It's August.
The weather had turned cooler in the morning and evening. The emperor and Xu Guan were walking along the corridor in the palace. At the corner of the corridor, there would be some eunuchs standing with their heads lowered and silent.
"The salary of the Shenwu Guards comes from internal funds, which is three times that of Class A Guards. The name and birthplace information of each soldier is kept by the Attendant's Office, without going through the Ministry of War or the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division. It is somewhat similar to the common surnames in the folk. The slaves you have collected will become members of my Zhu family after you are crowned."
Zhu Houzhao is not too small because he exercises regularly and eats in a balanced manner. He is considered a seven-foot man. Moreover, they live a good life all year round, and they can be said to have fine skin and tender meat, just like a white-flour niche.
Being in a high position gave him a dignified look between his brows. With a jade belt around his waist, he looked really handsome when he walked.
But standing next to a big man like Xu Guan, who is so broad-shouldered and round-waisted, he seems to be a little smaller overall.
"The general understands what your majesty means."
"Then do you understand why I set up a divine guard?"
"The general is confused, please make it clear, Your Majesty."
Zhu Houzhao folded his hands on his chest, straightened his waist, his eyes were slightly tilted, but he did not speak.
The wind blew up the pink petals that fell on the ground and passed before their eyes.
"...General Xu will understand in the future. For now, let's take care of the Shenwu Guards."
There was no one to report private matters to the emperor, but if so much money was not confiscated at once, it must have had an impact. On this basis, Zhu Houzhao, as a latecomer, still cannot stop his reform actions.
And he remembered that during the Zhengde period, a vassal king rebelled.
Furthermore, Zhu Houzhao yearned for the world outside the Forbidden City, the scenery of the Great Wall, and the grasslands of the desert. If the emperor of the Han people did not go there, how could he achieve great martial arts achievements?
Going on a personal expedition was something he had always wanted to do.
All this requires an elite force to guard him.
The so-called reformers are those who touch inherent interests. Whether they are emperors or ministers, they are actually dangerous.
At the end of the corridor are his courtiers.
Zhu Houzhao glanced sideways at Xu Guan. He understood, bowed and clasped his fists, "Wei Chen, please leave."
"Um."
Then the emperor quickened his pace and walked quickly to the courtiers. He kept saying: "It's hot outside, go to Qianqing Palace."
Under Zhu Houzhao's arbitrariness, the officials of the Lianghuai Transportation Department had no chance of turning over.
As the dust settles on this matter, other matters will gradually be put on the agenda.
The ministers are summoned today to focus on four topics.
First, the matter of special salary issued by the emperor's decree has been brewing for so many days, and it is probably about to come to a conclusion.
Second, Zhu Houzhao killed some people, but the court's purpose was not to kill these people. How to deal with the next matter is the most important thing.
Thirdly, the Shaofu is independent, and the matter of setting it as the seventh department must be formally clarified by imperial edict.
Fourthly, many officials from the Huaiyuan Department were killed, as were businessmen. The court had to sort out its accounts and plan to spend some money.
It seems like a lot at first glance, but it's actually not difficult at all.
Especially the special salary.
The source of special salary is internal funds. Its essence is that the emperor uses his own money to support his trusted ministers.
If someone is willing to pay money, he will be rewarded as a minister. Except for the person who is awarded a special salary, he must be polite, so that others will not offend others in this kind of thing.
"...According to the results of discussions between the cabinet and the six ministries, the special salary is set into six levels, namely thirty thousand taels, ten thousand taels, five thousand taels, three thousand taels, one thousand taels and five hundred taels of silver per year. Minister of the Central Government No matter whether it is literary or military, as long as you receive an award, you will receive a special salary every year. Of course, if the person is arrogant and does not know good and evil, he will also take back what should be taken back."
Zhu Houzhao held in his hand the "Details of Special Salaries" that had been drafted by the cabinet.
After today's discussion, the seal will be used to seal the world.
"The implementation of the special salary was not to protect all ministers of the Ming Dynasty, but only to protect those ministers who were unwilling to be corrupt. At that time, Zhang Mao, the deputy censor of Zhang Zuo, used festival tributes to entertain guests. Life was so difficult. This was the imperial court forcing ministers to become corrupt officials. I I couldn't bear it, so I came up with this idea. And the list... has already been drawn up."
