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Now it is almost the Spring Festival of the eleventh year of Kangxi, but no one dares to guarantee whether Kangxi will start withdrawing the feudal domain next year in the order of the original history, which is only afraid that there is a fuse missing. Geng Jingzhong has not done anything to stimulate Kangxi in addition to the continuous development of maritime trade in Fujian. Even if he goes overseas to make trouble, but he hides the news tightly, if Kangxi wants to get detailed and accurate information, he will have to work a lot of effort, and the time will drag on for a long time.

Now, for the matter of salt, Geng Jingzhong has to do it. It is said that the market economy is better than the planned economy, but judging from the current situation, it is true that the market economy is not completely suited to China's national conditions. Both the market economy and the planned economy are ways of allocating resources, and there is no central coordination system to guide their operation in the market economy, but theoretically, the market will produce complex interactions between the supply and demand of products and services, and then achieve the effect of self-organization.

Of course, the market economy is a big concept, and it is only in the area of table salt, and it will not work if it is not controlled now.

"Mr. Yao, Brother Li is not here, and the matter here is really a bit of a mess between An Min and the others. Leave the matter of the General Administration of Customs to the staff committee to improve, and first see how to solve the matter of this salt? Geng Jingzhong brought the information that had just been sent below to Yao Qisheng, thinking that this kind of intelligence information was usually submitted to Li Guangdi first, and now that Li Guangdi was not there, the Ministry of Intelligence would directly send it to Geng Jingzhong.

Yao Qisheng had already inquired with Gu Ping before he came in. Geng Jingzhong also shouted for a while. He took the information and looked at it carefully. There is also a burst of fire on these numbers above. "These salt merchants are so bold! Fujian salt envoys are also damned! ”

The full name of the salt transport envoy is called the salt transport envoy of the capital to the salt transport envoy. is an official position. It was initially set up in the Yuan Dynasty and in various provinces and regions producing salt, and was successively used in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are also official positions such as Yuntong, Yundeputy, Yunju, and promotion, and some places have "Salt Law Road", and the chief is a Taoist. These officials often hold the title of Imperial History of the Salt Section of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so they are also called "Patrol Salt Imperial History". They not only managed the salt business, but also procured valuables for the court and reconnoitred the social situation. It can be said that it is an institution that has been able to loot a large number of people's fat and people's ointment in all dynasties.

Fujian is also an important salt-producing area, although the Fujian salt envoy does not have the power of the two Huai salt envoys, but it is also a member of the imperial court from the three grades. It stands to reason that Fujian's salt transport envoys manage Fujian's salt administration, and buying and selling salt also plays a mediating role, but in all dynasties, none of the officials in the salt class are clean, and they deal with the richest salt merchants, and they can't get enough money to get fat after a long time, but no matter how excessive they do, there is still a bottom line. But. The current Fujian salt class is beyond the bottom line of the people.

Fujian Province was under the management of Geng Jingzhong for five or six years. Although it cannot be said that earth-shaking changes have taken place, on the whole, it is no less than many areas in the south of the Yangtze River, and the living standards of the people have improved much compared with the past. Although there are still many mountainous areas where the problem of food and clothing has not been solved, in various prefectures, counties, towns, and places where a large number of people live, as long as they have hands and feet and are not lazy, basically two meals a day are still guaranteed. In particular, Geng Jingzhong has not stopped the construction of basic roads and water conservancy in the past two years, and the huge investment of four or five million yuan a year is no joke. If it weren't for the hundreds of millions of taels of silver looted from the Japanese Kingdom, Geng Jingzhong would not have dared to be so extravagant.

Over the past year or so, it is also the time when Fujian has developed the fastest, the market of the Japanese country has been opened, and thousands of large and small workshops have sprung up all over Fujian at once, the largest hired workers are two or three thousand, and the small ones have more than a dozen workers, and most of the various commodities produced are shipped to the Japanese country. The people's income has increased, and they must improve their living conditions, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are all important parts of daily life, in fact, the most important thing is the first four words, which are the necessities of life. It is impossible for people not to eat salt. The grain is planted in the people's homes, and the firewood can be cut in the mountains, and it is available in all the towns of the oil mills, and this salt is transported from other places. Even if the price of this thing goes up, you still have to buy it, and if you don't eat salt, you don't have to worry about going to work in the fields or going out to earn money.

