Seeing that Zhang Mingwei was in such a hurry to ask, Liu Jin hurriedly replied: "As the master expected, it is an open secret that these salt merchants in Yangzhou City are engaged in illegal salt trading. According to the master's instructions, after the villain inquired, one of the big salt merchants named Kong Dayu had never done charity, and he liked to be flattered the most, and often held literary meetings, summoned those literati, and the top brands in various fireworks places drank and had fun together, and when he was happy, he would throw a lot of money. It is said that the utensils used in the house are all made of gold and silver......"

Zhang Huangyan was a little surprised when he heard this, this means, it can't be to take this big salt merchant, right?

In fact, since this prince jumped out of thin air, although there are all reasons, he has done a lot of things to raid his family. This matter spread in Jiangnan as early as possible, and it also made Zhang Huangyan have such a guess!

“…… It is said that his backstage is now the Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy Ma Delu, the villain checked, this Kong Dayu does send a large amount of money to Ma Delu every year, but other officials also have it. ”

Speaking of this, he handed over a copy of his hand and said, "All the news of the salt merchants investigated these days is recorded on it. ”

When Zhu Yujiao heard this, she immediately took it, immediately looked at it, and said with a little surprise: "How much money do you have to make with so much illegal salt trading?" ”

When Zhang Mingwei heard this, he immediately sneered and said: "If it weren't for this, how could they get rich!" ”

One of the means of salt merchants was to monopolize the salt industry. How to monopolize? It is to bribe the officials of the salt administration and yamen, and give priority to the exchange of salt in their hands, so that others will not be able to exchange salt even if they have salt citations.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty implemented the Kaizhong Law, that is, let the merchants transport grain to the border pass, so as to obtain the corresponding amount of salt in the hands of the border generals, so that the problem of military rations at the border could be solved for the imperial court. It's a good idea.

However, after the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it was the dirty methods of salt merchants that caused many merchants to get salt citations, not to mention that they couldn't exchange it, and it was still a blank sheet of paper when it was passed on to their descendants. Either it has been like this, or it is sold to salt merchants at a low price, and these two roads have greatly undermined the enthusiasm of merchants to send military food to the border pass, resulting in a shortage of grain at the border pass of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, these salt merchants also raised the price of salt, and according to statistics, the price of salt in the Ming Dynasty was considered high in several dynasties. Then, these salt merchants themselves mixed salt from unknown sources, salt that had not been taxed, into official salt and sold it.

Under these two means, it is strange that the salt merchants can not get rich!

This piece of salt, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, not only created the legend of Yangzhou salt merchants in the world, but also made the people related to salt politics all have interests. The so-called money can be channeled, and it is smashed with money, and even the court is the person who helps us speak.

In addition, since the Northern Song Dynasty, Fujian has begun to dry salt to obtain salt. But at the end of the Ming Dynasty, even if Shandong had also promoted this salt drying method, but in the salt field of the two largest Huai in the Ming Dynasty, the salt frying method was still used.

The transition from decoction to salt drying is a major advance in the history of salt, which can greatly increase salt production. It can be said that everyone can see this. However, why is it still the extremely inefficient and costly salt decoction method in Lianghuai?

In the early years of Chongzhen, the emptiness of the treasury made Emperor Chongzhen anxious to innovate the finances of salt and iron, so Xu Guangqi, who was famous in later generations, played Emperor Chongzhen and strongly recommended this salt drying method.

For this reason, he once personally did an experiment, and after the success of drying salt, he used the data to speak to Emperor Chongzhen and explained the detailed steps of drying salt. As long as this salt drying method is followed, the price of salt can be reduced by at least two-thirds, and the price can be reduced by half.

In addition, there are many existing shortcomings in the salt policy, such as the merger of other stove households, or the encroachment of salt farms for other purposes, etc. If the salt politics and law are implemented, they can all be solved.

Emperor Chongzhen at that time was overjoyed when he heard this, so he promoted Xu Guangqi to be the secretary of the household department and prepared to reform the salt administration.

However, if this is to be done, a massive increase in salt production will ultimately harm the interests of these salt merchants, who monopolize the sale of salt, and of course, the interests of the officialdom who have a stake in the salt merchants.

As a result, the people in the court objected, saying that the Lianghuai Salt Policy is the bulk of the current tax revenue of the imperial court, and such a large-scale innovation, in case of turmoil, will definitely seriously affect the income of the imperial court, so be cautious.

This statement made Emperor Chongzhen hesitate. He has no confidence, now the treasury is seriously insufficient, if there is any more impact, who will he cry to?

As a result, the agent of the salt merchant made another statement to Emperor Chongzhen, saying that the current salt frying method can allow the imperial court to strictly control the output of salt and eliminate private salt as much as possible. And if the salt drying method was used, it would be a whole salt farm, and as soon as the output increased, the imperial court would not have enough money to collect all the salt produced from the stove households. Many times, if there is too much surplus salt, it will inevitably lead to the overflow of private salt, which in turn will damage the salt tax.

