Chapter 3151 Salt Administration Reform
The two children fell asleep after feeding. It is human nature to want to sleep after eating.
Although they were asleep, they were still taken out and their hair was shaved.
They hired a craftsman from outside who specialized in shaving children's hair. He had excellent skills and shaved the child's hair gently. Zhou Man watched from the side and felt that the child slept a little more soundly.
So there are benefits to shaving your head?
Xiao Qian wrung out a warm towel and wiped their heads. The two children moved and their eyes seemed to open a little, but they quickly closed them again and continued to sleep.
Zheng took out two small hats and put them on them with a smile, whispering, "I made these for them. They're breathable, so they won't feel hot even if they wear them now, and they won't catch a cold either."
In addition to the hat, Zheng also gave them a jade-carved little rabbit. Unfortunately, they were still young and could not play with these toys.
So Zhou Man, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang generously collected them for them.
When the child falls asleep, these parents' abilities become useless.
Zhou Man brought a jade rabbit back to his study, played with it for a bit, and then put it aside. "I've figured out how to write it."
Bai Shan smiled and handed her the ink he had just ground. "Here you go."
Zhou Man took the inkstone, put it aside, handed him his empty inkstone, and glanced at the documents on his desk. "You still have so many documents?"
Bai Shan nodded. "The summer harvest is approaching, and all the farms need to make arrangements. We're also preparing for the next season's official salt. This time, we have half a year less to prepare than before, so there's a lot to arrange."
Zhou Man felt that he was not having an easy time either, and he immediately became happy. He started to write his own memorial excitedly, and even the sentences were more lively than before.
After finishing writing, I polished it and copied it onto a blank sheet of paper and sent it out.
She felt that her writing was very good, and the Ministry of Personnel would most likely agree, and the ministers in the court should not object. After all, this was a win-win situation.
Zhou Man happily continued his vaccination and medical work in Beihai County while waiting for a reply from the capital.
As a result, she waited for ten days but there was no news. She waited for nearly ten days again, and the wheat was harvested. The officials who came to buy salt for the second time came to Beihai County, but there was still no news from her.
Zhou Man was dissatisfied, "When did the efficiency of the capital become so low?"
Bai Shan took out a letter and handed it to her. "You've been busy with vaccinations recently, and I haven't had time to talk to you. Please take a look."
"What's this?"
"This is a letter from Brother Tang Xue. Oh, and I also have a letter from Mr. Li." Bai Shan found them all and gave them to her.
Zhou Man didn't read the contents, but scanned the envelope first, "They are all written to you."
Bai Shan said: "If the Medical Department is not involved, they will naturally not write to you."
While Zhou Man was reading the letter, he summarized what had happened in the capital. "I calculated the time. Unfortunately, your letter should have arrived in the capital just when Lord Wei was submitting a petition to reform the salt administration."
Wei Zhi had been calling for salt administration reform for two years, but it had been prepared for nearly ten years.
Everyone in the court knew that Emperor Wei Zhihe wanted to reform the salt policy, especially the salt tax problem in Jiangnan was particularly serious.
But as Wei Zhi never submitted any specific memorial on how to reform, no one knew except the emperor and a few relevant ministers.
This time, Wei Zhi submitted a memorial listing the salt administration reforms in detail, which naturally included the reform of salt tax.
As soon as the memorial was submitted, not only the officials from the Jiangnan faction, but the entire court was shocked. Then there was a huge noise. Some people loudly opposed it, while others loudly raised their opinions, but there were very few who agreed.
For such a big matter, the memorial Zhou Man submitted at this time was not worthy of being brought to the court for discussion in the eyes of all the officials.
The Secretariat took only one look and gave the opinion of "pending discussion". The court is in chaos now, so this kind of non-urgent matter should be put aside for now.
The Ministry of Personnel had no objection to this reply. After reviewing and approving it, it was sent to the Ministry of Personnel with only a message saying, "Please consider it."
In other words, you can think about it now.
But it was just a thought. Regardless of whether the Ministry of Personnel was happy or not, he was happy and was very active in promoting this matter. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Central Secretariat would forget about it as soon as they turned around.
Now everyone's attention is focused on the salt administration and the officialdom in Jiangnan. Who has the time to pay attention to other trivial matters?
Like other matters, if there were precedents, they would follow the old rules. For matters like disasters and tax exemptions, these were all handled according to the old rules. After a quick decision, everyone continued to "discuss" the salt administration, occasionally casually asking about each other's health, character, or even ancestors...
For memorials like Zhou Man's, which did not follow the old precedent, those that were not extremely urgent would be put aside, while those that were extremely urgent would be taken out for quick discussion and decision before being issued.
So apart from officials like Zhou Man, many officials actually feel that the efficiency of work in the capital has been very high recently, much higher than before.
Zhou Man was stunned after reading the letter. "So I chose a bad time to submit the letter, and I got cheated?"
Bai Shan nodded. "I think that until the salt administration reform is finalized, no one will be interested in discussing your memorial."
Zhou Man took out Mr. Zhuang's letter and read it carefully again from the beginning.
Mr. Zhuang wrote down all the key points of Wei Zhi's salt administration reform and sent them to Bai Shan.
Zhou Man asked him, "What do you think of this method, Lord Wei?"
Bai Shan nodded and said, "I don't know what the future will hold, but for now, this reform is indeed of great benefit to the country and the people."
Wei Zhi must have wanted to reform the salt administration for a long time, so he was well prepared. Even if Bai Shan looked at the reform with a critical eye, he could not find many problems.
Zhou Man pointed at the red stamp on the letter and asked, "Did you write this?"
Bai Shan glanced at it and nodded, "Don't you recognize my handwriting?"
Zhou Man ignored him and instead looked at the red comments. "If you set the salt price so low all of a sudden, I'm afraid reform will be even more difficult."
"I know," Bai Shan said, "but this opportunity is so rare. If we don't pass this time, it will be even more difficult to reform next time."
He said, "Things are different now. We now have the solar salting method, which has greatly reduced the cost of making salt. The price I've lowered is still profitable for the county governments. It's a small profit, but it's a small profit but a large volume."
"Why is it that private salt continues to be sold despite repeated bans?" Bai Shan asked. "It's because the price of official salt, combined with the salt tax and the profits of the local county government, has become very high. But the county government is supposed to manage the people, not a business, and it's not supposed to be for profit. If official salt is cheaper than private salt, will people still buy private salt?"
When the profit of salt drops to a certain level, how many people will still smuggle salt?
Zhou Man pondered for a moment, then shook his head again. "I know what you said is right, but you definitely can't say this to the officials in the court, and you certainly can't make this known to the county governments. Otherwise, salt administration reform will be even more difficult to implement..."
It’s too late tonight. There is still one chapter to be updated tomorrow morning. I’m going to sleep first. Good night.
(End of this chapter)
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