The Kaizhong Salt Law is a concrete example that best reflects the continuous decline of the Ming Dynasty's national power, and from it we can understand the complexity of national governance and the inevitability of the dynasty's demise. jealous
The deeper you go, the more you will find that within the framework of the feudal dynasty, all efforts can only alleviate but not cure. There is no perfect system that will remain unchanged forever.
Because the Kaizhong Salt Law implemented in the early Ming Dynasty could basically satisfy the interests of all parties involved. From the perspective of the time, the system of opening the middle and receiving salt was a relatively perfect system, so the "History of the Ming Dynasty" said: There is a clear salt method, and no one is good at opening the middle.
But in the fifth year of Zhengde, everything changed drastically.
First of all, the salt industry has been a very special industry since the Spring and Autumn Period. All dynasties have regarded the Salt Law as one of the most important policies in state affairs.
Because the salt industry has two characteristics. First, salt production is relatively concentrated due to the production area, so it is easy to control; second, salt is a necessity for the human body, so it is highly profitable.
"Hanshu Shihuo Zhi" records that merchants were arrogant and did not care about the country's urgent needs. These merchants were engaged in either salt boiling or iron smelting.
In the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang faced the threat of the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Because of their nomadic characteristics, they were difficult to find in the vast desert, so they could never be completely eliminated. Even if they were defeated, the Mongols would move inland again in a few years. Resident animal husbandry,. jealous
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had to station heavy troops along the long national border from Gansu and Liang in the west to Liaodong in the east, which required a large amount of supplies.
However, food transportation is not an easy task, because food is inconvenient to store, easy to deteriorate, and the journey is very long. The Guanzhong and Central Plains regions, which mainly produce food, are hundreds to thousands of miles away from the border defense line, and there are no rivers in the north for water transportation. So if the government comes to transport this food, it will be a heavy burden.
Based on this, Zhu Yuanzhang further improved the Kaizhong method based on the "chao salt method" of the Song Dynasty.
The main method is for the government to issue a notice to summon merchants and indicate the place where the food was received and the salt received. This is called "Kaizhong";
The salt merchant then self-reports the amount of grain delivered based on these conditions, and transports the grain to designated locations as required in exchange for warehouse notes. This is called "reporting";
The salt merchants took their banknotes to the Salt Transportation Department to wait for exchange for salt. The Salt Transportation Department will check all the credentials and, after confirming that they are correct, will hand over the salt to the salt dealer. The salt merchants use the salt they have obtained to lead the salt to the salt farm where the salt is produced. This is called "keeping support".
After the salt is distributed, the salt must be sent to the designated batching laboratory for verification. After verification, it can be sent to the designated area for sale. jealous
The essence of this salt law is to use the high income from the salt industry to attract commercial forces to complete the transportation tasks that should belong to the government.
After the implementation of the Open China Law, the food problem in the border areas was greatly alleviated, so that a situation emerged where "the nine sides have a lot of grain, and the goods are plentiful and the price is low." During the Zhengtong and Chenghua years of the Ming Dynasty, the price of grain in Liaodong in the east, Yansui and Ningxia in the west was about 4-5 shi/liang.
This is almost the same as the price of food in the mainland.
But the inland is a grain-producing area, and its low price saves most of the transportation costs. Such grain prices in border areas are not unrelated to the success of Kaizhongfa.
….
As a result, the military demand in the north of the Ming Dynasty was solved, the pressure on the court was suddenly reduced, and merchants were able to participate in the salt business. All parties had the motivation to maintain such a system.
Later, merchants began to be divided into border merchants, internal merchants and water merchants according to their roles in opening up the Middle Kingdom.
Because long-distance transportation always faces the problem of extremely high costs. So the businessman came up with a solution: why can't I directly reclaim land and grow food in the border areas? jealous
Therefore, "Shangtun" began to appear in the middle and early Ming Dynasty. They exchanged these grains for salt, and then sold the salt to domestic merchants, making a direct profit, eliminating the need to purchase and sell salt later.
Domestic merchants are not willing to engage in transportation tasks of thousands of miles. Instead of doing this, it is better to buy salt imports directly from border merchants who have salt imports, and then go to the salt field to supply salt.
