【Ticket Request】

"Tiancheng came to taste this tea?"

The old man was dressed in a short robe for the summer, and his face was full of folds when he smiled.

The best azure Qiongyao tea cup contains a touch of gold in the soup green, served in the hands of the old man, the buds under the tea cup are loaded and floating in the tea soup, and most of the heat has disappeared at a glance.

"Let Fengzhi break the cost again, this good tribute tea is a good raw product."

If you talk about the famous tea in Shu, it is natural to count the tribute tea from Mengding Mountain, although the name is tribute tea, but the five peaks on Mengding Mountain, each peak produces good tea. The tea sent by Chuanzhong to Fanbu naturally does not use good Mengding mountain tea. Since Zhang Juzheng implemented a whip law, all localities no longer specialize in special taxes, Yazhou specialty tea in addition to the court and Shu Wangfu tribute tea, there are also many on the market.

Although Wang Xingping is not very accustomed to the diet in this life, he is still used to drinking tea. Now compared to the previous life, Wang Xingping knows that the big households in Chengdu Mansion also have people from Xiling to collect ice in winter, and the Shu Mansion has its own ice cellar, which can enjoy ice drinks in all seasons. But how can there be any mountains around Chongqing that can take ice, and there are ways to make ice from saltpeter, but it is not something that an official like Ye Lianfang can easily consume, let alone Wang Xingping can enjoy it. So drinking a cup of tea in the summer to relieve the heat has become a pastime that he has gradually become accustomed to, not to mention that the Ye family's tea is never worse than elsewhere.

"Tiancheng is still very knowledgeable, my protégé Duanyang Festival went to Qiongzhou Province, and I just brought back some Mengding nectar this spring, I don't want you to taste it in one bite."

"The students are also lucky, these days I have eaten a lot of good tea at my sister's house, and the taste has also been raised."

The servants and maids withdrew after some seasonal fruits, and ate tea for a while, and Wang Xingping simply stopped beating around the corner.

"I don't know what good things I have to tell you about today?"

Xu Chengming's father and son went to Hezhou and did not return, if there was nothing today, Master Ye would not have summoned him alone.

"I really want to congratulate you."

As he spoke, Master Ye took out a few pages from his sleeve and handed them over.

"But what about the salt lead?"

Wang Xingping took it with a smile, and saw that most of the pages were the latest Di copy.

"You really can't hide anything from you, and there is indeed good news."

I opened the page and read a few lines, and sure enough, I saw what I wanted to know.

This is a letter from Nan Zhili's copy of the content, judging from the news, it was already two months ago, counting the days, if the news from Lianghuai was not in a hurry, it would normally be more than sixty miles from the waterway, this is not an urgent military situation, and now I see that it is all fast, speaking of which, the news was not delayed for a moment from the hands of Master Ye and told himself, which is much faster than his brother-in-law's house.

In fact, the short content is only a few words, and it says that the imperial court approved the "Ten Discussions on the Salt Law" submitted by Yuan Shizhen last year, and agreed to try the "Outline Salt Law" in Lianghuai.

Because these days are at ease to make salt, Wang Xingping also deliberately made a more detailed understanding of the salt law of the Ming Dynasty, the previous time was just for the various pros and cons of the opening, after this way, first in Zunyi City and Longsheng shopkeeper good students learned a lot, and then in Hechuan for a careful investigation, plus before the crossing in the historical knowledge was enlightened by Mei Casey's eyes, for the current imperial court to carry out the salt introduction system has been clear.

And when he was still in Guizhou, he dared to put his only net worth into the salt introduction, precisely because he saw a piece of Yuan Shizhen's reform of the salt law in the forty-fourth year of Wanli in the past copy. Although according to the market, it is not easy for this salt law to accumulate disadvantages for a long time, and there is no news about this matter later, but Wang Xingping clearly remembers what he has learned, at least in the Wanli Apocalypse, the reform of the salt introduction system of the Ming Dynasty does have a vague impression in his heart, and these days of make-up classes have made up for this impression.

