Chapter 137 I heard that His Majesty brought Qiqi to the palace?
In the third year of the Kaihuang era, Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, abolished the salt ban, implemented a tax-free system, and allowed people to trade freely.
During the Sui Dynasty, there was no salt tax!
You only need to pay a small market tax when trading in the border market.
The early Tang Dynasty also inherited this practice. The imperial court sold salt not to make money, but to stabilize salt prices!
This system lasted for 128 years!
However, in the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty, the imperial court was short of money and turned its attention to salt!
The An Lushan Rebellion broke out, completely collapsing the economy of the Tang Dynasty.
Then the imperial court became even more frantic in its pursuit of wealth.
In the later stages, salt accounted for half of the entire imperial court's annual fiscal revenue!
Such exorbitant profits have led countless people to take the risk of smuggling salt.
Ultimately, this led to the downfall of the Tang Dynasty!
The most famous of these was the Huang Chao Rebellion.
Huang Chao was a scholar who failed the imperial examination. He came from a family of salt merchants and built up his army by smuggling salt, which brought the Tang Dynasty to the brink of collapse!
Soon, the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period began...
"Go on!"
A barely perceptible killing intent flashed in Li Shimin's eyes!
"Based on our research of salt records, we speculate that the soaring salt prices in the Jiangnan and Liangzhou regions may be a hoax..."
scam?
Fang Xuanling and the others looked puzzled.
“The price of salt in the Jiangnan and Liangzhou regions has not skyrocketed, and the government still has a lot of inventory. On the contrary, the salt in the surrounding prefectures has been sold out.”
"Based on speculation, it must be that someone spread rumors that salt prices in Jiangnan and Liangzhou have skyrocketed..."
"Then people from nearby prefectures took salt to the two places to sell."
"When they arrived, they discovered that the salt prices in both places had not fluctuated."
"If we take it back, there will be expenses for transport, losses, and customs duties..."
"Even after deducting a series of costs, they will still suffer huge losses!"
"It would be better to sell them cheaply in both places, which would help recoup some of the losses."
"The final result is..."
"There is too much salt in the Jiangnan and Liangzhou areas."
"On the contrary, salt became scarce in other regions, and salt prices began to rise."
"Although the fluctuations are not significant, the price has risen to 20-40 coins."
Whoosh...
Li Shimin's expression immediately changed.
Although the price of salt only increased by 20-40 wen, the price of salt in the Tang Dynasty was generally around 10 wen, and at most it would exceed 20 wen.
The price doubled or tripled, which is already extremely profitable.
"Tell me, it encompasses several prefectures!"
Li Shimin's murderous intent surged.
"About seventy or eighty prefectures."
Bang.
Li Shimin slammed his palm on the dragon table.
With seventy or eighty state capitals involved, the amount of money involved is already extremely large!
"Shuyu, this isn't right."
Just then, Fang Xuanling voiced his doubts: "Even if, as you say, the Jiangnan and Liangzhou areas are just a hoax, why didn't the officials there report to the court when the scale of the operation was so large?"
"Uncle Fang, this is the most crucial thing."
Wei Shuyu said with a solemn expression, "Tell me, in the world today, who can silence an official and prevent him from reporting the news?"
Fang Xuanling's expression changed drastically.
Who can shut up officials?
Aside from His Majesty, it's all the gentry!
“In the vicinity of Jiangnan and Liangzhou, there are two powerful clans!”
"Firstly, the Zheng family of Xingyang is located near Jiangnan!"
Secondly...
As he spoke, Wei Shuyu glanced at Li Shimin and said, "The Li family of Longxi is located near Liangzhou!"
After these words were spoken, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Only the cautious breathing of a few people remained.
"Of course, this is just our speculation. We still need to send someone to investigate further."
Wei Shuyu broke the silence with his words.
Exploration?
Is further investigation necessary?
The government should have reported the soaring price of salt to the imperial court immediately.
Why did the imperial court only receive the news now?
