Yang Lin smiled, looked at the smuggling salt dealer and said, "He is in charge, tell me, how can you smuggle salt and buy 60 copper coins?" ”

In ancient times, salt smuggling, like drug trafficking today, was punishable by beheading.

Pointing out in public that He Qidao and others are big leaders in salt smuggling, just as high-ranking officials and high-ranking officials now point out to their faces that person is a local underworld leader and a big drug lord.

He was so frightened that he fell down from his chair and kowtowed repeatedly, bluntly saying that he deserved to die for his sins, hoping to forgive his sins.

Although his face was solemn, his words were not murderous, he stared at He Qidao who knelt down, and looked at the several big salt lords around him who were so nervous that they wiped the beads of sweat off their faces and said: "This official knows that you are not only guilty, but it is not a pity to die a thousand times."

The official wants to know, you are engaged in the business of smuggling salt with your head, how can you buy 60 copper coins a pound of illegal salt in some places? ”

How can this kind of smuggling salt smuggling big salt lord, there are hundreds of people under him on weekdays, far more than comparable to others, at least he will not be killed when he listens to the words, he breathed a long sigh of relief, wiped the beads of sweat from his cheeks and said: "Adult, the small one is guilty, the small one is guilty."

Just because the official salt is sold high, ordinary people can't afford to eat it at all, and some meals add very little, not only does it not taste good, but adults know that if people don't eat salt, they don't have the strength to do things at all.

But you don't know, my lord, our line of work is hard, because there is no salt introduction, the government will be found to be severely punished, the big mine owners are unwilling to sell to us, in order to buy private salt from the stove household, a small introduction needs at least 2 taels of silver, which is more than twice as much as the stove household sold to the government.

On the way, we were afraid of being checked, so we had to take out some silver, so it would cost about 5 yuan of silver for each salt drawn.

We hire a strong laborer to transport it to the sales place, and give 1 yuan of silver a day, and the adults heard that you are also from a bitter cold, so the people flock to such a high salary, so even if you go to the more remote places in Bazhou and Dazhou, it will cost up to 1 tael of silver for each salt drawn.

Then invite the banker, to avoid others do not come to grab the land, so calculated, hire people to carry the burden in the local sales, so before and after the calculation, each salt to use up the cost of 6 taels of silver, each lead to about 6 taels of silver.

Adults, the little ones who used to be poor in the past, and were forced to embark on the road of smuggling salt dealers, the adults and the villains are willing to donate half of the family wealth, as long as the adults can forgive us and other sins, the small ones must pay the salt tax on time, and the small ones must be honest people. ”

Yang Lin said with a smile: "What a way, if I change my course and implement a concession for salt, as long as I get permission from the government, I can mine salt, I can purchase salt in bulk, and I can retail salt, can you reduce the price of salt to 50 copper coins per liter in the market?" ”

Everyone was shocked, licensing is a modern term, it is a new thing, and suddenly everyone is puzzled.

Now listening to Yang Linyi's explanation, everyone basically understands.

Every 100 stove households are a unit, and after obtaining a concession license, they will be disqualified from salt mining if they are found to have stolen or sold illegal salt, or other illegal activities.

After paying a certain deposit, the large salt merchant obtains a license for bulk sales, and if it is found that it is illegal to sell illegal salt, or other illegal activities, the license for bulk sales of salt will be cancelled.

If it is found that the illegal sale of salt or other illegal activities is discovered, the salt retail license will be cancelled.

Qian Bangqi was shocked, in all dynasties, salt and iron is the key control of the government, although the Ming Dynasty opened up the private iron business, but the salt control is quite strict.

It seems that the adults are ready to forgive these smugglers, and if they are sued by the official to Banzai, the result can be imagined.

And He Qidao and other smuggling salt dealers were overjoyed when they heard this, and the smuggling of smuggled salt was like smuggling drugs in the previous life, doing things with their heads in their hands, and they were in a different place if they were not careful.

Besides, in the past, the smuggling of salt was sold at a higher price than official salt, and a small lead was enough to have 2 taels of silver. In the middle, bribing officials to spend 5 yuan, selling in the local area, and beating up local officials and local scoundrels will also cost 2 taels of silver, plus the cost of transportation and sales, each small lead is more than 6 taels.

Now it is different, the tax paid is not as high as the cost of the high-priced salt purchased in the past and the cost of the larger officials, so the cost is lower, how can the current price of private salt not be guaranteed?

I was overjoyed in my heart, and I kowtowed again and again: My lord, if you only pay this tax, the salt sold to the villagers will definitely not exceed 50 copper coins, no, 50 Wen, 40 Wen is not a problem.

My lord, you also know that we are smuggling salt to make a living on the sword, and in fact we are miserable people, if all the officials in the world are like adults, it is really a blessing for the country and the people.

Half a year ago, I waited for Shunqing Mansion and collected taxes according to the principle of three classes and nine rules, and the tax expenditure of ordinary merchants did not increase at all.

Although those large families have paid a business tax of 15 and a net income of more than 300 taels of silver, they have paid a 10% income tax, but now that the government officials are in order, they dare not extort at all, as long as everyone can be safe, what is this business endowment?

Except for us smugglers, all of us here are wealthy families, let's talk about it, which one bribed officials no more than this number?