Salt merchants in various parts of Fujian also saw this, and seemed to have negotiated it, and more than doubled the price of salt, and in some places it was even more outrageous, more than three times. The price of salt in this era is not one or two yuan a pack in later generations, but a pack is a catty. The current national average price is one or two and a half yuan a stone of coarse salt, which is fifteen yuan a catty, and it is nine yuan a catty when exchanged for the soft sister coin of later generations. Now that the price of salt in Fujian has been doubled, it has become nearly 20 soft coins a catty, and some places are more expensive. You must know that although Fujian has developed, the average income of ordinary people in Fujian is only about ten yuan a day. The people's income in a day is only enough to buy a pound of salt, so if you calculate it, the price of this salt is not twenty soft sister coins, but fifty or sixty is about the same. This is good for people with stable incomes, but if they don't have a job or land, it will be quite sad.

"No, Fujian Salt Transport Envoy Boluo was born as a general, although he is greedy for money and lustful, he will not make such a mistake, the key is this rumor, is it "Yao Qisheng is worthy of being a long-time official, and he has not given it for nothing over the years, and he suddenly thought of the key point. This information also mentioned that there are several places where it is rumored that Geng Jingzhong is short of money, so he has raised the price of salt.

"Yes, he has made the salt transportation envoy Si Yamen specially manage these salt merchants, if they don't have problems, they will rely on the salt merchants who are responsible for distribution below, and they don't have the courage to raise prices at will." Geng Jingzhong's eyes flashed, and he said. The expressions he made to Kangxi in the palace at the beginning of the year were all in vain, it seems that Kangxi's little pockmarks are even smarter than he imagined. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the salt law followed the Ming system, and basically implemented the old-fashioned shore diversion system. Salt merchants sell table salt. It is necessary to pay the salt tax to the salt envoy yamen. Receipt of salt (voucher for the sale of salt). Only then can you go to the designated salt-producing areas to buy salt from stove households and sell it to the designated salt-producing areas. However, to receive salt, you must use the source nest (also known as the root of the nest, the root of the nest), that is, the certificate to prove that you have the privilege of transporting and selling salt. In order to obtain this privilege, salt merchants must confess to the competent government authorities. When you recognize the nest, you have to pay a huge amount of silver. The salt merchant who held the lead had the hereditary privilege of transporting and selling salt.

"It seems that our efforts to break into the government are still not enough, such key information has not been discovered in advance!" Geng Jingzhong gritted his teeth and said. "Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Lu family in Haicheng Town is a century-old salt merchant. Specializing in sea salt, although the two large salt farms are not his family, they have always been in charge of his Lu family. He is also one of the major shareholders of the trading company, and he didn't inform the palace of such an important information, it seems that his heart is not on our side at all! ”

"That's what the prince said. These salt merchants monopolized the entire process of salt circulation throughout the country, wantonly lowered the purchase price, raised the selling price, exploited the stove households and the common people, and obtained huge commercial monopoly profits. They had a very close relationship with the imperial court and the government at all levels, and it was impossible for them not to know the inside story. But if he completely ignores the palace, then his heart can be punished! Yao Qisheng also shook his head and said, these guys are really not satisfied, they are already the richest and some people, and they can still do this, really

"It's okay, it seems that I've been too gentle with them in the past two years, I should find some chickens to kill, otherwise those monkeys will turn the sky upside down!" Geng Jingzhong said coldly.

"The subordinates feel that killing chickens and monkeys is far less effective than killing monkeys and setting an example of chickens, this is under the jurisdiction of the prince, and others are not allowed to stir up the wind and rain!" It's not that Yao Qisheng won't be ruthless, but he hasn't started to do it yet, and he doesn't have any psychological burden when he proposes this proposal.

