History of Cannon Fodder Struggle [Qing]

Soon fourth master's expression changed, and he continued to discuss with the cabinet as if nothing had happened.

Xinghuachun Pavilion.

Minning also received a letter. This letter was sent from Jiangnan. Although it was a step slower than the letter from Master Jiu, there was a special channel in Jiangnan, so it arrived at the same time as the letter from Master Jiu. Yuanmingyuan.

After opening the letter, Minning frowned.

She was not worried about Hong Kyung's safety. After Hong Kyung's child arrived in Jiangnan, he was surrounded by people who secretly protected him.

Not to mention those who kidnapped Hong Kyung, they didn't even get rid of the people at the sticky pole, let alone those who were hiding in darker places.

The reason why she frowned so much was because of Huo Ting's disturbance in Jiaxing. Huo Ting had known for a long time that there were traces of senior officials of the Red Flower Association in Jiaxing. The dark spots in the meeting were wiped out.

To her, the Red Flower Club was just a moss on the skin, and she couldn't tolerate it.

What she was thinking about was the strategy of the entire country, and the Red Flower Society was at best an ant blocking the way, not worth mentioning at all.

This time, Huo Ting suddenly attacked the Red Flower Society, so it can only explain one problem, the kidnapping of Hong Jing is related to the Red Flower Society.

There was even a faint thought about whether the Red Flower Society had anything to do with private salt, and it was even possible that there were members of the Red Flower Society among the salt merchants.

Minning pondered for a while, and planned to have a detailed talk with Fourth Master when he came back.

Hong Kyung was still tied with a rope, but he refused the guards to take him away, so there was no need for the guards to help him untie the rope in order not to startle the snake.

Footsteps were heard outside again, and Hong Kyung looked eagerly at the guards. The guards discussed and climbed to the roof of the cabin, but they didn't know how to do it. In a blink of an eye, their bodies shrank together and hid behind a beam.

When Hong Kyung heard the sound of pushing the door, he stared straight at the outside, his face was not pretty.

The person opened the door, and the first thing he did was to carefully check the small cabin, and found that there was no other person hidden on the surrounding beds, so he pulled Hong Kyung up cautiously.

Hong Kyung's hands were tied behind his back, his mouth was tightly gagged with a white cloth, the man pulled his collar and pulled him out of the door.

When going out, Hong Kyung inadvertently swept into a room, and then was pushed out the door by that person.

There was no one on the outer deck, and it could be seen that it should have been arranged in advance.

The boat has stopped at an uninhabited ferry. This kind of ferry should be privately built. It is well hidden on weekdays and will only stop here when needed.

The man quickly got off the boat with Hong Kyung in his arms, and soon stepped into another small boat parked beside the ferry.

Hong Kyung's face changed slightly, it was because these people changed boats to leave, and those who followed him didn't have boats to follow.

Even if you get a boat, it is easy to be spotted and followed on this unobstructed water.

Then no matter what Hong Kyung thought, he was pushed onto the boat, and just about to make some marks, he felt a pain in his neck, and then passed out.

When he woke up again, he was already lying in a dark place.

After his eyes adapted to the dim environment, Hong Kyung slowly got up, and the rope on his body was gone.

He stood up and took a look, only to realize that this place should be a dark prison underground, probably because it had been abandoned for a long time, and even the air in the dark prison smelled of decay.

"Is anyone there?" Hong Kyung called out.

Then there was only his echo in the empty dark cell, and no one answered at all. Hong Kyung didn't understand where he was, and suddenly felt that he was too confident, which put himself at such a disadvantage.

After shouting a few times but no one answered, Hong Kyung knew that he should be the only one in this dark prison.

He was a little nervous, nervous that the people behind him didn't follow.

Fortunately, at this moment, several birdsongs of different lengths came from not far away, and Hong Kyung heaved a sigh of relief, and sat in the dark prison with peace of mind.

As long as the people around you are there.

About half a day later, someone brought meals and water. The food included vegetables, meat, and rice. From this point of view, the person who arrested him should be living well, and ordinary people can't afford such meals.

