The maids and servants who were mocking them just now were extremely surprised by the question's behavior! Because they feel that these people have suddenly become smarter, and they can actually understand problems that they did not expect!
As for Liu Haojia, she was very happy when she saw this noisy scene! Because he needs more people to accept his concepts and ideas, and then come together with him! Because he is really short of people! Although he has been cultivating manpower, there is simply not enough!
Moreover, he seriously lacks the talents to take charge of his own affairs, but these talents are stuck in the pit of imperial examination and refuse to come out. He is also a military man. The different paths of civil and military affairs alone make many scholars refuse to join him. This gives him free time and many ideas. But it can’t be used! .
These people in front of him are good targets. As long as he reverses their thinking and finds a way to get them on his ship, he will immediately have dozens of available manpower! Moreover, it is very simple to let these people board his ship. As long as he leaks what happened tonight, these people will be ostracized by Shilin. When the time comes, he will lend a helping hand, and maybe these people will be successfully included in his command. !
Although there are only three Jinshi among these people, and they may not be able to join him, this is always a good start! And even those candidates and scholars are much better than the half-finished products he hastily cultivated!
So he allowed these scholars to have a heated discussion. This was a subtle process of thought change! When they unknowingly completed the ideological change, they naturally became members of the same faction as Liu Haojia! This is what the saying goes like-minded!
After waiting for a long time, the excited scholars finally calmed down. Jin Pu took the lead to get up and straighten his clothes, then led everyone to bow to Liu Haojia and said, "We are grateful to Mr. Hou for his teaching!"
Liu Haojia laughed loudly when he saw this, stood up and returned the courtesy and said: "Okay, okay! It would be best if you can understand my thoughts! Okay, everyone, sit down!"
After everyone sat down, Liu Haojia said: "Do you remember that I just added a question to you, which is why I want to get involved in the salt business? There are two reasons here. The first reason is that the salt is too It’s expensive, so expensive that many people can’t afford it! Many of you come from the countryside, and you should know that many poor people don’t have access to salt! You must know that once people don’t have access to salt for a long time, their hair will turn white, and their health will deteriorate. It will collapse and all kinds of diseases will soon occur!”
At this time, a scholar said with emotion: "Master Hou is right, many poor people really have difficulty eating salt! For example, many people in my hometown have difficulty eating salt. How difficult is it? They buy a piece of salt Instead of crushing it to eat, they break a branch and sandwich the salt block in the middle! When cooking, just rinse the branch in the soup, quickly dry it and hang it up! Such a meal There’s no salt taste at all!”
A scholar at another table also said: "In our hometown, many people also eat 'Wangwang Salt', which is to hang salt packets on the table. When eating, everyone feels that they have eaten salt! Only everyone On the first and fifteenth day of the month, I open the salt bag and make a salty meal!"
With these two people at the beginning, many scholars told what they saw and heard. Only then did they realize that the poor people at the bottom were living in such difficulty. This was something they had seen before but didn't care about! Thinking of this, they couldn't help but feel a little respect for Liu Haojia!
When they stopped talking, Liu Haojia said: "So, after I knew that so many people under the Ming Dynasty were unable to eat salt, I thought that if I could sell salt very cheaply, everyone could eat more or less. In this way, people's bodies will be healthier, more wealth will be created, and Ming Dynasty will be stronger! This is one of my original intentions!"
When the scholars heard Liu Haojia's words, they expressed their appreciation for him! At this time Jin Pu said: "Master Hou, you just mentioned one reason, what is the other reason?"
Liu Haojia said: "The second reason is taxation! Because salt is extremely expensive, there are many salt lords who sell private salt! Although they sell low-salt salt, they solve the problem of some people eating salt, but what follows is Another problem arises, that is, the large amount of salt tax
Loss! Does anyone know how much my salt tax will be for next year? "
As soon as the question was raised, the scholars looked at me and I were all at a loss. In the end, I found that no one present knew!
Liu Haojia looked at their confused looks and shook his head, sighed and said, "Now the Ming Dynasty's salt tax is only more than four million taels a year, which seems like a lot! But do you know how much the salt tax was during the Taizong period? ? Nearly eleven million taels!"
When the scholars heard these two figures, they went crazy! The Ming Dynasty's population is increasing, and more and more people are eating salt. How can the salt tax be reduced? So someone immediately said angrily: "Salt is so expensive and the salt tax is still being reduced. It must have been stolen by those corrupt officials!"
"There are also those who sell private salt and never pay taxes. It is this area that suffers the most losses!"
The scholars were so indignant. On the one hand, they regretted that the salt tax of the imperial court was decreasing year by year. On the other hand, this also hurt their vital interests! Because these scholars are now the reserves of officials, and they have regarded themselves as officials, but the life of officials has not been easy these years!
A few years ago, when Zhang Juzheng did not become the first minister, the imperial court was so poor that many officials could not pay their salaries, and even had to trade in some items.
For example, during the Longqing period, the imperial court used a large amount of pepper, sappanwood and other spices to offset official salaries. It turns out that the senior officials of the imperial court thought very well and thought that these things were valuable items and they could be exchanged for a lot of money in the market!
But they also don’t think about it. If a large number of the same kind of goods suddenly appear on the market, the price will definitely plummet! As a result, after these officials sold the goods on hand, they were far from able to repay their official salaries, so the officials also complained!
So these scholars felt that if all the salt tax was collected and millions of taels of silver were given out of thin air every year, their lives would be much easier after becoming officials, so they were so angry!
Taking this opportunity, Liu Haojia said: "You are right. There are corrupt officials here, and there are even private salt sellers who evade taxes, resulting in repeated reductions in salt taxes! So the second purpose of intervening in salt prices now is to make There is no profit for these people!"
