"Weichen, there is nothing else to tell."

Zhu Houzhao paused slightly, but still didn't say much, "Then let's step back." ”

In fact, as far as the previous words about the salt method were concerned, Gu Zuo had successfully caused him to ponder.

If the so-called reform does not offend those with vested interests and does not knock out their interests, how can new interests be generated?

A weak struggle will bring about a weak struggle.

This may seem like a, but it's not.

Choose a peace-seeking salt law reform that does not kill people or shed blood...... No matter how many policies there are, there will be countermeasures below, and then continue to smoke in a different way.

Because in the final analysis, man will only choose between giving up his life and giving up his interests, otherwise it will not be useful.

Zhu Houzhao rubbed his forehead, this time he was lax.

On March 18 of the first year of Zhengde, the emperor rejected King Qi's request to beg for 15,000 taels of salt, and took this opportunity to send Gu Zuo, a servant of the household department, to the south to inspect the salt in the Lianghuai region.

The world's salt industry accounts for a quarter, not only in terms of quality but also in terms of output. Li Ruhua, the head of the household department in Wanli, left accurate figures for posterity, and he recorded: 680,000 taels of salt relief class in two Huai years, 180,000 in Changlu, 80,000 in Shandong, 150,000 in Zhejiang, 20,000 in Fujian, 20,000 in Guangdong, and 38,000 in Yunnan.

Although in terms of time, there is a long gap between it and Zhu Houzhao's current situation, but the big pattern of Lianghuai has been in charge of the salt industry should not change.

Because the official salt actually has the concept of 'salt area', that is, the salt in one place can only be sold in the specified area, and the salt area of Lianghuai salt is the largest, with 33 prefectures and 5 prefectures.

The two Zhejiang salt are second, with 17 prefectures and 1 state.

The remaining Shandong, Sichuan, and Changlu salt areas often have only a few prefectures.

Not only that, the Lianghuai area is located in the plain, the water network is dense, the transportation is convenient, the economy is developed, and the common sense of doing business knows that it is definitely the best to do salt here.

Also because of the importance of the salt industry in the two Huai, the imperial court set up a special transfer of salt in the two Huai, the yamen is located in Yangzhou, in addition to Taizhou, Tongzhou, Huai'an set up branch divisions, responsible for the management of salt introduction, salt farms, stoves.

Yangzhou is also a key node city for the northern transportation of grain, so in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Yangzhou's prosperity has been frequently seen in the history books.

In fact, the evolution process of the salt envoy and the salt governor is a bit like the provincial political envoy and the inspector and the governor and governor who became more and more stable later.

Originally, the Salt Transporter was responsible for managing the production and marketing of the salt industry, and was an official organization, but in fact, during the Orthodox and Chenghua years, the imperial court began to discover that the Salt Transporter himself allowed the stove households to decoction private salt, and even they would sell the illicit salt themselves.

It was also because the Yunsi was gradually corrupting, and the emperor no longer trusted the officials in these places, so he kept sending his close ministers out of Beijing to inspect the salt.

In this process, the administrative power of the Yunsi was constantly encroached upon by the Imperial History of Salt Patrol, and in the later period, the Imperial History of Salt Patrol was served for two years, and it gradually stabilized. Its fate is the same as that of Yunji

- Corruption.

But at the moment, at this joint, the salt patrol can still play its role.

Therefore, this dispatch in the first year of Zhengde made Zou Cheng very nervous about the current transfer of salt.

In fact, the Du Salt Envoy is also a member of the Sanpin, which is one level lower than the Hubu Shilang of the Sanpin, and the Du Salt Envoy has an official office and a huge subordinate specially built for him, and the scale can have dozens of people, which can be said to be a high authority.

This official is also a real 'grandfather' of countless salt merchants in Yangzhou!

However, Emperor Zhengde's personal style of governance has greatly changed the current political form. That is, the most important officials in the imperial court are no longer the so-called cabinet elders, but those who the emperor often summons to him.

Gu Zuo is one of them.

Zou Cheng was also very nervous because of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other precedents, he was worried that the emperor was setting his sights on the salt industry again?

As a senior member and an important member, the emperor also summoned him before the court meeting, but he did not feel that the emperor had special care for Yanzheng at that time.