"The so-called special salary, the key is the word special. Only with special merit can you get this honor. As for what is special...for example, Mr. Li Ge and Mr. Liu Ge are loyal and diligent to the country. When I was still the prince, , I saw with my own eyes that they were working at their desks every day to deal with government affairs. The so-called paperwork and paperwork have been going on for decades, which can be called special."
Li Dongyang and Xie Qian both came out. They were wearing red robes, and their hair was much whiter than in previous years. Especially Li Dongyang, whose eyes were swollen and his skin was wrinkled. There was one age spot on his nose and one on his cheek. After all, he was over sixty.
It is not easy to serve such an emperor who is both good and evil, shrewd and arbitrary.
"I am ashamed of myself."
"Hey." Zhu Houzhao walked down the steps and helped the two veterans.
In any case, he is a young man with fair cheeks and rosy cheeks, while he is an old man who has served the country for decades. He is not a powerful minister, nor does he govern indiscriminately. He is basically very decent.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao's support made him respect the old and love the young.
Even if he ignored all these, after all, he had just killed so many people, and he looked mean and unkind, and giving a sweet date after the big stick was a basic skill.
"There is no need for Mr. Li Ge and Mr. Xie Ge to be modest. I am young, and if we do not have the important task of running the country without the two elders, I am afraid there will be more troubles. It's just that I am sometimes a little stubborn, but that is not the right thing. People. And I also know that the cabinet is hard working."
The emperor's sudden warm words made all the six ministers and ministers of Qianqing Palace feel warm. For a while, the emperor's face had always been frosty, which made them a little scared. Today finally...some nice words came out.
They all felt that the emperor was filial and loving to the people, and it seemed that such an emperor still existed.
Li Dongyang and Xie Qian felt even more flattered.
"Your Majesty is serious, so-called hard work is also the duty of a minister. As for the special salary... I have no children, and all I need is three meals a day and food for the four seasons. How can I use the special salary in a year? I beg your Majesty to take back your order. It would be better if the money is given to the landless people."
Li Dongyang said this,
Xie Qian had no choice but to keep up.
But Zhu Houzhao didn't let them talk, "Two cabinet elders, don't refuse. If you don't accept this money, how can others dare to accept it? Besides, if the person who received my special salary is found to be still accepting bribes, then what will happen?" If you want the crime to be increased one level, do you want me to use this provocative method?"
He said this as if Mr. Ge had a guilty conscience and did not dare to accept this move.
So I didn’t continue to decline.
However, even though he is a pavilion elder, the special salary level announced by the emperor is only the second level, which is 10,000 taels per year.
This made all the six ministers curious.
Even Li and Xie are only in the second class, so are there anyone in the first class?
Indeed, the thirty thousand taels of first-class money were put there by Zhu Houzhao for people to see.
Just like the first-rank official of the Ming Dynasty, it is extremely difficult for people not named Zhu to become one.
In Zhu Houzhao's heart, this level is reserved for those who have made meritorious deeds, such as rescuing someone from a dragon or opening up new territory. In addition, he is still waiting to see if someone in the academy will make any technological breakthroughs, so that he can reward them.
Spending a little money to serve as a demonstration is very profitable.
As for ordinary things that ordinary people do, ten thousand taels is enough.
The emperor is a person with very mature political skills, and it is impossible to appoint someone higher than the cabinet for no reason. Therefore, since the cabinet is always second-rate, the remaining people have no other ideas.
Next, Gu Zuo was ranked second because he did too many things in charge of the Young Mansion.
Normally, Han Wen and Min Gui would only be ranked fourth.
Subsequently, Liang Chu, the Minister of Personnel, Wang Bing, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the two Ministers of the Reprocessing Department and the Ministry of Rites did not receive special salaries. This was something Zhu Houzhao decided after thinking about it for a long time.
First of all, you can't keep just one of them. It's insulting. If you want to keep, keep more. It's easier for the four of them to "join each other for warmth".
Because the special salary is based on merit and not on closeness, it is not easy to get it. It has nothing to do with the size of the official position. If you get a special salary when you become a senior official, then it will be a little distorted from the beginning.
