From Joy of Life, the Tian Gang is reversed

Chapter 72 Smashed (Part )

Salt administration is a topic that cannot be avoided in all dynasties.

Regarding the salt administration, every dynasty has come up with countless solutions and formulated countless policies, but the final result is that they all turned into cesspools, without exception.

Every salt administration reform would infringe upon countless interests, thus causing instability in the court. In addition to salt merchants and salt officials, the most unstable factor was private salt dealers.

Among the famous rebels, there are many illegal salt dealers.

What about Huang Chao, Cheng Yaojin, Zhang Shicheng...

Even the two protagonists in The Twin Dragons of Tang Dynasty only dreamed of owning a ship of smuggled salt.

This shows the importance of salt administration.

But in Li Chengqian's view, the reason why salt administration is important is that it has been difficult in all dynasties to balance the interests of both ends: one is the court's finances, and the other is the people's livelihood.

The price of official salt was too high for the common people to afford, so they could only buy private salt, which gave rise to private salt dealers. If the pressure was even greater, the common people would not be able to survive, and these private salt dealers with considerable assets would incite the common people to rebel, which was the cause of instability in the world.

The price of official salt will not go down any further. If the price is too low, it will not satisfy the appetites of the salt officials and salt merchants, and they will embezzle salt taxes on a large scale. The court's finances will be unstable, and without money, the government will naturally be unstable.

So Li Chengqian mentioned the two ends to the princess, and as for the middle one, if you want to die, go ahead and die.

Why was Li Chengqian so confident? Because the nature of the Neiku was too special. It was similar to a state-owned enterprise. Li Chengqian operated the salt administration through the Neiku, which was different from previous dynasties. Li Chengqian called it humane salt administration.

What? You are still not satisfied with the humane salt policy? Believe it or not, I will give you a "Joy of Life" version of "Humane Torrent" and ask you if you are satisfied.

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Kyoto, Ministry of Revenue, Salt Law Office

Early in the morning, all the officials of the Salt Administration, regardless of their previous work attitude, stood at the door of the yamen. A small number of them looked as if it was none of their business, while most of them looked anxious, because after the imperial edict came down, Crown Prince Li Chengqian, who had been silent for three days, was finally coming to the Salt Administration.

During these three days, the court was very lively, the capital was very lively, and even the entire Daqing was very lively.

The prince's legs were not disabled, and His Majesty actually gave the prince full authority to manage the salt administration.

Any one of these two pieces of news is enough to shock the court, let alone both of them together.

The prince is fine and is not disabled. Everything that happened before was a lie. He fooled the entire court.

But when I think about it carefully, I feel that it is not right.

The prince never said that he was disabled. He just said that his meridians were injured and he needed time to recuperate. This was also the news that came out of the palace.

The news that the prince was disabled and unable to walk was obtained from the imperial physician through various channels. In addition, the prince appeared later in a wheelchair, so naturally, everyone thought that the prince was really disabled.

Can this be blamed on the prince?

Isn't it strange?

You are the prince, can't you come out and explain if you are not disabled?

If you stand up and walk around in Chengtian Hall, won’t all the rumors disappear?
But you don't want to. You run around in a wheelchair every day. Who knows if you can really stand up?

Do you think this is your private matter?

There is no selfishness in the royal family! Anyway, no matter what, everyone felt like they were eating a fly, and they were full of resentment towards this gloomy prince.

Especially those who took sides early on are now feeling uneasy, not knowing which direction the wind in the court will blow.

Who would dare to be careless in the face of such a prince? So early in the morning, Fang Zhongyong, the director of the Salt Administration and the Shaoqing of the Ministry of Revenue, brought officials of all ranks from the Salt Administration to the door to welcome the prince.

Soon, they saw that everyone's expressions became strange.

Mao Qiwu was seen pushing a wheelchair and walking slowly towards them. Next to them was the actual head of the Ministry of Revenue, Assistant Minister Fan Jian.

This prince really loves his wheelchair!
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and to Lord Fan."

No matter what these people think, they can't be rude when they meet the two real people.

"No need to be polite." Li Chengqian raised his hand, expressionless, and turned to Fan Jian and said, "Master Fan, please send me here. I'm not a child anymore."

Fan Jian smiled bitterly, bowed, and turned to leave.

Salt Law Department, main hall.

Mao Qiwu threw the main seat away and pushed Li Chengqian to the main seat, which made all the officials, big and small, twitch their eyes.

"Okay, everyone who's not involved has left. Those present are all from the Salt Law Department. Tell me, what exactly is going on with this year's deficit?"

"Your Highness, although the salt production is good this year, it has been raining continuously in the south of the Yangtze River, the roads have collapsed, and transportation is not smooth. Many places have not delivered on time, and have not received full silver, so there have been deficits." Fang Zhongyong bowed his head and saluted. This is an official explanation. It can't be said to be flawless, but it is enough to get the job done.

"Why was Salt Inspector Tan Zhili assassinated?"

"This..." Fang Zhongyong hesitated for a moment. In his heart, he had already cursed the assassin and the mastermind a thousand times. A bunch of bastards who only care about money and not their lives. This is not the way to die. "Your Majesty, I really don't know. However, I heard that the Supervisory Council has found the assassin."

"The Censorate is the Censorate. You are in charge of salt affairs at the Ministry of Revenue and are the one most familiar with salt affairs at the court. So, tell me, what could be the reason for the assassination of a salt inspector?"

"Of course we discovered the illegal activities of those salt merchants." Fang Zhongyong said helplessly.

"Salt merchant!" Li Chengqian nodded and did not ask any further questions.

Daqing is different from all the dynasties in his previous life. The salt affairs are similar, but also different. In this dynasty, due to the development and growth of the Neiku, there is no need for salt merchants to transport grain to the border in exchange for salt permits, because this part has been taken over by the Neiku. The current salt merchants are more like the salt permit system in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Merchants pay silver instead of rice to Daqing in exchange for a salt monopoly.

In other words, salt permits can be bought and sold freely, but is this really possible in reality?
Certainly not.

Otherwise, there would not be the so-called six major salt merchants.

"Your Highness, the salt administration is now short of six million taels. His Majesty has ordered us to find a way to make up for this deficit within a month. Do you think we should send more people to inspect the salt business and investigate..."

"Salt inspection, what the hell." Li Chengqian interrupted Fang Zhongyong and raised his hand slightly. Mao Qiwu pushed him and slowly walked out of the lobby of the Salt Administration.

Arriving at the entrance to the lobby, Li Chengqian looked at the plaque above his head and smiled. "From now on, there will be no more salt permits, no more official salt and no private salt. Salt can be bought and sold freely throughout the country. This Salt Administration Bureau no longer has any need to exist. Qi Wu, smash it."

"Yes, Your Highness,"

The next moment, Mao Qiwu raised his hand and punched, and the plaque with the words "Salt Administration" hanging at the gate of the yamen was blown to pieces.

After doing all this, Mao Qiwu pushed Li Chengqian and slowly walked out of the Salt Administration Office. It was not until Li Chengqian and Li Chengqian had walked a long way away that the stunned officials finally reacted. They wanted to chase them again, but they had lost all trace of the two men.

(End of this chapter)