Wang Fuzhi also met and had dinner with Du Yinxi who came to Beijing yesterday. He mentioned that the income of the imperial court was very high this year. Tens of millions of silver dollars were sold by selling land at various prices across the country. He also collected salt taxes and made tens of millions of dollars from selling salt and smuggling salt.
Silver dollar.
When he heard it, he was so shocked that he couldn't believe it.
Not to mention selling the land for tens of millions, but how can we say that this salt can actually earn tens of millions of dollars?
The salt tax revenue in the Two Song Dynasties was extremely high, but the price of salt in the Two Song Dynasties was so high, a pound of salt cost several hundred pennies.
In the Ming Dynasty, it only sells a few or more than a dozen coins, and the highest price does not exceed 20 coins. Sichuan mainly sells well salt and mine salt, and also imports some Qinghai salt, Huai salt, etc. to supplement it. The price of salt is only around 20 coins. Guizhou also sells salt for a few coins.
Almost like this, the price of salt is one-tenth of what it used to be.
Du Yinxi said that he didn't believe it at first, but this was already public data.
The main reason is because it sells a lot. Now the Ming Dynasty controls almost all the salt fields across the country. Its salt production is very high. There are very few private salts now, so even though the price of salt is cheap, it still makes money by collecting taxes, selling salt and smuggling it.
many.
Du Yinxi also said that after the country is liberated, this income may decrease, because the proportion of salt smuggled by the imperial government to the North is not small.
But in the future, it is very possible that the amount will reach seven to eight million silver dollars a year, or even tens of millions.
Du Yinxi also said that this was the emperor's kindness and consideration for the people. He said that salt and grain were necessary things for the people and were indispensable for a day, so the price should not be too high. Otherwise, if the people could not even afford the salt, the court would levy 20 million yuan.
The salt tax of 30 million has also lost the support of the people.
The emperor's attitude is still very resolute. In fact, special operations against smuggled salt have not stopped in various places this year. Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and even the imperial police's detective station are working together and showing no mercy to those smuggled.
For those who smuggled less than one stone of salt, they were only fined 10 yuan for smuggling. But for those who smuggled more than one stone, their homes were directly confiscated. For those who smuggled more than ten stones, the smugglers were executed and their families were all exiled to Taiwan.
There are also severe penalties for those who increase prices arbitrarily and adulterate.
The original official salt merchants have all fallen from the altar and can no longer make a fortune. If they want to continue in this business, they can only compete with everyone and no longer have a monopoly.
Some salt merchants also tried to bribe officials according to the old rules and engage in unfair competition. As a result, they were found out, and more than a dozen big salt merchants were killed, hundreds of them were confiscated, and thousands of them were exiled. They also followed the lead and arrested a group of corrupt officials.
The crime shall be punished with an additional first degree.
The emperor robbed these salt merchants and officials and made tens of millions of taels of silver.
Taiwan has newly established three prefectures, and there is still a huge shortage of people to clear the wasteland and garrison them. Not to mention that the imperial court is in great need of military expenses to raise troops and fight wars. Who is going to hit the gun at this time? How can we be polite to them?
Du Yinxi also talked to him during dinner yesterday about the imperial court's plan to increase financial sharing for the local governments. The land tax, the local six, the imperial court's four, and several other taxes are all shared by the central government, the four local governments, and the six local governments.
Although items such as salt, tobacco, tea, wine, sugar, ginseng, mineral resources, gold, and tariffs all belong to the central government, local governments were able to increase tax revenue by at least 20 million yuan last year, which is almost several times what the local governments retained during the Chongzhen period.
There are no additional charges, no additional taxes, and all kinds of extra charges. It’s all more money and food than what I used to try my best to get.
When the Tang Dynasty collected the salt tax, the price of a pound of salt was ten cents, and the tax was increased by a hundred cents, which was ten times the price of salt. However, in the Song Dynasty, the price of salt was even more extreme. A pound of salt cost more than a hundred cents, and the price of salt became two cents.
