Chapter 131 Illegal Salt Industry Chain

In the Ming Dynasty, the punishment for illegal salt was extremely heavy, and it was heavy to commit more than three catties of illegal salt.

You can convert the crackdown on illicit salt into a modern crackdown on drugs.

As for what is the Shangshu of the Nanjing Criminal Department? Almost now, the Ministry of Public Security, the Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Procuratorate, and the courts are combined into one department, which is the second-in-command of this department.

That is, someone sitting in the first three rows is involved in the drug trade.

How can Liu Qiu not say ridiculous, before he came, he knew that Yan Zheng had a problem, and he also knew that Shi Li probably had a problem, but he never expected that Shi Li was so deeply involved, it was to the point that Liu Qiu had to cover it up for him.

How else to say? Speaking directly, the prestige of the imperial court has been affected.

And on the whole, the atmosphere in the early Ming Dynasty was still good.

Among the ministers, most of them are Qing officials, such as Yang Pu, Wei Ji, Liu Qiu, even if he is as smooth as Zhou Chen, he is not greedy for money, he just wants to do things more.

A civil official, an official who was born as a scholar, is so shameless. made Liu Qiu unacceptable.

It's just that Liu Qiu doesn't know.

A hundred years later, everyone in the salt merchants will be able to enter the house, such as Zhang Siwei and Wang Chonggu, all of whom are from salt merchants, and when Zhang Siwei served as the first assistant of the cabinet, Zhang Siwei's younger brother Zhang Sijiao was still in business.

You say, did you commit any illegal salt in this Zhang Ge family?

This is a topic that we dare not ask, and we dare not say.

Liu Qiu can still tolerate Xungui's shamelessness, after all, in Liu Qiu's opinion, Xungui has never been a good thing, shameless greed for money is their true color.

But there is absolutely no tolerance for giving gifts.

So, Liu Qiu didn't say a word, recorded Xie Qi's confession in detail, and then impeached Shi Li. After Liu Qiu inspected the salt field, he made another excerpt of impeachment and ceremony.

Almost when Zhu Qizhen hadn't reviewed the first fold, Liu Qiu's fold had arrived.

Zhu Qizhen is still mentally prepared for the first letter.

The Shi family interfered with Yousi. Zhu Qizhen has just approved the cabinet to prepare candidates for the Nanjing Criminal Department, and ordered Shi to give courtesy.

But soon, the second letter came.

Zhu Qizhen saw that Shi Li was buying and selling private salt within the entire range of Nanzhili. Even the general backstage is already extremely angry.

To tell the truth, since Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, he has been disposed of as the highest official for corruption, but he is just a squire of the military department. It was disposed of by Yang Shiqi.

But the amount of embezzlement itself is not much.

The people left by Yang Shiqi are still relatively honest in nature.

But why can Shi Li be so unscrupulous in Nanjing? Zhu Qizhen thought about it and finally boiled it down to one point, that is, Beijing's jurisdiction over Nanjing was somewhat weak.

It's not just that the road is too far and beyond the reach of the whip, but also that Nanjing itself has a relationship with the north

The geographical position of Beijing is against the court, so the decrees between Beijing and Nanjing are always a lot different.

It's better to go to other provinces.

Zhu Qizhen secretly planned in his heart, and slashed at the sixth department in Nanjing for the first time.

Daming only needs to have one six.

It's just that Liu Qiu's third letter is here.

This letter completely revealed a whole industrial chain for Zhu Qizhen, the industrial chain of private salt.

Zhu Qizhen thought that the court officials were just lowering the price of surplus salt and embezzling the money allocated by the court, but he didn't know that this was not the case.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in the private salt industry.

The imperial court has very strict control over the salt, and there can be no shortage of quantity.

Someone on it was checked.

However, surplus salt is different, it is quite flexible, so when collecting surplus salt, officials can use the means of false reporting and concealment. Eat a sum of money and food from the imperial court.

But this amount has already been accounted for, and if this salt is false, the court will still have problems when it is investigated in the future.

Then came the second step.

Someone will sell this empty salt.

It's none other than a salt merchant.

But salt merchants didn't pay for nothing. The imperial court salt monopoly system has always been inseparable from salt, and salt is not separated. You can't buy salt from the stove without a lead.

Lowering the price of salt collected by officials, so that the stove has no way out, and even cannot survive, and then let the salt merchants enter the market to trade, these stove households who can't survive, in order to survive, can only risk killing their heads and sell the surplus salt to salt merchants.

