At the beginning of September, there was a light rain in the Lianghuai area.

Yang Tinghe frowned when he looked at the rain,

He cooperated with Zhao Shen, the salt department, mobilized the salt officials themselves, and purchased grain from Yingtianfu and other places......

There are a lot of things to do, and there may be some things that can't be supervised, but if so much grain goes down, it will leak a little bit into the hands of the stove households.

Yang Tinghe thought so.

It was raining, the roads were muddy for a few days, and the grain delivery was actually delayed.

Miaowan Salt Farm is in Qinghe County, Huai'an Prefecture, where there are more than 6,000 stove households, which is a large-scale salt farm.

Yang Tinghe couldn't go through all the salt farms one by one in a short time, but one by two, he still had to go. The corruption in the salt class is too strong, in case the emperor can't get the food down, and in the end there is still a popular uprising.

How can he explain this mission?

And the reason why Miaowan was chosen is because the food here is consumed too quickly. More than 6,000 people, 2 catties of grain a day, 10,000 stone and 1.5 million catties of grain are enough to eat for more than 100 days.

Even if you count the layers of self-sac exploitation, 50 days, you can still hold on, right?

As soon as the Miaowan Salt Factory received grain for 30 days, it reported that the grain was about to run out for another 10 days.

The ambassador of Miaowan Salt Farm is named Peng Linkun, and Yang Tinghe tied him up first without saying a word!

"The life of the stove household is hard, often day and night hard work, the year is not peaceful, the court can't bear to allocate the food for disaster relief, as the ambassador of the salt farm, how can you consume more than 100 days of food within 40 days? Do you really think that Ben Chin would not dare to kill? ”

Peng Linkun craned his neck and shouted, "Shangcha, you can go to Miaowan and take a look!" ”

With this section, there is a scene of Yang Tinghe stepping on the mud and braving the rain to go to Huai'an Mansion.

They hid in a pavilion on the side of the road, and there was a very dense bamboo forest planted on the side, and the rain hit the bamboo leaves, which was originally fresh and soothing, but the people in the pavilion were not anxious.

According to Peng Linkun, there are more than 6,000 stove households in the Miaowan Salt Farm, and there are more than 15,000 at all.

Yang Tinghe originally thought that there were old precedents for helping stove households, and it should not be a big problem.

Just like the 'nationality' of 'military and craftsman', the stove household also has its own nationality, and the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the stove household is not allowed to leave the nationality without authorization.

In order to strengthen management, the Salt Transportation Department will also register the stove households and their related conditions, which is called the salt book or the stove book. The contents include the total number of stove households in the salt farm, how many stoves per household, and the number of salt classes to be paid per house, which can be said to be very detailed.

During the disaster relief, as long as the grain is sent one by one according to the salt book, although there are deductions, the whole chain is complete. What could be the big problem?

But in fact, when you really get to the bottom, you will understand that the amount of salt tax that should be paid is related to the number of stoves.

The more stoves, the more salt classes you turn in.

Therefore, from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to Zhengde for more than 100 years, one thing will naturally happen: that is, the number of households in the stove is concealed.

The number reported layer by layer is more than 6,000 stove households, but where is the actual stop?

When I first handed in the salt class, the number was smaller,

Now that everyone is lining up to receive life-saving food, will the extra people let him starve to death?

Peng Linkun can't do such a thing, he distributes food according to the actual stove households,

In this way, food is naturally consumed extremely quickly.

Even if he didn't have greed for ink and exploitation, he would have eaten for about 50 days, and now he has survived 40 days, which is considered good.

After Yang Tinghe confirmed this, he asked Peng Linkun to loosen his ties, this thin monkey like a ruffian hid in the corner of the pavilion and rubbed his arm, probably strangled from pain.

And looking up at the senior officials from Beijing, I only felt that the faces of the people were full of sorrow and deep thoughts, and I was afraid that there were more thoughts in their minds than they were rough people.

"No wonder Your Majesty wants to send so much more food......"

Originally, 500,000 stone and 75 million catties of grain were given to 50,000 people for two years.

Yang Tinghe took his hand and said: "So Your Majesty often says that state affairs are difficult, and sometimes, some things, others think that it is clear that they can turn around, but Your Majesty just refuses." It is because Daming's illness is more serious than ordinary people expect. ”

"Brother Jiefu, what about the difference? Those who are not registered, are they given or not? ”

"On the errand, Shioji!" Peng Linkun probably heard this, and hurriedly knelt down and said: "This year, the imperial court has rectified the Lianghuai salt farm, whether it is registered or not, the stoves have run out of food. If only the registered ones are given, the rest of the people will surely loot the food! The consequences are unimaginable! ”

After all, Zhao Shen had caught thieves, and he would not be so merciful to Diao Min, so he sternly reprimanded and asked: "Then when you concealed the stove Ding, why didn't you think about today?" If you don't pay the salt tax that should be paid, and you shouldn't get the food essentials, how can there be such a reason in the world?! ”

Peng Linkun was naturally speechless, he was a small character, and the concealment of the number of stoves did not start from him.

"Brother Huixing (Zhao Shenzi)," Yang Tinghe frowned tightly and stopped him, "This is an old bad habit, not a matter of one or two salt field ambassadors, and he can't be blamed." But...... Peng Linkun, what Zhao Yansi said also makes sense, everything has to pay attention to a rational word, and the reason here must always be clear, right? ”

"Although there is food in the imperial court, but a rain falls, I don't know how long the road will be delayed, even if we rush it every day, it may not arrive within ten days. You say that the stove that is not registered will make trouble, but what about the stove that is registered? ”

"They pay salt taxes to the imperial court on weekdays, and the imperial court rectifies the two Huai salt farms, and will not leave them alone, which is a matter of course. Now that the total amount of food is not enough, what if they know that it is because they have also given money to the stoves that are not registered? Are these people making trouble? ”

Peng Linkun's face was low and his eyes were slender, and his whole face was bitter. At this time, I couldn't speak.

