The Kaizhong Salt Law is the most concrete example of the weakening of the Ming Dynasty's national power, and it can appreciate the complexity of national governance and the inevitability of the dynasty's demise. jealous

The deeper we go, the more we will find that within the framework of the feudal dynasty, all efforts can only be alleviated but not cured, and there is no perfect system that will remain unchanged for eternity.

Because the Kaizhong Salt Law implemented in the early decades of the Ming Dynasty can basically meet the interests of all parties involved. From the perspective of the time, opening the salt is a relatively perfect system, so there is a saying in the "History of the Ming Dynasty": There is a Ming salt method, and it is not good at opening the middle.

But by the fifth year of Zhengde, everything had changed dramatically.

First of all, the salt industry has been a very special industry since the Spring and Autumn Period, and all dynasties have regarded the salt law as one of the most important policies in national politics.

Because the salt industry has two characteristics. First, salt production is relatively concentrated due to the limitation of the place of origin, so it is easy to be controlled; Second, table salt is a necessity for the human body, so it is very profitable.

The Book of Han? The Food and Goods Chronicle records that the merchants were 'proud of their wealth and not the urgency of the state, and these merchants were engaged in either boiling salt or smelting iron.

In the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang faced the threat of the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, because of its nomadic nature, it was difficult to find in the vast desert, so it was never completely eliminated. jealous

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had to station heavy troops on the long national border from Gan and Liang in the west to Liaodong in the east, so a large amount of supplies were needed.

However, grain transportation is not very easy, because grain is inconvenient to preserve, easy to deteriorate, and the road is very long, the main grain production areas in Guanzhong and the Central Plains are hundreds of miles to thousands of miles away from the border defense line, and there is no river in the north for water transportation, so if the official to transport these grains is a heavy burden.

Based on this, Zhu Yuanzhang further improved the Kaizhong method on the basis of the "banknote and salt method" in the Song Dynasty.

The main method is that the government sends out a list to summon merchants, stating the location of the grain and the salt obtained, which is called "opening the middle";

Subsequently, according to these conditions, the salt merchants reported the amount of grain they paid, and transported the grain to the designated place according to the requirements in exchange for warehouse money, which is called "reporting in the middle";

Salt merchants hold banknotes to the Salt Transportation Division to wait for the exchange of salt. The salt transport department will check all the documents and then pass the salt to the salt merchant after confirming that they are correct. According to the salt obtained, the salt merchant leads the salt to the salt field that produces salt, which is called "Shouzhi".

After the salt is branched, the salt must be sent to the designated laboratory for verification, and after the verification is correct, it can be sent to the designated area for sale. jealous

The essence of this set of salt laws is to use the high income of the salt industry to attract commercial power to complete the transportation tasks that should belong to the government.

After the implementation of the Kai-Zhong Law, the food problem in the border areas has been greatly alleviated, so that a situation has emerged in which "there are many grains in the nine sides, and there are many things and low prices." During the Orthodox and Chenghua periods, the price of grain in Liaodong in the east, Yansui and Ningxia in the west of the Ming Dynasty was about 4-5 stone / tael.

This is almost the same as the price of food in the hinterland.

However, the interior is a grain-producing area, and its low price saves most of the transportation costs, and the fact that there is such a grain price in the border areas is not unrelated to the success of the opening of China and France.

….

As a result, the military needs of the northern part of the Ming Dynasty were resolved, the pressure on the imperial court was sharply reduced, and merchants were able to participate in the salt business, and all parties had an incentive to maintain such a system.

Later, according to their role in the opening of the Chinese law, the merchants began to divide into border merchants, domestic merchants and water merchants.

Because long-distance transportation is always costly. So the merchant came up with a solution, why can't I just reclaim the land and grow food in the border areas? jealous

Therefore, in the early middle and early Ming Dynasty, there began to be 'Shangtun,'. They exchanged these grains for salt, and then sold the salt to domestic businessmen, making a direct profit, eliminating the need to pay for and sell salt later.

