As soon as the young master finished talking about this idea, the housekeeper next to him was frightened and turned pale.
"Master, we need to be careful about this matter. If any clues are leaked, we may not be able to hide it anymore."
"We still have several ministers in the court, and the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department is also one of our people. I think this matter can be fooled."
The young master is now thinking of just what may happen. As long as he can fool him this year, it will be fine next year.
This time the salt ship sank, naturally all the salt on it was washed away, so the price of salt in the north will naturally rise. The extra silver can also be given to the managers of the salt factory, so that they can
Set things straight.
This order was quickly passed from the young master's house to Wang Yinggeng.
After Wang Yinggeng got this order, he was so scared that he was scared out of his wits. Although Wang Yinggeng was the young master's money bag, he could be considered a respectable person, but he didn't have the courage to do so.
If this is found out, everyone in the family will have to be executed. This salt is different from other things. The court keeps a close eye on it. Once there is a mistake, it is really difficult to cover it up.
Wang Yinggeng thought about it all afternoon in the study, and finally decided to act according to the young master's plan. The main reason was that it was hard to give up good money. If he wanted to tide over the difficulties, the court's money must not be short, and he did not want to lose his own.
After taking out the old money, I had no choice but to act this way in the end.
So soon Wang Yinggeng visited Li Yingtai again, and then gave Li Yingtai many gifts.
When Li Yingtai saw Wang Yinggeng, he was polite and put down what happened a few days ago.
After Wang Yinggeng saw that Li Yingtai had calmed down, he quickly told him that he had been fooled by lard some time ago, and now he had made up his mind that he would give him all the tax money and the profits of the salt factories.
After hearing this, Li Yingtai looked Wang Yinggeng up and down. On the surface, he was very satisfied and chatted and laughed with Wang Yinggeng.
But after Li Yingtai sent Wang Yinggeng away, he felt that this was very strange. This amount of money was not a small amount. It added up to several million taels.
He, Wang Yinggeng, had previously refused to hand over the money. It must have been a problem with his cash flow, but now he promised to hand over all the money. I'm afraid there was something fishy in this.
So Li Yingtai sent out the salt men under his command, disguised and changed their offices, and went around to inquire about the news. Sure enough, it didn't take long for the salt ship going north to capsize on the canal. Dozens of ships' worth of salt were all destroyed.
Flooding news.
After listening to this, Li Yingtai understood what Wang Yinggeng had planned.
Li Yingtai locked himself in the study, and he was not exhausted all day and night. When he came out again, his eye circles were black and his face was sallow, but his eyes were very bright.
Besides, in the Military Aircraft Department, the first thing they received was that the salt tax was significantly reduced this year. Even the profits of a salt factory were less than two-thirds of previous years.
As the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, Sun Yan has actually received the news a long time ago, but now he feels a little headache after seeing the memorial. This matter must be suppressed in the Military Aircraft Department. If it is handed over to Jia Ke, there will probably be another bloody storm.
.
But this matter is really difficult to handle. The newly appointed Minister of Household Affairs, Tian Hui, turned out to be the Imperial Servant Shaoqing. He had already taken refuge with Jia Ke many years ago. He can be said to be Jia Ke’s hardcore and loyal minister. However, this matter
It happened that he was responsible for the matter. If he didn't give an explanation, Tian Hui would definitely ask to see Jia Ke alone and bring this matter to Jia Ke's face.
When Sun Yan was worried, another memorial was sent to the Military Aircraft Department. It turned out that salt merchants from various places had agreed to make up the tax money, and now the money had entered the bank vaults of each salt factory and was waiting to be escorted by the court.
Sun Yan was relieved at this moment. As long as he had the money, this matter would be nothing. As the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, he could handle such a big matter.
So Sun Yan suppressed the memorial and did not discuss it with everyone in the military aircraft office.
But Sun Yan didn't expect that Jia Ke had clearly seen the cause and effect of this incident.
It turns out that Jia Ke didn't trust this person under Prince Yi Zhong at all, and had already sent people to monitor him closely.
At the same time, Li Yingtai's documents were also quietly sent to the capital. It turned out that Li Yingtai was also a member of the secret guard. Originally, the stewards of the salt factory and the salt merchants did not dare to be so arrogant. The imperial court also wanted local stability, so for Li Yingtai's memorial
thing, I didn’t pay much attention to it.
But this time is different from the past. The salt boat capsized on the canal, which caused the price of salt in the north to rise sharply, and the people were already complaining.
This matter naturally reached Jia Ke's court, and coupled with Li Yingtai's memorial, Jia Ke finally understood what these salt merchants were doing, and they wanted to make up for their losses.
But Jia Ke didn't just let this matter go, because he felt it was very strange.
These salt merchants can be said to be the richest men in the world. They have never been short of money. Why are they so worried about money now?
And this shortfall is not just hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but millions. These taels of silver can be used to do many great things.
