The place where Li Chengliang met was in the Yangxin Hall on the west side of Qianqing Palace. This palace was built by Emperor Jiajing and covers an area of more than 7,000 square meters. The second entrance of the palace is in the shape of an I, with pavilions on the east and west, rolling sheds and buildings, and many wing rooms on both sides.
Because it is very close to the Qianqing Palace, the emperor's residence, and can be separated from the Inner Palace and the Outer Dynasty by Longzong Gate, Inner Right Gate, etc. - closing the door is the Inner Palace, and opening the door is connected to the Outer Dynasty. After Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, this place It became the political center of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
Zhu Yijun wanted to set up an attendant's office. Seeing that there were many houses in the Yangxin Hall complex, he arranged for the inner court to sort them out and prepare to put the attendant's office here. He also ordered people to set up a kang in the East and West Nuan Pavilion as his future living place.
Li Chengliang was led by Zhang Jing. He did not go through Long Zongmen, but entered the passage between Qianqing Palace and Yangxin Palace from the inner right door. He turned left at the small door opposite Yuehua Gate and entered Yangxin Palace. Turn right and you will arrive at Dongnuan Pavilion.
The eunuchs roll call, and the edict comes out and is announced. Li Chengliang followed Zhang Jing, not daring to raise his head. He leaned down and kowtowed as soon as he entered the door, shouting "long live the mountain".
Before Zhang Jing could wait for the emperor to give him a chance, he held the paper recording the financial resources handed over by Li Chengliang above his head. Wei Chao, who was beside Zhu Yijun, took it and handed it to Zhu Yijun.
Zhu Yijun took it and glanced at it, feeling very satisfied. He smiled and said, "If you are flat, I will give you a seat."
The two of them thanked each other and sat on the small pier. Zhu Yijun smiled at Li Chengliang and said: "Uncle Ning Yuan has been victorious in Liaodong one after another. Both Huang Kao and I rely on Qiancheng. In order to protect you this time, I have taken away your financial resources. Don't say that I covet this little thing of yours."
Hearing this, Li Chengliang knelt down and recited: "I have asked Eunuch Zhang to report my sincerity before. The emperor's love and care for me is deeply felt by me, and I cannot express it in words. If there is even a trace of resentment in my heart, God will Strike five thunderbolts!" He swore and said some words of loyalty and repayment.
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun waved the paper in his hand and said: "Your family is so rich that it cannot be enjoyed by a prince. It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. From now on, don't live in panic just because you have handed over your financial resources."
Li Chengliang's small life was indeed extravagant, and the imperial censor and Ke Dao had already impeached him in this regard. I handed over most of my family's financial resources today, and I am secretly worried, thinking that my living standard may drop a lot in the future.
Hearing what the emperor said, he apologized and said: "I have acted many times as absurdly as Meng Lang. Fortunately, the emperor protected me and did not pursue any further charges. From now on, I will be diligent and thrifty in managing my family, and I will set an example for future generations."
After Zhu Yijun heard this, he laughed and said: "It is right to be diligent and frugal in running a household. Although I am rich all over the world, I dare not not be frugal. As the saying goes, 'Luxury is hard to reach, purity and simplicity are the longest.' Let’s encourage each other.”
After hearing the emperor's words of "mutual encouragement", Li Chengliang shrugged his shoulders while lying on the ground, exchanged tears and said:
"Since the emperor's practice, he has been benevolent, frugal, and wise in domestic affairs, and has been praised by all the people in the world. Today, because of my selfish mistakes, I also spoke earnestly and thoughtfully. I am only a warrior, how can I be worthy of being a dull man? But if you want to live and die, you will die. Grass, in order to repay the emperor for his great kindness."
Zhu Yijun heard him say this, and he guessed that he had already figured out how to be a frontier general in the future. Wen Yan called him up and asked Wei Chao to pour him a cup of tea.
After he calmed down, Zhu Yijun said again: "I guess you have heard that the world's salt farms will be decentralized and contracted."
Li Chengliang's heart skipped a beat after hearing this. Hear the emperor continue: "I also want to leave some good examples for future generations, and I can't take my ministers' things for nothing. Well, I have arranged for Zhang Jing to provide money to buy more than a dozen small salt fields for your family. Although the income It's not as good as your family's original business, but this family business can be passed down to your descendants forever, and it's a real 'golden rice bowl'. In this way, you can focus on the military instead of worrying about your descendants."
By this time, Li Chengliang was completely convinced of the emperor.
Everything the emperor did, said, and thought was done in the right way, without any ulterior motives. The beatings and encouragement given to him were all in the open, and he was extremely open-minded in his words and actions.
He had indeed heard about the contracting and sales of salt fields, but he had not received an invitation letter. He had been diligently inquiring about it in the past few days in the capital. ——But he didn’t expect that the emperor would directly compensate him a lot today. This industry is indeed as the emperor said, not as profitable as Dongzhu and other stores, but with the Li family's salt farm, they no longer have to rack their brains to control Liaodong. This salt field is indeed the "golden rice bowl", and everyone in the powerful family knows it!
Although Li Chengliang only had vague ideas about the future plans of the Li family at this time, he also knew one thing: if he wanted to maintain his business profits from Northeast specialties, the prerequisite was to hold on to the position of Liaodong Commander-in-Chief forever. In his opinion, this is as difficult as climbing to the sky, but if the Li family wants to be prosperous for a long time, they had to face difficulties before.
