There was a light rain in the Lianghuai area in early September.
Yang Tinghe frowned as he looked at the rain.
His memorial has been uploaded, mainly to report to the emperor that the disaster relief households are on the right track. He worked closely with the Salt Secretary Zhao Shen to mobilize the various salt officials in the salt field itself, and purchased grain from Yingtian Mansion and other places...
Things are complicated, and some of them are uncertain and cannot be supervised. However, if so much food goes out, some of it will leak into the hands of kitchen households.
Yang Tinghe thought so.
It just rained and the roads were muddy for a few days, which actually delayed the transportation of grain.
Miaowan Salt Farm is located in Qinghe County, Huai'an Prefecture. There are more than 6,000 Zao households here, so it is considered a large-scale salt farm.
Yang Tinghe couldn't visit all the salt fields in a short time, but he still had to go to one or two. The corruption in the salt class is so great that if the emperor allocates food but cannot get it, there will still be a civil uprising in the end.
How should he, the imperial envoy, explain this?
The reason why I chose Miaowan is because the food here is consumed too quickly. More than 6,000 people, 2 kilograms of grain a day, 10,000 shi and 1.5 million kilograms of grain are enough to last more than 100 days.
Even if you include all the layers of exploitation, you can still survive 50 days, right?
However, just 30 days after the Miaowan Salt Farm received food, it was reported that the food would be exhausted in the next 10 days.
The ambassador of Miaowan Saltworks was named Peng Linkun, and Yang Tinghe kidnapped him without saying a word!
"Zhao households live a hard life. They often work hard day and night and have no peace of mind. The imperial court cannot bear it and allocates food for disaster relief. As the ambassador of the saltworks, how can you use more than 100 days of food in 40 days? Do you really think Does this imperial envoy dare not kill anyone?"
Peng Linkun stretched his neck and shouted, "Sir, go to Miaowan and take a look and you will know!"
Only in this section does Yang Tinghe go to Huai'an Mansion in the mud and rain.
The group of them hid in a pavilion by the roadside. There was a dense bamboo forest on the side. The rain hitting the bamboo leaves was originally refreshing and soothing, but everyone in the pavilion was anxious.
According to Peng Linkun, there are only over 6,000 kitchen households in the Miaowan Salt Farm, and there are actually more than 15,000.
Yang Tinghe originally thought that there was an old practice in providing relief to kitchen households, so it should not be a big problem.
Just like "registrations" such as "military and craftsman", Zao households also have their own registration, and the Ming Dynasty stipulated that Zao households were not allowed to leave their registration without permission.
In order to strengthen management, the Salt Transportation Department will also register kitchen households and their related information in a register, called a salt register or a stove register. The contents include the total number of kitchen households in the salt farm, the number of kitchen workers per household, the number of salt lessons each household should pay, etc. It can be said to be very detailed.
During disaster relief, grains should be distributed one by one according to the salt book. Although there are deductions, the whole chain is complete. What big problem could there be?
But actually when you get to the bottom, you will understand that the amount of salt tax that should be paid is related to the number of stoves.
The more stoves there are, the more salt lessons will be paid.
Therefore, during the more than one hundred years from the early Ming Dynasty to Zhengde, one thing naturally happened: the number of Zaoding households was concealed.
The number reported at all levels is more than 6,000 kitchen households, but where does it actually end?
When I turned in the salt tax, I paid it according to the smaller number.
Now that everyone is queuing up to receive life-saving food, are the extra people allowed to starve to death?
Peng Linkun cannot do such a thing. He distributes grain according to the actual kitchen households.
As a result, food is naturally consumed very quickly.
Even without corruption and exploitation, it would have lasted about 50 days. Now that he has survived 40 days, he is considered to be doing well.
After Yang Tinghe confirmed this, he had Peng Linkun loosened. The skinny monkey like a ruffian hid in the corner of the pavilion and rubbed his arm, probably because it hurt.
When I looked up at the high-ranking officials from Beijing, I felt that their faces were full of melancholy and deep thoughts, and they were probably thinking more than rough people like them.
"No wonder His Majesty wants to send so much more food..."
Originally, 500,000 dan and 75 million kilograms of grain would feed 50,000 people for two years.
Yang Tinghe put his hands behind his back and said, "That's why your Majesty often says that the country's affairs are difficult. Sometimes, there are some things that others think can be changed, but your Majesty just refuses. It's because Ming's illness is more serious than ordinary people expect."
"Brother Jiefu, what about the difference? Should we provide relief to those who are not registered or not?"
"Come on, Salt Secretary!" Peng Linkun must have heard this and hurriedly knelt down and said: "This year, the imperial court is rectifying the Lianghuai Salt Works. Regardless of whether they are registered or not, the kitchen workers have run out of food. If we only provide relief to those who are registered, Ding, the remaining people will definitely rob the food! The consequences will be disastrous!"
After all, Zhao Shen had arrested thieves. He would not be so kind to unruly people, so he scolded him harshly: "Then when you hid the story from the stove, why didn't you think about today? You didn't pay the salt tax that you should have paid. How can there be such a truth in the world when you receive food essentials?!"
Peng Linkun was naturally speechless. He was a minor character, and the concealment of the number of cooks did not begin with him.
"Brother Huixing (Zhao Shen)," Yang Tinghe frowned and stopped him, "This is an old habit. It is not the fault of one or two saltworks ambassadors. It cannot be blamed on him. But... Peng Linkun, Zhao What Yan Si said makes sense, everything must be explained clearly, right?”
"Although the imperial court has food, if it rains, we don't know how long the delay will be on the road. Even if we rush the food every day, we may not be able to arrive within ten days. You said that the unregistered kitchen diners will cause trouble, then the registered kitchen diners will Woolen cloth?"