For example, Yang Yiqing, who won the Battle of Huamachi, can be ranked as the second class, Wang Hao, who has successfully opened the sea, can be classified as the second class, and Wang Shouren, who has contributed to the suppression of bandits in Fujian, can be classified as the third class.
In addition to these normal official names, there are also some strange ones...
For example, the Women's Medical Center said that Yunxian saved lives and healed the wounded, and was a benevolent doctor, and was ranked as the fourth class. Zhang Mao, the deputy censor of Zuodu, was ranked as fourth class because of his clean reputation, and was specially awarded three thousand taels of silver.
special,
The key is special.
This list will continue to grow in the future, but if you add them one by one, those without military merit or special circumstances may not even be able to get 500 taels.
Despite this, the special salary will also cost the internal funds nearly 100,000 taels of silver every year.
Fortunately, the four ministers, as well as the minister of Dali Temple, the general envoy, and the censor of Zuodu did not have this name, so this arrangement did not seem particularly strange, and none of them would feel that the emperor was targeting him. them.
Stop talking about them,
Didn’t Liu Jian not have it either?
Zhu Houzhao didn't want to waste too much time on this. Anyway, the specific implementation path was very simple. Because the number of people was small, he could give it to them in person at the appropriate time.
In addition to being a reward, the purpose of this special salary is also to make non-corrupt people bulge their pockets and become more "confident". Like Zhang Mao, if the court does not starve him, he can annoy corrupt officials to death.
Liu Jin unfolded the imperial edict on the imperial case, and the emperor used the seal in front of everyone.
With a bang, a modest reform was finally put on paper.
After Zhu Houzhao handed the imperial edict to Liu Jin, he came out from behind the imperial case and walked slowly towards the gate of Qianqing Palace until he reached the threshold.
Turning his back to the ministers, he said:
"I still remember that in the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, when I was investigating the case in Zhejiang, someone mentioned that the imperial court must not compete with the people for profit. But I don't like money, so I am willing to give up this money.
The so-called imperial court consists of several palaces and yamen, and food must be eaten in separate pots. "
The morning breeze outside the door blew Zhu Houzhao's hair wildly, and the emperor's words echoed in the palace, ringing over and over again.
"I am the emperor, and you are all important ministers of the country. In the eyes of future generations, our actions will be known. I don't know what you think. Do you want to leave a name in history, or do you want to ignore the floods after my death? , but I am responsible for this dragon chair."
"There are too many regrets in history. Confucius was born at the wrong time, Huo Qubing died young, the Anshi Rebellion wiped out the Tang Dynasty in one night, and the turmoil of the Tingyue, Wumu and Mu will leave hatred for eternity... My dear friends, I don't want these regrets to happen to Zhengde as well. towards.
My father has been in power for eighteen years and has worked hard to govern. All the people he employs in the court are good ministers. I am only sixteen years old, and I am in the prime of my youth. Outside the territory, the Tatars were divided, and there were no wars in the Central Plains. Under such conditions, if I, Zhu Houzhao..."
The emperor pointed at himself,
Then he changed the direction and pointed at the standing minister, "You Li, Xie, Han, Min... there are so many of you, but you can't create a peaceful country and a peaceful people for all directions, so we people shouldn't pride ourselves too much. I'm afraid I will still become a joke to future generations."
These are words from the bottom of my heart, and as soon as I say them, I have the aspiration of an emperor.
"My Holy Emperor!! My Holy Emperor!!"
Zhu Houzhao turned sideways and looked at the people kneeling on the ground with a calm expression.
"My sage alone is of no use, a strong country still depends on you. Jin Gui,"
"Wei Chen is here."
"Let's talk about the next thing."
"yes."
Next on the agenda, salt.
The officials of Yunsi and the merchants of Lianghuai were completely destroyed by "power" in a torn way. Now Yang Tinghe and Zhao Shen are still holding on there, but the official system has been destroyed and cannot be delayed indefinitely.
What to do next? This question needs to be answered quickly and well.
The purpose of the imperial court and Zhu Houzhao was to hope that the Lianghuai Salt Fields would operate normally and that the income from the imperial salt classes would increase. It’s not just about arresting those people and killing them.
