New Shun 1730

The emperor tacitly covered up the real purpose of Changlu Salt Field to collect salt in the court. He used the matter of collecting salt to angrily rebuke the ministers in the court, and then deliberately provoked a fight, bringing the plan of Changlu Salt District to make saltpeter under the jurisdiction of the salt administration to the court for discussion.

It can be said that a stone immediately caused a thousand waves.

The army, especially the navy, strongly opposed the saltpeter industry being governed in the same way as the salt industry.

In the court, they said sarcastically that the salt administration was so good that the people had to eat bitter salt. Were they going to let the army use bitter salt to pretend to be saltpeter?

The salt administration reformists, who were ready to make a big move, also firmly opposed the policy proposed by Changlu.

The more fierce the quarrels in the court, the less people noticed what the court was going to do with the salt.

The emperor also complained in the court, saying that the court could not afford to collect salt. Now money is needed everywhere, Huaihe River, water transport workers, canal, everywhere needs money, and now the salt that was previously collected from the people has to be divided, as if his treasury is about to collapse.

But in fact, the money spent on salt is not the emperor's at all. The interest is the bribe given by the salt merchants, and the principal is the loan from the bank.

In addition to talking nonsense about this matter, the court is also busy with business.

There are too many issues involved in the abandonment of the canal alone.

Let's go into more details, and it will be reduced to salt.

Let's go into more details, and it will be reduced to Henan salt.

The abandonment of the canal almost collapsed the existing salt administration system.

Henan is located in the Central Plains and is served by the four major salt fields.

Henan has a large population, and no one wants to give up this piece of fat meat, Shanxi salt, Shandong salt, Changlu salt, and Huai salt.

No one wants to give it up, because it is related to the food and clothing of the people who cook and sell salt in the four places, so what to do? They can only divide it up. One province, four food sources.

The canal was abandoned, and the problems involved were all over the place. Just Henan salt needed to be re-divided into salt areas.

The original Shandong salt area was fine, and the canal was abandoned without much impact.

Changlu salt was ruined. Although the canal is still navigable now, after the millions of taels of silver from the Caoyin River were cut off every year, many places would not be navigable in one or two years at most.

The Changlu salt here refers to legal salt.

The most convenient way to replenish the Changlu salt area is the salt from Yuncheng, Shanxi.

Letting Shanxi salt replenish means increasing the output of the Shanxi salt area - the problem is, if the output of Shanxi increases, what should Changlu salt do?

Shanxi is very close to Henan, and Changlu is farther away. After the canal is gone, Shanxi salt actually has an advantage in price and quality.

However, Changlu is about to collapse now. If we throw away another Changlu salt area, what will the people eat? It is impossible to have money every year, like now, to go to Changlu to collect salt and store it, right?

Let Shanxi salt make up for it temporarily?

Or should we directly cede the Henan salt area in Changlu to Shanxi Salt?

After the cession, what should we do with the Changlu area? How to solve the problem of the people in Changlu boiling salt?

If we don’t cede it, then in the current situation, we have to increase military spending and prepare a smuggling team of about a thousand people to strictly investigate Shanxi salt. Who will pay for it?

This is just a very small "small matter" that occurred because the canal was abandoned, but it involves millions of people eating salt.

There are many small, medium and big things like this.

The court is discussing, changing and modifying every day.

On the contrary, not many people pay attention to the court's collection of salt in Changlu.

That is, some ministers submitted memorials to the emperor, believing that the current method of collecting salt is to save the emergency but not the poor, and it is impossible to form a custom in the future. Please ask your majesty to deepen the salt policy reform as soon as possible.

In the Changlu area where salt is collected, the entire salt reform plan is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The purchased salt was packaged in several markets in Changlu Salt District, and then transported by the newly established shipping company.

The shipping company's ship unloaded a large amount of packaged salt in Jeju Island.

There is a port base on the Dashun side here, which is also an important patrol and anti-smuggling port for the small triangle trade of North Korea, Japan and Whale Sea, and an important base for threatening and monitoring Japan. Like Weihai, the business with the goal of garrison and navy pay has prospered abnormally.

The reason why these Changlu salts are piled here is also Liu Yu's two-handed preparation.

If the salt merchants want to play, then play with them to the end. It is very convenient to transport it to the mouth of the Yangtze River. The captains of Dashun can run away with their eyes closed.

If the salt merchants are afraid to play, these salts cannot be wasted in vain. They have to find a way to sell them and prepare to smuggle them to Japan.

Although Japan is surrounded by the sea, Japan's salt production level is indeed low. If trade is open, Dashun's salt will be easily sold in Japan.

First, because Japan's climate is rainy, it is not suitable for the sun-dried salt method. Secondly, Japan really doesn’t know how to make salt by drying it, and still uses the salt boiling method.

The salt boiling method has problems.

In theory, with the opening of Japan’s ports, the development of the coal industry in Dashun can easily spread to Japan.

There are coal mines in the north of Kyushu Island, which is also a very suitable place for salt boiling. According to the law of economics, Japan should have used salt boiling as an opportunity to usher in the dawn of the coal mining industry.

The Little Ice Age in Japan ended not long ago. In fact, the wood in Japan had been cut down during the Little Ice Age, and many mountains were bare.

