The salt industry is related to people's livelihood, so all dynasties have been controlled and operated.

The reason for the control is for the good of the people, and he is afraid that the people will not be able to eat salt, of course Zhu Gaoxu can only smile, then we must also be good for the people, and we can't let the people not be able to eat salt.

So he also took a lot of trouble and set a lot of new rules.

At this time, the salt fields of Daming mainly include salt farms in Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong coastal and other places, as well as salt mines in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places.

In addition to the 10 percent retained by the imperial court, Zhu Gaoxu auctioned the salt farms in the remaining provinces, and ordered the salt merchants not to mix sand, and the selling price on the market was set at eight wen per catty, and as for the ex-factory price of each salt farm, the imperial court did not care.

From Hongwu to the beginning of Yongle, the private selling price was basically about six or seven Wen, and now it is set at eight Wen, regardless of the ex-factory price, it is to ensure the interests of the salt farm owner, and at the same time let the people bear it, but if the factory price is too high, local businessmen are unwilling to take it, and you salt factory mainly open shops everywhere, which is also a troublesome matter.

In addition to guaranteeing the price, it is also necessary to ensure the output, and the salt works in each province have a specified minimum output, so that they are put into the market on time to ensure the needs of the people.

Of course, in the past, many farmers on the seashore used to engage in salt smuggling, but in the past, this matter needed to be investigated and dealt with by the inspection departments of various localities.

This way of letting the masses deal with the masses can greatly save the energy of the government.

In the future, it will be extremely difficult for individuals to smuggle salt.

Judging from Zhu Gaoxu's experience, if the imperial court wants to do a good job, it must first benefit the people, and you can't think about competing with businessmen who do things.

Some businessmen are willing to do this because they make money.

Secondly, the imperial court must do a good job of supervision, and if the businessman does not do a good job, he will be punished and punished, and if he does a good job, he will be rewarded, so as to form a beneficial circle.

However, in the past dynasties, the biggest problem has been supervision.

Don't talk about the nonsense of how bad businessmen are, the old Chinese saying is 'no business, no traitor', which is nonsense.

As long as your system goes up, no matter how treacherous a businessman is, he has to act honestly.

Aren't the merchants of the East country adulterous? As long as the supervision is in place and the punishment is severe, do you think they dare to commit adultery?

There are so many profiteers in the Ming Dynasty, but the supervision is not in place, and the punishment is not heavy enough, simply put, the court officials do not do anything, because for them, promotion and wealth are the most important.

Zhu Gaoxu believed that as an emperor, it would be easy to do everything if he did his job well and grasped the issue of supervision of officials.

You don't care how the people run the salt industry, how to increase and reduce production, how vicious competition is, how to fight commercial wars, your court will manage the officials well, let them supervise according to the law, and do things conscientiously, and there will definitely be no problems.

On the day of the auction of the world's salt pans, Zhu Gaoxu said in front of the world's salt merchants: "Since the past dynasties, the salt industry has been run by the imperial court, and I am the first to set a precedent this time to benefit the people. ”

"My request is very simple, I manage my officials well, so that they do not disturb the people, do not trap the people, do not harm the people, and handle everything according to the law and impartially, as a reward for me, you must let the people eat salt, eat salt, and eat good salt."

"Everyone according to their duties and do their part."

"If it is because of my officials that it affects your business-—— killing, the official commits a crime, and the crime will be increased by one degree, my experience tells me that although killing people cannot curb corrupt officials, if you don't kill them, they will only increase."

"And you, if you don't manage it well and affect people's livelihood, I won't let it go."

Zhu Gaoxu's meaning is very simple, everyone performs their duties, I will take care of the officials, and you will do business well.

It is the emperor's fault that the officials do not manage well, and it is your fault that the business does not do well.

Zhu Gaoxu said this in front of the salt merchants of the world, if the officials make mistakes, it must be that I have not managed it well, it is my long knife, it is not sharp enough, and my laws are not perfect enough.

Because of experience, Zhu Gaoxu was told that in this world, there are indeed some places where officials can be managed well.

The emperor's words soon spread all over the world and were also recorded in history, if the officials did not manage it well, it must be the emperor's fault, it is the fault of the Ming law.

In the salt industry, the imperial court also accounted for one-tenth of the salt works as state-owned, mainly depending on the comparison of operations and the possibility of complete liberalization, which required years of judgment to decide.

In the sugar industry and in the mining and maritime trade, there is a difference.

In the area of maritime trade, Zhu Gaoxu completely gave up, and the ships of the navy no longer sold goods from east to west, but concentrated on sea expeditions, all of which were done by private merchants.

The imperial court only needs to do two things, one is to collect customs duties, and the other is to sell large sea ships, and these two items alone will make a lot of money.

Yang Lishan used to go to sea with Zheng He, on the one hand, to open the way to explore, improve the world map, and secondly, to do business along the road.

In the future, they will not do business, and their main task is to prepare for military operations later and start colonial plunder.

In the mining industry, there are two types of mining: government-run and private-rented.

Large and important mines are mined by the government itself, and small and medium-sized and unimportant mines are leased to the private sector for rent, and taxes are collected according to the output.

Usually the rent is relatively small, and the rent collection means that the mine belongs to the state, and the tax collection is the focus.

In the final analysis, how much tax can be collected depends on the supervision of officials.

But Zhu Gaoxu has a sample there.

Each new mine is operated by the government for two years, and then leased to collect taxes.

It is easy to see that after you rent it from the private sector, you collude with the supervisory officials to underreport the output and pay less taxes.

The same is true for the sugar industry.

In the rebellion war, Zhu Gaoxu made a lot of sugarcane fields in order to make money, and then collected brown sugar everywhere, and then made white sugar.

