New Shun 1730

Besides, he, the governor of Jiangsu, can't actually do such a big thing.

For such a thing, it is clear that a government minister, a three duke, a three master, or a three orphan, or a baron, a marquis, or a duke should be in charge of the overall coordination. What he can manage is the production of Lianghuai salt and the collection of salt taxes.

As the governor of Jiangsu, let alone the three dukes, three masters, and three orphans, he is almost the governor of Xuzhou and Jiangning. How can he manage the affairs of Ji'an Prefecture in Jiangxi? How big is his face, a governor of Jiangsu, to manage the affairs of Jiangxi?

Nowadays, being an official in Jiangsu is the most difficult.

There are a lot of people sent directly by the central government, such as the nobles, the governor of Huanghuai, the sea transportation of grain, the management of Huaihe River, the rectification of the abandoned canal, the resettlement of grain workers, the customs of industry and commerce, the reclamation of wasteland, the tax reform, the garrison, etc.

He can't afford to offend any of them.

There are a lot of father-in-laws and mother-in-laws, and he is just a little daughter-in-law.

So don't attack me. I am only an assistant official. I can manage the production of salt and the change of salt permits.

For other matters, you can just ask the Duke of Xingguo directly.

Lin Min exposed the rotten scar of the salt administration. The emperor, who was originally taking advantage of the issue, had to scold the officials for only considering their own interests and ignoring the interests of the court.

The officials who saw through the essence of this matter and really understood the business did not say anything.

Some people who like to criticize in their hearts all think that the Lianghuai salt administration was originally caused by the court itself.

It was the court's financial system and the previous salt boiling method that did not support the old Tang Dynasty system of official salt collection.

Besides, no matter how the Lianghuai salt administration reform was patched up, it was all for the purpose of keeping capital in the circle and asking them to serve when they were short of money.

In essence, the court "taxed the salt", and the salt merchants took the money of the people, and the court took the money of the salt merchants when it was in urgent need of money.

You now have overseas trade, industrial and commercial taxes for emerging industries such as glass, and cinnamon and betel nuts from Ceylon, but now your pockets are shaking and you are turning your back on them.

Didn’t you tie the assessment and salt tax together because the salt administration of the previous dynasty collapsed? Did you want to collect money?

Since it was tied to the assessment, do you think that everyone who fought for the imperial examinations was here to serve the people? Wasn’t it for promotion and wealth? Since it was for promotion and wealth, then naturally there are policies from above and countermeasures from below.

Don’t pretend to be so shocked now. If you hadn’t made overseas trade so that you could collect money, if the war in the north hadn’t ended, or if you hadn’t been able to borrow money in other ways, would you dare to touch the salt administration?

This is essentially no different from the land tax of 30% to 1%. Are the emperors all fools? They really don’t know that the local finances are not enough by doing this?

Those who really understand the changes here are all silent.

They don’t understand the essence of the salt administration reform and the canal reform. At this time, they still have the old way of thinking and follow the emperor’s words to talk about the problem of local administration.

But it’s useless.

If you catch them, they will die; if you let them go, they will be in chaos.

Unless the salt tax is no longer collected, if the local government does not supervise and link the official salt with the assessment, it will be a miracle if the court can collect half of the current salt tax in ten years at most.

However, this time Liu Yu really did not complain.

After listening to Lin Min's discussion on "Why Jiangxi's official salt can only be sold at 50% and why the official salt in several prefectures in southern Jiangxi has completely collapsed", he thought that Zhenyi was right. The Lianghuai Salt Administration may not necessarily not support the redivision of salt areas.

Regarding the reform of the salt administration, Tian Zhenyi and Liu Yu analyzed the alliance relationship with the reformists and talked about this matter.

Tian Zhenyi said that the political achievements of the Lianghuai Salt Administration did not lie in how much salt Lianghuai sold, but in the proportion of official salt.

Even if Hubei, Hunan and other places were cut, as long as the Lianghuai Salt Administration could ensure 100% sales in the remaining places, then this was the political achievement of the Lianghuai Salt Administration.

