New Shun 1730

After all these things were arranged properly, after the New Year, when good news continued to come from Lianghuai in March, a major event happened in the court of Dashun.

The reign was changed.

Changing the reign while the emperor was alive was the first time since the Ming Taizu, and one reign for one emperor had become an unspoken rule.

But Li Gan still asked for a change of reign, and changed the reign to Weixin.

Changing the reign was actually quite normal before the Ming Dynasty. But after the Ming Dynasty, changing the reign had some meaning of "force chaos and strange gods".

Many of them were just coincidences, but when there were too many coincidences, it felt a bit like prophecy and fate.

For example, the reign of Emperor Yongle, I don't know if it was self-deprecating, self-mocking or something.

Yongle was the reign of Fang La when he proclaimed himself emperor, a standard anti-thief reign that couldn't be more standard.

For example, Tianshun.

That was the reign of Asujiba of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, and then there was the Battle of the Two Capitals. Although the Battle of the Gate was not as large as the Battle of the Two Capitals, it was really not much different in terms of the inside.

For example, Zhengde.

That was the reign title of Li Qianshun of Western Xia.

Coupled with the two bold moves of Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty, there were many fatalisms.

For example, when he succeeded to the throne, he chose a reign title, a total of four, the first one was Yongchang, and then Chongzhen.

For example, when building Wanping City, the west gate was called Yongchang Gate and the east gate was called Shunzhi Gate.

Under these bold moves of the previous dynasty, although people said that they would not talk about the gods, they always felt that the reign title should not be messed with if it could be avoided.

But since it has been changed, it is inevitable that people will think more about it.

It looks more like a "political declaration" of the emperor.

The two words "only new" are not difficult to explain.

The words come from "Da Ya·Wen Wang": Although Zhou is an old country, its destiny is only new.

The real intention of the emperor was because in the edict of changing the reign title of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, the sentence "Ten thousand countries come to the court, the long-term strategy is already grand, and the destiny of only new is just beginning" was used.

According to the old rules, using the conjunctions that appeared in the edicts of the dynasties to change the era name was considered a kind of admiration and veneration for that dynasty.

There are only a few ways to change the era name.

Either the blue dragon appears, the phoenix comes, and various auspicious signs.

Or borrow the era name of the previous dynasty or ancestors to show respect and inheritance.

Or pick words from ancient books.

Or it is to recapture the north and block the Yellow River and other achievements in governing the country.

Another is Wu Zetian, who wanted to change her WeChat signature or QQ name every three days.

The change of the era name by Dashun this time not only means to show the emperor's determination to reform, but also has a sense of drawing a clear line with the previous dynasty and expressing that he is the successor of Li Tang.

Since the previous dynasty had one era and one generation, this dynasty will not.

Anyway, the six ministries have been changed to six governments, the military preparation department has been changed to the defense envoy, and the governor has been changed to the military governor, so this formality is not a big deal. Formalism should be done in full.

The emperor originally thought that his greatest achievement so far was to recover the Western Regions and conquer the new Western Regions of Nanyang.

No matter how you look at it, vertically or horizontally, one of the two "Western Regions" is always real, and this is the only thing he is not guilty of.

In theory, if you want to pursue, you should pursue Emperor Xiaoxuan, who first established the Western Regions Protectorate, but firstly, there is a powerful minister Huo Guang, and secondly, his surname is Liu.

I thought about pursuing Li Zhi, but there was a mess of "hens crowing at dawn" later, which was unlucky; pursuing the Kaiyuan prosperous era, the latter was even more disgusting and unlucky.

When it came to Emperor Taizong of Tang, it was too embarrassing to pursue and surpass him, so I could only admire him, so I picked this word from the edict of changing the era.

Originally, the government of rituals gave several alternatives at the beginning, such as one from "Yaodian", the original sentence was "the nine clans are harmonious, and the people are fair; the people are bright, and the nations are harmonious."

But it was rejected by the emperor.

I don’t know if it was really a will of heaven, or if it was because it was so hard to change the reign, it had to live up to the name. Soon after the change, it really had a bit of the meaning of “Weixin”.

The beginning of the third lunar month.

The first year of the Dashun reign.

The fifth day of the fourth lunar month.

