"Your Majesty, the minister recently investigated that there is a big problem in the north-south transportation. First of all, it is not a normal phenomenon to spend too much money on the way, sometimes even half of the goods carried.www.biquge.info Secondly, the government ships carried a lot of private goods, and these goods escaped the tax control of the government, and the impact was very bad..."Peng Yue lowered his head and told the story.

"I know, you also mentioned this problem in the fold, I called you here to ask if there are any other ideas..."

"The minister just has some thoughts about this luck, so he came to meet His Majesty." Peng Yue replied unhurriedly.

"Really? It turns out that Aiqing really has a good plan? A glimmer of light flashed in Zhu Houxi's eyes, but then it dimmed, "But the officials of the household department have been investigating this matter for a long time, but they still don't have an eyebrow..."

Peng Yue could hear that Zhu Houxi was a little distrustful of himself, after all, he was just a minor official, and in the eyes of most people, it was indeed difficult to put forward any constructive opinions on the matter of Caoyun. Especially when many officials in the household department have been thinking about and discussing for a long time, but they have not come up with any good solutions.

"Your Majesty, although the minister serves in the ministry, the minister knows that the emperor has been quite worried about Cao Yun recently, so the minister has also put some effort into the study of Cao Yun..."

"Oh? I also want to hear about Chong Aiqing's loyalty..."Although Zhu Houxi said this, there was no joy on his face. Obviously, Peng Yue's two obvious "words of loyalty" did not have any impact on Zhu Houxi, and he had already formed an "immunity" to this kind of relatively superficial and low-level "boasting" and "slapping horses".

"Your Majesty, in fact, in the final analysis, it costs too much... It's still a matter of the officials in charge..."Peng Yue looked at Zhu Houxi's face, "The materials consumed by each transportation are much more than normal, and this phenomenon has been regarded as a potential rule to some extent, and no one wants to break it..."

"I don't know that the officials are deducted, the former Emperor Taizu was severely punished, and he embezzled more than 60 taels of skins and grass, but it didn't work, some things... I can only open one eye and close one eye. Zhu Houxi sighed helplessly.

"The reason why the corruption of officials in the Cao Yun has been repeatedly banned is because of the system problem..."Peng Yue feels that this problem exists in many modern industries and enterprises, "Their corruption costs are too low, and there are too many opportunities for corruption, because there are too many loopholes in it." ”

"Zhang Aiqing also mentioned this problem..."Zhu Houxi seemed to be a little interested when he heard this, "In the past two years, Zhang Aiqing and they have been rectifying the corruption problem of officials in the Cao Movement, but after the dismissal of a number of corrupt officials, the old problems have arisen among the newly appointed officials, so we can't continue to dismiss officials." After all, the matter of Cao Yun still needs experienced officials to handle it. ”

"So the key now is not to reorganize the management of officials, but to change the system." Peng Yue looked at Zhu Houxi's eyes, hoping to get an affirmative answer.

These days, through Peng Yue's in-depth study of Caoyun, he has also discovered some unexpected and reasonable things. In fact, it is not that those household officials cannot come up with a good way to solve it, but that they have been included in a huge network of interests. It was very convenient for the officials of Caoyun to take bribes, and many of the profits they obtained were supplied to many household officials. When they received the money, they were naturally happy to open one eye and close one eye. This kind of exploitation at all levels, with layers of deduction, is very happy. In fact, every organization has such problems, large and small, but in the case of Cao Yun, it has now reached the point where it has to be rectified.

"Then I don't know what Aiqing said, what kind of change method is to change the system?" Zhu Houxi asked with a frown.

"I remember that the transportation has been transported by the people before, but considering that the conscription is too heavy and the people are too complaining, this law was abolished and gradually changed to transportation by the government. But now there is a continuous looting by officials at all levels, and in the process of transportation, they are also extremely corrupt and deductive..."Peng Yue said slowly, he couldn't help but feel that this kind of problem has really been around for a long time, whether it is ancient or modern, it is a big problem.