In the past few years, a lot of money has been made, and now the sugar industry is also going to be restructured and handed over to businessmen to operate, and the method of how to make white sugar is also slowly spreading.

The imperial court will also auction the original sugar farm, and sell it all directly, without an expiration date, because this thing is different from the salt farm.

Heavy taxes are levied after the sale.

In the future, whoever sells sugar well depends on the merchant's own ability, and the imperial court is only responsible for collecting taxes.

To tell the truth, in the past, Zhu Gaoxu made sugar by himself, and then he had to invest a lot of manpower and material resources to sell it by ship.

Moreover, after the complete liberalization of white sugar, sugar production has been greatly increased, sales have been greatly increased, and tax revenue has also increased sharply.

In the restructuring of the entire Ministry of Commerce, many of the meritorious deeds of rebellion were photographed for the management rights of salt works, sugar factories, and even minerals, which was a kind of support and reward for Zhu Gaoxu's meritorious deeds of rebellion.

As for whether they can manage well in the future, it is not something that Zhu Gaoxu can manage.

Throughout the four years of Hongxi, Zhu Gaoxu's main thoughts were education, school construction, and commercial restructuring.

The people praised it, and the emperor gave benefits to the people, although some of them were obtained by nobles, but ordinary merchants also got a lot.

——

Hangzhou is a bit hot in June, and there is a physical education class in the morning at school today.

Students like physical education classes the most, because anything is possible.

Last month, they practiced archery, and the teacher said that when it was hot, they would practice swimming.

But today it's football.

The teacher's surname is Yu, the former Yunnan Guards sergeant retired, and when he was in Yunnan, he followed the soldiers and horses of the King of Han and played football.

Qin Han and Zhao Zhen like to play, but Qi Daxiong doesn't like it and can't run.

After the physical education class, the class leader Qi Daxiong and Qin Han, Zhao Zhen, Wang Youcai and others were together and found a shady place to chat.

Qi Daxiong asked Qin and Han about something.

"Hangzhou Zhuchang Gold Mine, the imperial court wants to auction it, my father actually asked me, how much is appropriate?" Qi Daxiong said proudly.

Because he studied mathematics and often came back to help his father settle accounts, his father now thinks Qi Daxiong is very powerful.

"The gold mine is also sold?" Wang Youcai's eyes flashed with excitement.

Zhuchang gold mine excavation in the Tang Dynasty, after the Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, has been an important gold and silver production area, until the Ming Wanli period occurred a mining disaster, the mining area collapsed after the desertion, and then waited until after the liberation, before starting again, when the government drained the mine cave water, continued to excavate under the Ming Dynasty gold cave, at present the mine can also produce 50,000 taels of gold annually, and gold at the same time to produce silver, silver output, higher than gold.

This mine has been digging for thousands of years and is still being dug before and after, and it is quite valuable.

Qin Han immediately said: "The imperial court is now mainly focused on the Iwami Silver Mountain, and it is estimated that it is not interested in this mine." ”

"Heavy taxes are to be paid." Qi Daxiong said: "If the bid is too high, you may lose money." ”

"It's not a loss, it's a matter of earning less and earning more."

The teenagers talked a lot, but after all, they were too young to give advice.

Qi Daxiong invited them to participate in the auction, and after watching the scene, everyone naturally agreed.

Qin Han also felt very interesting and wanted to go and see it.

The auction was near the Hangzhou Mansion, and many businessmen went that day, and it is said that the wealthy businessmen from Zhejiang and even outside the province were present.

Qi Daxiong and a few classmates sat behind his father.

Wang Youcai's eyes were sharp, and he suddenly pointed to a girl and said, "Yan Xiaoshao." ”

Yan Xiaoshao is a classmate in their class, one of the only four girls, the same age as Qin Han, the older is more symbolic, many male classmates in the class are interesting to her, but she usually hardly talks to male classmates, and she is picked up by carriage after school, Qin Han and Zhao Zhen have never said a word to her.

Qi Daxiong said: "Her father was a wealthy businessman in Haining, and he used to be a rebel army. ”

"Ahh Several teenagers couldn't believe it.

Yan Xiaoshao's father's name is Yan Sen, and he is the cousin of Yan Qiang, the general of the rebel army.

Yan Qiang defended Yunnan in the war of rebellion, and after Zhu Gaoxu entered Beijing, he was the commander of the Beijing army, and like Zhou Hu, Song Meng and others, he guarded the Beijing division.

Yan Sen was wounded in the leg in the battle, and then retired, specializing in selling sugar for the imperial court, and had several large ships.

Recently, the imperial court sugar industry was restructured, and all the ships were sold to Yan Sen cheaply, and Yan Sen's business was getting bigger and bigger, and he began to engage in white sugar.

Wang Youcai said, "I'll go and say hello to her." ”

He ran over and called Yan Xiaoshao, Yan Xiaoshao's expression was a little surprised, then looked here, and then smiled at them, Zhao Zhen looked at Qin Han, and Qin Han was also smiling at Yan Xiaoshao.

Yan Xiaoshao is better at mathematics, Qin Han once specifically mentioned that she and Qin Han were in the class, and every time they took the mathematics test, they took turns to be one or two.

Qin Han actually admired Yan Xiaoshao very much, because he had received a mathematical education since he was a child, and Yan Xiaoshao was the kind of talent in his opinion.

Wang Youcai came back soon and said that Yan Xiaoshao refused to come over.

Soon after, the auction officially began.

The official set a term of use for 20 years, with an annual rent of 1,000 copper coins, and a tax of two-tenths according to the output.

The tax rate is fixed, and the starting price is rent.