Domestic merchants are also reluctant to engage in the task of transporting thousands of miles, so it is better to buy salt directly from the border merchants who have salt introductions, and then go to the salt works to support salt.

After the salt is withdrawn, they distribute it to the 'water merchants', which are the groups that sell the salt along the waterways.

And right

As far as the imperial court is concerned, as long as there is food, it will be sent salt, and it doesn't matter if it is transported from other places.

Therefore, in the early middle and early period, the frontier areas of Shangtun were prosperous, and the "History of the Ming Dynasty" recorded: at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the merchants on each side opened up, recruited people to cultivate seeds, built a fort to protect each other, and the border corn was not very expensive.

On the whole, it actually drives the food production of the whole country.

Of course, the rest of the story is certainly not so rosy. jealous

The first problem is the "Shouzhi", the essence of the salt introduction is actually a kind of 'IOU, according to the reason, the merchant can get the salt to attract the Shouzhi, you can take the salt.

But under the feudal imperial power, the emperor himself will have an uncontrollable desire to constantly issue this IOU. For example, the whole country produces 1 million taels of salt a year, but the salt citations drawn in Jingshi may have 2 million references.

This started in the Yongle period, the Yongle Emperor made five expeditions to Mobei, where did so much money come from?

Therefore, it is recorded: when it was, the merchants had salt from Yongle, and their ancestors and grandchildren could not be replaced.

When there is a salt lead that begins to stagnate, and the salt cannot be supported according to the rules, another problem will arise, that is, "occupying the nest".

The reason is very simple, you have salt in your hand, and Hou Ye also has salt in your hand, who do you say the salt field will give salt?

What to do with the merchant at this time? jealous

There is no choice but to spend money to make friends with powerful and powerful people, and this behavior is called "buying a nest".

This is the corruption of the salt law from a macro point of view.

At the micro level, there is also an important role in the salt law, called stove households, which are responsible for the production of salt, which is equivalent to farmers who cultivate the land.

But we all know that the income of the stove will be constantly encroached upon by the bureaucracy.

In the early days of Hongwu, the stove produced salt and gave rice and stone, which was called Gongben rice. In the seventeenth year of Hongwu, the imperial court converted the capital rice into money, but the Daming treasure banknote was seriously depreciated. And you have to endure the blackmail and oppression of your boss like 'always urging'. Some money was also knocked out.

What should the stove household do at this time?

In order to survive, he can only secretly take out the salt he produces and sell it. So the source of illicit salt appeared. After the emergence of private salt, it further weakened the attractiveness of official salt to merchants. jealous

Or the stove households simply fled, and after the escape, the salt production declined, which exacerbated the problem of guarding the support.

….

In the fifth year of Hongzhi, Ye Qi, the head of the household department, reformed the Kaizhong salt law, the main content of which was to change the merchants' transportation of grain to the border areas in exchange for salt quotations to the merchants to pay silver taels directly to the salt transportation department to obtain salt quotations.

Then let the imperial court be responsible for allocating silver taels and grain to the border areas.

This practice was profitable at that time, because when Taizu implemented the opening of the Chinese law, the northwest was expensive and silver, so the imperial court levied rice.

However, after hundreds of years, the price of grain in the northwest is very low, and rice is cheap and silver is expensive. Some officials were tempted to change the levy of rice to levy silver.

According to the original method, the merchant introduced 2.5 buckets of salt nanometers, which was only worth 5 cents of silver when converted into silver, but after changing the nanometer to pay silver, he received about 4 yuan of silver for each salt tax, so that the profit of the imperial court would increase by 8 times in an instant.

Therefore, it was recorded at that time that "at one time, Taicang silver accumulated more than 100,000 yuan". jealous

Because of this landmark reform, all the problems seem to be caused by Ye Qi alone.

However, the corruption of the salt law in the Ming Dynasty was fundamentally the corruption of the bureaucratic system, and what Ye Qi did in the Chenghua period also had ministers ask to change the true color to fold the color. And the reason why there is such a call is because the businessman is trapped in the defense and can no longer do it.

Of course, the destructive nature of this reform in the fifth year of Hongzhi is still very great, and the most direct thing is to directly eliminate Shangtun.

