In Zhu Yunwen's view, Yanyin is a type of coupon with special value, which is directly linked to salt and has a stable and difficult-to-break value. If Yanyin is regarded as a type of national security with a fixed basic value and is directly accepted by the Royal Central Bank, wouldn't it be possible to solve the dilemma of border merchants?
Border merchants can take the salt to the central bank and directly exchange the salt for banknotes, and the process can be completed without waiting for long. When domestic merchants need to buy salt, they can also go to the central bank to buy salt. During this period, no officials can control it.
The Royal Central Bank is not a government agency, and officials have no right to intervene. Even cabinet ministers cannot control the bank's operations. Not only does it have strict internal supervision, but it is also directly supervised by the Ministry of Accounts. Every financial transaction and every account is clear and clear. If there is a problem and the accounts are not accounted for, the family property will be confiscated. They will be sentenced jointly and severally, or beheaded in severe cases. There is no other option.
It can be said that the working characteristics of Royal Central Bank are: high returns and high risks.
Because it is not subject to government offices and officials, the Royal Central Bank can fully play the role of a transfer, absorbing and releasing salt. With internal supervision, both the import and export of salt can be recorded, and the accounts are reported regularly. Once there is a problem, It can also be dealt with in time.
Introducing the Royal Central Bank into the salt administration can not only solve the problem of long waiting times for border merchants, but also help reduce the pressure on internal merchants and drive bank business.
For example, a domestic merchant originally planned to buy two thousand salt coins, but because the bank's salt coins dropped by ten cents compared with previous years, he temporarily decided to buy three thousand salt coins. However, he did not have enough money to carry with him. In this case, he could borrow money directly from the bank. money……
Zhu Yunwen told Xie Jin and Xia Yuanji his plans and reasons.
Xie Jin nodded repeatedly in agreement: "If this is the case, a lot of problems can be solved."
After thinking about it, Xia Yuanji said softly: "Letting the Royal Central Bank collect and sell salt will be beneficial to the bank, border merchants, and internal merchants. It is indeed feasible. However, Wei Chen thinks it is not appropriate to ban internal merchants from directly purchasing border merchants' salt. The right to cite will make it more secure to compete with banks.”
Zhu Yunwen understood that Xia Yuanji was worried that the Royal Central Bank would be a dominant one and monopolizing the salt industry would be detrimental to Kai Zhongfa. He nodded slightly: "It should be so. If the border merchants want to find the Central Bank or internal merchants, it's up to them."
Xia Yuanji smiled.
It is difficult to find people who want to control the internal business and the Royal Central Bank at the same time. This can indeed avoid the recurrence of the Fu Laosong incident.
After Zhu Yunwen finalized this point, he continued: "The shortcomings of the Open China Law are not only the problems of border trade, but also the problems existing in domestic trade cannot be ignored."
Xia Yuanji and Xie Jin looked at each other, and Xie Jin said cautiously: "But it costs more to buy salt?"
Zhu Yunwen stood up and took two steps: "Inspection and survey, issuance of salt imports, dispatch of salt to the field, and inspection of scales, everything needs to be managed, and various expenses need to be paid. It is unclear and the fluctuations are a bit large at will. It’s miserable for domestic businessmen.”
Xie Jin has also learned about the problems of salt merchants in the past few days. It is true that the sale of salt by internal merchants is not a matter of one or two sentences. Every link in the middle is stuck and people are asking for money. Although the money is stipulated by the court, but in the implementation It is normal for them to adjust the mantissa during the process.
For Yan Yin, if the price increased by half a tael per Yin, three hundred and fifty thousand Yin would be as much silver, and the profit would be terrifying.
Faced with the secret operation of the Lianghuai Capital Transportation Salt Department, domestic merchants could only spend a lot of money to purchase it, which not only squeezed out a large amount of funds, but also caused a sharp increase in its turnover pressure. In the end, this increased cost will be passed on to the people through water merchants.
If domestic merchants can pay for salt conveniently, at a relatively low cost or at a relatively fixed cost, at least some costs can be reduced, and then they can guarantee a lower price when selling to water merchants, which is reflected in the low salt price.
Zhu Yunwen said solemnly: "You can order the Ministry of Revenue and the Lianghuaidu Salt Transfer Department to study whether all kinds of salt taxes can be unified into one type of tax, which can be paid in one lump sum, withdrawn with a voucher, and weighed and passed."
"Class one tax!"
Xia Yuanji took a deep breath. Zhu Yunwen wanted to integrate the seven or eight salt taxes into one tax, unify the tax collection standards, and reduce the space for secret operations.
This issue of integrating tax types is not a new thing in the Jianwen Dynasty. The implementation of a whip law integrated a series of miscellaneous taxes. The new business policy also integrated a variety of commercial taxes. From the current point of view, these policies are successful.
Xie Jin reminded softly: "Once the salt tax is fixed, if it is adjusted in the future, I am afraid it will cause public resentment."
Xia Yuanji looked at Xie Jin and nodded involuntarily.
Xie Jin's meaning is obvious. The salt tax is very important to the court. Once an emergency occurs, the salt tax can be adjusted at any time and hundreds of thousands of funds can be obtained in a short time for emergency response. If the salt tax is determined at once, everyone will be accustomed to this standard, and sudden adjustments will cause problems.
In a word, this kind of thing should not be said openly, but should only be handled secretly.