"They pay salt taxes to the court on weekdays. The court is rectifying the Lianghuai salt fields and will not leave them alone. This is only natural. Now the total food supply is not enough. What if they know that it is because they also rescued the unregistered kitchen workers? These Are people making trouble?"
Peng Linkun's face was hollow and his eyes were slender, with a grimace on his face. I was speechless at this time.
A high official is a high official, and everything he considers is thoughtful.
This problem does exist.
"That's right!" Zhao Shen said sternly: "As many people as you report, the imperial court will naturally help as many people as you want. Now that Dingkou has asked someone to hide it, can we still blame the imperial court?"
"The lower officials are responsible for this matter." Peng Linkun kowtowed, "Zhao Ding is a household with several people, and the hidden Dingkou are also in their own homes. They will not fight with their own families."
This is not easy to say.
Why care so much when people are starving to death?
Yang Tinghe thought about it carefully and said: "When the rain stops and we arrive at Miaowan, you have to issue new regulations. Each registered kitchen worker will receive two kilograms of grain per day, and the non-registered kitchen worker will receive eight taels of grain per day." . Moreover, the registered leaders and the unregistered queens. The court did not ignore them, but in this world, we cannot let them take all the advantages!"
It is impossible not to provide relief at all.
As Peng Linkun said, it would not be good if something happened.
The emperor only looks at the results, not the process. Even if you give them food and still end up having a civil uprising, even if you have a reason, you are at least not capable enough and don't know how to adapt.
But no matter what, you must let those people know that you usually take advantage, and you should stand back at this time. This is also a kind of punishment. If you are unruly, you can't be too nice to them.
The main reason is that the amount of food is not enough to feed everyone. It is raining and muddy. How about the gods bringing luck?
On the way, Yang Tinghe continued to talk to Zhao Shen,
"Relief for Zaohu households is one thing, and the auction of the salt farm must also be accelerated. Only in this way can we make the transition as soon as possible, let businessmen operate the salt farm, and let the salt farm operate again. After we return, we will write this memorial."
In fact the emperor has already started.
Because he also knew that this matter could not be delayed, and there must be a result in the first year of Zhengde.
According to what was discussed at the Qianqing Palace that day, after the imperial court rectified the Lianghuai Saltworks, it removed the Transportation Department and the Approval Office and other yamen, and re-established an auction house.
The auction house divided the 30 salt fields in the Lianghuai Salt Field, 6 of which were auctioned, and the remaining 24 were still government-run for the time being and were also located under the auction house.
From these 24 salt farms, all the salt tax revenue will no longer be turned over to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Among them, there are 6 salt classes, all of which are used to distribute rice to kitchen households in 24 salt fields in Lianghuai. The remaining 18 salt fields will be set up as redemption salt fields, so that 400,000 salt imports can be produced a year, specifically used to redeem the salt imports already issued by the previous government.
The auction house is not going anywhere. It is not located in Huai'an or Yangzhou. It is located in the capital and the east city of the capital. To the south is the city that never sleeps and to the west is Jinyiwei.
How great, if something happens here, they can be sent to Jinyiwei over there.
The auction house has one chief envoy and one deputy envoy on the left and right, responsible for 6 and 24 salt fields respectively. It seems that the number of the latter is huge, but in fact, those who manage less get more money, and those who manage more get more money but more things.
The auctions are held by year and month, with 6 auctions this year and 6 more next year. The number of salt farms will be reduced successively until the last 6 salt farms are retained until all the salt owed over the years has been redeemed.
As for how long it will take to complete the redemption, the Ministry of Revenue has no idea. From Yongle to the present, the emperors of the Zhu family have issued too many salt coins, and they have been given once every three to five, one time is ten thousand to twenty thousand coins. Who can count them?
But in any case, the imperial court's establishment of a salt farm specifically for redemption showed a completely different attitude from the past.
No one from the court to the people said they did not support it.
There will still be some difficulties in the first year, as the rice from the 24 salt farm households needs to be distributed by the court. However, in the following years, the number of salt farms auctioned gradually increases, the pressure on the court gradually decreases, and the number of officials in the auction house will be much less than that of the salt transport. Sir, if you dress simply and act lightly, you may be able to correct the shortcomings of the salt policy.
On September 6th, the emperor issued an imperial edict: Chen Jili, a doctor in the Shaofu office, was transferred to the post of left deputy envoy of the auction house, with the rank of fifth rank, responsible for the salt auction, salt merchant supervision, salt price regulation and kitchen households' livelihood;
He was sent to the Salt Transfer Department and Experience Department of the Huaidu River, You Simeng, as the right deputy envoy of the auction house, taking charge of the management of the remaining 24 government-operated salt fields. This is not much different from before, which is to manage the salt field, collect salt taxes according to the old practice, and check the salt diversion and then write off the salt.
This person is one of the seven officials who "survived" from the original Lianghuai Transportation Division.
As for the experience department, he is in charge of the clerical transactions within the yamen, a bit like the director of the general office. He has been in this position for a long time and is very clear about the procedures for handling various matters within the yamen, so he is asked to handle the remaining 24 tasks. The salt field can be called suitable.
In this matter, the emperor insisted for a while and kept all the innocent people in the case in Gao Sheng.
You Simeng is just one of them, the remaining 6 people are also in the auction house. They have transformed from local officials to capital officials, and their grades have been improved to varying degrees.
Corrupt officials will die, honest officials will be promoted.
Only when the emperor achieves this will he feel a sense of accomplishment.
As for the position of the auctioneer, this position is still unresolved...
(End of chapter)
