When Yue Qian, Ji Duo, Yuan Bin and others met Ye Bushou, Zhu Qiyu was convening the second Ming Dynasty Salt and Iron Conference in the Juxian Pavilion of the Martial Arts Hall.

The participants were still the bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, the six ministers, the heads of each department of the six ministries, the abacus eunuch of the inner transport warehouse, etc.

The book in Zhu Qiyu's hand has been distributed before. The Wealth of Nations is very long. Zhu Qiyu only discusses the division of labor, the role of currency, the price of commodities, etc. in five chapters. According to the content of memory and the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty,

Wrote it down.

"See your majesty, are you doing well with your majesty's bow?" When the ministers greeted each other, Zhu Qiyu motioned to everyone to come forward, and he himself sat in the center.

Zhu Qiyu waved his hand and said, "Good morning."

The civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty got their wish and could see His Majesty every day.

In Fengtian Hall, Wenhua Hall, Wu Lecture Hall, Jingying, Wang Gongchang, and Tai'an Palace.

Yu Shiyue said excitedly: "Your Majesty, the last time the three ministries worked together to crack down on illegal salt imports, it was quite effective. More than 340,000 illegal salt imports in Zhejiang and Guangxi were investigated and dealt with, and nearly four dozen people were confiscated.

More than ten families carved private salt quotations, and more than 180 salt farm owners participated."

Zhu Qiyu nodded and said: "I have already seen Yu Shangshu's memorial. Private salt and salt introduction requires a long time and multiple investigations. It is not once or twice. The effect can be seen in a day or two."

When the Ming Dynasty failed to understand the essence of salt currency as currency, the private salt salt currency of the Ming Dynasty was never investigated and dealt with. Local private salt salt currency and official salt currency circulated at the same time, creating chaos.

This is equivalent to privately minting currency.

During the Han Dynasty, Chao Cuo cut down the feudal vassals, which led to the Seven Kings Rebellion. The largest force among them was Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bi, the king of Wu, was granted the title.

The feudal state of Wu King Liu Bi was located in the southwestern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, and northern Zhejiang, where copper was produced and the coast was coastal.

Liu Bi made a lot of money and cooked salt in his feudal state, and became extremely rich. All the people of Wu State did not pay taxes, and those who practiced duty were given commissions. When he raised his army, Liu Bi alone had twenty

Ten thousand troops.

Coining money privately is tantamount to rebellion, and this has been the rule in all dynasties.

The same is true for Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming court did not realize that salt currency was actually equivalent to currency. In the past few decades, Guangdong, Guangdong, Zhejiang, South Zhili, and Hunan were issuing salt currency privately.

Moreover, many owners who privately sell salt do not realize what they are doing. They just open the salt at will to facilitate their own frying of salt and the convenience of water merchants to accept the salt.

If you do not teach, you will be punished and called cruelty.

It is a long-term national policy for the three ministries to jointly conduct a comprehensive investigation with the Chief Secretary and local departments.

As long as the implementation is carried out slowly, if someone continues to publish privately on a large scale, they will be ousted and belong to the family.

Now it is just a registered residence, and illegal income is confiscated.

Lin Xiu, the eunuch of the inner transport warehouse, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, the eunuchs of the inner transport warehouse have concluded that at most, more than 1.3 million more salt baits can be issued each year."

This number is calculated by Hai Specialist and is relatively accurate.

But Zhu Qiyu shook his head and said: "Salt quotation is related to the people's livelihood and the country, especially when it comes to grain transportation and salt fields in border towns. It is not advisable to overdo it. Just check the salt quotation. The example of the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes is still in front of us.

."

He continued: "Every salt coin issued by the court is actually a loan from the court to the people. The court is the creditor. Every time we issue a salt coin, the private salt farm must bear the responsibility for the use of the salt coin.

value."

"In this way, we must lend the power of lending to private salt farms and make the owners of private salt farms one of the creditors."

"It is not good for the country and not good for the people."

The Ming Dynasty has only one master, and that is the Ming Emperor.

It is absolutely impossible for the owner of a private salt farm to openly share this power.

Zhu Qiyu must make it clear that wealth is power.

Large-scale super-issuance will inevitably lead to power sharing, which involves the fundamental question of who is the master of Ming Dynasty.

A large number of over-issues are not only an arrogance of the king's power, but also an arrogance of the court's power, which is something the court will never allow.

"Your Majesty, Shengming." Jin Lian, the Minister of Household Affairs, breathed a sigh of relief.

He was afraid that the salt of the Ming Dynasty would turn into another Ming Dynasty treasure banknote. After thoroughly studying the Ming Dynasty edition of The Wealth of Nations written by His Majesty, Jin Lian petitioned to stop the over-issuance, but he had to stop the over-issuance.

Because salt was not distributed in excess, it was all used as currency, and the Ming Dynasty had no salt to use.

We have cracked down on private salt and salt, but we have issued several times more official salt and salt. This is destroying the foundation of salt politics.

If there is no overpayment at all, there will be no salt acceptance. The salt is stored in the salt field, but the people are watching the price of salt rising, but there is nothing they can do.

How much is the over-issue?

