"The conductor said that the foreign trade department would limit the price of sea salt to us from now on, that is, I just started to say that two and ten articles were sold to us, and the price department set the price difference by ourselves and gave it to everyone … but no matter what price we set, it must be three months before the official salt in Yangzhou has no market at all …"
"Of course, in the process of implementing this, how much should everyone pay, or how much should it be distributed to everyone in the form of buying salt and getting a reward from the silver department …"
"Every one of you is in charge of one less county … we calculate one hundred thousand Jin of sea salt a month according to a county, even if you earn a penny per Jin of sea salt, it is also a full one hundred and twenty silver, which is more than five times your reimbursement … everyone said that this is a good thing for you …"
There is no doubt that everyone is moved by the main words.
If the master hadn’t ordered these people to leave Yangzhou City for the first time and return to their county town to find salt merchants and vendors who sell smuggled salt for themselves …
Chapter seven hundred and fifty-six Salt and iron Si Nai
At any time, profit is something that can make people crazy.
The huge interests tempt several major salt merchants in Yangzhou City, but no matter what the imperial statutes, they not only agree to eat Wei, but also cover Wei with all sea salt transportation ways …
So in less than a month, Yangzhou alone ate one million Jin of sea salt smuggled by Wei.
With the price getting cheaper and cheaper, smuggled sea salt enters the market, and neither ordinary people nor officials, gentry and landlords patronize the expensive official salt.
As a result, the consumption of official salt in Yangzhou was only one million Jin a month ago, but it dropped to less than 100,000 Jin in a blink of an eye. More importantly, with the passage of time, more and more people began to accept the low-priced smuggled official salt, and the market share was further reduced.
Faced with this situation, the first response is that all localities specialize in cracking down on smuggling of salt and iron.
However, a large number of salt merchants have joined the smuggling situation. The background and support of salt merchants have not played any role except for the success.
Soon this situation was reported to the court by the Salt and Iron Division yamen around the country.
A few middle-aged people in the yamen of Nanjing Salt and Iron Company are looking at their hands with a dignified face. After finishing one article after another, they will quickly send the summarized information to the commander of the Salt and Iron Company who is running in the court.
One of the duties of the Salt and Iron Company a year ago was to crack down on smuggling, which was not paid much attention by the court.
However, after the reform of the whole salt industry from the imperial court to Nanjing, the Salt and Iron Division became a very hot department in the imperial court.
Because all the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River need sea salt, it will reach the major salt merchants through the salt and iron company.
It is precisely because all sea salt is controlled by Salt and Iron Company that Salt and Iron Company directly collects salt tax through selling price …
Although the imperial court controlled less than two thirds of the country, the salt and iron company received more than twice the original salt tax every month.
In the face of such a huge salt tax revenue, few people injected salt and iron companies directly into the court’s field of vision, and the command of the three salt and iron companies also became an important official of the court and was deeply trusted by Emperor Chongzhen.
However, an accident happened when he commanded a high-spirited face to prepare the Salt and Iron Company to do a good job and live up to the letter of Emperor Chongzhen …
Increasing every month, the consumption of official salt not only stops increasing, but also shows signs of decline.
At first, the commander didn’t rest assured about it.
The command of Salt and Iron Company made him clear that no matter how good and cheap the official salt is, the market will be saturated. Once the official salt market reaches saturation, the monthly consumption of official salt will gradually decrease to a certain extent.
But what the conductor didn’t expect was that this decrease was not a slow decrease, but a linear decrease …
In just one month, the monthly consumption of 70 million Jin of sea salt in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River has become less than 20 million Jin today.
Because the salt and iron company didn’t expect this kind of thing, the tiger and leopard army with sea salt still kept sending sea salt to the salt and iron company before consumption.
At this moment, a mountain of sea salt has piled up in the warehouse of Salt and Iron Company outside Nanjing …
The failure to sell official salt means that the salt and iron company has no income, which means that the salt tax revenue of the court will be greatly reduced this month.
You can be sure that once the news reaches the court and reaches Chongzhen’s ear, your own salt and iron company will not only lose your job, but even your life may be difficult to save.
The imperial court officials made it very clear that the importance of salt tax in all taxes of the imperial court was lost, and 30% of the tax revenue of the imperial court should be cut off if it was too much.
The emperor has just decreed that all departments of the imperial court must do everything possible to increase taxes.
It’s so urgent that the head not only didn’t respond to the imperial edict, but also did the opposite. Isn’t it that he sent his head to Emperor Chongzhen to make an example for him?
Thought of here, although Nanjing has passed the hot summer, the conductor still keeps sweating on his forehead.
At this moment, the conductor made an idea in his heart that the emperor knew it was perfect beforehand and solved it.
So surly, he shouted to the front directly, "Who can tell the officer what’s going on here … Does the court send you salaries every month to feed pigs?"
In a word, it’s even worse to be crushed to death by a senior official. In this age of strict hierarchy.
The command we face makes us angry. All we can do is to hold our red faces and bear it silently.
In the face of this situation, the same face of humbled command made it possible to call the roll with a full face of anger and asked, "Wang Daren, you are inspecting illegal salt … you said that the official salt consumption will be reduced so much this month … The official doesn’t believe that thousands of people in Jiangnan don’t need to eat salt …"
Although the named officials hate to come out
But the command made a pair of clever eyes have to crustily skin of head to answer "adult officer guilty … it’s all because of the unfavorable inspection of illegal salt that a large number of illegal salt poured into Jiangnan, which led to the current situation. Please calm down …"
"Smuggling salt proved to be smuggling salt … Wang Daren, don’t tell the official that tens of thousands of people in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River can’t control smuggling salt …" I was not satisfied with the department’s explanation of the command and continued to ask in a new tone …
Although answering is likely to make you lose your official position more than going to jail, the commander made the frustrated official have to continue to answer, "There are a lot of official positions in the hands of adult officials, but the best they can do is to scare people and touch real salt smugglers …"