86_86695 "Emperor, mean and violent,......。 At the beginning, he was the guest of honor of the king of the county, and he was engaged in selling cloth and salt. …… There are thieves and Sima people, Tian is an accomplice, and an aider is a ...... abuse. ……。 In the second year of the Apocalypse, the salt merchants of Huguang were all wiped out. ”

- "The Secret Record of Taizu"

Wang Shuhui's views on the salt politics of the Ming Dynasty mainly come from the Internet and TV series of later generations. But he also studied some sources and read the opinions of some historians. The deepest impression on Wang Shuhui of the Ming Dynasty salt administration was that the salt trade, which had become a state-controlled industry since the Spring and Autumn Period and could contribute a large amount of tax revenue to the government, was completely controlled by the bureaucracy in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. They unscrupulously embezzled the huge profits of the salt government, but the Ming government almost did not get any financial revenue in the salt government it implemented.

What impressed him the most was in the TV series "Ming Dynasty", Emperor Jiajing was very worried because of the shrinking of the country's finances, and sent many officials to the Lianghuai area to clean up the salt tax. And Yan Shifan sent his henchman Yan Maoqing to Lianghuai to inspect the salt, and immediately collected more than 3 million taels, not including the millions of taels he sent to Yan Song's family and his own family. This made Emperor Jiajing, who learned the truth, determined to eradicate the Yan family and his party.

Historian Huang Renyu wrote in "Ming Finance and Taxation in the Sixteenth Century" that "the Lianghuai Salt Administration best reflects the incompetence of the Ming government in commercial management." Although Wang Shuhui does not quite agree with some of Huang Renyu's views on the history of the Ming Dynasty. However, Wang Shuhui felt that although Huang Renyu did not see that the financial collapse of the Ming Dynasty was the fundamental reason for the bureaucracy's unscrupulous embezzlement of national interests, Wang Shuhui fully agreed with the fact that in the later period of the Ming Dynasty, the country's salt administration was completely out of control.

According to the information he learned, the Kaizhong method adopted in the early Ming Dynasty in the salt administration effectively supported the large-scale and frequent military struggle of the Ming army against the Yuan and Mongolian barbarians on the grassland during the Yongle Emperor's period. During this period, the Ming Dynasty adopted state control over the production and sale of salt. However, with the rise of the landlord bureaucracy, the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty began to gradually collapse. The landlord bureaucracy used its power to embezzle the revenue of the salt administration, and the income of the salt administration in the Ming Dynasty began to decrease on a large scale.

From the 45th year of Wanli, the Ming government no longer directly controlled the national salt administration, and adopted the salt law Yuan Shizhen to build yì, abolish the Chinese law, and establish the "outline law". The specific method is to divide the salt quotation received by each merchant into 10 outlines, compile an outline book, and accumulate 1 outline every year, and 9 outlines are newly introduced; The quotations contained in the compendium allow merchants to "forever for a hundred years, and take it as a nest", and every year according to the old number in the book, the new quotes are made, and the merchants who are not named in the compendium are not allowed to join the salt industry. From then on, the official did not collect salt, and the merchant traded directly with the fried household, and the right to buy and sell it belonged to the merchant and was hereditary. The program of the "Outline Law" is the civil system, commercial revenue, commercial transportation, and commercial marketing, and salt historians call it the "commercial monopoly system".

In fact, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the government in the salt policy, whether it adopted the open method or the outline method, it was the landlord bureaucracy, a class with vested interests, that controlled the salt politics and profiteering. During the period of opening the Sino-French period, it was the salt officials at all levels who controlled the interests of the salt administration, and came from the landlord bureaucracy. During the period of the Outline Law, it was the large and small salt merchants who controlled the interests of the salt administration, or it came from the landlord bureaucracy. No matter what kind of salt policy the Ming Dynasty adopted, it could not guarantee the interests of the state. The fundamental reason is that the Ming Dynasty ran the country and relied on the corrupt and sick landlord bureaucracy. This is like looking at the granary with a rat and the fishing ground with a gluttonous cat, and in no case can it avoid the end of the national interests being embezzled by the landlords and bureaucracy. The Ming Dynasty collapsed financially and finally perished under the blood of the landlord bureaucracy.

