Yancheng Zhixian surname Gou, called Gou Yunpeng, is a very atmospheric name, nine days on the clouds, Pengcheng thousands of miles.

Just looking at this person, he immediately pulled his crotch, not to mention that he looked ugly, he was still a hunchback, his body was withered, and he was not even willing to grow his meat, no matter how he looked at it, it was a bit of "Captain Jia".

"Our officials of the Ming Dynasty have to look dignified, how did you pass the imperial examination?"

Gou Yunpeng hurriedly bared his big yellow teeth and said with a smile: "My lord, the small one did not pass the imperial examination, and the small one is the official who donated!" ”

"Donor?"

Wang Yue frowned, "Gou Zhixian, do you know what you're talking about?" ”

"Yes, yes!" Gou Yunpeng hurriedly said: "The small one is indeed a donor official. ”

"Nonsense!" Wang Yue snorted coldly: "Although my dynasty can donate prisoners, it has never been bought and sold. Yancheng is an important town in Lianghuai, and the burden on your shoulders is extremely heavy, you can serve as the magistrate, could it be that you have some great ability? ”

"Nope!"

Gou Yunpeng said obediently: "My lord, let me tell you this, I have nothing else to do except for two bad money." ”

Wang Yue tried hard and almost laughed.

"Gou Zhixian, in this way, you are very self-aware, and this can be regarded as a skill."

"Hey, thanks to the praise of the adults, are the adults ready to promote the small ones, so that the little ones will be promoted to another level!" The eyes of this thing are shining, and his hands can't help but tremble, he really looks like a hamster who has won a delicious meal, Wang Yue snorted coldly.

"You still want to be promoted? Gou Yunpeng, let me ask you, how did you become the magistrate? Are you fooling around? ”

Gou Yunpeng saw Wang Yue's glare, and he was so frightened that he knelt down again.

"Adults, small ones want to do things well! But you don't need a small one! The small ones are the ears of the deaf, and the farts are useless! ”

Wang Yue snorted coldly: "You are also waking up the officer, who has the final say in the affairs of Yancheng?" ”

"This ...... Naturally, there are six major salt merchants, and I listen to them. There are taxes at the top, and they help me deal with it, and they are responsible for buying salt from below...... All in all, they give me 30,000 taels a year, and as long as I can sit for three years, I can earn 40,000 taels......"

"It's 90,000 taels, and you won't even settle the account?"

"How can you! It's not that I said, in order to buy this official, I spent a full 50,000 taels! Gou Yunpeng leaned over, "I said, my lord, do you have that kind of way, you don't ask for much money, but you can sell it to a big official, to be honest, this county magistrate who has no power at all, I'm really tired of it, if you can give me the prefect, the political envoy, preferably the elder, then it is called majestic!" ”

Wang Yue has seen a lot of strange things, but it is the first time for him to be strange to this extent. I have to say, he was really defeated.

"Gou Yunpeng, if you find one of your strengths, I will help you."

Gou Yunpeng rolled his eyelids, hollowed out his thoughts, racked his brains, and thought for a long time, before he said: "My lord, they told me face to face, I am a very good person, I am a big rich life, I have a fate with wealth and nobility in this life, you just look at the arrangement, no matter how big an official is, I can figure out how much money, it's a big deal to wait for me to become an official first, and then pay you back with interest!" ”

……

"Xiao Fugui, how is the situation, how many things did you ask?" Zhu Houxi asked casually.

Wang Yue sighed helplessly, "Your Majesty, if you want to be happy, it's okay to ask that Gou Yunpeng, after all, such a strange thing, not to mention a once-in-a-thousand encounter, at least a hundred years will not be able to find a second one." ”

"So interesting?"

Zhu Houxi really has plans to go over and take a look...... It's just that after pressing it down again, hundreds of thousands of salt workers made a fuss and drove away the magistrate, and if you are not careful, it will cause a big disaster. In particular, salt is a necessity for people's livelihood, although the north also produces pond salt, and the quantity is still very large, but the salt of Lianghuai still can not be sloppy.

Cao Yun can only affect millions of workers along the line, but salt can affect tens of millions of people!

"Who can tell the situation in Yancheng clearly? Wang Yue, do you have any trustworthy information? ”

Wang Yue said helplessly: "Yes, there really is!" It's just that the minister is a little afraid that he will kick his nose in the face. ”

Zhu Houxi's eyelids picked, and he seemed to have guessed who it was.

"Your Majesty, Lianghuai, Liangzhe, Changlu, Hedong, the six major transfer divisions, among which there are so many disadvantages that it is difficult to count...... With all due respect, the matter here, even if it is the Yandao Yamen, it is impossible to explain it, and where does a county order come from to make it clear. It makes sense for him to be a confused county official. “

Yang Bo's back was straight, and he played loudly to Zhu Houxi, not hurrying, not being humble or arrogant, and his voice was good, Zhu Houxi bowed his head slightly, signaling him to continue.