But today in the Yangxin Hall, the emperor means that you don’t have to think about this matter, it has already been arranged for you. This reward is more effective than the emperor giving him a marquis directly!
Li Chengliang knelt down again, prostrated, and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty is so kind to me, if I have any more evil thoughts, how am I different from an animal?!"
...
Seeing that Li Chengliang had been completely conquered, Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief. After asking Zhang Jing to send him out of Yangxin Hall, he took out Zhang Juzheng's title book and detailed rules on salt farm sales from the drawer and began to think about it again.
After the salt farm sales policy was set, Zhu Yijun communicated with Zhang Juzheng and Wang Guoguang many times.
Zhang Juzheng lived up to his reputation as a capable minister. He reversed Zhu Yijun's original idea of using the auction and the highest bidder to win. He wanted to use the salt field as bait to eliminate as much resistance as possible to the border town's farming.
The salt auction process, which has been modified many times, has become completely different from the first version of the auction method proposed by Zhu Yijun after the joint research between Zhu Yijun, a later generation, and Zhang Juzheng and Wang Guoguang, two spicy old carrots.
In terms of purchasing qualifications, priority will be given to distinguished individuals. Different grades were divided according to the grades of duke, marquis and uncle, and exquisite invitations were made. Let the empress dowagers of the two palaces, Zhang Juzheng, Lu Tiaoyang, Wang Guoguang, Zhang Jing, and other close ministers first distribute the items in a small area in the honorable circle.
Additional conditions will be stated when sending the goods: the salt fields to be auctioned in the future will be divided into ten levels according to region, location, output, etc. Each level has a different quantity. In total, the Tianxia Salt Farm is divided into 3,750 small pieces, and one-half of the first auction is 1,875 pieces.
At the auction, what is sold is the grade rather than the specific salt farm. After the buyer takes the order, he can choose the salt field he likes among the salt fields of the same order. So who chooses first? Here comes the drama: You exchange the nine-sided land for points. Those with higher points will be chosen first, and those with fewer points can only choose the remaining ones in the same order.
After the nobles have finished taking the photos, another wave of invitations will be sent to the civil servants and generals in the border town. This time the points rules are different from the last time. Points are no longer based on quantity, but based on the proportion of the donated land to one's own land. , plus the side work integral.
What do you mean? The court cannot let poor officials and military generals suffer. If one civil servant or military general only occupies a hundred acres, and another occupies a hundred acres, and if points are calculated based on quantity, then the incorruptible one will suffer a loss, which is inconsistent with the anti-corruption goal of the court. There is a serious discrepancy, so points will be awarded proportionally.
What if you have no land at all and no money to participate in the auction? His previously accumulated side credits can be licensed in this auction. For example, Zhang killed a Han man and had no money in his hands, but he had thirty-level head skills. Those who are rich can use money or salt farm shares to buy his authorization to use this first-level merit in this auction. The price of this merit will follow the market and be agreed upon by each of them. The two points are added together and the final total points are ranked in order to determine the priority.
In order to prevent superiors from suppressing subordinates, subordinates are asked to sign unequal treaties. The detailed rules also stipulate that Shangguan who is authorized to buy is not allowed to buy within his own jurisdiction, but can only buy in other jurisdictions. At the same time, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will send a working group to inspect border towns and accept anonymous reports. If superiors are found to be bullying subordinates, they will be immediately picked up.
In this wave of auctions, one-half of the remaining 1,875 yuan will be sold, which is 938 yuan. The remaining nine hundred and thirty-seven yuan is for the last wave of the auction, which is Zhu Yijun's original plan - to send out invitations widely, and the highest bidder will win.
This operation will bring several direct consequences. First, the price of land in Jiubian has soared, which has brought a wave of direct benefits to the landowners who have previously implemented commercial reclamation in Jiubian; second, the authorization of military merit points can also benefit border soldiers and generals who have no money, which will help stimulate them to be brave in the future. Kill the enemy; thirdly and most importantly, the interests of the honorable nobles are protected, and the loyalty to the royal family will increase sharply - coupled with the examples of Li Chengliang and Qi Jiguang, it will stimulate the enthusiasm of other parties to exchange their merits for honorary titles.
During the salt auction, the imperial court dispersed all the salt auctions from Shandong to Fujian and even the southwest. The main purpose was to stimulate the enthusiasm of nobles to donate soil. For example, the nobles of the capital must give priority to salt fields that are close to each other, such as Beizhili and Shandong. Otherwise, if they spend a lot of money to acquire salt fields in Fujian or southwest China, it will be too troublesome to manage them.
In order to prevent collusion among honorable nobles, the details also stipulate a major decision of the court: the salt farm for this auction will be treated the same as the sacrificial field before the first transaction - assuming that the house is confiscated when convicted in the future, As long as it is not a serious crime such as treason and the ownership has not been transferred, the salt farm will not be confiscated. Zhang Juzheng judged that this detail would increase Xungui's enthusiasm for purchasing the salt farm to an incredible level.
At the same time, the detailed rules also stipulated that the court would impose a heavy tax on the sale and purchase of salt farm ownership, which was one-third of the auction price!
