Chapter 3153 Protection
The emperor waved his hand and said, "The prosperity of the people is the prosperity of the country."
He was open-minded. "The people have money. Even if the national treasury is short of money when disaster strikes, they can still save themselves. It would be the same as if the money was in the national treasury and I could use it for the people. So don't worry about the low price of salt. At worst, I can just not collect the salt tax."
Now that the emperor has said so, what else can others say?
They all knelt and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty is wise."
Kong Jijiu raised his head slightly and looked at the prince across from him. Seeing that there was no dissatisfaction on his face, he nodded slightly in his heart and became more satisfied with him.
In fact, Bai Shan was also the prince's tutor, and he was the first to agree to the salt administration reform.
Kong Jijiu raised the corner of his mouth slightly, feeling that the crown prince finally had the bearing and vision to be a king.
Since the emperor doesn't even care about taxes, then...
Old Master Tang was eager to make a suggestion: "How about a salt and iron monopoly?"
He said, "Establish a Salt Transport Bureau to be responsible for the management of official salt? This way, not only will the national treasury benefit, but it will also be able to control the price of salt, passing the benefits on to the people. Isn't this better than letting merchants make an extra profit?"
Minister Liu's spirits brightened, and they all nodded, "Your Majesty, I think this is a good idea."
Wei Zhi frowned. He didn't want to establish a salt transport bureau, preferring to let merchants sell the salt. Merchants were profit-driven and knew how to save costs better than the government. And as the emperor said, the wealth of the country is not as great as the wealth of the people. Merchants were also part of the people.
Wei Zhi has no prejudice against merchants and is even willing to strongly support their development.
Lord Tang, on the contrary, believed that most of the world's evils were caused by profit, and businessmen were the most profit-driven. Although Lord Wei said that he would ask the government to stabilize the price of salt, Lord Tang still did not quite believe in the morality of businessmen.
The two of them each explained their own views and the advantages and disadvantages of their insistence, and then looked at the emperor and others, waiting for their decision.
The emperor pondered and said, "What do you think, my dear ministers?"
Kong Jijiu said, "Let's just calculate the money. If it were a salt and iron monopoly, what would the current selling price be? After deducting all costs, how much would be left in the warehouse? If it were handed over to merchants, what would they accept as a selling price? Would the price increase significantly in the future? And what part of the profit would they make?"
They must ensure that merchants make enough profit from salt, otherwise this policy will definitely not be able to continue. In the end, they will still find ways to make up for it from other places, which they absolutely will not allow.
The prince sat aside, slightly distracted, and had to choose one of the two options. In other words, they all agreed to reform the salt administration, but they had not yet decided how to change it.
The prince raised his lip, feeling that the matter of Jiangnan was almost certain.
Sure enough, at the small court meeting the next day, Wei Zhi brought up the salt administration reform again, but there were few opponents, and some people felt uneasy seeing this.
Before they could get the news, the emperor summoned all officials to a grand court meeting and mentioned the establishment of salt transport offices in various places and the monopoly of official salt.
All the officials were stunned and stunned. They had not expected such a large-scale reform of the salt administration. Before they could come to their senses and discuss it, the emperor had another pile of memorials brought out. He said with a stern face, "These are memorials from various places impeaching the Jiangnan Salt Administration."
"Salt is related to people's livelihood. As a result, the Jiangnan Salt Field did not prepare anything last year. This year, the official salt contract for each county was temporarily terminated..." The emperor had been holding back the memorials impeaching the Jiangnan officials and salt administration for some time. Now he took them out and asked Gu Zhong to take out the memorials and read them one by one. All the officials sitting there broke out in cold sweat.
Even Lord Tang, who had nothing to do with the matter, felt frightened and sat in his seat with his head down, not moving.
But the emperor called his name.
Lord Tang's heart froze. He paused for a moment before rising from his seat, stepping out of the group and bowing, saying, "Your Majesty."
The emperor said sullenly, "Go to Jiangnan again and investigate the cause of the Jiangnan Salt Works' negligence. Bring all the prisoners back to the capital. Instruct the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Censorate to assist."
The heads of the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate of the Dali Temple came out and bowed in response.
The emperor then stood up, flicked his sleeves and left.
Gu Zhong hurriedly shouted "Dismiss the court" and hurried to chase the emperor.
As soon as the grand court meeting ended, all kinds of news spread out of the capital in all directions.
The salt administration reform is a big deal, and the shock in Jiangnan is no small matter either. Neither of them is small.
Even Lord Tang and Mr. Zhuang hurriedly wrote letters to Bai Shan and Zhou Man, telling them the news from the capital and reminding them to be careful.
As Lord Tang was writing, he realized that he and Yang Heshu seemed to be the most dangerous now, especially Yang Heshu.
Lord Tang hurriedly finished the letter, handed it to a servant to deliver, and then hurried to the Yang family.
Lord Yang had just delivered the letter when he heard the doorman say Tang He had arrived. He gritted his teeth and said, "Please invite him in."
Although he and his son had different political views, he was old and the Yang family would eventually be handed over to Yang Heshu. Moreover, looking at the current situation, his choice was undoubtedly correct.
So he had to try his best to protect his son first.
Lord Yang let Tang He in, and the two of them locked themselves in the study and discussed for a long time. Finally, when Tang He left, he took Lord Yang's attendant with him.
At this time, Bai Shan, who still knew nothing, was sitting in the hall of the county government office, looking at the people kneeling below. He slammed the gavel and asked, "Do you still want me to try this case sentence by sentence?"
The two kneeling men shuddered and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Sir, we know we were wrong. Please forgive us. We will never do it again."
Bai Shan swung the gavel around and asked, "Tell me in detail what you have done wrong."
The two men lowered their heads for a long time without saying anything. They glanced at each other secretly, and finally the one kneeling on the left said, "We shouldn't have revealed the secrets of the county government while drunk."
"Yes, but we didn't mean to do that," the one on the right said. "We were forced to drink by those businessmen, and we got drunk, so we blurted out the words and left."
Bai Shan raised his eyelids and looked at them. "Does this county look so easy to fool? How did you know that the county's finances are empty?"
"We heard it from you and Fang Xiancheng occasionally."
Bai Shan turned his head and looked at Daji who was standing not far away.
Daji looked at their faces carefully and shook his head, saying, "Unless their ears are better than mine, they can't have heard it."
Although Bai Shan was worried about money, he rarely mentioned it to his subordinates. After all, he had to appease people, right?
County Magistrate Fang was also his subordinate.
Therefore, Bai Shan seldom mentioned this matter to him in person. Daji was always there. Because it was a confidential matter, they would be very careful every time. Even if they didn't find a hidden place on purpose, at least they would not mention it casually so that anyone could hear it.
Bai Shan stared at them for a long while. Although they were trembling with fear and sweat on their faces, they insisted that they had heard it by chance and had not intentionally snooped in.
Bai Shan summoned a yamen runner and said, "Tell County Lieutenant Dong to investigate who they have come into contact with in the past three months, especially those from outside the area. Oh, and also check if there's any extra money or property in their homes recently."
(End of this chapter)
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