The salt law of the Ming Dynasty was initially inherited from the Yuan system, and then slightly changed. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the "open China law" was mainly practiced by the civil system and the official collection of commercial transportation and sales.

Kaizhong Law, also known as Kaizhong, is to call merchants to pay grain, horses, iron, silk, silver and other official things, and mainly to pay grain, easy to salt.

In the early days of the implementation of the Kaizhong system, the main purpose was to encourage merchants to transport grain to the border and enrich the military food reserves on the border.

Due to the fact that the place of salt in the grain was in Jiubian, Shanxi, as a border province of the Ming Dynasty, was itself located at the border pass.

Shanxi was the first to implement this system and the border towns with the largest amount of grain (the grain and salary of Xuanfu Town for a long time were also supplied by Datong Town).

Among them, Datong Town, Xuanfu Town and Taiyuan Town are the three of the nine sides, which belong to the areas that need to implement the open system to supplement the two military supplies;

The opening of the system provides a strong condition and a good opportunity for Shanxi salt merchants.

In addition, Shanxi Jiezhou salt pond is an important salt producing area in the north, is a famous Lu salt production area, not only enough for local consumption, but also can supply a large number of other provinces, its salt line Shaanxi Xi'an, Hanzhong, Yan'an, Fengxiang four prefectures, Henan Guide, Huaiqing, Henan, Runing, Nanyang five prefectures and Ruzhou, Shanxi Pingyang, Lu'an two prefectures, Ze, Qin, Liao three prefectures.

Jinnan area is the main grain producing area of Shanxi, and it is closer to the border than other places, so it can transport military materials to the border pass nearby, and the cost of grain exchange is low, which can quickly help Shanxi businessmen get rich;

Therefore, Shanxi merchants were close to the water, took the lead, and gradually obtained the privilege of trafficking salt, and became merchants among the border merchants who received salt in grain.

With the implementation of the open system, Shanxi merchants developed rapidly, and produced many large salt merchants, although the scale of development is less than the two standards, Shanxi salt industry still has achieved unprecedented development.

The rise of Shanxi salt merchants was due to the implementation of the Kaizhong system in the early Ming Dynasty.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the government's exploitation of the stove households caused the bankruptcy of the stove households, and the official taxes were reduced year by year, which completely shook the foundation of the Kaizhong Law.

The government of the Ming Dynasty began to implement the "outline law" of private merchants collecting and selling.

The outline method is the sales of the accumulation, the merchant salt introduction into a compendium, divided into ten outlines, one outline tax introduction every year, nine outlines of the current citation.

Subsequently, the old system was changed to the merchant to replace the rice with silver, which was paid to the transportation department, and then distributed to each side. The government sells the salt, and the merchants go to the scene to collect and transport it, and the government gives the right to buy, transport and sell the salt to the merchants.

Merchants can sell salt by paying cash to the salt transportation department, and these changes make the merchants who practice salt free from the pain of going to the border to pay grain, and bring convenience to the Huizhou merchants to operate the salt industry.

Since then, more and more Hui merchants have been engaged in the salt industry.

The two Huai salt farms produce the most salt and have the largest salt profits, so they have become a place for salt merchants to compete for profits.

At this time, although the merchants of Shanxi and Shaanxi also changed their border merchants to domestic merchants one after another, and went to Yangzhou to compete with the Hui people, they were far away from their homeland and could not compete with the Hui merchants.

However, as the Manchus moved south, the two Huai suffered the scourge of war, and the strength of the Hui merchants was greatly damaged.

The Jin merchants took the opportunity to swallow up the market, and because the trade routes were not open and the salt could not be sold, they were already trapped in funds.

Now the market is running on people again, which is even worse.

Hui merchants gathered together, and they felt that if they wanted to solve the current predicament, there was no other way than the national surname.

That's why Shen Yan asked to see him.

Although Zheng Chenggong was not unhappy that the Shen family and the Donglin School Party were meddling in their own family affairs.

But Shen Yan is his "father-in-law" in the end, and Zheng Chenggong is not good at treating him too harshly.

After inviting Shen Yan in, Zheng Chenggong walked into the banquet hall with a few guards.

I saw three people sitting in the banquet room, Shen Yan, the head of the Shen family, Wang Tengsheng, the head of the Wang family, and Wu Ziwei, the head of the Wu family.

As soon as they saw Zheng Chenggong, Shen Yan, Wang Tengsheng, and Wu Ziwei hurriedly stood up and arched their hands and said, "Meet the general!" ”

Although Shen Ruoxi is the eldest daughter of the Shen family of the Suzhou family, her current identity is Zheng Chenggong's concubine.

