Chapter 164 Yan Shaoting's Economics (Subscription Request)
"The road is long and difficult."

"Yan Runwu, I am pleased that you want to implement a new salt policy."

On the Taoist platform in the inner hall of Wanshou Palace, Jiajing's voice was long and deep.

His eyes flashed a few times, but they quickly disappeared.

"In the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the salt administration issues more than one million salt permits every year. Apart from the use of the people, the rest is needed for military affairs in Kaizhong."

"Once the imperial court eliminates the long-standing malpractices in the salt administration and implements the new policy you mentioned, the people's livelihood and the morale of the army will be deeply affected."

"I don't think that what you said is not beneficial to the country. Today in the Wanshou Palace, the cabinet talked about the laws established by our ancestors, and you also saw it."

"Do you understand the key point?"

Jiajing tried to keep his tone steady.

But his hands were clenched together under his long sleeves.

Yan Shaoting saluted and said, "Your Majesty, what I am advising is not a new policy, and it does not involve the laws of our ancestors. If we talk about the laws of our ancestors, I have also said today that during the Hongwu reign of Emperor Taizu, the surplus salt was given one stone of rice and wheat. As for the new policy of salt policy, I will say that it is not necessary to give one stone, and seven or eight will be enough.

“To implement new policies does not mean to destroy the old system.

“Once the salt administration structure is completely renewed, the court can continue the business, and only suspend advance payments. This is also what merchants are looking forward to.

Increase the cost of salt to households and cooks, reduce the cost of purchasing for merchants, and thus reduce the price of salt for the people. No one should break the law, take risks, or be ambitious, so they will no longer be willing to sell private salt. "

The Ming Dynasty has come to this day.

The Kaizhong system was originally a good idea, but the merchants were not fools. They could only get a few salt permits after paying the money today, and they didn’t know how many years they would have to wait before they could get the salt.

What the fuck.

Who is willing to open a dialogue with the court again?
Once the profits from salt production increased, the imperial court adopted the policy of small profits but quick turnover, and the cost for merchants to purchase official salt decreased, and the selling price was lowered.

There really aren't many people who are willing to risk being beheaded every day by selling contraband salt.

Yan Shaoting suddenly had an idea and said, "In order to ensure that the salt farmers are willing to produce salt for the court, I think Your Majesty can also issue an order to stop the corvée law for the salt farmers and let them concentrate on producing salt. In this way, the salt farmers and salt farmers in the world will surely praise Your Majesty's benevolence and will be even less willing to smuggle salt."

This was something that suddenly occurred to him.

Among the various rules and regulations of the Ming Dynasty on salt administration, there is one that can be said to treat people as not human beings.

Starting from the Hongwu Dynasty.

The salt farmers and cooks of the Ming Dynasty not only had to produce salt according to the court's regulations, but also had to perform corvée labor and work for the government.

On the one hand, they had to perform corvée labor, and on the other hand, they had to pay the salt tax set by the imperial court.

After a long time, most of these salt households and kitchen staff are unwilling to continue working there.

Later, the cost of regular salt decreased, which directly led to the salt households and kitchen staff being willing to risk being beheaded in order to smuggle contraband salt out.

Jiajing also narrowed his eyes and asked: "Stop the corvée service for salt households and kitchen staff?"

He looked at Lu Fang standing aside.

Yan Shaoting shut his mouth.

Not long after, Lu Fang took an account book from the heavily obscured bookshelf in the distance and handed it to Jiajing.

Jiajing lowered his head and read through it.

This is the account book that records the salt households in the world.

After taking a closer look, a smile appeared on Jiajing's face.

"I agree with what you have said."

"But only salt workers are exempted from corvée labor. Households that do not produce salt are still subject to corvée labor as usual."

Compared with the billions of people in the world, there are less than a million salt households, and only a few salt cooks who actually produce salt.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, taking Lianghuai as an example, the annual quota for salt households and kitchen staff was 20 jin each, and each jin weighed 200 jin.