However, the Imperial History of Patrol Salt did not have the ability to enforce the law during the Hongzhi Zhengde period, and in the past, the imperial court would let them act together with Jinyiwei, but this time only Gu Zuo and two or three subordinates went south.

That's good news, too.

The salt merchants have eyes and ears in Beijing, and they are moving here, in fact, they are about to receive the news over there.

The main purpose of Gu Zuo this time is to find out what the current situation of Daming Salt Industry is, and the auction must also set a price according to the actual situation, right?

But just from this point of view, this trip is not easy, people from the court want to see the whole picture, where is it so easy?

So Gu Zuo thought of a way,

It is to play the banner of going to the problem of 'guarding the branch', and he wants to directly contact the salt merchants to understand the pain of the salt merchants' guarding.

And in the palace, Zhu Houzhao summoned the Shaofu Lang who had been summoned earlier, Song Heng.

“…… The auction of salt farms, from an economic point of view, is indeed a good method, so that the burden of the imperial court is minimal or even none, and the production and sale of salt are not the business of the imperial court, and the imperial court only needs a sum of silver. But in the end, such a salt law would still put a heavy burden on the imperial court. ”

Zhu Houzhao was walking in front, he was a little surprised when he heard this, and turned sideways to look at this Song Heng.

He was still young, but his beard had white patches in it.

"What's the truth?"

Song Heng bent over, he was very respectful, but his speech was not respectful at all, "Salt and iron have been franchised since ancient times, and the benefits of Gai Yin are huge. The imperial court came to do this business, and no one in the world dared to say a word. But if it is changed to a private person, those with hot eyes will be unconvinced, why can the Zhang family and my Xu family not? In this way, the wealthy and noble families will be involved, and it will be difficult to stop it at all. ”

"Everyone is fighting each other in this, and the reason for everything is because the court is gone. At that time, in order to maintain order, the imperial court had to send officials again, and the burden that has been thrown off now has not returned? ”

"It is also a fantasy that the interests of the stove households are protected, and the people cannot eat cheap salt, because the cost of salt merchants is very high. At that time, the salt industry must also be impenetrable and watery, and the imperial court will suddenly find that there is not even a single person of its own in it. ”

Zhu Houzhao smiled, "Have you ever thought that without your own people, it is easy to deal with?" ”

Song Heng's tone was stunned,

"If Your Majesty has such thoughts, the auction law can also be enforced. It's just that the king of later generations is afraid that he will not have the courage of His Majesty. ”

"If the monarch of the future generations is mediocre, it will not work if I leave him any system."

Zhu Houzhao adjusted his fighting mentality, and he still thinks that auction is a good method, although it has the disadvantage of concealing output and triggering a war among salt merchants, but the salt law of the past dynasties has been good and bad.

The best method of opening salt has already had its good time in the early Ming Dynasty.

In fact, this is quite good, and the adverse consequences of the law are all taken into account beforehand, rather than problems of one kind or another after it is implemented.

It's just that his old thoughts do have to change,

Because not offending those with vested interests is actually a bit of a matter of assumptions, if he doesn't offend a group of officials in the salt law, then he, the emperor, can't even figure out the output of the salt farm.

Faced with the new reforms, the officials were quick to find the loophole, that is, to reduce the output of the salt works, and then cooperate with the salt merchants, who obtained the right to operate the salt works at a low price, and then distributed the profits to the officials.

“…… The matter of the salt law, after Liqing returns to Beijing, we will discuss it. Today, I announced that you have entered the palace for other things. ”

Song Heng saluted, "Please ask Your Majesty to command." ”

"Yes." The emperor took his hand, "I left the palace a few days ago, and saw that a large number of people had gathered in the southern city of Jingshi for the construction of the city that never sleeps, in addition to the government, there were also various constructions carried out by merchants, and I estimated that more than 100,000 people poured into Beijing in the past two years. Most of these are poor people, they can only rent in Beijing, and the cheaper the rent, the more attractive they are, so that in order to earn more rent, the renters will constantly restructure their houses and add various partitions. ”

"If this situation continues, the southern city of Jingshi will soon become crowded, and it will be difficult to remove the feces and urine of people and animals, and it will not be long before the foot of the imperial city will become stinky, and once there is a fire or plague at that time, it will be a great disaster that will shake the world. This point must be guarded against by the imperial court. ”

The fire is okay, in case there is a plague, it is so close to the imperial city, it is easy for the emperor to take it himself, so he can't afford not to pay attention to this matter.