After collecting the salt, they distribute it to water merchants, who are the groups who sell the salt along the waterways.
And right
As far as the imperial court is concerned, as long as there is food, salt will be distributed. It doesn't matter whether it is transported from other places.
Therefore, merchant settlements flourished in the border areas in the middle and early periods. "History of the Ming Dynasty" records: In the early Ming Dynasty, merchants were opened on each border, people were recruited to cultivate crops, and forts were built to protect each other. At that time, millet was not very expensive on the border.
On the whole, it actually drives the food production of the entire country.
Of course, the end of the story is definitely not so beautiful. jealous
The first problem that arises is the "Shou Zhi". The essence of Shiohibiki is actually a kind of IOU. Logically speaking, if a businessman gets the Shiohiki Shuzhi, he can withdraw salt.
But under feudal imperial power, the emperor himself would have an uncontrollable desire and constantly issue this IOU. For example, the entire country produces one million salts a year, but the number of salts drawn in the capital may be two million.
This started in the Yongle period. Emperor Yongle conquered Mobei five times. Where did so much money come from?
Therefore, there are records: At that time, there were merchants who were waiting for salt from Yongle, and their ancestors and grandchildren could not succeed.
When the salt begins to stagnate and the salt cannot be distributed according to the rules, another problem will arise, which is "occupying the nest".
The reason is very simple. You have salt in your hand, and the Marquis also has salt in his hand. Who do you think the salt farm will provide salt to?
What should the businessman do at this time? jealous
There is no other choice but to spend money to make friends with the powerful and powerful. This behavior is called "buying a nest."
This is the corruption of the Salt Law from a macro perspective.
At the micro level, there is another important role in the Salt Law, called the Zaohu. The Zaohu is responsible for producing salt and is equivalent to the farmers who farm the land.
But we all know that the income of Zao households will be continuously eroded by the bureaucracy.
In the early days of Hongwu, every household produced salt and produced rice and stone, which was called Gongbenmi. In the seventeenth year of Hongwu's reign, the imperial court converted the rice into banknotes, but the Ming Dynasty's banknotes depreciated seriously. Moreover, I have to endure extortion and bullying from bosses such as "general reminders". Some money he had on him was also knocked out.
What should Zaohu do at this time?
In order to survive, they can only secretly sell the salt they produce. Then the source of private salt appeared. The emergence of private salt further weakened the appeal of official salt to businessmen. jealous
Or the Zao households simply fled. After their escape, salt production dropped, exacerbating the problem of defense.
….
In the fifth year of Hongzhi, Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs, reformed the Kaizhong Salt Law. The main content was to replace merchants transporting grain to border areas in exchange for salt imports to merchants directly paying silver taels to the Salt Transportation Department to obtain salt imports.
Then let the court be responsible for allocating silver and grain to border areas.
This approach was profitable at the time, because when Taizu implemented the Kaizhong method, rice was expensive and silver was cheap in the northwest, so the court acquired rice.
But after hundreds of years, grain prices in the northwest are very low, with rice being cheap and silver being expensive. Some officials were tempted to change the levy from rice to silver.
According to the original method, every 2.5 dou of salt imported by merchants was worth only 5 cents of silver when converted into silver. However, after converting nanometers to paid silver, the salt tax collected from each levy was about 4 cents of silver. In this way, the court's profits would instantly increase by 8 cents. times.
Therefore, it was recorded at that time that "Taicang's silver accumulation reached more than one million at one time." jealous
Because of this landmark reform, all problems seemed to be caused by Ye Qi alone.
However, the corruption of the salt law in the Ming Dynasty was basically the corruption of the bureaucratic system. What Ye Qi did was also reported to the ministers during the Chenghua period, "Changing the true color to the broken color." The reason why there are such calls is because the businessmen are trapped in the guard branch and can no longer do it.
Of course, the reforms in the fifth year of Hongzhi were still very destructive. The most direct one was the direct elimination of Shangtun.
Because food is no longer needed. The border merchants had no choice but to withdraw from the merchant villages.
