Chongzhen sent a salt patrol this time to Liu Zongzhou, the former governor of Shuntianfu.

Over the past year, Liu Zongzhou was diligent and diligent, accumulating a large amount of saltpeter, especially according to Chongzhen's requirements, he was able to prepare dry and delicate high-quality gunpowder, which greatly improved the firearm attack ability of the Ming army on the front line.

In addition, Liu Zongzhou's own upright personality and fearlessness are also an important reason why Chongzhen decided to use him to patrol salt.

Before. Wu Qingbo helped beat the students of Guozijian. Liu Zongzhou was tortured outside the Wuqing Gate, and he was also famous in Beijing.

You must know that Wu Qingbo came from the mother family of Emperor Wanli, and he was still a very powerful relative in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Liu Zongzhou dared to fall into the prestige of Wu Qingbo, so it was impossible to be afraid of Yangzhou salt merchants.

You must know that the biggest drawback of the salt policy of the Ming Dynasty at this time was the accumulation of salt, that is, the excessive salt introduction rewarded by the royal family, far exceeded the ability of the salt producing area to pay, resulting in the salt originally used for military pay and military supplies becoming a piece of waste paper.

Even at this time, it is a terrible disaster

And the salt merchants who can get the salt and pay the salt from the salt field rely on the power background behind them.

The first task given to Liu Zongzhou by Chongzhen was to backstab these salt merchants who could have relied on the forces behind them to get salt.

On the grounds of the urgency of the Liao matter, the allocation of salt from the two Huai salt farms to all other salt introductions this year will be terminated!

Liu Zongzhou closed the salt field as the Qincha who patrolled the salt, lived within his means, and completely controlled the transportation of every grain of salt.

As soon as this order came out, the world was in an uproar.

First of all, Chongzhen's relatives and relatives, Jia Dingbo, the father of the Queen Zhou, Wu Qingbo in the family of the great-grandmother Empress Dowager Li, and so on, find excuses to come to the palace every day to cry and knock on the side, only hoping that the emperor will take back his life.

There are also nobles with military power like Li Shouqi, the uncle of Xiangcheng, who also complained bitterly about the emperor's move.

They are sensitive, but they also have a way to spread their dissatisfaction to the palace with the emperor's relatives and relatives, so that Chongzhen's ears are reached.

The second is the officials of Lianghuai and even Nanzhili, who have complained again and again, saying that the finances cannot make ends meet, and bandits are everywhere.

If there is no salt government subsidy, then this day is really impossible.

Finally, there are the retired officials and eunuchs in the opposition. Although they are far away from Jingshi, their protégés and disciples are still by Chongzhen's side.

Even Wang Chengen, Chongzhen's most trusted person, had to intercede for others with a red face and begged the emperor to slow down this policy.

Before Chongzhen asked Liu Zongzhou to implement this law, he had expected that he would face huge resistance.

Therefore, when the dissatisfaction of all walks of life reached a climax, and there was a vague confluence that forced Chongzhen to give up the rectification of the salt government, Liu Zongzhou promulgated the second holy decree.

That is, the salt and property rights held by the major wealthy nobles were transferred to the Changlu Salt Farm in Tianjin and the Laizhou Bay Salt Farm in Shandong.

For some nobles with special circumstances, such as Li Shouqi, the uncle of Xiangcheng, Chongzhen is a special case, allowing him to extract the salt at hand at one time, but he is not allowed to touch the salt produced by the Lianghuai salt field in the future.

On the surface, the total amount of salt these people receives remains the same as before, but in reality, their interests are greatly compromised.

Salt is a commodity, no matter how expensive, but it is still a commodity in nature, and it needs to be transported in large quantities to make huge profits.

Like the Changlu Salt Farm, the output is actually not low, but it cannot be transported, and there is no huge consumer market around, which leads to the price of its salt is much lower than that of the Lianghuai Salt Farm.

