The majestic sister-in-law of the Red Chamber

Early the next morning, Situ Qing hurriedly finished the morning court, took the news from Situ Meng several times, and went straight to the emperor's bedroom.

"Father, my son has something very important to report to you alone!"

As Situ Qing said, he glanced at a female official, three or four court ladies, and eunuchs who were serving the Supreme Emperor, and said meaningfully.

"You all go down first!" The Supreme Emperor looked at Situ Qing with a solemn expression, and then waved his hand, causing all the people in the hall to retreat.

"Father, these are all the things that Xiao Shiwu encountered on the road to the south of the Yangtze River this time, as well as some things he found, please have a look!"

As Situ Qing said, he respectfully handed all the news he had sorted out to the Supreme Emperor.

When the Taishanghuang took the thick and collapsed thing and slowly read it page by page, he fell silent and didn't say a word for a long time.

Situ Qing didn't ask much, just stood quietly and waited. He knew that the Supreme Emperor was thinking.After all, he can understand many things, let alone the Supreme Emperor who has been the emperor for decades!

Although the Supreme Emperor has deep feelings for those veterans and nobles, when the crisis comes to the imperial power, he will definitely be more ruthless than anyone else.For the sake of the Situ family's country and the throne, he even sacrificed his own children and grandchildren, let alone some kings with different surnames who were already an eyesore.

Although Situ Qing did not have conclusive evidence that those kings with different surnames wanted to rebel, but he did not believe that they would not have such thoughts and plans.

You must know that when the world was pacified, the strength of the four of them was weaker than that of the Situ family, but not too much. They just admired the emperor Taizu, so they embraced him as emperor.

At the beginning, it was because of the heavy military power in the hands of the four of them and the great contribution they made that the Taizu had no choice but to give them the title of king with different surnames. Now only the Beijing Palace, with several generations of people all heroic. Died young, it was the turn of Shui Rong, who was just in his teens and had not yet reached the crown, to inherit the throne.

Shui Rong's mother, the current Concubine of the King of Beijing, in order to keep the throne for her son from other uncles, had to ask the royal family for help, and voluntarily handed over the military power, in exchange for her son's position as the King of Beijing.

However, the other three families had a thriving population, with many descendants. Even the Annan County King, who had the smallest population, was only one son and one grandson, but there were also many sons and grandsons.

None of them have been stationed in the capital for a long time, and each of them has a heavy army in their hands. They clearly say they are guarding the frontiers, but in fact, they seem to have a promise on their one-acre three-point land, and those places have been occupied by them for many years. Business has become a country within a country.

Although the other eight princes were also granted the same title at the beginning of the founding of the country, they are not like kings with different surnames. They can continue hereditary without replacement, but will continue to descend to inheritance.

Like Ningguo Duke's Mansion, because successive generations have died young or passed away with crowns, the current heir, Jia Zhen, only has the title of General Wei Lie, a third-rank noble, and it can last for one generation at most, and then It will be completely reduced to ordinary people.

Moreover, now the entire Dayong Dynasty has basically entered a period of peace, and there are very few wars with neighboring countries. It is very difficult to obtain or promote titles.

Therefore, like the government of the Duke of Li, it took the initiative to let the son-in-law marry the princess of the current dynasty. Although there are regulations in this dynasty that the son-in-law cannot hold a position of real power, the corresponding compensation is given in the title, that is, when he inherits the Duke of Li. At that time, he would not be downgraded, and even his eldest son born to the princess would not be downgraded if he inherited the Duke's position.

Salt and iron have been monopolized by the state since ancient times, and they are a great source of tax and silver for the treasury. Now, these kings, dukes, and imperial merchants with different surnames dare to extend their sinful hands to the official salt and make huge profits. Huge profits, so the next step is to continue to start with iron mines, gold mines, silver mines, etc., which are also controlled and monopolized by the state?

At that time, the situation of Situ's family will be really dangerous. Although Situ Qing still can't produce conclusive evidence to prevent them from directly turning against these kings with different surnames and sending troops to crusade, it doesn't mean that they will be like this I watched those people continue to make huge profits by reselling private salt and grow stronger.

"Prince, you must have seen all these things, right? What do you think, tell me!" The Supreme Emperor spoke, but he wanted to hear Situ Qing's opinion first.

"Back to Father! Although Xiao Shiwu just took away a den of private salt hoarding, this matter must not be exposed so easily. I feel that I have to continue to dig deeper and crack down on these people. A private salt dealer who sucks the flesh and blood of the common people!

Originally, although the state controlled the monopoly of salt and iron, the control over salt was far less strict than that of pig iron and ironware. As long as qualified merchants could participate in the annual salt bidding, this led to their The official salt was bought at a low price, but it was not sold according to the normal process. Instead, it was unpacked and turned into private salt. The price was several times higher than the official salt, so as to make huge profits.

