I heard Zuo Maodi solemnly report to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, now the water transportation of the Ming Dynasty, including freight, transportation of military grain and ship repair fees, etc., are borne by grain households, and are all levied according to the normal grain plus consumption. Except for this In addition, the canal is long-term and involves many counties in various provinces. There are many corrupt officials among them. They occupy the canal and pluck the feathers of geese passing by. They impose various additional taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which puts a heavy burden on grain farmers."
When he said this, he suddenly raised his voice, as if he was accusing: "Peasants were recruited by the Golden Guard. Although they were exempted from paying taxes and silver, they were in desolate times and their industry was ruined, and they were in extreme hardship. If they were swept away by the wind and waves, or extorted by officials, They are bound to be in debt and even have their families destroyed. This kind of example is not an isolated case that I have seen along the way. Even if the transportation army is responsible for transporting grain to the north, the vast majority of the soldiers in the transportation army will be as tired as farmers. The world is difficult. This is by no means an alarmist statement. If your Majesty does not believe it, you can send someone to verify the actual number of troops transported. I dare to guarantee that it is only a lot more than the proportion of military households who have escaped."
Emperor Chongzhen looked serious when he heard this. Based on his impression of officials in the late Ming Dynasty, Yan Guo's hair plucking shouldn't be too normal.
"Moreover, many sections of the current canal are blocked by silt, or when the water is dry and it is impossible to sail, local people are recruited to pull fibers, or transport horses and carriages. During this period, it costs money, food, and labor, and there are various disadvantages. There are too many to mention." When Zuo Maodi said this, he said very seriously: "If we switch to sea transportation, it will not only relieve the suffering of the people along the way, but also eliminate the disadvantages of water transportation. Although there is the risk of high winds and waves, as long as If you have experienced fishermen, you will be less likely to be drifted along the coast during the calm season."
"Oh, so the water transport should be abolished?" Emperor Chongzhen asked calmly after hearing this.
Hearing this, Zuo Maodi immediately answered. Obviously, he should have considered this before, so he could react so quickly: "No! Although there are many flaws in water transportation, as the chief assistant said, the military and civilians involved in water transportation, The number of people is so large that we have to treat them with caution. Wei Chen thinks that we can reduce the water transportation by half and switch to sea transportation. After we are familiar with the sea transportation route, we can then reduce the entire water transportation!"
Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but nodded slightly. This was a slow and steady approach.
When he was about to speak, he heard Zuo Maodi say something else: "However, the canal cannot be abolished. Apart from water transportation, freight transportation from south to north can still be carried out. I have been inspired by your majesty's previous policy, so why not gather it together?" After switching to sea transportation, the excess manpower will be used to dredge the canal and be used for private freight and collect customs duties to replenish the national treasury..."
Having said this, he looked at the emperor's face and added: "Or the first collected tariffs may be used to dredge the current canal. In this way, the canal's power will be intact, seaborne grain transportation can be promoted, and the national treasury will be used to dredge the canal." No need to spend a penny, it is a blessing to the court and a blessing to the people!"
Emperor Chongzhen understood what Zuo Maodi meant. In summary, he actually said that shipping can save a lot of costs. This cost can be used to dredge the canal and solve the livelihood problems of the people along the canal. After dredging the canal, tariffs can be collected. , thereby increasing treasury revenue. In the future, when the dredging of the canal is completed, the court will be able to truly enjoy the benefits of saving shipping.
And what he said was inspired by his previous policy, which should be referring to the fact that Zhang Pu is currently asking Zhang Pu to pay back taxes and other income in Jiangnan and use it for local disaster relief. As long as this is done, there will be less resistance to the policies implemented by the imperial court.
Emperor Chongzhen thought so and asked other ministers: "What do you think of Zuo Qing's idea?"
Zuo Maodi's statement was in line with what was discussed within the framework specified by the emperor in advance. Moreover, the ministers could detect from the emperor's words and demeanor that the emperor was satisfied with Zuo Maodi's proposal. There was just one way. This approach could allow the court to solve the current shortcomings of water transportation without spending money or food. They felt that the emperor should approve of it. And if he wants to veto Zuo Maodi's approach, the emperor has already said that he must propose a corresponding solution.
Therefore, all the ministers were silent after Emperor Chongzhen's question, and no one objected.
Instead, Xue Guoguan, the first assistant, came out and reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the humble ministers agree that it is prudent to do it in half. However, the change from water transportation to sea transportation is different from the previous ones. How to effectively coordinate the distribution of money? ?”