In Wang Shuhui's view, the upper echelons of the Ming Dynasty, including the clans, nobles, landlords and the bureaucracy from landlords, these vested interests, used their power to constantly erode the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and in the face of peasant uprisings and foreign invasions, they still did not consider the overall interests of the country at all, and their unscrupulous and crazy plundering was completely a manifestation of psychological and physical perversion. For these people, Wang Shuhui, who wanted to create a new situation in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, had already sentenced all of them to death in his heart. What awaits them in the future will be total destruction of the mind and body.

…………

Even a flexible and changeable person like Sima Feng was choked by thunder when he heard Wang Shuhui's question. The reason is also very simple, some things can be done, but not said.

In fact, as the county chief guest of honor of the palace, it is normal for Wang Shuhui to be able to talk about the topic of private salt. You must know that the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty is not all in the hands of the noble family and officials at all levels. The well-informed Sima Feng knew that when Zhang Juzheng was in the old position of the pavilion, the Zhang family in Jingzhou controlled half of the salt trade in Huguang. After the fall of the Zhang family, Huguang's salt industry was divided between Jiangnan and the sons and nephews of local officials. The largest salt merchant in Huguang is the former governor of Huguang, the current head of the household department, and the nephew of Lord Zhang Wenda.

Sima Feng's mind spun fast. When I found that everyone was thundered and didn't speak for a long time, and the guest of honor in the palace had a blank face, and he couldn't see any emotion at all, just looked at himself with a focused look. He let out a long laugh, first pulled everyone out of the shock, and then ordered the two guys standing next to him to go down and serve some snacks before he said to Wang Shuhui with a humble smile, "Your noble man is really joking." The villain is a businessman, and some can't help but joke about the nobles. ”

Wang Shuhui didn't care about his kind words, and said directly to Sima Feng, "Mr. Sima, don't be too humble. In the past two hundred and fifty years, it has long been a cheap job to engage in business. As far as I know, all the officials in the DPRK and China, whether they are southerners or northerners, are all engaged in business at home. The dignitaries and nobles in the north and south of the capital, on the surface, said that they did not compete with the people for profit and resisted the imperial court's collection of commercial taxes, but it was not because those merchants were their own family members. If the imperial court wants to collect commercial taxes, it is to take money from their pockets, how can they compromise. For example, today, it is the integration of government and business. Let's just talk about Mr. Sima, there must be a few layers in your industry that belong to the officials of this Jingzhou Mansion. ”

It was the first time Sima Feng had met someone like Wang Shuhui. In his opinion, even if Wang Shuhui is the county lord's guest of honor, he is just the son-in-law of the county king who will restore the prince in the future, how can he be so unscrupulous. There are not too many children of the clan in this world, Wang Shuhui is just a county lord and guest of honor, he is a character in the eyes of the people, but he has no power and no power now, not to mention that the title of King Zhijiang has not been restored. Where did he get the confidence to tell the truth about these indiscriminate dismantling of filth like this?

However, Wang Shuhui can say such irresponsible words, Sima Feng is not ready to accompany him to go crazy. He said to Wang Shuhui with a humble smile, "The nobleman said that he was joking, in fact, since the imperial court abolished the Kaizhong Law in the forty-fifth year, the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty has been controlled by salt merchants. Since it is a group of businessmen who control the salt administration, then the salt that will circulate in my future will not be divided into official salt and private salt, all of which are just private salt. ”

Wang Shuhui found that Sima Feng seemed to have scruples, he thought about it and felt that this was also very normal. The matter of private salt, no matter which dynasty or period, is illegal, and discussing it with others with such fanfare is completely a mistake of modern people's thinking, which is a bit of a mistake.

