In the Xinuan Pavilion of Wuying Palace in the Forbidden City, there is still a small meeting of the Cabinet, the Supervisor of Ceremonies and the Household Department.
After the Grand Parade in the Beijing Camp, Zhu Yijun became more actively involved in the government affairs. His method of intervention was to use the "meetings" that later generations would be annoyed to death. Whenever there was an important matter, he would have a small meeting with the cabinet, the Supervisor of Ceremonies and relevant ministries.
If there are any important matters, they will be discussed at the court meeting with all the ministers.
Therefore, since the second year of Wanli, the courtiers have obviously felt that the morning court time every three days has become longer and the ceremonial nature has become less and less obvious. When a major event is studied at noon, there are many places.
This was because Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng held a small meeting first to unify the thoughts of the important ministers. Without a small meeting in advance, it would have taken longer.
After two months, Zhang Juzheng couldn't stand it anymore. He had a lot of things to do. Within two or three days, he would spend half a day with the emperor for a meeting. In order not to lose track before the meeting, he also had to hold a meeting before the emperor's meeting.
Small meetings with ministries and departments. In addition, Zhang Juzheng also had to participate in Buddhist feasts and other ceremonial matters, so his office hours became less and less and his overtime hours became longer and longer.
Therefore, he had already written to the emperor, suggesting increasing the number of cabinet members. Zhu Yijun expressed his willingness to see the result and approved of it.
In this small meeting, Zhu Yijun listened to a report on the salt policy from the Minister of Household Affairs, Wang Guoguang.
It originated from the inspection of the Zhili Censor to declare the Six Matters of the Salt Law. The memorial talked about several serious issues in the Salt Law at this time:
First, a large number of stoves have escaped from the salt field, and salt production has been declining year after year;
Second, the Ministry of Household Affairs distributes salt coins indiscriminately, resulting in some salt coins being unable to be withdrawn and having to wait in line, which seriously affects the enthusiasm of salt merchants to open new businesses;
Third, the management of the official salt market is out of control, and salt merchants are selling randomly everywhere to impact the market;
Fourth, the Ministry of Household Affairs has issued salt quotas, and the imperial court and the inner court still set up salt customs to collect taxes, with different standards, resulting in increased costs for salt merchants and lower enthusiasm for buying and selling salt;
Fifth, official salt cannot be sold as private salt at all, and official salt is unsaleable in many places;
Sixth, the crackdown on illegal salt sales was ineffective, resulting in a sharp drop in official salt sales.
After Zhang Juzheng saw the memorial, he expected that Zhu Yijun's temper would lead to a meeting, so he notified the Ministry of Revenue early to make preparations. Sure enough, he ordered that a meeting be held on the second day of March in Wuying Hall to discuss the salt ritual.
Wang Guangguang, the Minister of Household Affairs, had the courtesy name Ruguan and the name Shu'an. This man was extremely smart and he was the editor-in-chief of the "Wanli Accounting Records" published by the Ministry of Finance in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
This guy was an oddity in the political circles of the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties. Although he had outstanding abilities, he had no personal ethics and a lust for sex. He was a bohemian and free-spirited person. He was impeached many times throughout his life on charges of nepotism and slander.
, harming the public, enriching private life, failing to cultivate personal ethics and other crimes, he looks like a scum from a moral point of view. However, because of his outstanding ability, he can always be restored to official position within a short time.
At this time, he reported the national salt administration situation to Zhu Yijun and explained the reasons for the excessive issuance of salt by the Ministry of Revenue. He said that the main reason was that Taicang had insufficient silver and had to issue an additional 100,000 yuan to make up for the shortfall. Only then was he caught by the censor.
In other cases, what the censor said was right, but the shortcomings had been long-standing, so the Ministry of Revenue could only work on the management of salt rituals, crackdown on illicit salt sales, etc., and also asked the emperor to abolish the middle-ranking officials sent to collect salt taxes.
Zhu Yijun didn't know about this. Hearing this, he asked Zhang Hong, the chief official of the Supervisor of Ceremonies: "How much was the salt tax collected by the Zhongguan last year?" Zhang Hong replied: "Back to the emperor, the total is more than 86,000 taels." Zhu Yijun sneered after hearing this.
Zhang Hong had sweat on his forehead.
Zhu Yijun said: "Go back and report to me the items that are still collecting taxes - not just the salt tax. When I get rid of it, let the salt tax collectors come back!"
Then he turned to Chen Ju and said, "Do you know about this?" Seeing Chen Ju nodding in agreement, Zhu Yijun said, "Find out all the ways in which these middle-ranking officials enriched their own pockets during tax collection. If there are those who are honest and honest, I will personally commend them.
!”
He said he wanted to praise someone, but the tone of his voice and the look on his face didn't mean he meant to praise anyone. Chen Ju knew what he was saying and agreed loudly.
When Zhang Juzheng saw the emperor's behavior, he knew that he was going to kill again. The emperor worked hard to govern, correcting himself before correcting others, and acted vigorously and resolutely.