Although Yuan Shizhen's recital was only aimed at the salt policy of Lianghuai, its impact was undoubtedly huge, and it was indeed a great benefit to Wang Xingping, who is now in the hands of salt.

Originally, under the original system of opening or salt classes, merchants had a distinction between border merchants and domestic merchants, and the border merchants transported grain or taxes on the border land, and the salt in exchange for it was brought to the salt field to support the salt, but it took time to keep the branches, and the border merchants needed to turn over, so they often sold the salt directly at a reduced price to the domestic merchants, in order to quickly realize the silver turnover.

And the capital of domestic businessmen is also different, and the guards have to wait in order, so hoarders are born. Hoarders often rely on the abundant capital to collect a large number of salt from the border merchants, and when the small household merchants need to go to the salt supervisor to draw salt, they will sell the salt in their hands at a high price, in fact, it is another exploitation, if it is said that the amount of salt in Wang Xingping's hands can also be regarded as a small hoarder, but it is nothing compared to the huge wealth of such wealthy businessmen.

Yuan Shizhen's proposal of a more salt-prone method was mainly due to the dilemma of the two Huai salt administrations.

"You have to look after it directly." Wang Xingping said politely as he spoke.

Ye Lianfang said with a smile: "I originally thought that Tiancheng you were just going to be a hoarder, but I didn't want to put my mind on this salt policy." ”

In fact, Wang Xingping has not moved the mind of being a hoarder, but once this kind of land-sitting household does not have a strong backer, it is impossible for his family to gain a foothold in the outer state capital, and it is inevitable that he will be coveted by other large hoarders to deal with the domestic businessmen who are guarding the branch, and he will not end up with all the money and goods.

Wang Xingping said again: "It's just the salt policy of Lianghuai, and I can't change it in Sichuan within the next year." ”

Ye Lianfang said: "How can this be expected, when Yuan Yu wrote last year, who would have thought that this thing would really come to pass, this is a matter of seeking skin with the tiger." ”

Most of the large hoarders introduced by the two Huai salt are implicated in the local Haoqiang and even in Beijing, among which there are not only princes and nobles who have been blessed with saints, but also most of them also have ministers in the six ministries and cabinets. But now that the matter has come to pass, it is undoubtedly a major event for salt merchants in the world, as long as the news spreads, there will be many people who will get rich overnight, and Wang Xingping is obviously most concerned about the details and the accuracy of the news.

"Don't hide it, in fact, since the salt has also passed through a lot of merchants, the last time I heard a merchant from Nanzhi at the wine table said that the total amount of unpaid salt in the two Huai years is nearly two million."

"Last year's figure was 2.6 million citations." Often serves as an official in Beijing, although the Criminal Department does not manage the salt administration, but he has heard a lot of nonsense, and he can also open his mouth to the economic figures.

"But in the humble opinion of students, even if it is 2.6 million, it can be enough in three years."

At this time, the amount of salt in the two Huai a year was 900,000 citations, and the household Taicang collected the surplus salt silver on this basis, but because the salt administration abolished the relaxation of the salt Ding and fled a lot, as well as the impact of private salt, the output of Huai salt was not enough to compensate for the annual issuance of 900,000 citations, which caused a backlog of old quotations over the years. The idea of salt policy reform is actually a two-pronged approach, on the one hand, to improve the treatment of salt ding, let salt Ding return or recruit new salt Ding to resume production, and on the other hand, to exchange all the arrears and old quotations through policies year by year. According to Wang Xingping's words, 900,000 citations a year, even if it is 260 citations, as long as it takes three years to exchange all the old citations, it will be able to be redeemed.

"It's hard to give up good money, three years of surplus salt and silver is 1.8 million taels, and the country's regular tax is only how much a year."

Ye Lianfang's words are not bad, 900,000 salt tickets, and the remaining salt silver sent to Taicang in a year is 600,000 taels, if all the old quotes are used, it will be done for nothing, and the salt division and the household department will not be able to fall a penny, and the officials in the central capital who rely on the imperial court to eat will have to fight first.