Because of the support around him, Hong Kyung is no longer worried about his own safety, but worried that he would be scolded after returning to the capital if he tried his own danger.

With such worries, Hong Kyung spent several days in the dark prison, and he could only calculate how many days passed based on the time of three meals.

What made him especially depressed was that he had no intention of meeting him at all, who was behind the scenes.

Then there can only be one situation where someone knows his identity and captures him as a threat to achieve a certain purpose.

And I am throwing myself into the trap.

Originally, he wanted to let the people in the dark take him away, but in the end there was a bad news. The prison was tight on the outside and loose on the inside. Although he was not guarded much inside the prison, the outside of the prison was heavily guarded.

Sneaking into a person is fine, but trying to get him out is not so easy.

Anyway, he couldn't hurt his life for a while, so Hong Kyung forced himself to hold back and stay patiently.

On the other side, Biying has already received some news from her little master.

Before Hong Kyung passed out, he didn't find out where the boat was going?But the person who followed secretly did not faint, and naturally followed the boat.

It was only after this walk that they discovered that the boat had entered Shaoxing directly, and then changed to a carriage to bring Hong Jing into Shaoxing Chen's Mansion.

But the strange thing is that the owner of the Chen Mansion didn't seem to know about it, as if someone knew about the situation in the Chen Mansion and directly locked him in a deserted courtyard in the mansion.

A dry well in the yard happened to lead to the dungeon.

Knowing that the little master is safe and sound for the time being, Bi Ying is not in a hurry to save her, but first plans to catch the black hand behind it.

At the same time, Jiaxing was in a mess, and a large number of forces were cut off by the government and the Huo family forces. Now the local forces in Jiaxing have been severely weakened, leaving only three or two kittens to survive.

As soon as the local stubborn forces in Jiaxing were cut out, the power plant company that had withdrawn before quickly entered the local area.

As soon as the news that the local area could be connected to electricity spread, it immediately attracted a warm welcome from the people.

Originally, these common people longed for electricity, but they were jealous that the local forces did not even mention it. They could only watch helplessly as the neighboring cities used electricity. Jiaxing almost became an isolated island without light.

Otherwise, if you travel along the river in a boat, you will be able to see that many ferry crossings are brightly lit, but the ferry crossing in Jiaxing is dark.

People would rather take a longer journey to find a bright ferry.

Biying was sorting out all kinds of information, and began to figure out who was behind the scenes, and finally showed a surprised expression.

Zheng Jun stretched out his head and looked over, with a surprised expression on his face, "It's her?"

Bi Ying thought for a while before answering: "I remember her son disappeared two years ago, and there is no news about it until now."

Zheng Jun knows a little more than Biying, especially when he did it himself, "Her son is an important leader of the Red Flower Association, and there was a big commotion in Taiwan back then, releasing a lot of red flowers Will rebel against thieves. The imperial court issued a ban, and people must be arrested. After repeated interceptions, it was a small town in Anhui Province that blocked people in an underground passage by mistake. After being caught, they were exiled to the New World non-stop, and now Probably farming in the New World. This lady has not stopped inquiring about his son's news these years, but this matter has been handled in Anhui, and there is not much contact with Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so the news has not been inquired. "

Biying frowned and pondered, "Then, from this point of view, this madam probably got the news of the third prince from somewhere, and then arrested him and threatened the court to release her son. It's just that I have a little Doubt, this lady is just an ordinary housewife, how can she contact the hand?"

Zheng Jun put forward a hypothesis, "Although this lady cannot be contacted, those rebels can take the initiative to contact this lady. I guess the rebels should have learned the identity of the third prince from somewhere, so they pretended to use this lady to contact her." The third prince was taken away with his hand. The ultimate goal should be to find out about those rebels who disappeared back then."

At this point, Zheng Jun showed excitement on his face, "It seems that there is a big fish hidden among the group of people who were arrested back then." Otherwise, these rebels would still be reluctant to part for so long.

It stands to reason that Zheng Jun is also a Han Chinese, so he should have a good impression of those who oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, but he understands that these people who oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty are only using the banner to seek personal gain for themselves.

