The proliferation of private salt and tea in the Ming Dynasty is a well-known thing. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It is precisely because the imperial court monopolized these two industries and levied high taxes that the price of salt and tea was beyond the affordability of ordinary people, because tea was widely planted, and there were many kinds of leaves that could be used as substitutes, the situation was much better, but salt was only produced in specific places, and the Ming Dynasty implemented a policy of banning the sea, so that the people could only pin their hopes for salt on the smugglers.

The quality of private salt in the Ming Dynasty is uneven, the good quality is even finer than the official salt, and the poor is mixed with a large amount of sand, and the price of private salt also ranges from 20 to 40 wen per catty.

Although it is illegal to buy and sell illegal salt, the law of the Ming Dynasty is that the law does not hold the public accountable, and in some areas the mountains and rivers are far away, and the people have eaten private salt for generations, and the price of illegal salt in some areas is even higher than that of official salt.

Hearing Shen Xi talk about illicit salt and illicit salt dealers, Tang Yin gasped and asked, "Wouldn't Shen Zhongcheng want the people who sell illicit salt to buy salt and convert the illicit salt in their hands into official salt?" ”

Shen Xi smiled: "Isn't it okay? ”

Tang Yin was so frightened that he trembled: "This is not a joke, Shen Zhongcheng can think clearly." It is a last resort for the people to take salt and boil salt because they can't get it, but if they directly legalize illegal salt...... I'm afraid the imperial court won't let Shen Zhongcheng go. ”

Shen Xi nodded and said, "What Brother Bohu said is extremely true. Since the establishment of this salt class, buying and selling illicit salt is a felony, and the rules of thousands of years have not been broken by this official. The purpose of this official is not to turn the private salt into a regular one, but just to let the political envoy and the people in the salt field know that in addition to the salt in the salt field, the official can also transfer a large amount of sea salt from other places, and the private salt is only one of the ways! ”

With Tang Yin's wisdom, these words sounded very unusual to him at first glance, and he needed to think about it carefully.

Shen Xi not only proposed the existence of private salt, but also said that he did not plan to start with private salt, to put it bluntly, the key to the problem is to force the salt field to release salt.

Tang Yin didn't know the specific details, but he thought that he was just making some illusions, so that the people in the political envoy department thought that Shen Xi had a way to transfer a large amount of salt from other places, so he had to release salt.

Tang Yin thought to himself: "You are too taken for granted, the people of the feudal division, the feudal division, the government office, the county government, the salt field and other yamen are not vegetarians, do you think you can easily deceive them?" ”

Although he felt that Shen Xi was too conceited, Tang Yin had no bottom in his heart, because what Shen Xi had done in Guangzhou Mansion for a month or so was too targeted, and every step was very solid, he wondered, did Shen Xi really have a trick to make the people of the local yamen believe it?

……

……

After noon, there were still no big salt merchants to buy salt from the governor's yamen, but at this moment there was a sudden sensational news in the city.

The Franc machine man has entered the city.

In addition to selling spices, medicinal materials, jewelry and jade, mainly to buy porcelain and silk of the Ming Dynasty, I heard that they want to buy a large amount of tea, but the tea of the Ming Dynasty needs tea introduction, the tea of the city is not much, the price is one to two times higher than the place of origin, the Lang machine people are very dissatisfied.

This time, the Franco machine man entered the city, so that some businessmen with brains sniffed out the business opportunities, and the Franco machine man should buy tea in large quantities, and the businessmen who had tea on hand and a large number of private tea could make a lot of money.

Just like the last time the Franc machine people entered the city, the Franc machine people recognized that the government agency of the Ming Dynasty was not the political envoy and the government and the county yamen, but the superintendent yamen.

The Buddha was lined up neatly, carrying a saber, and came to the official post that served as the temporary governor of the yamen, and stayed inside for more than an hour before coming out.

Judging from the excited expression on the face of the Franc machine, the negotiation seemed to be fruitful, but it was impossible to know exactly what was discussed.