The problem of the Daming salt law is really not something that can be explained clearly in three sentences or two sentences...... Moreover, even if it is a paper with a head to the Tao, there are many fallacies in it, and it is far from the actual situation.

One of the most fundamental questions is how many people there are in the Ming Dynasty, how much salt is needed, how much can be produced, is there a gap, or is there an oversupply...... No one can say these most basic things clearly.

Of course, this is not surprising at all, after all, the population is estimated, and how can other things be clearly explained......

At the beginning of the country, the implementation of the Kaizhong Law, that is, the merchant transported grain to the nine sides, the nine sides got the grain, opened the salt to the merchant, the merchant took the salt lead, went to the salt field to change the salt, and after getting the salt, it was transported to the designated area to be sold.

This is the method of opening the middle that has been praised by many people, and I think it is the best method, after all, it solves the two major problems of military food on the nine sides and salt for the people at once.

It doesn't cost a penny to the imperial court, which is definitely in line with Zhu Yuanzhang's economics.

It was only with the implementation of the Kaizhong Law that people discovered the problem...... First of all, the amount of military rations needed on the nine sides is not the same, and in the event of war, there will be more food, and if there is peace, there will be less food.

In contrast, the production of salt is very stable, and the amount of salt consumed by the common people is even more stable.

What to do?

In the beginning, the imperial court encouraged the production of more salt, 200 catties for a guide, and the extra salt produced was given to the yamen, which could be exchanged for one stone of grain.

This is to encourage stove households...... But soon the problem came, the imperial court could not eat so much salt, there was no place to store it, and there was not so much food to pay.

So what to do?

You can only let the merchant buy it on your behalf.

This brings up the first big drawback in the salt method, residual salt!

How much salt does the stove household produce, how much salt does the merchant buy, is it surplus salt, or is it private salt...... It's not clear at all, and it's impossible to manage.

Moreover, the price of the imperial court is very low, and it will be exploited and squeezed by officials, and even lose money...... At this time, if you are a stove household and produce hundreds of catties of salt, will you honestly hand in the lesson, or will you sell it as surplus salt?

This multiple-choice question doesn't seem difficult, right? With that, the second question arises again. This is the lack of regular classes, and the imperial court cannot collect enough salt.

The shortage of salt collected by the imperial court will lead to a third fatal problem, that is, the merchants who have received salt in Jiubian have hurried to the salt works, waiting to receive the salt and sell it for money...... It turned out that there was no salt at all.

There are exaggerated situations, from grandfather to grandson, there is no waiting.

In this case, a fourth question arises.

The salt can't be exchanged, so what should I do? simply discarded the salt and directly paid money to the household in exchange for the qualification to sell salt...... The matter got to the household, and it was very troublesome.

Ordinary people can't mix it at all, and those who are qualified to pay silver must have hands and eyes to the sky and strong strength.

Such people don't worry about not being able to get salt at all, they have a way!

Or simply pick it out, people have salt farms in their hands, and they can produce private salt.

"Your Majesty, Rong Xiaochen said something unkind, our Ming Dynasty's salt law has long been rotten...... No matter how you fix it, it's useless. The salt class, stove households, and salt introduction mastered by the imperial court are fundamentally different from the actual salt production, selling salt, and eating salt! To put it mildly, even if the imperial court abolished the salt tax and let the common people produce it by themselves and the merchants sell it themselves, except for the annual reduction of two million taels of silver, there would be no impact, and maybe the price of salt would come down! ”

After listening to Yang Bo's remarks, Zhu Houxi rolled his eyes and said helplessly: "I understand what you mean, it's me who is causing chaos in the salt law, right?" ”

"As long as the court doesn't care, everything will be fine, right?"

Of course Yang Bo had this thought, but he had already felt the murderous intent in his eyes!

Master is here!

wants to fool Zhu Houxi, but he has to pay the price.

"Your Majesty, the minister means not to break or stand, but to break and stand...... It is better to completely reform the salt law. ”

"How?"

"Naturally, the imperial court took action and set up a salt company, with stove households as workers, the imperial court was responsible for salt production, and merchants were responsible for transportation and trading, and then all the salt profits were handed over to the national treasury, so naturally the world was peaceful."

After Yang Bo finished speaking, he subconsciously glanced at his master, and said in his heart, "Did you guess wrong?"

The disciple is not interested in the salt, I really think about the court...... The corners of Wang Yue's mouth turned up, he knew Yang Bo too well, he was a good student of his own, but because of this, he learned his own set.

No need to ask, it must be that several major salt merchant families have not discussed properly, and some people are unwilling to let go, so Yang Bo and his group simply flip the table!

Zhu Houxi frowned, and suddenly said: "What you said is good, but it's not enough to change the stove household to a worker...... Spread my will, let the stove households elect representatives, and I will talk to them personally! I, the emperor, would not be afraid of the people! ”