Because there is no longer a need for food. Border merchants can only 'withdraw from business,.

The Shangtun disappeared, the military tun was ruined, and no one sent grain to the border areas anymore, and the imperial court allocated military salaries every year. Therefore, the northwest is less and less grain import, and more and more silver is imported.

In this way, the situation of cheap rice and silver is no longer expensive, and it has returned to rice and silver.

The increase in the cost of living of the border army led to the continuous military expenditure of the imperial court

increased, and at the same time the combat capability of the border armies continued to decline. In the event of a real military crisis, conscription had to be activated. jealous

The conscription system also requires a large sum of silver taels. These large sums of silver can only be obtained by continuing to oppress the people. So the situation got worse and worse, and a vicious circle was created.

So the question is, where does all this wealth go?

Merchant? Yes, some salt merchants have benefited from the combination of government and business.

Bureaucratic? Yes, they are constantly exploiting and embezzling, and they have also fattened their own pockets.

Honorables, ministers? Yes, these people continue to make profits by begging the emperor for salt citations, and there is a limit on the amount of salt among merchants, that is, they are not allowed to exceed 3,000 citations, but Emperor Chenghua gave Wan Guifei's brother Wantong Huai salt 5,000 citations with a stroke of his pen, and gave the queen's mother Duan two Huaiguan salt 20,000 citations.

Emperor Hongji also treated his relatives very well. From the fifth year of Hongzhi, he gave King Qi 10,000 taels of surplus salt, 10,000 taels of Yiwang Lianghuai, and in the twelfth year of Hongzhi, he gave King Jing 10,000 taels of surplus salt and King Shen 2 Huai Salt 10,000 citations, and these expenses were "expenses for helping weddings".

By the way, the price of salt in Lianghuai is relatively high. The so-called salt stagnation, most of which refers to the two Huai and two Zhejiang. The salt farms in places like Shandong are more than open, or even have no business. jealous

However, even if the two Huai and the two Zhejiang salt are so stagnant, these are still the rewards.

So the real beneficiary may not be Ye Qi.

….

Perhaps a group of people known as the ruling class.

So can the salt method be changed as it is?

In a word, no way.

First, the problem of guarding the support is very serious, and the merchant is not the wronged man, he knows that if he can't pay for salt, who will send you grain?

Second, the merchant's favor expenditure, to the Zhengde period has been very high, from the salt transportation division, the salt section to raise the division to patrol the salt imperial history, the pockets of a number of officials are filled by the salt merchants, at this time, the salt price must be very low, forming an attraction to the merchants, otherwise there is no meaning. But it was opened very low, the income of the imperial court dropped sharply, and in the end, all subsidies were provided to corrupt officials. To solve this problem, it is necessary to solve the rule of officials, so the law has not been changed and then began to rectify the rule of officials? Is it so easy to rectify? jealous

Third, after the destruction of Shangtun, the commercial capital in the northwest was greatly defeated, and the rich people had no money, who would give you to Shangtun? Domestic business? No, it won't. Businessmen pay the most attention to risk management. In other words, if the policy is changed back now, will it be changed again? Once trust has been broken, it is very difficult to rebuild it. Don't say that it won't be changed again, who knows if there will be another Ye Qi.

Fourth, what do you do when you change it back, and spend another few decades to be corrupted?

Therefore, in the official history, in addition to the reform of Ye Qi in the fifth year of Hongzhi, the reform of Yuan Shizhen's salt administration in the Wanli period was not to change backwards, but to implement the so-called outline law.

And for Gu Zuo, he couldn't see that problem.

What he can see now is probably that the stove households are living a hard life, the salt output is declining, the official salt quality difference is high, the illegal salt is overflowing, and the frontier merchants are in ruin.

At the same time, the clansmen, nobles, and ministers obtained a large amount of salt through power, resulting in most of the merchants being trapped in the guard, and the salt was therefore unable to sell at a price.