Even if all provinces are merged, the total sales volume of Lianghuai salt will increase, but it is only 70% of the calculated sales volume, so it is also the responsibility of the Lianghuai Salt Administration.

This is an inference assuming that Lin Min is thinking about his own future.

If Lin Min really cares about the people, then he should support the big reform of redividing the salt area. It is obviously not good for the people to let places like Ji'an Prefecture eat Lianghuai salt and let places like Lu Xun burn the camps not eat Sichuan salt but Huainan salt.

Lin Min is not the national salt administration governor, and Dashun does not have a national salt administration governor at all.

Having grasped this point, Tian Zhenyi told Liu Yu that the matter of changing the salt area can completely make the reformists allies.

Although Lin Min did not say it so directly, the subtext is very obvious when he took the example of Ji'an Prefecture being divided from the Guangdong salt area to the Lianghuai salt area.

After a while, the emperor, who had been talking about the problem of official administration for a long time with those officials who had not changed their minds and had not seen through the essence of the problem, finally spoke: "If that's the case, then the salt areas in Ji'an Prefecture and other places should be re-divided. And Jiangxi should also be divided in terms of salt areas."

"The north eats Lianghuai salt, and the south eats Fujian and Guangdong salt. In this way, the people benefit and the merchants benefit."

"That means, according to your opinion, the problem of Huainan Salt Administration in Jiangxi is neither production nor the general merchant system. As long as the salt areas are redistributed, it can be solved."

"Duke Xingguo, since you strongly advocate reclamation in Huainan, the Lianghuai salt cuts off Ji'an and other prefectures, and those salt households can also reclaim wasteland, so that they will not be unemployed, which is just right."

"But the pilot of Huainan Salt Administration was chosen in Jiangxi, so it's hard to say. How should Jiangxi be changed? Where should this pilot be now?"

Many people actually have the answer in their hearts, that is Hubei.

The two major problem provinces for Huainan salt are Jiangxi and Hubei, both of which have serious substandard sales.

Sales in Jiangxi are only 50%, and sales in Hubei are not much better, only 70%.

And since Hubei is too far away, there are often situations such as "replenishing the lost weight of the shipwreck" and "replenishing the shipment after flooding" to fool fools. You know you're fooling a fool, but you still have to hold your nose and admit it, as long as you don't go too far.

The imperial court has no salt in its hands and no transportation capacity. If you don't hold your nose to identify it, if you insist on knowing everything clearly, you will have to find out for you tomorrow that "the people have no salt and the people are boiling with resentment."

However, Liu Yu did not mention Hubei's affairs at this time, but said: "Your Majesty, I think that Jiangxi does not need to be considered for the time being."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

Liu Yu said hurriedly: "I think that if Jiangxi wants to change, it must make major changes. It will be troublesome to make small changes and toss them over and over again."

"Moreover, whether it is Sichuan well salt or East China Sea sun salt, this dynasty has actually solved the problem of 'insufficient production' that has plagued all dynasties through the development of technology."

"Since the situation is different from the previous dynasties, I think it is best to collect taxes on the production side of this salt."

"As long as large-scale well salt factories and large-scale sun salt factories develop, even if taxes are collected on the production side, private salt will definitely die."

"I take the Huaibei salt factory as an example. Even if the tax is levied directly on the production side, it will still be cheaper than the Huainan salt that is not taxed."

"So, in this case, the imperial court should change the experience of previous dynasties and set up a salt administration manager. It will be directly subordinate to the household government and coordinate the salt administration in all areas."

"As for the division of salt areas, this is a matter of planning for the establishment of a salt administration manager in the future."

"Whether it is necessary to change it like this, whether it is feasible to change it like this, and whether the oranges in Huaibei will still be oranges in Huainan, we still need to conduct a pilot reform. After all, the salt administration is an important tax source for the imperial court."

"The implications are huge, and if you want to make changes, you need to make big changes. Whether big changes are feasible or not, we need to prove. Since Jiangxi is not enough to prove it, then besides Jiangxi, you can choose anywhere in the Huainan salt area."

After he said this, there were even fewer options left.

