In this salt tax inspection, a total of more than 28 million taels of cash were confiscated, not counting a bunch of acres and houses that were confiscated.
Among them, the fixed assets of the farm and house could not be taken away, so they were handed over to the local government for sealing.
When the imperial edict is issued, what should be bought and sold will naturally be distributed, and what should be rewarded will be rewarded. This has nothing to do with Li Hao.
As for the cash, it was Li Hao who transported it back to Bianjing, although the imperial court added more troops to Li Hao.
However, it was not easy to transport such a large amount of silver by land. After further discussion, we decided to transport it by water and directly enter Beijing through the Bianhe River.
It just so happened that Li Haogang took the opportunity to clean up Caobang, and now it is suitable for use.
After requisitioning a large number of water transport ships, Li Hao and his men escorted the silver coins and a group of human traffickers and set off back to Beijing to officially set off.
After more than a month, I arrived in Bianjing on the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, just before the first day of the twelfth lunar month.
Until this point, Li Hao was really relieved. After all, guarding so much money always made him feel uneasy.
At the same time, in order to receive this batch of silver, the third department and the household department were all pulled up to work overtime after the seal holiday.
Responsible for counting and checking the silver, and only after confirming that the amount is correct can it be collected into the treasury.
So as soon as they docked, Ouyang Xiu led someone over, and then Li Hao handed the accounts to Ouyang Xiu.
By the way, I brought down all the prisoners first and handed them over to the people of Dali Temple, asking them to take them away first.
After waiting, the handover officially began. After Li Hao and Ouyang Xiu saw that things were on track, they handed the matter over to the people below.
The two of them left the dock and entered the palace to report in detail about the salt patrol.
On the way, Li Hao asked Ouyang Xiu about the question that he had never figured out: "Uncle, I don't understand why Chu Dongyang was appointed as the transfer envoy.
Ordinarily, he was the one who was implicated after all. Even if he could explain it clearly, he shouldn't stay in Huainan and be promoted to the transfer envoy. "
Ouyang Xiu replied: "I don't know the specific circumstances of this matter, but it was brought up by Prime Minister Han.
The officials also wanted to calm people's hearts, so they agreed. "
Hearing this, Li Haoxin said that no wonder Chu Dongyang was so calm. It turned out that he was Han Qi's man.
However, Han Qi buried such a person in Huainan, but it has never been used. What is his purpose?
Just as Li Hao was thinking about it, Ouyang Xiu interrupted Li Hao's train of thought: "By the way, your wedding date has been set, did you know?"
Li Hao asked in surprise: "Where do I know where to go? I just arrived in Bianjing and haven't even returned home yet.
With so much money tied up along the way, I didn’t dare to communicate much with the outside world.
By the way, what date has my mother and the British government decided on? "
Ouyang Xiu said: "It's March 19th, I guess I'm afraid something will happen to you again.
So after setting a date, basically everyone has been notified, and now the officials can no longer send you patrol errands. "
Li Hao said helplessly: "Then everyone else knows about the news that I will get married one day, so they just keep it from me. This is too miserable."
As soon as these words came out, Ouyang Xiu was amused.
Then they talked about some of the major events that happened in the court during Li Hao's absence from the capital, and then went outside the palace.
….
When the two arrived at Chui Gong Hall, Fu Bi and Han Qi were also sitting here, waiting to hear Li Hao's report.
And this time Li Hao's treatment was quite good, when he first entered the door.
Zhao Zhen said: "My great hero is back, and you have checked the salt tax this time.
The money brought back was equivalent to earning half a year's worth of taxes for the court. "
Li Hao replied: "This is not the result of one person, except for the ability of his subordinates.
The main thing he relied on was the blessing of the officials and the support of the three great ministers.
Otherwise, my trip would not have been so smooth, so the credit belongs to the officials and the great ministers. "
Hearing this, Zhao Zhen immediately laughed and said
: "Okay, if that's the case, then I don't need to give you many rewards.
After all, the main credit belongs to me and the Grand Masters, don’t you think? "
Li Hao was dumbfounded by what he said, and he could only say with a grimace: "What the officials said is reasonable."
Seeing this, Zhao Zhen smiled even more happily and said, "Okay, it should be your credit, you are indispensable.