The money and food collected from Zhang Pu will be deposited into the South Zhili Branch of the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty. Afterwards, for disaster prevention and relief in various prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Southern Zhili Province, the local chief officials would apply. The amount of less than 50,000 taels could be approved by Yang Tinglin, the censor of Zuodu in Nanjing, Lu Jiude, the eunuch of Nanjing, and Sun Chuanting, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Withdraw the corresponding banknote from Daming Royal Bank Nanzhili Branch. If it exceeds 50,000 taels, it must be immediately reported to the capital for approval by Emperor Chongzhen.
There is no such thing as the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing. Some officials were dissatisfied and wrote to the court. Emperor Chongzhen's reply was that this money and grain were earmarked for disaster prevention and relief, and that the application of the local chief official was approved by the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, who was currently evaluating local officials. There was nothing unreasonable.
From this, all Jiangnan officials could actually see that in the Jiangnan officialdom, the emperor trusted these feudal officials. Unless the other ministers did something special to win the emperor's trust, they would be suppressed by these three feudal officials and Zhang Pu.
More than a year has passed, and branches located in provincial capitals have been launched in all provinces, except for a few regions such as the northwest and southwest. But this time the change from water transportation to sea transportation is different, it involves several branches, so how to allocate the money is a problem! Who else will review it is also a question.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen frowned slightly and thought for a moment, then made his own decision and issued an imperial edict, appointing Zuo Maodi as the censor of Youqiandu, governor of water transportation and admiral of military affairs, inspector of Fengyang and other places, and also in charge of rivers, that is, governor of water transportation. Approval for items under fifty thousand taels of silver is also decided by the Governor of Water Transport alone.
With this decree, everyone immediately saw that Zuo Maodi must have won the Sacred Heart. The power given to him is great.
Originally, the position of Governor of Water Transport was a very important one among all the local official positions in the Ming Dynasty. Not only should he supervise water transportation, but he should also oversee the four prefectures of Feng, Yang, Lu, and Huai, and the three prefectures of Xu, He, and Chu.
In this regard, Zuo Maodi felt deeply the weight of his responsibility, so he immediately requested an order and asked the emperor to send a middle-ranking official to coordinate. In other words, he took the initiative to ask the emperor to send an agent to stay by his side.
However, in response to this request, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said: "You are indeed young, and I can see your potential. I have been in charge of Hancheng for six years, and how many people can do what you have done. You are capable, I This will also enable us to employ people based on their talent and virtue regardless of their qualifications.”
The words were spoken beautifully, showing his deep trust in Zuo Maodi. However, no one knows that it is inevitable to be rewarded with an eavesdropping seed.
Zuo Maodi immediately became excited when he heard this. This kind of trust came from the emperor, and he immediately had the feeling that a scholar would die for his confidant.
Therefore, he stopped being pretentious and said firmly and forcefully: "I accept the order and thank you!"
There was no impassioned speech, but the tone was very firm, allowing Emperor Chongzhen to feel his determination.
Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied with this, nodded with a smile, and then said: "In addition to the most important water transportation matters, you also have to supervise the land surveying of the areas under your jurisdiction. Based on your experience in Hancheng, you will re- If you have any difficulty in compiling the Fish Scale Book, you can tell me secretly at any time!"
Hearing this, Zuo Maodi immediately understood that the emperor gave him such great trust to show others that he would have less resistance in the matter of fabricating the fish scale book.
After understanding this, he agreed without hesitation.
Although Emperor Chongzhen wanted to promote Zuo Maodi's method nationwide and re-measure the land across the country. However, he also knows that this national policy is very basic as it is related to the country's subsequent taxation and other government policies. This means that the re-editing of the Fish Scale Book is very important.
And if there are no competent local officials to do this, it will easily encroach on the interests of ordinary people and occupy their land, leaving them with no place to reason. At the same time, it is also possible to make the land seized by powerful locals their legal land. As a result, the implementation of this national policy has become a harmful policy.
For now, Emperor Chongzhen really can't trust the local officials of the Ming Dynasty, including those who are feudal officials.
The first is the issue of official character, whether he will collude with local powerful people; the second is the issue of ability, whether he will be fooled by local powerful people;
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen finally decided that the matter of re-editing the fish scale book should start on a small scale first. Zuo Maodi can do this, and Zhang Pu can do it as well. For now, let's start with the area under their jurisdiction.
