() The Salt Administration Meeting was held in Wenhua Hall.
Emperor Chongzhen is sitting at the top. On the left are the cabinet members, with Wen Tiren at the head. On the right is the Supervisor of Ceremonies who has been busy making soy sauce. He also participated in the meeting this time, with Cao Huachun at the head. The six ministers are on both sides, and finally the Salt Envoy
The department's Du Zhuan Envoy and Zhuan Tongzhi, as well as Yan Ke Ti Ji and Tong Ti Ji. There was also another person, Zhang Tongchang, who was from Zhongshushe.
It was basically the first time for the Yanzheng people to participate in such a high-level political meeting in the Forbidden City, and they were both frightened and a little excited.
Zhong Jinwei stood in front of Cao Huachun, still thinking about the completed bank sketch and whether there was anything else that needed to be added. For this salt policy meeting, he was just an observer, not the protagonist. The protagonist was the Minister of Household Affairs.
At the beginning of the meeting, Emperor Chongzhen made an opening statement: "Continuous wars have caused the treasury to be in deficit every year. Natural disasters continue, and land taxes and commercial taxes are often in arrears. But the war is still going on, and some frontier troops have not been paid for several months; in the northwest
There was a drought, hungry people were crying for food, and there were even murderous rebellions. The situation in the Ming Dynasty was not optimistic."
"The ministers and ministers are guilty of making the king and father worry." Under the leadership of the chief minister of the cabinet, everyone apologized.
Zhong Jinwei didn't have the tacit understanding they had, so he didn't follow them and stood awkwardly.
Emperor Chongzhen automatically ignored Zhong Jinwei and looked at the many ministers below, wondering how many of them were sincerely asking for forgiveness.
He didn't care and continued: "The imperial court is in urgent need of money. The national treasury revenue now mainly relies on the salt and iron monopoly. However, the income in recent years has not satisfied me. After discussing with Uncle Zhongxing, the chief minister of the cabinet and the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, we came up with today's plan."
ri's discussion, determined to reform the salt policy."
Even though Emperor Chongzhen didn't mention this, everyone knows that if we weren't discussing the salt policy today, we wouldn't have summoned all the people related to the salt policy here.
Zhang Tongchang was a little confused on the side, why was he invited to hear about the salt administration? His responsibilities did not seem to involve the salt administration.
"Bi Qing, please come and explain the details of the salt policy reform to your ministers and ministers." Emperor Chongzhen named the Minister of Hubu to explain to others.
Zhou Yanru, the assistant minister of the cabinet, immediately glanced at the Minister of Hubu, secretly regretting that he had forgotten the Minister of Hubu. He was directly in charge of the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty. If there were any changes in the salt administration, he would definitely not be able to bypass him. There would definitely be some changes in advance.
Ventilation. If you had asked Bi Ziyan yesterday, you might have gotten the news first.
Everyone in the Wenhua Hall looked at Bi Ziyan, who had left work, to see what he would say.
Bi Ziyan first bowed to Emperor Chongzhen, then looked around at the group of officials and said: "The New Salt Policy abolishes the current implementation of the Outline Law, restarts the Food Opening Law, and delivers food to the disaster-stricken areas of the capital, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and the locations of the border armies.
, in exchange for salt."
As soon as Bi Ziyan said this, he was interrupted by Zhou Yanru. He went out to accuse Bi Ziyan: "The method of opening the middle of the grain has been proved to be ineffective. The salt policy was changed to the method of opening the middle of the silver liang during the Hongzhi period, and then to
The current outline of laws is improved on the basis of the predecessors. Who is so ridiculous to mention the laws that have been eliminated? This is to miss the important affairs of the imperial court."
When Zhou Yanru said this, he bowed to Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, you absolutely must not do this!"
Emperor Chongzhen looked at the excited Zhou Yanru, frowned and asked, "What should I do according to your opinion?"
"Still using the current outline law, we can increase the proportion of salt tax to support the court's expenses." Zhou Yanru immediately threw out the bottom line he had obtained. He did not expect that the new salt policy would directly abolish the outline law. He thought it was just an increase in the outline.
Modifications are made on the basis of the law.
"Collecting more salt taxes can be used for military expenditures and disaster relief?" Emperor Chongzhen heard that he had no better idea, so he asked directly about the key issue.
"..." Zhou Yanru was speechless. No matter how much salt tax was collected, it was impossible to make up for the gap in military spending and disaster relief.
Emperor Chongzhen saw Zhou Yanru stunned and ignored him. He directly announced: "I have decided to use the new salt policy mentioned by Bi Qing. There is no doubt about this. Bi Qing, please put the remaining measures together."
After speaking, the ministers will discuss it again."
