On the eighth day of June in the fifteenth year of Daoguang, Yilibu returned to Kunming safely after his pilgrimage to Daoguang. Ruan Yuan immediately handed over the governor's seal to Yilibu, and then left the city with his family and headed north, ending his career as a frontier official overseeing nine provinces.

Ruan Yuan served as governor of Yunnan and Guizhou for a total of eight years and ten months, second only to Fugang of the Qianlong dynasty and Bolin of the Jiaqing dynasty. The successive governors of Yunnan and Guizhou after the Qing Dynasty never served longer than Ruan Yuan. As for the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou,

In terms of one position, Ruan Yuan served the third longest time in the Qing Dynasty, and was the first among Han officials.

By July, Ruan Yuan and his party had already turned to the waterway and entered Dongting Lake, preparing to go all the way south to Guazhou and then north from the Grand Canal to Beijing. Looking at the scenery on Dongting Lake, Ruan Yuan couldn't help but think of how he had gone there in September of the 22nd year of Jiaqing.

He took his family with him and went south from Dongting Lake to Guangzhou. From then on, he settled in Anbian, and served as governor of the southwest of the Qing Dynasty for eighteen years. But in this way, except for four brief visits to Beijing, he had not seen the Central Plains for eighteen years.

The scenery, now he can finally return to the Central Plains, but after eighteen years, both the Ruan family and the Central Plains have long been changed. Thinking of the withering state of his relatives and friends, Ruan Yuan also shed tears and sighed endlessly.

.

"Kong Hou, my father served as governor of nine provinces in his life, and also supervised water transportation. Now that he has been appointed governor, how many years did he serve as governor? Do you still remember?" Ruan Yuan looked back on his thousands of miles of travel and counted.

I also asked Ruan Konghou about his ten years as an official.

"Dad, these children, Mr. Zhang and several brothers from Hangzhou have chronological records, so the children know it clearly." Ruan Konghou also replied to Ruan Yuan: "Dad first became governor of Zhejiang in October of the fourth year of Jiaqing.

In July of the 10th year of Jiaqing, my grandfather passed away, and my father returned home to guard the system. This lasted for five years and ten months. In the twelfth month of the Jiaqing year, my father was again appointed governor of Zhejiang, temporarily stationed in Henan. Later, he went south to Zhejiang, and resigned in August of the 14th year. A total of

One year and nine months. In August of the seventeenth year of Jiaqing, my father was appointed as the Governor of Water Transport. After that, he successively held the post of feudal governor until he handed over the seal with Yi Zhi Tai last month. It was twenty-two years and eleven months. Calculated together.

It is said that my father has served as governor for a total of thirty years and six months."

"Really? Thirty years have passed since the governor of Xinjiang. In the blink of an eye, more than thirty years have passed..." Ruan Yuan also nodded and praised Ruan Konghou.

Raising the sea and suppressing barbarians are like clouds and smoke.

Thirty years of supervising the world also means that Ruan Yuan's golden age has passed.

And what can the future prime minister Ruan Yuan do?

At the end of July, Ruan Yuan's boat had arrived in Jiangning. As soon as the boat stopped, he received a letter from the Governor's Office of Liangjiang. It turned out that Tao Shu remembered that he had argued with Kong Luhua about the Jiang family a few years ago, and he felt sorry for it, so he

I wanted to invite Ruan Yuan to go to the Governor's Court to talk about it and apologize to Kong Luhua. Ruan Yuanzheng also wanted to ask Tao Shu about something, so he accepted Tao Shu's invitation. On this day, Lin Zexu also came from Suzhou to Jiangning to report on his work, so the three of them

They all gathered in the headquarters of the Governor-General of Liangjiang. When they heard Ruan Yuan mention that Kong Luhua had died of illness three years ago, Tao Shu and Lin Zexu were each surprised and sighed.