Therefore, he adjusted his method and said to Sima Feng, "I didn't think about it just now, and I said some arrogant and shallow stupid things, and I want Mr. Sima to bear with me." However, I was just a little curious, and I thought that Mr. Sima was the leader of the business community in the county, so I took the liberty of asking. Hehe, it's a bit rude. ”

Sima Feng breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, it seems that this Yibin is an understanding person. He smiled easily, relaxed the muscles on his face, and said, "Hehe, you don't have to blame yourself, it's Xiaomin and I have shallow knowledge, hehehe." ”

Wang Shuhui saw that Sima Feng was relaxed, and said, "I heard from the fourth uncle just now that Mr. Sima had helped the house a lot in the past, and this time I came, mainly to thank Mr. Sima." I'm here to thank you, sir. After saying this, Wang Shuhui stood up and arched his hand to Sima Feng.

Sima Feng moved his body to the side, avoiding Wang Shuhui's salute, and said to Wang Shuhui, "The noble man really loves you." The small people in the countryside admire the royal family, and they are trivial things, so why worry about it. It is also the glory of the prince to live in Zhijiang and live in the same place with us and other small people. ”

Wang Shuhui invited Sima Feng to sit down opposite him and said to him, "I am not a local, and I have not been in Zhijiang for a long time, so I am not familiar with local things. However, when I was in my hometown, I also knew that it was not easy for the people to make a living, so I bought more private salt in my daily life, and I wanted to come to Zhijiang like this. The price of official salt here in our Zhijiang is geometric. ”

Sima Feng didn't think about it, and blurted out, "Official salt is indeed more expensive, and I am afraid that it will cost four or five yuan of silver per catty." ”

Wang Shuhui immediately asked, "What about private salt?" ”

"It's just two or three dollars." As soon as he said this, he realized that something was wrong, but the words were already out.

Although I don't know what tricks this guest of honor is doing, but at this time, Sima Feng has no scruples, and said to Wang Shuhui with a smile, "The guest of honor has been knocked on the side five times, what is the intention, the water in this pool of private salt trading is very muddy, and it is better to be cautious when the guest of honor first arrives." ”

Wang Shuhui listened to these threatening words, and didn't care, but he was very optimistic about this Sima Feng's appearance. In the end, it is the person who does things, and when he sees that the matter is broken, he immediately bursts out with the spirit of a great hero. Zhu Weiyan next to her was extremely unhappy when she heard this, and her phoenix eyes were about to have a seizure, but she was pressed on the shoulder by Wang Shuhui and did not have a seizure.

Wang Shuhui smiled and said to Sima Feng, "Mr. Sima is wrong, I don't mean to participate in the sale of illicit salt." It's just that the family teacher has a close friend, and the family runs the salt industry, so I just asked him how the market is here in Zhijiang County. ”

When Sima Feng heard this, his eyes immediately lit up, and his eyes were firmly fixed on Wang Shuhui and said, "What Yibin said about the world friend, how is the bid?" ”

Wang Shuhui smiled and replied, "Who knows, it's about one or two dollars per ten catties." ”

When Sima Feng heard this, he immediately groaned.

Wang Shuhui ignored him and calculated it in his head. The salt in modern society is refined salt with iodine, and the kind sold in supermarkets is about two yuan and five cents. The quality of the salt in the Ming Dynasty was very bad, and the worst one was sold for two dollars of silver. Two pieces of silver can be sold for about 18 yuan in modern times. If you buy salt from modern times and sell it here, it will be very uneconomical to sell it for two dollars of silver for a pound of salt. If it sells for three yuan, it will still sell well with the quality of modern refined salt.

In this way, a pound of salt can be sold for at least 27 yuan, and each pound of salt can earn at least 24 yuan and 5 cents. Table salt is a pure consumable, and the amount of salt taken is super huge. This salt sale is a good deal