Chapter 2797 2799【Salt Policy Reform】


    “Master Li, I have read the information from the Ministry of Household Affairs before, and I know that salt and iron have always accounted for the majority of the imperial tax, and are closely related to people’s livelihood. They are also crucial for military supplies.


    ??If salt and iron production are opened up, how will taxes be collected? How to control prices? How to limit outflow? Xiang Nan asked.


    Salt and iron monopoly, production and sales are controlled by the government, so that taxes can be collected smoothly. If it is open to business, not to mention it will affect the national strategy, it will be difficult to stop tax evasion alone.


    ? Modern controls are so tight and science and technology are so advanced that smuggling cannot yet be eliminated. In ancient times, the imperial power did not go to the countryside, and its control over the grassroots was quite weak. Moreover, the investigation technology was also quite backward, and there was no way to deal with smuggling.


    ? And once it is opened for business, the consequence is that the price of salt and iron will be controlled by merchants and raised to an extremely high level.


    In modern society, there have been phenomena such as "garlic you are cruel", "beans you play", "ginger your army", "onion attack wave", "apple what", "spicy as hell" and other phenomena of skyrocketing prices.


    These foods are not yet considered necessities of life. You can live without them or you can overcome them. However, salt and iron are directly related to people''s livelihood issues and are indispensable every day.


    If it is open to business, the people will be really miserable, and they will have to buy salt and iron at extremely high prices. At that time, those businessmen will make a lot of money, while the people will be exploited.


    ??The worst thing is that the imperial court will not only lose the salt and iron tax revenue, but also lose the support of the people, and its collapse is not far away.


    ?At the same time, if operations are opened up, once the salt and iron are leaked out, it will be a major threat to national security.


    ?Although the countries in the Western Region can also smelt iron, their scale and quality are far inferior to those of the Toyo Dynasty. Therefore, the western countries raided the border and often took away iron pots and farm tools.


    ???If there is an unlimited supply of iron to the countries in the western border, and with their system of all-people soldiers, they can raise hundreds of thousands of brightly armored and well-equipped armies every minute, which will naturally be an extremely serious threat to the Toyo Dynasty.


    Therefore, these three major problems are difficult to overcome. The proposal of Li Shaoqing, the prince''s young master, to open up salt and iron is just an empty talk.


    …


    ?Everyone present saw that Xiang Nan had just listened to Li Shaoqing''s suggestion and quickly listed the three most critical problems, and they couldn''t help but respect him.


    Hang Nancai''s quick thinking, sharp eyes, and careful mind are all evident.


    Fortunately, Li Shaoqing is not a general person. He dared to propose the opening of salt and iron. Naturally, he had his reasons, so he also talked about it with eloquence.


    At this moment, Xiang Nan started discussing with them.


    After the discussion, Xiang Nan couldn''t help but feel a little emotional.


    ?He was sure that although Li Shaoqing was not a corrupt official or a mediocre official, he and the royal family were not of the same mind.


    ?Just like the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty, they kept claiming to be for the country, demanding integrity and serving the government, revitalizing officialdom, opening up the public opinion, eradicating the accumulated abuses of the government and the public, and opposing corruption and bending of the law by the powerful.


    But it was these Donglin Party members who were upright, honest, and unyielding, who could be regarded as moral models. They advocated frivolous corvee and low taxes, which made it difficult for the country to collect taxes. It even had no money to fight. In the end, the Qing troops entered the customs, and the country The family was destroyed.


    Li Shaoqing is a similar person.


    He is knowledgeable and capable, neither greedy nor robbing, honest and upright, and is highly praised by everyone, but if you really want to use his words, he is really a loser.


    ? He ??is just like those politicians who are now using the banner of political correctness. On the surface, they are impeccable and everything they say is correct. No one can fault them, but they are just unrealistic.


    This also gave Xiang Nan some insights.


    ?He originally thought that to govern the country, he only needed to use honest, upright, and selfless officials. Nowadays, it seems that honest officials may not be honest, and honest officials may not be useful.


