In May of the eighth year of Jiayou's reign.
Zhang Yue and Lu Dafang took office immediately after meeting Empress Dowager Cao, but the two of them did not even receive the order. The top priority now is how to stabilize the price of salt in the capital.
The Sansi Government Office was the largest official office in the Song Dynasty.
There were 897 officials in the Three Divisions during Zhenzong's reign, including 156 Yantie officials, 182 Duzhi officials, and 227 Hubu officials.
During the Qingli period, the number of people reached thousands.
The Third Division was the starting point for many famous ministers, such as Zhang Dexiang of the Zhang family and Zhang Pin, both of whom served as officials.
Zhang Yue and Lu Dafang arrived here together, and first went to see Cai Xiang, the envoy of the Third Division, in the Envoy Hall of the Third Division.
Cai Xiang's life is a little difficult now. There are rumors in the government and the public that when the official is established as the prince, everyone knows that the big plan has been decided. However, among the officials, Cai Xiang is the only one who has criticized it.
There are also rumors that Cai Xiang once wrote a letter to the late emperor to advise him not to establish a prince. The letter is still banned.
This rumor is unfounded.
However, the problem is that when the late emperor established the crown prince, Cai Xiang was one of the most trusted ministers in the official family. Although the evidence showed that he opposed the establishment of a prince, there was no evidence that he supported the prince.
Whether you believe it or not depends on the officials themselves.
When Lu Dafang and Zhang Yue met Cai Xiang, they smiled and chatted for a few words. Cai Xiang told Zhang Yue that the Queen Mother had repeatedly told him to stabilize the price of grain and salt, and asked him to go to the Salt and Iron Hall to start the matter immediately. He had to explain to the Queen Mother when he went to court.
Lu Dafang, Zhang Yue said, came down to the Salt and Iron Hall under the guidance of officials.
The highest official of the Salt and Iron Department is the deputy envoy of salt and iron. Today, the deputy envoy of salt and iron is Fan Shidao. Fan Shidao was Fan Zhongyan's nephew, but he was not on good terms with Han Qi and Chen Shengzhi. When he learned that Han Qi had arranged for Zhang Yue and Lu Dafang to come to the hall, they were very unhappy about this behavior.
Fan Shidao said to the two of them: "When you first came to the hall, you were supposed to pick up the wind, but now you know what happened just after you met the provincial governor. You don't have to pick up the wind. How are you going to stabilize the price of salt after you have negotiated with Judge Chu? Master Zhang You have to come up with a statement today."
Zhang Yue said yes.
He had been informed before coming, and Fan Shidao's attitude towards this was expected.
In addition to the deputy envoy, there is also a judge who is not in the office today.
Afterwards, they came to the First Judge's Court to meet with the outgoing Judge of the Third Division, Chu Jianzhong.
Chu Jianzhong is about to serve as Kui Road Transport Envoy. As the first judge of the Salt and Iron Department, he is in charge of four cases: the military case, the Zhou case, the salt case, and the tea case.
When Zhang Yue heard this, he realized that the other party was really awesome.
You must know that among the twenty-four cases of the three divisions, the four cases of commercial tax, Zhou, Qu and salt are the most dramatic.
The three cases of commercial tax, housing, and salt are all in the Salt and Iron Department. The other party is responsible for both the construction and salt cases, and is also in charge of the other two cases. You can see how powerful it is.
Chu Jianzhong said: "Deputy Ambassador Fan explained before that the salt case in my hands will be handed over to Bachelor Zhang. As for the military case, the Zhou case, and the tea case, I will hand over to Judge Lu. Do you know this well?"
Zhang Yue had no objection. Unlike Lu Dafang, he had no experience in governing local areas. One salt case was almost the limit.
When Chu Jianzhong was delivering the goods to Zhang Yue and Lu Dafang, a scarlet-robed official came in.
Chu Jianzhong smiled and said: "Judge Cai!"
Lu Dafang and Zhang Yue hurriedly greeted him. This person was Cai Kang, another judge of the Salt and Iron Hall.
Before Cai Kang became the salt and iron judge, he had already been a transit envoy. Both his official position and seniority were far above Zhang Yue and Lu Dafang. He was currently in charge of commercial tax cases, iron cases, and establishment cases.