The merchant villages disappeared, the military villages were destroyed, and no one could deliver food to the border areas. The imperial government allocated military pay every year. Therefore, the northwest is importing less and less grain and more and more money.
In this way, the situation where rice is expensive and silver is expensive is no longer the situation, but it has returned to the situation where rice is expensive and silver is cheap.
The increase in the cost of living for the border troops has led to the increasing military expenditures of the imperial court.
At the same time, the combat capabilities of the frontier troops continued to decline. Once we encounter a real military crisis, we have to activate the recruitment system. jealous
The recruitment system also requires a large amount of silver. These large sums of money can only be obtained by continuing to oppress the people. As a result, the situation became worse and worse, and a vicious cycle was created.
So the question is, where did all this wealth go?
merchant? Yes, some salt merchants have benefited from the combination of government and business.
bureaucracy? Yes, they continue to exploit and embezzle, which also enriches their own pockets.
Honorable minister, minister? Yes, these people continued to make profits by begging the emperor for salt. Moreover, there was a limit on the amount of salt among merchants, that is, no more than three thousand coins were allowed. However, the Chenghua Emperor gave it to Wan Guifei with a stroke of his pen. His brother Wantong Huai salt received five thousand yin, and he gave the Queen's mother Duan two Huaiguan salt 20,000 yin.
Emperor Hongzhi also treated his relatives very well. From the fifth year of Hongzhi, he gave 10,000 yin to King Qi and 10,000 yin of remaining salt from the Huaihe River to King Yi. In the twelfth year of Hongzhi, he gave 10,000 yin to King Jing and 20,000 yin to King Shen. The price of Huai salt is 10,000 yuan. The above expenses are "fees to help with the wedding."
By the way, Lianghuai Yanyin is the most expensive among table salts. The so-called salt-induced stagnation mostly refers to Lianghuai and Liangzhe. The salt fields in places like Shandong are more than adequate, or even unprofitable. jealous
However, even if the salt supply in Lianghuai and Liangzhejiang is so stagnant, these are the rewards.
So the real benefit recipient may not be Ye Qi.
….
Perhaps a group of people known as the ruling class.
So can the Kaizhong Salt Method be changed back unchanged?
In a word, absolutely impossible.
First, the problem of keeping branches is very serious, and the businessman is not taken advantage of. He knows that he cannot afford salt, so who will send you food?
Secondly, merchants' favor expenditures were already very high by the Zhengde period. From the Salt Transportation Department and the Salt Class Tiju Department to the Salt Censor, all the officials' pockets were filled by salt merchants. At this time, The price of salt must be set very low to attract businessmen, otherwise it will be meaningless. But the offer was very low, and the court's income dropped sharply. In the end, all subsidies were given to corrupt officials. To solve this problem, we must solve the problem of official governance, so we started to rectify the official governance before the Kaizhong law was changed? Is the administration of officials so easy to regulate? jealous
Thirdly, after the destruction of Shangtun, the commercial capital in the northwest has retreated significantly, and the rich people have no money. Who will help you go to Shangtun? Internal businessman? Will not. Businessmen pay most attention to risk management. In other words, now that the policy has been changed, will it be changed again? Once trust is broken, it is very difficult to rebuild. Don't say it won't change again, who knows if there will be another Ye Qi.
Fourth, why go back and spend another few decades being corrupted?
Therefore, in the official history, except for Ye Qi's reform in the fifth year of Hongzhi, Yuan Shizhen's salt policy reform in the Wanli period was not a retroactive change, but the implementation of the so-called outline law.
As for Gu Zuo, he couldn't see that problem.
What he can see now is that the lives of Zao households are difficult, salt production is on a downward trend, official salt has a high quality and price difference, illegal salt is rampant, frontier commercial villages are in ruins,
At the same time, clan members, nobles, and ministers obtained large amounts of salt through their power, which caused most merchants to be trapped in the defense, and the salt could not be sold at a high price.
The imperial court's income from salt classes also continued to decline. jealous
In a word, the Salt Law is broken and there are too many people sucking blood from it, which originally was the income of the imperial court.