It accounted for a huge proportion of the Song Dynasty's national revenue.
In the Ming Dynasty, various salt laws were implemented, but the salt could not be harvested. The common people ate private salt, which only enriched a group of salt merchants and corrupt officials.
But now, the imperial court has relaxed the rules on everyone from salt cooking households to salt merchants and salt dealers. Instead, the salt policy has been established and the income has increased.
This had to make Wang Fuzhi sigh, how could Shaotian Dynasty do this with the same sun and moon flag?
Even the officials of the Shaotian Dynasty and the Chongzhen Dynasty were still the same group of people, such as Ruan Dacheng, Ma Shiying, Yang Wencong, Liu Kong, Zhao, and Zhu Dadian. They used to be called corrupt officials and traitorous officials. How come they are all capable officials and officials now?
But as Wang Fuzhi walked from Huguang through Jiangxi and Anhui to Jiangsu and Shandong, he truly felt that the world was different, and the atmosphere of the Tokyo court was completely different.
Even Qian Qianyi, Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozong, and Qi Biaojia, who were members of the Donglin Party in the past, now seem to have no intention of fighting to eradicate the traitors.
It is said that Zhu Dadian, who was once a famous corrupt official, is now famous for being incorruptible. Even when he went to the Prime Minister's Office to discuss matters, he brought his own tea, ate in the canteen, and even took the initiative to pay for it.
Du Yinxi even said that this time when the envoys from various places came to Beijing to do business in various yamen, they had to pay for meals and tea by themselves, which was not much. A simple meal with four dishes and one soup was not enough.
It only costs a few tens of pennies, and the tea fee is only ten yuan. But I have never experienced this kind of thing where I have to pay for meals and tea out of my own pocket.
Even the governors and governors have to pay for it.
It’s not that the yamen in Beijing can’t afford a meal and a cup of tea, but it’s just that they should try to be frugal and avoid eating and drinking at public expense, which is wasteful and extravagant.
This thing is very new, but when I look back and think about it carefully, I feel that it is a good start.
After all, the capital's ministries and yamen are like this. When these governors and governors return to the provinces, they must also pay attention to this aspect, and they will not dare to mess around with entertainment at public expense in the future.
He did not believe that the court was stingy.
Because officials from all over the country came to Beijing for the imperial gathering, the imperial court gave them an extra sum of imperial gathering money, which was equivalent to the expenses of traveling to Beijing, meals, accommodation, and was reimbursed, but there were standards for reimbursement.
There are regulations on how many followers each official can bring according to the corresponding rank, and what kind of carriage and horse treatment he can enjoy. When he comes to Beijing, he will stay in various Jinzouyuan.
There are many changes this year. Not only is the first court assembly system started, but there are also many new rules. For example, when local governors come to the court assembly, according to the previous practice, they must go to various capital offices to take care of matters. They must give ice and charcoal, and two tributes on three occasions.
New Year's gifts are also indispensable.
But this year, all yamen and officials will not accept the courtesy of foreign officials.
If they get anxious, they will send people directly to the Admonition Yuan, and the Procuratorate will call for people to come. Many people end up unable to get off the stage. Not only are the gifts not sent out, the relationship is not good, and they are even criticized in the end.
Even fines and downgrades.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! There was a patrol secretary who secretly sent smoked chicken, a local specialty, to officials in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. As a result, it was stuffed with small yellow croakers, and he was eventually dismissed from his post.
He was severely punished and even published in the newspapers.
Because the officials did not dare to accept his gold, they took the initiative to report the matter, which led to a joint investigation by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Admonition Yuan. Finally, it was discovered that this patrol inspector had only been in office for one year and had violated many laws.
Originally, the governor of Guangdong, Zhang Huangyan, had reported to the court that there was a problem with the governor of Guangdong, Wang Huacheng, and requested the court to investigate. The court also conducted a secret investigation for a long time. This time, they quietly summoned him to Beijing to collect him.
He even dared to give away small yellow croakers.