Sit down and say, introduce the situation of this inspection to me and the great ministers. "
Li Hao took out the specific records of the inspection and gave them to Zhao Zhen for review, and introduced: "After my personal inspection this time, I discovered that the situation of private salt sales in Huainan is much worse than I thought before.
In addition to the 28 million taels of cash seized this time, the confiscated farm shops were converted into silver taels, adding up to more than 50 million taels. "
Hearing this, everyone's hearts trembled. They didn't expect that this tax inspection was not just half a year's tax payment, but almost a full year's tax payment.
Ouyang Xiu also asked directly: "According to your estimate, how much can the tax revenue increase each year?"
Li Hao replied: "If strict management is implemented, I estimate that the annual salt tax will increase by seven million taels."
Now everyone really can't sit still, although your number is quite different from the one just now.
But this happens every year, so the difference is huge, and this is only the inventory of Huai salt. If we also inventory the well salt and salt solution, then the annual tax will be increased by 10 million taels.
Thinking like this, Zhao Zhen suddenly had the urge to push Li Hao out directly and go to investigate the salt tax.
But Li Hao poured cold water on Zhao Zhen at this time: "Although this can increase taxes, it consumes too much people's energy. It does not solve the problem of official salt today. I don't think this is a good thing."
This statement puzzled several people. Ouyang Xiu asked, "What are you talking about about the problems with official salt?"
Li Hao replied: "After visiting this salt inspection, I felt deeply.
The first is the issue of salt households. A large number of private salt households sell salt privately to salt vendors. As for why they are willing to risk beheading to do so.
I didn't quite understand it at first, but when I went to the salt field after checking, I realized the real situation.
Because the salt from salt households could only be sold to the government, the officials in charge deliberately lowered the price of salt collection and raised the price of salt sales.
It turned out that the salt households themselves could not afford salt, and it was difficult to maintain their livelihood. They had to find another way out and secretly sell salt to salt dealers.
….
Secondly, there is the issue of collusion between officials and salt merchants. Salt merchants directly and openly obtain goods from official salt.
Then, in order to ensure the weight, the corresponding officials would mix sand or small stones into the official salt, resulting in the quality of the official salt being extremely poor, even better than illegal salt.
Moreover, private salt does not need to pay salt tax. Even if the cost of bribing officials is included, its price is still lower than official salt, but its quality is better than official salt.
Comparing these two, people will naturally turn to cheap and high-quality private salt.
In addition, the regional monopoly system also has problems, and these problems cannot be solved by replacing a group of officials.
If these matters cannot be truly resolved, simply banning illegal activities will be difficult to achieve and will be harmful to the people. "
Hearing that the people were suffering because of this, Zhao Zhen fell into deep thought. In his heart, Zhao Zhen was definitely a good emperor who loved the people, but his official salt income accounted for nearly 30% of the court's taxes, so there must be no problems.
Zhao Zhen, who didn't think about it, said: "Salt tax is a national matter and must not be taken lightly. However, people's lives are not easy, so we should not be too harsh. Do you have any ideas on how to deal with this matter?"
After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, he looked at the four people opposite him. After checking around and seeing that no one spoke, he looked at Li Hao again.
Seeing this situation, Li Hao had no choice but to reply: "I haven't come up with any good solution for this matter yet. Why don't you give me some time and let me think about it carefully."
At this time, Zhao Zhen also realized that Li Hao had just come back from a busy job, so he said, "That's right. You have just returned to Beijing and you have to prepare for the big event of getting married soon."
, and shouldn’t be too tired.
Anyway, the salt affairs in Huainan have just been cleaned up, so there won't be any problems in the short term. You can think about it slowly.
It just so happens that the post of salt and iron envoy is vacant, so you will take up the post of salt and iron envoy after the year, just in time to handle the salt affairs.
As for the formal reward, we will wait until the office opens after the new year. When you go back, you should also tell others to reassure them. "
Knowing that he had been promoted again, Li Hao stood up and thanked the emperor for his kindness.
Then he said goodbye and left, waiting until Li Hao left.
Zhao Zhen added: "As for the salt affairs, I have an idea, which is to transfer the power of cargo affairs to the three departments for unified management.
