Mr. Feng was very disappointed and complained to Qin Dewei in a low voice: "Is this a good place?"
Qin Dewei asked back: "Is Wang Situ's family not in good condition?"
Mr. Feng sighed softly, "This time I was pardoned and returned to the court. I originally wanted to travel for a few years to wash away the impetuous spirit from my body. But you immediately wanted to drag me into the whirlpool again, making me uneasy."
Qin Dewei was immediately shocked: "You can actually see through my motives! I've made great progress."
Mr. Feng puffed up his sleeves and said calmly: "When you are in the temple, you can't help yourself. People like me who are destined to leave a name in history can never escape the fetters of cause and effect.
I wonder if the peach blossoms in Jiaofangsi Hutong have withered. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
After Wang Yiqi had dealt with Qin Dewei a lot, his mental endurance had been greatly strengthened, so he just stood silently watching the negotiation between the two.
Qin Dewei patted Mr. Feng and said hello: "Sit down first and then talk slowly! You don't have to be restrained in my uncle's house!"
The guests and hosts formally took their seats and served tea.
Wang Da Situ was not familiar with Feng En, so he still had to rely on Qin Dewei to speak up.
"Master Feng, please explain to Wang Situ the changes in Liaodong in the past two years!" Qin Dewei guided him.
Two years ago, the 14th year of Jiajing, Qin Dewei played a big game in Liaodong. He published the "Five Years of Ding Liao Shu" and proposed a bunch of reform policies with Liaodong as a pilot...
For example, it gradually shifted to the recruitment system, implemented the mixed one-whip method, restored the salt law to the Kaizhong method, unified the purchase and marketing of grain, etc.
The imperial court has got it right for the most part. In recent years, Liaodong has indeed fallen into disrepair, so we will try to improve it.
Most of these reform measures are related to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Money, grain, salt, and taxes are all matters of the Ministry of Household System.
Master Feng frowned and said, "There are a lot of clues, where do I start?"
Qin Dewei said: "Let's not talk about anything else. Let's talk about the situation of resuming the pilot program in Liaodong. Two years have passed. It should have some effect, right?"
The Kaizhong Law is the salt law enacted by the Ming Dynasty from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Salt merchants must first transport grain to border towns before they can exchange for salt.
This is an excellent system that can greatly alleviate the problem of material shortages on the border.
In addition, in order to deliver food to border towns nearby, salt merchants would recruit people to farm in the border areas, which also greatly promoted the economic development of the border areas.
However, due to various disharmonious reasons, starting from the Chenghua Dynasty, the Kaizhong method collapsed somewhat.
Forty years ago, Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Hongzhi Dynasty, changed the new law and changed the method of transporting grain to Zese.
In other words, salt merchants can directly exchange silver for salt, and then sell the salt, without having to work hard to deliver food to border towns.
Then this color-folding salt method has been implemented to this day.
Mr. Feng was a little surprised to hear that Qin Dewei was only paying attention to the recovery situation of Kai Zhongfa in Liaodong, so he focused on the key points and talked about the situation:
"The imperial court gave Liaodong a trial quota of 100,000 taels of salt per year, which would have been exchanged for about 30,000 taels of silver, but last year it was exchanged for 40,000 shi of grain.
In fact, in border towns, food is still more important than money, and using food to recruit soldiers can also save money.
Moreover, with such a batch of grain input, it can indeed stabilize the market price of grain. Last year, the grain price in Liaodong was eight yuan per shi, which was a drop from previous years."
Qin Dewei listened and communicated with Wang Yiqi.
Feng En said almost everything he had mastered, then stopped and picked up the teacup to quench his thirst.
Looking at Qin Dewei and Wang Dasitu, he always felt that it was more than just hearing about the results of Liaodong's reforms.
He couldn't help but ask Qin Dewei: "What do you want to do again? Are you still thinking of fully restoring the nine-sided opening method?"
Qin Dewei turned around, nodded and replied: "Wang Situ and I do have this intention!"
Feng En almost shook the teacup out of his hand, "Are you kidding?"
