Travel back in time and become Chongzhen, watch me turn the tide

"Xianzhi, who are the main officials in Yangzhou City now? Do they have any objection to this matter?" Chongzhen narrowed his eyes slightly, with deep worry in his eyes. The worry was like a deep lake, seemingly calm but with undercurrents surging.

He knew that while the army was crucial to regaining control of the court, local officials were also the cornerstone, crucial to the governance of the Ming people. If they didn't support him, restoring the nation would be a difficult undertaking. This worry, like a thick fog, continued to gather around him.

"The officials in Yangzhou are led by Huang Jiarui, the governor of Huai, Ma Minglu, the prefect, and Tang Laihe, the magistrate. These three are all upright and honest people. In my opinion, they will definitely support Your Majesty." Shi Kefa stroked his beard gently, recalling his past with these officials. He carefully sorted out his interactions with them in his mind. Although he felt that they would most likely support Your Majesty, the current situation was complicated and people's hearts were unpredictable, so he did not dare to be completely sure.

"Since the announcement will be made to the world tomorrow, I think it would be wise to inform them today, to avoid any sudden unpreparedness and confusion tomorrow."

"Yes!" Chongzhen nodded slightly, his face solemn as he agreed. His expression was serious as he kept thinking about the various situations he might face next.

"Although our army now has several garrisons, their military discipline is like a pile of loose sand, they are disorganized and their combat effectiveness is low, just like a tired army. We urgently need to carry out rectification and training to restore the military prestige," Chongzhen frowned slightly, like two tangled mountains, and the wrinkles were full of worries about the current situation of the army.

He knew very well that improving the army's combat effectiveness was an urgent matter, but all of this was like a tree without roots and needed money and food to support it.

The thought of this gave Chongzhen a splitting headache, as if a huge stone weighed heavily on his heart. "The Liheng Loyal Guard Battalion also needs to be expanded. This will cost a lot of money."

"Your Majesty, most of this year's taxes have been spent like water..." Shi Kefa's face was full of worry, and his brows were furrowed like a chasm.

He had always been in charge of financial affairs and was well aware of the current financial difficulties, which were like being stuck in a quagmire. Every time the issue of money and grain was mentioned, Shi Kefa felt an immense pressure, worried about not being able to meet the emperor's needs, and worried that the court's financial situation would further deteriorate. His expression of worry was like a heavy dark cloud on a rainy day, weighing heavily on his face and making him feel depressed.

"Xianzhi, I am not here to ask you for money," Chongzhen raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a gentle smile, and stopped Shi Kefa from continuing.

Chongzhen naturally understood Shi Kefa's predicament, and was also aware of the court's current financial difficulties, which were like a bottomless abyss. The Ming Dynasty was struggling to collect taxes, yet it was constantly in need of funds. So Chongzhen set his sights on the salt merchants in Yangzhou. "I know the Ming Dynasty is not without wealth, but much of it has been greedily seized by treacherous individuals. This time, I will reclaim some of it from them..."

"Your Majesty, are you talking about the Wang family?" Yan Yingyuan's eyes lit up like stars suddenly twinkling in the darkness. He now saw hope for resolving the army's financial and food problems, and asked hurriedly.

He thought that if he could get money from the salt merchants, the army's problems could be solved, and perhaps it could even help His Majesty achieve great things.

"The Wang family's assassination is unforgivable. According to the law, they should be executed along with all nine generations of their family. They deserve to have their property confiscated and beheaded. As for the other salt merchants, they cannot be let off easily either, but..." Shi Kefa said after a slight hesitation.

He knew that the salt merchants were greedy and profit-seeking like wolves, and that they should be punished; but he was also worried that this move would stir up a hornet's nest and cause trouble. He was deeply conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to severely punish the salt merchants to raise funds for the court, but on the other hand, he was worried about the chain reaction that would occur.

"Other salt merchants naturally cannot be treated like the Wang family, but this time we also want to make a warning to them. Even if we don't punish them severely, we will make them bleed heavily. This time we must not only pluck the feathers from these stingy people, but also scrape off a layer of skin... Leave this matter to Zhu Ge," Chongzhen was short of money at the moment, and he would not let go of this opportunity.

The secret guards led by Zhu Ge were originally doing the work of the former Jinyiwei, so it was just right to use them for this matter.

"When I regain control of the government, the salt administration must be taken back and the monopoly system will continue to be implemented. The salt tax collected by the Ming Dynasty in a year is not as much as the profit of the salt merchants. How can this situation be justified?" Chongzhen said bitterly.

