"And then?" Zheng Jigong asked curiously.

Salt tax is one of the most important tax items, all dynasties have been used as a national monopoly project, local governments are not allowed to intervene, and the two Huai region is a developed salt industry, more than seventy percent of the country's salt is almost produced here or transferred from here to all parts of the country, so the state will set up a separate position of two Huai salt envoys, in the official system of the Great Zhou, the prefect is from the four products of the officials, and the two Huai salt envoys are from the three products, the level is one level higher than the prefect, which shows that the state attaches importance to the salt tax.

However, although the two Huai salt envoys are high-ranking officials from the third grade, and because they have the real power to manage taxes, they are very fat official positions, but this position is not so easy to do, on the one hand, they hold real power, those rich businessmen and tycoons will often try their best to bribe and win over, and it is often hundreds of taels of gold and white bank bribes, in addition to the officials themselves, including the officials' families, important staff, and people who can speak around are within the scope of bribery, which can almost be said to be pervasive, and few people can resist this three-dimensional and all-round attack. On the other hand, because there are too many people in this position, all the forces are staring, and they want to do everything possible to insert their own faction into it, so once there is a problem, it is easy to be impeached and attacked by the forces of other factions in the court, so the two Huai salt envoys of all dynasties are high-risk positions, and very few can successfully complete a term, and they are often deposed by the court due to corruption (but as long as they are not executed, The money earned during his tenure is enough to live a few lifetimes, so many people are still fighting for succession, the so-called people die for money, birds die for food, and this has been the case since ancient times).

Zhang Bonian is an honest official, and his reputation is very good, and when he was still a county official in Qipin, he used his sleeves to clean his air. Penniless is not greedy, clear as water, clear as a mirror style for the people of the county respected, its decision is more iron-faced selfless, do not follow the law for selfishness, for more than ten years as an official, there is almost no negative news, and because of this, the Huns on duty invaded the border, and the treasury was empty. When the two Huai salt taxes are urgently needed to solve the urgent need, the emperor will be exceptionally promoted and sent him to do this work. This is both an opportunity and a risk for Zhang Bainian - because it is in an extraordinary period, if he does a good job, he will definitely be particularly appreciated by the emperor, and his future officialdom career will have unlimited prospects; If you don't do it well, you will delay the preparation for war in the northwest and even suffer defeat, and you will be demoted from your official position at the least, and you may even lose your life at the worst.

Zhang Bonian had been an official for more than ten years at that time. There is not a lot of experience in officialdom, but the situation of the two Huai salt envoys is not the same as the previous official one, and the position of the principal party is not the same, and it is difficult for even him to master it in a short period of time. Coupled with the fact that he is an honest official and refuses to flow with the salt merchants, it is not easy to collect the salt tax smoothly, let alone increase the salt tax by two times? It must be a very sad threshold for this Bai Nian.

Now Zhang Bainian is the prime minister. From this, it can be seen that the threshold must have passed smoothly back then, but the situation at that time was certainly not as easy as it is now. It's not just the other adults sitting together. Even the two children listened with relish and wanted to know what the outcome was.

"Hehe, Zhang Xiangye knows that it is impossible for him to fully understand the tricks played by those salt merchants in a short period of time, and the war is urgent, and the emperor cannot give him too much time to take his time, so if he wants to successfully complete the task of salt tax collection, he must get the support of powerful people in Jianghuai, the so-called one fence and three piles, one hero and three gangs, without local help, even if he has enough power in his hands to bankrupt those salt merchants, he is also anxious because he can't find the goal of Liwei", Lin Baoliang put down his teacup and continued.

At that time, the main business of the Lin family was still salt, but the scale was not large, and at most it was ranked after twelve or thirteen in the Lianghuai area, when I took over the family business for only three or four years, it was the age when I was in the prime of life, and my judgment at the time, because the salt industry in the Lianghuai area was basically monopolized by the top five salt merchants, only because this market was too big, other salt merchants could get a piece of the pie, if it was just a small wealth that was expensive, contentment and happiness of course nothing, but if you want to become a leader in the industry, In addition, because of the war in the northwest, the court decided to increase the salt tax, although this is a temporary policy, but since ancient times, it is easy to raise taxes and difficult to reduce taxes, once the tax rate is raised, it is even more difficult to reduce it, which is why the salt merchants spontaneously united against Zhang Xiangye. However, based on my judgment and the knowledge I have collected about Zhang Xiangye's usual style, I think that first, it is imperative to raise the salt tax this time, and I have made up my mind, and second, with Zhang Xiangye's ability, I can definitely complete this task, and time is only a matter of time, and the disintegration of division, winning over a group, and cracking down on a group must be an inevitable means, since this is the case, why not take advantage of this to turn around, give up the salt industry that has been monopolized by several major salt merchants, and put the main experience on the newly emerging ticket bank and money industry? In this case, the earlier the intervention can get the more benefits, if you wait for people to gain a firm foothold, you are in a hurry to tie the money, and people may not be able to see it. ”

"When the policy was set, I met with Xiangye privately through the secret line, and expressed my willingness to do my part for the collection of salt tax. When Xiang Ye found out, he was very happy and praised me, and talked with me at night to study how to collect taxes. With me, a local who knows the roots of the two Huai salt industries, those salt merchants' usual tricks will no longer work, several major salt merchants have secretly run in large quantities several times have been intercepted by Jiang Xiangye, even with a penalty, several major salt merchants have suffered heavy losses, and want to put Zhang Xiangye down through the backers in the court, but first, Zhang Xiangye is an honest official, and does not follow the law, and others want to rectify him and he can't find enough reason, and secondly, the war in the northwest is urgent, and the court is in urgent need of a lot of money. The emperor admired his actions very much, and thought that extraordinary things should be done by extraordinary means, even if Xiang Ye's approach was excessive, it was also out of consideration for the overall situation of the country, and the so-called people who did big things were not informal, not only should not be blamed, but should also be praised. (To be continued......)