Chapter 620 Salt Tax Reform

Xiyuan, Diaoyutai.

"The court is still short of money."

Emperor Chongzhen stopped, looked at the green Taiye Pool, and said with emotion: "Even if the Military Affairs Office wants to do a good job in the matters in Shanxi and Shaanxi, I am afraid that the court will allocate a lot of money and grain.

If the governor's responsibility system is effectively implemented, the new salary system must work. Otherwise, it is unrealistic to properly solve the problem in Shanxi and Shaanxi.

In the past, the imperial court was in a passive situation in suppressing thieves, which led to the current situation, which was quite difficult."

Bi Ziyan, who was accompanying him, frowned when he heard this.

"Your Majesty is right, the court is indeed short of money."

Bi Ziyan pondered for a moment and bowed slightly and said, "Except for the Shanxi and Shaanxi, there are food and wages allocated by the Jiubian, several naval divisions designated by Liaodong, and river government construction and other matters.

Although the treasury will spend some of the allocated food and wages, most of them still need to be covered by the treasury. As July passed, a batch of war bonds sold by the Ministry of Revenue were about to expire.

I am telling Your Majesty these things, not to shirk any responsibility, but in fact, the current court needs to further reduce unnecessary expenses and increase the corresponding financial resources at the same time."

The Ming Dynasty owed too many financial resources. Although Emperor Chongzhen has relied on the important Ming Dynasty's wealth in recent years, he has been strict with himself, actively clearing accounts, reducing unnecessary expenses, and opening up new sources of wealth, but the problems faced by the court

Many of them must be solved.

"It's easy to say, but it's harder to do."

Emperor Chongzhen lifted his sleeves and frowned and said, "Since the second year of Chongzhen, I have been sorting out the government affairs, and by reopening customs, rectifying tax customs, abolishing garrisons, adjusting military system, abolishing craftsmanship, and encouraging

Starting from industry and commerce development and other aspects, we have reduced the burden on the court and opened up corresponding sources of wealth, and achieved remarkable results.

But Bi Qing also knows that many things mentioned above, if you want to achieve greater results, it takes time to promote implementation smoothly.

Just like the abolition of the garrison office, the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of the Northern Zhili are currently in an orderly manner under the coordination of the Military Affairs Office and the cooperation of the Zhili Governor's Office.

Anyone can see that the abolition of the garrison can help the dynasty relieve a lot of pressure. However, the resettlement of military households under the abolition of the garrison, the garrison area of ​​the garrison must be followed simultaneously.

Once any mistake occurs, the situation that has been formed in Shanxi and Shaanxi will be like no one wants to see under the rule of Northern Zhili."

Bi Ziyan nodded in agreement.

In fact, since the end of the second year of Chongzhen, the court has been gradually changing. For example, the Ming Dynasty's strongholds like Bi Ziyan can clearly see that Emperor Chongzhen was using this prerequisite for stabilizing the general trend in his own way.

Gradually solve various problems encountered by the Ming Dynasty.

The most taboo thing about the Ming Dynasty, which has a vast territory, is not to do things, but to do things quickly and quickly, because once the pace is fast, it will touch too much profit, and it will be easy to cause chaos. Once the chaotic words are spoken

, it will affect the general trend of stability and then put the court in a passive state.

"The things Your Majesty said cannot be rushed, whether now or in the future. They need to maintain their current state and gradually adjust and change."

Bi Ziyan calmed down and said with a serious expression: "If these things are fast and urgent, there will be many mistakes, which will cause turmoil to the local area.

I have been thinking about how to increase the taxes of the court over the years. After thinking about it, there are two feasible ways: one is to increase the proportion of land taxes, and the other is to rectify the salt tax.

Compared with the former, I prefer the latter. After all, the court has been a little too relaxed in the past, which gives many people an opportunity to take advantage of it."

The wealth of the Ming Dynasty finally showed its sword against the bad policies of salt taxes.

Listening to what Bi Ziyan said, Emperor Chongzhen's eyes flashed through his eyes and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise. He had been waiting for Bi Ziyan to take the initiative to mention the reform of the tax and service system to himself.

Among the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty, salt tax revenue accounted for a large proportion. However, with the corruption of the salt administration system, the tax revenue of this part was sharply reduced. No matter how many methods were used, I wanted to effectively solve the disadvantages of salt tax,

Failed to achieve the expected results.

The corruption of the administration in the Ming Dynasty officialdom cannot be effectively rectified, and it is unrealistic to change it at other levels.

Emperor Chongzhen calmed down and looked at Bi Ziyan and said, "What do you think about the salt tax rectification?"

Increased land tax will involve a wider level and involve more groups. If you really dare to buy in this area, then the Ming Dynasty will not stop.

If you dare to touch some core interests, the group of civil servants of the Ming Dynasty will jump up first, first hold up the banner of ancestral system and etiquette, stand firmly, and then launch a rapid counterattack. At that time, Emperor Chongzhen

The situation that is maintained will be surrounded by enemies.

Using one contradiction to cover up other contradictions is a common trick used by civil servants. Emperor Chongzhen did not want his clear deployment to suffer any kind of impact and influence.

If you are really forced to get involved in endless internal friction, don’t think about talking about development or change in the struggle. The overall environment has changed. Who will ask you to do what you want to do with peace of mind?

Bi Ziyan pondered for a moment, and said firmly: "As for the rectification of the salt tax, I now have some preliminary ideas. If the court wants to effectively rectify the salt tax, it will take a longer time to gradually eliminate the ills of the salt tax.

.

After all, there are many things that cannot be done day and night.

Especially when the relevant decrees issued by the court are actually issued to the local area, there will definitely be situations of shirk responsibility and delay."