Just like the old men just said, the imperial court regulated that each salt road led to only 2 taels of silver, but in the end they all spent 5 or 6 taels of silver, most of which fell into the hands of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and the court got only a small pitiful 2 taels of silver. ”

Yang Lin looked at everyone with a smile, looking quite happy, and personally stepped forward to help He Qidao up, and said: "I have always said that taxes should be taken from the people and from the people, and even a penny of copper to bribe officials is too much.

The copper coins that should be handed over to the government cannot be less, and the salt reform is imperative, just like Mr. He and everyone just said, less than 2 taels entered the government, and the vast majority of them went into the pockets of corrupt officials.

I have made up my mind, as long as a serious businessman, as long as he pays a deposit of 100 taels of silver to the county government, he can obtain the qualification of salt wholesale sales in a certain county, and he can obtain the qualification of salt wholesale sales in a certain county by paying 400 taels of silver to the government office, and he can obtain the business license of salt wholesaler.

For the salt retailers in each bazaar, they only need to pay a deposit of 5 taels of silver to obtain the retailer qualification.

After that, if anyone dares to smuggle salt, the deposit will be confiscated, and the qualification to sell salt will be disqualified, which is considered a minor matter, and if the circumstances are serious, it is possible to be imprisoned and killed. ”

Everyone was overjoyed, and those salt lords reacted at first, and everyone knelt down first, shouting benevolence one after another.

In order to explain to everyone their salt policy reform, people took out a whiteboard and wrote on it with ink and carbon to explain the important tasks of salt policy reform.

In addition to paying the salt tax as mentioned above, it is also an improvement of the salt introduction system in the past.

After obtaining the qualification to sell salt, every 50 small yamen will be issued a booklet, and every time you go to the mine to purchase, you must register on it, and list the direction of the sale of the batch of salt, and stamp the relevant customs seal when passing through the checkpoint.

When the 50 references are completed, the booklet should be handed over to the Salt Division for reference.

If the booklet is lost, if the salt purchase is not registered as required, and the salt sales details are not clear, a fine of more than 20 taels of silver will be directly deducted, and the deposit will be ordered.

Those who are found to have sold salt without purchasing salt in accordance with the requirements will be punished by 5 times 10 times the illegal profits, and shall not be engaged in salt-related mining and sales in the next 5 years, and if the cleaning is serious, the corresponding sentence or beheading will be given.

After watching Yang Lin's explanation, after the "Measures for Comprehensive Treatment of Salt" was written, He Qidao and others nodded again and again: "My lord, the punishment in this way is too light, there is no problem, there is no problem."

My lord, I want to become a salt merchant in the four prefectures of Shunqing, Baoning, Tongchuan, and Kuizhou, so how much security money do I need, 2,000 taels of silver, or how much? ”

Zhu Dingguan, a salt merchant next to him, looked at it, how could he let this smuggler take the lead, and said again and again: "What your lord has done is really beneficial to the country and the people, so the government has more taxes and silver, and can levy rogues and Tartars."

In the past, due to the corruption of the imperial court and the rampant corruption of corrupt officials, we were helpless, the price of salt was two or three hundred wen a catty, and many ordinary people ate salt that was saved.

My lord clarified the rule of officials, although we have received salt from the imperial court in the past, but the local customs are very high, and the officials are also extorted, we are really annoyed. ”

In ancient times, the power of the government was very large, there was a county that copied the house, and the prefect who destroyed the door said, and now when I heard the adult, other salt merchants stood up one after another and praised the new salt policy.

But some other salt merchants are also implicitly dissatisfied, these nasty salt barons actually want to sit on an equal footing with everyone, which is tolerable or unbearable.

Seeing that some salt merchants wanted the government to punish themselves, those salt lords immediately reacted, the biggest problem of the government now is to settle the displaced people, that is, they need food, and they are willing to donate food to atone for their past behavior.

He Qidao loudly promised that in order to forgive the sins of the past, he was willing to donate 1,000 loads of food to resettle the victims.

Seeing that He Qidao, a smuggler of salt, actually wanted to invite pets, other salt merchants had a lot of money, and they increased their weight, some claimed to be willing to provide food, some claimed to be willing to provide silver, and some were willing to help local roads and bridges.

Subsequently, it was announced that the salt introduction would be issued in June every year in each county and the next year's salt in the month of La, and it would be distributed according to the calculation of 10 catties of salt per person per year.

Taking Pengxi County as an example, there are now 80,000 people (fighting for many years, and there are more dead), and about 800,000 catties of salt need to be consumed every year, and 200 catties per small lead, and 4,000 small leads can be distributed in the county.

Everyone pays a deposit of 1 percent first, and then pays taxes to get other salt quotes after using it up. ”

Some businessmen also felt strange, in the past, the imperial court of Pengxi County only had 400 salt citations, why should 4,000 citations be issued now, is this too much?

However, the smuggled salt dealers think that it is too little, and in the past, the salt was two or three hundred copper coins a catty, and everyone could not afford to eat it at all, and many people saved money.

If the price of salt is only 60 copper coins now, of course everyone has no such concerns.

The salt merchants and salt barons left one by one, and before leaving, they hoped that the government would determine the resettlement sites for the displaced people to lose the recipients, for fear that the government would blame them for making mistakes.