While the prince was studying the East Palace course, Xu Ying also arrived in Yangzhou, the capital of Jiangsu.
The entire Jiangsu officialdom was wary of the new chief envoy. There was no way, Xu Ying's previous identity was too sensitive, so the emperor actually sent the "Jinyiwei Chief" to take charge of Jiangsu?
However, after being in Yangzhou for more than half a month, Xu Ying seemed to have no intention of changing anything.
He normally summoned subordinate officials, listened to reports from various prefectures and counties, and processed official documents step by step.
This approach makes some people more vigilant and some people completely relaxed.
Wang Mingran, who had been boating on the West Lake, heard that Xu Ying had become the governor of Jiangsu Province. He was so frightened that he took a speedboat overnight and rushed to Yangzhou to pay his respects.
After submitting invitations for several days, Wang Mingran was finally summoned.
"The common people pay their respects to the feudal lord!"
As a top salt merchant, Wang Mingran stepped forward to salute politely, standing in front of Xu Ying like a primary school student.
Xu Ying's attitude was very kind, and he even had a smile on his face. He greeted warmly: "Brother Mingran, please sit down quickly. You and I have known each other for many years, why do you need to be so out of touch?"
"Thank you, sir." Wang Mingran sat down nervously.
Xu Ying said: "It has been nearly ten years since we last said goodbye. Brother Mingran has not aged at all. He is still as energetic and there is not a trace of gray hair on his temples."
Wang Mingran apologized and said with a smile: "I'm sorry to hear you worry, but in fact they are all dyed, and my temples have already turned gray."
Hair dyeing technology has long existed in ancient times. According to the "Book of Han", Wang Mang dyed his hair and beard black in order to calm people's hearts and show that he was not aging.
There are also unofficial records that Kou Zhun in the Song Dynasty dyed his beard all white to appear mature and dignified, and to gain the emperor's trust. Su Shi also wrote a poem to ridicule Wang Tinglao, saying that this guy dyed his hair to look young and shamelessly flattered the powerful minister Lu Huiqing.
Hair dyeing became more popular in the Ming Dynasty, and small advertisements were even posted in the official offices.
Xu Ying asked people to watch tea, and did not talk about business at all. She followed the topic of hair dyeing and said: "I came to Yangzhou this time to take up my post, but I also found an interesting thing. There was that luxurious young man in the city who dyed his temples purple and brought his entourage with him. He walked through the city in a swaggering manner, and everyone who came and went looked at him with suspicion."
"This is a hair monster!" Wang Mingran said.
Purple hair was not allowed to be dyed casually in the Ming Dynasty, but it was not prohibited in the New Dynasty of Datong.
Xu Ying did not criticize this, but said: "Blue hair and purple temples are quite novel and interesting, and they look more graceful and noble."
The two kept chatting for half an hour, Xu Ying only talked about trivial matters, and Wang Mingran became more and more restless. He had helped Xu Ying develop a secret agent, and knew that Xu Ying seemed harmless, but when she actually took action, she didn't recognize her relatives.
However, Wang Mingran could not guess Xu Ying's thoughts.
He wanted to be completely submissive and tell all the dirty things, but he was afraid that he would be self-defeating because of it. What if Xu Ying didn't know how to investigate the salt affairs?
Finally, Xu Ying picked up the tea cup to see the guests off: "Brother Mingran, it's getting late. I still have official duties to attend to. Let's raise a glass and have a chat some other time. We'll definitely be drunk by then."
Wang Mingran stood up and bowed to say goodbye. When he walked to the door, he was unable to cross the threshold. He raised and lowered his right foot several times, as if he had some foot disease.
Xu Ying didn't say anything, just held the teacup and sat there quietly.
Suddenly, Wang Mingran gritted his teeth and turned around, knelt down and said: "Master Fansi, help me!"
Xu Ying then put down her tea cup: "Let's talk."
Wang Mingran said: "The villain will take the initiative to repay the salt tax that the Wang family has evaded over the years... No, double the repayment!"
"That's it?" Xu Ying was still expressionless.
Wang Mingran was finally convinced that Xu Ying was sent by the emperor to clean up Jiangsu. He did not dare to hide anything anymore and said: "Officials in the Jiangsu Salt Affairs Department more or less accept bribes. The higher the rank of the official, the more likely he is to clean up Jiangsu."
Don't dare to tell the cashier openly. The salt merchant has a calligraphy and painting shop in Yangzhou, and secretly buys officials' calligraphy at high prices. The most expensive calligraphy was sold for three thousand taels."
