Chapter 679: Prisons on all sides of the salt pond
Pei Shuying is a very easy-to-get-together person. She used to be straight-tempered and would easily offend others when she spoke inappropriately. But after she became a mother, she changed a lot.
Especially when you are in a high position, you know that talking more will make more mistakes, so you develop the habit of talking less.
Of course, this is in front of outsiders.
She looked at Cui Yi outside the palace gate for a while, whispered a few words to Chen Shuyi, and then left.
Cui Yi was even more at a loss. He thought Pei Shuying would ask her questions when he called her out, but she didn't say anything.
The first impression is very important, and Pei Shuying left Cui Yi with the impression that this mother-in-law is not easy to mess with.
Dugu Huaien, the leader of the Hedong refinery, came to Luoyang. Yang Ming asked him to come.
The country wanted to reclaim wasteland and needed agricultural tools. Yang Ming asked him to come to Taifu Temple to discuss ordering tools.
The top priority of the imperial court this year is to measure acres of land across the country and reclaim wasteland, so that the people can have as many acres of land as possible.
The increase in acres of land in the hands of the common people has little impact on national taxes, because taxes were paid per capita in the Sui Dynasty, but it is of great significance to the stability of the country.
If they have more fields, they will have more food, and they will have spare money for consumption, which can promote the domestic economy.
Then the development of handicraft industry must be put on the agenda.
Ancient commerce mainly came from three aspects, trade, handicrafts and agriculture, among which trade was based on the latter two.
Yang Ming believes that the handicraft industry can gradually transform from government supervision to private supervision. In other words, the state will open up monopolies in certain industries.
Concerning this point, the aristocratic families are very supportive. Why? Today’s private sector is actually run by aristocratic families. Can ordinary people run it?
The official supervisor is to supervise the private sector not to do random things, such as forging weapons privately.
"Some smelting techniques can be released appropriately. Let's find some people to try it this year and see the effect," Yang Ming said at the meeting.
First of all, the Pei family was willing to take over this project. The largest refining site in the Sui Dynasty was located in Hedong. After several years of penetration, the Pei family had gradually mastered the core technology.
It can be said that as long as the state approves it, several refineries can be built in an instant.
So Pei Yun said: "The land east of the river is densely covered with salt and iron, so it is suitable to go first."
"Okay, then find some people from Hedong and allow them to open a training ground," Yang Ming smiled.
Do you think your business is in vain? The private handicraft industry is subject to heavy taxes, very heavy taxes. The prices of the products you manufacture will also be controlled by the court. If you sell them at a high price, the court will not allow it. If you sell them at a low price, the tax will be charged.
Too heavy and you will lose money.
Therefore, product quality can only be reduced, and the desire to pursue process innovation will increase, which will facilitate process improvement and sales will be very good because it is cheap.
This is a big cake. In a well-established family like the Pei family, there are side branches with no hope of career, who are dedicated to making money for the family. There are experts in all walks of life, and it is easy to get started.
But it must be controlled well, otherwise trouble will occur.
In addition, Yang Ming will give twenty places in the south and north, three in Shanxi, five in Hebei, two in Shandong, four in Henan, six in the Jianghuai region, and none in Lingnan and Longyou Road.
If these refineries are built, they will only account for one-tenth of the country's total, but they will provide nine-tenths of tax revenue.
It sounds really sad, but that's what it does.
After the country recovers, it will continue to inherit the Kaihuang system and implement no tax.
Yes, the policy after the founding of the Sui Dynasty was no tax, because iron was government-run during the Kaihuang period.
The monopoly on salt and wine was abolished by Yang Jian. It was neither a monopoly nor a tax. Yang Jian formulated a national policy: the benefits of salt should be shared with the people.
So Yang Ming is equivalent to abolishing the last iron monopoly.
After Yang Guang succeeded to the throne, he had been short of money for so many years and never thought of taxing salt. Historically, it was not until the 10th year of Kaiyuan, after the Anshi Rebellion, that Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty levied a salt tax in order to raise funds to fight the rebellion.
"Salt affairs are now a democratic system, official collection, official transportation, official sales," Yang Ming said: "Now we have to change it to a democratic system, official collection, official sales, commercial transportation, commercial sales, to save national expenses, and use
Salt merchants expand sales."
Cui Mintao frowned and said: "Then how should we define a salt merchant? Who can be a salt merchant?"
"Salt merchants are set up as professional household registration, and the business is passed down from generation to generation, passed down from father to son, and the court selects suitable people in the local area," Yang Ming said.
The eyes of the group of people below suddenly lit up, "Hey guys, we can sell salt too."
Yang Ming continued: "Those who are salt households are not allowed to be officials in their families, and the same is true for future generations. They can only sell salt, not other goods. For three generations of our ancestors, no one is allowed to be an official."
