped by more than two million taels in two years, and the national treasury has naturally been greatly affected.
Now he was furious, and the two successive salt inspectors of Yangzhou met with great misfortune. They were all demoted to the smoky land of southern Xinjiang to live with snakes and insects.
Or to put it another way, there is no harm if there is no comparison.
When Lin Ruhai was in office, the minimum salt tax was more than 10 million taels. He was definitely a rare capable official.
Nowadays, I feel regretful that I should not have asked Lin Ruhai to leave Yangzhou.
If Lin Ruhai were still serving as the Yangzhou Salt Patrol Censor, the treasury revenue would increase by millions of taels every year, and how much could be done.
Of course, I'm just thinking about it now.
Even with what Lin Ruhai did before he took office, he couldn't possibly let this guy stay in Yangzhou to die.
After all, he was a capable minister and official. If he really died in Yangzhou, it would have a great impact on his current reputation.
But right now, if I really want to boost the treasury revenue, I might as well think about it. Is it possible to try the sea salt method that Lin Ruhai tinkered with?
Coincidentally, there is a large salt field in Jinmen, not far from the capital.
By the way, what Jia Rong is interested in is also Jinmen.
As an important node for water transportation in the north, Jinmen only developed in the early Ming Dynasty.
At this time, Jinmen was just a prosperous town that developed through water transportation.
Anyone who has traveled through later generations will know how great the development potential of Jinmen is. In terms of economic scale alone, it can be compared to the existence of the capital city.
Through a simple investigation, Jia Rong discovered a very interesting thing.
That is, Jinmen, which could originally serve as the maritime gateway of the capital city, is now lackluster in terms of maritime transportation.
You must know that during the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, Jinmen was an important gateway for the transportation of grain from the south to the north, and once replaced the role of water transportation.
During the short Ming Dynasty, as the court paid more attention to water transportation, the role of Jinmen as a shipping node was greatly restricted, but it was still a relatively important northern port.
At least during the Ming Dynasty in the world of Red Mansions, shipping was never interrupted.
Daqian continued the Ming system and also attached great importance to water transportation, but sea transportation was not interrupted.
But as far as Jia Rong's investigation knows, Tianjin's shipping volume has shrunk to a certain extent, which is completely inconsistent with its status as the seaside gateway to the capital city.
Later, after detailed investigation, I realized the reason was that it was based on interests.
As an important node for water transportation in the north, Tianjin’s interests are naturally deeply bound to water transportation.
The officials who are stationed here, as well as the common people and merchants, etc., basically rely on water transportation for food, and naturally they will not welcome sea transportation that may shake the status of water transportation.
Under the double-layered suppression by the government and the people, Tianjin’s maritime transportation gradually shrank, even to the point of being very inconspicuous.
It really makes people sigh, how prosperous Jinmen is in memory?
Speaking of Daqian maritime trade, the short-lived Ming Dynasty system has never been interrupted.
In the Ming Dynasty in the world of Red Mansions, during the Tumubao Incident, there was no Yu Shaobao who could turn the tide. The capital was captured by the Oara Mongols, and the entire country collapsed completely.
At that time, the Ming Dynasty did not implement the so-called sea ban policy because of the Japanese rebellion.
During the hundreds of years of war that followed, foreign maritime trade was never cut off.
When Taizu of Daqian unified the Central Plains and completely ended the troubled times, it was naturally even less likely to take the initiative to ban maritime trade.
It's just that as everyone knows, the majority of maritime trade has always been in the hands of the wealthy families on the southeast coast, so the imperial court did not reap much dividends.
The Daqian court's attitude towards maritime trade was completely dispensable, neither paying attention to it nor deliberately suppressing it.
Of course, anyone who understands the entanglement of interests knows the huge profits of maritime trade.
The Wang family, one of the four major families in Jinling, was in charge of the Shipping Department on the southeast coast during the founding of Daqian. It was responsible for handling the trade affairs of foreign vassals and made a lot of money.
The East China Sea lacks a white jade bed, so the Dragon King comes to find King Jinling!
Listen, this is the state of the Jinling royal family in its most prosperous and affluent period.
It depends on the benefits of sea trade!
Unfortunately, with the death of the first-generation head of the Wang family, his authority was also taken away by the wealthy maritime trading families on the southeast coast, and the Wang family's momentum slowly declined.
Otherwise, if the Wang family is still so rich, just using silver to smash Prince Teng to the third level or above.
Don't listen to Wang Xifeng bragging about how rich the Wang family is. That's because his ancestors were rich, but it doesn't mean that the Wang family is still so rich at this time.
But despite this, according to the information that Jia Rong has found, there are still close ties between the Jinling royal family and the wealthy families on the southeast coast.
It is estimated that tens of thousands of silver dollars can be obtained from this every year.
Jia Rong had some calculations in mind, wondering if he could use some means to completely bring Jinmen, which was still inconspicuous at this time, under his control.
The resources held by the four major families in Jinling at this time are quite astonishing.
If it can be integrated well and utilized properly, it will not be difficult to make Jinmen take off completely.
Of course, I have such an idea in my mind, but I have no action plan yet.
It is not that simple to completely control Jinmen.
To be blunt, after all, it is the ocean gateway to the capital and an important node for water transportation in the north, and the interests involved are not trivial.
If you want to settle things, the right time and right place are indispensable.
As for human harmony, Jia Rong is confident that it will not be difficult to create it on his own through the power of the four major families in Jinling.
Or to put it another way, sometimes luck comes and you can't stop it.
Here, Jia Rong just had an idea in his mind, and there was news in the palace over there that Lin Ruhai was now intended to go to Jinmen to take charge of the local salt farm affairs.
This kind of news is really confusing.
Lin Ruhai was now the dignified chief envoy of Jin Province, a second-rank official in the border areas!
As for the manager of Jinmen Salt Farm, he is not even a fourth-grade manager. How could Lin Ruhai take up a position in the salt farm? That's not the joke.
If you plan to have a high-level job and a low-level job now, that would not be a good thing. Will Lin Ruhai do it willingly?
Some beings, wishing Lin Ruhai was unlucky, secretly added fuel to the flames and spread some specious rumors. For a while, people didn't know whether to believe it or not?
Even the Rong Mansion, after hearing the rumors, didn't know what was going on.
For this reason, the old lady specially called Jia Rong to discuss it, but naturally nothing could be discussed in the end.
However, it can be clearly felt that the attitude of the entire Rong family towards Jia Min is a little more cold and distant.
Damn, do you want to be so snobbish?
Before they even figured out what was going on, everyone in the Rong Mansion looked down on Lin Ruhai, which was simply baffling.
According to Qin Keqing's story, Jia Min was so angry that she didn't even go to Rong Mansion very much recently...