It's obvious that someone is sabotaging this.
Moreover, Wei Shuyu phrased it more tactfully.
Merchants and ordinary people sold salt between the two places...
If the aristocratic families were truly manipulating things behind the scenes, they could easily hide the salt, transport only a small portion to the two locations, and then sell it when the price of salt was high, thus making a direct profit!
This move is still a calculated strategy.
The imperial court was powerless against the aristocratic families...
Because the price of salt on the surface is driven up by ordinary people and merchants themselves!
They bought the local salt and sold it to Jiangnan and Liangzhou...
If there is a shortage of salt on one's own land, then the price will naturally go up.
"check!"
Li Shimin, with a grim face, ordered: "Arrest all those who committed the crimes and bring them to justice!"
"Wei Shuyu, Ma Zhou, Chu Suiliang..."
"Your subject is here!"
"I hereby order you to proceed to Jiangnan and Liangzhou. If any of you do not cooperate, I grant you the authority to execute them first and report later!"
"If resistance is encountered, surrounding troops can be mobilized to suppress it!"
"Your subject obeys!"
Ma Zhou and Chu Suiliang bowed and accepted the order, their bodies trembling with excitement.
The censors were merely reporting on hearsay and rarely possessed any real power.
Li Shimin has delegated real power!
When they arrived in the provinces, even the governors and commanders had to be subservient to them.
"His Majesty……"
Just then, Wei Shuyu awkwardly stepped forward and said, "I feel that I am still young and need to go to the Imperial Academy for further studies."
"I think I'll skip this trip."
An illegitimate child.
Wei Zheng glared at his son.
Stabilizing salt prices was a tremendous achievement; the root causes were analyzed, and he also had the authority to mobilize troops under imperial decree.
You could say that you get the credit just by making one trip.
You fucking don't want it?
"You really don't want to go?"
Li Shimin was also surprised.
"Your Majesty, I know my own limitations. Compared to Censor Ma and Censor Chu, my knowledge is far inferior."
"I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty's favor in appointing me to this official position. I must naturally strive to improve myself and live up to Your Majesty's trust..."
"I don't care if people say that I'm young and uneducated, but I'm afraid it would embarrass Your Majesty..."
Wei Shuyu spoke in a very serious tone.
His face was full of loyalty and righteousness, as if he was saying, "I will not leave Chang'an, all for the sake of His Majesty."
Wei Zheng frowned and pondered for a moment...
The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
Wei Shuyu was only eleven years old when he had already become the center of attention.
It's definitely time to rein it in.
Moreover, I'm still alive, and there are plenty of ways to get promoted in the future, so there's no need to be fixated on this or that one achievement.
Conversely, Chu Suiliang, whom he recommended, needed a merit to solidify his position as censor.
After thinking it over, Wei Zheng took a step forward...
"Your Majesty, my wife is six months pregnant and needs someone to take care of her. I hope Your Majesty will allow Shuyu to stay in Chang'an."
Li Shimin nodded.
It's understandable that Old Wei's family is small.
"In that case, Shuyu, you should stay in Chang'an."
Li Shimin then looked at Ma and Zhou: "On this trip, each of you will go to a different place and make sure to bring all the criminals to justice!"
"promise."
With both sides finished speaking, the matter was temporarily brought to a close.
After preparing the documents and tallies, just as everyone was about to leave, Wei Shuyu spoke again…
"Your Majesty, I heard you brought Qiqi to the palace?"
not good.
Li Shimin's heart skipped a beat.
He secretly glanced at Wei Zheng.
As expected, Wei Zheng looked puzzled.
Li Shimin quickly changed the subject...
"It's getting late, and it's time to go home. You may all leave now."
Turning his head, Li Shimin looked at Fang Xuanling again: "Xuanling, Yi'ai is injured, why don't you hurry up and apply medicine to him?"
"It's over, everyone's gone... Go home and have dinner early."
After saying this, Li Shimin got up to leave.
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