New Shun 1730

"Let's do this...this matter will eventually be resolved. Now I ask you a few questions, and you can each answer them according to your own conscience."

"The Duke of Zhou and the Master are in front of you. Each one should follow his own conscience."

"Those who believe that there are no problems with the current salt administration, salt household policies, and salt introduction, business introduction, and business nesting systems, and do not need any changes at all, stand on the right."

"Those who believe that the current salt administration and salt household policies are problematic and need to be reformed should stand on the left."

A simple little question quickly divided the forty or fifty students into two groups.

One group stood on the left. One faction stood on the right.

There were about seven or eight people on the right, and the remaining forty people were all standing on the left.

Liu Yu looked at the seven or eight people on the right and said with a smile: "You guys give way first and go to the side and wait."

After the seven or eight people stood on the edge, Liu Yu asked again: "Those who support the sun-drying method of salt instead of boiling salt and reclaiming the spare grass are standing on the left; those who oppose the sun-drying method of replacing salt boiling method think that the salt policy There is indeed a problem with the salt household policy, but it can be modified and reformed without changing the drying method and the salt method, so stand on the right side.”

After they were divided again, Liu Yu continued to ask many small questions. These small questions were very simple and not profound at all.

Those who support land reclamation, do they support capital reclamation by large companies?

Those who support land reclamation and oppose large corporate capital land reclamation, do they support salt households’ self-cultivation?

Those who support self-reclamation of salt households, do they support cooperation and mutual assistance, support from the court, low-interest loans, young crop loans, etc.?

Those who support the government's support and loans, do they support the abolition of preferential treatment for students and the imposition of progressive land taxes to provide low-interest loans for the development of the poor?

If you support the abolition of preferential treatment for students and the imposition of progressive land tax, what is the standard for progressive land tax? 200 acres? 500 acres? 1,000 acres?

If you support self-reclamation by salt households, do you support checking the grasslands and returning the grasslands illegally occupied by the merchants to the salt households?

If you support refund, do you support free forced refund? Or support long-term redemption?

If you support long-term redemption, will you support the sale of land by salt households that will be converted to reclamation in the future?

If you don’t support land sales, do you support a full return to the well-field system?

Those who support the return of the well-field system do they support the thirty-year redemption? Or support free equalization of land?

These few simple problems quickly broke this 45-person local community into many small circles.

The people in these small circles stood on one side. You looked at me and I looked at you. They were stunned for a moment.

"Look, what is empty talk? What is not empty talk? You talk about compassion and awe, but it is of no use."

"As the ancients said, comrades are friends and classmates are friends. You are only forty or fifty people, but you have so many different views on this matter."

"There will be another trial in a few days. Some of you are businessmen, some are collecting money, some are really indignant, and some are salt dealers at home... Actually, state your demands openly and don't engage in any Moral talk, isn’t that good?”

"Now that you have been split up, how can you characterize this matter?"

"Let's all break up. After you go back, you might as well find each other's friends according to your respective attitudes towards this matter. Then write articles to discuss specific things, whether it is the specific allocation of farmland, specific reclamation strategies, etc. It’s better than talking nonsense here.”

"Let's break up..."

All the living beings who had never seen such play before were all dumbfounded.

Just now they were united to redress their grievances, but now they were split into so many factions by Liu Yu's few words, and their views on some issues were fundamentally inconsistent.

Calling each other a traitor does not seem to make any sense.

When they came to their senses, Liu Yu had already drifted away.

These students were so embarrassed with each other that they started arguing in the street after leaving the Confucian temple.

After arguing for a while, a fight soon broke out.

These few minor issues turned this incident from "people from southern Jiangsu beat up people from Yangzhou" to "a battle over moral concepts."

Looking at the students fighting over these issues in the distance, Liu Yu smiled and shook his head.

If we ask whether any of these people in this life really have a conscience, there certainly are.

Are there any people who are really willing to give up their property and preferential treatment to support the true royal government in their hearts? In fact, there must be some.

Naturally, the more chaos this kind of thing makes, the better.

The more chaotic it is, the smaller the force that the salt merchants can muster, instead of many angry students being deceived into following along.

The greater the chaos, the more factions there will be, but at least one, the truly awakened and angry Confucian scholars, will stand in the middle.

The salt merchant is a bastard.

The Reclamation Company is also a bastard.

If they think so, that's enough.

Because Liu Yu no longer needs allies, he just needs a neutral party not to stand on the opposite side.

If everyone is a bastard, the bastard here has a huge advantage.

…………

While the chaos was brewing here, several major salt merchants in Yangzhou City were struggling.

People's hearts are broken and it's difficult to lead the team. This is the dilemma they are facing now.

Down below, a large number of sellers and transporters did not object to the court's salt reform policy.

It has to be said that Huaibei's salt reform policy and the seemingly fair voting policy directly caused internal divisions in the originally cohesive salt merchant group.

For these secondary salt merchants who have been exploited by the general contractor, they certainly don't like someone making a profit from the price difference. They hope to enter the market with their own small capital, buy salt tickets, and do business by themselves.