This means that aristocratic families are not allowed to interfere, because in the Sui Dynasty, at most three generations of your ancestors can serve as officials in the Sui Dynasty, and the fourth generation is the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi. The Sui Dynasty does not recognize officials from the old dynasties.
At this time, the ministers were in a daze again. In other words, those who sell salt will always be those who sell salt. But this is easy to say. There are policies above and countermeasures below. We can control it behind the scenes.
Of course Yang Ming has also calculated it, so the official sale is aimed at aristocratic families. First of all, it is a democratic system, but it can only be sold to the government, and then the government can sell it to salt merchants. I will not sell to you the kind of salt merchants supported by aristocratic families.
, then there will be no supply of goods.
Therefore, the director of Yanchi must be someone from a poor family, with Yang Ming backing him up to make them go against the rich.
In the Sui Dynasty, there were four prisons in Yanchi, that is, four prisons in the east, west, south, and north. They were subordinated to the province, and they were only officials of the eighth rank.
But Yang Ming suddenly mentioned the fifth rank, and changed four people in one go: Lu Zhiming of Yushitai, Chen Xiaoyi of Southwest Xingtai, Huang Fenglin of Donggong, and Kong Yingda of Imperial Academy.
Opening up the monopoly is good for the family, but it is even more beneficial for the country. So what Yang Ming has to do is to squeeze the interests of the family and strive for the interests of the country as much as possible. Of course, he must master a certain degree.
After all, he does not have the ability to take care of the aristocratic family now, but has to rely on the aristocratic family. However, if the salt monopoly is abolished, it will take one or two years to prepare. He is not as impatient as Yang Guang. Take your time, if I can't do it, my son will do it, and my grandson will do it.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After the court meeting, there is also a small court meeting, and the participants are only a few big guys.
What they want to say between them must not be discussed in court.
"A Tongji Canal maintains nearly 6,000 ships. This is a huge investment. How can you solve it?" Yang Ming asked.
These six thousand boats are Yang Guang's cruising fleet. Half of them cannot be used by others. Instead, they need to consume the national treasury and maintain them every year.
Now it is no longer possible for Yang Guang to tour Jiangdu. Even if Yang Ming goes in the future, he will not do so with such a big fanfare, so he needs to get rid of half of the big ships now.
If you raise it in the court, it will be like telling everyone that Yang Guang will not come back, which is inappropriate.
Pei Ju said: "Sell it. It can temporarily solve the urgent need. The country's debts abroad are too large. Disposing of these ships can also deal with emergencies."
Yang Ming smiled, no one else dared to say it, but you said it, good job.
After everyone else looked at each other, they all agreed with Pei Ju's idea.
"Luoyang is the hub of the canal, and the state treasury owes these families in Luoyang a lot of money, so why not give it to them?" Cui Mintao suggested.
Dugu Zuan nodded: "I can do it here."
What can you do? I don’t even plan to repay your money, so you still pay me for it?
Yang Ming said with a smile: "First solve the other family's problems, and then talk about your problem. The Dugu family and the Xiao family eat at both ends of the Tongji Canal. If the other family takes the ship, they have to give some to others in the canal trade. You have been suffering for so many years, no matter what
Even if you spread out some, it won’t be easy for me to explain.”
In fact, it is to weaken the monopoly of the Dugu family and the Xiao family on the canal. It has been too fat for more than ten years.
Regarding this aspect, there are many people who have opinions. In the past, when there was war, these two families worked hard to support the logistics. Now that there is no trouble, many people have begun to be dissatisfied.
Dugu Zuan also knew in his heart that a Tongji Canal was the largest trade line between the south and the north. To be honest, he and the Xiao family could not afford it.
Now that the country is gradually getting on the right track, North-South trade will undoubtedly flourish again, and there will definitely be many people who care about them.
If you don't let go at this time, big trouble will happen.
The reason why aristocratic families remain standing is because they know how to advance and retreat.
"Whatever your Highness arranges, I will listen to you," Dugu Zuan said.
Yang Ming nodded: "The Ministry of Industry wants to discuss it, open half of the trade to the private sector, and you divide the rest. Now that the country is in decline, we need to give blood to the private sector. When the situation improves in the future, we will discuss it again."
In fact, as long as there are no more wars, the country will not allow wealthy people to monopolize the canal. The concentration during war is also for the convenience of the country.
Dugu Zuan nodded with a pity look on his face.
Good luck will not last forever. A person's life will always be filled with ups and downs, and misfortunes and blessings depend on each other.
After the small court meeting, Pei Ju walked up to Dugu Zhuan with a smile, and the two walked hand in hand:
"Don't be sad, Duke Zhao. The prince is also doing this for the overall situation. There have been many complaints from various parties about your occupation of the Tongji Canal water transport. The Yushitai has also complained many times. The prince is also in trouble."
