"Brother Shi Mao, the Ming Dynasty is like a decaying high-rise pavilion, which may collapse at any time. If you want to save it, you can only regain the decaying place and add brand new materials. But this process cannot be too urgent. If it is too urgent, it will inevitably be resisted by the corrupt forces. The biggest contradiction is that the financial collapse. If Brother Shi Mao wants to do something, he can start with making money first." Zhao Yan said to Chen Zhongsheng.

"How to make money? Are you willing to teach me if you persist?" Chen Zhongsheng asked humbly.

Since the decision was made, Chen Zhongsheng visited Zhao Yan again and communicated with each other with all his bad policies in the Ming Dynasty. Zhao Yan also talked about the matter. His views were very sharp. Not only did he have sharp opinions, but he also had solutions. However, these methods were not something he could implement.

"The so-called wealth is nothing more than five items: land tax, commercial tax, salt tax, tea industry, and market tax. As a military general, I can only touch the issue of refugees' military farming. There are many landlords in Dengzhou, who want to increase their income from land tax, and then increase their land tax. However, the premise of increasing land tax, we must first repair the water conservancy of Dengzhou to ensure that production can be improved, and at the same time, repairing water conservancy can also improve disaster resistance."

"If you increase your land tax, you will inevitably be impeached by a censor. This is difficult." Chen Zhongsheng sighed.

"If Brother Shi Mao really wants to make some achievements, how could he be so timid? He is just a censor. The current financial situation of the court is in ruins. As long as Brother Shi Mao can make achievements in Dengzhou, the emperor will not blame him." Zhao Yan said excitedly.

"That's right." Chen Zhongsheng was agitated and nodded immediately.

"In terms of land tax, we must first rectify the officials and repair water conservancy. Then we must remeasure the land acres. At the same time, when collecting land tax, we must not charge silver. We should directly collect grain to prevent grain merchants from seeking benefits from the people." Zhao Yan continued.

"Then how to deal with the food collected?" Chen Zhongsheng asked.

"You can report to the emperor and transport the food to the capital. If the emperor refuses to allow it, my business can purchase it at a fair price." Zhao Yan said.

"How should the Shang Fu be changed?" Chen Zhongsheng nodded and asked.

"At the beginning of Taizu's Jianye, most of the world's silver and money was plundered by Mongolia, so there was no commercial tax to be levied. Thirty taxes were indeed applicable at that time. But now, the Ming Dynasty's business was in its prime, but there was not even thirty taxes, which allowed merchants around the world to make huge profits and also accelerated land mergers. I think that one of the ten taxes is fair. If you want to reform the commercial tax, the clerks are the first priority. Then, various places set up cards to collect taxes, but they cannot be collected again. You can issue receipts to passers-by vendors."

"In terms of salt industry and tea industry, it was originally a special item for the imperial court. In the Song Dynasty, it was considered a financial pillar and earned tens of millions of chunks per year, but my salt industry in Daming was unable to make ends meet. Instead, I owe the salt merchants tens of millions of taels per year, and the tea was only charged more than 100,000 taels per year. If Brother Shi Mao wanted to make money, he first needed to strictly rectify salt. The two items of tea were the fastest to achieve the effect."

"I have started trading for the market, and I have bought some warships. According to the existing market system of the Ming Dynasty, I can charge ten times more."

... Zhao Yan and Chen Zhongsheng repeatedly talked about the details of increasing taxes for nearly three hours. Zhao Yan gave suggestions for each detail, and Chen Zhongsheng left.

In addition to Zhao Yan's plan to do the field tax, business tax, salt industry, tea, and all aspects of the market, he will abide by the rest of Chen Zhongsheng's changes as long as it is reasonable.

Zhao Yan naturally planned to impose heavy taxes on the huge profits of the sea trade, but most of them were planned to be included in his own pocket and only a small part was paid.

In the salt industry, Zhao Yan adopted a cooperative approach and sold it to the government at a price of one or five cents per load of salt, and the government had sold it to the people of Dengzhou at a retail price of three or five taels of silver per load.

As for the funds required for the reform, Zhao Yan could lend it to Chen Zhongsheng, and he only needed to repay his land and commercial taxes, which means reduction and exemption.

After Chen Zhongsheng left, he immediately began to rectify the officials in Dengzhou, and a storm of corruption was about to begin. In terms of rectifying the officials, the salary of the officials at the bottom was first increased, and the money in this regard was borrowed from Zhao Yan. At the same time, various miscellaneous taxes in various places in Dengzhou were cancelled, supervision agencies were established, and corrupt officials were punished. If there were any vacancies in the officials, Zhao Yan would help train the personnel.

...In mid-September, the fleet that headed for Japan trade finally returned, and the entire fleet, even four lucky ships as warships, were filled with cargo.

The fleet arrived in Qingdao and then began unloading the goods.

Wen Bangliang immediately came to report on the process of this trade. This trade exported nearly three million taels of goods to Japan, and made a total profit of 5.4 million taels in Japan.

