Five days later, on the busy Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, a double-decker boat flying the flag of the Metropolitan Procuratorate went straight down the river, and the boats along the way dodged when they saw this.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate is the supervision organ of the Ming Dynasty, and once the supervision of the imperial history goes out of Beijing, it is under the imperial order of Emperor Xuande to go out to handle cases, which can be described as Emperor Xuande's Qincha, so in addition to those high-ranking officials and dignitaries, the peddlers and pawns on the road and the civil and military officials usually have to give way to their carriages and horses.

Especially this double-decker ship with the banner of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, both the specifications and the system are the top configuration in the Ming officialdom, so the officials in the ship are undoubtedly the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, either the left and right imperial history or the left and right deputy imperial history, which makes the ships on the river all avoid, so as not to collide with this official ship.

At this moment, in the cabin on the second floor of the big ship, Li Yuntian, Xie Heng and Han Liang sat around the table while peeling peanuts and talking and laughing, and the three of them were ordered by Emperor Xuande to go to the south of the Yangtze River to inspect the two Huai Salt Road, of which Li Yuntian was the chief envoy of the salt patrol, and Xie Heng and Han Liang were the deputy envoys of the salt patrol.

After Li Yuntian told Emperor Xuande about Zhang Gui's accumulation of millions of family fortunes, Emperor Xuande was very angry, he didn't think that the money in Zhang Gui's family was blown by the wind, and it must have come from the official salt sold.

If a salt merchant can earn millions of dollars from official salt, then the annual salt tax in Daming is definitely not only a mere hundreds of thousands of taels, there are obviously a lot of shady scenes in it.

Emperor Xuande naturally knew that the two Huai Salt Dao were corrupt, after all, it was the most oily yamen in the world, and if there was no corruption, it would be abnormal.

It's just that Emperor Xuande never imagined that the corruption in the Lianghuai Salt Road would be so strict, it can be said that it has reached a shocking point, and even a salt merchant who is not a deacon of the Salt Merchants Association can make a million fortunes from it, so it is conceivable how other salt merchants will behave.

Although I feel angry in my heart, but Emperor Xuande has no good way, the wind of greedy ink in the two Huai salt roads has a long history, it is a drawback from the time of Emperor Hongwu, it has been repeatedly investigated for decades, and the entanglements of interests in it are complicated, and it is not easy to completely rectify it, and it will also cause turmoil in the officialdom.

Therefore, Emperor Xuande planned to knock on the mountain and shake the tiger, and according to the usual practice, he sent people to inspect the Lianghuai Salt Road and arrest some corrupt officials and profiteers to punish the crime, so as to calm down the situation this time.

Of course, the officials and salt merchants who were arrested were just small characters, and the real core characters could easily escape this catastrophe.

However, what Emperor Xuande did not expect was that Li Yuntian took the initiative to ask Ying to go to thoroughly investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road, wanting to take the opportunity to rectify the administration of the Lianghuai Salt Road and strictly investigate the salt road officials and salt merchants who colluded with each other.

"Your Majesty, the wind of corruption in the Lianghuai Salt Road is becoming more and more severe, if you don't use thunderous means to cut through the chaos quickly, then it will become a big hidden danger for me in time, so it is better to get rid of it as soon as possible."

Li Yuntian was well aware of Emperor Xuande's concerns, so he quietly comforted, "Your Majesty, the ministers feel that the ministers of the cabinet will definitely support the emperor to thoroughly investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road. ”

Hearing this, Emperor Xuande, who was agonizing about whether to impose a heavy hand on the Lianghuai Salt Road, suddenly lit up, and the word "cabinet" made him suddenly remember one thing, the Lianghuai Salt Road is now in the hands of the officials of the six camps, if Li Yuntian thoroughly investigates the Lianghuai Salt Road, then the cabinet will definitely help.

Subsequently, Emperor Xuande's brows were slightly frowned, once the matter of the two Huai Yandao was mishandled, it would inevitably trigger a fire fight between the cabinet and the six ministries, and the consequences would be unpredictable.

"Your Majesty, if you don't break it, you won't stand it, and once the disadvantages of the two Huai salt roads are removed, the minister expects that the imperial court will be able to increase millions of taels of tax and silver every year."

Seeing that Emperor Xuande was weighing the pros and cons, Li Yuntian spoke again and said in a deep voice, "Jiangnan has always been rich, but over the years there has been very little tax and silver paid to the imperial court, and a large amount of money has flowed into the pockets of local gentry and merchants, and they are used to bribe the officials of the imperial court. ”

"Oh?" Emperor Xuande's eyes showed a look of surprise when he heard this, "The imperial court can increase millions of taels of tax and silver from the Lianghuai Salt Road every year?" ”

"According to the minister's opinion, there is only a lot more." Li Yuntian nodded solemnly and said in an orderly manner, "If you add the family property of those criminals involved in the seizure, I am afraid that the treasury of the Ming Dynasty will be filled with tens of millions of taels!" ”

"Tens of millions of taels?" Emperor Xuande was stunned by this number, although he was a great emperor, but due to the expenditure of successive years, the sum of the money in the treasury of the household department and the treasury of the palace in the Ming Dynasty was not 10 million taels, and only the salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River and the corrupt officials in the salt road could have tens of millions of taels of ill-gotten gains, which made him feel incredible.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Gui is just a middle- and upper-class figure of a salt merchant, and he actually has a million family fortunes, and the huge loss of tax and silver in the two Huai Salt Roads can be seen, and in the eyes of the ministers, tens of millions of taels are just a conservative number."

