Chapter 512 This is the country that the lonely heart yearns for!

Author: flaming chicken fir

Lao Zhu's insinuation not only frightened Zhu Di, but also frightened all of Zhu Di's younger brothers.

In fact, there is a chain of contempt among the princes of the Ming Dynasty. The ones at the top receive relatively more "care" from Lao Zhu.

At that time, Lao Zhu thought he only had a few cubs in his life, so he hired the best masters for them and put a lot of effort into their training.

But when he later discovered that his vitality was so strong, and the subsequent cubs popped out like dumplings, his "love" was dispersed, and he no longer paid so much attention to the subsequent prince.

Even the sons born to the most favored Concubine Guo Hui only received a few favors from Lao Zhu, and were far from being valued by the first batch of princes.

Zhu Di was lucky enough to catch up with the first batch and received endless paternal love from his father since he was a child.

Now that all the small vassal kings saw that their fourth brother was in trouble, they all immediately started to panic.

After all, there were not many vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty who were engaged in human affairs. Even if they did not suppress the rebellion, they still bullied men and women in their fiefdoms and took human life lightly.

"Father, calm down!"

"Fourth brother is the most loyal person, how could he do such a treasonous thing?"

"Father, please investigate clearly!"

After Chu King Zhu Zhen shouted this slogan, other vassal kings followed suit.

"I hope my father will investigate clearly!"

Zhu Di's panic calmed down a bit when he saw all his brothers interceding for him.

However, when he saw his father's gloomy face, he still lowered his head guiltily, assuming a submissive attitude of letting his father do whatever he wanted.

Lao Zhu looked at his sons kneeling on the ground and felt very complicated.

Although due to his bad temper, the officials of the Ming Dynasty did not dare to accuse the princes of their unfaithfulness. But how could he, the father of the emperor, not notice it at all?

In fact, he knew a lot of things, but he was just too lazy to care about them, and he didn't have the energy to care about them.

Because once the scandals about his sons are revealed, some ministers will surely point to the opposition of the government and the public to the enfeoffment.

When the time comes, will he withdraw from the vassal state or issue an edict to punish himself?

Therefore, he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb, pretending that he didn't know anything.

After all, no matter how unworthy these sons are, they are still his sons. They are part of his grand chess game of establishing feudal vassals and using the princes to guard the borders.

But for Zhu Di, his mood was very complicated.

While appreciating Zhu Di's abilities, he was also worried that Zhu Di would cause trouble after his death.

Lao Zhu was not worried that Zhu Di could steal the throne of his eldest grandson. He was really worried that this guy would set himself on fire and take the initiative to provoke the eldest grandson, but he would be killed by the eldest grandson on the pretext of quelling the rebellion!

In that case, the lineage of King Yan would be extinct!

Therefore, Lao Zhu is now harsh on Zhu Di. Isn't it a kind of protection from a loving father?

"Salt and iron are the lifeblood of the imperial court, no one is allowed to get involved!"

When Zhu Di heard his father's words, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

so close!

I was almost killed by the old man to scare the monkeys!

"Father, calm down!"

"I was confused for a moment, so I made this unkind request. I never dare to have such an idea again..."

Although Lao Zhu's words were intended to slap Zhu Di, they were more based on reality.

Since the Han Dynasty implemented the salt and iron monopoly system, salt and iron have always been important financial and tax pillars of the imperial court.

Iron can be loosened occasionally, and private iron smelting and selling are allowed.

However, salt control has always been very strict in the past dynasties. Selling private salt is tantamount to rebellion, and anyone caught will be beheaded.

The reason why salt was so strictly controlled in ancient times was because it was not only about finance, but also about the rule of the empire.

If people don't eat salt for a long time, they will feel weak and even develop other symptoms.

Therefore, controlling the circulation of salt also controls the lifeblood of the people.

After Lao Zhu finished hammering, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became a little tense.

Every prince was sitting upright, and there was no longer any chatting and laughing as before.

Just as everyone was thinking about how to break the deadlock, a weak voice sounded.

"Grandpa Huang, my grandson thinks it's not too much for my fourth uncle to want to cook sea salt..."

As soon as Zhu Yunxi said this, all the feudal princes in the hall were shocked. Even Lao Zhu looked at his rebellious grandson in surprise, and his heart was full of suspicion.