When the Ming Dynasty is extinct, it will be extinct. There are many dynasties that have been extinct for thousands of years, and there are countless people who want to restore the country, but they have never succeeded. Why?Nothing more than unpopular.

The people want to live their own lives and don't want another war, so what if those ambitious people are agitating?

What's more, the reforms of the Qing Dynasty are now flourishing, and all the policies issued by the imperial court in these years are beneficial to the common people. Zheng Jun feels that even the previous dynasty could not achieve this level.

Therefore, the so-called anti-Qing and Ming Dynasty can only deceive the common people.

Bi Ying nodded, "Since the people behind the scenes have been found out, let's hurry to rescue the third prince."

Zheng Jun replied, "I have already ordered people to do this matter, and try to dig out the hidden things in Jiaxing, and we must dig out all the hidden privacy."

Biying reassured him that she was in charge of the power plant on the Jiangnan side, and she had encountered a setback in Jiaxing for no reason before, and she had been enduring it. After cleaning up the stubborn forces in Jiaxing this time, the power plant did not expect to enter Jiaxing .

And those who previously restricted the power plant from entering Jiaxing, due to private reasons, naturally had to be thoroughly dug out.

In Shaoxing Mansion, a group of soldiers and horses went straight ashore, bypassed the Yamen, and directly surrounded the Chen Mansion.

Before the people of the Chen Mansion could make a move, Guangming directly pushed open the gate of the Chen Mansion, rushed in and took down all those who blocked him.

Hong Kyung was rescued from the prison, and when he saw the light again, he felt as if he had never happened before.

"I bow to Your Highness, I'm sorry for the lateness of the rescue." Kneeling on the ground is the deputy capital of Zhejiang, in charge of the garrisons in Hangzhou and Zhapu. This time, when he learned that the third prince disappeared within his jurisdiction, he was frightened to death Big risk.It was not easy to get news, so I took people to Shaoxing overnight to save people.

Hong Kyung leaned against the bodyguard, he hadn't seen the sun for a few days, his face looked a little pale.

"I'm fine, my lord is still here." After finishing speaking, Hong Kyung looked at the dilapidated courtyard in front of him and asked, "Where is this place?"

The deputy capital replied: "If you go back to Your Highness, this place is Shaoxing Mansion, Chen Mansion."

Hong Kyung frowned and asked, "Have you found out who is behind the scenes?" He didn't ask whose mansion Chen's house is?However, if he dared to use it as a hiding place, the Chen Mansion would naturally be destroyed, and the doomed future was not worth his attention.

The deputy governor replied cautiously: "It has been found out that she is the head wife of the Chen family, and she will be involved with Honghua, so I will arrest His Highness."

At this moment, a group of people hurried over from the periphery of the officers and soldiers, and the old lady who was used in the crowd also heard the words of the vice president.

Turning around, she slapped the woman behind her.

Hong Jing originally thought that the murderer was the old lady, but seeing this situation, he couldn't understand, it should be the person behind the old lady who shot.

After the beating, the old lady turned around and knelt down: "I pay homage to the third highness, my Chen family is not strict, so please ask the third highness to forgive me." A group of people behind her kowtowed and knelt down.

Only the beaten lady was left standing there, covering her face and lowering her eyes.

Hong Kyung was stunned for a moment, but he didn't call out, and asked the guards beside him directly.

"Tell me everything in detail."

The guard told what had happened in the past few days, and Hong Jing turned to look at the lady, "My identity was exposed?" He thought he was hiding it well, but he didn't expect that once he fell into the south of the Yangtze River, he would Be noticed by those with a heart.

This has to make Hong Kyung wonder if the news has been leaked internally?

The lady didn't speak, but the old lady turned her head and reprimanded, "If you haven't told me what you know, you contacted the rebels, and you have put my Chen family in a state of no return."

The lady suddenly burst out laughing, with a burst of madness in her laughter. She pointed to the old lady and said, "My son is gone, how can I take care of the Chen family? I have worked hard for the Chen family, not only Serving you, an old woman, in my hometown, and watching my husband have a beautiful concubine outside, my only hope is Jiahe. As a result, Jiahe was sent in by you, an old woman..."