The content of this court meeting involves the provinces along the Ming Dynasty's largest canal, and is related to the interests of everyone. Therefore, before the new governor of water transportation left the capital, news about the court meeting spread rapidly from north to south like the wind.
At this time, Wu Zhong, with the secret assistance of Jin Yiwei commander Li Ruolian, pretended to be an agent of a wealthy North Korean businessman on the surface, but was a representative of the Manchu Qing Dynasty secretly, and had already begun to contact the big salt merchants.
In fact, there is no need for Jin Yiwei to conduct a special investigation. He only needs to know who among the big salt merchants has risen the fastest and whose family has the smallest power. Then he must not be a good bird. He is definitely a ruthless person and has colluded with the government. The child sits on the big one.
You know, even if the salt merchants are engaged in this monopoly business, it is not that easy to do. It doesn't matter. Even if you have a salt guide, you can't even think about switching from the salt farm to table salt anytime soon. And if you just buy and sell official salt in a regular manner, how much profit can you make? It is absolutely necessary to add personal salt to the official salt, and to balance all parties' big and small forces.
The big salt merchant Wu Zhong came into contact with was Le Qingsheng, who was such a character. First, authentic North Korean specialties were used as bait, and the two parties negotiated. Then, they slowly talked about doing business with the Manchus.
For people in this era, there is really no distinction between countries in their eyes. How many people will care who they can make money with by doing business with them? Smuggling by Shanxi merchants was typical in the north, but sea smuggling was also prevalent in the south. Behind the legendary Japanese pirates, I don’t know how many powerful people from Jiangnan were involved.
Moreover, at the beginning, Wu Zhong did not reveal his identity as Huang Taiji's son-in-law. Instead, he used his background as a North Korean businessman agent and said that doing business with Jianlu was extremely profitable. It's just a pity that North Korea is too poor and does not have the materials, food, grass and other items needed to build captives. Otherwise, there is no need to come to the Ming Dynasty.
At the beginning, he may have accidentally let the news slip, but as the relationship grew, Wu Zhong accidentally revealed that he wanted to buy supplies and grain here in the Ming Dynasty and resell them to Liaodong, earning him several times the profit. After discovering that Le Qingsheng was jealous, he accidentally revealed that his identity was actually the representative of Jianlu. Next, it was natural to start talking about business directly.
At the beginning, the profit was so huge that it made Le Qingsheng jealous. It also made him a little worried. He was worried that Jianlu was cheating. How could there be such a high profit!
In the end, Wu Zhong seemed to give in and produced evidence to prove his identity as the Prince Consort of the Slave Chief Tai Chi. Later, he asked Le Qingsheng to choose.
The first way is that Le Qingsheng can hand him over to the government and get rewarded for his meritorious service;
The second way is that Le Qingsheng can become the imperial merchant of the Qing Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, gathering the materials and grains that the Qing Dynasty needs in the Jiangnan area for the Qing Dynasty and transporting them to Liaodong, thereby making unimaginable profits. And this profit will definitely not be fake. If you don't believe it, you can get him a decree stamped with Huang Taiji's jade seal as a certificate.
There is a saying that when profits are several times higher, it can make people crazy. The price offered by Huang Taiji was difficult for a folk hero like Le Qingsheng to refuse. He didn't consider handing Wu Zhong over to the government at all, but he just had some doubts.
First, such a high profit made him a little suspicious. The wealth was gained faster than his private salt business. As long as he successfully makes a round trip to Liaodong, he can make a lot of money.
Second, when transporting grain and grass supplies from the south of the Yangtze River to Liaodong, he was worried that going north would attract attention. After all, at this time, some people were going to sea privately, but they were all going south to do business. If he goes north, he does have such doubts.
Wu Zhong solved this problem very easily. He told Le Qingsheng that he could make an oath with him, stamp his consort's seal, and then go to Liaodong to explore the possibility of buying and selling two ships. Wu Zhong promised that he would definitely make enough profits to come back, and by the way, he could also stamp the seal of the Qing Emperor on the oath to guarantee him.
As for the second worry, Wu Zhong had no choice but to tell him that it was up to you to starve the brave to death and starve the timid to death.
Just when Le Qingsheng was a little confused, the news came that water transportation was gradually changing to sea transportation. This means that if the ship goes north, it will not be conspicuous at all in the future.
God help me! When Le Qingsheng heard the news, he couldn't help shouting to the sky, he was so happy.