Qin Dewei sighed with emotion: "The salt method has been changed from the Kaizhong method to the color method. It is just drinking poison to quench thirst. It is greedy for temporary gains and destroys the foundation of eternity! So it must be corrected!"
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there were various Northern Expeditions. Why were supplies in border towns not a problem?
Although the reasons are very complicated and cannot be generalized, the method of opening the middle must have played a great role.
Opening method: The border town receives at least 600,000 to 700,000 shi of food every year, and the price of food is stable.
The folding method: the imperial court received millions of extra cash dollars every year, and then distributed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to border towns, causing food prices to soar.
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It can be seen from a comparison that the only advantage of the color-folding method is that it allows the imperial treasury to earn hundreds of thousands more taels of silver every year.
This is what Qin Dewei calls "drinking poison to quench thirst", but it has caused huge damage to the economy of border towns.
For border towns where supplies are scarce, food is of course more important than money.
Not to mention the commercial farming brought about by the opening of China and France, which has greatly promoted the economic development of border towns.
Historically, the collapse of the Ming Dynasty was first of all a financial collapse.
There were many financial problems in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the border towns. It would take several books and monographs to describe them in detail.
However, the economic collapse of the border towns started with the abolishment of the Kaizhong Law, and then it became difficult to recover step by step.
Qin Dewei is not a god, so he can only try his best to improve it little by little. Let's start by restoring the opening method.
Mr. Feng advised: "For such a big thing, if you get a higher official position in a few years, it won't be too late to push it forward."
Qin Dewei rarely looked anxious: "Now is the last time. If we can't do it in the next few years, we won't be able to do it in five or six years."
Wang Yiqi and Mr. Feng didn't quite understand why Qin Dewei was anxious, but they didn't question it because Qin Dewei had proven his magic too many times.
Only Qin Dewei understood in his heart that when the salt law was restored from the folding method to the opening method, the financial book performance was that the cash income of the imperial treasury temporarily decreased, while the supplies in the border towns increased and prices stabilized.
In the past few years, the Jiajing Dynasty's finances could still be maintained. During the "painful period" of reform, the national treasury's cash income decreased a little, but it would not collapse.
The key is that Emperor Jiajing himself still had the idea of working hard to govern and boost national strength.
After the 21st year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing gave up treatment and completely entered the mode of cultivating immortals. The Jiajing Dynasty also began to suffer a large financial deficit.
At that time, don't even think about restoring the opening method, it's impossible.
It is impossible for gods to reform and reduce cash income when the national treasury is in deficit of hundreds of thousands or millions.
Qin Dewei thought to himself: "If it doesn't work, we will start to implement a whipping method to maintain the cash income of the treasury, so as to avoid the emperor's objection. It is just that multi-line operation is too difficult."
Mr. Feng asked doubtfully: "Then why are you telling me all this? I am now determined to live in leisurely clouds and wild cranes, and I have no ability to help you."
Qin Dewei showed a standard smile with eight teeth, "Mr. Feng, don't you want to be close to home?
What do you think about going to Yangzhou to be a salt patrol censor? A member of the Ministry of Household Affairs and a salt patrol censor!
Yangzhou is closer to your Songjiang River, just across the river. It is extremely convenient to travel there, even more convenient than Nanjing."
Wucao! Mr. Feng subconsciously covered his beating heart.
Oops, it’s that heart-pounding feeling again!
Qin Dewei asked Mr. Feng to adjust his mentality, and then said to Wang Situ: "Uncle, you are the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and you should take the lead in the reform of the Salt Law!"
Wang Yiqi thought for a moment and nodded solemnly.
Qin Dewei has analyzed the pros and cons thoroughly. Why not serve the country and the people?
Qin Dewei said confidently: "There must be some objections. Uncle Master, you first initiate and promote the reform of the Salt Law, and you can also temper yourself.
I will first see who is against it, and when the opportunity is right, I will take action and make the final decision!
I may not be able to make trouble, but I am good at making trouble with people!"