"Ruan Zhongtang, I am really ashamed to deal with Mrs. Ruan for such a thing." Tao Shu pondered for a while, and then apologized to Ruan Yuan: "Four years ago, I always handled the affairs of the Jiang family in a hurry, and I didn't do it in a hurry.

I knew that Ruan Zhongtang and the Jiang family were originally related by marriage. At that time, I just thought that Mrs. Ruan came to stop me from checking the salt affairs, so I argued with her for half a day. Later, I heard Shao Mu talk about it and learned about that day.

Mrs. Ruan came here because of illness. In this case, Tao cannot be blamed for Mrs. Ruan's death. Please ask Ruan Zhongtang to hold Tao accountable."

"Mr. Tao, my wife was originally weak, and then she traveled thousands of miles. Even if she argued with you, her condition did not improve for a while, but after another year, she recovered. If it were just my wife's business,

, Mr. Tao doesn't need to care so much." However, Ruan Yuan changed the topic and actually talked about another important matter: "It's just that I was thinking today that since I returned to Jiangnan, I should also meet Mr. Tao, no.

For other reasons, Mr. Tao, is there any reason why you have changed the 'Pick Salt Method' in Lianghuai in recent years?"

"This...Ruan Zhongtang, the 'Piao Salt Method' is indeed something that Xiaguan has been doing in Lianghuai for the past three years." Tao Shu also replied to Ruan Yuan.

"Mr. Tao, do you know that this salt law has many disadvantages?" Ruan Yuan asked Tao Shu again: "Just last year, some people from my hometown in Yangzhou wrote to me, talking about your change of profession.

As for the Salt Law, according to your opinion, merchants can issue salt coupons to them and let them sell salt by themselves as long as they pay the money to collect the coupons to the Transportation Secretary, right? Then do you know that many people today have no wealth at all?

, they only wanted to make a profit overnight and did not care about anything else. They first asked someone to borrow money, pretended that their property was sufficient, and went to the transportation department to exchange for salt stamps. After selling the salt once, they disappeared without a trace.

I tried to find them to repay the money, but no one could be found! I also have some old friends in Yangzhou who borrowed cash from these people, but now they can’t be seen. When I asked the transportation department, the transportation department said that they only recognized the tickets and issued them.

Responsible for tracking down the details of those people! Mr. Tao, your implementation of this salt law is just to open the door for those cunning people, isn't it?"

Ruan Yuan just finished speaking. Tao Shu and Lin Zexu were also surprised. Lin Zexu also asked Ruan Yuan: "Ruan Zhongtang, we have been practicing the method of voting for salt over the years. In the past, the two Huaihe salt affairs have been in debt for many years. But, can we

After the salt vote came into effect, the salt tax increased day by day in the past few years, and there was no shortage. I heard that the private price of salt was not as high as before, but... But even so, the salt vote was seen in the middle hall

Come, are there many disadvantages?"

"Shao Mu, I have also handled the salt affairs. I have heard of the name of this salt law before. It is just a remote place in the mountainous areas of various provinces. The merchants are unwilling to do salt work, so they use this salt law to make up for it.

.Is it ineffective to rectify the salt affairs in Yunnan? When I first arrived in Yunnan, the salt tax was in deficit by 100,000 taels a year. After my investigation over the past few years, the annual salt tax was able to make a surplus of more than 20,000 taels! I also looked at it

I am worried about the salt tax, so I ask my subordinates to check the private salt price every year, and it never increases. But how have I ever used this salt tax method? Salt production in mountainous areas has meager profits, so profiteers will not take this idea.

, but you are now engaged in salt voting in the entire Lianghuai River. The Lianghuai River has always been a land with rich salt profits. If you have this method, how can the people below not have evil thoughts?" After saying that, Ruan Yuan also took two coins.

The letter came out and was given to Lin Zexu and Tao Shu to show that it was indeed true that the unscrupulous businessman had borrowed money to sell salt and absconded without a trace.

