Guo Yunhou immediately said: "The sale of Changlu Salt Farm is for sale, and the problem of salt introduction is the problem of salt introduction. How can two things be confused. If the salt is to be disposed of and then sold in the Changlu Salt Farm, the minister sees that those Shunyi victims will probably turn into white bones, and the minister opposes this proposal. ”

Although the officials of the DPRK and China did not have much to do with the salt merchants of the Changlu Salt Works, there were quite a few officials who had ties with the salt merchants of the Lianghuai Salt Works.

After the Changlu Salt Farm was sold, the salt merchants had left over for treatment, which immediately attracted the attention of these officials.

Except for some special cases in the Ming Dynasty, most officials generally follow the old ways. That is to say, the way of disposing of the salt in the Changlu Salt Field today may be used in the future in the hands of salt merchants in other salt fields.

Therefore, most officials considered this kind of strong rhetoric of Tobe Shangshu to be inappropriate.

After listening for a long time, Zhu Youzhen finally said: "I have understood, but I agree with Guo Shangshu's opinion, it is better to sell the salt field and deal with the salt introduction separately.

How much salt is in the Changlu Salt Farm outside, you have to calculate it before you can decide how to dispose of it, right?

And how much of the salt in the hands of these salt merchants was purchased or obtained in other ways, I think it is also necessary to carefully discern it.

Every year, the imperial court issues 2 million salt citations, and every 6 taels and 6 coins and 4 cents should be 13.28 million taels of silver, but can the annual salt introduction income exceed 3 million taels? ”

Zhu Youzhen's questioning made those officials who opposed the separate disposal of salt introduction suddenly silent, and the corruption of the salt introduction system did not start today. Since the destruction of the Kaizhong Law, successive emperors have rewarded nobles, princes, and eunuchs with salt, making the phenomenon of salt indiscriminate more and more serious.

Today, the noble and wealthy families have firmly controlled the power to release salt and extract surplus salt from various salt farms. Every year, tens of millions of salt taxes flow into the pockets of these noble families.

Compared with the small scale of the Changlu Salt Farm, the salt has only been accumulated for 3 years and has not been withdrawn. The salt quality is better, and the larger scale of the Lianghuai salt field still exists in the salt introduction that has not been extracted more than ten years ago.

With the emperor's support, Guo Yunhou took the opportunity to say: "The minister must follow His Majesty's will and properly register and screen the salt in the hands of these salt merchants." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "It can't be screened indefinitely, so let's take March 1 next year as the limit, and the salt of the Changlu Salt Farm that has not been registered in the household department after March 1 will be invalidated, and the imperial court will no longer recognize it." ”

As soon as Chongzhen and Guo Yunhou sang and harmonized, they changed hands on the Changlu Salt Farm. Although Chongzhen did not approve of the first treatment of the salt, he agreed to the unified treatment after the statistics were clear, and also gave these officials an explanation, so the matter of the sale of the Changlu Salt Farm was passed.

But then, for the 600,000 taels of silver obtained by the household department from the sale of the Changlu salt farm, the officials of various ministries have made up their minds.

Approaching the end of the year, all departments are very tight on money, if they can get a piece of the pie from the household department, then this year will be much better.

Unlike when dealing with those officials who opposed the sale of the Changlu Salt Works, Guo Yunhou now seems to be clumsy under the attack of his colleagues.

In desperation, Guo Yunhou had to turn to Chongzhen to administer justice, "Your Majesty, at the end of the year, the household department has this amount of silver, which is really used for emergencies. Now that the money has not arrived, the ministries will divide up the money. If there is another accident, the minister will not be able to find a second Changlu salt field to sell. ”

Wu Chunfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, suddenly complained: "This construction of the mountain mausoleum and the river near the capital is not an urgent matter. The river between the capital and Tongzhou has not been repaired for nearly 10 years, and the river is seriously silted, if it is not repaired, I am afraid that in the future, Tongzhou and the capital will only rely on land transportation. ”

With the complaints of one official after another, Chongzhen felt that the things in their mouths were urgent and could not be more urgent, and if they didn't do it, they might soon shake the rule of the imperial court, and they didn't know how they endured it when the imperial court had no money before.

Zhu Youzhen listened with a frown at first, but soon impatiently interrupted the controversy of the courtiers and said: "The importance and urgency of the matter are, first, it is related to the survival of the people; Second, it is a matter of border security.

In my opinion, the most important thing now is: first of all, the problem of the army's arrears, except for the Liaodong garrison, the Jimen garrison, the Phidao garrison, the Shaanxi trilateral garrison, etc., there is not a single border army that does not owe military salaries.

People say that the palms and backs of the hands are full of meat. Even if the imperial court is partial to the Liaodong Army, it can't be so outrageously biased. I heard that the border army in Guyuan, Ningxia, has been in arrears for almost 8 months, and these soldiers have not rebelled, they are simply loyal ministers of my Ming Dynasty. But do you want to starve my loyal army to death before you can make a difference? ”

Chongzhen's words were a little heavy, and Huang Liji had to come out to defend himself: "Your Majesty, there are too many shortages in the border armies in various places, and some military attaches deduct money and food from the soldiers, and blindly reach out to the court to ask for silver, not because of a lack of salary, but because they want to fill their own pockets. ”

Guo Yunhou also pleaded guilty and said: "Although the food and salary of the border army is managed by the household department, except for the usual silver and festival rewards, other grain and straw materials are all sent to the warehouses of the border army garrisons in various places, and the governors, Taoists, and general judges of the border towns manage the money and grain of the border towns, and the household departments do not handle it."

