"Returning to the Chitose Master," Ji Kun had no choice but to break his fingers to settle accounts for Zhu Cihong, "Half of the salt industry in the world is in Huaiyang." There are a total of 30 salt farms in Huaiyang Erfu, more than 12,600 pavilions, more than 5,800 brine ponds, nearly 70,000 stoves, an annual output of more than 705,000 positive salt, 3 million surplus salt, or 740 million catties.

The price of salt in the market in Daming is very different, about one and a half cents to three cents per catty of silver, and the average is about two cents. The value of one billion catties of salt in the market is 20 million taels of silver......"

"And when the income of the salt class was the highest during the Wanli period, the annual solution of the two Huai salt classes was only 680,000 taels." Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "Of the 20 million taels, only 680,000 taels are from the imperial court, oh, in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, there are probably no more than 340,000 taels!" This salt law is boring, it is better to abolish it and pull it down, and let the people buy and sell it freely! ”

"Your Highness......" Ji Kun was taken aback by Zhu Cihong's words, "This is absolutely unacceptable!" ”

"Can't do it?" Zhu Ci smiled without smiling, "Where can I not find more than 300,000 taels in this palace?" What do you say, big brother? ”

Senior brother Zheng Sen understood, and hurriedly took over the conversation and said: "The minister's family can pay a million taels of tribute to His Highness every year!" ”

"Good, good!" Zhu Cihong said, "This palace will issue an edict tomorrow to revoke the two Huai Salt Transit Envoys!" ”

What the? Play for real? How many people's jobs have this guy smashed? Are you really good, or are you stupid not to know what is great?

Zhu Cihong then said: "Ji Juren, you reported the excerpt of the crime of rebellion by Xu Yongji, the commander of Yangzhou Guard, and Zhu Guobi, the Marquis of Funing, the Governor of the Canal, and this palace took it. The palace will send the East Palace guards to protect you, you go back first, and when the palace sends someone to strictly investigate them, someone will announce you. ”

Send someone to protect it, and then put it back...... Chitose is not too troublesome!

Ji Kun is so clever that he immediately understood what Prince Zhu meant. That is to go and send a message to the four chief merchants of the Hui Gang salt merchants, and ask them to quickly calculate how much money should be given to the imperial court, so that the salt administration and salt law can continue.

"His Royal Highness, Senior Brother, really wants to abolish the Salt Law and Salt Administration?"

After Ji Kun left, the senior brother Zheng Sen immediately came up and asked about the salt law and salt politics.

Zhu Cihong smiled and nodded, "Yes, I'll talk about this at noon tomorrow...... The order should be issued soon. ”

Zheng Sen shook his head: "But this matter is too involved, not only the two capitals have a share, but the teacher also seems to have a lot of friendship with the Huaiyang salt merchants." ”

Later generations said how the merchants and Donglin were, in fact, not all merchants would use a lot of silver to raise the Donglin Party as their umbrella. For example, although Zheng Zhilong also paid tribute to Qian Qianyi, Lao Zheng did not rely too much on the Donglin Party. Lao Zheng's wealth is made by the water army! On the seas of East Asia today, except for Westerners, no one dares to say that they can wrestle with Lao Zheng.

But those Huaiyang salt merchants have no strength, and their trading is actually not difficult. It's not as good as those silk merchants in Jiangnan and porcelain merchants in Jingdezhen! After all, people can let Westerners and Japanese send boatloads of silver. Moreover, silk and porcelain are not monopolies, nor are they necessities, and the competition is still quite fierce.

This is not the case with table salt, which is a necessity for monopoly operations! Moreover, the processing cost is very low, and the salt merchants are not stove households, they do not process salt themselves, in fact, they are a group of tax-inclusive merchants. And when the tax-paying merchants could not pay a sufficient amount of taxes to the court that issued the contract, what else did Zhu Cihong want them to do?

"So what?" Zhu Cihong sneered, "The water of the Slender West Lake is cold, our teacher doesn't dare to jump into it!" ”

Cool water? Why does the junior brother always say that the water is cold? Zheng Senxin said: It's okay, it's only July now, it's not very cool......

......

Xu Yongji, the commander of Yangzhou Wei, is a descendant of Xu Da, not a descendant of the two princes, but a side branch of the Wei Guofu, so he can't be a national prince, but he still got an errand for a commander, and he is also a relatively oily Yangzhou Wei commander.

Yangzhou is an important town in the salt industry, and the two Huai Salt Transportation Divisions are located in Yangzhou, and the Eight Salt Masters also live in Yangzhou. On the one hand, he is the agent of Wei Guofu in Yangzhou - on behalf of Wei Guofu to collect protection fees from Yangzhou Eight Salt Governors, and also participates in the business of the four old West Salt Governors, Wei Guofu can hold the dark shares of these four!