But Zhu Yunwen didn't see it this way. The more unclear it is, the easier it is for corruption. As for the problem of salt tax fluctuations, it is easy to say that when the salt tax is set by the court, it does not have to be a simple fixed value. It can be based on the fixed value. Including the floating value, it is okay to fluctuate up or down by 20%. However, this floating right needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Household Affairs for review and submitted to the cabinet for approval.
When Xie Jin saw that Zhu Yunwen had a countermeasure, he had no opinion: "It's wonderful to supplement it with floating."
Zhu Yunwen smiled calmly and said: "Reorganize the salt distribution process. Don't let the internal merchants spend several months to distribute salt. Let the Lianghuai Salt Transfer Department investigate all salt fields and their output, their pros and cons, and set them as high-quality salt fields. , medium salt field, low class salt field, for big salt to attract domestic merchants, arrange the upper class salt field, try to distribute salt at one time, instead of randomly matching two salt fields hundreds of miles away."
Xia Yuanji shook his head bitterly. This is a troublesome thing, and it is also the only way for the salt transport department in the Huaihe River to collect extra income. According to Sun De, Ding Chuchen and others, if a businessman has no eyesight and does not understand As human beings, they don't mind tossing businessmen.
For example, if a businessman needs 3,000 yin for salt, the imperial court can disperse these 3,000 yin into thirty salt fields. If the merchant wants to take it all out, then he can go to each salt field. It will be enough in less than three months.
There is no other way. The Salt Transportation Department arbitrarily assigns salt fields, and merchants have no right to intervene. If you want to save time and effort, you can only withdraw all the salt you need from a salt field through the back door through connections.
Now, Zhu Yunwen plans to close this back door. The choice of salt farm should not be based on relationships, but should be based on saving businessmen time in paying for salt.
Reducing domestic business costs is a necessary means to control salt prices.
Zhu Yunwen did not want salt prices to remain high, and Ming Dynasty's finances should not be overly dependent on salt.
Xia Yuanji admired Zhu Yunwen's wisdom. He had only been in Yangzhou for five days, and he saw the shortcomings of Kaizhongfa and Lianghuai Salt Administration, and even gave directions and methods to deal with them.
Zhu Yunwen walked out of the door and looked at the bright moon rising in the east. He turned sideways and said to Liu Changge: "It's Mid-Autumn Festival night. Go buy some wine and food, and invite Uncle Yan Wang and Wei Guogong to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival together."
The ground in the atrium is white and the sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhu Di and others who came out with him and said with a smile, "The Mid-Autumn Festival is supposed to be the night of reunion, but because of my private visit incognito, I let you spend it here in Yangzhou."
"The Great Luo of All Worlds"
Zhu Di didn't take it seriously and raised his glass calmly.
In Zhu Di's view, Zhu Yunwen sent himself to Peking during his private visit to the south because he was worried that he would not be safe in the capital. Naturally, he could no longer be sent to Peking for his private visit to the north. First, his home was burned down, and secondly, This trick has been used.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yunwen took him with him directly...
This nephew still has some concerns about himself and is not at ease.
Xie Jin, Xu Huizu, and Xia Yuanji didn't look disappointed. It was a blessing to be able to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with the emperor in Yangzhou City.
After a few glasses of wine, Zhu Yunwen looked at Xu Huizu and Zhu Di: "Yesterday, the Security Bureau sent an express report that Zheng He's voyage fleet had anchored at Aizhou Port in Cochin in early July. Zheng He and other personnel landed at the port, and they Zhang Yan and Han Guan met and asked him to forward a document."
"Have they reached the far west?"
Xie Jin has some expectations.
Zhu Di and Xu Huizu also looked at Zhu Yunwen, hoping to get a positive answer.
Zhu Yunwen drank a glass of wine and said calmly: "Zheng He led his fleet to Tianfang."
"Very good!"
Zhu Di and Xu Huizu couldn't help but feel happy, and Xie Jin had a smile on his face.
For Ming Dynasty, where the naval fleet can reach is not only related to the fleet itself, but also related to Ming Dynasty's majesty, national strength, and Ming Dynasty's exploration and understanding of the outside world.
"Speaking of which, I really didn't understand the emperor's decision to leave Zheng He. Now it seems that the emperor's vision is so unique."
Although Zhu Di was smiling, his eyes were bright.
Zhu Yunwen was very happy. Without the Battle of Jingnan, Zheng He would have no chance to win Zhu Di's respect. He did not know Zheng He's potential and ability.
"Speaking of asking for someone, I really want to ask Uncle Yan for someone else."
Zhu Di choked immediately, the smile on his face disappeared immediately, and asked uneasily: "Who does the emperor want?"
If Qiu Fu is asked for, Zhu Di is absolutely unwilling to nod, because Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng have been removed from his side, and a group of guards have been merged into the Beiping Dusi. Zhu Di has only Qiu Fu left.
Zhu Yunwen didn't intend to ask for Qiu Fu. There was really no need for a guy who had disappointed Zhu Di several times and destroyed an army of 100,000 troops.
"I want a eunuch in Prince Yan's palace, named Wang Jinghong."
Zhu Yunwen said lightly.
Zhu Di was stunned. Wang Jinghong knew very well that he was a eunuch in Prince Yan's palace, but he had no talent. He was honest and well-behaved. He could not find any other advantages except being obedient.
It was also the first time that Xu Huizu and Xie Jin heard the name "Wang Jinghong". Seeing that Zhu Yunwen was serious, they expected that this person was extraordinary. After all, none of the people who can be named by Zhu Yunwen himself are mediocre so far.