Zhu Youjian of later generations conducted in-depth and detailed research on the salt tax in the Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the salt tax reached a maximum of 2.5 million taels of silver, while the total fiscal revenue at that time was about 3.66 million taels of silver. The salt tax accounted for nearly 70% of the total fiscal revenue. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the revenue from salt tax always accounted for more than half.

So what was the Ming Dynasty's salt production like? According to the Ming Dynasty's "gang salt system," merchants holding salt permits were divided into ten groups based on region. Each group held 200,000 salt permits, each worth 300 jin (approximately 100 kg) of salt, or 6.4 qian (approximately 100 kg) of silver, known as the "woben" (meaning "benefit"). In addition, there was a tax of 3 liang (approximately 100 kg) and a transportation fee of 3 liang (approximately 100 kg). Annual salt production was 600 million jin (approximately 100 kg)—a jin (approximately 100 kg) equivalent to 596 grams today—for a total of 672 million jin (approximately 100 kg) today.

The Ming court's salt tax revenue was 6 taels, 6 qian, and 4 fen per ounce of silver, which should have yielded 13.28 million taels of silver! However, in reality, only 2.5 million taels of silver were collected at most, and the salt tax was largely lost.

According to modern data, my country's edible salt sales are 8.29 million tons. With a population of 1.27 billion, the average annual salt consumption per person is 13 kilograms. Considering the low price of salt in later generations, and the possibility that some of it was diverted to industrial use, the average annual salt consumption per person is around 10 kilograms. Of course, per capita salt consumption in the late Ming Dynasty may not have reached this standard, but we will use this standard for the time being.

According to official statistics during the Hongwu and Wanli periods, the population of the Ming Dynasty was about 60 million, and the amount of salt consumed that year was 600 million jin.

According to records, the retail price of one catty of salt in the Ming Dynasty was three hundred wen, so 600 million catties of salt was equivalent to 180 million taels of silver.

So what is the profit from selling salt? Although the cost of salt production in the Ming Dynasty is not available, we can use the cost of salt sales in the Song Dynasty for a horizontal comparison.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, a pound of salt retailed for fifty wen. In the Ming Dynasty, the retail price of salt was six times that of the Northern Song Dynasty. Using the Northern Song Dynasty salt price as the cost, the profit from salt production was 150 million taels! Apart from the 13.28 million taels of tax that the court was supposed to collect, where did the remaining nearly 130 million taels of silver in profit go?

Some people may raise objections, saying that it is impossible for the salt everyone eats to be official salt. This does make sense, otherwise there would not be so many private salt dealers in the Ming Dynasty, and they would not be eradicated despite repeated bans.

But even if the official salt only accounted for one third, that was still 50 million taels of silver. Such a large amount of profit could not have gone only into the hands of the salt merchants, but also went to officials at all levels to take advantage of it.

Let’s not talk about these. If the 13.28 million taels of salt tax could be collected in full, would the Chongzhen Dynasty still be so stretched?

Of course, these are just theoretical calculations, and the actual situation cannot be generalized. However, if Chongzhen wants to increase the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the future, the salt tax must be a tax that cannot be ignored, and it cannot be the same as it is now.

With such huge interests at stake, if Chongzhen pushed for the new policy, it would naturally affect the vested interests of a large number of people and would inevitably encounter unprecedented obstacles. Therefore, a breakthrough was needed, and this breakthrough lay in the Wang family!

Secretly recruiting troops to assassinate the king and thus arouse the emperor's wrath, this excuse is really too perfect, and using it to rectify the salt tax is a natural thing!

"Liheng! You and Zhu Ge will try this case together and make sure it is an ironclad case." Chongzhen did not want to develop the secret guards into the Jinyiwei, so he gave the right to try this case to Yan Yingyuan.

The relationships in Yangzhou were as complex as a dense web. Yan Yingyuan had no connections with these people, so he could act freely.

"Is this time only targeting the Wang family, or..." Yan Yingyuan hesitated for a moment, with a hint of doubt in his eyes, and asked.

"Liheng, does your army have enough food and wages?" Chongzhen did not respond, but asked with a meaningful smile with a slight smile on his face.

"Of course it's because of the lack of food and pay. My quartermaster..." Yan Yingyuan had just said a few words when he suddenly understood what Chongzhen meant. His eyes lit up and he said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I understand!"