"Are you crazy?" The old lady suddenly interrupted her, "Jiahe is missing, isn't it sad for me as a grandmother? But what can I do if I can't find him? Jiahe is missing, it's not you The reason for contacting the rebels to arrest the Third Prince."

After the lady was interrupted, she seemed to come to her senses. She covered her face and cried, "Jiahe is missing, and I haven't been able to find it. Someone told me that only by arresting the Third Highness can the court help me I can't find it either..."

Hong Kyung frowned.

The old lady said aggressively: "This is not the reason for your next crime. This time, I have the old man to decide to divorce you for my son. Don't bring my Chen family down."

After the lady listened, her body went limp.

The old lady turned her head to look at Hong Jing, "Third prince, the Chen family is willing to take responsibility for the wrong things my daughter-in-law has done, as long as they don't implicate other innocent people in the house."

Hong Jing hadn't cleared his mind yet, when he heard what the old lady said, he came back to his senses and said: "Old lady, please remind me, the state owns the state law, and the family has family rules. What Mrs. Chen did, naturally has the state law to judge."

Mrs. Chen was still sobbing and crying in a low voice, Hong Kyung winked at the Vice President.

The deputy all beckoned in unison and came over immediately. Two officers and soldiers took Mrs. Chen away.

"The Chen residence still needs to be closed. Mrs. Chen will take it away first. We need to learn from her how to contact the rebels."

The deputy capital informed Mrs. Chen.

Mrs. Chen nodded politely, "Yes, yes, we will definitely cooperate in this matter."

Hong Jing has been locked up for the past few days. Although he is not bad at eating and drinking, he is a little tired, so he doesn't stay any longer and let the guards help him to leave.

As soon as Hong Kyung left, the Vice President did not stay any longer, said his farewell, and hurriedly followed.

After all the soldiers in the mansion had left, they surrounded the Chen mansion.

Mrs. Chen put away the expression on her face, and her face was unpredictable.

On the other side, Hong Jing was assigned to the Shaoxing government office. The Shaoxing prefect was trembling with fright when he learned that the missing third prince was hidden under his nose by the rebels.

This time, he hastily cleaned the yamen for the distinguished guests to live in.

Hong Kyung was lying on the bed, recalling what happened just now scene by scene in his mind, he tossed and turned, as if thinking of something, he could open his closed eyes.

"No!" He yelled, sitting up abruptly.

"That Mrs. Chen just now clearly wanted to say something but was interrupted by the old lady. In other words, the old lady may have known about this matter, but she just pushed all the crimes on Mrs. Chen. , and Mrs. Chen seems to have some scruples, and she has taken these charges even more!"

"I'm not sure if the old lady has intervened in this matter, but that Mrs. Chen is definitely not innocent!"

The more Hong Jing thought about it, the clearer his thoughts became, especially when he recalled the previous scene frame by frame, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was something wrong with it. He became excited and shouted into the room, "Come on, let the deputy capital of Zhejiang Call me!"

A black shadow appeared in the room at an unknown time, and the black shadow disappeared after a moment.

After about a cup of tea time, the vice capital came over in a hurry.

"Xiaozhi has met His Highness, I don't know why His Highness called Beizhi over?"

There was still a trace of excitement on Hong Jing's face, "Master Yougui, I found something, and the old lady in the Chen Mansion must know about it, so the officers and soldiers must surround me with the Chen Mansion, and don't let anyone Get out."

Although the Deputy Dutong Yougui didn't know where the Third Prince got his conclusion, he still obeyed.

He is a deputy capital commander. Although he is in charge of troops and horses, he is still not worth mentioning in front of this promising third prince.

Even the main family is very optimistic about the future of the third prince, let alone his branch.

Yougui intends that the third prince will support him as much as possible during these few days in the south of the Yangtze River, but don't neglect this little ancestor.

Hong Kyung still doesn't know what he's thinking, and only wants to confirm his guess. The news of his disappearance must have been spread, so people from his own side will definitely flock to Shaoxing right now.

