Chapter Seventy-Three: Mining

Yang Shiqi's mentality has also changed. He paused slightly and took the initiative to provoke the topic.

Yang Shiqi is old, his energy is declining, and his ambitions back then are slowly wearing, and more often, he is trying to maintain the balance and stability of the imperial court.

At this moment, seeing that Zhu Qizhen was still very measured, he deliberately said a little more, and said: "Your Majesty wants Hebei to replace firewood with coal, so you should not only look near the capital, but also see that there are coal mines in various places. ”

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he woke up like a dream. For a moment I felt stupid.

He was used to it, and in the future, large-scale coal production naturally wanted to develop a large mine, and Mentougou was within his control, so Zhu Qizhen naturally gave priority.

In practice, however, this approach may not work.

The road he envisioned would reduce costs on a large scale, but it would still cost them.

As long as it is costly, the area that can be covered by a coal mine will not be too large. It is impossible to achieve what he wants, so that most of the north will exchange coal for firewood.

Speaking of which, Yang Shiqi still has a vicious eye.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Thank you for your advice. I know what to do. ”

Yang Shiqi said: "If Your Majesty is ready to send more internal officials to mine coal in various places, the old minister will definitely not allow it." ”

Zhu Qizhen was a little strange and said, "What does Mr. mean?" ”

Yang Shiqi said: "Most of the northern mountains and forests were naked during the Northern Song Dynasty. The minister also knows that His Majesty's intentions are also good, but large-scale mining is not possible. His Majesty also knows what the ministers are like, even if Mentougou is only dozens of miles away from Jingshi, Cao Jixiang was still beaten at the beginning. After Her Majesty ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager removed all the mine supervisors from all over the world, that is, she rested with the people of the world. Today, His Majesty wants to reinstate it, and the old minister will definitely refuse to accept the order. ”

Zhu Qizhen heard what Yang Shiqi said, and said: "What Mr. means, but now it is difficult to solve the roots? ”

In the ancient Chinese division of power, the profits of Shanze minerals went to Shaofu, and Shaofu was the emperor's small treasury.

The Ming Dynasty was no exception to this.

Therefore, the name of the world's minerals belongs to the emperor.

So to open a mine, the emperor sent someone to open a mine. That's what it should be. Moreover, the things mined were also classified as the emperor's private property.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu prepared weapons, sent the Ministry of Works, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies also opened iron mines, but the longer the time passed, it seems that most of the mine supervisors sent from all over the country were eunuchs.

This is also the reason why the mining tax of the Wanli Emperor in later generations can cause a good storm.

Yang Shiqi said: "Not really, it's just that His Majesty is reluctant to do so." ”

Zhu Qizhen immediately understood and said, "What Mr. means is to hand over this matter to you."

What is the Ministry of Industry going to do? ”

Yang Shiqi said: "What Your Majesty said is not good, the Ministry of Industry is now two books, there is no longer enough manpower, even if Your Majesty hands them over to the Ministry of Industry, there may not be manpower, to open mines in various places, in the opinion of the ministers, there is no more than the ban on mining mining." ”

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid this matter violates the ancestral system. ”

Emperor Taizu was very negative about the matter of opening a mine. I always feel that agriculture is the foundation, and as for the mining of all kinds of gold and silver deposits, it will greatly hurt the people's strength and malpractice.

In fact, Emperor Taizu's opinion cannot be said to be wrong.

After all, there were still small coal mines in later generations, and people were used as slaves, and they were buried below when they died, and in this era, this practice was a common phenomenon at all.

Emperor Taizu understood this and suppressed the mining industry.

Yang Shiqi said: "At this time and that time, when Taizu swept the world, the world withered, and all industries were not prosperous, so he should recuperate." But now that the descendants are multiplying, there are many unemployed people, and there are many displaced people. ”

"Although Your Majesty uses the method of work for relief to appease more than 100,000 displaced people. However, if the emergency is not to help the poor, it should be allowed to have a way to live in peace. It is certainly a policy to open up wasteland and fields, but it is forbidden to open mines and gallop mountains and rivers. It's one of them. ”

"Besides, Your Majesty should also know that the imperial court has banned the mines, is there really no one who steals from the people? In the past three years of orthodoxy, there have been many people who have violated the ban, and governing the people is like controlling water, and it is better to block it than to sparse it. ”

"Besides, last year's catastrophe, and now Your Majesty wants to exhaust the rivers in Hebei, and the treasury is empty. As the head of the cabinet, the minister always has to solve problems for the court. ”

Zhu Qizhen is now extremely sensitive to money, and if there is anyone in the world who does not take the ancestral system seriously, it is Zhu Qizhen.

