The youngest could never have imagined that his experience that day would bring such huge changes to Anxian County and even the country of Great China.
First, the neighbors in the village spread the news about their encounter with the saltwater cave to the town. It happened that He Guanggen, the political secretary who was sent to explore the mine, heard it. The three political ministers asked the youngest to lead the way, and they confirmed that the cave was indeed As soon as the top-grade salt mine was discovered, he rushed back to Fuzhou Salt Transportation Administration Office at starry night to report the good news. After hearing this, Lu Binxian, the Salt Transportation Inspector of Fuzhou Salt Transportation Administration Office, hurriedly called the chief official who specializes in salt refining. After confirming the quality of the ore, he was overjoyed. The busy people called back those who had dispersed and went to various places and transferred them to Blind Mountain.
After seven or eight days of exploration by hundreds of people, they found out that the vein was more than ten miles long, several miles wide, and more than ten feet deep. It was a huge mine that had never been seen before, enough to feed the entire people of China for a hundred years. Not long after, Lu Binxian issued an order to seal off Blind Mountain to prevent neighboring people from illegally harvesting. After everything calmed down, he drafted an urgent official document of three hundred miles and submitted it to Xu Yongnian, the county's Salt Transportation Secretary.
Xu Yongnian has been the Salt Transportation Secretary of Anxian County for more than three years. He has made no achievements during his tenure. Seeing that the big exam is coming, he is afraid that he will have to be transferred or demoted. After reading Lu Binxian's submission, he felt as if he was grasping a life-saving straw. He was so happy that he quickly asked his staff to draft a memorial of several thousand words to report the good news and express his merits. He hurriedly submitted it to the capital for 500 miles. The staff member was also a practical person and quite talented. In the memorial, he not only reported that the county had discovered this rare giant mine, but also applied for the construction of a Salt Administration Post Road to arrange for the mining, refining, and protection of mineral salt. Transport team, estimate the annual production quality of sand salt and pink salt, and propose many proposals such as liberalizing private salt trade and formulating salt tax.
The emperor was so happy after reading the memorial that he praised the word "wonderful" several times. Although I did not agree with many of the proposals submitted by Xu Yongnian, I deeply felt that he was passionate about serving the people, and I was both grateful and pleased. The next day, an imperial edict was issued, which simply said: In recognition of his great achievements and to show his great benevolence, he was specially promoted to the second level, to the second rank of the Minister of Qoros, and was given an official land of 100 hectares, and all his descendants for three generations became official officials.
But Xu Yongnian seemed to be destined to have little fortune and blessings. After receiving the imperial edict, he was extremely happy and sad. He laughed so hard that he couldn't take a breath and actually choked to death in front of the eunuch who announced the edict.
Dahua was founded by Xia Ruren, a former general of the previous dynasty. It has been more than 300 years since its founding. It has had 22 emperors. The current dynasty is the 23rd emperor with the reign name Yonghua. In fact, Emperor Yonghua did not really care about imperial power, but was obsessed with the art of immortality. It was only because the old emperor and several princes fought fiercely with each other, dying, crippled, and walking around, that they could not find a suitable crown prince for a while. Seeing that his time was approaching, Emperor Yonghua was forced to ascend the throne. After Emperor Yonghua came to the throne, he was considered diligent and hard-working, and there was no delay in important state affairs. It's just that I really don't like this kind of power in my heart, and because people are very kind-hearted and don't want to be killed, the situation in the country of Great China is not very good. Party disputes continue. Although there are no wars, the people's lives are not as prosperous as in previous dynasties.
Emperor Yonghua had nine sons, among whom the third prince, the sixth prince and the seventh prince were all outstanding among men, and they were proficient in all kinds of civil and military strategies. Emperor Yonghua had been the emperor for more than 20 years, and he was already tired of it. He always wanted to choose one of the three princes to pass on the throne. However, the three princes were all outstanding, each with their own unique characteristics. Well, it’s really hard to decide in the short term. Since the death of Xu Yongnian, the three princes have successively recommended their confidants to take over the position of salt transport administrator in Anxian County. Emperor Yonghua was hesitant for a while and felt very irritated.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the imperial court's money has almost always come from four sources: coinage, salt transportation, government land, and taxes.
Minting is one of the ten ministries. It is responsible for casting gold ingots, silver ingots, and copper inscriptions. There are also minting departments in each county, which are responsible for the exchange of silver and money, and the smelting of broken silver, broken gold, and broken copper. They are the throat of the people's livelihood. Throughout the history of the dynasties, the Mint Department was personally controlled by the emperor, and there was no head minister. However, six years ago, Emperor Yonghua handed it over to the director Ni Juzheng, the leader of his confidants.
Official land and military land are collectively called "official land" and are scattered among counties and states. They are managed by the county administration department, state administration department, and the resident general's office. Every year, the income is reported to the treasury of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War.
