Han Yu looked at Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi helplessly. The two old foxes were both slippery and didn't give him any chance at all. It seemed that he had to take it slow.
The cabinet meeting ended here, and the four people continued to drink tea, eat snacks, and chat and laugh.
In the Western Garden.
Zhu Youxiao looked at Duke Dingguo Xu Xi kneeling in front of him with a helpless expression on his face. He then waved his hand and said, "Get up. How can a dignified Duke kneel here?"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xu Xi stood up and said respectfully
"Alright, tell me what's going on." Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi and said slowly, "You, the Duke of Dingguo, came to the palace to apologize. You must have an explanation. No one has impeached you recently, so why are you apologizing?"
"Your Majesty, I am reflecting on myself. Zengzi said, 'I reflect on myself three times a day: Am I loyal when planning for others? Am I trustworthy when interacting with friends? Do I practice what I preach?' Although I dare not compare myself to a sage, I can still reflect on myself."
"Then tell me what you have figured out through self-reflection?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi and said slowly.
"I feel ashamed of the court and Your Majesty!" Xu Xi said with a look of shame. "It seems that half of my life has already passed, and I find that I have done nothing for the country and have no loyalty to the people. I am truly ashamed!"
"My family's lack of discipline and the mess they make make me feel like I'm useless. Every time I think of this, I feel incredibly ashamed. A few days ago, I was looking through the household accounts and discovered some account books, which made me feel even more ashamed."
"What account book is it?" Zhu Youxiao said calmly.
"It's salt."
Xu Xi said directly: "I went down to ask and found out that some of these salt permits were rewards from the palace in previous years, and some were collected from my family. Since these salt permits in my family cannot be used to sell salt, I sold them to salt merchants."
"Salt merchants then used these to collect salt and sell it. After several rounds of changes, the price of salt permits remained high. This is why salt is expensive for the people and the salt tax is low for the court."
"Upon reflection, I feel truly ashamed. I am willing to return the profits I made from the original salt vouchers. Your Majesty, please punish me!"
Having said that, Xu Xi knelt down again, his tone was firm, his face was ashamed, and even his eyes were red and tears were streaming down.
Zhu Youxiao looked at this scene and felt a little overwhelmed.
Wouldn’t it be better if these ministers were more honest?
Why are they all acting like drama queens?
This salt permit issue was clearly a case of usurping power, and it was nothing new in the Ming Dynasty. The Duke of Dingguo being ashamed of this was simply a joke.
Besides, when it comes to occupying the nest, the main players are not the nobles, but the relatives of the nobles.
It first started during the Hongzhi period, when the imperial court changed the system of paying grain to the central government to paying silver, and those nobles and relatives began to obtain salt permits from outside the palace.
Emperor Hongzhi gave Empress Zhang's family 1.5 million shi of salt permits, and this practice has continued ever since. The nobles and relatives used their connections to obtain salt permits, as did the princes who were granted fiefs in various places. Not to mention others, the old Prince Fu's family had quite a few.
Originally, salt merchants had to use money to buy salt permits from the imperial court, but now they can’t buy them even if they have money, and can only buy them from nobles and relatives of the emperor.
At the same time, the imperial court also over-issued salt permits. The Ming Dynasty's annual salt production was limited, but the number of salt permits circulating in the market was countless. Many salt fields had long queues to receive salt, and even those waiting in line couldn't get any. This made the Yangzhou Transportation Office a lucrative government office.
If you want to get salt, you have to go through the back door, and the price of salt is very high. At the same time, it also breeds private salt and leads to greater corruption.
This is a huge pitfall, and it's incredibly difficult to resolve. By comparison, paying taxes on farmland is child's play. Once the salt is touched, it's a mess from top to bottom.
Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi. He didn't understand why this matter was brought up.
"Alright, I understand this matter." Zhu Youxiao looked at Xu Xi and said slowly, "Let me think about what to do about this matter. My dear, please step aside first."
After hearing this, Xu Xi's heart trembled. This was different from what he had imagined!
Logically speaking, after I told His Majesty all these things, shouldn't His Majesty be very happy and accept it?
Didn't you say Your Majesty is short of money? This is full of money.
But since His Majesty had said so, Xu Xi did not dare to delay and quickly said, "Then I will take my leave."
After Xu Xi left, Zhu Youxiao's face darkened and he turned to look at Chen Hong.
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