These big salt merchants actually feel that they are also quite wronged.

Since the 45th year of Wanli, the salt permit has been an ownership system.

The big salt merchants have changed a lot, and they have spent a lot of money to buy salt permits.

Now, the court has said that the salt permit has been abolished with a stroke of the pen.

What is this equivalent to? It is equivalent to buying it at the purchase price, but now being told that it can only be rented.

Let alone other things, just the salt permit from the lifelong inheritance system has been changed to the salt ticket twice a year. Isn't this similar to directly nationalizing the land that has been bought with great difficulty and contracting it?

This directly reversed the issue of whether the salt monopoly that started in the 45th year of Wanli was ownership or contracting rights.

And the court did not give a penny of compensation.

Under the floating people's hearts, the few big salt merchants with the deepest interests were really forced into a desperate situation by Liu Yu.

The two major battlefields, Hubei and Huainan, will consume their huge energy.

In Hubei, they need to be prepared to fight against Liu Yu's new policy, which requires a lot of money.

In Huainan, they need to make decisions to cut off the firewood from the bottom of the pot, bind the interests of the people, and shape themselves as people who "stand up for the interests of salt households."

After meeting, several big salt merchants quickly figured out their own interests.

"We should not directly intervene in the Huainan matter."

"One thing needs to be remembered, as long as Huainan is still under the salt household system, we still have a chance. If Huainan is reclaimed, we will have no chance at all."

"Duke Xingguo wants to develop salt in Huaibei, following the example of Emperor Chengzu of the previous dynasty moving the capital to Beijing, completely cutting off our foundation."

"Therefore, if you want to win in Huainan, you must make some choices. Abandon all the benefits of the marshes."

"Let the Confucian scholars make a fuss, hoping to divide the marshes equally and keep the salt households."

"The salt household system is the foundation of our survival. The rest should be put aside and thrown away. If we directly intervene, it will easily arouse disgust, after all, you and I are both called 'salt borers'."

"It is necessary to let the Confucian scholars shout for the benefit of the people and the livelihood of the salt households, so that we can have a chance of winning."

The salt merchants who understand this matter have already understood it.

They are deeply rooted in Huainan and have flourished.

As long as the court still maintains the salt household system, they will always have the opportunity to make progress day by day, and sooner or later repeat yesterday's story.

Liu Yu's abolition of salt and reclamation is to dig up their roots, which is obviously aimed at making them never stand up.

Perhaps, they have a good relationship with the local land gentry who own the grass marshes.

But at this juncture, they can only be thrown away.

If they are not thrown away, they will remain unchanged. And keeping unchanged, as far as it can be seen now, is impossible anyway.

Only by selling them and pretending to be pleading for the salt households and the poorest people, can this matter be dragged until the court dares not to move lightly.

The salt household system is the economic foundation of the entire Huainan salt administration. As long as this foundation is not changed, the rest will be superficial.

This is the truth, and they understand it in their hearts.

But...

"But, what happened a few days ago made it clear that the other side was well prepared. Not only was it well prepared, but they were also very clear about this set of methods."

"In terms of money, they are not inferior to us. In terms of feeding, they must have many biting dogs under their hands."

"Although the Duke of Xingguo did not show up, he was behind all this. The governor seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with the complete abolition of salt in Huainan. It seems that he did not want to bear the bad reputation of seizing salt households and people's property after all."

"Besides, if we support the equal distribution of grass and ponds, although the righteousness is on my side, I am afraid that the local gentry will oppose it. They have a lot of grass and ponds in their hands, and they are afraid that they will be dissatisfied with us."

"But if we don't use this righteousness, you and I will not even have a chance to struggle. The Duke of Xingguo's methods are really vicious."

After discussing for a long time, these salt merchants finally discovered Liu Yu's viciousness.

First, divide the salt households, and then divide the salt households and the pond owners.

After repeated divisions and instigations, the big salt merchants only had one last card left in their hands.

Control the people's permanent property and divide the grass and marshes equally.

Once this card is played, it is equivalent to directly offending the gentry and the owners of the salt area.

Those owners and gentry did not support Liu Yu. But they definitely opposed the equal division of the grass and marshes.

Now it seems to these salt merchants that Liu Yu has been constantly dividing this side since the Huaibei salt reform. He did not choose to strengthen his own power, but split the opponent's power, making it impossible for the opponent to unite.

The most criticized salt borer in the world played this card of controlling the people's permanent property and dividing the grass and marshes equally. It looks magical, but in fact, similar scenes will continue to be staged again and again during this transition period.

When these salt merchants were at a loss, a trusted servant hurried in from outside.

"Master! Master! The scholar who took the lead in protesting against the injustice of the salt households a few days ago is dead! There is news that the students in the county have started a riot!"

The salt merchant heard the news and was overjoyed, saying, "Good death! Good death!"

"Quick! Quick! Ask someone to write a few articles, just talking about the suffering of the salt households and the reclamation company seizing the people's property. The student was so angry that he protested against the injustice of the people and was beaten to death! He should be held in commemoration and be made a hero! The angry students, go to pay tribute and send this hero off!"