Zhu Biao continued to read. In fact, the policy of opening up salt to China was forced. Currently, there is a very short supply of grain and grass at the border. Food in important border towns is often in short supply.
However, the imperial court's current tax revenue is spent on disaster relief, relocation and the southern expedition to Bashu. It still needs to retain a necessary part as a precaution against emergencies. With all kinds of expenditures, the finances cannot make ends meet.
This resulted in the imperial court having no extra food, no money to buy food, and no power to transport food. It had to rely on private merchants, hoping to use them to traffic the food to the border and hand it over to the garrison.
But the businessman can't afford it early, so how can he waste his efforts to work for you? The only card the court can use at present is official salt, and there is nothing else, so the officials of the Zhongshu Province came up with the idea of opening the Zhongshu Province. Law.
This method was actually taken from the compromise method in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. In order to fight against the Xixia and Liao Kingdoms, the Northern Song Dynasty continued to shrink the official sales area and expand the trade area. At the same time, it introduced a compromise method, that is, merchants transported grain to the border, calculated the cost, and distributed After "cross-quotation", the merchant went to the capital to issue a certificate, and finally went to the salt farm to collect the salt for sale.
There is not much difference from today's Kaizhongfa. The difference is that merchants bring salt to the salt field to buy salt, which must be transported to designated areas for sale. This can be regarded as strengthening the control of salt merchants. In the province, they use official salt to sell it to Mongolia. Go to the side.
The method of opening salt in China is to use the low cost, wide market, and high profits of official salt as bait, hoping to not only transport food to the border, but also develop the border and expand the border economy.
However, the problems with this policy are also foreseeable. Such huge profits will inevitably be targeted by officials. In recent decades, Zhu Yuanzhang's high-pressure policy has not caused any big problems. However, if it is relaxed in the future, then officials The royal family will not let it go.
The more Zhu Biao looked at it, the more he felt that it was not a long-term solution. The most important thing was that the salt tax was too stable. Zhu Biao had earlier looked through the fiscal revenue of previous dynasties and found that in the Song Dynasty, the contribution of the salt tax was at its highest, accounting for more than 60% of the total revenue; It was even worse during the Yuan Dynasty, when 80% of the fiscal revenue came from salt tax.
It is indeed dangerous to decentralize such interests to the people, but if we don't do this now, the border issue cannot be solved. Although there is no war in the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible not to send a large army to garrison at the border, and hundreds of thousands of horses are chewed day and night. fear.
Zhu Biao pinched his brows irritably and said: "This method can only solve the urgent need, but it will inevitably lead to many disadvantages in the future. I thought that I would either only implement it for a period of time or give up. I will also go to the south of the Yangtze River to solve the problem." "
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "What do you think?"
Zhu Biao replied: "There are only a few salt households. The output of official salt is very stable, but the demand for food at the border has fluctuated greatly. It is difficult to keep up with the salt industry. In the future, it will be sooner or later for officials and nobles to get involved." matter."
This is a real problem. There is nothing wrong with this policy. It has indeed given away state-owned salt. It can only be said that it is a bit too ideal, and it is meaningless to restrain the bureaucrats. There are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. In order to They can always think of ways to benefit, not to mention they hold great power.
Moreover, the salt-in-salt method is still the beginning. At the bottom, Zhu Biao also saw the Nachao-in-salt method, Nama-in-salt method, Natie-in-salt method, nano-in-tea method, and Zhongcha-yima method, etc. These are also It is in the plan, but the specific measures and policies have not yet been formulated.
He probably wanted to see the situation after eating salt before making adjustments. Overall, Zhu Biao felt that it was quite like Hu Weiyong's style. It seemed that he was the main person who gave advice.
Zhu Biao explained the problem clearly to his father in detail. Zhu Yuanzhang also realized that this matter was indeed somewhat ideal, but the border garrison was crying for food, and the salt problem could not shake the country in the final analysis. Those hundreds of thousands of hungry people Elites can do it.
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "Let's do this for now. At worst, the military garrison will be abolished after a few years when it has achieved results. So what if a group of merchants are dissatisfied?"
Zhu Biao had no objection when he heard this. This is the fundamental reason why businessmen are looking forward to becoming officials. Everything for them is not guaranteed at all, and the highest priority of national policy will never be them.
Since it is not a long-term national policy, there is no need to think too much. As long as it can solve the urgent need, the court's military affairs have also begun. After all, the daily consumption of food and grass for the garrison in various places cannot be stopped. The current ratio of soldiers to military garrison is established. Yes, the border troops should be divided into 30% to defend the city and 70% to farm the fields. The inland army should be divided into 20% to defend the city and 80% to farm the fields. In the next few years, they must be able to supply at least 80% of their own consumption.
At the same time, the imperial court would also encourage private merchant settlements, which allowed merchants to hire people to work in the fields on the border and deliver grain on the spot, thus eliminating the cost of trafficking and making more profits. This was also a kind of cooperation.
The policies that followed were mostly clichés. Localities were encouraged to build water conservancy projects, and the banks of large rivers such as the Yellow River and the Yangtze that were prone to flooding were also strengthened. Officials who were held responsible for flooding would be beheaded!
Then there will be a new round of relocation. According to the rules and regulations implemented by the prince, another 200,000 people will immigrate from Shanxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to various parts of the Central Plains. Officials from various states will cooperate to ensure that the people are settled and farming resumes.
This batch of immigrants in Fengyang is indeed an example of the Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Biao went south, the imperial court sent many officials to Fengyang to study and inspect. In the future, they will have more and more experience. After all, this immigration will continue. A long time.
The father and son discussed for a long time before Zhu Biao returned to the East Palace to see his crown princess. Yesterday, the imperial doctor finally accurately found out the happy pulse. However, since the month was young, Zhu Biao did not make any publicity, but only informed his father, the emperor and his mother.
I walked around the East Palace courtyard with the smiling Chang Luohua for several times, fearing that if she was lazy and unwilling to move, it would be troublesome for her to have a difficult delivery. Obstetrics and gynecology was a minor operation in later generations, but it is very difficult today. , it is almost impossible under various restrictions.
Chang Luohua followed Zhu Biao and asked, "I just heard that the three princes have returned to the palace. Didn't I go to accompany them?"
Zhu Biao reached out and pulled down a few leaves and said: "Let's drink together tonight. They are probably talking to their mother and concubine now. After all, they haven't seen each other for half a year."
Chang Luohua stretched out his hand and touched the branches that were still swaying and said: "But if you want to eat it in the palace, I will ask someone to prepare it. I heard that the second and third brothers like to eat cows, and the fourth brother likes to eat sheep."
Zhu Biao turned around and pinched her cheek gently and said, "You know a lot, what does I like to eat?"
Chang Luohua squinted his eyes and counted: "Hot pot, eight fresh ingredients, five-flavor steamed chicken, roasted pork, sea clear rolls, silk goose powder soup..."
Zhu Biao was immediately satisfied. Hearing that the princess remembered her favorite food as if she was talking about it, it felt very heartbreaking.
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