"I know..."Zhu Houxi said softly, his tone became calm again, and he seemed to be a little disappointed, "I also know that these Caoyun officials also have to send a lot of silver to the household department to seal the mouths of the household officials..."

"Your Majesty, it turns out... You know..."Peng Yue was surprised at this time, but he quickly regained his composure. Indeed, Zhu Houxi is talented and intelligent, and he is a vassal king, and he did not grow up in the palace since he was a child, so it is not unusual to know something about these things.

"I don't know, it's just that the problem of the household... It's been a long time..."Zhu Houxi changed his comfortable posture and leaned back on his seat, "Some things seem simple, but they are easy to do... But it's hard..."

"Then Your Majesty, do you know that the official ship is carrying private goods for personal use?" Peng Yue regretted a little after asking this question, because he knew that he underestimated Zhu Houxi.

"Of course you know, does Aiqing want to test me?" Zhu Houxi grinned, but his smile was a little unnatural.

"Your Majesty forgives me, the minister didn't mean that..."Peng Yue hurriedly bowed.

"That's it, I don't mean anything else, you go on..."Zhu Houxi waved his hand and motioned for Peng Yue to get up.

"Your Majesty, official ships were allowed to carry private goods during the Taizu period, and later Renzong reiterated this decree, but they all limited the quota of carrying private goods..."Peng Yue explained this decree more simply, "But now the official ships are flooded with private goods, which have long exceeded customization, and most of the officials make profits from this." Many official ships took advantage of this to transport and sell fresh fruits, cotton, and other goods, and made a lot of profits, and these profits went into the private pockets of officials..."

"Humph! It's disgusting that such things should happen! Zhu Houxi patted the dragon chair and said angrily, he didn't expect officials to take advantage of such a small system loophole, "Aiqing, do you mean to abolish the rule that official ships are allowed to carry private goods?" ”

"No, no... Peng Yue waved his hand again and again, he didn't expect Zhu Houxi to do things so extremely.

"Your Majesty, think about it, the reason why the official ship can hide so many private goods and make so many profits in it just shows that the people have this kind of demand." Peng Yue stared at Zhu Houxi tightly and bowed, "Just like the control of a river, it is better to block it than to dredge it, so I implore Your Majesty to restore private transportation and allow merchants to participate in goods and transportation between the north and the south." ”

"But this method has been exercised before, but it has been abolished..."Zhu Houxi straightened his sitting posture again and restored the majesty of the emperor, "The reason why it was abolished is because of the drawbacks." There has been a lot of requisition before, and the people have complained a lot..."

"The way the minister said is not the same as the previous method... The minister said that the big merchants of the private families were brought in here and let them finance the transportation of goods from the north to the south, and the government was only responsible for the management and did not have the right to participate in the guidance. As for this management, it is limited to tax collection, check for leaks..."Peng Yue raised his head and glanced at Zhu Houxi's expression, and hurriedly lowered it again, "Just like the salt introduction policy implemented at the border before, only the salt price and taxes were levied on merchants, and then they were allowed to receive and sell salt vouchers. ”

"This method sounds pretty good..."Zhu Houxi twisted his fingers, "It's easy to manage..."

"Your Majesty, it is more convenient to manage in this way than before, after all, we only need to set up a few institutions to manage these things in a unified manner, and those businessmen can't do anything beyond the norm, after all, there is an official government in charge..."

"I'm not worried about management, it's just that... Will the power of the merchants increase as a result? Zhu Houxi frowned, but didn't look at Peng Yue.

"Your Majesty can rest assured that businessmen are all for profit, all for profit, and the purpose is to make more money, but they are just miser-like temperaments, and they can't weigh more in advance?" Peng Yue originally wanted to propose more taxes on merchants to suppress their power. But after all, Peng Yue wanted social progress, so he couldn't restrict the development of commerce too much, so he swallowed this suggestion in his stomach.

"Hmm... Aiqing said the same... After all, let them do it, than let these officials do it... Rest assured..."Zhu Houxi muttered to himself there, and his mind became jumpy.