A big official is a big official, and the things to consider are thoughtful.

This problem is real.

"Not bad!" Zhao Shen said sternly: "How many people have been reported, the court will naturally give as many people as possible, and now Ding Kou has asked someone to hide it, is it still to blame the court?" ”

"This matter is the responsibility of the lower officials." Peng Linkun kowtowed, "The stove Ding is a few people, and the hidden Ding Kou is also in their respective homes, they will not fight with their own families." ”

It's hard to tell.

When you want to starve people to death, what does it matter?

Yang Tinghe thought about it carefully and said, "When the rain stops, after we arrive at Miaowan, you will issue new regulations." Each person in the register receives two catties of grain per day, and those who are not registered receive eight taels of grain per person per day. Moreover, those who are registered receive first, and those who are not registered receive later. The court didn't ignore them, but in the world, they can't take advantage of all the advantages! ”

It is impossible to give no relief at all.

Just like Peng Linkun said, it's not good if something happens.

The emperor only looked at the result, not the process. If you give food, and in the end there is a popular uprising, even if you have a reason, at least it is not enough ability and does not know how to be flexible.

But in any case, you have to let those people know that you take advantage of you on weekdays, and you should stand back at this time, which is also a punishment, Diao Min, and you can't be too nice to them.

The main thing is that the amount of food is not enough, not enough to feed everyone, it is raining, rotten mud, and the gods are coming to carry it?

On the way, Yang Tinghe continued to say to Zhao Shen,

"The relief of stove households is one thing, and the auction of salt farms also needs to be accelerated. Only in this way can we get over as soon as possible, let the merchants run the salt works, and let the salt works run again. When we get back, we're going to do this. ”

In fact, the emperor has already begun.

Because he also knows that this matter cannot be delayed, and there must be a result in the first year of Zhengde.

According to what was discussed in the Qianqing Palace on the same day, after the imperial court rectified the two Huai salt fields, it removed the yamen such as the transportation department and the inspection office, and set up an auction office again.

The auction office divided the 30 salt farms of the two Huai salt farms, of which 6 were auctioned, and the remaining 24 were still government-run for the time being, and they were also located under the auction office.

In these 24 salt farms, all the income from the salt tax is no longer handed over to the household department. Among them, there are 6 salt classes, all of which are used for the distribution of labor and rice to the stove households in 24 salt farms in Lianghuai. The remaining 18 salt farms are set up as salt farms, so that there can be 400,000 salt quotations a year, which are specially used to redeem the salt quotations that have been issued by the previous dynasty.

The auction office is not located anywhere, not in Huai'an, nor in Yangzhou, just in Jingshi, Jingshi East City, the south is the city that never sleeps, and the west is Jinyiwei.

How good, if something happens here, you can send it to Jinyiwei over there.

The auction office has one principal envoy and one deputy envoy on the left and right, who are in charge of 6 and 24 salt farms respectively. It seems that the latter is huge, but in fact, those who manage less get more money, and those who manage more have more money than they do.

Auctions are held by year and month, with six auctions this year and six more next year, and the number of salt farms is reduced until the last six salt farms are retained until the arrears of salt over the years are exhausted.

As for how long it will take to redeem it, there is no number of households, since the beginning of Yongle, the emperors of the Zhu family have issued too many salt citations, and they are given once every three or five times, and one time is one or two thousand citations, who can still count it?

But in any case, the establishment of a salt farm dedicated to the redemption of the imperial court showed a completely different attitude from the past.

From the court to the people, there is nothing that says it is not supported.

In the first year, there will be some difficulties, and the 24 salt farms need to be distributed by the imperial court, but in the following years, the number of salt farms auctioned gradually increased, the pressure on the imperial court gradually decreased, and the number of officials in the auction office would be much less than that of the salt transportation department.

On the sixth day of the first month of September, the emperor's holy decree: Chen Jili of Langzhong of Shaofu was transferred to the left deputy envoy of the auction office, ranking five products, and taking charge of the auction of salt farms, the supervision of salt merchants, the regulation of salt prices, and the livelihood of stove households;

He sent the former Lianghuai Salt Envoy Department and Experience Division You Simeng as the right deputy envoy of the auction office, and was in charge of the management of the remaining 24 government-run salt farms. This is not much different from the previous one, that is, to manage the salt farm, according to the old practice of urging the salt tax, checking the salt and drawing the salt to write off.

This person is one of the seven officials who 'survived' from the original Lianghuai Transportation Division.

And the experience of the department, is in charge of the correspondence in the yamen, a bit like the chief of staff, this position has been dry for a long time, and the process of handling various matters in the yamen is very clear, so it is appropriate to let him act in charge of the remaining 24 salt farms.

In this matter, the emperor persevered once, leaving all the innocent people in this case to be promoted.

You Simeng is just one of them, and the remaining 6 people are also in the auction house, they have changed from local officials to Beijing officials, and their grades have been improved to varying degrees.

Corrupt officials die, and clean officials go up.

When the emperor has this part, he has a sense of accomplishment.

As for the auction office, this position is still pending......

(End of chapter)