"Rip-off?"
Zhu Jing's expression changed: "Isn't this a tiger sitting on the ground?"
"Who says it's not?" Chu Yuan said solemnly: "Ten dams involve tens of thousands of villagers, several counties, squires, petty officials, and county government officials are all involved, all hoping to get cheaper by using salt."
"For a long time, even good people have turned into cunning and cunning people and opposed the imperial court."
"Although the salt merchants are powerful, they can't compete with the tens of thousands of villagers. I heard that these merchants used swords and guns to prevent salt leakage, and established many village groups. They were so vicious that the salt merchants could only pay the money to buy the road... …”
Hearing this, Zhu Jing suddenly thought of Xishan Coal Mine.
These coal mines were mined to heat the capital, and a few months later there was an endless stream of caravans coming and going, just to collect tolls.
This matter concerns the capital city. How can we be allowed to be unbridled under the emperor’s feet?
There is no need for the Beijing camp to come out. As soon as the county government's patrol camp moves, it will dissipate. However, in the past few years, there are still reports of robberies in the villages along the road from time to time.
This is still Shuntian Mansion, and in this area of Jiangsu, it is probably even more difficult to control.
Clan, yamen, and even the garrison may be involved, and there is no way to start.
"It seems that these tens of thousands of people have become parasites?"
Zhu Jing sighed softly.
"If you borrow troops from Yangzhou, this is feasible."
Chu Yuan looked at his appearance and came up with a bad idea.
"Without His Majesty's decree, soldiers and horses are not allowed to move without permission."
Zhu Jing immediately vetoed the proposal. It was almost courting death. Although the imperial envoy had this right, his political career would probably be over.
He suddenly realized how difficult the Huaibei salt field was and could only continue to ask: "What about the Huainan salt field?"
"The disadvantage of the Huainan Saltworks is that it costs money..."
It turns out that in addition to the salt tax paid every year, another sum of money, hundreds of thousands of silver dollars a year, will be deposited to serve as public money, so that money can make money.
The money provided by the envoys of the Yamen of the Salt Censor of the Huaihe River, as well as the salary and meal paper of the Yanding and Transportation Secretary's scribes, as well as the Puji Hall, the Nursery Hall, the academy, the free school, etc. in the nursing home all depended on his money.
In a sense, tens of thousands of people working in the Lianghuai Salt Administration lived on this expense.
Sometimes, if the salt inspector has a big appetite or the entertainment fee is too high, he will ask for an increase in the floating fee.
This money will definitely be added to Guan Yan.
Therefore, the vote-salt law is just a reform in the framework. For example, after the Xinhai Revolution, there was a president and the emperor was deposed. It seemed that things had changed, but in fact it was still the same. The yamen just changed their brand, and the feudal bureaucracy was still the same inside. Governing the country.
Zhu Jing immediately sat up after hearing this.
Good guys, it’s all a hornet’s nest.
Chu Yu's words almost extinguished the fire in his heart.
The salt administration is indeed full of difficulties.
"The vote salt method is better than the gang salt method."
Zhu Jing murmured and squinted her eyes: "What hinders the sale of official salt are the bad policies, which make the cost extremely high, while the price of private salt is low."
"That's right." Chu Yu nodded: "That's it. These bad policies are like mountains, weighing down the officials and making them unable to breathe."
"I see."
Suddenly, the corners of Zhu Jing's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a confident smile.
“Since these bad policies are difficult to solve, let’s solve the illegal policies!”
"Without private salt, people can only buy official salt, so salt classes will naturally increase, right?"
"You, you have a point." Chu Yu was stunned and suddenly realized.
This is a different approach! It is also a solution.
Zhu Jing was naturally overjoyed when she found a way. Then she couldn't wait to order people to wave flags and plaques, and swaggered to Xunyan Yamen.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the person responsible for salt administration was the Lianghuai Capital Salt Envoy Department. It was equivalent to a military household and was independent of the civil administration system. It had its own land, yamen, and governed the people. It not only managed prefectures and counties, but also managed Xiahe water conservancy.