Erchen thought that in the future, it would be better to strictly control this official salt like pig iron, and not allow ordinary merchants to get salt through bidding at will, so that they have the qualification to sell table salt.

Instead, the state is in full control, and the officers and soldiers are directly responsible for the escort. The county government in each place has specially opened up a service for selling official salt, and the price is set by the imperial court!

Only in this way can the situation of official salt being sold privately be completely eliminated from the root!So that more people can eat cheap salt! "

"Hehe..." The Supreme Emperor chuckled, and said: "You have a good idea, and your starting point is also very good. As the king of a country, you know how to sympathize with the sufferings of the people, this is the appearance of an emperor! However, the solution you proposed The method is ill-considered, and it is almost impossible to achieve!"

"Father, please enlighten me!" Situ Qing bowed respectfully and asked for advice with a solemn expression.

In fact, he is very clear in his heart that the method he mentioned is not feasible at all. After all, the entire process of the production, transshipment, and sales of salt has gone through the test of several dynasties and is still being implemented. It is definitely a very mature system, and it is impossible to change it at will.

However, Situ Qingyi proposed such a severe approach, in order to have room and room for bargaining with the Supreme Emperor, and to gain the greatest initiative in this matter as much as possible.

After all, he only mentioned the three kings with different surnames, and several of the Eight Dukes, but deliberately concealed that the Zhen family, who was the Jiangning weaving mansion, was the most important participant in the whole black chain.

He was afraid that the Supreme Emperor would love Wu and Wu and protect the Zhen family too much. After finding out that there was something about the Zhen family involved, he would directly help them smooth everything out, thus making Situ Meng's efforts all in vain.

However, as long as the Supreme Emperor personally makes the decision to severely crack down on private salt dealers, then Situ Qing can justifiably let Situ Meng go and watch, and even use the Shangfang sword he gave him to cut off the Zhen family as much as possible in the south of the Yangtze River. As long as the Zhen family's profiteering on the table salt is completely destroyed, it will definitely be a huge blow to Situ Yong.

After all, Situ Yong mainly relies on the favor of the Supreme Emperor and the temptation of huge money to win over the courtiers. As long as his source of income is completely cut off, then he will not be able to jump up and down.

Moreover, with the age of the Supreme Emperor, Situ Qing's control over the court has become stronger and stronger. In addition, Situ Meng is about to become an adult, and he can already help him. His throne is now barely secure. There is no need to fear that one day it will be suddenly abolished by an imperial decree from the Supreme Emperor.

"Emperor, this official salt has already formed an established process from production, procurement to sales, and cannot be easily changed, because this process is the most suitable for the current situation!

If, as you said, the imperial court sent people to transport it and set the price, and the Yamen came forward to sell it, would it be possible to avoid the skyrocketing price of salt?Actually not necessarily!

Perhaps in many places, the price of salt will rise even more than it is now!And the main thing is, if this is really done, not only will the court's salt tax revenue not increase, it is estimated that it will decrease instead! "

The Supreme Emperor looked at Situ Meng who was full of doubts, but felt relieved in his heart, and began to seriously analyze the problem of the method he just raised.

"Think about it, if the imperial court sends people to be responsible for the transportation, then the wages of these people will be a lot of money, right? In addition, let the local government sell it, hehe...then it will be sold in detail at that time How much, what price to sell, and the local magistrate has the final say? Son, money is touching!"

"My child has been educated!" Situ Qing nodded quickly, and then asked with a bit of unwillingness: "Then why don't we just let them go? The loss of the court and the people is too great! Moreover, it will Where is the law of the imperial court!"

"Hehe, my son! This kind of smuggling of salt must be strictly investigated, but it can't be overcorrected. Didn't Lin Ruhai become the censor of salt inspectors? Tell him to increase the intensity of reviewing those salt merchants, and try to put those who have ulterior motives or All the agents who are four kings and eight males are all eliminated.

Moreover, starting from this year, the price of Yanyin will increase by [-]% compared with last year, and it is stipulated that you must pay first before you can receive Yanyin. Those private salt dealers will focus on cracking down vigorously.

Isn't Situ Meng currently working as an imperial envoy in the south of the Yangtze River?Just ask him to do it, he is not young anymore, it is time to serve the court!

In addition, the price of local salt can also be included in the evaluation criteria of local officials. If the price of salt in a certain county or government is higher than a certain standard, then the local officials will be lowered by a grade in the evaluation!

In this way, it can not only curb the collusion between officials and businessmen, but also encourage officials to supervise those unscrupulous businesses, which is much more effective than what you said that all the salt is transported and sold by the imperial court! "

"Yes, father is right! Why didn't my son think of it before! There, I will arrange it according to father's will!" Situ Qing said respectfully.

"Hehe, you are still young, my son. After you have experienced this kind of thing, you will naturally know how to deal with it!" The Supreme Emperor said with a smile, but in his heart he was very happy because his son depended on him.