The reform of the salt policy has lifted off its glossy coat, revealing the rotten reality underneath.
Wei Kang, the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy, wrote directly, saying: "There are dozens of salt fields in the Lianghuai River, stretching for hundreds of miles. There are about 30,000 salt households on the list, but in fact, there are nearly 100,000."
Except for those who reproduced and escaped, the rest were all refugees or poor people.
A large number of envoys, with the help of their power, privately boiled salt and then sold it to private salt merchants. The price was low and the quality was good, thus making a lot of wealth.
As a result, there was insufficient official salt in the official salt farms, and private salt was everywhere, resulting in a continuous loss of tax revenue.
As for Huai salt, in addition to the salt method, there are also supporting salt method and salt field method.
Not to mention salt fields, turning boiled sea salt into sun salt not only saves a lot of fuel, but also creates artificial thresholds.
As long as you are close to the sea and have a pot and fuel, you can boil salt anytime and anywhere.
Salt fields are different. They require high-quality beaches and a lot of money and manpower to build salt fields, creating economies of scale.
As a result, the cost is naturally relatively high, but the profit is huge. The huge expenditure can naturally eliminate most of it. Coupled with the large-scale salt production, the price of salt will inevitably drop, making it difficult for private salt owners to survive.
After the implementation of the salt field method, it is no longer the case of boiling salt that requires more people and more power, but a certain number.
At this time, some salt households will be recruited as salt workers to work on time to make salt, thereby receiving monthly salary and completely closing the loopholes in salt production.
"With this innovation alone, Tongzhou Prefecture added 5,000 new households with a population of more than 20,000; Yangzhou Prefecture added 2,000 new households with a population of 50,000; while Haizhou Prefecture (divided from Huai'an and later Lianyungang) and Huai'an Prefecture, A total of 7,000 households and more than 50,000 people have been added."
Yan Chongxin said like he was counting treasures, and the joy on his face could not be concealed: "The Ministry of Revenue estimates that these people will reclaim 200,000 acres of wasteland and saline-alkali land, adding more taxes to northern Jiangsu."
"The salt households have nothing and are not good at farming. The local government not only has to send people to teach them, but they also have to be exempted from tax for five years."
The emperor couldn't bear it and began to show mercy directly: "As for those saline-alkali lands, whether they are salt households or ordinary people, as long as they are cultivated, the imperial court will be exempted from tax for ten years."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Several cabinet members immediately raised their hands in admiration. This is indeed a generous move.
In the northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui areas, during the confrontation between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, the Yellow River took the Huaihe River and entered the sea. As a result, the Huaihe River no longer had an outlet to the sea for a long time, and had to change its course to join the Yangtze River at Sanjiangying.
As a result, the overflowing irrigation of the Yellow River caused a large amount of river water to accumulate and cannot be drained. Long-term exposure to the sun and rain has formed millions of acres of saline-alkali land.
As a result, the entire Huanghuai Plain fell into a long period of agricultural decline, which did not recover for nearly a thousand years.
Therefore, in history, Jiangnan Province became Anhui and Jiangsu. In fact, it was a combination of fat and thin, with wealthy southern Anhui matching northern Anhui, and southern Jiangsu matching northern Jiangsu.
The restoration of saline-alkali land must be done slowly over a period of ten years without the use of chemical fertilizers.
However, the beneficial side of the gentry has also been revealed. Since the peasants with a small family and a small population do not have the time and money to cultivate the land, only the gentry with strong financial resources can.
"Your Majesty, although the salt field law is good, it can only be implemented in the south. I am afraid that the Shandong Salt Fields and Changlu Salt Fields will have to remain as before."
Zhao Shu poured cold water on him directly.
What he said was the truth. Shandong and Changlu were boiled around the Bohai Sea. The weather in the north was extremely bad, so salt farmers could only cook, so it would be difficult to work in the salt fields.
As a result, the salt field method will not work and manpower will be scarce, so the salt field method that follows will definitely not work either.
He even had some words that he didn't say. The weather and terrain in salt fields are quite harsh, and even in the south, they can't all be implemented.
"Although the salt field method is not feasible, the salt field method is feasible."
The emperor still emphasized: "Replacing the tax system with employment is far simpler and more efficient than collecting salt, leaving no loopholes for those people."
To give a vivid metaphor, the previous salt households were equivalent to tenants. Most of the salt they cooked was given to the court, and the remaining salt could only be purchased by the court at a very low price.
After the Salt Law, salt households were just long-term workers for the landlords, and they were provided with food and housing, which was much easier in comparison.
After a discussion with the cabinet, they still felt that it was not possible because the employment cost was too high.
Even if there are only 30,000 to 40,000 salt workers, at five silver cents per month, it would cost nearly 200,000 silver dollars a year, and how much is the salt tax? Two million!
The previous no-cost business was still comfortable, even though it was at the expense of the salt household's interests.
However, the emperor made up his mind and said bluntly: "Once the salt diced system is produced, and combined with the salt fields and salt stamps, the annual salt tax will be more than two million? At least tens of millions."
"At that time, this little money will be like a drop in the bucket, not worth mentioning."
The cabinet did not give in even an inch, knowing that the emperor's will cannot be violated, so they could only choose to compromise:
If the experiment at Huaiyan goes well, it can be rolled out across the country.
In this way, Huaiyan's development has entered a period of profound reform.
However, while Jiangnan and other places were discussing the salt policy, You Shiwei, who was far away in Gansu, was facing the coming military disaster.
Li Zicheng surrendered the Tumote tribe with difficulty in the Qinghai area, and his troops gathered to 50,000.
When he looked back, he found that his base, Suzhou, had been occupied by the Ming army, and a Gansu Province was established.
This made him extremely angry and immediately threatened to send troops.
And You Shiwei, who had just entered Nian Bo's guard for more than a month, was really scared.
It is only more than a hundred miles away from the Hehuang Valley and Xining Guards, and only three to four hundred miles away from the Tumote tribe. It only takes two days for the cavalry to march quickly.
But he was not afraid of the army, but of lack of food.
That's right, when he led an army of 30,000 and arrived at the dilapidated Nianbo Guards, which had been abandoned for many years, he finally realized one thing. The food road was too long and could easily be cut off.
The bad thing is that Li Zicheng has a lot of cavalry at this time. If the food road is cut off, the consequences will be disastrous.
So he wanted to stock up on food as much as possible to prevent unexpected events.
In this unfamiliar territory, the voice of the Ming court has not been heard for a long time, and the importance of food has been constantly elevated.
But even though he repeatedly solicited, he could only manage it for a month, which was far from enough.
"The control can require Shaanxi merchants to supply."
Jiang Quan suggested: "Only Shaanxi merchants know the roads, how to transport grain, and have enough grain to deliver it."
"But the asking price is too high."
You Shiwei sighed: "It's a thousand miles from Fengxiang to here, and it only costs three or four taels of stone grain. We can't afford it, and we can't force it."
Who doesn't know that there are Shaanxi businessmen standing behind the emperor, and even he had close relations with Shaanxi businessmen when he was guarding Yulin. If he insists on not paying money, it is no less than poking a hornet's nest.
My own grain transportation is even more idiotic. Shaanxi businessmen want money, but the common people are the most ruthless in eating grain, so they might as well give up the money!
Nowadays, we don’t have enough money and we can’t rush, which is very uncomfortable.
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