With the Salt Law reaching this level, it is far from enough to just crack down on smuggling.
Because corruption has become a common phenomenon, various problems are intertwined.
Just one guarding branch is enough to cause a headache. In the past few decades, the future salt production output has been increased, and it is almost impossible to straighten out the accounts one by one.
However, the Kaizhong Salt Method has gradually become what it is today. It can be said that the disease has become deep. It is even more impossible to return to the more balanced and gentle state of the early Ming Dynasty intact.
Zhu Houzhao's idea is to get rid of all these things.
Except for the ownership of the salt farm, everything else will be let go.
At the management level, he only focused on the household department responsible for auctioning the salt farm management rights.
Of course, some taxes can still be levied during this process.
As for the strategic significance of salt, on the one hand, the court itself could store some salt, and on the other hand, the ownership of the salt farm was still in the hands of the court after all.
If there is really a war, then it is a last resort to require the salt farm to produce salt to supply military needs first.
However, it is not as simple as just talking about throwing away a formal institution that has existed since the Hongwu period.
Even the emperor must have a valid reason.
And corruption in such a corrupt manner is a good 'excuse'.
Zhu Houzhao was so angry...it was true that he was angry, but it was also somewhat of a performance.
Of course,
Acting requires a complete performance. After he got angry like this, he would naturally be in no mood to discuss other things. He said "I'm tired" and sent them all away.
Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Yang Tinghe and the other three came out of Qianqing Palace in a daze.
"Both Huaihe Transportation Departments are so corrupt. I think the actual situation in each salt field and each batch laboratory is not much better. Your Majesty has just recovered from a serious illness, and you heard of such bad things. It is really because we have not shared your worries enough. Mr. Jie, Your Majesty thinks highly of you and has chosen you as the imperial envoy. This is a great trust. Everything there depends on you, Jiefu."
"Li Ge's old words are true. No matter what, the subordinate is a minister of the Ming Dynasty, and it is his duty to be loyal to the emperor and serve the master."
They exchanged brief greetings and then said goodbye to each other.
Xie Qian and Li Dongyang returned to the cabinet together,
"Mr. Li Ge, let me draft the decree for Zhao Shen to check and confirm, and then submit it to His Majesty for his inspection."
Li Dongyang is a little hunched over, but he has become more and more experienced in dealing with the emperor.
"...It seems that His Majesty does intend to abolish the Salt Transportation Department and the Salt Class Promotion Department. The Salt Law has to be changed."
Li Dongyang had spoken to Gu Zuo several times before, so he understood.
But Xie Qian looked confused when he heard this, "Abolish the Transportation Department and the Salt Class Promotion Department? Then who will be in charge of the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty in the future? The Shaofu?"
"No one cares."
"what for?"
"Mr. Xie Ge, do you think illegal salt can be completely eliminated?"
Xie Qian naturally shook his head, "All dynasties have had the disadvantages of private salt."
"Why?"
"Because the price of private salt is low."
"No, it's because the price of private salt is low and you can still make a profit." Li Dongyang understands, "Because of the corruption of official salt, the cost is always greater than that of private salt, so private salt cannot be eliminated. Unless it is all private salt .”
Knowing he was shocked,
Li Dongyang explained a few more words, "Half a year ago, His Majesty was considering how to solve the disadvantages of the salt course. He discussed with Gu Liqing and considered auctioning the operating rights of the salt farm. It is equivalent to a kind of lease, that is, the salt merchant pays a sum of silver , obtain the right to use the salt field for five years, and then return it after five years. In this way, the court does not have to control how the salt is produced and sold. It is all left to the salt merchants."
Xie Qian was shocked, "But if this is the case, wouldn't the salt industry be controlled by private individuals?!"
"What can a few businessmen control? But this method does have its own shortcomings. Of course, the advantage is that it reduces the cost of the court. All the salt administration officials starting from the Yunsi can be removed, so it is so smooth The salary will also be saved by hundreds of thousands taels. At the same time, the court can still obtain salt lessons through auction."
Put it this way,
Zhao Shen's memorial should have given the emperor a good excuse.
"If His Majesty really has this idea, why would he need to go to war in Yangzhou like this?"
"If the imperial court moves like this, it will be easy to implement the reform of the Salt Law. Otherwise, how could anyone be so obedient?"
The emperor always acted thoughtfully.
And if nothing else,
The amount of silver copied from Yangzhou alone would not be less than five million taels.
For this money, it's worth taking action.
Zhu Houzhao also knew this.
But what he has to worry about now is that as an emperor, he holds too much wealth.