Li Yuntian naturally knew that because the Ming Dynasty implemented the policy of collecting taxes separately from the central and local governments, coupled with the commercial tax that was better than nothing, the imperial court was short of money since the founding of the country, while the local gentry and merchants made a lot of profits.

This has created a situation in which the central government is in financial difficulties and the people are living in hardship, so if the country is to be rich and the people strong, it is necessary for the imperial court to control the tax collection and increase the commercial tax.

However, it is not easy to do this, not to mention that the gentry and merchants in Jiangnan will oppose it en masse, and the officials in the imperial court who have an affair with it alone are enough to create a huge resistance.

Therefore, in order to break the current predicament, Li Yuntian not only needs to rely on the strength of the cabinet, but also needs to obtain the absolute support of Emperor Xuande, and only in this way can it be possible to break the ice of the Lianghuai Salt Road.

After listening to Li Yuntian's words, Emperor Xuande's brows couldn't help but wrinkle deeper, Li Yuntian was right, how many tens of millions of tax money have been lost in the Lianghuai Salt Road over the years?

If he had these tens of millions of taels in hand, the treasury of the Ming Dynasty would be incomparably full, and many of his policies of recuperation and recuperation would be smoothly implemented.

"There is no turning back when you open the bow, once you thoroughly investigate the Lianghuai Salt Road, then it will inevitably be attacked by many parties, you have to think about it." After a deep sigh, Emperor Xuande said to Li Yuntian in a deep voice, it is obvious that Li Yuntian will encounter many difficulties, and may even have worries about his life.

"Your Majesty, the minister's mind has been decided, and if the trip to the Lianghuai Salt Road is not successful, he will become benevolent!" Li Yuntian knew that Emperor Xuande was moved by what he said, so he bowed his hand to Emperor Xuande and replied solemnly.

"Okay, I'll allow you to go out to patrol the two Huai Salt Roads!" Seeing Li Yuntian's resolute attitude, Emperor Xuande no longer hesitated, and said in a deep voice, "I know that your trip is very dangerous, so I will order the Nanjing garrison eunuch to secretly assist you. ”

"Emperor Xie, the ministers will do their best to live up to the grace of God." Li Yuntian heard that Emperor Xuande had used a tactful way to give him the military power in Nanzhili, and hurriedly bowed down to thank him.

Emperor Xuande heard a hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth, and nodded with satisfaction, what he admired most was Li Yuntian's courage without hesitation, when he put down the rebellion of King Han and pacified the rebellion of Jiaozhi, he went with a heart of death, and finally achieved a jaw-dropping victory.

"Marquis Zhenwu, if you clear the filth of the Lianghuai Salt Road, what methods will you use to prevent the resurgence of corruption?" Then, Emperor Xuande remembered something and looked at Li Yuntian with interest.

In Emperor Xuande's opinion, since Li Yuntian wants to thoroughly investigate the corruption of the Lianghuai Salt Road, then he must have thought about how to deal with the aftermath, otherwise as soon as Li Yuntian leaves, the corruption atmosphere of the Lianghuai Salt Road will definitely make a comeback, after all, people are not sages, how many people can resist the temptation of white flowers and silver?

"Your Majesty, in the eyes of the ministers, if you want to stop the corruption of the Lianghuai Salt Road, you must first start with the salt farms in various places, as long as you can control the shipments of the salt farms, then those salt merchants and officials of the salt road will have nothing to do." Li Yuntian had been prepared for a long time, and replied in an orderly manner when he heard the words.

"How do you start with the salt works?" Emperor Xuande agreed with the words, looked at Li Yuntian and asked.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks so, the salt from the salt field is no longer in the hands of salt merchants, but directly transported to various places by the Yamen of the Lianghuai Salt Road, and the salt industry department is set up in various places, and the salt industry department sells the salt to the local salt merchants, and is responsible for inspecting the private salt on the market." Li Yuntian pondered for a moment and said his thoughts, "The minister has calculated, although this seems to be a bit laborious, but its profits are very considerable. ”

"It's a very good law." Emperor Xuande felt that Li Yuntian's idea was good, although it seemed a little cumbersome, but it could effectively solve the shipment of salt works.

In the past, salt merchants went to the salt field to extract salt and relied on salt introduction, which had many drawbacks, as long as the people who did a good job of the two Huai salt roads, then they could have as much salt as they wanted, and as much salt as they wanted.

Now it is replaced by the two Huai Salt Road Yamen to pick up salt and transport salt, so it is difficult for those salt merchants to interfere, and the imperial court can also monitor the annual sales.

Obviously, the annual demand for salt consumption will not change much, as long as the annual salt consumption remains a stable trend, then it means that the private salt on the market has been successfully restricted.

Otherwise, if there is a rollercoaster-like fluctuation in salt consumption, needless to say that there must be illegal salt in the market, then not only the local salt industry department will be held accountable first, but also the officials of the state government involved.

Emperor Xuande understood Li Yuntian's idea and felt that it was good, as long as sixteen salt industry divisions were set up in the two capitals and fourteen provinces, then the annual salt consumption of the two capitals and fourteen provinces could be controlled, and as long as the fluctuation of this salt consumption was not large, then it meant that the private salt on the market was banned.

In this way, it can also prevent those local salt merchants from privately raising the price of salt, after all, salt is an important war material, which needs to be controlled by the imperial court, not become a tool for those profiteers to make profits.

In Emperor Xuande's view, the officials in the Salt Industry Division were undoubtedly the most incorruptible at the beginning of its establishment, and the local salt merchants could not organize the private salt, so that they could get the exact number of salt consumption in various places, and with this number jù it was equivalent to putting a tight spell on the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Road, and where the salt consumption was wrong, the salt industry department would be held responsible.