It just so happens that the Qing family has always felt that officials are redundant, so this time they took this opportunity to stop discussing cargo affairs. "
Ouyang Xiu was naturally happy when he heard this. Once the power of handling goods was returned to the third division, it meant that the power in his hands suddenly increased.
But Han Qi had something to say at this time: "If the cargo management is assigned to the Third Division, does the Third Division have too much power?
Academician Ouyang is upright and has no problem commanding the three divisions, but there is no guarantee that subsequent officials will be able to do so.
Once the trust is entrusted to someone else, and there is no longer any restraint, wouldn't it be easy to ruin the important affairs of the court? "
Hearing this, Ouyang Xiu naturally found it difficult to defend himself. After all, Han Qi was talking about future officials. Who can guarantee this? Moreover, it is not Ouyang Xiu's style to gain power in public.
So Ouyang Xiu looked at Fu Bi to see what Fu Bi meant.
But obviously Fu Bi had no intention of getting involved and kept silent.
Seeing this, Han Qi wanted to persuade Zhao Zhen to change his mind.
….
But Zhao Zhen insisted on this and said: "What Mr. Han said is reasonable, but we should not give up eating because of choking.
Just like the new policy you are promoting now, you have to try it out first before you know whether it is good or bad and whether it is right or not. "
After hearing that Zhao Zhen related the matter to the New Deal, Fu Bi had no objection to the merger, so he turned to support it.
Then Ouyang Xiu also expressed his attitude. Seeing that the others agreed, Han Qi said nothing more.
Seeing that the matter has been settled, Zhao Zhen said: "Okay, then this matter is settled, and we will start to deal with it after the new year.
In addition, Li Hao also remanded many prisoners this time, and also detained them for trial in Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment later this year. "
After speaking, Zhao Zhen gave the record to Fu Bi and asked him to handle the matter, and then left.
After Zhao Zhen left, the three of them left the palace one after another.
On the way, Han Qi found Ouyang Xiu: "Uncle Yong, I was just thinking about the future, not you."
Ouyang Xiu said: "Zhigui, of course I know your character. Everyone is thinking about the court."
Hearing this, Han Qi was very happy and made an appointment with Ouyang Xiu to have a drink together.
Moreover, Li Hao had already returned to the dock at this time. After all, the handover of the tax bank had not been completed, so Li Hao was not relieved after all.
We were so busy that when it was getting dark, the tax bill had only been counted for one-third, so we had to seal the ship again.
Li Hao and his people continued to sleep on the boat, and waited until the next day to continue the inventory, and requisitioned all the mooring points plus the transferred personnel.
I was busy until dark, and finally checked everything and confirmed that there were no problems.
Li Hao called everyone together and explained that the award ceremony would be held after the new year.
Yang Wenyuan was brought back to the western suburbs camp among the people in front of the palace, while the others could go home directly.
Li Hao naturally returned home directly, but obviously, it seemed that he came back at the wrong time this time.
There was no greeting in the mansion as Li Hao imagined. As soon as he entered the mansion, he felt that the atmosphere was particularly wrong.
Immediately, Li Hao planned to go to Fu Deng to ask about the situation, but he hadn't found anyone yet.
He found Xiaodie walking over directly, saying that Mr. Wei had asked him to come over and ask questions.
This confused Li Hao, who didn't understand what he was doing.
Why did she get offended when I just came back?
So when he followed Xiaodie, he asked: "What's going on in the house? Who made my mother angry? Or is it because the wedding date with the British government was not going well?"
Xiaodie replied: "This matter has nothing to do with the British government. What the eldest lady is angry about is the matter of the Sheng family, that is, Miss Minglan's marriage."
Upon hearing this, Li Hao immediately thought that it was probably Gu Tingye who had made some noise during this period.
But before Li Hao could ask clearly, he had already arrived in front of Wei's door, and it was no longer easy for Li Hao to ask any more questions.
I had no choice but to bite the bullet and say outside the door: "Mother, the child has returned home. Come and see your mother."
Then I heard Mrs. Wei say in a cold voice: "Come in, I have something to ask you."
After Li Hao entered the house, Mrs. Wei asked, "Do you know that Gu Tingye is going to marry Minglan?"