Taxation includes agricultural tax and commercial tax. The tax system in various places is not general. Dahua has promulgated tax laws: the agricultural tax and commercial tax in the capital are both fifteen and one, which is the lowest; in each county, the agricultural tax is fourteen. The tax is one, and the commercial tax is one of thirteen taxes; for each state government, the agricultural tax and commercial tax are both one of thirteen taxes. Local taxes are collected by prefectures, prefectures, and county bureaus and uniformly reported to the treasury of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
In the early days of the Great China, Salt Transportation was originally affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce. However, more than a hundred years ago, many salt mines were discovered in various counties and prefectures. At one time, the output of Salt Transportation accounted for 60% of the Ministry of Commerce. It gradually grew in size and was finally separated. Although it is not classified as a separate ministry, it is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce. The rank of the Yanyun County Administration Secretary has also been upgraded from the original third rank to the second rank, which is one rank lower than the heads of each ministry and lower than the rank of the County Administration Secretary. Only half a level lower. At that time, there were three salt transportation county administrations, which were stationed in Anxian County, Xiangyang County and Shilong County. Among them, Anxian produced mineral salt, also called "sand salt" and "pink salt"; Xiangyang, Shilong and What the dragon produces is sea salt. The best sand salt tastes salty, but not astringent or bitter. However, sea salt, no matter how it is refined, always has a bit of astringency and bitterness. Therefore, although the price is less than half that of sand salt, it is still not enough for consumers. 30%. Anxian County is naturally the first among the three salt-producing counties.
In particular, the newly discovered mineral vein is of high quality and has huge reserves. There is even a mine that can be used by the world. Its importance is self-evident.
Dahua Capital City, inside Ruiyun Tower.
"Siyuan, the day before yesterday, I recommended you to my father to be the Salt Transportation Secretary of Anxian County. What do you think?" A man in his thirties, dressed in rich clothes, sat in the upper seat, sipping wine and looking towards the audience. The man in purple on the lower left asked with a smile.
The man in purple was stunned for a moment, obviously quite surprised. After a while, he clasped his fists and said, "Although Siyuan is not talented, if he takes up the post, he will do his best and live up to the prince's high expectations."
The man in gorgeous clothes is the current sixth son of Emperor Yonghua, Prince Jaw Xia Muchao. Xia Mu was so favored by heaven that he was lucky enough to be born as a prince. He was also smart, eager to learn, and extremely talented. Not only did he study geography, astronomy, and the investigation of things to gain knowledge, he was also deeply involved in running the country and leading the army. He was a rare all-rounder and was known as the "Wisdom Prince" in the court.
At this moment, Xia Muchao stood up from his seat, walked over to the man named Mei Siyuan with a wine glass in his hand, took the wine bottle from the table, and then went to get Mei Siyuan's wine glass.
Mei Siyuan hurriedly stood up the moment Xia Muchao left his seat. Seeing that he was about to pour wine for her, she was frightened for a while and was about to say goodbye.
Xia Mu asked him to quit drinking, put down his glass, put his hand on Mei Siyuan's shoulder, took his glass, and filled it with wine. Looking directly into his eyes, he said in a serious voice, "Siyuan, the shortage of salt affects the court and endangers the people. It is a great emergency for the court. Solving the salt shortage cannot be delayed!"
Mei Siyuan's eyes were shining with pearls, and he was speechless for a long time. He raised his glass with both hands and responded in a deep voice, "Siyuan is a courtier and has been favored by the emperor in this life, so he should bow and serve. The prince cares about the suffering of the people and sympathizes with the hardships of the people. Siyuan is lucky. , Even if I die nine times, I still have no regrets!" After finishing his words, he finished the cup in one gulp.
"Haha", Xia Muchao was very happy and drained the glass of wine in one gulp. He patted Mei Siyuan's right shoulder with his left hand and laughed loudly, "Okay, okay, with you in Anxian, the salt crisis in Dahua will be resolved within five years." "After that, return to your seat.
Xia Muchao had already taken his seat and asked Mei Siyuan to sit down as well. I heard him ask again, "This time I urgently ask you to come back. Will your wife and son come with you?"
"No, I'm still in the Qingxi County Mansion. Siyuan didn't expect what the prince wanted, so he didn't dare to move with his family." Mei Siyuan replied.
When Xia Ruren rebelled, four of his friends in the army led troops to accompany him. During the war, the five became sworn brothers, with Xia Ruren as the eldest brother, and the remaining four were renamed Zhi, Li, Yi, and Xin. Their full names were Zhu Zhi, Huang Li, Yang Yi, and Bai Xin. The five generals led the army with overwhelming force, and finally established the Great China Kingdom. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Dahua was divided into one city and twenty-six counties. Xia Ruren, in recognition of the friendship between his four sworn brothers, gave them the surnames Zhuge, Huangfu, Gongyang, and Baili, and the fiefdoms of Limin County, Baoguo County, Cangsheng County, and Youmin respectively. County, and issued a decree to future emperors: the four tribes will continue to show favor to the emperor, and the four counties' fiefs will be hereditary and will never be revoked.
Emperor Yonghua of the current dynasty did not care about power. Seven years ago, he assigned three princes of his choice to exercise power on behalf of the emperor. Each of them had jurisdiction over two counties. Qingxi County, which Mei Siyuan was in charge of, was one of the counties under King Zhi's jurisdiction. According to Dahua practice, local officials are not allowed to act without purpose. After receiving the order from King Zhi to enter the capital this time, Mei Siyuan thought that he was just performing his duties and did not dare to bring his family along with him. Xia Muchao had already known this and was not surprised. He took a glass of wine and walked from his seat to the window. After a while, he said, "Go and invite your family members. Let's stay in the palace for now. I expect you will be here within the year." We are about to leave for Anxian County. Once we have settled down in Anxian County, we will send someone to pick him up. Secretary of the Anxian Salt Transportation Department, I am 100% sure!" He looked out the window and drank a drink by himself, then looked back. Looking at Mei Siyuan, he said with determination.
