Seeing Shi Lun's disaster in the east, Zhenwu couldn't help but laugh. How could I not know the reason why the Hui merchants in Yangzhou were rich? Lianghuai Salt Field first enriched Shanxi merchants in Shanxi, and then Hui merchants in Huizhou. He had been determined to knock on salt peelers, but he had never had a good excuse. This drought was a good opportunity. The salt merchants were not legitimate merchants. Blade on them would not cause panic, but would only make people applaud.

Zhenwu has long been interested in innovating the salt method he is using now, but before the innovation, they must let them spit out some money. After the innovation, they will be injustice and then attack them.

The Changlu Salt Field in Tianjin is not only the largest salt field in the north, but also the first salt field to create the sun-drying method. The salt output is not inferior to the salt field in both Huaihe River. Although it is not as rich as Yangzhou, it is not much different. However, if they have to donate millions of taels of silver, the salt merchants will probably lose everything. In that case, it will cause panic among all salt merchants, which is not worth the loss.

Seeing Zhenwu pondering but not speaking, Shi Shilun couldn't help feeling a little nervous. If Zhenwu deliberately wanted to plunder millions of taels from the salt merchants in Tianjin, it would be like a disaster for Tianjin. However, as the governor of Zhili, Zhenwu's intention was to ask him to participate in the scaling, but it was difficult to persuade him again. He couldn't help but turn his head slightly and glance at Zhang Pengheng, hoping that he could help him speak.

However, Zhang Penghui lowered his head and thought about Zhenwu's intentions, and did not notice Shi Shilun's look in asking for help. In recent years, the annual income of the imperial court has increased year by year, and it is said to be rich. Zhenwu's treasury is probably more than 30 million taels, and disaster relief is effortless. Why did he want to donate to the salt merchants? And the amount is so huge. Could it be that he has ideas about the salt administration?

Thinking of this, he felt a sudden shock. Although the salt administration has its drawbacks, it has a close relationship with local officials. It can be said that local officials at all levels are using the salt administration for personal gain. Even if they want to move, they cannot move at this time.

After pondering for a moment, he spoke: "Emperor, the salt merchant is a worldly business, but is not a pure merchant. But he is a half-official and half-businessman. He has always had major famines or wars, and the salt merchants have all actively lost donations. Although the salt merchants in Tianjin and Yangzhou are rich, they will lose millions of taels at a time, which may hurt the emperor's wiseness. I pray that the emperor will think twice."

Fu Ning'an also followed closely and said: "The reason why the salt merchants are rich and are all obtained from the court's salt administration is the great righteousness. For decades, when there are disasters and wars, salt merchants are indispensable to the loss of donations. Therefore, salt merchants have also formed a fixed rule for losing donations. This time, the drought and famine were rashly lost. The slaves were worried that salt merchants in the north and south would resist. In addition, the slaves were also worried that salt merchants would raise the price of salt to blame the people. This may hurt the emperor's love for the people."

Wang Xiangling also guessed that Zhenwu had the idea of ​​innovating the salt administration, and also said: "Report to the emperor, in addition to the regular tax, salt tax is the largest income of the court. The annual tax amount is more than 4 million taels. If you rashly lose a huge amount of donations, it may cause chaos in the salt administration. I hope the emperor will be careful."

After hearing what the three people said, Shi Shilun couldn't help but feel happy. He was extremely happy to knock on the salt peeler, but he couldn't overdo it. After all, the salt industry is one of Tianjin's main sources of economic resources. If he fishes out of the waters, Tianjin's prosperity will be affected.

Seeing that the three of them unanimously opposed, Zhenwu picked up the teacup and sipped the tea. After pondering for a moment, he slowly said: "The reason why salt merchants are rich is that they are both profitable for salt administration and illegal acts. You have all served as local important tasks. Think about it and help me calculate this account. How many generations of salt merchants who follow the rules can be so rich? If they do not carry private salt, can they be so rich? It is natural that they lose money if they don't have any illegal income. If it is difficult to give up, I don't mind checking their family background."

Zhang Peng and the other four of them all changed their expressions. Zhenwu said this rightly. All the salt merchants of all sizes were privately entrained. There were even a thousand officials who had privately entrained salts and 10,000. However, the profits were divided between them and officials at all levels of the local government. If Zhenwu really asked the Ministry of Justice to investigate thoroughly, the entire officialdom would be shocked.

Zhenwu glanced at the four people and then said, "I have never exhausted my waters to fish. Tianjin salt merchants donated 1.2 million taels, and Yangzhou salt merchants donated 2 million taels." After a slight salmon, he said, "The court is actually not short of money, why do salt merchants lose donations? This move is intended to advocate the atmosphere of merchants. Now that commerce is booming, there are more and more wealthy merchants. The court must focus on guiding them to be kind and generous, provide relief to famines and disaster relief, pave roads and bridges, fund poverty, and improve people's livelihood.

Like the Shanxi merchants, they buried silver in cellars, and Hui merchants built gardens on a large scale. They were extravagant and had no benefits to the court, nor did they benefit the people at all. They were not conducive to the circulation of silver and money, nor to promote the development of business. Instead, they aroused hatred from the people. When the situation was met, they were the first to suffer.

The salt merchant has a special status and must play an example. Tianjin's persuasion is responsible for Shi Shilun, Yangzhou's persuasion is responsible for the Governor of Liangjiang Lang Tingji and Suzhou's governor Wanyan Haifeng. If there is anyone who does not know the current affairs, I will come to persuade him to lose in person."