Song Heng himself had also walked through those places outside the Zhengyang Gate in Nancheng, and he also had pictures in his mind.

Because of the gathering of people, in the past two years, Jingshi has built many houses like a flatbread, but those houses are also very simple houses, and some of them are just built up.

The Zhang family took a ride, and the Li family followed suit, and a gathering area appeared.

If there is a fire......

They are all wooden houses, and it is indeed unthinkable that such a number of people gathered.

"Your Majesty is prescient, and the minister is extremely admired!"

The emperor waved his hand, and did not pay attention to his sycophants, "My idea, the imperial court should properly guide and settle these people who enter the city." ”

Song Heng understood, "Your Majesty has ever read "Taiping Guangji"? ”

Zhu Houzhao shook his head, "I haven't read this book yet." ”

The minister remembered that "Taiping Guangji" recorded: Pei Mingli, a native of Hedong, was good at managing his business, collecting the discarded things in the world, accumulating them, and using this family property to make a huge fortune. The Book of Biansheng also records that there was a drought in the soup, and Yiyin, as a district field, taught the people to plant dung and water the crops. The district field is beautiful with dung, and it is not necessarily a good field. Therefore, human and animal manure is not a problem, and the minister can set up a special organization in the Shaofu, and then hire some people, collect it along the street every morning, and then sell it to the nearby people to water the fertile land. It's just that among the Beijing divisions, the chaos of sheds is actually difficult to solve. ”

"The hard one has to be solved. Those that have been built in the past should be dissolved step by step, and then the construction of dilapidated houses should be prohibited in the Beijing Division. To this end, I am preparing to prepare the Capital Planning Department, which will be subordinate to the Shaofu and will be headed by you. ”

Song Heng didn't thank him, he was just puzzled, "Your Majesty, I don't know what this planning department is mainly doing?" ”

Liu Jin rolled his eyes on the side, how could there be a person like Gu Zuo in the Shaofu, the emperor reused it and hurried to thank him, what would happen if he asked again?

Regarding this Beijing Planning Division, Zhu Houzhao has also been thinking about it for a while.

These institutions, above all, are necessary. He was still hesitating before, but when he went out of the palace a few days ago, he found that it was better to do this matter a little earlier.

Otherwise, when various problems begin to arise, it will actually be a little tricky, and as a latecomer, he actually has the conditions to move things forward.

So there are two reasons, one is that there are indeed hundreds of thousands of poor people in Jingshili, and not only the city that never sleeps, but also private merchants are also building, and in order to provide the necessary living needs for these hundreds of thousands of people, all kinds of functional buildings are actually emerging in an endless stream.

As long as he is the emperor, it can be expected that in the next few decades, the population of Jingshi will definitely expand and grow.

In this case, of course, we must do it first.

"You have been in Shaofu for a while, you should understand the meaning of the word economy, the urban economy is also an important part of the economy, if you take livelihood as a share, that is, the people in the future can farm and work."

"There will be more and more people working."

Song Heng suddenly interrupted Zhu Houzhao's words.

This is Jun Qian, like him, who spoke out inexplicably, and said it so surely, Zhu Houzhao wanted to know the reason, "Why do you think there are more and more people working?" ”

Song Heng replied calmly: "Because farming is too risky for the people and is actually not able to support their families, and the work only needs to be contributed, no cost, and you can work all year round, there is no agricultural time." ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned, "Say it carefully." ”

"Does Your Majesty think that only the people who have no land come to work?"

"Isn't it?"