One person produces 4,000 kilograms of salt per year.

The annual salt production of the Ming Dynasty was roughly 2.5 million jin. Even if the unreported salt was taken into account, the number of salt workers actually engaged in salt production was only about 100 to 200 thousand.

If the corvée labor of salt households and kitchen staff were stopped, the people's hearts would be immediately won.

Jiajing thought that this matter could be done.

Moreover, if corvée labor was stopped, the cooks would be able to produce more salt.

This is the account in Jiajing's mind.

But Yan Shaoting had another account in his mind.

Determine the amount of money that salt households can earn from producing salt, lower the price for common people to buy salt, ensure that common people have sufficient salt supplies, and enable the court to make small profits but quick turnover, thus ensuring normal salt taxes.

In fact, if we talk about it alone, he still has a way to make the Ming Dynasty gain more profits from the salt tax, but then the people will have a hard time living.

Little did people know that during the reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, the salt tax rose from more than 3 million taels to 7 million taels. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the salt tax even reached 30 million taels of silver.

In comparison, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the salt tax in the country was only over a million per year.

It really makes people sigh.

Yan Shaoting raised his head and looked at Jiajing, and said tentatively: "Your Majesty, what I said before..."

He hadn't finished speaking yet.

He was interrupted again by Jiajing.

Jiajing said, "I have agreed to abolish the labor service of salt-producing stoves. Now tell me more about what you mean by the affairs outside the salt administration."

My words were interrupted.

Yan Shaoting's eyes moved slightly, everything was as he expected.

But the emperor's order is immediate.

He could only change the subject and say: "The matters other than the salt administration that I reported are the economic affairs of the country."

"Oh?"

Jiajing looked curious.

He knew Yan Shaoting's talent in economics, which was why he had asked him to work in the Ministry of Revenue and also take charge of military supplies.

What they value is Yan Shaoting's ability in economic matters.

Now that Yan Shaoting wanted to talk about the country's economy, he naturally became very curious.

But Yan Shaoting was organizing words.

I couldn't just tell the Taoist priest something like the improvement of labor productivity and the order of natural distribution of labor products.

Too raw.

Jiajing was so obsessed with making money and practicing Taoism that he probably needed hundreds or even thousands of words to explain the labor productivity alone.

Rethought it.

After reorganizing the original plan, Yan Shaoting said, "I think that the national finances and taxes, or the national wealth, are all taken from the people, not water without roots."

Jiajing nodded.

He could understand this.

Whether it is the current population tax, the summer and autumn taxes, or the customs tax, salt tax, iron tax, tea tax, silk tax, cloth tax, etc., they all originated from the people.

Yan Shaoting added: "In my opinion, if we want the country to be rich, we must first enrich the people. Only when the people are prosperous can the country's wealth grow and the country's fiscal revenue increase. If the people are prosperous, the country will be rich, and if the people are poor, the country will be poor."

"When the people are prosperous, the country is prosperous..."

"When the people are poor, the country is poor..."

Jiajing repeated silently, muttered softly, and then fell into deep thought alone.

After a long time, Jiajing seemed to have just reacted. He looked at Yan Shaoting with deep doubt in his eyes.

"Go on."

After saying this, Jiajing still frowned and thought deeply.

Yan Shaoting glanced at the old Taoist priest before continuing, "If the people want to be rich, they need to specialize in making a living. If they are farmers, they should cultivate the land carefully. If they are salt farmers, they should work hard to make salt and do nothing else.

"As I request today, please stop the corvée labor of salt farmers and salt cooks. Your Majesty is wise and knows that if the salt cooks stop the corvée labor, they can spend the whole year making salt, and the salt production will definitely increase.

"In this way, the annual income of the kitchen staff increased, and the salt tax collected by the court also increased.

"For example, if the people in the southeast weave silk and do nothing else throughout the year and just focus on weaving, the output will increase. The more the people produce, the more they earn, and the court can get more tax money from it.