When Zhenwu heard that the salt merchants' loss of donations actually mean that such a layer of meaning was Zhang Penghong and others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Advocating charity is also a great merit. Although the amount of donations was still a bit large, it was impossible to beat Zhenwu's pretext to ascend the throne and change the emperor. These excuses were not to be taught to them.

Shi Shilun also breathed a sigh of relief. Tianjin salt merchants donated 1.2 million taels. Although the amount was a little large, they would not be too difficult, at least they would not hurt the salt merchants. He hurriedly bowed and said, "The emperor has far-reaching thoughts, advocates the kingly way, and compassionate with the people. The ministers respect the decree. Even if there is an iron rooster, the ministers will still pull out a few hairs."

After hearing his remarks, Zhenwu couldn't help but smile, thought a little, then smiled and said, "All salt merchants whose losses amounted to more than 50,000 taels of donations are published in the Beijing newspapers. If other merchants who lost to more than 10,000 taels of donations are also allowed to pay for money for nothing, I will make them famous."

Speaking of this, he immediately thought of the advertisements of the Beijing News, which was a good opportunity. Therefore, he immediately continued: "Anyone who has physical stores, such as pharmacies, restaurants, teahouses, garment stores, silver numbers, goldware shops, silk weaving workshops, etc., is allowed to replace names in the Beijing News with fonts. However, the amount of money donated must be more than 20,000 taels. All money donated companies can be published in a conspicuous position in the Beijing News supplement for several days or months in a row.

I am here to express my opinion for the "Four Great Hengs" that I will lose one million taels, the Qing Dynasty Ocean Trade Fleet will lose six hundred thousand taels, the Shanghai Sand Ship Association will lose two hundred thousand taels, and the Guangzhou Wanlilong Tea House will lose two hundred thousand taels."

The few people were stunned when they heard this. The four fonts alone lost 2 million taels! What made them even more strange was that they all knew the first three fonts, but where did the Wanlilong Tea Store in Guangzhou come out? I have never heard of it, and I lost 200,000. Is it from the Thirteen fonts?

Zhang Pengsheng was good at economics and served as the Minister of Revenue. He immediately heard the wonderfulness of Zhenwu, the name of a merchant in the Beijing News. The name of a business was published nationwide, and the name of a business in the Beijing News was tantamount to a signboard throughout the Qing Dynasty. Some powerful chambers of commerce will definitely attract attention. This time, the court may not spend a big son. This master is really good at making money! These four businesses are just to throw bricks and jade, and they have set the price invisibly.

After pondering for a moment, he bowed and said, "The emperor turned stones into gold, which is the best of ancient and modern times, which has opened his eyes to the public. Not only is it drought and deserted, but the Beijing newspaper will also make money here, which is actually a blessing for the court and the disaster victims."

After Zhang Penghong's words, the few people immediately realized it and immediately praised it.

Zhenwu looked at Zhang Pengfeng with great appreciation, smiled slightly, and said, "Since it is a silver for disaster relief, the disaster-stricken areas in the northern provinces will be exempted in the name of my ascending the throne and changing the reign. This is just a waste." After a slight pause, he continued, "The 'Four Great Hengs' has special disaster relief and low interest loans. The court no longer needs to worry about this. Eliminating harm, replenishing and pension are after the disaster. I will discuss the transfer of grain in the future. I have ordered the transportation of one million stones of rice from Nanyang and Jiangnan to the north, but Tianjin has not yet thawed yet, and it is difficult to quench near thirst. You should discuss the relief matter first."

Everyone felt relieved when they heard this. After pondering slightly, Zhang Penghong said, "Relief and pension are inseparable. They are actually one. Relief is divided into three types: relief, relief funds, and relief materials. Supply means porridge, clothing, and medicine. The specific relief steps, personnel arrangements, "The Qing Dynasty's Assembly" and "The Ministry of Revenue Rules" all have clear provisions, and relief can be handled in accordance with the law.

Now that the grain relief has not arrived, we can only order the provinces, prefectures, counties and towns to report the specific number of disasters, and then decide the amount of grain to be opened. All places have wasteland storage such as charity warehouses, regular warehouses, regular warehouses, and Taicang, etc., to deal with the half-month need. By then, Tianjin has already thawed and can fully provide assistance."

Zhenwu nodded slightly, but was wondering why these local officials had not seen the disaster report for a while. He pondered for a while, but he didn't understand it, so he asked: "Now the disaster has begun to show up, why don't local officials report the disaster?"

Several people knew this. Zhenwu ascended the throne last year and changed the reign this year. There was no such thing as local officials who were so unhappy. Naturally, they reported good news but not bad news. If the disaster was not confirmed, no one would touch this bad news. After a little consideration, Zhang Penghong pondered and said: "Return to the emperor, reporting disaster is a big event. If there is no confirmation, no one dares to report it. This year, the emperor changed the reign. Generally, the officials would not report it to prevent the emperor from being interested."

It turned out that he was reporting good news but not bad news. Zhenwu nodded slightly and said, "In history, all the officials who have lost their compassion to provide relief to the victims have ignored the lives and deaths of the victims. They took the opportunity to make money, embezzled the money and grain of disaster relief, and deducted them from layers of time. The money and grain of relief fell into the hands of the victims by only four or five. It is really angered by the gods and men." (To be continued)q!~!

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