It is said that there is such a prerequisite - just like the development of the British glass manufacturing industry and the salt boiling industry, the lack of wood caused by the increase in population and shipbuilding and tree preservation stimulated the development of the coal industry, triggering the development of the coal mining industry and steam The need to pump water - However, Japan encountered a uniquely Japanese "Corn Law" problem.

In other words, Japan's feudal lords had mountains. The mountain belonged to the feudal lord, and the timber mining on the mountain was exclusive.

They all use coal to boil salt, who the hell burns wood to boil salt?

Without burning wood, how can a package buyer who specializes in wood pay?

How to maintain the life of a feudal noble without money?

The many differences between the two countries led to one promoting the development of the coal mining industry and the eventual emergence of the steam engine, while the other coal mining industry was directly suppressed by various feudal lords as soon as it emerged. Of course, this is only a superficial difference, but in essence, the introduction of the British Corn Laws proves that all feudal landlords in the world are the same.

On the one hand, the climate of the Little Ice Age had just passed, and a large number of mountains were cut down; on the other hand, coal was banned from cooking salt, and the wood used for salt cooking was monopolized, so the price of salt can be imagined.

Although there are various methods because it is close to the sea, it is still relatively more expensive than the price of salt in Dashun, especially the salt produced by the sun salt method, which must be much more expensive.

To store salt here, Liu Yu was only making two-hand preparations. In the future, he would also store grain and rice here to serve as a back-up warehouse for controlling the futures price of the Japanese Rice Club. He first took the opportunity to build some warehouses on Jeju Island.

The main purpose is to ensure that the domestic salt policy reform will not cause the problem of people running out of salt, thus involving a series of salt reform, Huaihe River, and canal issues.

In addition to salt, Jeju Island also stocks some relatively cheap grains such as corn from Ezo and rye from Whale Sea.

A large number of hired workers who had just finished building the fortress were busy building warehouses. They did not know what the salt was used for, nor what the use of so much poor grain was.

…………

Not long after, on a large ship off Haizhou, Liu Yuzheng smiled and looked at several private salt dealers who were tied up.

These private salt traders looked at Liu Yu's official uniform and were at a loss.

He said in his heart that he was just selling some private money, and if he was caught, he would be sentenced to a few years at most, or at worst, his head would be lost. How could he be kidnapped by such a big official?

Some were kidnapped in brothels, and others were kidnapped midway when they were contacting sales.

I thought they were just asking for money, or that the local salt sellers were retaliating against them.

But I didn't expect that after I was caught, I was put on a fast horse. I didn't know where I ran to, and I changed ships. Now I finally met the real owner of the kidnapping. After hearing the other person's self-reported home, how could I not be confused?

In addition to these private salt dealers, there were only Liu Yu, Shi Shiyong and two confidants in the cabin to protect the safety.

Looking at the momentum of these guards, these private salt dealers knew that they had not lost unfairly. Even if they met on a narrow road, the salt dealers would not dare to fight with the officers and soldiers, but if they could not defeat such officers and soldiers, they would probably lose their lives. .

The most important thing is that these transactions that I did are crimes, but there is no need for people of this level to deal with them, right?

When everyone was wondering if they had gotten into some big trouble or gotten involved in some whirlpool, Liu Yu, who was smiling, spoke first.

"Don't be nervous. Isn't it just selling some personal information... This crime can be big or small, or even completely innocent. Now I ask you something and answer it carefully. Maybe not only are you not guilty, but the people around you are also innocent. There are even chickens and dogs ascending to heaven.”

After saying that, he rolled his eyes, looked at a person in the middle and asked, "You sell salt in Hubei and Henan, right? Where does your salt come from?"

"Sichuan salt? Lianghuai salt?"

Having said that, these private salt dealers didn't even bother to deny it, and admitted openly: "Mr. Hui Guo, what we sell is well salt."

Liu Yu nodded and asked, "Is it easy to sell?"

Do the private salt dealers think that this is a dignified government official preparing to engage in private salt sales? I can’t understand it, or I don’t dare to continue thinking about it, so I can only tell the truth.

"Easy to sell."

"The well salt is pure white, but the Huai salt coming to Wuhan is only inferior salt because the inferior price is cheap."

"Furthermore, the Huaihe River has too many taxes, and it goes upstream. Sichuan salt flows down the river, and the topography dictates that it is cheap."

Liu Yu asked again: "Then what is the sales scope of your group?"

"Hui Guo Gong, our gang runs from Wuhan to Xinyang, Luoshan, Queshan, and Xincai. We cover this area."

This is basically the border of the Huaibei Salt Zone.

Hearing this, Liu Yu couldn't help it and said with a smile: "You smugglers are stupid. I have long heard that Sichuan salt invades Huaihe and Sichuan salt invades Huaihe. I thought that we can only invade Huainan once." That is, those places in Hubei and Hunan, have you all invaded Xinyang?"

When the private salt dealer heard Liu Yu's words, he didn't know whether he was a sincere compliment or a weird one. He didn't know what to say for a while.

If it's a compliment, I don't understand why a high-ranking official would praise smugglers like them.

If it's a yin and yang thing, it doesn't seem necessary. Even beheading is something that a state pastor or county magistrate can do.

Although they were private, they did not directly lead a team to ambush the officers and soldiers like their counterparts in Jiangnan. How could they be worth such a big battle? I've never heard that people selling smuggled salt would be punished. Wouldn't they be beheaded at most?