Although by strengthening the military and providing relief to the lowest households, the situation can be stabilized to a certain extent, at least without major chaos, but such a concentration of wealth will make the country rich and the people poor. If this continues, there will be endless troubles.
If the money is spent more slowly, and if Yangzhou does not get any silver taels, the internal funds will probably exceed 10 million taels of silver.
At the same time, the Ming Dynasty was still somewhat short of silver at this time.
If you do this, there is a high probability that problems will arise in the private economy.
After the officials left,
Zhu Houzhao calmed down his emotions.
He was thinking about spending his money.
For hundreds of thousands of kitchen households, assuming three taels of silver per person, they would need at least 600,000 taels of silver. Considering that there would still be encroachment in the process, he would have an extra 200,000, so the 800,000 would have to be spent.
As a result, there are still about 4.4 million taels of silver in the internal funds.
He would have to spend at least another four million taels. In this way, including Yangzhou's internal money, there would still be more than five million taels of silver, which was considered a lot.
"...Liu Jin, go and bring the two ministers from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Rites."
Liu Jin felt sorry for the emperor, "Your Majesty, you are already tired today, why don't you wait until tomorrow?"
Zhu Houzhao is not a bad-brained guy, especially this serious illness made him realize something.
Don't be in a hurry when doing work. If you keep spinning, the days won't last long.
In particular, his father is also the same example.
So after thinking about it for a while, I said, "Let's put them first tomorrow afternoon."
"Yes." Liu Jin was very happy when she saw that she had succeeded in admonishing him.
He had been in some trouble lately, and anything that could prove his standing in the Emperor's mind pleased him.
Zhu Houzhao stood up and twisted.
The sun has slowly set outside, and the heat of midday has disappeared. The pavilion by the lake is a bit cool.
Since he was not dealing with government affairs today, he wanted to take a short rest and continue to recover, so he also found some fun for himself.
Just call Qiu Yun to play chess with him.
Eat some light food and have a good sleep at night, it will be much more comfortable.
The second day.
Lin Han, the Minister of Rites, and Zeng Jian, the Minister of Industry, entered the palace in accordance with the decree.
Zhu Houzhao's face became more rosy, and the young man's vitality seemed to have returned mostly, "...I want to build a larger library in the capital."
The word library is easier for the ancients to understand.
"Library?"
"Yes. I know that the imperial court has Wenyuan Pavilion to collect books and classics. But that is where I study and study. This time, I want to build a library for ordinary people."
Lin Han and Zeng Jian were both a little surprised.
But even though it was strange... they couldn't object. After all, there's nothing wrong with that.
"Your Majesty's intention is to use the library to educate all people."
"You can say that."
Lin Han thought about it and didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but finally agreed, "This is good governance that will benefit the present generation and benefit future generations! In this way, our Ming Dynasty ethical culture will surely prosper!"
Although Zhu Houzhao didn't like these two veterans very much, they were just pedantic and not evil.
"What I want is to choose a place for the library in the west city, close to the academy, and as large as possible to avoid not having enough books in the future. Of course, if the place is not big enough, then it should be farther away. In short, it needs to be big first."
Zeng Jian didn't understand, "Your Majesty, how big is this?"
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, "It must be able to accommodate five thousand people studying here at the same time."
"Five thousand people?!"
Confucius only had three thousand disciples.
However, Zhu Houzhao calculated based on the number of people who took the examination. In the imperial examination year, there will basically be about 5,000 candidates entering Beijing.
But the number of people is one thing. The most important thing is that when it gets bigger, it can cover everything and put more books.
And he will not only store Confucian classics, but also store books on military affairs, history, agriculture, and even economics books in the future, books from the Institute of Gewu, etc.
However, he would not talk to the two veterans about putting books other than Confucian classics.
Now it's enough to just talk about building a library.
Zeng Jian had nothing to say about this. He only had one explanation, "I heard that Your Majesty has established the Capital Planning Department. For a large building like the library, do you need Song Sizheng to cooperate with it?"
Zhu Houzhao nodded, "This is no problem, I will tell him."
In addition, the library will be non-profit in nature.
Because it is for ordinary people, everyone will actually be allowed to enter it freely and for free.
Our nation attaches great importance to education. At this time, there is no theory that reading is useless. At this time, everything is inferior, only reading is high.
But reading in ancient times was not easy. If your family was poor, where did the books come from?
And if the imperial court creates a treasure house of knowledge and opens it to the outside world, who says there won't be military geniuses who have read military books and internal affairs talents who are good at economics?
It can be said that this is the surprise of the future.