The Academy of Sciences presented auspicious signs to the court. The winter wheat, which was made purely of money, saltpeter, and guano, had an output of 900 kilograms per mu. The emperor personally went to the experimental field of the Academy of Sciences to hold a grand ceremony of opening the sickle.

After the auspicious signs were presented, a reform that was truly worthy of the reign title of “Weixin” was officially launched in southern Sichuan, northern Jiangsu, Huguang and other places.

…………

The first shot of the reform was fired in southern Sichuan.

It would take about half a month for the Huaihe River to be repaired.

This year’s salt transportation had to wait until the dry season was over before the salt sales and transportation could begin.

In southern Sichuan, a group of officials who came to Xuzhou Prefecture in a dusty manner quickly took over the government affairs of southern Sichuan.

The news of Sichuan salt entering Guizhou had spread before, and all kinds of rumors were true or false, but before the official order of the court, no one dared to say that this was true.

A large number of Shaanxi merchants gathered in southern Sichuan, and the newly established Xiqin Guild Hall could not even accommodate so many "fellow villagers" who suddenly poured in.

A large number of Sichuan merchants also came from all over with capital.

The first thing that the newly appointed Xuzhou prefect Niu Congyun did when he arrived here was to come to the salt well area to check the situation here.

People from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce have also come here. Although the two sides are not under each other's jurisdiction, they have met and cooperated in southern Jiangsu after all.

Niu Congyun and people from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce first came to a salt well opened by a Shaanxi person, grabbed a handful of good salt as white as snow, and looked at the bare-chested hired workers working there, and couldn't help feeling a little familiar.

Whether it was in Taiwan or in Jinghai before, Niu Congyun had seen similar factories.

Those who saw wood, pound rice, and squeeze sugar, although not producing salt, have the same model of hiring, division of labor, and cooperation.

The Shaanxi businessman followed Niu Congyun and pointed to a salt well and said, "Sir, the rent for a well like this is quite high."

"There are thirty days in a month, and we have to pay half a month's worth of salt to the landlord. The landlord just has a piece of land, but they don't invest in production."

"If the court really wants official transportation and commercial sales. We dare not say anything else, but if the price is too low, we will definitely not do it. We can only use half a month's worth of salt to feed these hired workers, bullocks, fodder, etc. If the price is too low, we really can't afford it."

Niu Congyun hummed. He had never dealt with a similar situation before. Whether it was the Whale Sea or Taiwan Prefecture, many lands were unowned.

Or, they were savages or tribes. Dealing with them was simple and rough.

And the situation in southern Sichuan was very different.

It seems reasonable. It's someone else's land, so what's wrong with them collecting some rent? If you think it's too expensive, you can just not rent it. It's the capital that asks for rent, not the landlords that ask for rent.

It's reasonable, but from the perspective of industry and commerce, rent is the biggest enemy.

The businessman followed behind and muttered: "When guests come, they build high buildings, and when guests leave, the host collects them. If there is no court to make decisions, we really dare not invest too much. If we invest too much, after ten years, all the equipment will belong to the landlords. Then we will naturally make do with what we can."

"If the court can preside over it, or set up a permanent lease, or take it as official property, it will be most beneficial to us."

Niu Congyun thought, this is of course beneficial to you, but it will be very disadvantageous to the landlords here and cut off their foundation.

As Xingguo Gong said, this class struggle is a life-and-death struggle.

Thinking of this, Niu Congyun asked: "That day, Xingguogong talked to you and told you about the situation here. I have always known his attitude."

"Originally, there were some small handicraftsmen here who picked up, fried and sold their own products. According to the Duke's meaning, these should be eliminated and merged by you. As long as you have machines and technology, those small handicraftsmen will die."

"What does the Duke mean about this matter?"

The businessman hurriedly said: "The Duke said that this is the law of nature. It is against the will of heaven to keep small handicraftsmen. The Duke's meaning is that after we develop, they will either be sensible and sell their own industries to become shareholders; or wait to be squeezed out of business by us and come to our salt fields to do hard labor and sell their labor."

Although this is his usual attitude, Niu Congyun couldn't help but sigh, thinking that Xingguogong really has no human touch at all, and is cold and icy.

Although it is true, it is a little lack of human touch.