Can't this grandson see that he is protecting his rights?

Zhu Yunxi seemed to be unaware and continued to talk to himself.

"Salt and iron have been sold exclusively for more than a thousand years, and it's time to lift the ban."

"Furthermore, the salt tax is only a few million taels of silver a year, and it is decreasing year by year. This shows how corrupt the people below are."

"Instead of strictly guarding against it, our Ming Dynasty should fully liberalize it and let the people live a life of freedom in eating salt."

When Lao Zhu heard this, he immediately felt that there was something in Da Sun's words, so he hurriedly asked in confusion.

"What do you mean by what you just said? What do you mean by the Ming Dynasty salt tax decreasing year by year?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunxi touched his sleeves, took out a memorial and handed it over.

"Grandpa Huang, my grandson happened to be discussing the salt policy with the Minister of Household Affairs today. He discovered that since the twelfth year of Hongwu's reign, the salt tax has been decreasing year by year. Now it is less than two million taels of silver per year."

"Moreover, the Kaizhong method has gradually been weakened. Now my second uncle's military rations are shipped there by my hired merchants."

Lao Zhu couldn't help but frown as he listened to his eldest grandson's story. Opening the French flag was a political achievement that he was quite proud of, so why did his grandson say it was a success or failure again?

However, when Lao Zhu looked at the salt tax records handed over by Zhu Yunxi over the years, his face suddenly became gloomy.

"how so!"

"Obviously there were still three million in the early years of Hongwu, but just a few years later, the salt tax has dropped by 30%!"

When Zhu Yunxi heard this, he said that this was settled. In a dozen years, if our Ming Dynasty can collect one million every year, you will be considered great!

"Grandpa Huang, I have to ask you, have you been slacking off in your fight against corruption in the past few years?"

When Lao Zhu heard this, his face changed drastically and he glared at Da Sun displeased.

"It's not because of you!"

"If we hadn't done it to gain virtue for you, I would have put those moths in order long ago!"

Zhu Yunxi lost his temper immediately after hearing what Lao Zhu said. No matter how you say it, this is the deep love from Grandpa Huang.

"Grandpa Huang, my grandson has discussed this matter with Chen Shangshu and feels that there are several reasons for the reduction in salt tax."

"First, the government purchase price has been reduced, which has made kitchen households unwilling to sell salt to the government, resulting in a decrease in government revenue."

The so-called Zao households are people who are responsible for boiling salt. Lao Zhu also unified them as Zao households, who can only boil water and boil salt for the Ming Dynasty from generation to generation.

"Secondly, there is collusion between government and businessmen. Some moths sell salt to businessmen at low prices and let them sell it privately."

"Thirdly, the Open China Law seems to have two advantages. It not only facilitates the transportation of grain and grass for border troops, but also makes merchants profitable. However, the losses during the period are not small, and the appeal to merchants is far less than imagined."

"Instead of struggling to transport grain, it would be more cost-effective for them to manage the officials well and sell salt directly from our official warehouses in the Ming Dynasty."

"Furthermore, local governments are digging salt wells privately, and this kind of thing is often prohibited."

"So Sun'er feels that instead of wasting manpower to renovate the salt industry, it is better to completely liberalize it and let the salt farms operate independently. We will set a unified tax amount based on the scale and size of the salt farms, and the excess will be considered as their money."

"Well..."

Lao Zhu was very moved after hearing Da Sun's words, but the matter was too big for him to make a decision for a while.

"Let us think about it..."

Seeing Lao Zhu say this, Zhu Yunxi immediately rolled his eyes.

"Then you should think about it slowly. I'll talk to the uncles first!"

After Zhu Yunxi said this, he really stopped talking to Lao Zhu and started chatting with Zhu Di enthusiastically.

"Uncle Fourth!"

"If you want to sell salt, go ahead and sell it!"

"I fully support this!"

Zhu Yunxi's sudden behavior directly made Zhu Di feel flattered, and even secretly ashamed in his heart.

Isn’t my eldest nephew very nice? Why do I always want to rebel?

After Zhu Yunxi finished speaking to Zhu Di, he turned to look at the other uncles.

"Uncle Seven!"
To be continued...