When he talked about the ancestral system, he was already moved, and he just wanted to see what kind of rhetoric Yang Shiqi was. Now that there is a connection with money, he said simply and neatly: "What should I do with Mr.'s meaning?" ”

Yang Shiqi said: "I think that some mines should be banned, and some mines should be banned. ”

"Gold, silver and copper are the treasures of the country, and they should not be relaxed, and Taizu has allowed the people to smelt iron during the Hongwu period. Therefore, iron ore is naturally unforbidden, but the mining movement is thousands of people, gathering in the mountains and forests, the court does not know its clues, once there is a change, then chaos and do, so the minister thinks that he should try to govern it strictly. ”

"All mining operations must be registered in various localities and a license must be issued. The production of each year, the ins and outs, must be played clearly, in case there are rebels, and according to the output of the iron tax, with the old system of Taizu, fifteen to take one. It shall be levied by the counties on their behalf. ”

"If there is any unclear or deceitful, it is natural to deal with it strictly and order the closure of business."

"As for the other mines, such as iron ore, they shall be disposed of as well. It's just that the amount of each tax needs to be considered. It's just that the minister thinks that the transportation of the subway materials is inconvenient, please fold the silver. ”

Zhu Qizhen listened. He heard a lot of meaning.

I'm afraid this one thing, even if Zhu Qizhen

If I don't talk about this topic today, I'm afraid Yang Shiqi will find a time to talk about it.

In ancient times, the two major killer tools to solve financial problems were salt and iron.

Needless to say, salt is millions of taels a year, and it also supports the grain of the nine sides with the opening of the Chinese method. It is not without drawbacks, but the various forces involved in it, even Yang Shiqi has a little headache.

And in any case, it can be maintained, and it is not the time for a major rectification.

But iron is different.

The Ming Dynasty did not go to the countryside, and it can be said that it completely lost its ability to supervise the mining industry in various places.

Emperor Taizu seems to like to use a quota to set down all taxes, and the annual iron quota of the Ming Dynasty is 18.47 million catties of iron. Among them, there are various subway sections, and there are also products produced by government railways.

The price of iron has fluctuated slightly, but now it is only about two cents of silver. The iron is also worth more than three million taels of silver.

If there is a lot of iron levied, the imperial court may not be able to exchange all this iron for silver.

Even though the imperial court uses a lot of iron, there is always a surplus. There was one during the Hongwu period.

This is also the reason why Emperor Taizu obeyed his orders, and there was no place to put iron in the imperial warehouse. This is also the reason why the household department does not have much money, but Zhu Qizhen also wants the Ministry of Industry to cooperate.

The Ministry of Industry doesn't have any money, but it does have materials.

Although Yang Shiqi did not say it in his words, the implication was that the tax was going to be raised.

However, Zhu Qizhen still doesn't know much about Yang Shiqi.

Although Yang Shiqi had the idea of solving the financial problems for the imperial court, this idea was not big, and it was just a matter of convenience. After all, the emperor loves to toss so much, and as an old minister, he always has to accumulate a family foundation for the imperial court.

What he really has to do is to take precautions.

From the tenth year of Xuande, the Empress Dowager dismissed the mines in the world, and in the mining industry, a large-scale retreat of the country and the people began, and the government closed off the mines. It was mined by the people.

This explosive growth made the Ming Dynasty orthodox years, private mining completely surpassed government mining. It has formed a great safety hazard, and thousands of strong men are in the mountains, which are under the jurisdiction of the mine owners, and if one is not done well, it will be a big mess.

Although it is still peaceful today, it does not mean that there are no uprisings among the people.

In the tenth year of Xuande, Wuxing was sent to Jiangxi to suppress the civil unrest, and this was still a big report, and there were not many reports.

Now Zhuqi Town has the meaning of running a large coal industry, and while the mining industry is booming, it needs to be supervised even more.

Yang Shiqi came up with the licensing system. I want to control the big miners in Daming. Of course, it's only the big mine owners, after all, many people dig up things in their own homes, and the imperial court has that energy.

As for whether the big miners in various places will oppose it? Yang Shiqi didn't think about it at all, because this didn't have their share of what they said.