If I take on such a task, I will never be an honest official in this life. Who knows how I will be framed in the future.

All the praised upright officials must protect small farmers, small handicraftsmen, and the common people, but I do the exact opposite.

While thinking, I was led by the merchant to the place where brine was extracted.

Several bulls pulled heavy brine barrels to extract the black brine from the well hundreds of feet deep.

Several people sent by the Academy of Sciences were communicating with a local craftsman, studying how to match the steam engine after replacing the bulls.

These well brines flowed along the already laid pipelines to the natural gas wells in the distance, where they were boiled uniformly.

In fact, before Liu Yu was ready to instigate the reform of the salt administration in southern Sichuan, this model had gradually squeezed out the small salt well households that produced and boiled themselves.

The salt from the shallow wells was not good, and they could not afford to drill natural gas wells, so they could only burn firewood and coal, and they really could not compete with these losers in Lianghuai.

Niu Congyun had seen similar large workshops in Taiwan, Jinghai, and southern Jiangsu, and knew the advantages of these large workshops.

From the perspective of a court official, fierce mergers and land rent reforms can facilitate the court to strengthen the control of well salt.

From the perspective of a scholar, not watching the cries of the landlords and the elegy of the small producers, the price of salt can be suppressed, so that many people who "prefer to eat bland" can eat salt.

At the beginning, he said it very clearly in front of the emperor.

Either the court collects rent for salt wells and taxes according to the wells; or it collects salt taxes. It cannot collect both, which will become repeated taxation.

Now that the court's intention is so clear, he also knows what to do.

Looking at these simple machines continuously lifting brine, he thought to himself, it is better for one family to cry than to eat bland food all the way without salt.

Your Majesty asked me to read the biography of Xin Ang, just to let me remember the four words "benefit the people".

After walking around twice, I just left the workshop and saw a group of people kneeling outside.

"Sir!"

"Are those rumors true?"

"Isn't this robbery by the court?"

"I don't know what crime the land and salt wells passed down by our ancestors have committed to be forcibly taken away?"

"How is this different from the tax supervisors and mine supervisors of the previous dynasty?"

"We are all good people, people who have been farming and studying for a long time and guarding our ancestral property. If you insist on taking the land, we would rather die in front of you, otherwise how can we face our ancestors?"

"This is the Qin people taking our Sichuan people's property!"

All of them knelt outside, blocking Niu Congyun's way. Niu Congyun didn't say anything, but stared into the distance, as if waiting for something.

Not long after, there was a sound of horse hooves, and a bugler shouted: "The defense envoy is here!"

As he was talking, a line of troops appeared behind him. More than 600 soldiers with guns followed behind Ma Haochuan, the defense commander of Xuma.

Ma Haochuan rode in front of the group of people and swung the whip in the air, making a crisp sound.

Seeing the troops coming, Niu Congyun was confident and cleared his throat and said, "What do you want to do? Did the court say it for free? Didn't it say it? Discounted shares, discounted shares. What else do you want?"

"Is the salt under the ground yours? Don't say it's passed down from your ancestors. In the Han Dynasty, salt and iron were monopolized, and the salt was originally owned by the court."

"After the Han Dynasty ended, it was passed to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and then the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and then to the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. This dynasty took it in response to the will of heaven and inherited everything. I want to ask you, when did your ancestors take the official property for private use?"

"Now the court doesn't ask you for the interest of these 800 years, which is good. It even allows you to buy shares at a discount, and you are not satisfied?"

"If you had invested your own capital before, Why should the court go to such lengths to build salt wells? You occupy the land but only collect rent, what else can you say? "

"I know what you are capable of. You can either find someone to sue me, or hang yourself in front of me to make a scene, or find an old man to stop me and not move."

"You just use these methods. If I blink, I will not be worthy of being the governor of Xuzhou!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of Sichuan merchants came from behind, surrounded them and said to the landowners: "You should gouge out your mouths and cut off your tongues for saying this. What do you mean by Qin people taking the property of Sichuan people? Aren't we Sichuan people?"

Niu Congyun said coldly: "Yes! This is clearly a contradiction between industrial capital and your landlords' rent, but you have to instigate Qin people and Sichuan people. Your heart is worthy of death!"