"...In this case, the imperial court has no choice but to start over again." The emperor lamented, "Or does Li Qing think that the Salt Law can be changed back?"
When Gu Zuo came to report these problems, he must have come with a solution. Regardless of whether it was effective or not, at least it was the solution he had been thinking about.
"Your Majesty, I have been observing the Salt Law for many years, and I was originally frustrated by my inability to solve such a complicated and widely involved maladministration. However, the Shaofu and Meiji made me think that the imperial court might be able to change the private salt merchants to official salt merchants. For example, the Shibo Division generally implements an access system to limit the number of merchants that jointly operate salt with the imperial court to a few or a dozen, which facilitates the imperial court's management and supervision."
Gu Zuo lacks knowledge of modern economic theory. But Zhu Houzhao knew
Yes, the salt industry changed from the earliest official operation to the official commercial operation in the Ming Dynasty, which was actually an improvement in efficiency.
Therefore, it cannot be changed back. Official business is essentially a government-run business, and the government conducts unified production and unified sales. In this way, within a few years, there will be a lot of corruption problems, and the efficiency of officials is much lower than that of businessmen.
In fact, doing this is a bit like the salt method of the Qing Dynasty. Businessmen completely knelt down before the imperial power and took pleasing the imperial power as the highest standard. After making peace with the government, the problems of embezzling money, tax evasion, and selling private salt were also very serious. jealous
….
Zhu Houzhao touched his nose and said, "Mr. Li, if we modify this, within a few years, these businessmen will collude with my ministers to engage in corruption, and then they will engage in illegal activities with their acquiescence. Taxes will still be reduced. Such changes will change from fattening one group of people to fattening another group of people."
Gu Zuo did not dare to completely deny this phenomenon. The problem of illicit salt has never been eliminated in all dynasties.
This is something that cannot be prevented in the first place, because there are administrative costs in official affairs. With the corruption of officialdom, this cost must be getting higher and higher. At the same time, officials do not produce salt for themselves, and the quality is guaranteed to be poor. Therefore, high prices and poor quality are the fate of official salt.
Once this situation occurs, private salt will inevitably appear. Because there is profit to be made from it. As long as there is profit, someone will do it.
Now that it was just him and Gu Zuo Junchen, Zhu Houzhao tried to express his thoughts, "Li Qing, what do you think...if the salt field is also handed over to the salt merchants?"
In the Kaizhong Salt Law, transportation and sales were handed over to merchants, while production, that is, salt fields, was still in the hands of the court. The imperial court controlled the source of salt by controlling salt fields. It had the goods in hand, but was it afraid of running out of money?
Gu Zuo was shocked, "If this is the case, the court can only impose taxes, and the revenue from the salt tax will be even less!" Jealousy
Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "No. I will not give the salt field to the salt merchants for free, but only auction the right to operate the salt field to the salt merchants, and the court will receive a fixed income. The merchants will be responsible for their own profits and losses for the rest. They can make more or less. It has nothing to do with the court."
From now on, the imperial court will no longer be involved in any aspect of production, transportation and sales. At the same time, there is no longer any private salt problem. Because all salt is private salt.
"This...the problem is that if the imperial court cannot control the salt fields, it will no longer be able to control the salt!"
As an official of this era, Gu Zuo had a natural tendency to want to control salt from the perspective of the imperial court. Because salt is also a strategic material to a certain extent.
However, Zhu Houzhao did not have confidence in the government-run salt industry. In fact, since the salt monopoly, private salt has always been a chronic problem in the management of the salt industry in past dynasties. The salt industry system of the Qing Dynasty was considered good, but private salt was also rampant in the late Qing Dynasty.
"You don't have to worry, we are just discussing it first. In the fifth year of Hongzhi, the then Minister of Household Affairs reformed the Kaizhong Salt Law. The first purpose was to relieve the merchants from the difficulty of keeping their branches, and the second was to increase Taicang's income. This is my method. It is not an auction of the property rights of the salt field. The salt field still belongs to the imperial court. What is auctioned is the management right of the salt field, and the income can also be used to offset the salt."
