The emperor waved his hand and said: "The wealth of the people is the wealth of the country."
He thought very broadly, "The people have money. When disaster strikes, even if the treasury doesn't help them, they can help themselves. It has the same effect as putting money in the treasury and then using it for the people, so don't worry about salt."
The price is too low, at worst I won’t charge the salt tax.”
The emperor has said so, what else can others say?
They all knelt down and saluted: "Your Majesty is wise."
Kong Jijiu raised his head slightly and looked at the prince diagonally opposite him. Seeing that there was no dissatisfaction on his face, he nodded slightly in his heart, feeling more satisfied with him.
After all, Bai Shan was also the prince's companion, and he was the first to agree to the salt policy reform.
Kong Jijiu raised the corners of his mouth slightly, feeling that the prince finally had the magnanimity and mind to be a king.
Since the emperor doesn't even care about taxes, then...
Mr. Old Tang suggested impatiently: "How about specializing in salt and iron?"
He said: "Establishing a Salt Transportation Department to be responsible for operating official salt? In this way, the state treasury can not only make profits, but also control the price of salt and let the benefits go to the people. Isn't it better than letting businessmen make another layer of profits?"
Liu Shangshu perked up and nodded, "Your Majesty, I think this is a good idea."
Wei Zhi frowned. He didn't want to set up a salt transportation department. He wanted to hand it over to merchants. Merchants were looking for profits. They knew how to save costs better than the yamen. And as the emperor said, the wealth of the country is not as rich as the people, and merchants also belong to the people.
ah.
Wei Zhi had no prejudice against Shang and was even willing to strongly support their development.
Mr. Old Tang is just the opposite. He believes that many evils in the world are caused by profit, and merchants are the most profit-seeking. Although Mr. Wei said that he would ask the government to keep the price of salt down, Mr. Old Tang still doesn't believe in the moral character of merchants.
The two of them each explained their respective views and the advantages and disadvantages of their insistence, and then looked at the emperor and others, waiting for them to make up their minds.
The emperor pondered and said, "What do you dear ladies think?"
Kong Jijiu said: "Let's just calculate the money. If we sell salt and iron exclusively, what is the selling price we can offer now? After all costs are removed, how much money can be put into the warehouse? If it is given to merchants, what selling price can they accept?
Will prices increase significantly in the future, and what part of the money do they make?"
They must ensure that merchants earn enough profits from salt, otherwise this policy will definitely not be able to continue, and in the end they will still find ways to make up for it from other places, which they will never allow.
The prince sat aside and was slightly distracted, choosing one of the two. In other words, they all agreed to reform the salt policy, but they were not yet sure how to change it.
The prince raised his lips and felt that Jiangnan's matter was almost certain.
Sure enough, at the Xiaochao meeting the next day, Wei Zhi brought up the salt policy reform again, but there were very few opponents, and some people were panicked.
Before they could find out the news, the emperor convened a meeting of hundreds of officials and mentioned the establishment of salt transportation departments in various places to monopolize official salt.
All the officials were shocked and confused for a moment. They did not expect that the salt policy reform would be so big. Before they could come back to their senses to discuss it, the emperor asked someone to bring out a pile of notes and said with a sullen face: "This is the impeachment of Jiangnan salt policy from various places."
The fold."
"Salt is related to people's livelihood. As a result, the Jiangnan Saltworks was not prepared last year. This year, the official salt of each county should be temporarily broken..." The emperor has been suppressing the impeachment of Jiangnan officialdom and salt politics for some time, and now he has taken it.
He came out and asked Gu Zhong to take out the zhezi and read them one by one. All the officials sitting there were sweating.
Even Mr. Tang, who was not very involved, felt frightened and sat motionless in his seat with his head lowered.
But the emperor named him.
Mr. Tang's heart froze. He paused for a moment before standing up from his seat, walking out of the queue and bowing: "I'm here."
The emperor said solemnly: "Go to the south of the Yangtze River again, find out why the Jiangnan Saltworks failed in their duties, and escort all the prisoners back to the capital. Attend the Ministry of Punishment, the Assistant Manager of Dali Temple and Yushitai."
The bosses of the Ministry of Punishment and the Yushitai of Dali Temple came out and bowed in response.
The emperor then stood up, flicked his sleeves and left.
Gu Zhong hurriedly shouted "Retreat from the court" and hurriedly chased the emperor.
As soon as the court meeting ended, all kinds of news flew out of the capital in all directions.
The salt policy reform is a major event, and the Jiangnan earthquake is no small matter. Neither of them is small.
Even Lord Tang and Mr. Zhuang hurriedly wrote letters to Bai Shan and Zhou Man, telling them the news in the capital and urging them to pay attention to safety.
Master Tang realized after writing that he and Yang Heshu seemed to be the most dangerous now, especially Yang Heshu.
Mr. Tang hurriedly finished the letter, handed it to his servants to send out, and then hurried to Yang's house.
Marquis Yang had just sent the letter out. When he heard the concierge say that Tang He was here, he gritted his teeth and said, "Invite him in quickly."
Although he and his son had political disagreements, he was old and the Yang family would eventually hand it over to Yang Heshu. And looking at today's general situation, his choice was undoubtedly the right one.
So he had to try his best to save his son first.
Marquis Yang let Tang He in, and the two of them stayed in the study room to discuss for a long time. Finally, when Tang He left, he took away the long attendant beside Marquis Yang.
At this time, Bai Shan, who still knew nothing, was sitting in the lobby of the county government office, looking at the people kneeling below. He patted the gavel and asked, "Do you still want the county to judge you sentence by sentence?"
The two kneeling men shook their bodies and kowtowed repeatedly: "Sir, I know I made a mistake in this lowly position. Please forgive me, and we will not dare to do it again in the future."
Bai Shan turned the gavel around and asked, "Tell me in detail what you have committed?"
The two of them lowered their heads and didn't speak for a while. They glanced at each other quietly, and finally the person kneeling on the left said: "We shouldn't be drunk and reveal the secrets of the county government."
"That's right, but we didn't mean to do it," said the one on the right: "We were drunk by those businessmen at that time. We drank too much, and we talked nonsense and went out."
Bai Shan raised his eyelids and looked at them, "Does this county seem so easy to fool? How do you know that the county's finances are empty?"
"We occasionally heard Fang Xiancheng talk to you."
Bai Shan turned to look at Daji who was standing not far away.
Daji looked at their faces carefully and then shook his head and said, "Unless their ears are better than mine, they can't hear."
Although Bai Shan was worried about money, he rarely mentioned it to his subordinates. After all, he wanted to appease people, right?
Fangxian Cheng was also his subordinate.
So Bai Shan didn't mention this matter to him face to face many times. Every time Daji was there, because it was a secret, they would pay attention to it every time. Even if they didn't find a hidden place, at least they wouldn't mention it casually.
, so that anyone can listen.
Bai Shan stared at them for a long time, and saw that although they were trembling with cold sweat on their faces, they were biting to death because they heard it accidentally and did not intend to pry...
Bai Shan summoned a government official and said, "Ask Lieutenant Dong County to check the people they have come into contact with in the past three months, especially people from other places. By the way, check to see if there have been many people in their homes recently."