() At this time, the sky had completely darkened. Wang Chengen consciously lit up the lights in the hall without letting anyone else interfere.
Zhong Jinwei did not wait for Wang Chengen. He chuckled and said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, I have said before that it is to use market means and lower the price of official salt."
Wang Chengen heard on the side and couldn't help but said to Zhong Jinwei: "Uncle Zhongxing, you may not know that after Yuan Shizhen reformed the salt policy, all the salt industry in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River has been run by merchants, that is, it is no longer sold by the government. What Uncle Zhongxing means is
Let those merchants forcefully lower prices?"
Emperor Chongzhen continued from above: "I think it's okay. They are so rich that it would be a good thing to let them lower their prices and give some profits to the people of Ming Dynasty."
Zhong Jinwei shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, it is not good to force prices down. They will definitely not be willing to reduce profits and will definitely come up with other tricks to earn back profits. As long as their monopoly position remains unchanged, this phenomenon will not change.
"
"Does Master Zhong mean that the imperial court also wants to sell salt to break the monopoly?" Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to ask Zhong Jinwei for advice.
"This is not good. It is better for the court to be the referee and the rule maker, and let the merchants sell it. According to the usual practice, is there any way to increase the number of merchants selling salt?" Zhong Jinwei first rejected Emperor Chongzhen's idea, and then asked another question
The problem is that he didn't know much about the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Chongzhen looked at Wang Chengen with his eyes. Wang Chengen knew that the emperor asked him to speak, so he replied to Zhong Jinwei: "In addition to the normal channels, the imperial court also used the Kaizhong method, which was divided into two stages.
Before Xiaozong's reign, grain was exchanged for salt; after Xiaozong's reign, Ye Qi became the Minister of Household Affairs and changed the old system to merchants using silver instead of rice."
Wang Chengen briefly explained the unique Kaizhong system of the Ming Dynasty.
"Why should it be divided into two stages? Wouldn't it be good to exchange grain for salt?" After hearing what Wang Chengen said, Zhong Jinwei also thought of the Kaizhong method, but he only knew a little about it and didn't understand the evolution.
"Because grain is transported to the required place in exchange for salt, the salt exchanged may not be exchanged for salt, and people often have to wait in line. People who transport grain cannot afford to wait and often lose money, so this method is gradually becoming less popular.
To transport grain, they had no choice but to let them buy salt directly with silver. After the court received the silver, it would allocate the land needed to buy grain by itself." Wang Chengen explained carefully.
"I'm dizzy, how did you come up with this trick? These people are all mentally ill." Zhong Jinwei felt a little unimaginable at the behavior of these Mingren.
"Master Zhong, why did you say this?" Emperor Chongzhen asked in confusion.
"Your Majesty, I am sure that Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue, must be an agent of the salt merchant. Where is he from?" Zhong Jinwei turned around and asked Wang Chengen a question.
"Shanyang people." Wang Chengen replied.
"Sanyang? I've never heard of it. Is it from Lianghuai?"
"Yes, in northern Jiangsu and eastern Jianghuai Plain."
"That's it. He is working for the welfare of the people in his hometown. He has a very bad conscience." Perhaps because he has watched too many anti-Japanese TV dramas, Zhong Jinwei accidentally used a line from the Japanese.
Emperor Chongzhen had already asked a lot of questions and didn't want to speak anymore. He motioned with his eyes to Zhong Jinwei to explain.
"Your Majesty, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue changed his method just because of the backlog of salt. This method is obviously problematic. He could have increased the production of salt to absorb the salt, but he did not do so. Instead, he converted it into cash and bought it directly.
.This is actually not good for the court at all, but it is good for them as officials and the salt merchants."
"What are the benefits?" Wang Chengen took the initiative to take over the role of cooperating with Zhong Jinwei and asked Zhong Jinwei.
"First, salt merchants eliminate the uncontrollable risks of collecting and transporting grain and can directly buy it with salt, allowing them to save costs."
"Secondly, after the grain is turned into silver, the relevant officials can be greedy, and everyone will benefit."
"Thirdly, after the imperial court receives the silver, when it allocates it to the areas needed to buy grain, the relevant officials can spend a little more."
"Fourth, after the silver taels arrive where they are needed, how much silver taels will be used to buy grain is another question."
Zhong Jinwei finally concluded: "So, it seems that the national treasury has more silver, but in fact, it is very unwise for the court to exchange silver for grain."
