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Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Imperial Pronoun Text 776 [Jiangsu Salt Administration]
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- When Prince Zhenjuan, Sleepy Shoal 776, was studying the East Palace course, Xu Ying also arrived in Yangzhou, the capital of Jiangsu.
The entire Jiangsu officialdom is wary of the new chief envoy. No way, Xu Ying's previous identity was too sensitive, and the emperor actually sent the "Head of Jinyiwei" to govern Jiangsu?
However, after half a month in Yangzhou, Xu Ying didn't seem to plan to change anything.
He just summoned subordinate officials normally, listened to reports from various prefectures and counties, and dealt with official documents step by step.
With this approach, some people are more vigilant, while others are completely relaxed.
Wang Mingran, who had been boating on the West Lake, heard that Xu Ying had become the Zuo Buzheng of Jiangsu Province, and was so frightened that he took a fast boat overnight to Yangzhou to pay a visit.
After handing out invitations for several days in a row, Wang Mingran was finally summoned.
"Caomin pays homage to the feudal lord!"
As a top salt merchant, Wang Mingran stepped forward to salute politely, standing in front of Xu Ying like a primary school student.
Xu Ying's attitude was very kind, even with a smile on his face, he greeted warmly: "Brother Mingran, please sit down quickly. You and I have known each other for many years, why do you need to be so alien?"
"Thank you, sir." Wang Mingran sat down nervously.
Xu Ying said: "It's been nearly ten years since we parted last time. Brother Mingran hasn't aged, but he's still as energetic, with no gray hair on his temples."
Wang Mingran apologized and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is concerned about labor, but in fact it is all dyed, and the temples have already turned gray."
Hair dyeing technology has long existed in ancient times. According to the "Hanshu", Wang Mang dyed his hair and beard black to show that he was not aging in order to calm his mind.
?There are also unofficial historical records that Kou Zhun in the Song Dynasty dyed all his beards white to look mature and prudent, and used it to win the trust of the emperor. Su Shi also wrote a poem to ridicule Wang Tinglao, saying that this guy dyed his hair to look tender and shamelessly curry favor with the powerful minister Lu Huiqing.
In the Ming Dynasty, hair dyeing became more popular, and small advertisements were even posted in the officials' yamen.
Xu Ying asked people to watch tea and didn't talk about business at all. She followed the topic of dyeing her hair and said, "I came to Yangzhou to take up my post this time, but I also found an interesting thing. There is a noble young man in the city who dyed his temples purple, and brought his entourage Walking through the market, everyone who comes and goes looks sideways.¡±
"This is a monster!" Wang Mingran said.
Purple hair was not allowed to be dyed casually in the Ming Dynasty, but it was not prohibited in the Datong New Dynasty.
Xu Ying did not criticize this, but said: "The blue hair and purple temples are novel and interesting, and they look more graceful and noble."
The two had been chatting for half an hour, Xu Ying only talked about trivial matters, and Wang Mingran became more and more restless. He once helped Xu Ying develop a secret agent, and he knew that Xu Ying seemed harmless to humans and animals, but when she actually did it, her relatives did not recognize her.
However, Wang Mingran couldn't guess what Xu Ying was thinking.
He wanted to be completely subdued and tell all kinds of dirty things, but he was afraid that it would be self-defeating. What if Xu Ying didn't know how to investigate the salt affairs?
Finally, Xu Ying picked up a teacup to see off the guests: "Brother Mingran, it's getting late. I still have official business, let's toast another day and have a chat, and we must be drunk by then."
Wang Mingran stood up and bowed to say goodbye, but when he reached the door, he couldn't step over the threshold. His right foot was raised and lowered several times, as if he had some foot disease.
Xu Ying didn't speak, just sat there quietly holding a teacup.
Suddenly, Wang Mingran gritted his teeth and turned around, knelt down and said, "Help, Lord Fansi!"
Only then did Xu Ying put down her teacup: "Let's talk."
Wang Mingran said: "The villain will take the initiative to pay back the salt tax that the Wang family evaded all these years No, double the pay!"
"That's it?" Xu Ying remained expressionless.