In addition to Xu Yongji, almost all the nobles with heads and faces in the south will intervene in the Huaiyang guards such as Yangzhou Wei, Huai'an Wei, and Gaoyou Wei under the jurisdiction of the Yizhen garrison, so that they can meddle in the two Huai salt industries.

These guards all have the power to investigate illegal salt, and controlling these guards is equivalent to choking the throats of Yangzhou salt merchants!

In addition to the Yizhen garrison system, there is also a Nanjing Caojiang Sailor who also has the power to investigate illegal salt, and this sailor is also a tool for Nanjing Xungui to meddle in salt affairs.

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty probably also knew that there were too many cats in the salt industry, so he wanted to use multi-party supervision to fight corruption. Therefore, the nobles of Nanjing can intervene through the guards under the garrison of Yizhen and the water division of the Caojiang River, and the civil officials can intervene in the salt affairs through the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division, the Imperial History of the Salt Patrol, the Imperial History of the Patrol River, the Yangzhou Prefect, and so on.

The Nanjing garrison eunuchs from the inner court and the Huai'an town eunuchs can also meddle in Yangzhou salt affairs.

So all the nobles, officials, and eunuchs who interfered in salt affairs had to share a share. There are too many people who share the money, and there are too many people who protect the private salt, so the salt tax that can be handed over to the imperial court is pitiful.

The intrigue between the nobles, civil officials, and eunuchs in Yangzhou mainly revolves around Yanli.

The eight major salt chiefs who control the Huaiyang salt industry on the bright side have gradually become the white gloves of these three forces.

Although Ji Kun Jiju is a military member, he is relatively close to Donglin and Fushe, and often represents the Hui Gang Yan, who is sheltered by the Donglin Party, to find trouble with the old Xiyan who is sheltered by Nanjing Xungui, so it is more annoying.

But before the fall of Beijing, Xu Yongji didn't dare to do anything to him, the identity of the person was obvious, and Lao Xu didn't want to become a public enemy of Shilin.

But after the fall of Beijing, the situation was different! At least in Xu Yongji's opinion, his waist is a lot stiffer...... Especially after Zhu Guobi told Xu Yongji about joining forces with Shi Kefa and King Qin when he passed through Yangzhou in the south, Xu Yongji felt that Wei Guofu was going to be awesome again, and the court had to rely on Wei Guofu. Therefore, he wanted to expand his interests in Yangzhou salt affairs, so he picked Ji Kun to rectify it.

Unexpectedly, halfway through the rectification, Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu both went to defend Confucius, but Zhu Cihong came to Yangzhou with a large number of soldiers, and at the same time, there were rumors that Shi Kefa betrayed Wei Guofu!

Xu Yongji was a little in a hurry now, and when he reported the news to Nanjing, Ji Kun's kid sued him without paying attention!

When the news reached Xu Yongji's mansion, the old guy suddenly had a feeling of impending disaster.

Yangzhou can't stay, you have to run!

"Daddy," one of his sons, a young man named Xu Hujue, had already changed into a common man's cloth clothes, and was carrying a waist knife, and hurriedly walked to Xu Yongji, who was looking at the pool and the rockery in the back garden, "There is a Jinyi guard's Tiqi outside the door!" ”

"What? ...... so quickly," Xu Yongji took a breath, "How many people are there?" ”

"There are more than a dozen people who have blocked the main entrance of our house!" Xu Hujue said anxiously, "Daddy, let's hurry up and leave through the back door.......

How clever!

The brocade guards are here, and they can escape through the back door! Wearing brocade clothes and guarding the front and back?

"Good!" Xu Yongji gritted his teeth, "Let's go, let's go to Nanjing and find Grandpa Guo!" ”

The old man deserves to be Xu Da's descendant, he was decisive, and he decided to put on makeup and run away immediately, casually cleaned up a little softness, and then slipped away from the back door of the house with his son.

I managed to escape......

The Jinyi guard who came to arrest him was slow enough to react, and it wasn't until the two fathers and sons left Yangzhou City that they slowly entered the mansion to arrest people.

Of course, people can't catch it, but a lot of criminal evidence has been found, not the criminal evidence of Xu Yongji's rebellion, but the criminal evidence that the four old Xiyan generals in Yangzhou paid tribute to Xu Yongji and Wei Guofu.

Since Xu Yongji is suspected of rebellion, then of course the four salt presidents are suspected of being complicit.