As soon as he entered the door, he was asked this fatal question. Li Hao didn't really know how to answer it.
….
And he didn't confront Gu Tingye. Who knows if Gu Tingye said anything nonsense.
But in the end, we still adhere to the principle of leniency for those who confess and stay behind bars.
After only three seconds of silence, he directly denied: "I'm really not sure about this. I've never heard him mention it before. Why did mother suddenly ask about this?"
Hearing this, Mrs. Wei stared into Li Hao's eyes and said, "You really don't know about this?"
Seeing Wei's repeated questions, Li Hao immediately felt relieved. It seemed that Wei really didn't know that he had been involved.
So he quickly asked, "Did something happen in Bianjing during this time? Where did my mother hear that Gu Tingye was going to marry cousin Minglan."
Wei said angrily: "Where else could I hear this from, of course the Sheng family.
Their Sheng family can be said to be a scholarly family, but all their daughters have been raised in an inappropriate manner. "
Then he told what happened. The general process was the same as in the play. Gu Tingye first went to Sheng Changbai and explained his request to marry the legitimate daughter of the Sheng family.
It's best not to know why, but he invited his father to go to Sheng's house in person.
Originally, this matter should not have been settled in Sheng Hong's absence, but I don't know how Gu Tingye managed to convince Mrs. Wang to agree to it first.
Everything has been discussed, and basically all we have to do is wait for Sheng Hong to come home and go through the process.
But it was at this time that Gu Tingye staged a drama about a private meeting between Ru Lan and Wen Yan Jingyu Qing Guan, and then pushed the marriage to Ming Lan.
This time, because Sheng Hong's absence had caused the incident, Mrs. Wang was anxious to settle the matter and wanted to settle the matter before Sheng Hong returned home and help Ru Lan escape.
This great maternal love was also powerful when it broke out, causing Mrs. Wang to become more powerful at this time. She dealt with the old lady in the house and the Wei family outside, with overwhelming fighting power.
Of course, there was no nod from the old lady in the end. Mrs. Wang did not accomplish this after all. It is estimated that when Sheng Hong returns to the house today, the Sheng family will still be in trouble.
After explaining the situation, Mrs. Wei said: "Gu Tingye used to work under you. Now that you are back, go to him and talk to him to resolve this matter and don't let your cousin marry him."
Now that he knew the specific situation, Li Hao knew how to answer, and said directly: "Of course I can talk to Gu Tingye, but it is not Gu Tingye's decision now, otherwise Sheng Changbai's words will definitely be more useful than me.
The problem now is that Gu Hou has come forward and the Sheng family has agreed.
If this thing fails, the Ningyuan Hou Mansion will not look good, and the Sheng family's reputation will also not look good. "
In fact, Mr. Wei also understood this, but he just didn't want Minglan to marry that libertine Gu Tingye.
Li Hao actually understood Wei's thoughts, so he took advantage of the opportunity to say good things to Gu Tingye: "Actually, Gu Tingye is not as bad as the rumors. You also dealt with him when he was studying in our house. of.
His talent is so outstanding that even Bachelor Ouyang praised him greatly. If it weren't for some strange combination of circumstances, he would have been killed long ago.
Already named on the gold list.
But even so, he can now be considered to have made a great contribution.
Those activities of looking for flowers and asking for help have not been done since he studied hard. You probably haven't heard of him doing anything out of the ordinary now. "
Seeing Wei's thoughts, Li Hao couldn't help but said in his heart, Mrs. Xiao Qin is dead now. Without him as a rumor maker, how could there be so much news circulating in Bianjing.
Seeing that Mr. Wei couldn't tell, Li Hao added, "And think about it, the eldest brother Gu Tingye is not in good health and does he have any heirs?
In the future, I would rather the Marquis still belong to Gu Tingye. If my cousin really gets married, she will be the legitimate wife of the royal family. In the future, she might even be able to become the Marquis's wife and get a royal title.
Moreover, the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion doesn't even have an aunt-in-law now. After getting married, she doesn't have a mother-in-law to take care of her. How comfortable she is. "
Hearing this, Mrs. Wei was a little moved, but she quickly realized that something was wrong.
Learn from knowledge to power
