Farmer’s Little Girl

  Chapter 3151 Salt administration reform

The establishment and expansion of the imperial medical office and the local medical office, Zhou Man was a person who participated in every step. Looking back, no one was optimistic about the imperial medical office and the local medical office at the beginning. No one thought they could do the imperial medical office for a long time. Don't really open up a local medical department.

  In the beginning, it was just that the emperor was willing to pay for it out of his own pocket. The Imperial Medical Office also made sense, and the ministers reluctantly agreed to open it.

  So Zhou Mantai knows how important the word "agree" is.

  She said: "We should use Xiaobo, let them agree before talking."

  Bai Shan’s eyes fell on Mr. Zhuang’s letter, frowning and said: “You mean Master Wei’s salt administration has to take a step back?”

   Zhou Man shook his head, “I don’t know, how can I assert the affairs of adults, but I know that the more you want to change, the more you need to pay, otherwise you won’t be able to do it.”

  Bai Shan just got upset and left the matter aside. He is now a small county magistrate, far away in Qingzhou, and the reform of the salt administration in the capital is still far away from him. As a young man, he just needs to act on his orders.

  But this little guy is being constantly mentioned by the big guys in the court at this time.

  Old man Tang agreed with the reform of the salt administration, but he did not completely agree with Wei Zhi's reform plan. There were many old men who thought like him.

The emperor really didn’t want to hear them arguing at the Great Court, so he just found a good day to call everyone into the palace to play chess and drink tea, and have a potluck by the way. When drinking tea, everyone talked and took this out. Talk about it carefully.

  Wei Zhi believes that salt can be handed over to merchants for management. He said: “If business travelers travel to and from various places today, the cost of transporting them to and from them is much lower than that of transporting salt alone. Similarly, the price of salt can also drop even more.”

Mr. Tang frowned and said, "Businessmen are chasing profits, and low prices are just a temporary illusion. In the future, they will master the salt road, but I am afraid that the disaster will not be much worse than the current Jiangnan salt policy."

   Liu Shangshu shook his head and said, "Otherwise, as long as we master the salt field, they will not be able to get out of the sky."

  Lord Tang still shook his head with a serious face, "No, the profit is too large, and when the time comes, the government and business will collude, I am afraid that the people will have nowhere to sue."

  Li Shangshu frowned, "Your Majesty Shengming, there is Yushitai, how can this kind of thing spread?"

  Lord Tang glanced at him and didn't say anything. Some words were hard to say in front of the emperor. Seeing Li Shangshu insisted, he stalked his neck and said: "You can see from the history books."

Li Shangshu was about to pull him to ask what he meant. The emperor who had been silent all the time said hurriedly: "Okay, okay, I know that emperors are not necessarily sages, and treacherous officials will not appear in the Jin Dynasty. Tang Qing's concerns are not unreasonable,"

  The emperor stopped the two who were about to quarrel, and after a pause, he said to Old Tang, "But we can't stop eating because of choking."

Wei Zhi nodded and said to everyone: "The minister and Liu Shangshu have settled an account. If the salt is distributed to merchants, and they will sell the official salt, the cost of each bucket of salt can be reduced by at least five yuan, plus Bai Shan's exposure. The salt method is a combination of the two, and the salt price can be reduced to fifty cents per bucket."

  The ministers who participated in the meeting frowned, and they finally knew why the officials and aristocratic families of the Jiangnan faction had clashed with Prince Wei Zhi.

  Currently, the official salt in the world basically ranges from one hundred to one hundred and ten. This reform is equivalent to taking away more than half of the official salt's profits.

  The official salt is restructured, and the price is reduced to fifty cents per bucket. How much can the salt farms and salt sellers make?

  Zhao Shangshu reacted afterwards and asked, "What about the salt tax?"

  Wei knew: "The salt tax is collected from the salt farm."

  As it is now, the official salt will have to pay taxes when it enters the salt field. They only need to close the salt field.

  Zhao Shangshu said: "The price is so low and the profit is less, how much salt tax can we still receive?"

The emperor said: "I don't receive much salt tax now."

  He said: "Salt is related to people's livelihood. Since I became the throne, I have wanted to punish lightly, so I don't care about whether or not the salt tax is levied."

  The ministers were silent.

  The emperor glanced at them and said, “But if I don’t levy taxes, the price of salt must be stabilized. Apart from the cost, official salt shouldn’t make money. Otherwise, the money made will fatten whose medicine bag?”

  Just like now, the price of salt is so high, but he receives salt tax. While the common people want to eat high-priced salt, he, the emperor, is financially empty, and he is not happy thinking about it.

  So the emperor had two conditions, “If taxes are to be collected, the taxes must enter the national treasury; I can accept them without taxes, and the tax portion of the salt price must be cut off so that the people can benefit from it.”

   Wei Zhi said directly: "Tax!"

  He said: "Fix the tax. In the future, unless there is war, the salt tax cannot rise, even if it does, there will be scope for the rise."

  The emperor's brows jumped and jumped, he felt that Wei Zhi's move was to prevent him from appearing fainted and taxed.

  The emperor endured forbearance and did not speak.

Wei Zhi continued: “That’s why the minister proposed that the official salt market be opened and sold by merchants. The court can limit the range of salt prices and set up official warehouses in borders and salt-deficient areas. In addition to the price of salt, in some special places, you can also set a salt farm monopoly..."

  Wei Zhi paused and said, "Isn't Beihai County, Qingzhou now a salt farm monopoly? If it is handed over to a merchant, then they will come to buy it..."

  Several adults discussed in a low voice. Kong Jijiu, who had been silent, pulled his beard and asked, “Can the cost of salt production be lowered?”

  Master Wei immediately said: "I think it's okay. This is also one of the reasons why I propose to sell. It does not involve buying and selling. The salt farm can have more experience to research and reduce the cost of salt production."

  Kong Jijiu flipped through Master Wei’s account and found that the above data was still obtained by the prince from Qingzhou last year. It has been a year. Based on his understanding of the students of Bai Shan, it is impossible to stay the same.

   Then he closed Zhezi and said, “You can go to the letter and ask Bai Shan about the cost of making salt now.”

  He said: "Fifty words and one bucket, to be honest, the price of salt is still high."

  Everyone:...

  Even the emperor looked at Kong Jijiu.

Kong Jijiu faintly said: "Your Majesty, now only Qingzhou can replace the saltworks in the south of the Yangtze River. If the salt drying method is widely spread, you can test this salt production method in places where there are bitterns. How much salt?"

  The emperor stared slightly.

Kong Jijiu said: "Salt is related to people's livelihood, but like other commodities, it is more cheap and cheap, but it is different from other commodities, especially where the sea is inexhaustible. Yes, so..."

  Kong Jijiu raised his eyes, and Shuo Shuo looked at the emperor with enlightenment, "Your Majesty, since we want to stabilize the salt price, we need the people to get the greatest benefits."

  The emperor touched his chin, and turned his head excitedly to look at Wei Zhi.

  Wei Zhi hesitated for a while and then nodded: "The minister has no opinion, but your majesty, the salt tax..."

  He looked at Liu Shangshu.

  Liu Shangshu was silent, and went to see the emperor for a while.

  (End of this chapter)