In Yichen's view, there is a matter of arrears of wages for this border army: first, the officials in the border towns are greedy for ink, which leads to insufficient food and salary for the sergeants; Second, the place where the army should have been paid for the border of the Liberation Army, after the local disaster, was in arrears of taxes, resulting in not enough military rations to be sent to the Ministry. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "Since everyone knows what the problem is, then just solve the problem." As ministers, do you just sit idly by? ”

The civil servants below looked at each other, and no one was willing to answer Chongzhen's words. Guo Yunhou thought about it, then gritted his teeth and stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty is right, if you want to solve the problem of food and salary of the border army, you must first check the tax arrears in various places, as well as the accounts of the money and grain warehouses in the border towns.

His Majesty was asked to send the Imperial Historian to check the money and grain in the border towns, and to urge the officials of the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River to clear up the local tax arrears. ”

As soon as Guo Yunhou's words were finished, Huang Daozhou immediately stepped forward and objected: "Your Majesty, over the years, there have been floods, droughts, and locust plagues in the world, and the small people have been living a difficult life and it is difficult for them to survive. Now that His Majesty is pursuing the arrears of Jiangnan, I am afraid that even the last peaceful place of the Ming Dynasty will be difficult to maintain tranquility. The ministers thought that not only should they not pursue the debts, but that they should be relieved of the debts in these places and that they should rest with the people. ”

Liu Zongzhou, Ni Yuanlu, Lu Chengyuan and other officials followed suit, trying their best to dissuade Chongzhen from following Guo Yunhou's suggestion, and only Xu Guangqi and a few others supported Guo Yunhou's proposal.

Watching the officials wait for their decision, Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "Actually, I think that Guo Shangshu's method is only a symptom rather than a cure, and I didn't want to say anything about the tax arrears in various places.

However, I am very relieved to see that Zhu Qing is so worried about the livelihood of the small people. It is understandable that the local disaster has caused small people to be unable to pay their land contributions, resulting in arrears. However, if some local gentry deliberately did not pay the land tax in the name of disaster, it was a deliberate attempt to deceive the imperial court. ”

Zhu Youzhen paused as he spoke, glanced at the ministers below, and then said to Cao Sicheng: "Cao Du Yushi, you arrange for the imperial history of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to inspect all parts of Jiangnan." The main purpose is to track down whether there are people in various places who pretend to be affected by the disaster and owe land payments.

Those who take the initiative to pay the arrears before January 1 of next year will not be held accountable by the imperial court. After the first day of the first month, anyone who has an arrears of 50 taels or more. Officials who have lost their posts and reduced their status will never be reinstated; Those who have meritorious fame shall take away their fame, and shall not conduct the imperial examination until the arrears are paid; In addition, those who have accumulated debts are not allowed to engage in overseas trade or purchase land in the future. ”

Chongzhen's words suddenly shocked these officials, and Ni Yuanlu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, if you have a debt, you will take away your fame and official position, which is too much. Does the imperial court treat the gentry of the world slowly for a mere 50 taels of silver? ”

Zhu Youzhen said without concession: "For a mere 50 taels of silver, you can actually deceive the imperial court, isn't this a moth of the country?" They even have to accumulate arrears for all kinds of land, will they still ask for the people's lives after becoming officials? It's ridiculous. ”

Although Liu Zongzhou and Huang Daozhou felt that Chongzhen's statement was uncomfortable, as real scholars in this era, they still had a limit to stick to.

After seeing that most of the civil officials were deterred by the emperor's ridicule, Wang Shoulu thought for a while, and then stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, is this time too harsh, when Your Majesty's holy will reaches Jiangnan, the first day of the first month will have already passed." Your Majesty will not be able to disgrace the famous people in Jiangnan for a mere silver tael, and the minister asks Your Majesty to extend the period for another month, so as to give people a chance to repent. ”

In fact, most officials were not happy about Chongzhen's approach, after all, it had violated the privileges of the bureaucratic gentry.

But after all, this kind of thing can only be done and cannot be said, even Liu Zongzhou, Huang Daozhou and others can only think that Chongzhen's punishment is too heavy, and they cannot directly say that the bureaucrats and gentry should have the power to be in arrears.

In addition, after the Wenxiangjiao Rebellion, whether these officials admit it or not, this young son of heaven, who has been on the throne for less than 4 months, has firmly grasped the situation in the capital.

Without that official, he would have fought against Chongzhen without the name of righteousness. Therefore, these officials finally chose to take a step back, hoping that Chongzhen would reduce the punishment for the gentry.

"In this case, I am also more lenient, pay 9 percent for those who settle the arrears before the first of January, pay 10 percent for those who settle the arrears before the 15th of the first month, pay twice as much as those who settle the arrears before February 1, and pay 3 times as much as those who settle the arrears before March 1.

Those who pay off the arrears before March 1 will be exempted from fines. After March 1, the penalty will be imposed first, and the arrears will be recovered. Zhu Youzhen said in a relaxed tone.