New Shun 1730

The guards around him were like wolves and tigers. They were like wolves and tigers on the battlefield, and they were even more like wolves and tigers when dealing with ordinary people.

Without saying a word, they rushed over and dragged the man who was kneeling and crying out for justice away.

From time to time, there were shouting and cursing, like bandits.

"Son of a bitch, shut your shit door!"

After the crying and shouting faded away, Liu Yu frowned and stared at the local salt officials and local officials, which made those people feel scared.

After a long time, Liu Yu finally laughed.

"Is he brave enough? Or are you standing behind him to give him courage?"

A younger official took a step forward and knelt down, saying: "Duke, scholars should cultivate a noble spirit! If you have a noble spirit, you will naturally be as bold as an egg!"

"Duke, you only look at the Salt Industry Corporation, but don't you look at the bankrupt people?"

"Tens of thousands of people are crying out in misery, thousands of families are in grief, and this company is thriving. This is against the way of heaven! It is against the way of man! This is not a king's rule, but a tyrant's rule!"

Liu Yu nodded, still smiling, and said: "Get up. What a noble spirit. Well said! The previous dynasty fell and the world was in danger of falling. This dynasty has reshaped the style of scholars. It is really gratifying to see it today!"

The young official said this at a huge risk. At this time, when he heard Liu Yu say this, he really couldn't find a cavity to spurt out his passion, as if a punch that had accumulated for several months could only hit cotton.

After the salt field was repaired, within just a few months, this well-capitalized large company took the most ruthless means to compete.

The current policy is that the company produces salt, the court purchases it at points, and then sells it to merchants, who buy tickets and sell it.

The newly established large company, relying on advanced technology, high productivity, and sufficient capital, reported a minimum price to the court before the sale of salt tickets in autumn and winter.

If you burn grass and firewood to boil salt, let alone this price, even a higher price will still lose money.

The only way is to go bankrupt and work in the salt field to earn labor money.

If you also dry salt, because of insufficient capital and insufficient technology, the production cost cannot be lowered at all. Of course, it is mainly those "field owners" who hoard salt fields privately who want to squeeze.

In theory, the salt fields in Huainan and Huaibei are all owned by the court, and the salt households are only skins but not bones.

But let alone now, even in the future, when the land is collectively owned, there are many cases of private land sales. When agricultural subsidies or demolitions were introduced later, the country had no idea how many disturbances had erupted because of the "land sales".

Legally, it could not be sold, the contract was not established, and it was illegal.

Reasonably and in customary law, there was no way to do it. The only way was to "respect historical facts".

Let alone now.

If you don't sell it, you will die now, and if you sell it, you will be exploited in the future, so you have to sell it.

Add to that the rent, the technology is not enough, and now the big companies are lowering the price, life is really hard.

The discussion of the big companies is very simple and crude.

It's just to lower the price.

Those who burn grass and firewood to cook salt, if this can be better than free solar energy, then they really think that Dashun's firewood is everywhere and it's free.

And those who dry salt, forced by the company to operate, will naturally choose to sell.

The company will buy the operating rights.

But after buying it, it will never go to such a far and remote place to invest again.

Instead, it will directly level the salt field, enclose the land, and throw it there.

Relying on advanced technology and strong capital, the price was pushed down to the point where even with the salt tax, it was cheaper than the private salt made by burning grass and boiling salt.

The bankruptcy of small handicraftsmen, with the help of Liu Yu, was effective in the salt industry in half a year.

He really has too many lice to support now. The Huainan Reclamation Company just broke out a big incident, forcing many people to death.

Now, the Huaibei salt reform has only been in place for half a year, and the people are living in poverty. It is estimated that there will be a map of refugees soon.

Then he really can't talk nonsense.

He is wrong. In terms of reason, righteousness, and values ​​at this time, he is wrong.

The officials who stand up to plead for the people now may be in collusion with private salt dealers, but they may also be really pleading for the people, with noble righteousness and iron will.

Liu Yu could only say, "Well."

"Since Taigong boiled the sea and Guan Zhong was in charge of the mountains, people have used basins as vessels and firewood for boiling. It has been two thousand years."

"During the Song and Yuan dynasties, there was a windmill technique to draw brine; in the middle of the previous dynasty, the method of drying salt was invented. As a result, in Changlu and Fujian, firewood was reclaimed as farmland, and basins and stoves were turned into ruins. It was not forced by power, but in accordance with nature."

"Now you have a noble spirit and hold the holy learning of the way of heaven, why do you insist on going against the laws of nature and nature? Haven't you heard the ancients say: 'Those who follow the will of heaven will prosper, and those who go against the will of heaven will perish'?"

"Today, large companies bring millions of dollars in capital and dozens of iron oxen to draw tides to draw brine, regardless of the new moon and full moon; evaporation and crystallization, and strict division of pools. How can those small producers compete?"

"If they sell the market to obtain the contract, they can still maintain their position as small shareholders with capital. The price of salt is getting lower and the people are making more money. Isn't it wonderful?"

This kind of reason cannot be argued.

In a micro sense, this is a question of worldview. There is only quarrel, no debate, in the worldview. Even in the era of the famous scholars of pre-Qin Mohism, they knew to set clear definitions before continuing the debate.

In a macro sense, this is a class struggle. The struggle between small producers and big capitalists; the struggle between family handicrafts and big factories.