"The goods transported back this time included 2 million taels of silver and 2.4 million taels of Japanese goods. At the same time, the guild hall left one million taels as funds for preparing the goods." Wen Bangliang presented the list of goods transported back this time.

Many novels say that it is profitable to ship gold back from overseas, but in fact it is not the case. Instead, it is profitable to export gold from China.

Nowadays, the gold-silver ratio in the Ming Dynasty is 1:8, while the overseas gold-silver ratio is generally above 1:10. In other words, foreigners can exchange cheap silver for more gold in the Ming Dynasty, and then exchange these gold for more silver, and then exchange more gold for more gold.

For example, if the Ming Dynasty trafficked gold to Japan, the profit was generally 44.4% (data of Chinese goods from Portuguese merchant ships to Japan), which was nearly half of the profit. Gold was small in size and high in value, and has always been the first target for output.

The Ming Dynasty actually did not have much gold. Although silver is 1/3 of the world's total, its GDP is very high, which is why this phenomenon is caused.

So this time the fleet returned without transporting gold, but only transported two million taels of silver. At the same time, the transportation capacity is not enough now, and only 50,000 kilograms of brass used for casting cannons were transported back.

"Okay." Zhao Yan clapped happily. With this income, there is no need to worry about military expenditure. The Military Weapons Bureau can start construction of the equipment of the 100,000 second-line troops. Although the second-line troops are second-line troops, the equipment is the same as the first-line troops, but the treatment is different.

"The preparation of goods in Denglai is not a problem. How fast is the preparation of goods in the Japanese guild hall?" Zhao Yan asked.

"The preparation speed of goods in Japan is also very fast. If you cannot prepare high-profit goods for a while, you can transport them directly back to brass." Wen Bangliang said, "It only takes five days to get to Japan, and only five days to return. It only takes about ten days to go back and forth. If the wind direction is not smooth, it will only take seven days to go back and forth. If you fly a boat, you can go back and forth once every seven days. From Shandong to Japan, we have more advantages than Fujian and Dongfan."

The east bank is Taiwan. From Fujian, Taiwan to Japan, sailboats must sail for more than half a month, or if they are on the wind, it will take more than a month if they are on the wind.

Although the Dutch and Zheng Zhilong had guilds in Japan, they obviously had wasted a long time in preparing goods, so the efficiency was far from comparable to that in Denglai.

"Before the end of this year, the fleet should be able to travel between Japan three to four times, and each time you can earn at least two million taels." Wen Bangliang estimated.

Currently, the fleet's transportation capacity is only 2,000 tons, and only 500,000 taels of silver can be transported back at a time (the value after the Ming Dynasty). If you want to pursue trade efficiency, brass must be the main cargo transported back each time.

The main goods transported by Denglai to Japan are cotton cloth and glass mirrors, which can transport nearly one million taels of goods at a time.

The profits of these goods are very high, especially glass mirrors and military weapons, which are more than ten times more than ten times. Cotton cloth also has about three times more profits.

However, the sales of glass mirrors are limited after all, and military weapons are directly exchanged for brass, saltpeter, and sulfur. This tests transportation capacity. It is only possible to transport it back to be considered as profit, so you can only earn two million taels at a time.

The 2 million taels of goods shipped back this time can be at least 4 million taels, and with the 2 million taels on hand, it will make 7 million taels.

Conservatively estimated that it would be possible to make about 6 million taels by the end of the year, which means that this year, the number of tens of million taels can be recorded for the number of 10 million taels by just the overseas trade. How could Zhao Yan be unhappy?

In his joy, he immediately asked Zhao Quan to cash out the 2 million taels of cargo as soon as possible, and then asked the fleet to speed up the loading of goods and supplies, and continue to trade to Japan.

In addition to the unexpected huge profits made in the sea trade, the salt industry had sold 4.03 million dan of sea salt by mid-September, accounting for 4.6 million taels. After deducting labor and transportation costs, the net profit reached 4 million taels. By the end of the year, the net profit was estimated to rise to 5 million taels.

With the sale of Shandong salt, the Huai salt market has suffered a huge impact, and the number of people in the employed camp has expanded to more than 4,000.

The soldiers in the hired battalion are very popular with salt vendors. These professional soldiers have strong combat power and have almost no bandits. Their peers can get benefits from them.

These soldiers in the hiring camps are all trained to be strong in the villages, and it is very easy to transform them into an army.

Among these soldiers in the employed battalion, two or three veterans were led by them. Under the leadership of these veterans, the soldiers in the employed battalion often faced more than ten times the bandits and the salt gang, both tactics and courageous. So far, no employed team failed.

If you encounter bandits, these mercenaries will even kill the bandits' villages, capture the money from the bandits' villages, and capture the bandits for labor reform.

If the salt vendors meet on a narrow road, these mercenaries will cut off each other directly and then sprinkle salt on the corpse and leave.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, officials in various parts of the Ming Dynasty discovered such cases. All the dead were salt vendors selling private salt, and most of them were salt vendors who bought Huai salt.

For salt merchants, the eighth year of Chongzhen was not easy.