"Your Majesty, there are a lot of benefits to this move..."Peng Yue saw that Zhu Houxi didn't speak, so he muttered on the side, "First of all, there are fewer opportunities for officials to embezzle and make profits, and secondly, there is no need to care about the problem of spending a lot of money at all, because it is all a matter of the businessman's own profit, and our tax revenue must be much more than before..."

"Alright, alright... Needless to say, I know that there are many benefits to this..."Zhu Houxi lowered his gaze and stroked the somewhat wrinkled yellow robe, "It's just that it's difficult to implement, the problem will be there, and... The most important thing at the moment is to get all the ministers to agree..."

"It turns out that he has been worried about this, it seems that this emperor is really not simple..."Peng Yue sighed secretly in his heart.

"Your Majesty, this kind of thing really needs to be done slowly..."Peng Yue's eyes rolled, "At the beginning, we can first give Caoyun officials more general management powers, so that they have more... The opportunity to act cheaply, and there will not be much opposition to the implementation of this policy in the first place... And... It can also suppress the power of the merchants, and give them a prestige in the beginning..."

Originally, Peng Yue didn't want to do this at first, but thinking that this policy might really be very resistant, he put forward this suggestion to Zhu Houxi. After this period of training in officialdom, Peng Yue has learned to weigh the pros and cons, and knows the truth that only by sacrificing part can he get part.

"Of course, this will change later... The minister hoped that after about three to five years, the government would be able to set up a special agency to manage the relevant estuary, and no extra officials would intervene in it. In addition, in order to prevent corruption by the officials involved, an organization was set up to record only and not to charge fees. There is another special agency, which only collects fees and has no authority to manage. In this way, transportation is prosperous, officials are able to govern clearly, and most importantly, the household department not only does not have to pay for transportation, but can also sit on a large amount of tax revenue. After Peng Yue finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Houxi's face with great joy.

"Well, what you said is very good, and it is quite far-sighted..."Obviously, Zhu Houxi was very satisfied, "There are still two things now, one is that there needs to be an official to implement it strongly... The other is... Over there..."

"Your Majesty, this matter is very important, and the minister thinks that he can only let Zhang Xuan and Lord Zhang do it, otherwise it will be difficult to implement it smoothly if it is replaced by others." Peng Yue said solemnly to Zhu Houxi.

"Hmm... Then let Master Zhang take charge of this matter..."Zhu Houxi paused, as if he still had something to say.

"Your Majesty, the minister is willing to help Lord Zhang make suggestions and make a little effort..."Peng Yue stepped forward, still with a serious face.

"That's very good..."Zhu Houxi smiled with satisfaction, "Then Lord Zhang is responsible for managing and mediating this matter, and you will be responsible for other big and small matters..."

"In addition, it's not convenient for you to do this in the ministry..."The corners of Zhu Houxi's mouth rose, "You can be regarded as a great credit this time, so I will promote you to be the head of the department, and work hard to do this thing well..."

"Thank you for your grace!" Peng Yue was overjoyed in his heart, he knew that he and Zhu Houxi were both "each with a ghost", and the two of them also achieved their "wishes" very tacitly.

Note: In fact, there are big problems in the transportation of water and materials in the Ming Dynasty, but due to the author's ability problem, I can't explain this matter thoroughly in the form of a novel in a few words, so I will add an explanation here, here to the Ming Dynasty grain transportation as an example, to get a glimpse of the whole leopard: the general trend of the reform of the grain transportation system in the Ming Dynasty is to replace the military transport by the army, and the long transport replaces the freight transport, and the peasants have also changed from the past to pay the freight, including freight, military grain and ship repair fees, etc., all according to the regular grain plus consumption. This change was beneficial to the peasants at first, but later, out of the need to loot financial resources, the Ming government and the government at all levels continued to increase the freight charges under various names, which made the peasants' burdens heavier and heavier, and it became an open plunder of grain households. Whether the carrier is ** or military transport, it is a heavy conscription.