Despite this, some imperial relatives and retired bureaucrats who are far away from Chongzhen's relationship still choose to accept it when they see it when they get to this point.

After all, seeing that the emperor is really short of money and is in a hurry, these people can recover some losses, and they don't dare to argue with the emperor anymore.

Like the few vassal kings in Zhongzhou who have been beaten by Chongzhen, this time they don't dare to come out, Chongzhen has been arranging Mei Zhihuan to secretly concoct them, and dispose of their minions and cronies when he finds an opportunity.

encountered this large-scale salt patrol, and simply returned all the salt that the first emperor rewarded them to the royal family, just hoping to leave them a decent place, so that they could eat Zonglu with peace of mind and be a rice worm.

In this way, whether it is Chongzhen or Liu Zongzhou, the pressure they face is much less.

However, there are still a group of people who still surround Chongzhen unrelentingly, trying to completely claim their share of the benefits.

Among them, Jiadingbo and Wu Qingbo were the leaders.

Jiading Bo Zhou Kui, that is, Chongzhen's father-in-law, is hovering in the palace in the name of seeing his grandson at this moment.

Chongzhen looked at Liu Zongzhou's recital, and was also admonishing himself at the moment.

"Your Majesty's desire for treatment is too anxious. However, the accumulation of disadvantages in the opening of the law cannot be eliminated in a day, and it is advisable to pay the cabinet to decide, the ministry to plan, and then there is a department to slowly try to do it. ”

The current implication is that Yanzheng is not an overnight thing, let him Liu Zongzhou be a cool official, and the probability of success is very low.

If we want to do this well, we must honestly follow the political procedures and rules.

The so-called from top to bottom, the leadership attaches great importance to it, conducts extensive research, carefully deploys, issues it layer by layer, and compacts it step by step, and then it is possible to succeed.

But Chongzhen, who has experienced many simulations, has a different vision from Liu Zongzhou.

Liu Zongzhou himself can be selfless, and even when he was studying in his hometown, he took the initiative to reduce the rent of the land he owned to the tenants, which can be regarded as surpassing the limitations of the landlord class.

But can the cabinet, the household department, the Fantai, the nickel division, and the prefecture and county-level yamen also be selfless?

As long as none of them can do it, the powerful people around Chongzhen will take advantage of the situation, coerce and induce, and the final policies will not achieve the goal that Chongzhen wants.

Rather than this, it is better for Chongzhen to bet on Liu Zongzhou to finish this matter for himself.

Chongzhen thought about it, picked up the pen, and first praised Liu Zongzhou for completing the work task according to his own requirements.

The second is to make a swing and talk about the grim situation facing the Ming Dynasty now and how short of money it is. Patrolling salt can increase income by one or two more, and the Ming Dynasty can recover an inch more land and feed one more victim.

In the end, he moved the Confucian set of principles, emphasizing that Liu Zongzhou was a scholar and doctor, and it was his duty to share the worries of the monarch's father. You must think about what your father thinks, be anxious about what your father is anxious about, and be a good loyal minister.

He also implicitly pointed out that it is normal to be afraid of difficulties in the face of setbacks, and he can only rely on Liu Zongzhou himself to overcome his paralysis and relaxation mentality, and he must not make his own opinions and do something else, which would violate the great principle of loyalty to the monarch and patriotism.

Chongzhen looked at his reply and was still very satisfied.

If you change to people like Wen Tiren and Qian Qianyi, and see that you are loyal and patriotic, I am afraid that you will not be a fart.

But Liu Zongzhou, a righteous gentleman, can only pinch his nose and continue to be a cool official for Chongzhen.

Just as Chongzhen was proud, the little eunuch next to him reminded, "Your Majesty, the queen sent someone to invite, saying that today is the 100th day of the five princes, please have a banquet together and pray for his arrest." ”

Chongzhen listened, and his scalp was numb.

Just because of his father-in-law at that time, Queen Zhou's biological father was in the palace, he wanted to avoid it, but he didn't expect to be caught by the other party for such a reason.