Everyone should be worried about not being targeted by the Shandong salt merchants, otherwise only the salt goods will be robbed, and they will die if they die. The government will never ask about it, and naturally the government will not ask about the life or death of these private salt dealers.

Lianghuai salt merchants mainly use water routes and do not undertake local trafficking, so the direct impact will be smaller, but the indirect impact will be very large for them.

After their freight was shipped to the local area, they could no longer be sold in many places. Because local salt vendors were either replaced or turned to Shandong to buy salt.

Many fixed customers of Lianghuai salt merchants no longer dare to buy Huai salt. If you buy Huai salt, it is life-threatening. If you change to Shandong to buy salt, as long as you hire some generals of Denglai, you will not be attacked again, and it will be safer than before.

Shandong salt was very strongly inserted into the market. Huai salt lost nearly 1/5 of the market in the eighth year of Chongzhen, and other salt-producing areas were also affected to varying degrees.

Most of the sea salt produced by Zhao Yan in Laizhou Bay was actually bought by foreign salt merchants. Although many local salt merchants in Shandong also participated in the salt trading, their share was only about 30%.

On September 16, the eighth year of Chongzhen, Yangzhou Censor Wang Shoudao submitted a memorial to impeach Shandong General Zhao Yan. On the 17th, Li Zhixian of Huaiyang Censorate submitted a memorial to impeach Shandong General Zhao Yan. On the 18th, Zhang Fengyi, the Right Censor of the Censorate and Right Minister of the Ministry of War, wrote a memorial to impeach Denglai General Zhao Yan... The impeachment of all the matters of Zhao Yan selling private salt, Zhang Fengyi also listed three major crimes and seven major evil deeds. For some reason, these people seemed to have planned, and they all attacked them.

Zhu Youjian had a good impression of Zhao Yan, so he did not have a clear emotional tendency for the impeachment of these people for a while. He was just very suspicious and repeatedly redefined Zhao Yan's impression in the saliva of the ministers.

The salt tax that sells salt in this area has always been included in the treasury and belongs to the emperor's private treasury. In this regard, Zhu Youjian also had some knowledge of private salt, but Zhu Youjian, who had never left the capital, only had a general concept of many things.

Until the 19th day, the governor of Laizhou, Sun Yaoguang, submitted a memorial to impeach Zhao Yan's several crimes of small salt in Denglai, privately draining salt, and forcibly occupying fields. He also stated that the private salt sold by Zhao Yannian, the general of Denglai, was no less than 200 million dan, and the monthly income was no less than tens of thousands of gold. At the same time, the salt transport envoy of Lianghuai also submitted a memorial, because Zhao Yan sold private salt, the salt tax was sharply reduced by half.

The so-called sharp reduction in salt tax by more than half is simply nonsense. Zhao Yan sells private salt, and the runs are also the market for private salt. What does it have to do with official salt?

It was clearly taking the opportunity to embezzle and slander. However, Zhu Youjian was not clear. Zhu Youjian was furious on the spot. The cheese with the largest share of the treasury was moved. How could he not be angry?

However, Zhu Youjian did not make a statement on the spot, but instead regained Wen Tiren with the cabinet alone.

"My dear, what should I do with Zhao Yan?" Zhu Youjian wanted to pull Zhao Yan directly, but his head was not confused. Zhao Yan had elite soldiers on his hands, so he might be Kong Youde again.

"There must be the benefit of private salt. Your Majesty can order him to change the town. As long as he leaves Denglai, there will be no salt. "Wen Tiren immediately came up with an idea.

"Where should my dear friend move to the town?" Zhu Youjian asked again.

"It's best to move to Qin, and his troops are elite, so he can go to Qin to suppress the thieves." Wen Tiren said. Zhu Youjian frowned and said, "But how to deal with the matter of private salt?"

"Your Majesty can issue an order to scold him, and then comfort him and let him move him into the town." Wen Tiren thought for a while and said, Zhu Youjian nodded. He could only do this. After all, he could not ignore the matter of private salt, but he could force him to rebel. He could only scold him first and then comfort him moving him into the town of Shaanxi.

"Let him move to Yan'an!" Zhu Youjian added. Wen Tiren was stunned. The land in Yan'an was barren and did not produce anything. It was a miserable place. He quickly advised: "Your Majesty, you can't."

"Why not?" Zhu Youjian asked curiously with his eyebrows raised.

"The land of Yan'an is very poor. What if he doesn't want to go?" Wen Tiren asked, "In my opinion, he will change the Hancheng town as a suitable place. He can guard the Yellow River Ferry and then add him to General Longhu."

"Okay! Then let him move to Hancheng and add him to General Longhu." Zhu Youjian thought about it and agreed.

...When the court was in chaos, Zhu Dadian wrote a letter to Zhao Yan and informed him of the direction of the wind.

According to Zhu Dadian, more than a dozen salt merchants in the Huai River were working together this time. These salt merchants had millions and tens of millions of families, and their energy was naturally self-evident. As Yangzhou, the most fiercely impeached Zhao Yan, Zhu Dadian was powerless even though he was patrolling Yangzhou.

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!