While that's great, not taking care of the aftermath can be a disaster.
One of the ways to deal with the aftermath is to try to implement an auction method and hand over the salt farm to salt merchants to return to normal as soon as possible.
In fact, the so-called Lianghuai Salt Fields actually refer to the Huaibei and Huainan Salt Fields, which are mainly located along the eastern seaboard. They have been an important salt production area since the Han Dynasty.
In the 26th year of Zhizheng Dynasty, Emperor Taizu established a salt district here, with a total of 29 salt fields under his jurisdiction. In the 7th year of Chenghua, another ancient stove relic was discovered. Because of its "vast land and salty water, it is suitable to set up salt frying", so Emperor Chenghua ordered the establishment of Tianci salt fields. Today, there are 30 salt fields in Lianghuai and more than 50,000 kitchen households.
By the mid-Ming Dynasty, the official output of salt in Lianghuai was about 140 million jins. During the Hongzhi period, Yanyin was changed to Xiaoyin, and one yin of salt was about 200 jins (before Hongzhi, it was 400 jins). Therefore, converted into Yanyin, two jins of salt were The Huai salt field can produce 700,000 tons of salt a year, which is much higher than the 400,000 tons of salt fields in Zhejiang and Zhejiang provinces and the 150,000 tons of salt produced in Shandong. It accounts for nearly a quarter of the 3 million tons of salt produced in the Ming Dynasty.
This does not include the amount of private salt produced by kitchen households.
The price of each salt is about 0.7 taels, so the salt course alone costs about 500,000 taels. In addition, there are also some 'handling fees'. For example, when paying for salt, you need to pay 0.05 taels for each salt. These silvers are 'Keep the treasurer in preparation for the relief', so it is called relief silver.
In addition, there are also "imposition of silver fines", "cutting off and confiscation of silver", etc.
It can be said that there are exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, with many names.
All in all, adding up the mess, the Lianghuai Salt Class in the Ming Dynasty paid 600,000 to 700,000 taels of silver every year, accounting for about one-third of the annual income of salt classes nationwide.
The annual income ratio is higher than the output ratio because Lianghuai salt is the best and has the highest price.
Same as above, the income from the salt class cannot be included in the smuggled private salt.
In fact, judging from the extent of "no official and no private", the proportion of residual salt other than regular salt will be quite high.
Perhaps, if the imperial court auctions a salt farm, the salt production of a certain salt farm will double.
And if the salt merchants quoted 0.7 taels of silver per citation and still made a profit after paying various "exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes," then it can be reasonably estimated that the unit price of the salt citations auctioned could easily increase to one tael.
On average, each salt farm produces about 23,000 tons of normal salt per year. Calculating the surplus salt, it is reasonably estimated to be 30,000 tons. If the auction is divided into five years, six properties can be auctioned in one year, so the amount of auction proceeds can reach 180,000 taels.
This number still needed to be multiplied by five, that is, a total of 900,000 taels, before the court agreed to hand over the management rights of the six salt farms to businessmen.
Because the operating rights are for five years at a time, of course, you will be charged for five years! How many bowls of noodles have been eaten? The calculation cannot be wrong.
For a businessman, if he buys a salt farm, it will cost about 180,000 taels of silver, plus some costs, the total is 200,000 taels. With this money, 200,000 yuan and 40 million jins of salt in the next five years will belong to him.
In fact, the price of one tael per quote may be lower. After all, the "exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes" only add 0.3 to the 0.7, which is a slightly lower ratio. There is a big question mark as to whether the Ming Dynasty's bureaucrats performed so well.
But in the beginning, it’s always a matter of taking your time. A salt farm has hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. After the Lianghuai salt merchants suffered serious injuries, it is estimated that not many people can get so much silver.
Moreover, the cost of salt merchants is not only the auction fees, but also the wages of the kitchen households who produce salt for them.
Therefore, the estimated unit price of 1 liang per liter and the estimated production volume from 23,000 to 30,000 are not significant increases. In fact, I don’t know how many tricks there are inside.
But even so, Zhu Houzhao felt that it was enough.