Xu Ying still had a dull face: "Continue talking."
Wang Mingran said: "Hui...Hui merchants and Gan merchants united with the government and merged all the businesses of Western merchants (Shanxi merchants) in Jiangsu."
Business mergers are normal, but when the government intervenes, it is obviously chaotic.
Xu Ying asked: "How was it merged?"
Wang Mingran replied: "Although Western merchants are declining day by day, there are still many Western merchants who have obtained salt merchant franchise licenses. Some Western merchants have opened salt farms in Jianghuai; some Western merchants have been allowed to transport salt and sell it to other provinces. Every time the government implements
When inspecting the salt affairs, we only strictly investigate Western merchants, and those Western merchants dare not break the law. But they will break the law even if they don’t break the law. According to the law of the court, the first few times are just warnings and fines, and then the franchise license can be revoked. "
The Gan merchants came from the land of Longxing in this dynasty.
The Huizhou merchants had supported Zhao Han very early and even helped Zhao Han capture Yangzhou without any bloodshed.
These two forces have joined forces, and the government is still trying to sidestep the situation. How can the merchants of Shanxi and Shaanxi resist it? Even if they are forced to sell their shops and salt fields, the merchants of Shanxi and Shaanxi do not dare to complain, for fear that they will not even be able to save their lives in the end.
Over the past few years, the Western merchants' industries in Jiangsu were completely swallowed up.
Xu Ying was not satisfied yet: "Are you avoiding the important and taking the easy? Why has the price of salt kept rising in recent years? The Ministry of Commerce has issued repeated orders to announce the guide price of salt every year. Why is the price of Huai salt getting more and more expensive?"
Wang Mingran swallowed his saliva and explained: "The weather is getting colder and colder, and it is not easy to dry salt. The wages of salt farm workers are also getting higher and higher."
"I see, you can leave." Xu Ying did not refute this nonsense.
Wang Mingran was even more afraid to leave after being told that. At this time, he became more and more sure that Xu Ying had already grasped the truth. After all, this person used to be the "Head of Jinyiwei".
Wang Mingran gritted his teeth and said: "After the Western merchants' industries were annexed, Ganxi merchants and Hui merchants joined forces to increase prices. The transporters (salt transporters) were also ours, and they increased together with them. The imperial court sent people to investigate, and everyone agreed.
, said it is making salt, and the cost of transporting salt has increased."
With the cooperation of the Jiangsu Salt Affairs Department, Ganxi merchants and Hui merchants joined forces to monopolize Huai salt, not only monopolizing the manufacturing of Huai salt, but even monopolizing the export of Huai salt.
Xu Ying was still dissatisfied: "If you want to keep your business, don't hide it. Your Majesty is most concerned about land affairs. To control the salt price, a light sentence will only result in a fine, and a heavy sentence will at most revoke the license. That's it.
, Your Majesty will send me to Jiangsu to rule?"
"Tian...Tian Zheng?" Wang Mingran's mouth was dry.
Wang Mingran shook his head: "No. Such a small matter can be done by the household affairs officials in the county. There is no need to alarm the government, let alone the province."
"boom!"
Xu Ying, who had always kept her emotions secret, finally became angry when she heard these words. She was so angry that she threw the teacup out: "A small matter? Looting people's fields, you actually said it is a small matter!"
For the sake of political achievements, Jiangsu officials allowed merchants to expand the salt fields, seize the people's land and convert a lot of land that could grow food into salt fields. Farmers who lost their land could only be forced to work in the salt fields, so that the salt fields would have enough workers, and they would take advantage of the opportunity to suppress the economy.
Workers’ wages.
The government, on the other hand, increased taxes on the salt industry, so the entire Jiangsu officialdom turned a blind eye.
Wang Mingran knelt uneasily, anxiously waiting for his treatment.
Xu Ying patted the desk: "Here is paper and pen. Write down everything you know. Who are the officials and which businessmen? The more clearly, the better. Try to redeem your merits and I can keep your salt merchant license. But,
We need to make up for the evaded taxes and prepare a large sum of money for fines."
"yes!"
Wang Mingran rolled around and ran to pick up a pen to write a confession. His forehead and vest were covered with sweat.
Xu Yingzhen did not dare to get rid of all these salt merchants, otherwise the market would be chaotic in the short term, which would affect people's livelihood in several provinces. But they must be severely punished, otherwise the imperial court's majesty would be wiped out.
The general solution is to revoke one-third of the salt merchant licenses. Then, redistribute these franchise licenses and recruit merchants from Shanxi, Shaanxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to join the business, breaking the monopoly of Huai salt by Gan merchants and Hui merchants in one fell swoop.