"At the same time, the imperial court is no longer responsible for the production of salt fields, so there is no need for a series of agencies such as the Salt Transportation Department and the Salt Course Department. This can not only reduce expenses, but also eliminate official corruption from the root."
Gu Zuo frowned and asked, "In this way, the production and sale of salt are all in the hands of merchants. Merchants are profit-oriented and intentionally raise the price of salt. Wouldn't the common people suffer greatly?"
Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "I will not auction all the salt farms to one or several companies. They must be operated by multiple companies, and there will no longer be regional restrictions. If someone's salt is expensive, people don't have to buy it."
….
"What if salt merchants join forces with each other and raise prices uniformly?"
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, "It is indeed possible. In this case, administrative intervention is needed, and fines and arrests can be made."
"Your Majesty, it's not just that. The salt industry is hugely profitable. If the court bids for it at a high price, that's fine. But if it bids for a low price, wouldn't all the profits go to the salt merchants?"
"If the auction wants to be maintained, it must make the salt merchants profit. If it is unprofitable, who will auction this
Some salt fields? As for making a lot of profits, the court can add a period of time. For example, if you go to buy a salt farm, the court agrees with you that the right to operate it will be five or ten years, and you will get all the profits within the period. After the expiration, the court will take back the management right and re-price the auction. If it is indeed a huge profit, then other competitors will also raise their prices when they auction the salt farm again, leaving room for the court to adjust. "
This approach is somewhat bold. jealous
This suddenly changed the Salt Law from a government-run commercial operation to a commercial-run commercial operation. The imperial court has become a hands-off shop, and except for a fixed income, it no longer cares about the rest, minimizing its own costs.
It sounds feasible.
But there is another important point.
"As a result, the Shangtun Village in the northwest will no longer be able to recover."
Zhu Houzhao curled his lips and said, "Not necessarily. The court can accept different payment methods."
In fact, our ancestors were indeed smart, and many systems were designed very exquisitely, but after all, they were limited to the times, such as this different payment method.
Gu Zuo was puzzled, "I dare you to ask Your Majesty what the different payment methods are?"
"It's the combination of true color and secondary color."
The so-called true nature is food. The color is silver.
Zhu Houzhao explained: "If there is war in the border area, the salt field photographed by the court can be rated at 80% of the original color and 20% of the color. If it is peaceful, it can be rated as 20% of the original color and 80% of the color. Who wants to take the right to operate the salt field? , this requirement must be met first. This can also avoid the problem of guarding, because the salt farm is run by the businessman himself, and he can produce salt whenever he wants."
"Furthermore, there are more than 200 counties in the Ming Dynasty that produce salt. Each auction must not be all sold out, but a tiered order. For example, in the first year, 40 are sold, and the management rights are five years. In the second, The same goes for three, four, and five years. In the sixth year, the salt fields auctioned in the first year can be auctioned again. If this cycle continues, the court can obtain the income from the auction of the salt fields every year."
"Alternatively, you can make a fuss about the payment method. For example, the auction price is slightly lower, but 20% of the annual income of the salt farm must go to the court. However, I do not recommend this complicated design. Every additional procedure will It’s a space for greed.”
After listening to this, Gu Zuo was greatly inspired and shocked, "Your Majesty's words are astonishing and enlightening. There is no wiser person than Your Majesty. However, I am thinking that there will probably be officials seeking profits from the so-called auction, and the officials in charge of this matter must be It is possible that salt merchants may deliberately lower the auction price once it fails to supervise.”
Zhu Houzhao nodded, jealous
This statement is more realistic.
However, compared with so many agencies and officials such as the Salt Patrol Censor, Salt Transportation Department, and Salt Class Promotion Department, the number of officials responsible for only the auction function will be significantly reduced.
….
"Keep it low, keep it low. The income of the imperial court cannot be reduced. This organization and officials should be placed under the Ministry of Revenue and directly led by the Shangshu. I don't care about the decline in the income of the salt farm. The Ministry of Revenue has to fill the treasury for me. . If you are willing to cut off your own path, there is nothing anyone can do about it."