The number of illegal salt lawsuits that are investigated and punished can be exceeded by the number of official salt lawsuits issued.

Shi Pu sat up straight and said: "Li Xian has arrived in Nanzhili. He has written many memorials, most of which are about the hard work of salt workers. When he arrived at Huai'an Prefecture, he couldn't help but sigh. When he entered the kitchen house at the age of fifteen, he burst into tears.

Hanging up every day. At twenty I don’t know how to recognize cattle and horses, and at thirty I touch the wrong home.”

"Local people often refer to the salt field as the salt prison, and they are miserable."

At the age of fifteen, children from kitchen households have to go to the salt field. The thick smoke from the stove makes them burst into tears every day. By the time they are twenty, they cannot see clearly the cows and horses. By the time they are thirty, they can’t even see the door of their own house.

Can't even touch it.

This is the current situation of Salt Ding.

Shi Pu continued: "But Li Xian repeatedly mentioned in his memorial that some salt farms are not like this. The secret lies in the different methods of frying salt."

"I think we can ask the Salt Patrol Censor to collect more methods for frying salt in salt fields, improve the salt stoves, and buy more eye protection so that the saltmen will not go blind when frying salt."

"Protect your eyes. It is better to wear a mask if you are exposed to smoke and fire, and your strength is easily weakened."

"Do you have this kind of eye protection?" Zhu Qiyu nodded and asked.

Shi Pu took something out of his sleeve, handed it to Xing'an, bowed his head and said, "This is exactly it."

Zhu Qiyu picked it up and looked at it for a long time. He didn't know what kind of animal skin it was. He sewed two mirrors and tied them behind his head with a rope. Although he couldn't see clearly, it was still a good thing to prevent sparks from flying around.

"Where did it come from and how much is it worth?" Zhu Qiyu put down the leather goggles and asked.

"The Steel Department of Shijing Factory prepared it for the craftsmen." Shi Pu said quickly.

Zhu Qiyu was quite pleased.

This piece of fur is used to sew two pieces of glass together, which is not a big invention.

He was gratified that the officials of the Ming Dynasty finally realized that the working environment of workers should be protected. The officials of the Ming Dynasty gradually realized that workers are the wealth of the Ming Dynasty. This fundamental fact.

Under the leadership of Zhu Qiyu's tireless and sustainable policy of fishing from the lake, Ming Dynasty finally began to take this step.

Provide labor protection supplies for craftsmen.

Good thing.

Although the courtiers do not seem to realize that protecting labor remuneration is also a necessary means to protect the stability of financial and economic affairs, it is already a great progress.

"Yes." Zhu Qiyu returned the goggles to Shi Pu, indicating that the meeting should continue.

The meeting continued. In addition to Yanyin, the Ministry of Industry also discussed a production schedule for the fourth division of Shijing Factory.

Jin Lian, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, pointed to the Iron and Steel Department and said: "In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Wang Yundao said that the official metallurgy factory in Linshui Town, Cizhou in the Yuan Dynasty would be restored. Emperor Taizu Gao said that the benefits are not in the officials, but in the people, and the people will benefit from them.

, then it will benefit the source and benefit the officials."

"In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, Taizu deposed all official smelting offices and imposed a tax of two-thirtieths based on output. This was an iron tax."

At this point, everyone was a little silent.

Zhu Qiyu knew what Jin Lian was talking about. The Guan Smelting Institute in Linshui Town, Cizhou, produced one million jins of iron per year in the Yuan Dynasty. Wang Yundao wrote a letter asking Zhu Yuanzhang to restore the Guan Smelting Institute.

As a result, Wang Yundao was exiled overseas by the court, probably to Java.

In the 28th year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang deposed the fifteen official metallurgical institutes of the Ming Dynasty and replaced them with iron courses drawn once every fifteen years.

The Shijing Factory that Zhu Qiyu is now running actually violates the decision of his ancestors.

Isn’t Shijing Factory the official metallurgical institute?

"Continue." Zhu Qiyu wanted to set up Shijing Factory. There were not many objections from the DPRK and China because the iron class could no longer be closed.

Jin Lian, the Minister of Household Affairs, looked around, took a deep breath and said: "In the 13th year of Zhengtai's reign, the iron class in Yangcheng, Shanxi Province was 623,000 kilograms. According to the iron class drawn every 15 years, Yangcheng's one

The county's iron production quota is 9,345,000 jins."

"In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu Gao gave Shanxi a province a quota of 1,147,000 catties."

"That is to say, the quota for a county near Yangcheng is more than seven times the quota for a province in Shanxi in the 28th year of Hongwu."

"Times have passed and circumstances have changed, but the laws of the imperial court remain unchanged."

The quota is the output sent by the imperial court, and the iron quota is the amount of iron the imperial court receives.

The output of Yangcheng County is already seven times that of Shanxi Province during the Zhu Yuanzhang period.

Shi Pu, minister of the Ministry of Industry, took over the conversation and said: "In the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the iron class last year should be 18 million jins, and the iron quota was 269.23 million jins."

"But the annual income from the iron class is only about two million catties."

How much is two million kilograms?
To be continued...