Jia Ke paced back and forth in the Yangxin Hall, thinking about what these salt merchants were going to do. Jia Ke didn't believe it if they said it was a rebellion.
These salt merchants are all so proud of themselves, so how can they do such things with their heads tucked around their waists?
"Li Deshan."
Li Deshan, who had been waiting on Jia Ke next to him, heard Jia Ke's greeting and immediately came forward to offer his grandson a favor and asked, "Master, is he calling the slave?"
"The salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River have undergone some changes during this period. Do you know?"
"Returning to the master, the slave has received a small report. Wang Yinggeng is now vigorously developing private salt and rarely buys salt from the salt factory. Therefore, this year's salt tax and the profits of the salt factory cannot be guaranteed. But some time ago, Wang Yingtai
All of this money was suddenly made up again.”
"He is a salt merchant and has good food and clothing every day. Is he so short of money?"
"To return to my master, Wang Yinggeng himself is nothing different from before."
"Then you send your agents out to investigate. I think there must be something ulterior."
After hearing this, Li Deshan quickly agreed that he was not a fool. He also felt a strong sense of conspiracy in this matter.
Speaking of this salt merchant, not to mention that they sell private salt in private, the annual profit from the salt purchased through formal channels is more than 20 million taels. In addition to the millions in taxes, they also pay tribute to the emperor every year.
Of the three to four million taels, the remaining 10 million were divided by salt merchants like them. Everyone in the world may be short of money, but they are the only ones who are never short of money.
When Li Deshan thought of this, he suddenly realized something. This year's salt merchant's filial piety of three to four million taels has not yet been sent to the palace.
In the past, these silver coins naturally went into the emperor's inner treasury, but now they should also be transferred to their master, Prince Yan.
After Li Deshan realized this, he immediately reminded Jia Ke, "Master, every year the salt merchants must pay tribute to the emperor three to four million taels of silver. This year, the silver has not been delivered yet."
When Jia Ke heard about this, he asked, "When did you get this money before?"
"If it comes back to the master, it should be delivered before the Chinese New Year."
After hearing this, Jia Ke sneered on his face, "It seems these salt merchants don't take me seriously."
Li Deshan could see from the side that Jia Ke was very angry, so he stood aside and did not dare to say a word, for fear that Jia Ke would become angry.
"Li Deshan, you sent someone to tell the salt merchants that last year's filial piety was increased to 5 million taels, and they will be sent to the capital within a month. If I don't see the money by then, don't blame me for being rude."
Li Deshan quickly agreed after hearing this.
"Since salt merchants have filial piety, do Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants have filial piety?"
"Master, this slave has never heard of it."
"Since the salt merchants have filial piety, we cannot favor one over the other. You ask Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants to each send me 2 million taels of silver starting from this year."
Li Deshan was a little frightened after hearing this. He didn't understand why Jia Ke wanted so much money every year.
In fact, Jia Ke had some things that he couldn't tell Li Deshan. Jia Ke collected these silver coins not for his own enjoyment, but because he wanted to launch the Northern Expedition in a few years and completely defeat the Tatars.
If Jia Ke wants to realize this wish, then at least he must mobilize nearly a million troops and various civilians. From then on, the money he needs will be gone.
The taxes collected every year are obviously not enough. Now we can collect some silver from these big businessmen and save for several years, and everything will come out.
Jia Ke sat on the dragon chair and thought about it for a while. He felt that he could not let the price of salt in the north rise like this, otherwise, he would probably lose the support of the people.
"Go to the salt factory in the south of the Yangtze River and send an order to the salt factory in the south of the Yangtze River to immediately transport salt to the north to stabilize the price of salt. This time, you don't have to go through the salt merchants. They will be responsible directly. The silver earned from selling the salt will be divided into two parts, one part will be given to the court, and the other part will be sent to the ministry.
I will pay for their hard work.”
After hearing this, Li Deshan nodded quickly. This time, these salt merchants went too far. No wonder their master left them and made his own decision.
And if it succeeds this time, the court and their master can share more money, so why not?
"Go and pass the decree again and tell the salt merchants that this year's annual tax cannot be reduced by a penny. If the court's salt tax is short, then I can only burn everything and replace a new group of salt merchants."
Jia Ke not only cannot reduce the salt tax this year, but also the filial piety he gave to the court has increased a lot. This is also to show the salt merchants and let them know that their arms can't twist the thighs, so be honest with me.
Stay still, otherwise I will replace you all.
Jia Ke then said to Li Deshan: "I think the things behind this are not that simple. For such a big matter, the Military Aircraft Department did not report to me. In the future, your people will also be a little sad about these memorials, otherwise I
I am really going to be made deaf and blind by these big men."
Li Deshan listened and nodded quickly: "Master, today I will replace all the eunuchs in the military aircraft department with secret guards."
"From now on, you secret guards will make a copy of all memorials issued by the Military Aircraft Department. This will save me from being deceived by these people."
Li Deshan agreed immediately after hearing this. He was inexplicably surprised. How much more powerful did he have now?