Of course, Wang Xingping is just a saying, according to his understanding, the Ming Dynasty issued a monopoly salt quotation, but it is a kind of government bonds, and the surplus salt and silver collected by the imperial court in advance are equivalent to borrowing from domestic businessmen. However, with the lack of state finances, the imperial court gradually turned 'borrowing' into 'levy', and turned negotiable economic behavior into the obligations and burdens of merchants. In order to ensure the full collection of surplus salt and silver, the Salt Division will also impose severe penalties on small domestic merchants, in fact, this domestic merchant is also like being compiled into the yellow book by the government, and the exchange of salt is like a service, so that not only the salt Ding fled, but even the domestic merchants have fled in recent years, and the current situation of the salt law has reached the point where it cannot be changed.

"I heard that this time Yuan Lang's method is to divide the two Huai salt merchants into ten outlines?" Although the rumors in the mall are chasing the wind, there are also those that run faster than the government.

"It's already Yuan observing, but Tiancheng's news is still correct."

Yuan Shizhen was valued by Li Ruhua, the secretary of the household department, because of the salt reform, and was promoted to the deputy envoy of the Shandong Judicial Department of the Lianghuai Salt Law Road, and the content of this copy is the handwriting of him after he went to Yangzhou. After he took office, he first set up a program for the merchants, and in accordance with the red letter book of the Salt Academy, he divided the order of the big merchants into ten outlines and published a volume.

Among them, one outline is used every year to introduce the old and nine outlines to introduce the new. According to Yuan Shizhen's meaning, it is the turn of the merchants to introduce the old to only collect the principal and interest of the old introduction, and there will be no policy troubles for the new introduction, so the annual quota of the old introduction is 200,000 citations. The new introduction avoids the harm of the old and new introductions, but because it is necessary to step by step, the total marketing of the nine new introductions is 480,000 citations. In this way, the old and the new can be mutually relevant.

As for how this Yuan observed how to make the hoarders willing to comply, it still lies in the endorsement behind this set of measures.

This cross, since this publication has been published, it will be left with the merchants for a hundred years, and it will be used as a nest book, and every year according to the old number in the book, and a new introduction will be issued. Who has no name in the book, and who has to go in and contend with him?'

Yongyong's hundred years of four characters is equivalent to confirming the monopoly position of each hoarder on the salt market, since then the salt merchants on the compendium are equivalent to the hereditary monopoly of the salt market of the two Huai, such an exchange condition is supported by the hoarders It is understandable, of course, for the imperial court, in order to save the salt policy, this is also an expedient method.

Ye Lianfangfu explained: "It's just Huainan, Huaibei's inheritance has not yet come out, but I think it should not be too different from the situation in Huainan." ”

According to the news from Yangzhou, the new ten outlines of Huainan add up to 680,000 quotes a year, which is the same as the quota of Huainan salt introduction in the old year, thinking that if the Huaibei Gang Law is implemented again this year, the total amount should also be 220,000 citations, and the salt amount of 200,000 quotations per year remains unchanged, in fact, it is divided into ten years to gradually digest the old introduction.

The only loss for the hoarders is only the windfall profits obtained in the past, but with the endorsement of the government, several monopolies can justifiably attack other emerging competitors in the future.

According to the popular saying at this time, although Yuan Shizhen said in the book that private salt has accounted for four-fifths of the market, it is a bit alarmist, but the actual sales of private salt are half more than that of official salt. Wang Xingping remembered that Li Hongzhang once said that the prime minister was a pastemaker, but now it seems that which dynasty and generation are similar.

"Tiancheng's hand has a lot of salt, right? What's next? Ye Lianfang's question pulled Wang Xingping out of his thoughts.

These days, the piecemeal harvest plus the salt introduction that Chen Huangsheng gave to Wang Xingping when he was in Zunyi, and the total amount of salt that he bought after arriving in Hejiang and Chongqing was also two or three thousand. However, after entering Sichuan, the salt sold was fragmented, except for the one obtained in Zunyi, the other quantities were not much.

Wang Xingping didn't think about it for too long before he made a decision, and said:

"Sell it, of course."