The income of the imperial court from the salt tax had to decline again and again. jealous

In a word, the salt law has been corrupted and there are too many people attached to it to suck blood, and that was originally the income of the imperial court.

「…… In this way, the court will have to start anew." The emperor sighed, "Or does Liqing think that the salt law can be changed back again?"

Gu Zuo came to report these problems, and he must have come with a solution, whether it has any effect or not, at least it is the method he has been thinking about.

"Your Majesty, Wechen has been observing the salt law for many years, and he was originally frustrated by his inability to solve such a complex and wide-ranging maladministration, but Shaofu and Mei Ji made Wechen think that the imperial court might be able to change the private salt merchants to official salt merchants, and also implement an access system like the city shipping department, and control the number of merchants who jointly deal in salt with the imperial court to a few or a dozen, so as to facilitate the management and supervision of the imperial court."

Gu Zuo lacks knowledge of modern economic theory. But Zhu Houzhao knows

The salt industry changed from the earliest government-run official transportation to the government-run commercial transportation of the Ming Dynasty, which is actually an improvement in efficiency.

Therefore, it is not possible to change back, because officials and businessmen are essentially a kind of official management, and the government conducts unified production and sales, so that in a few years there will be a large number of corruption problems, and the efficiency of officials is much lower than that of businessmen.

In fact, this is a bit like the salt method of the Qing Dynasty. Merchants knelt down completely in front of the imperial power, taking pleasing the imperial power as the highest standard, and after making peace with the government, the problems of greed for ink and silver, tax evasion, and trafficking in illicit salt were also very serious. jealous

….

Zhu Houzhao touched his nose, "Liqing, if it is modified in this way, within a few years, these businessmen will also collude with my courtiers to covet ink, and then with the tacit approval of the private salt, the salt tax of the imperial court will still be reduced. In this way, it is to change from fattening one group of people to fattening another group of people."

Gu Zuo did not dare to completely deny this phenomenon, and there was no way to put an end to the problem of private salt in all dynasties.

This is also something that cannot be eliminated, because there is an administrative cost in the official salt, and with the corruption of the officials, this cost must be higher and higher. At the same time, officials do not produce salt for themselves, and the quality is not good, so the high price and poor quality are the fate of official salt.

Once this situation occurs, illicit salt will inevitably appear. Because there is a profit to be made in it. As long as there is a profit, someone must do it.

Now that it was him and Gu Zuojunchen anyway, Zhu Houzhao tried to say his thoughts, "Liqing, what do you think...... What if the salt works were handed over to the salt merchants?"

In the Kaizhong Salt Law, the transportation and sales were handed over to the merchants, and the production, that is, the salt farm, was still in the hands of the imperial court. The imperial court controls the source of salt by controlling the salt farm, and if you have the goods in your hands, you are afraid that you will have no money?

Gu Zuo was shocked, "If this is the case, the imperial court can only collect taxes, and the income from salt tax will be even reduced!" jealous

Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "Definitely. I will not give the salt farm to the salt merchant for free, but only auction the right to operate the salt farm to the salt merchant, and the court will receive a fixed income. The rest is borne by the merchants, and it has nothing to do with the imperial court whether they make more or less."

In this way, the imperial court will no longer be involved in any link of production, transportation and sales. At the same time, there is no longer the problem of private salt. Because all salt is private salt.

"This ...... The problem is that the imperial court can no longer control the salt farms, so it can no longer control the salt!"

As an official of this era, Gu Zuo considered from the perspective of the imperial court, and naturally had a tendency to control salt. Because salt is also a strategic commodity to some extent.

However, Zhu Houzhao does not have confidence in the government-run salt industry, in fact, since the monopoly of the salt industry, private salt has always been a chronic disease of the salt industry in previous generations. The salt industry system of the Qing Dynasty was good, but in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, illegal salt was also rampant.

"You don't have to worry about it yet, let's just discuss it first. In the fifth year of Hongzhi, the then Hubu Shangshu reformed the Kaizhong Salt Law, the purpose of which was to solve the difficulty of merchants in guarding their branches, and second, to increase the income of Taicang. My method is not to auction the property rights of the salt farm, the salt farm is still owned by the imperial court, and the auction is the right to operate the salt farm, and the income obtained can also be used to offset the salt quotation."