"Ruan Zhongtang, I understand that there was something wrong with the Salt Law issue before. In the future, in Yangzhou, I will ask Yunsi Yamen in time to handle these things better."

It should be more appropriate." Tao Shu read the two letters and agreed with Ruan Yuan's doubts. However, Tao Shu obviously did not give up the salt vote method because of these doubts: "But Ruan Zhongtang, there are also lower officials.

For consideration, when Zhongtang handled salt affairs in Yunnan before, he did not need to vote for salt. It was the same for the government and the people. This was clear to Xianguan. But when Xianguan first came to Jiangsu, why did he ever think of using the salt vote? At that time,

The price of salt in Jiangsu is soaring. Both Mr. Jiang Wenqin and I believe that the problem lies in illegal salt, so we strictly investigate and deal with illegal salt. But five years later, the problem of illegal salt has not improved, and Mr. Wenqin died with regrets.

Only then did the lower officials realize that checking for illicit salt was only a temporary solution, and that the failure of salt affairs in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River was at the root. Therefore, when the lower official became the governor of Liangjiang, he strictly dealt with the arrears and dismissed the salt merchants. This was also the case with Mrs. Ruan.

After talking to each other, the official realized that the shortcomings of the Lianghuai River were not entirely due to the salt merchants, but to the inherent shortcomings of the salt law. In this case, if the salt law and the Lianghuai salt affairs cannot be fundamentally clarified,

How to create advantages and eliminate disadvantages? Ruan Zhongtang, one province has its own political affairs, Yunnan and Jiangnan, the disadvantages of salt affairs are not all at one end. Yunnan does not need such fundamental changes, it does not mean that Jiangnan does not need it either.

?”

"General Tao, it is true that one province has its own political affairs, but whenever regulations are formulated, there must be a long-term plan for running the country. We must not destroy the foundation of Jiangnan just to make up for a temporary deficit? What if we receive votes in the future? If everyone is a fraud, then the common people will lose confidence in the salt affairs of the imperial court. When the time comes, the price of salt will rise in a matter of days! Mr. Tao, you may not see these things in this term, but in your next term Where are the governors? Aren't you going to hurt them?" Ruan Yuan still has his own worries about the salt vote law.

"Ruan Zhongtang, if the current shortcomings of the salt affairs in Jiangnan are just arthralgias that can be cured by acupuncture and medication, then why should I bother with this? It is precisely because the current salt affairs have caused difficulties for both the government, business and people. I have to implement this method to clarify the fundamentals. Otherwise, is there any other way to solve the current dilemma of salt affairs?" Obviously, Tao Shu did not want to give up the salt voting method just because of Ruan Yuan's questioning, but Tao Shu Shu was not a rigid and stubborn person, and still said to Ruan Yuan: "However, what Ruan Zhongtang said today is indeed reasonable. The practice of voting and salt law is the fundamental policy and should not be rushed. For these profiteers with insufficient qualifications, I will lower my official position." Naturally, we will strictly investigate and deal with it. If there are any imperfections in the old regulations, the subordinates will also consider them properly in order to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages, so that good laws can be implemented at any time."

"Yes, Ruan Zhongtang, I am still the governor of Jiangsu now, and I also have a certain responsibility for handling salt affairs." Lin Zexu also assured Ruan Yuan: "In the future, if Zhongtang can still learn about the shortcomings of other salt voting laws, I also ask Zhongtang to inform the subordinates as soon as possible. It is said that there is no way to govern people. Now Mr. Tao and I are in Jiangnan. These things change due to time and circumstances. It is not difficult. Ruan Zhongtang, don’t you still believe it? Official?"

"Shao Mu, you..." Ruan Yuan couldn't believe it for a moment. Although Lin Zexu, who used to be his teacher, was now willing to accept his criticism, in terms of policy direction, he had completely moved towards Tao Shu. .
Chapter completed!