    …


    Xiang Nan then wrote a statement to Li Yu regarding the salt and iron discussion and put forward his own reform opinions. Today''s salt administration in the Toyo Dynasty implements the system of "civilian system, official collection, official transportation, and official sales".


    Because the government intervened too much, much of the salt and profit was misappropriated by officials. Moreover, the efficiency of the government''s work was low, and the three links of collection, transportation, and sales were constantly hindered.


    Not only does the price of salt remain high, but there is often no salt available. At the same time, due to excessive government exploitation, salt households were not very motivated to make salt. Production is declining year by year.


    Xiang Nan proposed that salt should be collected by civilians, collected by merchants, transported by merchants, and sold by merchants. As a result, the rights of purchasing, transporting and selling all belong to the merchants, also known as the "merchant monopoly system".


    Official supervision and merchant distribution can not only prevent officials from encroaching on salt interests, but also avoid official salt congestion and the prevalence of private salt.


    ?This kind of business monopoly system was implemented in the middle and late Ming Dynasty and lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for nearly three hundred years. It can be said to be quite mature.


    ?Of course, the business monopoly system is not without its shortcomings. For example, it will create a group of monopoly merchants. For example, during the Qing Dynasty, the salt merchants of Lianghuai and Huaihe were the richest in the world, and no one knew about it.


    ?But in ancient times, merchants had no status. They were just fat pigs waiting to be slaughtered. They were fattened and killed immediately.


    During the Qing Dynasty, since Kangxi and Qianlong, whenever the Qing government held major events, salt merchants often donated huge amounts of silver, ranging from one million to one hundred thousand.


    Therefore, it is actually better to make businessmen rich than to make officials rich.


    …


    Li Hao couldn''t help but feel satisfied after reading Xiang Nan''s 30,000-word statement. From the shortcomings of the current salt policy to the advantages of the "commercial monopoly system" to the specific implementation, supervision and adjustment methods, nodded.


    Xiang Nan''s salt policy is indeed much more complete and advanced than the current methods. It seems that he really put his heart into it. When I chose him to be the prince, I did not choose the wrong person.


    ?However, Li Fu did not implement it immediately, but suppressed the deal.


    Xiang Nan was a little surprised when he found out, but he didn''t make it public. He believed that Li Hao had his own reasons.


    In the next few days, Xiang Nan was still busy compiling books, studying and participating in government affairs.


    Although he had never been a prince before and had no experience in managing a country. But he has been a national advisor, a martial arts leader, and managed a large company with tens of thousands of people, so he still has some experience in governing.


    ? And there is nothing new under the sun. Many things that happened in the Toyo Dynasty have been compared in the history books. Xiang Nan is familiar with historical materials such as the Twenty-Four Histories and the Unofficial History of Barnyard Officials. With the reference of the two, he naturally behaves in an orderly manner.


    I dare not say that the sage is shining brightly, and there are no plans left. But he is also quick-thinking, shrewd and capable. This made Li Hao very satisfied and made the courtiers understand that Xiang Nan will definitely be a wise king when he succeeds to the throne in the future.


    This also made Gao Gao Ming vaguely uneasy.


    Because the better Xiang Nan performs, the less likely he will be controlled by him in the future. After all, the Holy Lord Mingjun would not be willing to be someone else''s puppet.


    But now, Xiang Nan has ascended to the position of prince. They wanted to drive him out again, but it wasn''t that easy.


    Let’s not talk about whether they can drive him out. Even if they drive him out, who can guarantee that the next prince will be controlled by them.


    You must know that if Xiang Nan is deposed, only Li Chengyuan and Li Chengwen will be left. The Gao family has never had any friendship with the two of them. There were even quarrels during the process of seizing the heir apparent.


    ?Even if the Gao family in turn pushed them to the top, let alone the price to pay, even if they really came to power, they might not reuse the Gao family.


    "If that doesn''t work, support our own people." Gao Ming couldn''t help but think.


    (End of this chapter)