"At the same time, the imperial court is no longer responsible for the production of salt works, so there is no longer a need for a series of institutions such as the Salt Transportation Department and the Salt Division, which can not only reduce expenditures, but also eliminate the greed of officials at the root." jealous

Gu Zuo frowned and asked, "In this way, the production and sale of salt is all in the hands of merchants. The merchants are heavy on profits, and they deliberately raise the price of salt, and the people will not suffer greatly?"

Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "I will not auction all the salt farms to one or several, they must be operated by multiple companies, and there are no more regional restrictions, if anyone's salt is expensive, the people can not buy it."

….

"What if the salt merchants unite with each other and raise the price unified?"

Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment, "There is indeed such a possibility. In this case, administrative intervention will be required, and fines and arrests can be done."

"Your Majesty, that's not all. The salt industry is a huge profit, and if the auction price is high, it is fine, but if the auction is low, the profit will not be the salt merchant?"

"If the auction is to be maintained, it must make a profit for the salt merchants, and if it is not profitable, who will auction it

Some salt works? As for the profits, the court can add a period. For example, if you go to auction a salt farm, the court agrees with you that the right to operate will be five or ten years, and all the profits will be made by you within the period, and after the expiration date, the court will take back the right to operate and re-price the auction. If it is indeed a huge profit, then other competitors will also raise the price when they auction the salt pans again, which leaves room for the imperial court to adjust."

It's a bold idea. jealous

At this time, the salt law was changed from a government-run commercial operation to a commercial operation. The imperial court has become a hands-off shopkeeper, except for a fixed income, the rest is no longer in charge, to reduce its own costs to the greatest extent.

It sounds like a no-brainer.

But there's another point.

"In this way, Shangtun in the northwest will no longer be able to recover."

The corners of Zhu Houzhao's mouth curled, "Not really. The Imperial Court can accept different forms of payment."

In fact, our ancestors were indeed smart, and many systems were very exquisitely designed, but after all, they were limited to the times, such as this different payment method.

Gu Zuo was puzzled, "The minister dares to ask His Majesty what is the different payment method?" jealous

"It's the combination of true color and folded color."

The so-called true color is food. The folded color is silver.

Zhu Houzhao explained: "If there is a war in the border area, the salt field photographed by the imperial court can be set at eight to two into two colors, and if it is peaceful, it can be set at two to eight percent at the cost of eight colors. Whoever wants to win the right to operate the salt factory must first meet this requirement. This also avoids the problem of keeping the money, because the saltworks are run by the merchant himself, and he can produce salt whenever he wants."

"In addition, there are more than 200 counties in the Ming Dynasty, and each auction must not be all auctioned, but to present a kind of echelon order, for example, the first year of auction forty, the right to operate for five years, the second, third, fourth, and fifth years are the same, to the sixth year, the first year of the auction of the salt field can be re-auctioned, so that the cycle is reversed, then the imperial court can get the income from the auction of the salt field every year."

"Or, you can make a fuss about the payment method. For example, the auction price is a little lower, but 20% of the annual income of the salt farm should be attributed to the imperial court, but this kind of complex design, I don't recommend it, and every additional procedure is a space for greedy ink."

After listening to this, Gu Zuo was greatly inspired and shocked, "Your Majesty's words are deafening, and the Holy Ming has no way to pass Your Majesty. However, the minister thinks that the so-called auction will probably have officials who will profit from it, and the officials in charge of this matter will be favored by the salt merchants, and it is possible that if there is a failure to supervise, it is possible to deliberately lower the auction price."

Zhu Houzhao nodded, jealous

This argument is more realistic.

However, compared to so many institutions and officials, such as the Salt Inspection Imperial History, the Salt Transportation Division, and the Salt Section Promotion Division, the number of officials required to be in charge of the auction function will be greatly reduced.

….

