"Yuan Aiqing, do you have other considerations?"
Yuan Keli took up his pen and drew a few more strokes on the map, and several routes were standardized.
Chongzhen looked at the sign and the name marked on the map, and blurted out: "Water transport?"
"Yes, it's water transport!"
Yuan Keli put down his pen, his eyes full of fierceness.
"Shipwrecks are a common occurrence in canals, with dozens occurring every year.
But this time the shipwreck appears to be a matter of several ships sinking, but in fact there are many problems hidden behind it. "
"The salt from the Lianghuai Salt Fields cannot be transported out. Even though other salt fields in the Ming Dynasty can produce it, the gap is too big.
Salt production is a technical activity, and there will be problems if the salt produced in a hurry flows into the market. With the salt stored in various places, it is not a problem to sustain it for two or three months.
But summer is coming soon, and flood news is coming. The rivers are blocked and the floods may overflow the banks and destroy the fertile fields, which are the people's food rations. "
"The problem is that water transportation involves all aspects. The commodities transported from the south to the north mainly include cotton, silk, tea, wood, paper, porcelain, ironware, etc.
What is transported back to the south from the north is mainly cotton, dried and fresh fruits, etc.
If water transportation is blocked, these cannot be circulated. In the end, the goods in the place of origin will be overstocked and rotten.
The lack of goods in the market has led to rising prices, which in turn has caused a series of problems. "
"The most important point is the transportation of grain from the south to the north. First, it involves military pay and Beijing's supply. The lack of military pay can easily lead to mutiny.
But the Ministry of Revenue has some grain stored in Beijing, so it doesn't matter for a short period of time.
Second, the grain that His Majesty asked the Ministry of Revenue to buy from the wealthy merchants and gentry in the south cannot be transported to the designated granary. It is rainy in summer and cannot be transported in time, so it is easy to rot.
The loss of money is a small matter, but the loss of the purchased food is a big deal! "
"The two shipwrecks in Hangou and Jiangnan Canal have completely blocked the northward transportation work in Zhejiang, Zhejiang, and southern Zhili!"
After listening to Yuan Keli's analysis, the veins in Chongzhen's hands behind his back popped out due to the force.
Why did water transportation matter in ancient times? It was because transportation was convenient and low-cost.
A single horse cart can pull one thousand to two thousand kilograms, and an ox cart can pull about two thousand to three thousand kilograms, which can stretch fifty miles a day.
As for a small boat, a smaller one can carry more than 10,000 jins, and a larger one can carry 70,000 to 80,000 jins. On average, it can travel seventy or eighty miles a day. It is possible to travel two hundred miles a day if the wind and water are favorable.
To save costs, each ship is equipped with one trooper, one mate, and nine to ten sailors.
To transport 70,000 to 80,000 kilograms of goods, thirty carriages are needed, and each carriage must be equipped with at least two people.
Comparing the two, water transportation is naturally more cost-effective.
Therefore, rivers have been built in all dynasties, and the famous ones are Zhengguo Canal, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Guangtong Canal, Shanyangdu, Xu River, Qin Canal, etc.
For water transportation, water transport governors, river governors, water guard troops, water transport generals, etc. were set up, with the purpose of ensuring the smooth flow of water transportation.
This fully shows the importance of water transportation to the dynasty.
"It's such a good plan, and it turned out to be my fault!"
After figuring out the cause and effect, Chongzhen sneered.
The Ming Dynasty adopted the Gang Salt System and the Kaizhong Method. The Gang Salt System divided salt merchants into ten gangs. Only merchants registered in the gangs could get salt from the court.
The Kaizhong method is divided into three steps: reporting to the center, guarding the branches, and trading. The salt merchants transport the grain needed by the court to the border troops to report to the center.
Then exchange for salt, and then take the salt to the salt farm to collect salt as a keeper, and then send it to the respective areas to sell for market exchange.