This is what I mean, when the people are prosperous, the country is prosperous."

This was an economic theory that Jiajing had never heard of.

Besides feeling extremely curious, Jiajing also felt that there seemed to be some profound truth hidden in it, but he just couldn't fully understand it at the moment.

Seeing Jiajing lost in thought, his head seemed to be itching unbearably.

Yan Shaoting couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Could it be that this Taoist priest has grown a brain because of what I said?

After some malicious speculation.

Yan Shaoting continued: "To enrich the people, we need to prosper all industries. If all industries prosper, the people will be rich, and the country will be rich.

“It’s just like weaving. Thousands of years ago, one person had to work hard to make a piece of silk cloth. Now, when a spinning machine starts, one person can do the work of several or even dozens of people.

"The imperial court attaches great importance to education and promotes the imperial examination system in order to recruit talents for the country. However, there are hundreds of millions of people in the world, and not everyone can study and take the imperial examination. The remaining people should develop various skills instead of treating all new and novel things as useless.

“For thousands of years, the people in the Central Plains ate raw meat and drank blood, but now everyone is well-dressed. This is the reason.

I think the court should reward all new and useful things in the world to encourage the common people to make money with their skills in addition to studying for the imperial examinations. "

After a long period of deep thought, Jiajing finally took action.

He raised his head and looked at Yan Shaoting, and then looked at Lu Fang beside him.

Yan Shaoting also followed the Taoist's gaze and looked over.

I saw Lu Fang holding a pen and taking notes.

A smile appeared on Yan Shaoting's face.

When I was refuting the Minister of Justice Pan En and Gao Gong today, I asked Lu Fang to start recording my words one by one, but this was just to make him develop a habit and wait to write down what I was saying now.

Seeing that both of them looked over.

Lv Fang smiled and explained, "Master, I felt that what Yan Shidu said were all important principles related to the country, so I wrote them down so that you can read them later."

Jiajing hummed.

"Go ahead and write it down."

After saying this, Jiajing looked at Yan Shaoting again.

"I know what you mean, but if the people are prosperous, the country will be prosperous. How can we do this?"

Yan Shaoting hesitated for a moment.

He thought a lot.

But based on my past understanding of the Taoist priest and today's successive tests, I knew that the real purpose was hidden under the so-called reform.

It's clear.

The emperor before him, who had walked step by step from Anlu into Beijing, no longer had the same ambition as before.

Do you want to reform and innovate?
miss you.

Did Jiajing want reform and innovation?
In no mood.

In other words, he didn't dare.

But he also did not expect the Taoist priest to support the reform. All he wanted to do was record all these things.

Then, under the circumstances that Jiajing would never support, he achieved what he really wanted at the moment.

The administration of officials in Lianghuai was investigated, and the corvée labor of salt households and kitchen staff in Lianghuai was stopped, so that the lives of these people could be slightly better.

Finally, if we can get Emperor Jiajing to issue an edict to commend all industries in the world, then all our goals today will be achieved.

As for the Ming Dynasty’s reform and innovation?

Just wait a few more years.

Even the one who came a few years later didn't dare to do that.

Isn't there a little brat here?

But what if you can get some other benefits besides this?

Yan Shaoting lowered his head and turned his eyes away.

It seems that I need to work on my acting skills.

There was a pop.

Yan Shaoting's official robe shook and he knelt down on the ground with a bang.

"His Majesty!"

"I dare not say!"

…………

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　Happy Children's Day!
Yesterday was the last day of the last month. Fortunately, I received great support from all my godfathers. The monthly votes reached 2,000! So I owe you one more chapter. I remember it. But I can't update today. From three chapters and 6,000 words a day before the release, to three chapters and 10,000 words a day after the release, staying up late every day really makes my brain a little tired, and my body really can't stand it...

Let me take a break today, and I’ll update again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I’ll never go back on my word!

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(End of this chapter)