"The price of salt will be lower only when more people sell salt!" Xie Sanbin, the Minister of Finance of the Ming Dynasty, repeated softly.
Although Xie Sanbin did not understand the theory of the relationship between supply, demand and price, he knew that in order to lower the price of salt, the number of salt merchants must be increased.
But the business of selling salt requires a lot of capital.
Ordinary merchants do not have money to buy salt permits. Without salt permits, they cannot sell salt, let alone become salt merchants.
As a result, the idea of increasing the number of salt merchants became a bubble.
What should I do?
Got it!
An idea suddenly popped into Xie Sanbin's mind.
Since it is impossible to increase the number of salt merchants, then the geographical restrictions on their salt sales should be lifted.
Without geographical restrictions, these salt merchants would open branches in various places to sell salt.
The semicolon of salt merchant is also salt merchant.
With more salt merchants, there will be more salt on the market, and the price of salt will naturally decrease.
etc!
Xie Sanbin fell into deep thought again.
He had to consider whether doing so would harm the interests of the Donglin Party and the gentry, and he also had to find a way to report to Chongzhen.
While group interests are important, individual interests cannot be ignored.
After careful consideration, Xie Sanbin felt that there would be no problem in removing the geographical restrictions on salt merchants selling salt.
After the restrictions are lifted, the price of salt will inevitably drop, causing damage to the interests of salt merchants.
but...
The actual number of salt merchants did not increase.
For the gentry group, this piece of meat is still in their pot and has not been divided up by others.
Barely acceptable.
There are two benefits for Chongzhen and the court.
First, the number of salt merchants increased. Although salt tax could not be levied on them, commercial taxes such as transit tax and door tax could be levied to increase the court's revenue.
Secondly, the price of salt dropped, the people benefited, and Chongzhen could gain a good reputation.
Done!
Xie Sanbin made up his mind.
What Xie Sanbin didn't know was that his decision would deal a fatal blow to the salt merchants and the gentry class behind them.
A few years later, countless salt merchants went bankrupt.
The gentry behind them were also implicated and never recovered.
At this time.
The doctor who treated Xie Sanbin bowed slightly and said, "Master Xie is fine. He is just tired due to overwork. He will recover after a few days of rest."
"Thank you, doctor," Xie Sanbin breathed a sigh of relief, "Come here, give the doctor some travel expenses."
"Yes," the butler next to him handed over a cloth bag containing several Ming Dynasty round treasures.
"Thank you for your reward, sir. I'll take my leave now!" The doctor stood up and said goodbye.
After leaving Xie's house, he stopped in a remote and deserted place.
Soon, a Jinyiwei disguised as a passerby passed by.
When the two met, Jinyiwei suddenly asked, "How is Xie Sanbin's condition?"
"You're ill from overwork. You'll be back to normal after a few days of rest," the doctor replied.
"What did you guys talk about?"
The doctor narrated everything that happened from the time he entered the door to the time he left in the most concise language.
"Well," the Jinyiwei walked away.
This news was quickly delivered to the Palace of Heavenly Purity by Li Ruolian.
This matter was not planned by Chongzhen.
The capital was filled with Jinyiwei's spies, and this doctor happened to be one of them.
Looking at Li Ruolian's burly body, Chongzhen began to think about another thing.
"Commander Li."
"I am here."
"There are quite a few Jinyiwei among the Ping Liao army, right?"
"Your Majesty, there are some Jinyiwei or informants in various units of the Pingliao Army, including the Guanning Army." Li Ruolian replied.
"Yeah." Chongzhen nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
Li Ruo Lian thought for a moment: "What does your majesty want them to do?"
"There is a war in Liaodong. I want to send some smart and capable people to the front line to scout the enemy situation and provide assistance to the army. But I don't want to withdraw personnel from the army that is pacifying Liaodong. Do you understand what I mean?" Chongzhen said, raising his eyelids.
"I understand." Li Ruolian answered skillfully.
As the commander of the Jinyiwei, he knew the details of the Jinyiwei very well.
The main task of the Jinyiwei and informants in the Pingliao Army was to monitor the internal situation and prevent large-scale rebellion or surrender to the enemy.
These people's personal abilities are very average, let alone being smart and capable.
The only feature is that it is very ordinary.
They were so ordinary that no one would believe they were the Imperial Guards.
If they were sent out to scout the enemy, it would be questionable whether they could survive.
Chongzhen certainly would not send these people to investigate the enemy.
"Li Ruolian," Chongzhen began to talk about his plan, "after we capture Ningyuan, the gate to Liaodong will be wide open! By then, you can select some good fighters from the capital, either pretending to be prisoners of war or refugees to sneak into Liaodong. It would be best if they can play a role, but if not, just treat it as training."
"Your Majesty, I have an idea, but I wonder if it is feasible." Li Ruolian asked cautiously.
"Tell me about it."
"Based on my understanding of the Jiannu, having the Jinyiwei disguised as prisoners of war or refugees will not only fail to gain the Jiannu's trust, but will also be used as a vanguard to counterattack their own people. Regardless of victory or defeat, it will be a loss for the court."
"What I mean is to arrange for some Jinyiwei who are proficient in Korean to take a ship to Korea, disembark there and pretend to be Koreans to enter Liaodong. In this way, the vigilance of the Jiannu will be greatly reduced."
"The only drawback is that it's easy for the North Koreans to find out,"
"North Korea..." Chongzhen smiled confidently.
The Korean monarch at that time was named Lee, so Korea was also called Lee Joseon.
In the 25th year of Hongwu, Lee Seong-gye overthrew the Goryeo Dynasty and proclaimed himself king.
Afterwards, Lee Seong-gye immediately paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and asked Zhu Yuanzhang to grant him a country name.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought that among the names of Dongyi, only Korea was appropriate...so he named the country Korea.
In the 26th year of Hongwu, Lee Seong-gye was ordered to name the country Joseon.
This is just a simplified version of the country's name. The official name of the country is Ming Dynasty.
In many formal occasions, the Joseon Dynasty would refer to itself as this.
In history, the Joseon Dynasty's admiration for the Ming Dynasty reached its peak after the war against Japanese aggressors and aid to Korea. Even though it was beaten several times by the Qing Dynasty and forced to submit, it still had its heart set on the Ming Dynasty.
Even after Chongzhen committed suicide and the Central Plains fell, Korea was still discussing overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty.
in addition.
North Korean high-ranking officials would privately offer sacrifices to the Ming emperor every year, and even used the Chongzhen era name in some internal documents. This was continued for more than 200 years before it was gradually stopped.
Let me put it this way.
Although North Korea surrendered to the Jiannu, the people here are more loyal and honest than those of the Ming Dynasty.
As long as the Ming navy landed in Korea, the Korean military and civilians would not only not resist, but would also actively provide all kinds of supplies, intelligence, manpower and even everything.
But Chongzhen did not do so.
The timing is not yet ripe. Only when the timing is ripe can we deal a fatal blow to the Jiannu.
However, the method of infiltrating Liaodong from Korea was feasible, so he said to Li Ruo Lian: "Commander Li can give it a try. If it succeeds, that's the best. If it doesn't, that's fine."
"I'll arrange it right away." Li Ruolian replied excitedly.
"Wait, there's one more thing."
"Your Majesty, please speak."
"Find a way to tell the people of the capital that Minister of Revenue Xie Sanbin is a favorite of mine." Chongzhen looked mysterious as he spoke.
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