Emperor Chongzhen was shocked by Zhong Jinwei's analysis. In this way, the salt merchants and the officials he contacted were benefited. In the end, the people, or the army and the court were taken advantage of. No wonder those officials all praised this innovation.
"Master Zhong, tell me what you think quickly, I can't wait any longer." Emperor Chongzhen's eyes were glowing red, as if staring at a gold mine that was about to be mined with anticipation.
"Your Majesty, after listening to the words of the prince, I have a more specific idea. Please tell me and let Your Majesty see if it is reasonable." Zhong Jinwei said modestly.
"Master Zhong, if you delay any longer, I will deduct your salary." Emperor Chongzhen pretended to scare Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei chuckled and said, "Your Majesty, please don't. I am also a poor man like Your Majesty. I only have a few hundred taels of silver on hand." When he said this, he thought that he should also think of some way to make a little money.
idea.
However, he did not dare to let Emperor Chongzhen wait too long, and said directly: "Your Majesty, I think that increasing the production of salt, re-introducing the Kaizhong method of exchanging things for salt, and setting the price lower will make it profitable for merchants. By the way,
If there is war in the Northeast or disaster in the Northwest, let merchants transport grain to these places and exchange it for low-priced salt. We should allow small-capital merchants to exchange grain for salt. This degree can be measured in detail. Anyway, it is to break the current situation.
The big salt merchants will have a monopoly. Of course, the price cannot be relaxed all at once. The current salt sales pattern must be slowly impacted until there is no room for private salt.”
"Uncle Zhongxing, you may not know that Zao households are often on the run now, and the salt level cannot be increased." Wang Chengen glanced at Emperor Chongzhen secretly, and seeing that he didn't have any intention of blaming him for what he said, he added: "Explain from Shanxi
Take Yanchi Prefecture as an example. At its peak, Yanding had more than 20,000 people, but now there are only about 400 people."
Emperor Chongzhen knew something about the situation. Not only Zao households were fleeing, but also military households and civilian households were experiencing this phenomenon. However, he did not expect that the situation of fleeing was so serious that he couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Unexpectedly, Zhong Jinwei laughed and said: "It doesn't matter, they will definitely not survive if they flee. As long as we change the policy, not only let them survive, but also make them rich. See if they still escape, then they will all
Everyone is vying to be the salt man."
"Master Zhong, please speak quickly." After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly ordered Zhong Jinwei to speak quickly.
"It is to mobilize the enthusiasm for the production of salt cubes. It does not matter how the salt cubes are made, as long as the salt is handed over. The court can stipulate how much basic salt the salt cubers must hand in a day. After handing over this salt, the salt handed over again,
You can exchange for extra rewards. The more you pay, the more rewards you get. And whoever pays good salt will be rewarded with a sum of silver, and then teach that person's method of making salt to others, so that the quality will also increase. Salt dices
The more you do, the more you do well, the more rewards you get, and the more you earn. The court no longer has to worry about output and quality."
Emperor Chongzhen listened to Zhong Jinwei's words, thought about it carefully for a while, and couldn't help but said: "It is indeed a good method." In fact, part of the reason why salt diced fled was that the imperial court prescribed the method of making salt from diced salt, such as making sea salt.
Be sure to make the diced salt by boiling salt in order to control the output and prevent the diced salt from hiding any private salt.
"Of course, Your Majesty, before you do anything, I'm afraid you have to rectify the people in the current salt administration. Otherwise, good things will turn into bad things." Zhong Jinwei said this, looked at Wang Chengen, and then said: "Fortunately, now
The factory guards have all returned to work. Your Majesty will send capable people to rectify the salt administration while letting Dongchang and Jinyiwei supervise respectively. It should be better this way."
"Okay, I know that if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools." Emperor Chongzhen quickly expressed his stance.
But Zhong Jinwei was still talking about the benefits: "Your Majesty, after the salt price comes down, not only will there be no room for private salt operations, but after the production increases, the annual salt tax will generate a lot of revenue, and the salt price will account for a large share of the people's living costs.
The proportion is greatly reduced, and you can free up money to buy other things to improve your life, such as buying some meat and making some clothes. These are all your majesty's virtuous policies! In my world, clothes are worn casually, and older ones are thrown away and no one wants them.
But like now, there are not many old clothes that can be donated in charity donations."
"What, ordinary people can have so many clothes? The clothes in your world are so worthless?" Emperor Chongzhen and Wang Chengen were a little unconvinced when they heard this.