He is full of confidence. No matter how stupid his opponents are, they will never say, hey, you can try it in Jiangsu and Anhui first.

In that case, it would be better to just give up resistance and let them reform.

Jiangsu and Anhui are given away. Jiangxi is a trap at all. The rest of the place is really ready to be revealed.

Now the counter-reformists have been cornered by Liu Yu.

Taking the salt households as an example, Liu Yu was engaged in land reclamation, and the experimental land reclamation was quite effective. Huainan's salt policy reform and the moral high ground of "small people's survival" have actually been strangled by Liu Yu.

Let’s talk about the results. The salt reform in Huaibei is the result of the corrupt canal. The official salt sales in Huaibei will stabilize and double next year.

The only thing that can be said now is that the salt market in remote areas is stable.

The emperor took advantage of the situation and asked: "Since Duke Xingguo is confident from this, let's not move on the Jiangxi salt affairs for the time being. What else can you say?"

After a long while, no one spoke, and the emperor said: "In this case, success or failure depends on two things."

"First, are the people benefiting? Is the price of the salt they eat reduced? Is the salt they need enough?"

"Secondly, the actual sales volume of Hubei official salt in the past few years is compared with the sales volume after the reform."

"In addition, since we talk about land reclamation in Huainan, then land reclamation and salt policy complement each other."

"Then there is one more thing to add, which is to ensure the survival of salt households in Huainan. Do you have anything else to say?"

Among the ministers, Lin Min stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."

After getting the emperor's permission, Lin Min gritted his teeth and said: "In any reform, there will be winners and losers."

"If Duke Xingguo carries out reforms, he will change the route, the laws, and the production areas. The people involved will not be limited to salt households."

"Excluding salt households, the number of people who rely on salt merchants for their livelihood is more than one hundred thousand? Also including their parents and wives, the number is no less than five or six hundred thousand."

"Local governors, state pastors, and county magistrates all have no means to deal with this matter. This is an unprecedented change."

"For this matter, the minister needs to go out of town and take charge of the overall situation. Otherwise, the evaluation alone will make the officials timid."

"The pain point needs to be relieved by the imperial court's allocation of funds. When the imperial court allocates funds, it must not be divided into state capitals. There must be someone in charge and planning."

"I boldly say that whoever becomes the commander-in-chief of the town will bear this responsibility. If he is not a minister, he will not be able to control and bear the responsibility. I am the salt envoy of Lianghuai and Jiangsu Jiedushi, but I oppose the reform methods of Duke Xingguo. The Duke is determined to do it, and the Commander-in-Chief is responsible.”

"I don't want to be greedy for merit, but I also need to have clear powers and responsibilities. The tiger and the si come from the tree, so Dian Shou is responsible for it. But if Huai and Yang decline due to political reforms, is Dian Shou responsible for it?"

"If the name is not correct, the words will not be smooth. If the words are not smooth, the politics will not be clear."

Lin Min knew that it would not sound good to say this at a court meeting.

But there was nothing he could do.

On the boat, Liu Yu's probing words scared him.

It wasn't that he was scared, but he knew that he had been tricked by the emperor.

At this time, things here must be done, so an authorization is needed.

He is a reformist, but his reform ideas are definitely not based on Liu Yu's.

Obviously, according to Liu Yu's previous remarks, both overt and covert, I am afraid that something big will happen to this reform.

This matter is different from the abandoned canal. Not only was there blood in the abandoned canal, but there was also a lot of it. Many people were arrested just by the Wuwei Bailian from various Xiang sects.

But the emperor was directly responsible for abolishing the canal.

That was because the emperor was gambling with the prestige of several great victories in the northeast, northwest, and Japan.

Without these prestige, the emperor couldn't bear it.

Reformers like Lin Min jumped too hard before. As a result, when they really got down to business, they found that the reforms they thought were very radical were just a little brother in the end... Who had ever thought of abolishing the salt industry in Huainan and transforming the economy to grow cotton?

This is too scary.

Since they have been tricked by the emperor, they can only go all the way at this time. They must make Liu Yu legitimate, otherwise they can't afford to argue with local forces and local officials.