Because in addition to the rising annual income of the Salt Class, the imperial court could also get rid of the messy Yunsi Yamen and sweep all those "insects" into the garbage dump. This time, the difference would be huge.
Therefore, this transaction gave Zhu Houzhao great motivation to advance.
Of course, the Young Master and the Cabinet raised another question,
Li Dongyang said, "If the 6 salt fields this year are successfully auctioned, what will happen to the remaining 24 salt fields?"
Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly,
Discussions between the emperor and ministers should be aimed at solving problems, not who is a gentleman and who is a villain.
Later Han Wen added: "First of all, it cannot be shut down. More than 700,000 tons of salt enter the market every year? After so many salt farms are closed, salt production will drop sharply, which will inevitably make the price of salt higher."
Zhu Houzhao crossed his arms and swayed while listening to the suggestions of his ministers.
"Wei Chen thinks that we should choose a few places to be listed as Duizhi Salt Farm?"
Zhu Houzhao suddenly raised his head, "Who said this?"
A young blue-robed official was shocked by the king's power and thought that he had said something wrong. He hurriedly knelt down and said, "It was what Wei Chen said."
"What's your name? What's your position?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty. Chen Jili, a minor minister, is the first doctor of the Shaofu."
Gu Zuo added, "At the beginning of the year, His Majesty decreed that the remaining workers in the capital be trained as shipwrights, and the ministers chose this person to take charge of the matter. Today, His Majesty called for a discussion on spending money to build roads. Mr. Chen has Zhuan Shu submitted the memorial, and I thought it made some sense, so I brought it along with me."
Oh, but that is a topic for later.
Zhu Houzhao took a look at the young man named Chen Jili. He didn't even have a beard on his mouth, and his round face actually looked a bit childish.
"I know, let's not mention it for now. Mr. Chen, what do you mean by Shouzhi Salt Farm? Please tell me in detail."
Chen Jili's heart skipped a beat, and he swallowed two mouthfuls of saliva and said: "In the Salt Course case, everyone inside and outside knew the suffering of private salt merchants. This time the imperial court killed salt officials and punished salt merchants to eliminate the harm of powerful people occupying and selling their nests. The act of cutting out flesh to mend sores is praised by the common people. But this time the salt is auctioned, so what should we do with the salt in the hands of the salt merchants in the past?"
"What you mean is that the court cannot default on its debts."
Chen Jili was startled, "I don't dare."
The emperor was silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"Get up." Zhu Houzhao felt relieved that someone finally said that the government cannot default on its debts.
Many businessmen in the private sector have understood the importance of honesty in business, but unfortunately most people in the official position do not understand, because power can easily overwhelm businessmen without them feeling any consequences.
In fact, the excessive issuance of salt is essentially the exploitation of merchants, which can be seen from the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes. Couldn’t emperors like Yongle and Xuande understand?
impossible.
Even if latecomers such as Hongzhi didn't understand it, the ministers in the court explained the principles in a simple way.
But why can’t we cure diseases caused by excessive salt consumption?
In the final analysis, business is the last word. You should contribute to the imperial court.
Commercial activities always suffer from various kinds of damage and cannot develop and grow. One of the reasons may be the wanton destruction of powerful people.
"The imperial court cannot default on its debts." Zhu Houzhao said again, "This is a good suggestion. But how many salt fields should the imperial court choose as the salt field for redemption?"
If you continue to ask questions like this, it will become a practical operation.
Emperor Zhengde paid more attention to this point, even more than the proposal itself.
Chen Jili continued: "If the auction goes well, the income from the Lianghuai Salt Course this year will far exceed that of previous years. Therefore, the number of Duishi Salt Farms may be larger."
"Why?"
"Since we have to accept the salt merchants, we can't be petty. The current problem of keeping the deposit is serious, and some salt merchants even have to keep it for decades. It can be seen that one or two salt fields can not make a splash as a deposit salt field, and they cannot even make a splash. Let the merchants feel the court's determination to keep the promise. If it has such an effect, it is better to give up."
It's just a shame if you really let it go. Anyway, it's not the first time.
"It's tasteless to eat, it's a pity to throw it away." Zhu Houzhao nodded, "One or two salt fields are indeed easy to have side effects. My dear friends, what do you think?"
