In the early Ming Dynasty, the country's finances were in short supply, and it was especially difficult to effectively bear the burden of continuously transporting military rations to the northern border troops. The "Kaizhong and France" was used under such difficult conditions.

The court chose to sacrifice the national salt franchise and used salt to pay to merchants who transported the grain to the northern border troops, while the merchants used salt to get salt to the salt field to extract salt, thus obtaining rewards.

Because this was a huge profit, merchants from all over the country transported grain to the north for the court, and Shanxi merchants who received regional benefits were particularly active, which allowed them to make huge profits.

This is an undisputed national policy, after all, this solves the problem of guarding the frontier and continuing national stability.

It is precisely because the "salt distribution rights" delegated by the Ming Dynasty in a special period fell into the hands of merchants, and into the hands of groups such as Lianghuai Business Group and Shanxi Gang.

With the continuous development of farmland in the Jiubian area and the improvement of the imperial court's military food transportation network, the imperial court has been able to easily solve the problem of grain transportation, and the "Kaising China and France" has become a name-for-noble.

During the Hongzhi period, the "Kaizhongfa" was officially abolished, and merchants no longer needed to transport grain to the nine borders. They could get salt induction by paying silver to the court. This was the "Salt Induction Method".

During the process of "Kaizhong Law" to "Salt Induction Law", the "salt distribution rights" of the court remained in the hands of merchants, and these salt merchants had long become the climate.

Through various means, they obtained the "salt distribution rights" at a lower cost, forming a salt monopoly in various regions, thus enjoying huge profits and forming a powerful interest group.

The same is true. The disadvantage of the salt administration of the Ming Dynasty was that the "salt distribution rights" of the imperial court failed to sell at a good price, but the people ate high-priced salt and divided the profits to specific merchants or nobles.

When Yan Song faced financial pressure, he sent Yan Maoqing to reorganize the salt administration in the four places last year in order to sell the "salt distribution rights" higher, but this move was undoubtedly a move to the salt merchants in Lianghuai and the nobles behind them.

After these people regarded Yan Song as a thorn in their eyes, they spared no effort to help Xu Jie, and finally drove Yan Song out of the position of chief minister, and Xu Jie naturally took over as chief minister.

In the biggest political storm in the past twenty years, it is better to say that it is Xu Jie's victory, but rather that it is the victory of the two quasi-salt salt merchants.

Xu Jie took advantage of the power of the salt group in the two Huaihe Rivers to take power, so he naturally wanted to "repay favors", abolish the "tyranny" of the Yan Song period, and spit out all the salt profits eaten by the court, so that the "salt distribution rights" would return to a low-price section.

Now Xu Jie has already made an early public opinion campaign, suing the tragic complaints of the two-quasi-salt salt merchants and others in the capital, and making Yan Maoqing's various bad deeds public. As long as the time is ripe and as long as the salt inspector Xu submits a memorial to the press, it will be natural to restore the old system next year.

If Xu Jie's most important move to take office was undoubtedly to abolish the salt administration during the Yan Song period.

If Wu Shan stood up at this time and proposed to rectify the salt administration and increase the salt tax revenue, he would undoubtedly stand opposite to Xu Jie and follow the group of salt merchants in Lianghuai to the opposite side, and would face unprecedented strong pressure.

"Father-in-law, are you really planning to be with Master Xu and Guangchen?" Lin Ran knew Xu Jie's next plan, but he looked up at Wu Shan seriously and asked.

If Wu Shan was determined to keep the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and did not even have the courage to stand up and express his position on the salt administration, then he would have stopped fighting with Xu Jie and the two salt merchants behind him and lie in dormant in the north of the city.

Anyway, he was already the third-rank Shuntian Prefecture. Even if he was forced to release him by Xu Jie, he would be the day when he would be the governor of the local area and he would be able to return to the capital.

Wu Shan faced Lin Ran's sharp gaze, but he picked up the teacup and said with his heart: "The court has finally calmed down now, and Master Xu is not a completely flattering subject. Maybe he can change the current situation of the court!"

Lin Ran frowned slightly, knowing that this father-in-law was not a person who was greedy for power, but like many officials, he still had a trace of fantasy about the newly appointed Xu Jie, hoping that Xu Jie would show his courage to reform the court.

But these people are destined to be disappointed. Since Xu Jie can collude with the salt merchants of Lianghuai for the position of chief minister, he is destined not to touch the interests of officials, gentry and nobles. Xu Jie is essentially a standard politician.

But such a politician chief minister is not what the Ming Dynasty currently needs, and it is actually not much different from Yan Song and others.

Lin Ran's face was slightly slower, and he carefully analyzed: "Her Old Xu served as the chief minister for more than a month, but he had not only opened up the channels of speech to win over all officials and cleaned up the remnants of the stern party, what did he do for the current court? Now that the court's finances are in trouble, the chief minister did not propose a feasible plan to the emperor, but instead kicked the ball to the Ministry of Revenue. Do you think such a person can shoulder the Ming Dynasty and change the current court situation?"

A solemn look appeared on Wu Shan's face, and he was quietly savoring the tea in the cup, obviously he was still hesitating.

Lin Ran clenched his fists on the stone table and continued to say with great sincerity: "You should see that if you cannot come up with a feasible financial management strategy this time, Xu Jie may not take the opportunity to force you out of the capital, and no one in the court will threaten him. Next year, the Lianghuai Salt Tax will resume the old rules, and the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue will not increase but decrease, and the problem will still be in the root cause. The Ming Dynasty may be able to stand up again now, but decades later, our Ming Dynasty may be in danger!"

This is not an exaggeration. The demise of many dynasties is not caused by the continuous superposition of problems. As the saying goes: a thousand-mile dike collapses in an ant hole.

The reason why Lin Ran encouraged Wu Shan to stand up at this time was not only because he wanted Wu Shan to "rescue himself" but also to do something practical for the Ming Dynasty, so as not to let the salt administration issue eventually become one of the factors that drag down the Ming Dynasty.

"Ruoyu, if I stood up and sang a stage drama with Master Xu, I'm afraid there would be many twists and turns in the court!" Wu Shan was obviously moved a little, but he sighed when he put down the teacup.

After entering the officialdom for more than 20 years, how could he not see that the current officialdom is no longer a piece of iron barrel, and he constantly plots against each other in order to compete for power. It is this kind of internal friction that makes the court unable to seek welfare for the people at all.

Lin Ran saw Wu Shan finally let go, and his heart was finally able to let go, and a sentence flashed through his mind. He immediately clenched his fists and looked at Wu Shan firmly and said, "I'll go even if there are thousands of people."
Chapter completed!