This is a worry that I'm too hasty.

Emperor Chongzhen narrowed his eyes slightly, and did not show any impatientness to what Bi Ziyan said. He seemed to be talking a lot of useless nonsense, which had nothing to do with the rectification of the salt tax, but he decided to go ahead.

For a period of time, the tone of salt tax rectification was involved.

Bi Ziyan, the wealthy official of the Ming Dynasty, knew very well about the bad policies and bad debts of the salt administration system of the Ming Dynasty. The reason why he did not dare to mention this matter too much before was because there were too many aspects involved.

The situation faced by the imperial court in the past was unstable.

Under such a turbulent situation, if the court took action to rectify the salt tax, who knew that under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, would there be more stove owners and private salt dealers revolt?

"The Qing family just keeps it safe and bold."

Facing Bi Ziyan's gaze, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "This is in Xiyuan, not in Wenhua Hall. Don't worry about talking too much, and those who are interested will hear it.

I was not at the beginning of the Great Emperor, and I did not know the situation of the state and did not have enough knowledge of the state, so I would say whatever my family had.

I know that if the court wants to rectify the salt tax and then increase the tax revenue of the state government, it will inevitably encounter many problems. What our monarchs and ministers need to do now is to reduce the problems as much as possible, so that the situation faced by the state government can be fully met.

It might not be that bad.”

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Bi Ziyan was a little excited and hurriedly bowed and said.

What Emperor Chongzhen said was considered to give Bi Ziyan great confidence.

If the emperor can obey his advice in rectifying the salt tax, then Bi Ziyan has the determination and confidence to gradually change the bad policies and problems in the salt tax through gradual adjustments and rectifications.

In fact, what Bi Ziyan was most worried and afraid of was that the emperor wanted to see changes in the salt tax in a short period of time, which would increase the country's income and wealth.

If we really rectify the salt tax with this mentality, the final result will definitely not be the increase in the salt tax revenue of the state, but will be the chaos in the salt administration, the damage to the stability of the local government, and even the

In severe salt tax areas such as Lianghuai, unimaginable riots will break out.

"In fact, if the court wants to effectively rectify the salt tax, it must be divided into several periods to gradually solve the disadvantages and problems that need to be solved in different periods."

Bi Ziyan said with a serious expression: "Just like during the initial period of reorganization of the salt tax, the focus of the court's rectification should be on cracking down on private salt sales in various places, checking salt farms in various places, checking the stove households under its jurisdiction, targeting Shandong, Lianghuai, etc.

Salt taxes will conduct corresponding inspections and supervision in important places.

The bad governments and problems in the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty were largely due to problems in the foundation, especially the private salt sales, which are repeatedly banned in various places.

If the court fails to achieve corresponding results in these matters, it will want to rely on rectifying the salt tax and allow the state to increase the corresponding taxes. This is obviously unrealistic."

Emperor Chongzhen nodded in agreement.

In the 45th year of Wanli, in order to dispose of the accumulated resources, the Ming Dynasty abolished the "Kaizhong Law" and clarified the "Outline Law". From then on, the government no longer collected salt, but instead traded directly by merchants and stove owners, and bought and sold all belonged to the merchants.

, and has been hereditary.

The "project" program established is the civil system, commercial collection, commercial transportation, and commercial sales system, which is called the official supervision and commercial sales system.

The good or bad of this salt administration system is not the case. However, in the context of the corruption of the Ming Dynasty's administration, the core interests of the lower-level stove households have undoubtedly been greatly infringed and exploited, which also makes the Ming Dynasty's salt administration system actually come from the root

It is destroyed just by saying that.

After all, it is too easy to coerce local officials and businessmen to bully the superiors and suppress them.

Bi Ziyan continued: "In this period, the court should focus on the northern provinces, and the trial of the governor's responsibility system can be followed by Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaodong, etc.

The local governor and the supervisor gradually implemented the government decrees issued by the court.

As for the rectification of the provinces in the south and southwest, the court could appropriately relax it, first based on the actual rectification of the provinces in the north, and lay a foundation for the rectification of the salt tax in the next period.

After all, there are too many problems and disadvantages in the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty. It is simply unrealistic for the court to solve them all in one go.

Instead of dispersing limited energy, it is better to concentrate on solving some areas first. After the salt administration and ill-adjustment in these areas are initially resolved, the court will be able to take more initiative.

I have calculated the calculation that if the salt tax rectification during this period can achieve the predetermined results, the court will be able to increase its income by at least 2 million taels of salt tax."

This conscious avoidance of the important is indeed an active solution to the positive trend of the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen highly recognized Bi Ziyan's idea of ​​rectifying the salt tax in the early days. If the Ming Dynasty did not owe so much debt in the salt administration in the past, there was no need to adopt this differentiated approach.

In a sense, Bi Ziyan's method is an alternative appeasement strategy, using time to exchange space to gradually solve problems.

If the initial rectification of the salt tax will encounter various problems, which will lead to a significant delay in the reform progress, then even if the plan is well planned, it will be empty talk.

Emperor Chongzhen narrowed his eyes and said, "The core of the initial salt tax rectification proposed by the Qing family is the governors of various places. As long as they are willing to respect the imperial court's orders and assist the imperial court in rectifying local salt administration, many cumbersome matters can be effectively implemented.

In this case, the local disaster relief administration needs to participate.

After all, if so many cumbersome matters are simply done by local governments at all levels, it will inevitably involve a lot of things, and there will inevitably be shirking responsibility and constraints."

Bi Ziyan nodded and said, "Indeed, Your Majesty initially set up a special disaster relief office in the court and a special disaster relief administration office in the local area. I don't understand it in my heart. After all, this does not belong to the official system of the Ming Dynasty.
To be continued...