"Of course not." Song Heng's tone was stiff, and he arched his hand and began to say: "Weichen went to the folk to see, and now the people around Jingshi, even the people with fields will sell the good land in exchange for a sum of silver to work in Beijing. Therefore, Weichen said that the chaos of the shed is difficult to solve, not that Shaofu did not have silver taels to build enough houses for the people to live in. ”

"It's because from now on, there will be a steady stream of people coming to the city to work. This reason is because farming is too risky, serving the land all year round, not to mention the hard work, even in a good year, there will be no food, if there is a famine, there will be nothing left after paying the grain. In fact, in the past, when there was no Beijing teacher, there would be people who sold their land and took the initiative to become tenants. Because tenants don't need to buy seeds, farm tools, don't need to pay taxes, and there is no cost, they just need to contribute. In contrast, yeoman farmers need to buy everything themselves. ”

"The people will be a little hungry in a good year, let alone not a good year, so selling land is a disaster year, and it will happen sooner or later, and instead of selling their good land in a year of famine and difficulty, some people will consider selling it in advance."

In a sense, yeoman farmers and those who are not very wealthy are like small merchants who open their doors to buy and sell, and they are responsible for their own profits and losses. And the tenant farmer, although he is farming for others, is traveling lightly.

“…… I didn't know about these things before. ”

"Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is knowing. Your Majesty is willing to admit that you don't know, and congratulations to Your Majesty! Fortunately, there are still ministers in the court who know, and the ministers also congratulate His Majesty! ”

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but chuckle, this guy is also a little interesting.

"Are there many cases like this now?"

Song Heng replied: "In the past, I only saw those who took the initiative to be tenants. Now there are three or four out of ten people who sell their fields to Beijing. ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned, this proportion is quite large.

In fact, the land annexation of the ancient dynasty has not been able to eradicate it, in the final analysis, it is Song Heng's sentence: farming is very risky and cannot support a family!

He stood up and walked around with his hands in his hands, and he had a lot on his mind.

After a long while, he spoke, "Two things. First, improve agricultural tools and improve efficiency; Second, do a good job in the planning and construction of large cities. These two things are not temporary, but long-term things to be done. ”

If there is a new means of making a living, then the people will pour in, and this will not be stopped.

But food security is just as important. So do both.

"Improving Farm Tools...... The minister needs the Ministry of Industry and the Shaofu together. ”

Zhu Houzhao refused, the traditional bureaucracy does not have the motivation and ability to innovate, "No, just you." There are grain merchants in fewer provinces, fewer people, and more land, so you can figure out how to improve the agricultural tools. As for the Beijing Planning Division, it seems that it is even more necessary for me to set it up at this time. ”

"The construction of the Beijing division is chaotic and disorderly, the Beijing Planning Department is to change this state, your responsibility is to make the expansion of the Beijing Division orderly, residential areas, commercial areas, industrial areas must be planned in advance, find a few planks to build a shed in the era of the end of the Beijing Division, the Beijing Division should be divided into functional area planning, and to control the quality of the building, each new building must be approved by the Planning Division, height, width, property rights, use...... You have to report it here. ”

Song Heng was very bold, and he asked, "Is this ...... What's the use? ”

"If there is another gathering of such poor people, the court can disperse them in advance. In addition, it is actually possible to control specific functional areas, such as ...... Commercial buildings that do not meet the requirements are not allowed to be built in commercial areas divided by the imperial court. After a long time, buildings with similar functions can gather with each other, which can form a more concentrated business. For example, the city that never sleeps. And its rent will gradually increase. ”

This is modern economic theory.

Song Heng didn't understand it at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he was able to fully understand, "Your Majesty's meaning is to make the place where the business atmosphere is very strong even stronger, so that the people will gather here, the shops will naturally gather, and the rent will be more stable." ”

"The child can be taught. But in fact, it is more meaningful for the overall layout of the Jingshi, to take an extreme example, if there is no planning, then build a garbage dump on the edge of the water and clouds, is this like a word? ”

The meaning of urban planning is not yet understood by those who think about it.

But Zhu Houzhao believes that in the process of doing it, they will slowly understand.

The gathering of commercial institutions is also conducive to the collection of taxes by the imperial court, otherwise where can the silver be found with so much effort?

And now, Song Heng has also found some ways, he knows that after such rectification, Jingshi will definitely be more prosperous and lively, so he can't help but have a little more hope for the future.

"Your Majesty, the minister understands, the minister must live up to his mission!"

(End of chapter)