Hong Jing intends to send these people to follow the clues of the Chen family to continue the investigation, and make sure to catch all the rebels.

At this moment, Hong Kyung is like a boy who just left home, eager to do something, let Han Ama and Huang Mafa take a look.

The news that Hong Jing was rescued quickly spread to Beijing. After the fourth master in Beijing got the news, he finally let go of what he had been talking about before.

Ever since he learned that Hong Kyung was missing, he didn't dare to see Min Ning, even if Min Ning sent someone to look for him, he avoided seeing him.

This time, after receiving the news that his son had been rescued, fourth master finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he finally had the face to see her.

However, he forgot that Minning had his own news channel, and even passed the news faster than his side.

Knowing why Fourth Master didn't come to see her, Minning didn't force her to run over to find him.

Soon, she also got the news that her son was safe.

Although he didn't show anything on his face, he still breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. How could it be his son who wasn't worried?

After thinking about it, Minning felt that this time was a good opportunity. Before that, he had been thinking about changing Yanyin, but it was never the right time.

This time, it is possible to directly abolish Yanyin by taking advantage of the salt merchant's involvement with the rebels.

It's just that the fourth master has to be convinced first, that is, the fourth master probably disagrees with the previous words, and wants to deal with the salt administration issue gently.

If he learned that Hong Jing's news was leaked by the salt merchant this time, he would not believe that Fourth Master would be able to sit still.

These salt merchants really have money that can reach the sky, directly bribed some people in the capital, and secretly drew Hong Jing's head.

This time, as soon as Hong Kyung appeared in Jiangnan, he attracted the attention of people in Jiangnan.

If Minning hadn't arranged for someone to infiltrate the Cao Gang, it would have been impossible to get this news.

If you want to travel in the south of the Yangtze River, it is most convenient to take the waterway, so you can't get around Caobang.

What happened on the river could not escape the eyes of the Cao Gang. It can be said that Hong Jing had already revealed his identity as soon as he got on the boat.

The Cao Gang was afraid of getting angry, so they directly sent Hong Jing to Haining and then left.

On Haining's side, there was Li Wei, the ninth old man, and many officers and soldiers guarding him, so there was no need to move Hong Jing.

Then this kid was bold enough to run directly to Jiaxing, and this time he would run into someone else's lair.

Who is willing to give up the fat in the mouth?

Min Ning thought that when Hong Jing came back, he would have to teach him a lesson. Lian Hongshi knew that a gentleman can't stand under a dangerous wall, so why did he favor him, a smart person, but when he was stupid, he foolishly got into other people's nets.

This time it was because of the thorough protection. What if next time, there will be fewer people around me next time?

Although she knows that there are people around her who will protect her safety, but she can't just rely on her, and dare to break through the sea of ​​swords and fire!

Fourth Master came to Xinghuachun Pavilion swiftly this time.

Min Ning didn't go to pick her up after hearing it. This person probably also received the news that Hong Kyung was safe and sound, so he dared to come to see her.

As soon as Fourth Master entered the door, he saw Minning sitting motionless in front of the window. He paused for a moment before continuing to walk towards her.

"What are you looking at?"

Then he lowered his head and saw the paper opened in front of Minning.

The paper really came from Jiangnan, and it said something in Jiangnan was related to the White Lotus Sect of the Tiandihui.

Fourth Master glanced at those words, and reached out to pick up the letter to read.The more you look at him, the deeper the frown.

Minning looked up at him, and after watching him finish reading, a look of anger appeared on his face.

"Isn't this something you can think of? If these rebels don't have financial support, how can they attract so many people to join?"

No force can escape the support of money.

The Cao Gang relies on water transportation to have a large amount of financial resources to attract gang members to join, so what about the White Lotus Sect?The White Lotus Sect has saints, so there must be a large number of female believers in the White Lotus Sect. What else can women do if they can get news and make money and have business?That's why Minning wants to clean up the brothel.

And Tiandihui must have its own source of money, and the Qing Dynasty salt tax is the main source of tax revenue after the agricultural tax.