"If you keep it down, you can't afford to lose the income of the court. This institution and officials were placed under the Ministry of Households, and were directly headed by Shangshu. I don't care if the income of the salt works declines, and the local household department has to fill up the treasury. If you are willing to cut off your own path, then no one can do anything."

Zhu Houzhao felt that maybe it would be good to try this first, "The salt administration is related to the society of the country, and it can't be agreed between you and my monarchs and ministers here, but it is still necessary for the cabinet officials to discuss it, Liqing, you can also try to improve this method after you retreat." The burden on the court should also be lightened."

If the income is about the same, in fact, this is not impossible, even if there is not much growth, but at least a large number of corrupt officials have been shaken off. Salt, there are too many corrupt officials here.

So much so that in the Ming generation, as soon as they knew which official was going to be the salt inspector, they must have thought that this guy was going to be greedy for ink.

Gu Zuo really had to think about it carefully, he had never had this idea of the emperor. jealous

In fact, the salt laws of all dynasties were extremely complicated in order to be able to levy a little more tax. But the more complex it is, the more loopholes there are, and the harder it is to fix once it breaks.

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao really couldn't think of any way to improve it, and one of the reasons was that there were too many procedures in it.

There are a lot of power and interests intertwined in each link, and if you want to sort out these lines, that

It's not easy.

In fact, even this is not a perfect way to change.

Because if the kings of later generations also gave the auction rights of the salt field to some powerful people like Chenghua and Hongji, then there was really no way.

This is the fate of the autocratic imperial power, and such a situation will definitely appear, so what can be done?

In a world ruled by man, if that person is not reliable, what system can work? jealous

Now that the salt law of the Ming Dynasty is a corrupt situation, such a change can ensure the income of the imperial court to the greatest extent, and the second can get rid of the big burden. The most important thing is to greatly reduce the difficulty of reform.

Because if you insist on sorting out the lines in the current salt law, then you can't do it without killing a river of blood.

However, there is no such problem as if there was a new stove, no matter what was wrong with the past, that set of courts is not playing, the emperor will not study it in detail, how many silver taels are greedy for the imperial history of the salt inspection or the salt transportation division, anyway, they are all packed together and thrown away.

When the difficulty of the reform is reduced, the enforceability can be maximized.

On the contrary, if it is a relatively complex set of salt policies, then it will inevitably be difficult to promote.

So this is actually a choice based on the current situation and comprehensive consideration.

After Gu Zuo retreated, he was not idle, he found the right time to go to the Li Mansion. jealous

Li Dongyang also frowned when he saw his recital, "It's a good thing that Your Majesty intends to innovate. But the matter of opening the sea has just subsided, and there is still resentment in the DPRK and the central government, so it seems a little impatient to suddenly move the salt law at this time?"

As a cabinet minister, he naturally considered the mood of the court.

Gu Zuo is a technocrat who has already found out the emperor's tone and won support, so he can't wait, "Ge Lao, the bad of the salt law has penetrated deep into the bone marrow, if you change it one day early, the people of the world will benefit, and if you change it one day later, the people of the world will suffer!" I can't afford to wait!"

"The old man doesn't want you to change, the old man said, Your Majesty wants to reform the bad government and start a new dynasty, which is naturally a good thing. What the old man meant, it might be easier if you wait a few months. Moreover, His Majesty has never met a salt merchant, and the method of auction is not completely dead. It can be seen that His Majesty also has the intention of trying. Why don't you take this opportunity to study in detail? Don't you know that the more important the national policy, the more cautious we must be?"

"Yang Yingning's situation in the northwest is to live if the complex is successful, and to die if the complex is defeated. Does Liqing also want the salt law to frame you? If the reform of the salt law is not successful, your death will be small, and the salt law of the imperial court will be rigid and no one will dare to move, which is a big matter."

Li Dongyang's words showed the steadiness of a mature bureaucrat, and he reminded Gu Zuo that major matters should be investigated clearly.

Gu Zuo listened to this, "It's better to go down to the official to contact the salt merchants!" jealous

Li Dongyang is undeniable.

If the salt law is really going to be changed, it will be a big deal.

===

Royal Mercenary Cat