After the Francophile left the city of Guangzhou, he didn't even bring the porcelain and silk he bought, and drove away directly, which made the merchants and people in the city unbelievable.

Is this crazy? Even if you don't negotiate business with the Governor Yamen, you should at least take away what you have bought.

There is no impermeable wall in this world, and in the Yamen of the Political Envoy Division, Zhang Yuan, the political envoy of the Right Division, should get a message from the Guangzhou City Bo Division, because the news was too shocking, he had to immediately ask people to prepare an official sedan chair and go to the Yamen of the Prosecution Department to find Lin Tingxuan to discuss.

After Lin Tingxuan learned the news, he came back to his senses after a while: "The Franc machine man proposed to the Governor Yamen to buy Daming tea in large quantities, and the Governor Shen Xi proposed to the Franc machine man that he would not accept the sale and let the Franc machine people exchange sea salt for tea. ”

There are two sources of news, one is the detailed work arranged by the political envoy in the post house, after all, the post house is under the jurisdiction of the government and county yamen, and the post man and others will pass on the news they get from time to time; The second source of information is the translator of the Guangzhou Bo Division, and the dialogue between Shen Xi and Almeida has been transcribed by the translator.

Zhang Yuanying and Lin Tingxuan hurriedly summoned the officials of the Political Envoy Department and the Prosecutor's Envoy Department to discuss this matter, in fact, the main purpose was to verify the authenticity of this matter, as well as the legal basis for Shen Xi to do this.

It stands to reason that the Governor Yamen has no right to inquire about salt quotations, nor does he have the right to inquire about tea quotations.

As soon as the discussion began, Lin Tingxuan asked: "Where did this Franc machine get a large amount of sea salt?" ”

One question stumped the people present.

Although the Ming Dynasty fought a war with the Franc machine man and made two large-scale trades, the Ming Dynasty people were very unfamiliar with the Franc machine man, and even the officials present could not say where these Franc machine people came from.

How far is the country from the Ming Dynasty, what kind of goods are produced, how many people are there, and so on, not to mention the local officials in Guangdong, it is the entire Ming Dynasty, and no one else knows anything about it except Shen Xi.

Zhang Yuanying said with a dark face: "I heard that the country of Franc is tens of thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty. This is most likely a conspiracy devised by Shen Xi'er and Francophone in collusion with each other! ”

Many of the people present nodded in agreement.

In the past month or so of getting along, everyone knows that Shen Xi is a good hand at playing conspiracy and tricks, and even the Guangdong Salt Class Lifting Division has been caught and killed by Shen Xi.

Now Shen Xi met with the Franc machine man for no reason, the matter was too coincidental, and most of it was the smoke released by Shen Xi, the purpose was to make the local yamen and salt works believe that Shen Xi could get a large amount of sea salt from the Franc machine.

Lin Tingxuan thought about it again and again, and asked: "Even if the Franc machine has a large amount of sea salt, how can it be transported?" Even if it arrives, it is also private salt, and if you want to buy and sell, you have to go through the city, and there is no tea in the Yamen, so why exchange tea with the Franc machine for salt? ”

After a few words, more people agreed.

The Governor Yamen had no qualifications to do business with the Franc Machine, and now he actually wanted to use the tea franchised by the imperial court to exchange the sea salt with the Franc Machine, which was also the franchise of the imperial court.

What Shen Xi did was doubly illegal, and the local yamen could immediately impeach the imperial court.

At this time, an elegant-looking man in his thirties hesitated again and again, and finally stood up from the remote corner where he was and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a little bit of a shallow opinion below, I don't know whether to talk about it or not?" ”

Zhang Yuanying and Lin Tingxuan both looked at this man, this person's name is Xia Kuan, the word Tingsu, and he has no merit in his body, he wears green shirts on weekdays, and is called "Mr. Green Shirts".

Zhang Yuan should go to Guangdong as the political envoy of the right, in order to accumulate fame, visit celebrities and scholars, and finally invite Xia Kuan to serve as a staff member of the political envoy department.

