"Recruiting Xiangyong...I think this matter must not be agreed to. Not only that, the emperor should also issue an order to reprimand Han Du, don't let him think that no one can control him after running away for two days. Let He is self-righteous and lax." Tang He sternly rejected Han Du's request, and even thought that he should issue an edict.
Lao Zhu hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "But he was talking about recruiting villagers, not villagers."
"Your Majesty, the difference between villagers and bravery cannot set this precedent." Tang He quickly persuaded and said at the same time, "Even if there are not enough corvees, then just recruit corvees from surrounding counties. Why recruit any villagers?" ?”
After a moment of silence, Lao Zhu sighed and said: "Well, since you said so, let's recruit corvees from surrounding counties. Originally, I wanted to directly agree to him recruiting villagers."
"Your Majesty, although Han Du is a great talent, you should not be too partial to him. If you want Han Du to be a leader in the future, you have to hone him more now." Tang He's words were roughly summarized. Listening to it, it seems that he is deliberately embarrassing Han Du.
However, there is no standard for the depth of love and the depth of responsibility, and who is good, who is bad, who is right and who is wrong.
"Do I prefer him?" Lao Zhu asked quite unexpectedly.
Tang He glanced at Lao Zhu speechlessly, this wasn't considered preference, so what was? Your Majesty, your heart has gone to the East China Sea, and you actually want to agree to Han Du's private recruitment of villagers. If someone else had mentioned this, the people escorting him back to Beijing would have already set off.
"Okay, okay, let's let this matter go." Lao Zhu also felt that his idea was a little too in line with Han Du, so he embarrassedly revealed the matter.
"What about opening fields to dry salt? What do you think about this?" Lao Zhu continued to ask.
After hearing this, Tang He blushed even more and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I think this matter is absolutely impossible."
"Why?" Lao Zhu was a little unhappy. Originally, he had intended to agree with Han Du on both matters. Asking Tang He just wanted him to express an attitude. He only wanted to express an attitude. He didn't ask Tang He to refute. Do you understand?
"Your Majesty, we are short of food at the border. In order to allow merchants to transport food to the border, we have developed the Kaizhong method, using salt lures to attract salt merchants to transport food to the border for the needs of the soldiers guarding the border." Tang He pointed. Han Du's memorial, "If it is true as Han Du said, opening fields can produce inexhaustible salt. With such a simple method, a large amount of salt can be obtained. Prices are bound to plummet. If salt merchants were unprofitable, why would they transport grain all the way to the border?"
What Tang He said is reasonable and well-founded. Merchants are all profit-seeking. If there is no profit, the merchants will definitely no longer transport food to the border. Then what will the hundreds of thousands of soldiers at the border eat? Once we run out of food and are attacked by residual elements, what will we do?
After Lao Zhu was silent for a while, he sneered and said: "In my opinion, what Han Du said is right. Food, salt, and minerals are related to the lifeblood of the people and the imperial court, and they must not be in the hands of others. Otherwise, we will be constrained as we are now.”
Tang He was silent for a while, what could he say? Although the emperor was not the first to create this salt bait, it was also the emperor who decreed that the salt bait be exchanged for grain? Thinking back to the time when salt was used to meet the food needs of the Ming Dynasty border gates, the imperial court was very satisfied with this.
After all, the food problem at the border was solved without spending an extra penny. Who can help but say that this is a good method?
Lao Zhu stood up suddenly and said in a deep voice: "Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry has been developed. Sooner or later, I will get back the salt profit."
"The establishment of the Ming Royal Grain Industry is indeed a clever move. Not only can it stabilize grain prices, but it can also independently transport grain to the border. In the future, salt can even be sold throughout the Ming Dynasty with the help of the Ming Royal Grain Industry." Tang He laughed. He agreed, but was still a little worried, "But Your Majesty, I think this matter can only be dealt with slowly and cannot be rushed."
The Ming Dynasty's royal grain industry is still not strong enough. If it takes action now, those grain merchants and salt merchants will definitely be dealt a fatal blow. If the food at the border is cut off, big trouble will happen.
Although the emperor also understands such things, Tang He still needs to be reminded in place.
Lao Zhu calmly nodded and said, "Of course I won't take action now."
Tang He felt relieved.
"Let's talk about Handu's salt production. I'm going to allow him to open fields to produce salt."
"Your Majesty!" Tang He's heart suddenly lifted up after he had just let go.
Lao Zhu waved his hand to stop what Tang He wanted to say, and continued: "There is no way to do this. If so many fish are not treated with salt, they will all be rotten in a short time. If the Ming Dynasty does not need these fish, it will be rotten." Okay, but this year's drought is inevitable, and a food shortage is a foregone conclusion. Ming Dynasty must need these fish to survive the food shortage. In this case, what do you think Han Du should do if he is not allowed to dry out salt?"
Tang He was silent, and he didn't have any good ideas. If you want to preserve fish, you must use salt. It would be very embarrassing if Han Du was not allowed to dry the salt but also asked to preserve the fish.
With Han Du's temper, it is not impossible to give up his career, and it is very likely.
Seeing that Tang He had nothing to say, Lao Zhu sat down, with his back straight, and said in a deep voice: "I have made up my mind to allow Han Du to open a field to dry salt. However, the salt obtained can only be used to pickle marine fish, not Use it for other purposes, let alone sell it privately."
"Your Majesty!" Tang He bowed sincerely.
This can be regarded as a compromise, which not only solves the problem of salt shortage in Handu, but also does not affect the price of salt sold by Yanyin.
After Tang He resigned, Lao Zhu said to the old eunuch on the side: "Go ahead, the fish brought back by the navy will be sold on the market immediately."
"According to the order."
Lao Zhu has no choice. If he doesn't buy these fish, he won't be able to eat them. You can't just pickle them all, that would be too uneconomical. More than 300,000 kilograms of fish, how much salt alone is needed?
It's better to sell it quickly. Anyway, this is just the first attempt. I'm afraid what Han Du will send in the future won't be fresh fish, but dry goods that are easy to store.
...
Daming Royal Grain Industry!
Although it was only established less than two years ago, it has now become a famous and resounding brand name throughout the capital and even the Ming Dynasty.
The source of this famous name comes from two operations of the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry. The first time, grain was purchased at a fixed price. Although not much food was harvested in the end this time, this move directly made the people happy and greatly increased their goodwill towards the royal family. The second time was at the beginning of this year, when the Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry began to quietly purchase grain. With his own efforts, the price of food in Ming Dynasty was generally too high by more than twice. It was not until the price of grain was too high that it stopped purchasing.