Zhu Houzhao thought that maybe it would be a good idea to try this first, "Salt policy is related to the country, the country, and the country. It cannot be decided here by you and I, the monarch and the ministers. It still needs to be discussed by the cabinet officials. Mr. Li, you can try to improve this approach after you retire." The imperial court also needs to reduce its burden."
If the income is about the same, this is not impossible. Even if there is not much growth, at least a large number of corrupt officials will be eliminated. Salt, there are too many corrupt officials here.
So much so that in the Ming Dynasty, as soon as they knew that an official was going to be the Salt Patrol Censor, they would definitely think that this guy was going to be greedy for ink.
Gu Zuo really had to think carefully. He had never had this idea of the emperor. jealous
In fact, the salt laws of all dynasties were made extremely complicated in order to levy more taxes. But the more complex it is, the more loopholes there are, and once it breaks, it becomes more difficult to correct it.
Zhu Houzhao really couldn't think of any way to improve the Kaizhong method in the Ming Dynasty. One of the reasons was that there were too many procedures in it.
There is a lot of power and interest intertwined in every link. If you want to sort out these lines, then
It's not easy.
In fact, even this change is not a perfect solution.
Because if later generations of kings like Chenghua and Hongzhi gave the right to auction the salt field to some powerful people, there would be nothing they could do.
This is the fate of autocratic imperial power, and such a situation will definitely occur, so what can be done?
In a world governed by people, if that person is unreliable, what kind of system will work? jealous
Nowadays, the salt law of the Ming Dynasty is in a state of corruption. Such changes can, on the one hand, ensure the court's income to the greatest extent, and on the other hand, it can get rid of a big burden. The most important thing is to greatly reduce the difficulty of reform.
Because if you insist on sorting out the lines in today's salt law, you can't do it without killing people and causing rivers of blood.
However, starting from scratch does not have this problem. No matter what tricks were used in the past, the imperial court will no longer play the same trick. The emperor will not investigate in detail how much silver the Censor of Salt Patrol or the Salt Transportation Department embezzled. Anyway, they will be packed together and thrown away. .
After the difficulty of the reform is reduced, the executability can be improved to the greatest extent.
On the contrary, if it is a relatively complex salt policy, then it will definitely be difficult to promote it.
So this is actually a choice based on the current situation and comprehensive considerations.
Gu Zuo was not idle after he retired. He looked for a suitable opportunity to pay a visit to Li's Mansion. jealous
Li Dongyang also frowned when he saw his memorial, "It's a good thing that your Majesty intends to innovate. But the sea-opening incident has just subsided, and there are still resentments in the court. At this time, the salt law is suddenly used. Doesn't it seem a little impatient?" "
As a cabinet minister, he naturally considers the mood of the court.
Gu Zuo was a technical bureaucrat. He had figured out the emperor's tone and gained support, so he couldn't wait any longer. "Mr. Ge, the badness of the Salt Law has penetrated deep into the bones. If you change it one day early, everyone in the world will benefit. If you change it late, everyone will benefit." One day, all the people in the world will suffer! This thing can’t wait!”
"It's not that I don't want you to change it. I said it. Your Majesty wants to change the bad government and start a new dynasty. This is naturally a good thing. What I mean is that if you wait a few months, it might be easier. Besides, Your Majesty will start from now on. I have never met a salt merchant, and the auction method mentioned is not completely guaranteed. It can be seen that Your Majesty also wants to try it. Why don't you, Minister Li, take this opportunity to conduct detailed research? Don't you know that the more important the national affairs are, the more cautious you must be."
"Yang Yingning's situation in the northwest is that if you succeed in the combination, you will live, and if you fail in the combination, you will die. Does Li Qing also want the Salt Law to frame you? If the reform of the Salt Law fails, your death will be a small matter, and the salt law of the court will become rigid. , no one dares to move, this is a big deal."
Li Dongyang's words showed the stability of a mature bureaucrat. He reminded Gu Zuo that important matters must be investigated carefully.
Gu Zuo listened to these words and said, "It would be better for me to go down and contact the salt merchants!"
Li Dongyang could not deny it.
If the Salt Law really needs to be changed, it would indeed be a major matter.
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royal hired cat