If you want to ask how rich the salt merchant is, it can be seen from the TV series in later generations. I remember that those Qing court dramas in later generations were often filmed, Kangxi Qianlong liked to tour the south, and it was generally the salt merchants in Changlu, Lianghuai and other places who undertook errands to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for the emperor's favor. In addition, after the Kangqian Dynasty in later history, whenever the Qing government encountered heavy military supplies, celebrations, relief services, and projects, salt merchants often enthusiastically donated huge amounts of silver taels, ranging from millions to hundreds of thousands. There is such a record, it is said that during the Qianjia period, salt merchants from all over the country reported that they donated 30 million taels of silver, and two Huai salt merchants donated six consecutive times in just four years from the fourth year of Jiaqing to the eighth year of the Qing Dynasty in order to support the Qing government's suppression of the uprising of the White Lotus Sect in Sichuan, Chu and Chu, totaling 12 million taels of silver.

For the salt merchants, the Qing government rewarded them with titles in the government, making them bureaucratic; In terms of economic benefits, the initial "price increase" is allowed to increase the price of salt set by the government, and then it is allowed to "increase consumption" to increase the number of pounds of salt per bundle; There is even exemption from the salt tax arrears. In addition, when the salt merchants lacked capital, the Qing government lent money to the capital to turn over, which was called "capital capital"; Salt merchants pay interest and silver every year, which is called "profit". These political and economic connections between the salt merchants and the government show that the salt merchants in the Qing Dynasty were a group of merchant capitalists who served the feudal government and economy. At the same time, the salt merchants used their commercial monopoly profits to purchase land, and converted these profits into feudal land ownership, making them themselves feudal landlords.

The Qing court has been in the customs for nearly 30 years, and this policy has been implemented for such a long time, and there is basically no change to the salt class system of the former Ming Dynasty, and these salt merchants can be said to be the richest people except for the Jingnan Palace. Among the salt merchants, the richest is the Lu family in Haicheng Town, and the family of the past two hundred years is not built. Geng Jingzhong wants to kill this Hou is not so easy, more than a hundred years of development, although after the Qing court entered the customs suffered a blow, but many of the officials appointed by the Qing court were still refuge in the former Ming Dynasty, and there are officials related to his Lu family at almost all levels, and the relationship is intertwined, this must be carefully considered.

Geng Jingzhong and Yao Qisheng are very clear about this, but this time they can be charged with raising the price of salt privately, and the handle of the knife is held in Geng Jingzhong's hand, as long as the charge is confirmed, no matter whether the mastermind behind the scenes is Kangxi who is far away in the capital, no one can speak.

"Okay, I'm going to kill it! Not only this one, but also the Fujian salt transport envoy Bolo, I don't plan to let it go. This guy is full of people and will never go to our side. However, we don't need to do anything to kill him, let Liu Bingzheng think of getting rid of him, so that he can have an explanation for the court. Geng Jingzhong thought of this. I sneered in my heart. Liu Bingzheng served as the governor of Fujian. He bought him three years ago. But it is never revealed before men. It didn't take much effort to buy Liu Bingzheng, the carrot and the stick, let him see the strength of the Mawei Navy and it will be even stronger, plus a heavy reward, Liu Bingzheng knew him very well. In fact, he also knew that he relied on his old father-in-law to ascend to the throne, and now that his old father-in-law has died, it is impossible for him to go to the next level. How could he, who was not yet fifty years old, give up the opportunity to improve.

"Lord Wang, even Liu Bingzheng doesn't know about the problem with the salt class, it seems that nine times out of ten, the imperial court gave Boluo a secret decree, otherwise, we will definitely be able to deal with it as soon as possible. But now that the situation is very serious, the price of salt in all parts of Fujian must be lowered immediately, otherwise it will be useless to kill these people! ”

"You're right, they can move later. The first task is to reduce the price of salt in various places and solve it one day earlier. The people will suffer one less day, and if they delay one more day, there may be big problems! Geng Jingzhong then began to think about it, to see if there was any good way to solve the problem at the moment.

"It's a pity, the salt class has always been in charge of the imperial court, and only Wu Sangui is an exception, but Fujian and Guangdong are different, both places are salt-producing areas, and the special salt transportation envoy is also for this. Besides, the salt tax accounts for half of the imperial court's taxes, if we do something about it, I'm afraid that Kangxi will immediately be anxious with us. So far, we have not had a substantive conflict with the imperial court, Kangxi wants to win over the king, but also guard against the king, if the salt class is under our jurisdiction, it will be a direct order, why bother so much! Geng Jingzhong said with annoyance.