The other party exchanged a few pleasantries, and then said with a smile: "My Second Judge's Court is located in the west, and it is always annoying to be exposed to the western sun in the afternoon. After Brother Chu was promoted, I just moved into this hall."
Zhang Yue had heard about the officialdom of the Song Dynasty. The competition for the first office and the first court in the yamen was always very fierce. The implication was that I would occupy this position first.
There is an unwritten rule in the yamen. For internal promotions, priority is given to the first department and the first hospital.
After Cai Kang said this, Zhang Yue and Lu Dafang would not compete with each other for the first hospital of Salt and Iron Hall. Both of them are newcomers and there is nothing to argue with.
After that, Zhang Yue went to the second courtyard, and Lu Dafang went to the third courtyard.
The main hall of the Salt and Iron Hall faces south, and the Deputy Envoy and Gouyuan work in the same department, but one is in the east and the other is in the west.
The first court, the second court, the third court and the fourth court are assigned to the judges in order. The first court and the third court face east, and the second court and the fourth court face west. However, there are only three judges in the Salt and Iron Hall now, so the third court faces the east. The fourth courtyard is just empty.
To the north is the Seven Cases Office of the Salt and Iron Department. Each case has a Kong Mu in charge. For example, the salt case under Zhang Yue has more than fifty subordinate officials. It is indeed a case with complicated affairs.
After Zhang Yue arrived at the courtyard, he looked at the several sycamore trees planted in the courtyard for a long time. From today on, he, like these trees, took root in the salt and iron hall.
After Zhang Yue arrived at the hospital, he immediately summoned Kong Mu to discuss the price of salt banknotes.
As the saying goes, "There are a thousand lines above and a needle below." Empress Dowager Cao asked about the price of salt, Han Qi put pressure on the Third Division, Cai Xiang, the envoy of the Third Division, spoke, and Fan Shidao, deputy envoy of salt and iron, asked Zhang Yue to come up with a statement.
Zhang Yue immediately consulted Kong Mu upon his arrival.
From high-level execution to grass-roots execution, this is just a needle drop.
Kong Mu's surname is Zhang and his given name is Shan. He has been working on the salt case for more than thirty years and has served countless officials. In fact, the day before Zhang Yue took office, Zhang Kongmu went to his house to meet Zhang Yue. It turned out that when Wu Yu was appointed as the judge of salt and iron, Zhang Shan was his confidant.
As soon as Zhang Kongmu saw Zhang Yue, he said: "We are all very happy to learn that the bachelor has moved to another position, and we have specially prepared a small gift."
Zhang Yue said to Zhang Kongmu: "When I first took office, I wanted to borrow more from Kongmu. Yesterday the Queen Mother tasked me with stabilizing food prices within a month, and I asked Kongmu to help me with this matter. I understand these thoughts first, and we will handle it. Let’s discuss this later after it’s settled.”
Zhang Kongmu said with embarrassment: "Bachelor, let's slowly figure out a solution for the salt price matter, and first get familiar with the case."
Zhang Yue said: "There is no time. The deputy envoy asked me to come up with a statement today."
Zhang Kongmu said: "So quickly... did the bachelor mistreat the deputy envoy?"
Zhang Yue said: "Maybe! Please ask Kong Mu to teach me the secret."
Zhang Kongmu said: "Mysterious, let me think about it, let's start with Duyanyuan..."
When Zhang Yue heard this, he clapped his legs and said: "Duyanyuan... I heard it yesterday when I went to Jiaoyinpu. Now Kong Mu mentioned it again, this must be the key. Let's go immediately and talk as we go."
Zhang Kongmu did not expect that Zhang Yue would act so resolutely and do whatever he said. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhang Yue had already taken his hand and walked out of the door together.
Zhang Yue and Zhang Kongmu rushed to the Capital Salt Garden in a carriage.
Zhang Kongmu and Zhang Yue talked about Duyanyuan, which was established in the third year of Jiayou's reign. It was a new yamen with two supervisors, five officials and eight scalers.
Speaking of the Capital Salt Institute, we must mention a great reform of the salt industry in the Song Dynasty, the Salt Banknote Law.
The official who proposed this law was named Fan Xiang.
Originally, the salt law of the Song Dynasty was completely monopolized by the court, and it was promoted by officials and sold by officials.