In addition, there are other theories, such as the salt of the salt drying method is problematic, the saltiness of the sea is different, the means of other places are not suitable for the two Huai, and so on.

Emperor Chongzhen was young at the time, and he didn't have much experience, and he heard them all say this, which sounded very reasonable. The final result was that Xu Guangqi became the head of the household department, but in the end, he was still unable to promote the salt drying method in Lianghuai.

And he was not in good health, so he died of illness in the third year of Chongzhen. So, in the end of the Ming Dynasty, Lianghuai still used the salt frying method, but did not use the salt drying method.

When Zhang Mingwei was about to prepare to go south and put his thoughts on Yanzheng, this dusty history was mentioned by Emperor Chongzhen, and he knew about this past.

At that time, when he and Emperor Chongzhen wrote to talk about this matter, Emperor Chongzhen said the original reasons again.

However, this time is different from the past, first of all, as Zhang Mingwei, Emperor Chongzhen believes in him even more.

In addition, Zhang Mingwei has greatly alleviated the money shortage of the imperial court, but now it is necessary to reform the salt policy to supplement the source of money and grain in the subsequent treasury, that is, the so-called open source in the open source and reduce expenditure. This made Emperor Chongzhen already confident.

Thirdly, it was Zhang Mingwei who really explained the interests of the salt merchants to Emperor Chongzhen, which made him know that all the opposition, fundamentally speaking, was that the existing vested interests did not want to be touched by their cakes, not that they were thinking about the imperial treasury and the public.

The benefits of using the salt drying method to increase the output of salt, Xu Guangqi has already said back then, Zhang Mingwei will make up some measures to solve some of the drawbacks caused by the different means of salt output, needless to say, Emperor Chongzhen is of course relieved, what Zhang Mingwei says, he agrees.

At this time, after Zhang Mingwei saw it in Zhu Yujiao, he also took it, and the huge amount of private salt was completely blatantly sold as an official. With such a huge amount, it would be strange if the salt merchants did not make a fortune.

Hehe, under normal circumstances, their interests have been intertwined, and it is difficult for ordinary people to shake them. A salt merchant can rise, behind it is either a relative of the emperor or a big man in the DPRK and China. However, nowadays, all the big guys have to step aside!

Thinking so in his heart, Zhang Mingwei sneered, looked at Liu Jin and commanded coldly: "Liu Jin, you immediately lead the Jinyi Guard into the city, if the manpower is not enough, then mobilize the army into the city, raid this Kong Dayu, seize his warehouse, shop, etc., and at the same time arrest the two Huai Du Salt Transport Envoy Ma Delu and related people." ”

Liu Jin was stunned for a moment when he heard this, Guogong had just arrived in Yangzhou, and the army was still camping, and his butt was not hot, so he started working directly, would he be a little anxious?

Thinking so, he reminded: "Master, did you do this when you first came?" ”

"I don't have time to ink with them, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng is still wreaking havoc, the Mongolian Tatars are still here to intervene, Jianyu will definitely not be idle, to do them, 10,000 years is too long, just seize the day!" When Zhang Mingwei said this, he shouted with coldness: "Cut through the mess quickly, go immediately!" ”

"Yes!" When Liu Jin heard it, what else could he worry about, just do it!

So, after he hurriedly responded, he immediately went out of the Chinese military tent, not only ordered more than 100 brocade guards, but also mobilized 2,000 infantry troops under Yuan Shizhong, and immediately left the barracks.

In the Chinese military tent, Zhang Huangyan was a little dumbfounded, he couldn't adapt to the style of this Xingguo Gong, it was too direct, not subtle at all, and there was no meaning to cover up, so he started working directly so quickly.

But looking back, it seems that Guogong is right, at this time, there are thieves everywhere, and the troubled times are like this, and if you don't strike hard, you really can't do anything.

He has been with the prince for a while, and because the prince has scruples about doing things, the progress of urging the payment of taxes is very unsatisfactory. If it were like Guogong, the situation would definitely be different.

He was thinking about it, and when he saw a brocade guard holding the investigation information summarized for him, he hurriedly took it, and at the same time, he heard the prince say to him: "Look at it first, the emperor's will is here, and you will implement the new policy in the future." I will allocate an army to be stationed in Yangzhou, while guarding against thieves, and at the same time dispatching you, you may do a good job? ”

That is to say, Zhang Huangyan will directly do the transfer from Sanpin as a newcomer, which is a bit large. So much so that Zhang Huangyan was immediately dumbfounded, and he was stupid there.

The special employment strategy in the special period was suddenly promoted, and he Zhang Huangyan was not the only one, there were already several before.

Zhang Huangyan has also been in the officialdom, without all kinds of relationships in the officialdom, there will be fewer scruples, and he is a newborn calf, coupled with his performance in history, Zhang Mingwei took a fancy to him to implement the new salt policy.