August 12 was the first meeting after Du Zhongxiao took office and signed the judgment in the state.

In the chief's hall, Xia Zhu sat in the middle by a pot of charcoal, next to him was the general judge Shang Yao, on the other side was Du Zhongxiao, and on the other side sat a number of state officials such as the secretary and the manager of the army, and on the other side sat the officials of the embassy such as the governor and the secretary.

The state is a large state, and there are two people who pass the judgment. Another general judge, Wang Kechen, was outside to deal with the state examination and did not come today.

Introducing some daily affairs, Xia Zhu said: "The most important thing now is nothing more than the autumn tax. Everything else is easy to say, but the backlog of salt in Wynn Prison cannot be sold, and there is a huge backlog. If there is no way to sell this salt, this year's autumn tax will be worrisome. ”

Shen Shilong, the governor of the military on one side, said: "The salt produced by Yongli Prison has a lot of sediment and peculiar smell, and the people don't like it. In recent years, the green and white salt from the party has been sold all over the country, and it is difficult to sell. If you want to sell Yongli to supervise salt, you should strictly check the illegal salt. ”

Zhang Taili, the governor of the city in the distance, listened to it, and said angrily: "The officers and soldiers of this state are strictly guarded by the northern thieves, stationed in various villages, and cannot rest, but there are no extra soldiers and horses to patrol. In addition, there are many surrounding mountains, elms, and dense forests, but where to start? ”

Shen Shilong was not convinced, and argued with Zhang Taili. It is said that the recent strike with the party is the time when the state has the largest number of soldiers and sufficient manpower. The state and county are rampant with private salt, or the officials and soldiers do not do their best.

Hearing the two arguing, Xia Zhu was impatient and said, "There are many soldiers in the state, how can there be no one to use." However, in the past few years, he tried his best to deal with the western thieves, and the state government ignored them, which led to the rampant thieves. Now he is making peace with the party, and he is supervising his subordinates, and he is going all out to take the thief. ”

Zhang Taili forked his hand and said yes, but he was a little reluctant, obviously still unconvinced.

Shang Yao, the general judge on the side, said: "It's the middle of August now, and when the thieves are cleared out, it will be too late to sell salt anyway." In my opinion, don't think of any other way, and sell the salt of Wynn as soon as possible. The army was withdrawn in the northwest, and the money and materials allocated by the imperial court were much less, and if the salt could not be sold, many things in the state could not be done. ”

Xia Zhu remained silent and asked casually: "What is the way to sell the salt quickly?" ”

Shang Yao touched the black hair under his chin, and said in a deep voice: "Time is urgent, only the match is suppressed." ”

Hearing this, Xia Zhu closed his eyes and did not speak. After a while, he said lightly: "What do you think of the signing judgment?" ”

Du Zhongxiao has been trying to recognize the people sitting in the official hall, and when he was named by Xia Zhu, his heart sank, and he arched his hand: "The salt is piled up there, and there is always a way to sell it." As far as I've heard, the salt in Wynn Prison is not easy to sell, because the price is high and the quality is inferior. The reason why the price is high is because Hedong Road has to raise troops in recent years, and the price is too high. However, in the territory of the state, it is still much lower than the party item Qingbai salt. As for the quality, it is the salt of Wynn Prison that is boiled by sweeping alkali, containing sediment and bitter taste. In addition, the soil salt can be boiled in the land of salt, and those remote places are not managed by the government, and there are many households who boil the soil salt privately. When all things are put together, salt is hard to sell. ”

After Du Zhongxiao finished speaking, Xia Zhu only asked lightly: "The salt of Yongli Prison is difficult to sell, and it is not only for one day." The judgment of the right talent business said that it is necessary to suppress the allocation to the households, what do you think of the judgment? ”

Du Zhongxiao arched his hand: "I think that salt is difficult to sell, so I can only think of a way, and it is impossible to suppress it." There are many places where salt is produced in Bingzhou, and many places have a tradition of boiling salt, and there is no shortage of salt among the people. Suppress their allotment, and the people buy it useless, but they only collect more money. ”