After the Song Dynasty fought against Xixia, in order to facilitate the supply of military food, they took out the salt from the pond and changed the prohibition law (official property, official transportation, official sales) to the commercial law (official property, commercial transportation, commercial sales).
After merchants transported millet to the northwest and obtained the coupons, they could use the coupons to the capital to exchange for salt coupons. After the merchants obtained the salt coupons, they went to Jiechi to collect salt and transported it to various places for sale.
But by the Qingli Year, the Song Dynasty and Xixia fought in the northwest. Hundreds of thousands of troops from the Song Dynasty were stationed in the northwest. The problem with the method of transporting millet with so many soldiers and horses was exposed. Merchants often sent inferior grain to the northwest, and then went to the capital to exchange for salt.
So Fan Xiang proposed reforms.
Merchants did not need to transport millet to Shanxi. Instead, they used money to buy salt directly in the capital. The imperial court then gave the money to the Shaanxi Transportation Department and asked them to use the money to buy their own military rations, so that they did not have to buy inferior military rations.
After this system was implemented, problems soon arose.
Because after self-consumption of grain and grass was converted into real money, the court issued salt banknotes in large quantities without restraint.
Because the price of salt fluctuates severely with the seasons, and merchants in the capital saw the monetary properties of salt banknotes, they speculated on them. As a result, either the merchants who bought the salt banknotes in the past lost money and were unable to get salt out of the salt ponds with the salt banknotes issued indiscriminately by the court in their hands, or the salt banknotes were speculated and sold so high that it was difficult to get even one banknote.
During his third year in Jiayou, Fan Xiang reformed the salt law again.
First of all, we strictly stipulated the issuance price of six pieces of salt and salt banknotes, and set up the Capital Salt Institute in the capital.
The Sansi Yamen invested 200,000 yuan to the Duyanyuan. Once the price of salt notes fell to five yuan, the Duyanyuan used five yuan and five hundred yuan to buy back the salt banknotes. Once the price of salt banknotes soared, the court used the market price minus 500 yuan to sell salt banknotes to stabilize the price of salt.
Now when Zhang Yue arrived at Duyanyuan, he saw a long queue in front of the hospital, all holding cash in their hands, but the gate of Duyanyuan was closed.
Zhang Yue asked Zhang Kongmu: "Why is there no one in the Yamen selling salt banknotes?"
Zhang Kongmu sighed: "In the past, the banknote law was corrupted and the imperial court was issuing false banknotes indiscriminately. This is the Salt Court. The Third Division originally allocated 200,000 yuan to collect salt banknotes, but because there were too many salt banknotes, the 200,000 yuan was used up. Duyanyuan has no money to buy banknotes for several months."
Zhang Yue said: "Why doesn't the Third Division allocate more money?"
Zhang Kongmu said: "The salt banknotes are issued by the Shaanxi Transportation Department, and all the profits belong to the northwest. These salt banknotes were issued indiscriminately, and in the end, the Sansi Yamen was asked to pay for the collection, and the Yamen were unwilling. Previously, the Shaanxi Transportation Department asked us to allocate money After asking several times, I was recommended by the provincial governor.”
Zhang Yue asked: "What about the salt banknotes I bought before?"
Zhang Kongmu said: "The price of salt was slightly loosened at the beginning of the year, and finally some merchants came to the Capital Salt Institute and were willing to buy salt banknotes. The Capital Salt Institute had a handful of salt banknotes but didn't have a penny in them. If anyone was willing to accept them, they would give them as much as they wanted."
"The price of salt rose slightly, and there was some trouble. That is, some unscrupulous people came to the Yanyuan to buy banknotes and then sold them to Jiaoyinpu, profiting from the price difference. When the price of salt skyrocketed later, there was not much money left in the hands of the Yanyuan. "
Zhang Yue couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. This salt money method is obviously a good method, how could it be done like this. When the price of salt is low, there is no money to buy it; when the price of salt is high, there is no money to sell it.
Zhang Yue said: "Why don't you ask the Shaanxi Transportation Department for more money?"
Zhang Kongmu sighed: "The bad thing is here. Before, our three departments refused to allocate money. Now the salt money has skyrocketed. The remaining money in the hands of the Shaanxi Transportation Department is also valuable, so it refuses to give money."
Zhang Yue was also convinced. When the price of salt banknotes was low, the court tried its best to print banknotes. When the price of salt banknotes was high, it stopped printing.