The status of a concubine is very humble, and it can even be said that it is just a plaything.

The wife's family and the husband's family are a kind of in-law relationship, which in ancient times was actually interdependent. The three tribes are the father's clan, the mother's clan and the wife's clan.

Condons are patriarchally not married, and husbands don't have to agree with the concubine's family.

There is a big difference between a concubine and a wife, which is why many concubines always want to be righted.

It is also the fundamental reason why the Shen family wants to unite with the Donglin School Party to support their daughter to take the position.

Zheng Chenggong waved his hand to signal Shen Yan and the three of them not to be polite, and sat down to talk.

Shen Yan and the three of them saw it and sat down respectfully next to half of their buttocks.

Soon, someone brought tea, Zheng Chenggong took it and said, "I don't know the three of you, what's the matter with today?" ”

Shen Yan heard that he was busy wiping his eyes with the sleeves of his coat dipped in some ginger juice, and then his eyes were red and he cried and said, "General, although the salt works in the north also adopt the method of drying and brining salt. There are tidal ditches, evaporation ponds, crystallization ridges, etc. At high tide, seawater is introduced into the ditch, steamed and dried in multiple evaporation ponds, and then the brine is poured into the crystallization pond to dry to make salt. Due to the backwardness of the production tools (the tide relies on the waterwheel, and the brine is extracted by hand), and the production method is outdated (all of them are taken from small ridges and shallow sun), so there are many impurities in the salt, and the color and luster are poor, which is not as good as the fine salt of the two Huai. Jin merchants are shoddy, this is exploiting the people! The people of Lianghuai are bitter, ......"

Shen Yan tearfully recounted the days of suffering in Lianghuai, and it meant that if Zheng Chenggong did not help, the people would not be able to live.

Looking at Shen's inferior acting skills, Zheng Chenggong was speechless, can he be more sad and sensational!

It's just that there are some things that are clear in my heart, but I can't find out.

Zheng Chenggong asked, "What about Mr. Shen's opinion?" ”

Shen Yan hurriedly said: "The general is benevolent and righteous, stand up and stop this gang of profiteers!" ”

Zheng Chenggong said lightly: "In this case, I will ask someone to issue an order to rectify the salt market!" ”

Shen Yan and the three of them were taken aback when they heard it, the market is not easy to do, if you send someone to rectify the market, then how can those two Huai salt merchants live.

Shen Yan hurriedly said: "This is not necessary, the general, the general, the grass people mean, it means ......"

Zheng Chenggong said impatiently: "What do you mean, say it quickly!" ”

Seeing that Shen Yan wanted to save face, he couldn't say whether he was alive or dead.

Wang Tengsheng had no choice but to blush and say: "General, Lianghuai suffered a military disaster before, the trade route was interrupted, and the salt could not be sold. I'm waiting for a problem with funds, and I'm here to borrow money from the general to turn around! ”

Zheng Chenggong looked at Wang Tengsheng and said, "How much to borrow?" ”

Wang Tengsheng hesitated and said, "Eight hundred thousand taels!" ”

Zheng Chenggong said expressionlessly: "It's not impossible to borrow money, but how do I know if you can repay the money by then!" ”

After receiving the benefits of others, you can't help but contribute.

Shen Yan hurriedly patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, generals, they are all reputable businessmen, and they will never repay their debts!" ”

Zheng Chenggong raised his head and looked at the ceiling and said, "There is no basis for what I say, if they run away, where will I find them!" ”

Shen Yan was restless when he heard it, and he didn't know what to do, so he stared at Wang Tengsheng and Wu Ziwei.

Wang Tengsheng and Wu Ziwei looked at each other for a moment, then gritted their teeth and said, "General, we are willing to use Zutian as collateral!" ”

"In that case, you go to my housekeeper to sign and draw the pledge!" Zheng Chenggong said.

Zheng Chenggong picked up the teacup and wanted to persuade the guest to leave.

Wu Ziwei saw that he was busy and said: "General, the road is uneven now, there are many bandits and bandits north of the Huai River, I implore the general to send troops to escort him!" ”

When Zheng Chenggong heard this, he immediately put the teacup on the table heavily, and said coldly: "Presumptuous! What are you doing when I am Zheng Jiajun, and you are trying in vain to let me Zheng Jiajun escort. I don't know what to say! Come on, send off! (To be continued.) )