In the Chenghua period of Xianzong, the opening of the law on all sides was stopped, and the salt merchants were ordered to pay grain in exchange for salt in the household department and the transportation department.

At that time, the government was becoming increasingly corrupt, and the royal family, eunuchs, nobles, and bureaucrats saw that it was profitable to hold salt, so they begged for salt and resold it to salt merchants to make a profit. This phenomenon is known as "nest occupation".

This phenomenon has intensified, undermined the Kaizhong system, and seriously affected the financial revenue of the Ming government.

Zhu Yijun saw from this that the subcontracting was very famous in later generations, and this occupation of the nest is the same as subcontracting.

The powerful nobles and clans obtained salt quotations through their power, and usually the price of such salt quotations was very low, and then the price of monopoly to salt merchants was very high, and they took a lot of money from it without doing anything.

Naturally, salt merchants also want to be profitable, which has led to high salt prices.

The price of official salt remained high, and those salt merchants began to smuggle smuggled salt for their own profits. In the end, it was the Ming Dynasty that was injured, the imperial court, and the people of the Ming Dynasty, who ate salt at a high price and were exploited by a group of moths.

In the second year of Longqing, Wang Chonggu once pushed the Tuntian system on the three sides, but by this time, no one was willing to do it.

Xungui and the clan still control the salt lead, and the salt merchant only needs to buy it with money, go to the border to Tuntian, and do what he suffers from. By this time, the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty was already difficult to return.

Cao Yikui focused on salt politics and conducted a detailed investigation, obviously not a mouthful official.

Zhu Yijun saw Cao Yikui standing in place with a solemn expression on his face, so he said with a smile: "I don't know what it has to do with it, I don't know if I check it, to be honest, I'm also very curious, people say "rich and rival country", I really want to see what a rich and rival country looks like." ”

"There are seven million taels of silver in the treasury of the Ming Dynasty, and I want to know if anyone has more silver than the people in the treasury."

"In this way, I will set up a Ming Salt Division in the household department, and I will transfer you to this yamen, and the salt department will be in charge of salt, and I will give you this opportunity. Don't do anything else when you take office, just check it out with me. ”

"Check how many salt farms there are in Daming, and the amount of salt produced every year, all of them will be checked by me."

"At the same time, it would be good to find some corrupt officials and profiteers, I think that some people's heads in Daming should be taken out and hung on the city gate, but I don't know if you dare to do this for me."

After saying this, Zhu Yijun turned his head to look at Cao Yikui with a faint smile on his face.

In fact, Zhu Yijun's attitude is obvious, this is to treat Cao Yikui as a knife, a knife that cuts at the salt merchant. Zhu Yijun believes that if this knife goes down, only salt merchants will never be brought out, and the harvest will definitely be very large.

If you want to rebuild a lot of things, you have to tear them down, otherwise how can you rebuild them?

This matter will definitely not be easy, if Cao Yikui does it, Zhu Yijun will allow him to become a cabinet scholar, and now it depends on whether he has the courage to do so.

"Command!" Cao Yikui knelt on the ground and said loudly.

Zhu Yijun nodded, and said with a smile: "Very good, in a few days, I will discuss your excerpts with the ministers, and I believe there will be a good answer." Speaking of this, Zhu Yijun waved his hand: "Okay, you go down!" ”

Cao Yikui left, and Zhu Yijun began to ponder the question of the candidate for the Daming Salt Division.

This yamen is not an ordinary yamen, Zhu Yijun is ready to use the salt department as the foundation to make a standard for the future construction of the Ming tax department. Zhu Yijun sighed, it seems that he still wants to invite that great god out!

"How's that king going?" Zhu Yijun turned his head to look at Zhang Whale and asked.

Zhang Whale listened to Wang Yongji's name, and after a little thought, he knew who this person was. Although it was a few years ago, Zhang Whale still remembered it very clearly, after all, this is very special, and there are not many people who the emperor values so much.

"Back to the emperor, Wang Yongji was just promoted to the head of the household in Nanjing last year."

Zhu Yijun nodded, then let these two people support the salt division first, as for the great god called Hai Rui, Zhu Yijun didn't know if he could invite it out. In fact, Hai Rui was squeezed out by the entire Ming officialdom, not just Zhang Juzheng.

Those who used Hai Rui to attack Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng died, and Hai Jui was not reused.

On the seventh day after Zhang Juzheng's death, his son Zhang Jingxiu Fuling returned to his hometown Jiangling to bury his father, and with the departure of Zhang Juzheng's coffin, it completely proved the end of an era, and also represented the beginning of an era.

"Call a few cabinet members to discuss in the afternoon!" Zhu Yijun looked out of the Forbidden City and said expressionlessly.

"Yes, Emperor!" Zhang Whale bowed and replied, the expression on his face was very serious.

As soon as Zhu Yijun wanted to turn around and walk back, Zhang Hong, the eunuch who was in charge of the celebrant seal, walked in, and after respectfully saluting Zhu Yijun, Zhang Hong opened his mouth and said: "Emperor, the Queen Mother invites the emperor to Cining Palace." ”

Listening to Zhang Hong's words, Zhu Yijun nodded, since Zhang Juzheng died, Empress Dowager Li has been reciting scriptures for Zhang Juzheng.

Now that Zhang Juzheng's coffin has left the capital, she can be regarded as fulfilling a wish, so she wants to summon herself.

Zhu Yijun came to Cining Palace, met the Empress Dowager Li, and had a meal with the Empress Dowager Li.

Unlike what Zhu Yijun thought, Empress Dowager Li didn't say anything, and she didn't even mention Zhang Juzheng. Although he also said things that made Zhu Yijun diligent, he didn't have any requirements, and it could be seen that Empress Dowager Li was a little worried, but she was also very peaceful.

Although it is said that the cabinet ministers are in the court, in fact, there are only two cabinet ministers at present.

Ma Ziqiang and Lu Tiaoyang are dead, and now Zhang Juzheng is also gone, and only Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing are left in the cabinet. According to the progressive order of the cabinet, Zhang Siwei is the first assistant of the cabinet, and Shen Shixing is the second assistant of the cabinet.

When Zhu Yijun saw these two people, the expressions of both of them were a little serious.

"Two lovers, excuse me!" Zhu Yijun motioned for the two of them to get up, and then said: "Mr. Zhang has passed away, and there are only two Aiqing in the cabinet, which is really not enough. ”

"According to the previous will, the two people who entered the cabinet were Pan Sheng, the secretary of the ministry, and Yu Youding, the left attendant of the ministry. After these two people entered the cabinet, there were four people in the cabinet, and I felt that it would be good to enter another one and gather five people. ”

Although the number of cabinet ministers varies, there are usually five, namely, the Scholars of the Huagaidian University, the Scholars of the Jinshenden University, the Scholars of the Martial Halls, the Scholars of the Bunwon Pavilion, and the Scholars of the East Pavilion.

In the past few years, the five scholars were also complete, but Lu Tiaoyang, Ma Ziqiang, and Zhang Juzheng died one after another, and only two remained.