Xue Hong: "I didn't come here with any purpose. I was just entrusted by His Highness Sixth Prince to heal Mr. Lin. However, I don't know if it would be convenient for you to tell me about the salt merchant. I'm still very curious."
Can you not be curious? Selling private salt has been around since ancient times, because the profits are so huge! It’s terrifying.
Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's treasury's annual income is about 110 million taels of silver. That sounds like a lot, right? But five years ago, the treasury's income was 187 million taels of silver!
Normally, as a country develops, treasury revenue should grow positively and there will not be a significant setback.
Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty's treasury revenue is declining, and in Xue Hong's opinion, there are only three reasons.
First: land annexation. When senior officials of the scholar family annexed land, they did not have to pay taxes. In other words, the more land they had in their hands, the less the country’s tax revenue would be!
Second: Natural disasters are becoming more frequent! In the past three years in Hexi alone, there have been two severe droughts and one locust plague. Do you know what the emperor’s wish was for the New Year? It’s just that at the end of the year, he can’t see the disasters in Hexi when he wakes up.
We are hit by disasters every year and there is no food at all. How can we pay taxes!
Third: There is the issue of illegal salt. As a necessity, salt consumption is huge. According to the current salt price, one pound of salt can be exchanged for one hundred pounds of grain, which is worth one tael of silver!
As one of the country's main incomes, salt generates at least nearly 30 million taels of silver every year. This is no exaggeration at all.
You must know that salt is managed by the state, both in ancient times and in modern times.
Lin Ruhai rubbed the center of his eyebrows, and after a moment he held out three fingers: "Now...the annual revenue from the Jiangnan salt tax is...three million taels of silver."
Xue Hong called out to him, "How can this be corruption? This is taking the emperor's life! He gave someone 30 million taels and turned it into 3 million taels!"
Is three million taels more than that? That’s a lot! A lot! Even one thousand taels of silver in the capital can buy a large, exquisite house with a garden!
But three million taels depends on who you compare with. This amount is not worth mentioning when it comes to the national treasury.
Now the emperor is almost going crazy thinking about money. Nine-sided food and salary, nationwide disaster relief, annual ministers' rewards, salary, plus the royal expenses, especially the overlord, who repairs gardens and is celebrating his birthday, it is quite a waste of money.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the emperor’s internal funds have filled the national treasury. Now the emperor’s internal funds can almost make a profit!
In the palace, only necessary activities are exempted. But money is not saved, especially for a country of this size.
And recently, the northern Mongols, Tatars, Oaras, and Houjin have become a bit colluding with each other. Once a war starts, the army, the national war machine, will be consumed by mountains of gold and silver!
Under such circumstances, the salt merchants in Jiangnan not only refused to restrain themselves, but also intensified their efforts. If it weren't for the complicated forces in Jiangnan, the emperor would have sent his troops south to confiscate all the houses. Why are you and I still grinding to find evidence?
You know, the current population of the Ming Dynasty is nearly 150 million! 120 million people are in the south! The country’s tax revenue and the country’s money bag are all pointing to the south!
You, a salt merchant, are jumping near the emperor's artery, can they let you go?
Xue Hong looked at Lin Ruhai and asked tentatively: "Where do these people get the courage? Not only do they fight openly and honestly with the court, but they also dare to poison officials. Or..."
Lin Ruhai picked up the tea cup and took a sip without answering.
Xue Hong understood that this was definitely supported by someone, or that these salt merchants in the south wanted to be ministers of the dragon! Their master was a certain prince of the emperor!
Come on, why bother thinking about it? The leader of the salt merchants is the Zhen family. The Zhen family also controls the Jiangnan Weaving Factory. Over the years, it is probably richer than the national treasury!
And the Zhen family has a noble concubine, who is also the biological mother of the second prince, so is there any need to guess who these salt merchants will follow?
Xue Hong thought about this and didn't ask any more questions. He casually chatted with Lin Ruhai and Zhang Baihu for a few more words, and then went back to the guest room to rest under the leadership of the maid.
After all, Xue Hong was only entrusted by Zhu Jie to save people. Xue Hong himself didn't know many things, so he interfered as little as possible. After all, some problems cannot be solved by one's own force or cleverness.
…
At the same time, on the river, a luxurious building boat came down from the north and headed straight to Yangzhou.
On board the boat was none other than Lin Daiyu, who was returning to Yangzhou from Jia Mansion, and Jia Lian, who was helping out with her colleagues.
Inside the building, Lin Daiyu was restless, leaning against the window in dismay, looking at the passing river, and then thinking of her seriously ill father. She felt sad for a moment and shed tears.
Xue Yan on the side walked in quickly with a bowl of soup and medicine. Seeing Lin Daiyu crying, she quickly put down the medicine and stepped forward to comfort her.
"Miss, your body is already weak, and you are on the water, so it is inevitable that you will feel uncomfortable. If you get sick again due to sadness, Mr. Lin will be so sad if he knows about it!"
Lin Daiyu cried so hard that her breathing became short after a while. With Xue Yan's comfort, she gradually stopped crying, but her face was still full of sadness.
Yes, I already have a lot of heart and soul, so how can I become a little girl who only knows how to compete with others and be jealous?
How could Lin Daiyu not know about all the things going on in the Jia Mansion? She probably also knew why her father sent Lin Daiyu to the Jia Mansion.
In Lin Daiyu's opinion, her father's letter to recruit her back was probably because people in Yangzhou were attacking her father.
My father knew that he didn't have much time left, so he called him back to make arrangements for his funeral regardless of the danger.
Outside the room, Jia Lian was anxiously walking around. Although he came here with a purpose, he really felt sorry for his sister Lin Daiyu.
But what can he do about the heir to the Rongguo Mansion with a name that his father doesn't love and his grandmother doesn't love? The only thing he can do is to help Lin Ruhai take care of her funeral and bring Lin Daiyu back safely.
That's right, in Jia Lian's opinion, Lin Ruhai is almost dead. As the former leader of the founding nobles, the Jia family still knows a lot of things even if they are lonely!
The entire Jiangnan area is like the base camp of the Zhen family. If Lin Ruhai wants to help the emperor with his private affairs, he has to dig up the roots of the Zhen family! In the face of the family's interests, any relatives are useless!
So the Zhen family took action against Lin Ruhai and Jia Min!!
If Lin Ruhai hadn't sent Lin Daiyu away early, the consequences would have been unknown!
Just when Lin Daiyu was feeling sad, Zijuan also walked in with food.
In the past few days, the boat was bumpy, and Lin Daiyu didn't eat much. Coupled with the fatigue of the journey, she hadn't eaten much for three days in a row. Even a strong man couldn't bear it if this continued, let alone a fragile little girl like Lin Daiyu.
Where is the girl?
After Zicuckoo had finished her good words, she and Xueyan served together, and then Lin Daiyu ate a small bowl of porridge.