Moreover, it also has salt soldiers on its hands, and the judiciary, civil affairs, and military power are all integrated, so it is natural that both mud and sand will fall.
Therefore, the Salt Patrol Censor was responsible for supervising the salt administration and correcting lawlessness. Later, he was given the right to investigate the affairs of the salt field and to evaluate the salt field officials. The Salt Patrol Censor became the real chief of the Salt Administration, just like back then. of governor.
The transshipment envoys worked hard in Taizhou, Huai'an, and Tongzhou, while the censor enjoyed peace and happiness in Yangzhou.
Ruan Zhao, the censor of the Salt Patrol, was leisurely listening to the play. Suddenly, he heard that the imperial envoy had arrived at the Yamen. He immediately lost all seven of his orifices and returned to the Yamen in a hurry.
"My lord, Ruan Zhao, the censor of the Salt Patrol, would like to express my sincere greetings!"
"Holy Holy Gong!"
Only then did Zhu Jing take out the imperial edict.
Only the four words "Feng Tiangaoming" are embroidered on the right side, and the words "Shaowu Five Years" are embroidered on the left side.
It was read out: "Emperor Mingtian Chengyun, issued an edict: There are many shortcomings in the current salt administration of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, and there has been no reform for a long time. Therefore, Zhu Jing is ordered to be a member of the "Imperial Envoy to inspect the salt administration of the Lianghuai River"..."
After hearing this, everyone in the yamen suddenly realized that this was a reminder.
Compared with the salt patrol censor, this one is an imperial envoy in the true sense, that is, a special commissioner.
There were many imperial envoys during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the system was also very complete. For example, the full name of the eunuch of Dongchang was "the eunuch responsible for the affairs of the imperial envoy Dongchang Official School"; in the early days, the minister stationed in Tibet was called "the minister responsible for the affairs of the imperial envoy stationed in Tibet".
Temporarily assigned people, like Zhu Jing, are responsible for investigating something in a certain place and then withdraw after the matter is completed.
Sitting down with a sword and a golden horse, Zhu Jing looked like a martial artist: "The salt administration is full of mistakes, and the court and the emperor are very dissatisfied, so I sent someone to come to Jiangnan. You and others must obey my orders on all matters, and there must be no mistakes. "
Bitterness——
All the officials could only bow their heads and obey orders, and Yushi Ruan Zhao was no exception.
Zhu Jing's first passion was anti-smuggling.
He selected five hundred men from thousands of salt soldiers, who were always on standby and fed well.
On the surface, he seems to have these people as his confidants, but in fact, he is completely uneasy because these people have long been infiltrated by smuggling salt merchants.
Secretly, Zhu Jing relied on his status as an imperial envoy to borrow a hundred people from the garrison outside Yangzhou City.
The troops under the general command of each province are all dispatched from the Beijing camp and replaced every two or three years. Although the total number is only two to three thousand, they are elite field soldiers, much stronger than those patrol battalions.
Jin Yiwei passed the news to him, and finally seized the opportunity to capture dozens of salt ships, more than ten salt dealers, two thousand illicit salt (three hundred kilograms each), four thousand shi, worth thirteen thousand. The remaining two.
The market price of Yiyin salt is 60 taels and 4 cents, which is called "woben". In addition to taxes, 3 taels of silver and ministerial (transportation) silver are 30 taels. The real value is more than 26,000 taels.
It doesn't look like much, but it's just smuggling.
There are hundreds of smuggling cases like this every year in the entire Jiangnan, and the scale is even larger. The money lost in this way exceeds tens of millions of silver dollars.
"Get rich."
This is the voice of everyone.
In terms of money, Zhu Jing was not greedy. Half of it was given to the hard-working soldiers in the Beijing camp, and the other half was put into the public treasury.
In the next few days, the anti-smuggling campaign became increasingly fierce, so much so that the price of smuggled salt rose slightly, creating unprecedented pressure.
ps: Salt politics is difficult to describe in one sentence. It’s too complicated, so I won’t go into details...