Those local officials who only care about the salt policy are just listening to the excitement. No matter how the salt policy changes, they can't get it out of their hands.
"The current shortcoming of the salt policy is that the salt output cannot meet the needs of salt exchange. Therefore, salt output must be increased, and salt must be refined."
As soon as Bi Ziyan said these words, there was a buzz in the hall, especially the transfer envoys and the lifters, who were whispering to each other and complaining.
Cao Huachun has been depressed since the last incident, being thrown into today's useless Yamen. Now seeing the discussion in the palace, he couldn't be quiet. He secretly looked up at Emperor Chongzhen's face, grasped the emperor's mentality, and then turned around
He shouted to the civil servants who were talking about each other: "Be quiet, talk about something when you have something to say, and share the emperor's worries. Don't whisper to each other in private, it is inappropriate."
Before the Chongzhen period, the Si Li Supervisor was a very prestigious place. The eunuchs and eunuchs of the Si Li Supervisor were said to be the third-level officials. Although the Chongzhen Dynasty was reduced to a soy sauce yamen because of the emperor's diligence, the remaining prestige was still there.
When Cao Huachun drank like this, the Wenhua Hall became quiet.
Emperor Chongzhen was above, seeing all this, and nodded slightly to Cao Huachun's actions.
When Bi Ziyan saw that he had calmed down, he continued: "The salt transportation department and the salt class promotion department in each capital can adopt the method of motivating salt workers and set up graded rewards..."
Zhou Yanru had retreated to his original position, and only Bi Ziyan stood in the middle. He was introducing the previously agreed method of increasing salt production, and the Wenhua Hall seemed to have become his own stage.
While Zhou Yanru listened, he found flaws and wanted to refute this new policy.
But those who were specifically responsible for the salt administration were listening nervously and felt very stressed.
After a while, after Bi Ziyan finished speaking, he turned to his subordinates who were specifically responsible for the salt administration and asked them: "Did you hear clearly? If you have any questions, ask questions immediately."
In fact, this incentive method is very simple and not particularly complicated. So, for a while, no one had any doubts.
These people did not ask questions, but Zhou Yanru came out again and said: "Your Majesty, the increase in salt production will definitely lead to lower salt prices. With the increase in grain expenditure, the salt tax and silver collected by the court will be greatly reduced. Your Majesty, this method is not advisable.
ah!"
Emperor Chongzhen was a little strange. He had never seen Zhou Yanru speak so actively during normal discussions. Not long after the salt policy discussion started, Zhou Yanru spoke several times, and he still opposed the salt law reform.
The other people in the Wenhua Palace do not have as big a stake in the salt politics as Zhou Yanru. Now seeing Zhou Yanru jumping up and down, he is happy to watch the excitement on the side and wait until he sees the situation clearly.
Wen Tiren did not speak from the beginning to the end. He was as present as Zhong Jinwei. The reactions of these people were taken into consideration during their discussions. If there were any questions, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance would answer them one by one, so there was no need for them to speak out.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to explain to Zhou Yanru himself, so he looked at Bi Ziyan.
Bi Ziyan was already watching Emperor Chongzhen's reaction to Zhou Yanru. Now seeing his signal, he said to Zhou Yanru: "This is wrong. Please listen to my explanation."
The focus in the hall suddenly returned to Bi Ziyan. He told him what Zhong Jinwei had said before. Understanding these contents requires a little mental twist. But in the Ming Dynasty, no one who could study and become an official was a fool.
, I quickly figured out the benefits of lowering salt prices.
There are ministers who sincerely serve the people, and they secretly feel wonderful in their hearts. There are also ministers who feel it is a pity, and as a result, they will get a lot less slaps.
Zhou Yanru was even more anxious. He knew how the big salt dealers behind him made money. If the new salt policy was implemented in this way, it would not only increase competitors, but also lower the price of salt. From now on, official salt would be mixed with private salt.
There won't be much profit. I'm afraid they are the ones suffering the biggest losses.
But he has no choice but to say clearly that my big boss will suffer heavy losses and you can't do this. If you say this, you are looking for death.
After Emperor Chongzhen saw what Ziyan had said, no one raised any objections, so he said to Cao Huachun: "Send a copy of the Dongchang report to all the ministers and workers."
Cao Huachun agreed, and then asked the eunuchs under him to start distributing a copy of the information. Everyone got a copy, and everyone got a lot.
Emperor Chongzhen also instructed Bi Ziyan to send a copy of the report from the Ministry of Revenue to everyone.
Everyone got two reports with the same content, but the numbers were slightly different. While comparing the reports, the ministers in the palace were thinking that the emperor was well prepared this time, and it seemed that he was bound to win.
, this new salt policy must be implemented, but fortunately I did not jump out to oppose it.