Class struggle is a matter of life and death. Either family handicrafts die or big factories die. There is no way to reconcile.

Liu Yu said that his set is "natural reason" and "the way of heaven is not benevolent."

On the other hand, people also say that what they say is "natural principles" and "there is righteousness in heaven and earth."

Regarding the theory of Qi, Liu Yu is not qualified to participate in the debate. It is better to distinguish good and evil first and then heaven, or whether heaven and earth are first and then good and evil. This is an internal debate within Confucianism, and Liu Yu has not yet touched upon it.

Now that he said this arrogantly, the other party didn't listen. His chest filled with anger and he yelled.

Instead, he was very unconvinced and wanted to continue arguing, but was interrupted by Liu Yu using very bossy words.

"I am the Duke of the court. Why should you, a small sixth-rank official, argue with me? It's just a dispute in the court. Even if His Majesty makes a proposal about salt and iron, it won't be your turn."

When the official heard this, he even frowned and said a lot of words, but Liu Yu didn't listen to a word.

He is now also experienced and has seen a lot.

Just as he wanted to bury Dashun, he first did things for twenty years to strengthen the imperial power.

If you want to destroy the hierarchy, you must first climb below one person and above ten thousand people and rely on the hierarchy to subdue everyone's opinions.

This is a curve spiraling forward.

It is also understandable that the Revolutionary Eagle and Lena River debated the Balkan issue and whether to divide farmers' land.

Ideals are straight, reality forces people to go around in circles.

The young official couldn't stop, and for a moment, Liu Yu even missed the Meishang officials who built a shrine for Wei eunuch.

Dashun has regained the awe-inspiring spirit of some scholars, but now everything is in trouble.

The direction is wrong. The more courage you have, the more reactionary you become.

After waiting for a long time, the young official's awe-inspiring anger was vented a lot. Liu Yu then asked Lin Min beside him: "Master Lin, what do you think? This time you and I are in Beijing, and His Majesty's commendation of salt affairs is another debate." . I can say that you are a keen reformer on the salt policy reform.”

Lin Min's cheeks twitched involuntarily, and she simply said: "My lord, let's continue walking forward and take a look at the steam pumping water."

Avoiding this topic and not arguing about it, Liu Yu smiled and everyone moved forward.

Lin Min was so confused that he really didn't know how to evaluate this matter.

Nowadays, Dashun's navigation skills have advanced rapidly. It only takes ten days to travel from Jiangsu to Beijing by boat. The Jiangsu Jiedu Envoy was in an important financial and taxation area of ​​the imperial court, unlike places like Sichuan and Shaanxi, but he had to go to Beijing every year.

When it comes to the salt policy reform itself, it depends on the perspective from which to evaluate the success or failure of this reform.

From a salt tax perspective?

From the perspective of salt tax, this time Huaibei's salt policy reform can no longer be evaluated as a success, but a great success.

Liu Yu had told him a long time ago that from the perspective of salt tax, this success could be regarded as "greedy for God's merits and self-interest."

To put it bluntly, on the first day after the canal was abandoned, Huaibei's salt policy reform could not fail from the perspective of salt tax.

Just by cutting off the smuggling channel of illicit salt on rice ships, the salt tax of the Huaibei Salt Administration can be directly increased by at least 30 to 40%.

The problem is that the salt policy reform in Huaibei was launched almost at the same time as the canal water transportation was abandoned.

The emperor understood it, and the ministers also understood it. This made it clear that the emperor supported the salt reform.

Changlu salt smuggling is a cliché, but there is a problem.

If every smuggling of Changlu salt is caught, then is there still illicit salt?

The reality is that illicit salt is rampant, which in turn proves one thing. Changlu salt smuggling is very serious, and most of them have not been caught.

So, how to quantify the impact of the abolition of water transportation and the elimination of Changlu salt smuggling on Huaibei's salt policy reform?

There's no way to quantify it, because if it were, there wouldn't be fucking smuggled salt.

They were all caught and registered, and they were called smuggling.

Is Huaibei’s salt policy reform a success of the new salt policy? Or the success of water transportation through the abandoned canal?

It depends on the emperor. If the emperor wants to continue the salt reform, then it is the credit of the new coup law.

Since this factor cannot be quantified, we can only look at the salt tax.

The salt tax is nothing but money. This cannot be faked.

Liu Yufang had more votes to begin with, because he was basically rushing to abolish Huainan Salt.

Nowadays, Huainan still uses the method of boiling salt, which is extremely expensive.

Liu Yu released so many votes at once in Huaibei. There are a lot of accountants in his shogunate, and they have the headcount statistics of each county. Don't they know how much salt to add?

You know it clearly, but you still put in excess tickets, so you have to tell those salt sellers: Are you stupid? Huainan salt is so expensive, but the salt here is so cheap. You guys, who are all smugglers, don’t know how to smuggle to the Huainan salt area? You have specialization in the art, so how do you expect me to teach you how to smuggle salt?

Lin Min can't understand these little Jiujiu?

Although Huainan and Huaibei are both Huaihe Rivers, for him, the salt envoy of the Two Huaihe Rivers, the palms of his hands and the backs of his hands are all flesh. But he himself was also a reformist, and he believed that winning Long instead of Shu would be a waste of natural resources.

To this kind of thing, it is natural to turn a blind eye.

Anyway, it's Dashun's salt tax, and it's not like Yangzhou's silver is more fragrant than Haizhou's.