Around this year, the eunuchs who were at the forefront of the inner court, such as Liang Yong and Zhang Zhong, eunuchs of the royal horse, Mu Jinde, the eunuch of the Shangshi, and Cui Min, the eunuch of the inner transport warehouse, were all found guilty of corruption and were fined and expelled.
Leaving the palace shocked the palace.
People in the inner palace are best at watching the wind and knowing which direction the wind is blowing. Zhu Yijun usually does not drink or play. He spends all his time studying, exercising and handling political affairs. All the eunuchs know that this is a rare wise king. Therefore, he is a lucky person.
Stay away, and there will be many righteous people. This achievement of leading by example is worth the 10,000 words Zhu Yijun himself said.
Zhu Yijun was not blindly harsh. He often rewarded Chen Ju, Zhang Jing, Zhang Cheng and others who worked hard, and as a rule, his nephews and relatives were admitted to the Imperial Academy or given political status such as Jinyi Baihu. In this way, for more than half a year, the inner court
Gradually return to your heart.
Wang Guoguang was also a good observer of words. When he saw Zhu Yijun disposing of his own people, he immediately took out his old predecessor from a hundred years ago and said: "Your Majesty, in the fifth year of Hongzhi, Ye Qi, the Minister of Household Affairs, canceled the grain payment and sent him to the border.
After the introduction of money, the salt administration of our dynasty completely collapsed. Even if we manage it for a while, problems will continue to arise as time goes by."
Because the emperor was young, Guo Chaobin, the right minister who had just been promoted by the Ministry of Revenue, explained to Zhu Yijun: "Your Majesty, in the early days of the Kingdom, the court implemented the Kaizhong Law. Salt was all official property, and salt merchants had to pay grain and grass to the border troops in order to obtain salt.
Only when you have a lead can you go to the salt farm to support and sell salt."
"This is a matter of three benefits. On the one hand, the border army is self-sufficient in food and grass without the need for the imperial court to collect and transship it; on the other hand, in order to save transshipment costs, merchants call vagrants to reclaim wasteland on the border. This is commercial reclamation. In addition, they build their own forts and forts, and set up
The alarm station and the patrol team are the eyes and ears of the government and the army; the three official salts of the imperial court are sold all over the world, and there is no worry of stagnation."
Chen Zan, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue who attended the meeting, heard this and said with emotion: "Your Majesty, Taizu went to the north eight times and Chengzu went to the north five times. There is no excitement in the country. Kaizhongfa deserves the most credit!"
Zhu Yijun used to know the Kaizhong method. Hearing this, he asked: "How did such a good method collapse later?"
Wang Guoguang bluntly said: "Returning to the emperor, one story was that the relatives of the Xun family invaded and supported the salt supply, causing the salt merchants in Kaizhong to have to wait for the salt - this was the defensive support. In the second year of Hongzhi, some salt merchants actually came up with
The Yan Yin Zhi Salt fifty years ago shows the suffering of the Shou Zhi Salt merchants waiting for salt!”
"The second is Chenghua. During the Hongzhi period, the border was peaceful and there were few Kaizhongs, so the salt from the salt field was unsalable. At that time, the court changed the method of Kaizhong to buy supplementary salt for the remaining salt, and the salt merchants could use silver to directly buy the salt from the salt field. This was Ye Qi's change
The First Cause of the Law of Salt.”
Zhang Juzheng interrupted Wang Guangguang's words and said: "Let me talk about the third point. Your Majesty, when Ye Qi used the method of using salt to induce color, the price of salt was high and the price of grain and grass was low. The interest rate difference was more than five times, and the salt merchants made profits.
It is quite abundant. Although the salt of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River accounts for half of the world, the salt industry is only controlled by Shaanxi, Shanxi and other northerners, which is the envy of local officials and businessmen. Ye Qi, a native of Huai'an, advocates salt for color, but he does not know that the imperial court transfers grain and grass.
Is the fee several times that of what you get from salt and semen? I think his selfishness is very serious."
After listening to the two people talking about ancient times, Zhu Yijun basically understood the initial cause of the collapse of the salt policy. He asked: "In your opinion, if the court wants to change the salt law at this time, how should it be done?" Wang Guangguang glanced at Zhang Juzheng.
, did not dare to speak out.
Zhang Juzheng Surong replied: "Your Majesty, in the two years since I have been in power, the imperial court has issued quotas every year based on the actual amount of salt produced in the salt field. Because salt quotas can be bought and sold, and due to the accumulated abuses over the years, seven out of ten salt quotas have not been paid yet.
They are rich and powerful, and the salt merchants can only be exploited by them or buy salt from the Ministry of Household Affairs, causing the salt to be overproduced, which is one of the major disadvantages."
"And the benefits of private salt are also in the homes of rich merchants and local tyrants. They 'form cliques and friends, use sharp weapons, and fight against lawsuits and arrests for profit.' It is difficult to control it locally. This is the second major disadvantage."
After finishing these two sentences, Zhu Yijun was already sweating on his forehead. At this time, Wang Guoguang suddenly knelt down and said: "I checked that the Lianghuai Transportation Department said more than one million jin of salt was diverted last year, and the amount paid by the merchants was not enough.
Two-tenths, and the rest have been invaded and occupied—if there is no revolution, China will be in danger!"