However, the salt merchants spent a lot of money transporting grain. They finally came up with the idea of hiring laborers to cultivate fields and produce grain in places close to the border troops, and then warehoused them on the spot in exchange for salt.
Therefore, the salt merchants had a lot of cultivated land in their hands. The court's strategy of returning the land to the people was the biggest loss for the salt merchants.
As a result, profits have increased dramatically, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a huge profit.
Even so, the price of salt is still a 'luxury' product for the people.
"I haven't come to you for trouble yet, but you came to me first. You really think I have a good temper!"
Chongzhen sneered and shouted: "Yuan Aiqing, send me an order to have the Ministry of Household Affairs issue a death order to the salt transport department of the capital.
If water transportation is blocked within half a month, all the salt quota of Lianghuai Salt Farm will be cancelled.
From now on, all salt dealers in the Lianghuai Salt Fields are no longer allowed to get involved in the salt industry!
Don't they want to transport salt? Then I will help them! "
"Secondly, let the cabinet pass a decree to the Governor of Water Transport. With just one sentence, if a similar situation occurs again, I will kill him!"
"In addition, a decree was sent to Sun Chuanting, asking him to mobilize the Yanshan Guards from the Nine Guards of the Forbidden Army to go down the canal to clean up the bandits around the canal."
"The Ministry of Revenue allocates one million taels of silver to the Water Transport Office to immediately clear the canal silt and strengthen the banks along the river!"
"Taking fire from the bottom of the cauldron and beating the snake seven inches away?"
Yuan Keli's eyes lit up after listening to the emperor's order.
The Ming Dynasty required 1.7 million imported salt every year, each of which was about 300 kilograms. The annual salt transaction volume was tens of millions of taels of silver.
Including the resale of the returned materials, the profit is at least around 70% to 80%.
No salt merchant would give up such a huge profit.
The emperor's move directly hit the salt merchant Qicun.
Either dredge the canal yourself, or the court cuts off your salt supply. Between the two, the salt merchants will naturally choose to dredge the canal.
Once the canal is opened, other issues such as transporting grain from south to north, trackers, salt, etc. will naturally be solved.
Moreover, allocating money to the Governor of Water Transport and the Water Transport Yamen is just to have a back-up, what if the salt merchants disobey?
"I'm going to draw up the discount now!"
After Yuan Keli saluted, he immediately left and went to the big tent next to him to prepare the book.
Looking at Yuan Keli leaving, Chongzhen sighed, the shock power was still not enough.
Even though he raided the King of Qin, the King of Jin, and the eight major locust merchants and eunuchs, compared with the huge gentry group and interests, it was really only average.
But it's coming soon. All we need to do is force Jiannu to follow the route of the Jisi Revolution, lock Jiannu's army in the pass, and then kill them.
This kind of victory can completely shock the gentry and wealthy businessmen of the entire Ming Dynasty.
If you want to do something in the future, you don’t have to worry about it. If you don’t obey, you will be killed!
There is a saying in later generations that is right: all fear comes from insufficient firepower. Here it means: all conspiracies come from not killing enough.
"I've been waiting for more than half a year, and I don't care about these few months!"
After Chongzhen muttered to himself, he sat drinking tea and waiting for Yuan Keli's announcement.
A quarter of an hour later, Yuan Keli wrote down the cause and effect and Chongzhen's will.
After reading a few instructions, Chongzhen asked Cui Ming to arrange for someone to rush back to Beijing six hundred miles away.
After everything was arranged, Luan Jia set off again. This time when he encountered people complaining again, Chongzhen did not stop. Instead, he directly accepted the complaints and handed them all over to Zheng Chongjian for processing.
This made the speed much faster. Three days later, while driving the team in a hurry, Chongzhen caught a glimpse of a tower on the mountain not far away and was suddenly stunned.
Because it was a familiar feeling, but he was sure that he had never been here before.
"stop!"
