Chapter 2975 Hint
Bai Shan also washed up and leaned against the bed, "Xiaoxue Yang, you have to make a choice, not just now, but in the future."
He said, "The Jiangnan aristocratic families are too powerful, and government orders are not being implemented. Both Your Majesty and the Crown Prince are ambitious people, and they will not tolerate this for long."
"Moreover, the power of local powerful families is too great. Not only will the imperial court be restricted, but it will also be difficult for ordinary people to get ahead and become wealthy." Under certain conditions, survival resources are limited. If the powerful families control too many resources, the common people will get even less.
Moreover, the other party is powerful and can evade the taxes that should be paid to the country. The country's finances are poor, and in the end it can only pass the burden on to ordinary people.
Bai Shan, who has read many unofficial histories, has seen that several dynasties perished because of this. Although those dynasty changes seem to be fabricated and have never appeared in history, he just feels that what is written in it is true.
If the aristocratic families of the Jin Dynasty are not restrained, there will definitely be hidden dangers that they will become too powerful to be eliminated in the future.
Not only the aristocratic families, but also the royal family...
But one must eat one bite at a time and take one step at a time. He doesn't want to think about too lofty things now. If he only looks at the present, the salt tax in Jiangnan needs to be rectified.
He spoke in a low voice, "When I was in the Secretariat, I saw memorials submitted from all over Jiangnan. Last year, in order to prepare food supplies for the Eastern Expedition, I even went to the Ministry of Revenue on behalf of His Majesty to check the treasury silver. The salt tax paid by Jiangnan the previous year was only one-fifth of the amount that should have been collected."
Zhou Man opened his mouth in surprise, "So little?"
Bai Shan said, "The Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate have sent people to Jiangnan several times to investigate the salt tax deficit, but they haven't found any concrete evidence. They've even executed a few people and exiled a few officials, but to no avail."
"This salt tax was only introduced after the Yang family's incident, when Your Majesty took over some of their assets. I heard that the salt tax paid by Jiangnan in the past few years was even lower. They had all sorts of excuses: salt production was difficult, the population was small, brine was running low, there was also loss during transportation, and they had to build bridges and roads. Anyway, they were losing money every year." He said, "Although Brother Yang is from the Yang family, he has long been dissatisfied with this. Your Majesty is interested in cultivating him, so he must be aware of these things, which is why he specifically sent him to Jiangnan."
Zhou Man's voice dropped. "I'm afraid the other families won't show mercy just because he's from the Yang family, right?"
"Not only other families, but even within the Yang clan, there are probably many dissenting voices," Bai Shan said. "Depriving someone of their wealth is like killing their parents. Those people have long considered Jiangnan theirs, so how could they be willing to hand it over so easily?"
Zhou Man was depressed for a moment before he perked up and asked in a low voice, "What can we do to help Brother Yang?"
Bai Shan also lowered his voice, "Build a bigger salt field and repair the ferry so that the sea salt from Beihai County can reach every inch of Dajin without obstruction."
He said, "This is not only helping Brother Yang, but also helping ourselves."
To achieve peace and prosperity in the country, it naturally requires the joint efforts of everyone. Yang Heshu alone cannot do it. What Bai Shan and others can do now is to pave a way out for him so that he will not be isolated and helpless in Jiangnan.
Bai Shan sighed, "I wonder if we can still communicate safely once he goes to Jiangnan."
Zhou Man: "The prince will definitely have a way."
They are the ones who sent the people out, so they must ensure the security of the communication.
She thought of something and asked quickly, "With so many people visiting the salt fields today, the salt drying method must be a secret. Your Highness, won't you be restraining us?"
Bai Shan rested his hands behind his head, crossed his legs and shook them, saying, "Your Highness did it on purpose. Even if someone spread the news to Jiangnan specifically, it wouldn't be easy for them to believe it. It would take at least half a year for Jiangnan to test it out, and maybe even two or three years."
He said, "Your Majesty and the Crown Prince hope that there will be more salt fields for drying salt, and more salt on the market."
They were not afraid of having too much salt, but only too little. Things would be easier to operate when there were more of them. Anyway, only one-fifth of the salt tax was collected now. The emperor and the prince were obviously happy to take out all of this one-fifth to play with the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River.
Many people did not sleep well that night, but Zhou Man and Bai Shan felt much more relaxed after chatting, and fell into a deep sleep after finishing the topic.
The next morning, the prince went to the beach with Bai Shan and others.
Although I only saw the sea from afar yesterday, the feeling of standing on the beach today and letting the sea water hit my feet was very different.
Mingda put on her veil and walked happily along the beach, not wanting to walk with the officials. Bai Erlang then took her out to play.
The prince just glanced at them and then looked away. After all, the two of them were just here to have fun, and he had already accepted this fact.
Governor Guo held the prince in his arms and asked with a smile, "Is this also your first time seeing the sea?"
"No," the prince said after thinking for a moment, "let's count it as the second time."
He had been to the seaside once when he accompanied the emperor on a trip, but he was still young at that time and did not have much impression of the sea.
The prince saw a boat on the sea and narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Are those fishermen?"
"Yes," Bai Shan said, "Xiaowa Village still relies mainly on fishing."
The prince nodded and stood by the sea looking around. This coastline was indeed very long. Apart from the mountains, there were only wastelands and few people. Just as Bai Shan said, there were too few people.
Bai Shan was also secretly hinting that there were too few people here and they were in urgent need of population resources.
Originally, he thought that it would be a good idea to develop slowly. Once his official salt was sold and he had money, he could send people to recruit refugees everywhere and bring them here to settle down. Although there were no natural disasters or man-made disasters now and there were few refugees from outside, there were definitely some.
But after hearing yesterday that Yang Heshu was going to Jiangnan, Bai Shan felt that time was much more pressing. So he stayed by the Crown Prince's side and made suggestions, suggesting, "The salt fields need soldiers to protect them, but we can't just have soldiers without civilians. Your Highness, if other places are too populated and there's no land to divide, why not move some people here?"
The prince was annoyed and asked, "There are no fields in other places, don't you think you have any in Beihai County?"
Bai Shan thought for a moment and said, "If we squeeze in, there's still some."
In fact, Beihai County is vast and sparsely populated, with a lot of wasteland. There is still a lot of land that can be reclaimed, but the problem is that the land here is not very good. Even if it is reclaimed, the planting value is not high. Not only is the manpower lost, but even the cost of seeds may not be recovered.
But Bai Shan believed that problems could be solved one by one. If there was not enough food, they could temporarily purchase it from outside. The most important thing was to have people first, and then slowly think about the land.
They have salt fields, which can still support quite a few people.
Zhou Man, who had traveled extensively in Beihai County during this time, added, "You can also grow some medicinal herbs. Some land isn't suitable for growing crops, but it's suitable for growing medicinal herbs. It just takes a long time."
Bai Shan said: "It doesn't matter. We are not short of time now, but we are short of people."
After saying this, he hinted at going to see the prince.
Censor Ning coughed heavily and kept passing behind the two of them, warning them with his eyes to stop spreading rumors.
See you at 7pm
(End of this chapter)
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