Hearing this, Shang Yao sneered: "The signing judgment is sympathetic to the people, but what about the salt in the library?" ”

"Finding a way, of course. The salt is there, why can't it be sold, figure it out, and then eliminate the disadvantages one by one. As long as the salt is good and the price is not too high, why worry about the people not buying it? If you don't ask about the indiscriminate and all the matching, isn't it a harsh on the people? ”

When Shang Yao heard this, he just shook his head: "What the judgment said makes sense, and let's think of a good way to sell the salt." ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at the other officials, but none of them spoke, and felt a little bad in his heart. Before coming to Bingzhou, Du Zhongxiao had a general understanding of the nearby geography and knew that the salt in Bingzhou was different from other places, not pool salt, nor well salt, but soil salt. In fact, soil salt is too seriously salinized in this area, and it is soaked in salt soil and boiled. Based on the impression of Du Zhongxiao's previous life, where can the quality of this salt be good? In particular, it contains various impurities, which are harmful to the body. However, it has a very long history of eating earth salt for one or two thousand years, and it cannot be seen so simply.

The origin of soil salt is scattered, management is not easy, and the official pricing is high, so it is inevitable that it will not be easy to sell. Taking Bingzhou as an example, the official collection of salt boiled by the people is 6 wen per catty, and the selling price is 36 wen, but if there is a way, who will buy this kind of salt? Just now, everyone talked about the party's Qingbai salt, but it was just an excuse, only in the city there was the problem of Qingbai salt, and the vast countryside was mainly self-produced and sold local salt.

Since the establishment of Wynn Prison in the state, it is common practice to suppress matching, otherwise sell it to anyone. At present, there are hard and fast rules on how much salt each household must buy according to the population, and whether you eat it or not, the money must be handed over. What Shang Yao said about the reallocation is just to add to the original quota, and forcibly sell the backlog of salt to the people to solve the problem of inventory backlog.

Everyone here knew that the method proposed by Shang Yao was the only way to solve the backlog of soil and salt, so no one refuted it. However, after all, this is to strip the people, and there is a risk of being impeached by the transfer envoy, so no one is silent. Xia Zhu asked Du Zhongxiao, what he wanted to hear was his specific opinion on the inhibition of matching, how to do things and minimize the harm, but he didn't expect Du Zhongxiao to say no.

Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Xia Zhu opened his eyes and said to Du Zhongxiao: "It's always good to sign a judgment that is sympathetic to the people." As local officials, we should know that the people's lives are not easy, and we should not overdo it. However, Wynn supervises the salt mountain accumulation, and always has to find a way to sell it. Then he will go to the salt prison in the month of signing the contract, and think of a way to sell the salt there. If you sell, you'll be credited! ”

At this point, Du Zhongxiao had no choice but to say yes. Xia Zhu only said that he had done it, but he didn't say what to do if he couldn't do it, leaving a way out for Du Zhongxiao. After all, this is a talent that I fancie, and I can't be punished because I am new to the city and do not understand the situation.

Next, Xia Zhu discussed with the officials about the autumn tax, which places should be paid more, and which places could be suspended, and analyzed them one by one. The taxes on Hedong Road were to raise the army, and they were not sent to the capital. According to the number of troops stationed in various places, they can be deployed internally, which is different from the original time in Bozhou.

Du Zhongxiao had no intention of listening to this, and he really didn't know the specific situation, so he was just thinking about how to sell the salt. As the name suggests, soil salt is boiled out of the soil, and there are a lot of impurities, and the taste is not good, so I don't know if I can use the knowledge of my previous life to re-filter the salt and improve the quality. However, the biggest problem is market saturation.

Now Du Zhongxiao has slowly understood the taste, and the salt in Bingzhou is forcibly suppressed by households, and every family is not short of salt, who will sell the extra salt to? No matter how well salt is made, what good is it?

Thinking of this, Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but smile bitterly. I just got hot-headed and thought about the people, so I jumped into someone else's pit.