At present, the Ming Dynasty implements the salt introduction method, or the color removal method. The imperial court issued a specified amount of salt every year to the salt merchants, and the salt merchants could use the salt to extract the corresponding table salt after paying the corresponding silver taels.

Because salt is a monopoly business, and the price of the imperial court is actually very low, and many salt merchant groups have long had a complete sales network, so every year they want to buy salt from the imperial court, even second-hand salt quotations are rushed.

Under the manipulation of relevant interest groups, even if the relevant officials knew that the salt was a hot commodity, they turned a blind eye and introduced the salt to the big salt merchants, nobles or related households.

This year is no exception! Although last year's salt merchants complained bitterly, by the time the imperial court issued this year's salt introduction, the big salt merchants, nobles or related households were all snapped up.

It's just that no one thought that Yue Yan did not continue this game of deceiving the imperial court and grabbing benefits, and directly abandoned the salt introduction method with huge rent-seeking space, and instead used the ticket salt method.

It is precisely in this way that the salt tax revenue of Guangdong Salt has suddenly decreased, not because Lin Haoran or Wu Shan did not reach out to the salt tax of Guangdong Salt, but because of some turmoil caused by the change of salt law.

Yan Ne knew that the ticket salt method might tear apart the ugly face of the salt introduction method, and immediately grasped the key point and asked: "Lord Yuanfu, they salt the ...... No, what about the price of their salt tickets? ”

If the salt produced by the salt farms in Guangdong Salt is the same as last year, the higher the price, the corresponding increase in salt tax revenue. If the price is lowered, the salt tax revenue is reduced.

"The price hasn't changed!" Xu Jie shook his head gently, and just as Yan Ne secretly exhaled a breath of turbidity, Xu Jie continued: "Although the price remains the same, Guangdong Salt has bundled a priority salt ticket, stipulating that the salt field shall not pay salt for more than 30 days at the longest with this ticket, and there is an assessment index for the person in charge of the salt field, and the price of this ticket is 30% of the salt ticket. ”

"No one is going to pay for this, is they?" Xu Fan couldn't help but interject.

Xu Jie glanced at his son, and said a fact angrily: "Last month, the Guangdong Salt Class Lifting Division threw out 200,000 salt tickets and 60,000 priority salt tickets, and they were sold out on the same day!" ”

When Yan Ne heard this, he sighed secretly in his heart.

According to the previous salt introduction method, many salt merchants need to pay some more silver taels in order to get salt introduction, and they have to pay bribes to pick up salt in salt farms, and even have to pay a lot of money for salt transportation, which actually pays a huge cost of bribery.

For those small and medium-sized salt merchants, not to mention only raising by 30%, even if it is doubled, as long as they are no longer asked for cards or delayed, their business is worth it.

At a time when Guangdong Salt repeatedly created salt tax revenue for the imperial court, Huaiyan, which shouldered most of the income from the Ming Dynasty's salt tax, complained bitterly because of the increase in the salt tax of 1 million taels, and the old practice was restored after only one year of implementation.

It is no wonder that when the emperor learned that the salt tax revenue of Guangdong salt was only 200,000 taels, he did not pursue Wu Shan, but promoted him to the position of the secretary of the ministry.

Xu Fan still had a lot of confusion in his heart, so he asked in confusion: "Even if you add 60,000 priority salt tickets, the total income of Guangdong salt is only 260,000 taels, isn't it still less than last year?" ”

Xu Jie closed his eyes, Yan Ne looked at Xu Jie silently, and said kindly: "Young Master Xu, last year was the salt introduction of the whole year, and this is only a part of the salt ticket, but it can't be compared like this!" ”

Many times, misunderstandings arise in this way.

Since the salt is all sought-after salt, and the first-hand price is a steady profit, the whole year can be sold out at the beginning of the year. When Xu Jie's eyeliner in the household department saw the unclear data of Guangdong Salt, he wishfully thought that this was the annual salt tax revenue of Guangdong Salt.

Xu Fan's mouth opened slightly, and he finally sorted out this cognitive error, but he asked like a curious baby: "Why do they only sell 200,000 salt tickets, instead of all of them?" ”

Xu Jie's heart is flesh after all, and he deliberately taught his son: "This is their cleverness!" First, things went wrong, and there was room for maneuver; Second, since they promised to increase the time limit for salt production, they should leave enough time for the salt works to produce salt. The most important thing is that after the results of the test marketing come out, they will be able to present to the emperor. If the emperor objected, they could suspend the ticket salt law at any time; If the emperor supports it, they can launch the next batch at any time! ”

After Xu Fan's face showed solemnity, he nodded lightly to show understanding, but asked seriously: "Then now that the results of the test marketing are out, does the emperor support or oppose it?" ”

Xu Jie's forehead immediately floated with green tendons, and he glared at his son fiercely like an idiot, Yan Ne, a good old man, shook his head helplessly, and was too lazy to answer this stupid question.

Yan Ne knew that this matter would have a negative impact, so he sighed slightly: "The matter of the salt law, they have been laying out since last year, and we were fighting with them at that time, but we fell into their trap!" ”

At that time, in order to fulfill their promise to Chen Boren, they created a campaign for the restoration of Huaiyan shortly after the fall of Yan Song, not only portraying Yan Maoqing as a heinous person, but also telling about the suffering of stove households and salt merchants.

Unexpectedly, this move was strongly opposed by the reformists led by Wu Shan and Lin Haoran, and the two sides even had a debate over the salt tax, but it allowed the reformists who controlled the "Discussion of the Past and the Present" and "Suncheon Daily" to gain the upper hand.

It's just that Jiang is still old and spicy, and they are Xu Ge's opponents. They chose to back down, and threw out the theory of national origin, and recommended Dong Wei, the left deputy of the Imperial Palace, who had nothing to do with them, to go to Huainan to rectify the salt administration.

Things were not unexpected, Dong Wei couldn't resist the sugar-coated shells of the two Huai salt merchants at all.

Soon the results of the rectification came out, Dong Wei Shangshu complained on behalf of the stove households and salt merchants, and they also instructed the two Huai Patrol Salt Imperial Shi Xu Yishangshu to ask for the restoration of the old practice.

Although there were twists and turns during the period, they achieved the final victory, helping Chen Boren's side restore the old routine and save them a million taels a year.

At that time, after the proposal to restore the old precedent of Huaiyan was passed, they also laughed at Wushan's side for a long time, thinking that they were simply not doing their own thing.

But I never expected that the matter was not really over. Wu Shan's side did not admit defeat, but kept holding back this big move, thus giving them a hard blow.

They have been complaining about Huai Yan, but the salt tax of Guangdong Salt has repeatedly reached new highs, and it is in stark contrast to Huai Yan, which was reduced by 100 taels of silver last year.

The most direct consequence of this matter is that he has no direct relationship with the throne of the Ministry of Officials, but Wu Shan is like a blockbuster, and directly seized the position of the Ministry of Officials, which has little chance.