Salt merchants whose licenses have not been revoked will also be required to pay back taxes and be fined heavily.
Xu Ying represents the emperor and the court. As long as he dares to attack, no matter how powerful the salt merchant is, he must obey his orders. This is not Europe, and merchants don't even have the right to jump around.
Take the Qing Dynasty in history as an example. The Yangzhou salt merchants, who were the richest in the world, actually made the Yangzhou merchants impoverished during the Daoguang period.
At that time, there were hundreds of merchants operating Huai salt, but they quickly went bankrupt until only a few dozen remained. The bankruptcy rate of Jianghuai salt merchants was close to 90%. Emperor Qianlong's commoner friend, Jiang Chun, the chief merchant of Jianghuai, died in poverty.
.Some of the children of big salt merchants, the men work as master accountants, and the women even live in the streets and alleys.
How did the salt merchants end up? Of course they were killed by the imperial court!
Emperor Qianlong was good at making money, but money could not be conjured out of thin air. Every time Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, local merchants paid for the reception. The merchants not only had to bear the emperor's extravagant expenses, but also donated silver to the court, and then
Secretly send money to the emperor's accompanying officials.
Excluding those secretly given to officials, only those openly donated to the court. In the early years of Qianlong's reign, the amount was less than 10 million taels. By the late Qianlong and early Jiaqing years, it quickly increased to 27 million taels.
In addition, uprisings continued throughout the country, and floods and droughts occurred frequently in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River areas. Whenever something went wrong, salt merchants were asked to donate money.
The Jianghuai Salt Merchant couldn't be stupid enough to build a cash machine. Since they gave the money, they would naturally get it back from other places.
As a result, the court's salt tax plummeted, and private salt prices skyrocketed.
In the second year of Daoguang's reign, the imperial court felt that it was time to clean up the salt administration and block the opportunities for salt merchants to make money. For a time, Jianghuai salt merchants were unable to make ends meet, and in more than ten years, 80% to 90% of the salt merchants went bankrupt.
This is ancient Chinese society. Businessmen had no choice but to stick their necks out when facing the imperial court.
Xu Ying received the confession written by Wang Mingran, and for the next month, she continued to handle official duties as usual, without any intention of taking action.
However, the salt merchants took action and went to the government one after another to surrender and pay the full amount of the salt tax they had evaded. At the same time, they collectively lowered the price of salt and made crazy profits, fearing that they would become the chicken that was killed.
However, Xu Ying secretly wrote a letter to the emperor, the general content of which is:
“According to secret investigations by the National Security Agency and the Supervisory Office, there are not a few occupied farmlands in the coastal areas of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. Even in some villages several miles away from the sea, because they are close to the river, there are businessmen who have set up salt farms and use ships to transport seawater to cook salt.
There are also many illegal small salt farms there, most of which are related to local officials."
"The occupied farmland has been salinized, and it is difficult to restore it to farmland. The gains outweigh the losses. These farmland can only maintain the status quo. However, salt merchants must pay heavy compensation to farmers whose fields have been occupied. Anyone suspected of encroachment
Half of the salt merchants in the farmland had their licenses cancelled, and instead recruited businessmen from other provinces to take over. The remaining half of the merchants retained their licenses, but all the license holders were exiled, and the licenses were replaced by their family members to continue to hold them. Only in this way can the salt business be guaranteed
Not messy.”
"The chief officials of Jiangsu's Household Department, Finance Department and Salt Affairs Department recommended that they be dealt with more severely. Especially in the Salt Affairs Department, the situation of accepting bribes in disguise is extremely serious, and a group of them must be killed to establish the prestige of the court."
Zhao Han received Xu Ying's secret report and saw the list of officials who recommended execution, and for a moment he sighed sadly.
They are all young hard-working people with outstanding political achievements!
There was probably going to be a commotion in the court, and Li Rixuan would probably be unable to bear it and take the opportunity to impeach the faction headed by Yu Shiqin.
As for the cleanup of Jiangsu's officialdom, there will be no surprises. The authority of the founding emperor is there. As long as Xu Ying, who has the emperor's mandate, dares to take action, local officials will not even have room to act.
Even with Xu Ying alone, the local officials had to surrender without seeing the big salt merchant Wang Mingran come to confess?
It was impossible for an imperial envoy to fight with a local official, at least not at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. If he dared to act like that, he would force the emperor to ransack his house and turn one person's sin into a disaster for the entire family.