He was arrested directly, interrogated by the three departments, and various evidences were presented. In the end, Wang Huacheng was unable to refute, and even implicated a large group of Guangdong officials.
The final result of the trial was that although Wang Huacheng had served as inspector in Guangdong for less than a year, he had embezzled more than 200,000 taels of silver. He was the same as Ding Kuichu, the former governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, who had embezzled more than 800,000 taels.
When the situation was not stable before, the emperor treated Ding Kuichu quite politely. He confiscated his stolen money and claimed it as a donation, and then allowed him to become an official, which could be regarded as stabilizing the local officials in Guangdong and Guangxi.
But now Wang Huacheng is unlucky. As a censor, he dares to be so corrupt, especially now that it is the end of the third year of Shaotian. So the result is that he was first notified of his resignation, and then he was held responsible for the crime, and he was beheaded at the Meridian Gate and his family property was confiscated.
The whole family was exiled to Taiwan.
Beheading at the Meridian Gate, the emperor decreed that the person be beheaded publicly at the Meridian Gate on the 16th day of the first lunar month of the new year, and all the court officials would watch the execution together.
Choosing such a place to behead, the emperor personally held the execution at the Meridian Gate and hundreds of officials watched the execution.
Although Wang Huacheng was not beheaded for sending gifts to the capital, when this incident was reported, all the envoys in the court were undoubtedly shocked. They might not have paid much attention to it at first, as courtesy should be reciprocated, but now who dares to give gifts indiscriminately?
I don’t dare to give away any valuable souvenirs.
Wang Huacheng did not feel sorry for Wang Huacheng at all. Wang Huacheng was from Jiangxi. He was a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen and was first appointed as the magistrate of Mengcheng. At that time, locusts plagued the land, thieves invaded the city, and the people were hungry. Young Wang Huacheng came to the rescue in many ways, and the people were grateful. Later, he was transferred to Qingyang County, Chizhou, and rebelled.
The army went south and besieged the city. Wang Huacheng was still able to show his righteousness and the rebels broke the siege and left.
Precisely because of these political achievements and official reputation, after Zhu Yihai became emperor, he also placed great emphasis on this young man. He successively served as the governor of Guangdong and the imperial censor. Zhang Huangyan was appointed governor of Guangdong, so he took over as the governor of Guangdong with the former inspector of Guangxi.
Who knew this guy would dare to be so greedy for money.
Wang Euzhi disliked this person because when he was in Hunan, his father, brother and other tribesmen fled to Guilin to escape the chaos due to rebels plundering their hometown. At that time, Wang was an official in Guangxi, and he had already shown his greed and blackmailed Wang Euzhi's family.
When Wang Euzhi learned about it, he reported it to the court. He didn't expect that he had been corrupted so much now that he was sacked.
This man is capable, but he likes to cling to powerful people. For example, he previously sought the favor of Governor Ding Kuichu, and even recognized Ding Kuichu's son-in-law as his adopted brother. Wang Huacheng also had a share of the credit for Ding Kuichu's greed for so much money.
He was dismissed just now because he didn't know how to restrain himself. If he could find his way back from his lost ways, maybe the emperor would forgive him for his past mistakes during this special period.
But when he went to Guangdong and still dared to continue his corruption under Zhang Huangyan's nose, wasn't he looking for death?
Wang Fuzhi is very disgraceful to such a person. He doesn't care about a promising future, but he insists on coveting that little money. Doesn't the court give him a salary? Isn't it given too little?
Patrolling is an important position in the Shaotian Dynasty, and the future is bright.
Tomorrow will be the first day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Shaotian. Not long after, the examination will begin. Wang Fuzhi is very confident about himself. He left Hunan to pursue a bright and upright official career. He wanted to be born on the right path as a Jinshi.
As the magistrate of the county, he was determined to be a virtuous minister who assisted the Holy Emperor in restoring peace and left a mark in future history.
What you hold in your heart is not fame and wealth, but peace and prosperity for the people, governance for the country, and peace for the world!