Xia Kuan doesn't talk much on weekdays, but his occasional opinions make Zhang Yuanying appreciate it, so Zhang Yuanying likes to invite Xia Kuan to refer to it on his behalf when discussing things.

Zhang Yuanying nodded, with a look of approval on his face: "Tingsu, you say it." ”

Xia Kuan first respectfully saluted the officials present in turn, and then stood up straight, mainly because he had no official and no character, and others were sitting, so he could only stand up and speak to show respect. After the salute, Xia Kuan said: "I thought that the Franc machine man had salt, and the governor Yamen and the Franc machine man exchanged tea for salt, which is in line with the law of the imperial court!" ”

"Say it again!"

Zhang Yuan should listen to Xia Kuan's disagreement with him and Lin Tingxuan, and immediately turn his face.

Xia Kuan's face was full of embarrassment: "Master Zhang, even if you repeat it later, it's the same." ”

Zhang Yuanying was older than Xia Kuan, and as a provincial political envoy, he was in a high position, and he was about to rebuke this rebellious remark, but he was stopped by Lin Tingxuan, who asked eagerly: "You say, why?" ”

Xia Kuan had a feeling that it was difficult to ride a tiger at this time, but he still stubbornly said: "Several adults, as far as I know, Lord Shen Xi, the governor of the three provinces, had an interview with His Majesty before leaving Beijing, and Lord Shen was responsible for the mission of trading with the Franc machine, and the sale of tea and salt in the Ming Dynasty must have tea and salt, and there is no explicit provision for mutual consultation with the Franc machine. This is also what was mentioned when the imperial court negotiated the details of the trade with the Francophiles. ”

The words were reasonable, but the people present were full of doubts.

Shen Xi interviewed the emperor, and he had indeed heard about it from Shen Xi's mouth, but no one believed it to be true.

As for Shen Xi's authority to do business with the Franc Machine, this is well known to the officials present, so the imperial court also issued an official document to the locality, not allowing interference between Shen Xi and the Franc Machine, but in fact, the main purpose is to facilitate the exchange of food crops between Shen Xi and the Franc Machine.

The terms of trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Francophile are probably that the two countries are allowed to do business, but they need to go through the city and cannot buy and sell privately. But the problem is that the trade terms signed by the two countries are shelved in the yamen of the Ministry of Rites, and the people below have no chance to see them, so how do they know if there are any details of buying and selling salt and tea that need salt to lead tea?

Lin Tingxuan looked suspicious and asked, "Then how did you know that the Franc machine man has salt?" ”

Xia Kuan hesitated again and again, and didn't seem to want to say much, but being watched by everyone, he couldn't be sloppy, so he could only reply respectfully: "I heard that after the Franco-Rang people occupied Manraka, they later opened up colonies along the coast of Zhenla, Champong, Siam, Boni, Luzon and other places. The land of the South Seas has always been the source of sea salt, and there have been Nanyang merchant ships carrying private salt into the port before, so a few adults should have an impression, right? ”

Xia Kuan's "South Seas" included all parts of Southeast Asia in later generations.

After the Franc machine occupied the Strait of Malacca, in order to ensure the safety of the route, it was the proper meaning of the question to open up reclamation points along the way to the Ming Dynasty. And it is precisely because there are many islands in the South Seas, so it can be said that salt is the easiest commodity to obtain by taking a random piece of land and then forcing those uncivilized natives to boil salt with a knife and gun.

It's just that the Ming Dynasty did not allow the purchase and sale of tea, salt and other imperial monopoly goods with foreign countries, and the sea salt in the South Seas was not trafficked in large quantities to the Ming Dynasty.

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PS: The third update is here!

Recently, the monthly pass price has not risen well, but the Son of Heaven has worked very hard to ask himself and has a clear conscience, so he still has the cheekiness to ask for subscription and monthly pass support!

Thank you! (To be continued.) )