There have been many ways to turn around in my head, but none of them have left the main body of the salt monopoly. Even the new China in later generations practiced a salt monopoly, so it can be imitated in this era, but unfortunately this monopoly itself cannot be moved now. The monopoly system of later generations was to serve the people, while the current era is for collecting taxes, and officials at all levels use this to exploit the people.

In later generations, in the field of salt circulation, industrial salt has already been implemented to meet the production and marketing, and it is in an open state; Salt sales, batch, zero price are all formulated by the state, its operation is a market behavior, all kinds of price increase factors need to be strengthened by the salt industry production and marketing enterprises to strengthen the management of self-digestion: such as all kinds of freight with the government to adjust and suppress, packaging bags of raw materials with market fluctuations and ups and down. What really benefits ordinary people is that the wholesale and zero prices of salt must not fluctuate with the prices of other commodities in the market. A bag of salt is usually between one and five cents a piece, which is only two pennies when converted into coins of this era.

If Geng Jingzhong can intervene in the management of salt production and sales, then he can issue an order in the name of the palace to keep the price of salt in Fujian stable, and it is to maintain low prices, which will truly benefit the people. In fact, even without large-scale industrial salt, the cost of salt production was very low. Fujian is close to the sea, and salt farms can be opened up in many places along the coast at the same time, and the cost is only the labor wage, which is negligible compared with the huge profit of salt.

"Lord Wang, my subordinates are thinking, we can't directly interfere in the management of the salt class, but can we come secretly for the time being. We can send people to control these salt merchants below, whether it is a temptation or a threat, no matter what, let the price of salt in various places be lowered first. And then do it to guys like the Lu family in Haicheng Town, what do you think? Yao Qisheng stroked his beard with one hand, and only after a long time did he say yes.

Geng Jingzhong heard that this was indeed a solution. It's just that for such a long time, he has always had to hide and tuck things in the Ponytail Army, which makes people feel really uncomfortable. From the bottom of his heart, this method is the most direct and effective, but Geng Jingzhong is still a little repulsed. But even if you reject it, as long as you don't want to be the first bird, you still have to do it according to this method. "That's all I have to do for the time being. However, in this way, there are still some cheap salt merchants, who have exploited the people for so many years, and have sucked an unknown amount of people's fat and ointment, and this time they must be made to vomit some of it. Geng Jingzhong squinted his eyes and said.

"In this way, the price of salt must be reduced, and the normal price is only about fifteen yuan, so let them continue to drop a few yuan, to ten yuan a catty. To the outside world, it is said that the palace understands the hardships of the people and deliberately subsidizes them, so that all the people of Fujian can eat salt, but the actual difference is made up by these salt merchants. If they cooperate obediently, it will be good, if they don't cooperate, hum "Geng Jingzhong is very strong, and he is determined to lower the price of salt first, but as the old saying goes, the price of rice and rice can not be reduced too much at one time, otherwise it will be given away in vain, and the people will feel that since it has been reduced so much, why not directly drop it more, if it really becomes like that, it is not beautiful."

"Well, that's what the prince said. So who should do this? Yao Qisheng asked. He still has the affairs of the General Administration of Customs in his hands, and he is not suitable to take over this matter, after all, the workshop in this area of intelligence has always been in charge of Li Guangdi.

Geng Jingzhong thought for a while and said, "Ah Hu is not too busy now, and it is quite appropriate to hand over this matter to him!" "Ah Hu is in charge of the affairs of the Future Academy, and secretly is also responsible for contacting the intelligence subdivisions in various places, it can be said that he is one of Li Guangdi's right and left hands, and this matter is in his hands, and there should be no problems.

Since the matter has been decided, the order must be issued immediately, Geng Jingzhong immediately sent someone to Fuzhou City to call Ah Hu over, the headquarters of the Future Academy is set up in Fuzhou City, and it is very convenient to call him over. As soon as the people sent out left, the guards at the door came to report: "Lord Wang, Mr. Miao and Manager Wang are back!" (To be continued......)