Every year, a large amount of private salt floods into the market, which means that a large amount of tax has been evaded. How can such a huge sum of money not fall into the eyes of the people?It is not impossible for Tiandihui to reach out. After all, Tiandihui has such a huge scale not long after its establishment, which can only show that he has strong financial resources.

Where does that much money come from?The large salt tax that escaped is particularly suspect.

Fourth master followed the train of thought in the letter, and began to believe that these rebels had meddled in the matter of private salt.

In this way, the current eradication will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. If those rebels do not clean up thoroughly, they may resurface.

This is definitely not what Fourth Master wants to see, what he wants is to cleanse the world, not to eliminate these stubborn diseases day after day.

Cracking down on private salt can only treat the symptoms, the most important thing is to solve the problem at the source.

Fourth Master put down the letter, closed his eyes and began to think.

Minning put down the letter, and then asked him, "I asked you to come here before and never came, why do you want to come here today?" Her tone was not friendly.

Fourth Master opened his eyes and looked at her, finally sat down beside him, picked up the tea bowl and poured himself a cup of tea, and then said slowly: "I'm busy discussing the lottery with the cabinet these days, and there are a lot of things to deal with , isn't this impossible?"

Minning didn't expose him either, instead he asked him, "Master, the salt merchants over there in the south of the Yangtze River are too arrogant to do such a rebellious thing, dare to have contact with the rebels, I think they should be investigated, heavily investigated .”

The fourth master picked up his teacup and nodded, "I will send the governor and the governor of Liangjiang to investigate this matter." Don't blame him for cutting off all the stretched hands if he dared to stretch out his hands on Hong Jing.

For a while, Fourth Master couldn't figure out how to deal with the private salt matter, he put down his teacup, and inadvertently glanced at Minning's calm face.

Suddenly blessed to the heart, he asked: "What do you think about the salt administration?"

Minning raised his eyelids to look at him, "The current salt administration is a mess, as long as there is Yanyin, it is impossible to escape from solving the problem of private salt."

Hearing her words, Fourth Master frowned before asking her, "Tell me your opinion."

Minning took a sip of tea, then slowly picked up the pen on the table, took out another piece of clean paper, and wrote the word Yanyin on the paper.

"The so-called Yanyin policy started in the Song Dynasty. At that time, it was different from now. As long as a merchant is willing to transport grain and grass to the frontier, he can get Yanyin, and only after getting Yanyin can he sell salt. It was different in the Ming Dynasty. , There is no need to send grain to the frontier, nor do you need to sell salt by yourself. You only need to get a port from the imperial court, and you can sell the salt to the salt merchants who have salt in their hands, waiting for a steady stream of money. "

"And my Qing Dynasty also followed the example of the previous dynasty. Nowadays, most of the salt ports are in the hands of salt merchants, which means that the imperial court has handed over the control of salt production to others, even if Yanyin is still in the imperial court. But after sending out, those salt sellers with salt quotations in their hands have to bribe those big salt merchants if they want to buy salt. The salt quotations include various taxes from the imperial court, plus the filial piety to the salt merchants, the travel expenses in it , labor costs, all of which are reflected in the price of salt, which leads to the high price of official salt."

"What should the people do if they can't afford it? But because of regional policies, cheap official salt from other places can't come in, so there is a market for private salt. Local officials and salt merchants work together to send more than a little money. Kaiyan Yin, the extra private salt that is purchased does not need to pay taxes, you only need to buy salt from a large salt merchant, and sell it to the people at a lower price than official salt. This is the same as bad money driving out good money. It is the market's own choice."

"So I think..." Minning put down his teacup and looked at Fourth Master, "Abolish Yanyin and nationalize the coastal ports."

Fourth master frowned.

"How should taxes be collected for the abolition of salt imports? The ports are classified as salt merchants, and the imperial court must take them back without proof."

Minning was not disappointed either. Nationalizing the salt farm was only the final goal.

"I still have another method, which is to change the salt system to the ticket salt system, and then impose heavy taxes on the big households who have salt."

Fourth master motioned her to continue.