As a result, a large amount of private salt was produced from the salt works.

However, the Ming Dynasty is very strict in investigating and dealing with illegal salt, and the county government and inspection departments in various places are responsible for collecting and confiscating private salt, and the reward is quite high.

At this time, Shi Li has to exert his influence.

Not to mention anything else, the Nanjing Criminal Department is still a scholar in several provinces south of the Yangtze River. In this way, the Ming Dynasty's relatively perfect anti-smuggling system was torn to pieces.

This industrial chain is good for everything, but it doesn't pay taxes to the imperial court.

Under such circumstances, the imperial court can still collect one or two million taels of salt tax, and Zhu Qizhen can only say that the imperial court has a solid family foundation, and it will not be defeated for a while and a half.

Zhu Qizhen didn't know that such a transaction was even on the table in the change of Tumubao, and the imperial court allowed salt merchants to collect salt because of financial difficulties.

Legalization of illicit salt. Although only salt merchants can collect salt, it is actually a symbol of the collapse of the entire salt law.

Zhu Qizhen suddenly thought that Zhou Chen came from Jiangnan, and he didn't know if these things were true or not. But it doesn't matter what he thinks.

Zhu Qizhen didn't say a word, and came to Wenyuan Pavilion. smashed Liu Qiu's performance on the ground, and said: "This is the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty, and this is the minister of the Ming Dynasty." ”

Yang Pu opened it and looked at it, and his color changed suddenly, and he knelt down and said, "The minister is a capital crime." ”

The cabinet ministers below immediately fell to their knees after circulating it. The mouth said: "The minister is a capital crime." ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "If the capital crime is not a capital crime, then let's talk about it, how should this matter be handled?" ”

Yang Pu said: "Please send a scholar to Nanjing. Ordered Wei Guogong to immediately arrest Shi Li. ”

Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath and said, "Okay, who to send?" ”

Yang Pu said: "Ma Yu is in charge of the Criminal Department, and it is most appropriate to send Ma Yu to this matter." ”

Zhu Qizhen said: "Okay. Ma Yu can leave Beijing and go to Nanjing immediately. The case in Yangzhou was handed over to Liu Qiu, but the Nanjing side was handed over to Qing. ”

Ma Yu said: "The minister understands. ”

After Zhu Qizhen arranged the matter, he called Zhang Fu to the side hall and asked, "How many people are involved in this matter?" ”

Zhang Fu said: "The minister doesn't know, but the minister knows that the princes of each family are resting with the country, so they naturally know the priorities, and they will not harm the court's plans." ”

Zhu Qizhen looked at Zhang Fu and said lightly: "This is the best." ”

Even if Zhu Qizhen is a fool, he understands many things, which is not something that a Shangshu of the Nanjing Criminal Department can do. After all, the health office is also one of the main forces in the investigation of smuggled salt.

The Shangshu of the Criminal Department may not be able to stretch out his hand, and even if he stretches out, he may not let the people below know.

Zhu Qizhen estimated that this was an open secret.

It's just a matter of deception.

It's just that Zhu Qizhen had intended to expand the scope of this case and clean up the officials above the salt administration, but now it seems that he is going to shrink desperately, and he can't let this case expand indefinitely.

What an ironic result.

Regardless of whether Xungui participated or not, Zhu Qizhen couldn't and didn't want to ask.

Zhu Qizhen said: "I am going to send Guo Deng to inspect the Central Capital Guard, what does the British public think?" ”

Zhang Fu said: "The person chosen by His Majesty could not be more suitable. ”

Although Guo Deng was the queen of Wuding Marquis Guo Ying, he was not close to the Guo family, and he was a fierce general who came to the fore after he ascended the throne.

There are also connections among the nobles.

Zhu Qizhen chose him to let him wipe his buttocks for the nobles.

Zhang Fu also understood the meaning, so naturally he would not disagree.

Zhu Qizhen immediately summoned Guo Deng, he just said a few simple words, and asked Zhang Fu to explain Guo Deng's task. As for what Zhang Fu said to Guo Deng. Zhu Qizhen didn't want to know, but he also knew that it was just some bad things.

In Zhu Qizhen's eyes, the aura on Zhang Fu's body is also retreating in circles, this British prince may be a famous general, but not every famous general is like Yue Fei. Seeing Zhang Fu's outstanding performance in the military, Zhu Qizhen endured it.

It's just that in this way, Zhu Qizhen is becoming more and more disappointed in the noble class, can these people help him defeat the tile spur?

No one could reply to him on this question.