Dugu Zun smiled and said: "Of course I know the prince's difficulties. It's normal for others to be jealous when the family fortune is big. There are gains and losses, and I don't care."
"I heard that your daughter is pregnant again, so I would like to congratulate Mr. Zhao Guo first," Pei Yun said with a smile while cupping his hands.
Dugu Feng'er was pregnant again, because she and Gao Yue lived together. When Yang Ming favored Gao Yue, he would go to her for a change.
In the East Palace, except for Yang Yinjiang, who has three, and Pei Shuying, who has two, the others are all one. The reason is that they are all small.
It's not that they don't want to have children, it's that they can't have more children. This is the rule. Except for Yang and Pei, there are no restrictions on having children, and others can have up to two.
It's kind of an unwritten rule.
Dugu Zhuan stroked his beard and said with a smile, "This is my little girl's blessing."
"Alas..." Pei Yun sighed: "Things in the world are unpredictable. If it hadn't been for what happened back then, I'm afraid Duke Zhao would have had thousands of grandchildren."
Dugu Zuan's expression remained unchanged and he smiled slightly.
Pei Yun was alluding to the fact that Dugu Feng'er was crazy back then. If she hadn't been crazy, no one would be able to take away her position as the concubine. After all, Feng'er was protected by Dugu Jialuo.
If Dugu Feng'er is the royal concubine, she can have as many children as she wants. The more children she has, the higher her status will be.
Dugu Zhuan also knew that there must be someone behind this old case, otherwise his daughter would not have stayed in Luoyang after she recovered from her illness.
"Shang Shu Pei brought up old things again, is he trying to remind me of something?" Dugu Zuan said with a smile.
Pei Yun laughed: "Mr. Zhao is overly worried. What can I remind you? I am just an outsider and have no idea what happened back then. I just suddenly thought of it and feel sorry for it."
"Old things have gone with the wind, so don't mention the sad things again," said Dugu Zhuan and left.
However, he did not go far, but waited until Pei Yun returned to Shangshu Province, then circled back to the East Palace, on the pretext of visiting his pregnant daughter.
"You have already remembered what happened back then, right?" Dugu turned away the maid and said to his daughter.
Dugu Feng'er frowned and said, "Why do you ask this so seriously? I didn't think of it."
"Tsk~~~You kid, I'm asking you something serious?" Dugu Zuan said with a straight face.
Dugu Feng'er raised her eyebrows and said, "I'm telling the truth. It's because you don't believe it."
"Haha, my dearest daughter, Mo Ruofu, I brought you up with my own hands, and I don't know you yet?" Dugu compiled: "Is there something unspeakable that I can't tell your grandpa?"
Dugu Feng'er smiled: "Don't think too much about it, just help the prince handle state affairs."
Dugu Zuan kept asking for a long time, but with no results, he left angrily.
The daughter's matter was a thorn in the side of the Dugu family back then. At that time, the family had not investigated it, but to no avail.
At first, Dugu Zuan gave up and stopped thinking about it, but later, after his daughter came to Luoyang to visit relatives, she refused to return to the prince, so he knew there was a problem.
Considering the daughter's deep love for the prince, there must be a reason why she refuses to go back.
The reason is not the prince's fault, but the prince's female relatives.
Back then, there were only a handful of people who had the ability to attack Queen Dugu's Yong'an Palace. Among Yang Ming's harem, only the Yang and Pei families had this ability and had this motive.
Because Yang Yinjiang and Pei Shuying were married to Yang Ming one after another, if Yang Su hadn't been Yang Guang's party member of the Jin Dynasty at that time, there's no telling who would have dominated the other.
At that time, Yang Suji was highly regarded by Empress Dugu, and Pei Ju was the internal history minister and the closest minister to Yang Jian. He could enter and leave the palace at will, and only the two of them could do so.
Gao Xi could also enter Yong'an Palace at will, but Gao Xi would not do such a thing.
Dugu Zuan had only suspected these two families, but today, he suspected one family because Pei Yun was clearly reminding him.
Although the other party didn't say anything, there was provocation in and out of his words, seeming to induce him to continue investigating the matter. In other words, the Pei family knows who did it, but they won't tell you and let you think for yourself.
Method.
The more Dugu Zuan thought about it, the more furious he became. He didn't expect that Yang Ming could become the prince, so he didn't take it seriously. Now it's too late to regret it.
He simply didn't go to the official office and went straight home to find Dugu Bailou.
I thought that if I asked her more carefully, I might be able to get some clues from her about the past.
After Yang Ming came to power, Dugu Zuan resumed his old position, and Dongdu Yin also served as General Zuohouwei. In addition, the family played a great role in the palace coup, and he was also very influential in the court.