Wang Mingran finally confirmed in his heart that Xu Ying was sent by the emperor to clean up Jiangsu. He didn't dare to hide any more, and said: "Officials in the Jiangsu Salt Affairs Department more or less accept bribes. The higher the rank, the less they dare to openly accept money. The salt merchant has a calligraphy and painting shop in Yangzhou. They secretly bought official calligraphy at high prices, and the most expensive one was sold for 3,000 taels."
Xu Ying still had a wooden face: "Continue."
Wang Mingran said: "Hui Huizhou merchants and Jiangxi merchants joined forces with the government to annex all the businesses of Western merchants in Jiangsu."
Commercial mergers are normal, and it is obviously messy for the government to intervene.
Xu Ying asked: "How did you merge?"
Wang Mingran replied: "Although Western merchants are declining day by day, there are also many Western merchants who have obtained franchise licenses for salt merchants. Some Western merchants have opened salt farms in Jianghuai; some Western merchants have been allowed to transport salt to other provinces. The investigation of the salt affairs, only the Western merchants are strictly investigated, and those Western merchants dare not break the law. But if they do not violate the law, they will also violate the law. According to the law of the court, the first few times were only warnings and fines, and then they canThe righteousness continued, and the floods and droughts in the Huaihe River and the Huaihe River were frequent. Whenever something happened, the salt merchants were asked to donate money.
It is impossible for Jianghuai salt merchants to be foolish enough to make cash machines. Since they have given money, they will naturally have to get it back from other places.
As a result, the court's salt tax plummeted, and the private salt price skyrocketed.
In the second year of Daoguang, the imperial court felt that it was time to clean up the salt administration, so as to block the loopholes for salt merchants to make money. For a while, Jianghuai salt merchants were unable to make ends meet, and 80 to 90% of them went bankrupt in more than ten years.
This is the ancient Chinese society. Facing the court, businessmen had to stretch their necks to be slaughtered.
Xu Ying received the confession written by Wang Mingran, and for the next month, she continued to deal with official duties as usual, without any intention of doing anything at all.
However, the salt merchants moved and went to the government to surrender and make up the full amount of the salt tax they evaded. At the same time, they lowered the salt price collectively, earning performance frantically, for fear that they would become the chicken that was killed.
However, Xu Ying secretly wrote a letter to the emperor, roughly as follows:
"According to the secret investigations by the National Security Council and the Inspectorate, there are not a few farmlands that have been encroached on the Yangtze River and Huaihe coastal areas. Even in some villages a few miles away from the sea, because they are next to the river, there are merchants who set up saltworks and use seawater to cook salt. There are also many illegal small salt farms, most of which are related to local officials."
"The occupied farmland has been salinized. It is very difficult to restore it to farmland, and the operation is not worth the loss. These farmlands can only maintain the status quo. However, the salt merchants must pay a large amount of compensation for the farmers whose land is occupied. For the salt merchants in the farmland, half of the businesses canceled their franchise licenses and recruited merchants from other provinces to take over. The remaining half of the businesses retained their licenses, but all the license holders were exiled, and the licenses were replaced by their family members to continue to hold them. Only in this way can the salt business be guaranteed No mess."
"Jiangsu's Household Department, Finance Department and Salt Affairs Department, the chief officials suggested to deal with them more severely. Especially the Salt Affairs Department, the situation of disguised bribery is extremely serious, and a group of them must be killed to establish the prestige of the court."
Zhao Han received Xu Ying's secret report, and when he saw the list of officials who suggested execution, he sighed in pain for a moment.
All are young doers with outstanding political achievements!
It is estimated that the court is about to break out, and Li Rixuan will probably not be able to bear it, and take the opportunity to impeach the faction headed by Yu Shiqin.
As for the clean-up of Jiangsu officialdom, there will be no surprises. The authority of the founding emperor is right there, as long as Xu Ying, who bears the emperor's order, dares to act, the local officials don't even have room to jump around.
Even relying on Xu Ying alone, the magistrate had to submit without hesitation. Didn't Wang Mingran, a big salt merchant, come to confess on his own initiative?
It is impossible for imperial envoys to fight magistrates, at least in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. If you really dare to act like that, you are forcing the emperor to confiscate the house, turning one person's sin into a disaster for the whole family.
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