Minning licked his lips, and explained the ticket and salt system in detail, "The salt ticket I said is similar to the Yanyin procedure, but Yanyin can only buy salt with a certain amount of capital, and the salt ticket is to introduce small private households. Merchants buy salt by themselves, and the salt price includes taxes, and the amount of salt you buy will be issued as much as the salt ticket, as long as you have the salt ticket, you can sell salt at will in the Qing Dynasty.”

Fourth master understood, "You are planning to break the boundaries of the salt industry, and then impose heavy taxes to restrict those big households, and encourage small traders to join in and break the price of official salt."

Minning nodded, "That's what I mean. The addition of small traders and the system of selling salt on the shore with salt tickets can break the monopoly of salt merchants. Once these small traders join, the high salt price will definitely drop. At that time, the salt merchants will have to follow suit, or they will not be able to compete with these small traders. Once the profit of the salt merchants decreases, the tax on his turn will still be heavy. After a long time, the salt merchants will definitely go bankrupt, and the port saltworks will naturally return In the hands of the imperial court."

Fourth Master thought about it, and had to say that Minning's move was indeed poisonous.

As for those salt merchants who are about to go bankrupt, the fourth master will not sympathize at all. As far as he knows, a big salt merchant can earn tens of millions of taels a year, a small salt merchant can earn a million taels a year, and the imperial court only earns 3000 million taels a year. salt tax.

In other words, all the big heads were eaten by these salt merchants, leaving only some bones for the court to chew on.

This group of salt merchants is courageous enough. After so many years of being rich and invincible, they should hand over all these ill-gotten gains and use them to give back to the people.

Minning looked at him and asked, "How is it? Is this idea okay?"

The fourth master took a deep breath, looked at her and said, "Okay, why not? These salt merchants wantonly raised the price of salt, making the common people unable to afford official salt and disrupting the official salt market in the Qing Dynasty. They should also be punished." Lesson learned."

"The ticket salt system is only temporary. After the major salt farms are taken back, our imperial court will manage them by ourselves. In the future, the price of salt will be limited, so everyone must be able to afford salt."

Fourth Master listened with a smile, and then said: "When the investigation of the Jiangnan private salt case is almost done, I will ask the cabinet to formulate a new salt law, change the salt and bring back the salt ticket."

As for what she said about taking back the salt farms and selling them to the state, Si Ye felt that it was not advisable. He had already changed from a government operation to a salt import monopoly, and it was impossible to go back.

Minning sighed, salt is something that everyone needs, and it is indispensable in the Qing Dynasty. Only in the hands of the government can the price be set regardless of profits.

If it falls into the hands of the people, which one will look at such a huge profit and get rid of it?

Minning secretly made up her mind that if Fourth Master was unwilling to take it back, then she planned to take control of these ports by herself.

Anyway, she has more profitable businesses in her hands, and she doesn't care about the little money she earns from salt, so she should give back to the society.

After the two discussed, they discussed Hong Kyung again.

"This kid's character needs to be tempered. He dared to go up even though he knew it was dangerous. In the end, you will have to learn a lesson!" Minning complained to Fourth Master.

Fourth Master touched his nose, she knew what happened to Hong Jing during the relationship, so why did he play tricks to hide it from her before?

Thinking of this, Fourth Master went up to pour her a glass of water, and said angrily: "Okay, I will definitely teach him a lesson when the child comes back. I think it's better to punish him to supervise the construction of the train and kneel down?"

To supervise the construction of train tracks, you need to stay close at every step. Another advantage is that you have to stay in one place for a long time without running around.

It is also easy to protect him by staying in one place honestly.

Minning was really surprised at this time. Because the construction of trains is slow, although it is said that they are being built nationwide, not many of them are actually open to traffic.

If Hong Jing was transferred there, he would not be able to return home for at least a year or two. How could he be willing to do it, fourth master?

"Let him go like this?" Minning looked at him suspiciously, feeling that he was planning something.

The fourth master nodded affirmatively, "Go, you must go." Hong Jing is also grown up, and as the heir in his mind, it's time for him to learn about the major projects in the whole Qing Dynasty, so as not to understand anything, and in the future he will be overwhelmed when he slaps his head. Make a decision.