After hearing the emperor's question, Guo Yunhou, who was standing below Huang Liji, walked to the bottom of the steps in a hurry, saluted Chongzhen and said: "The minister thinks that since the two Huai salt merchants cannot supply salt in the salt area for the time being, then for the sake of the interests of the people in the southeast, salt should be transported from other salt farms to supplement the needs of the people in the southeast.

The salt of Changlu and Hedong salt fields can enter Henan, the salt of Liangzhejiang salt fields can enter Suzhou, and the salt of Sichuan can be Jichu. As far as the minister knows, after the Changlu salt field changed to the salt drying method, the output is close to the output of the Lianghuai salt field, and the Hedong salt field also recovered well last year, and the output of well salt in Zigong has increased by two times.

Therefore, even if the two Huai salt merchants are unable to supply salt to the southeast, the household can transport a sufficient amount of salt from the above salt farms..."

Guo Yunhou's answer immediately made the officials present talk about it. Although the proposal put forward by the head of the household department can indeed solve the problems faced by the people in the southeast, this method is undoubtedly harming the interests of all relevant personnel in the Lianghuai salt industry.

In addition to the officials and salt merchants of the Salt Transportation Division, there are also salt buters for salt production in salt factories and workers for salt transportation, employing more than 50,000 people. If you follow Guo Yunhou's statement, then many people will lose the ability to support themselves.

Therefore, some people soon stood up against the solution proposed by Guo Yunhou, and they believed that the punishment should not fall on these people because of the ** of the officials of the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Division and the salt merchants. To be exact, they are also Chongzhen's people. Therefore, the emperor should not favor one over the other, and let these people be unable to support themselves and their families for the sake of the salt problem of the people in the southeast.

At this point, the meeting finally had some meaning to discuss how to solve practical problems. While listening to the reasons put forward by the officials of all parties, Zhu Youzhen also re-sorted out the information about the Lianghuai Salt Works in his mind.

The Lianghuai Salt Farm has an annual office of more than 350,000 large introductions, and the annual supply of salt is about 100 million catties, that is, about 50,000 tons. However, this is the official record, and the number of unrecorded private salt produced by the Lianghuai salt works is about twice that amount.

Before the Changlu Salt Farm was restructured, it ran 60,000 yuan a year. After the restructuring of the Changlu Salt Farm, through the adoption of new salt drying technology and newly opened salt fields, the output so far this year has approached 40,000 tons, and the annual output is expected to exceed 50,000 tons.

With the population of Daming, the annual demand for edible salt is about 1.5 billion catties, which does not include the need to use salt to process and store food. However, now all the annual output of sea salt and well salt in Daming is combined, including private salt, and it can only provide 5-600 million catties a year, and the gap has reached more than two-thirds.

With the development of the chemical industry and the continuous development of the steel industry, Daming's demand for salt has been amplified again. Zhu Youzhen obviously couldn't allow those salt merchants and Jiangnan gentry to continue to control the Lianghuai salt farm. These people have made no contribution to the development of the Lianghuai salt industry, but are bent on monopolizing the output of the Lianghuai salt works and obtaining high profits through monopoly sales.

The monopoly profits obtained by these salt merchants and the Jiangnan gentry were not used to transform the salt-making technology of the Lianghuai salt works, nor were they used to invest in industry and commerce, but were consumed in affairs such as famous prostitutes, gardens, temples, and colleges. Therefore, taking away the two Huai Yanli from them, Zhu Youzhen did not feel guilty at all.

After listening to the opinions of the officials, Zhu Youzhen finally spoke up again: "I think that the method proposed by Guo Shangshu is still feasible, we must first ensure that the people in the southeast eat salt, and then go back to solve the problem of eating for the employees of the salt industry in Lianghuai."

Of course, the allocation of salt from the salt farms in Changlu, Hedong, Liangzhejiang, Sichuan and other places to the Lianghuai salt area for sale is only a temporary measure of the imperial court, not a long-term solution. Therefore, you don't have to worry, the salt stove households in the Lianghuai salt industry will not be able to make a living in the future.

I thought it would be better to set a temporary deadline for this policy, let's say 3 months. In three months, we will discuss the sale of salt in the Lianghuai Salt District. If the normal supply of the two salt farms can be restored by then, then this policy will not be continued.

If there are still some areas in the Lianghuai salt area that are still unable to meet the supply of salt, then the policy of salt allocation from other places will continue to be implemented in these local areas.

On how to determine where the policy on the allocation of salt from the field needs to be implemented. I thought that I could use the local salt price as a reference, and that every catty of salt in the Beijing market was 3 cents, which was equivalent to 24 copper coins. Then the highest market price of salt in the Lianghuai salt area should not exceed 36 Wen per catty. However, any area that exceeds this price is no longer protected by the salt policy, and anyone who pays a tax can sell salt to this area.

In addition, it is now the Lianghuai salt traders who have interrupted salt trafficking, not the Lianghuai salt farms that have interrupted production. Therefore, the household department can send personnel to count the salt output of the two salt farms, and then recruit merchants to bid for sale. From now on, the salt quotations of the two Huai salt farms will not be exchanged for the time being, and the method of exchanging these salt quotations will be formulated after the salt inspection imperial history has screened all the salt quotations.

In addition, although many salt merchants were involved in the Lianghuai salt case, we can't kill all of them with a stick, and it is impossible for all of these salt merchants to be crazy. Therefore, the household department can send personnel to Yangzhou to assist Han Yiliang in investigating and handling this case, and for those salt merchants who are not deeply involved in the case, or who are willing to repent, they can still be given a chance to mend their ways.

In addition, the officials sent by the household department should also have a good discussion with these salt merchants to see how the two Huai salt policies should be managed, so as to avoid the recurrence of cases like today's. ”

Ni Wenhuan was the first to stand up and express his attitude to the emperor: "Your Majesty is benevolent, and the minister fully supports Your Majesty's judgment on this case. ”

With his leadership, all of a sudden, the officials who had originally supported the continued handling of the salt introduction case also spoke out in support of Chongzhen's decision.

Seeing that the general trend had gone, some of the officials who attacked Han Yiliang and Huang Liji began to waver, changed their positions, and made overtures to the emperor. Lu Chengyuan couldn't help but make a final effort, he stubbornly admonished the emperor: "After the outbreak of the Lianghuai Salt Case, it shook the entire southeast region, and the officials and businessmen involved in this case exceeded hundreds of people, even if Han Yiliang had the right to investigate and handle the case as the Imperial Salt Inspector, but the Yangzhou Salt Inspectorate probably did not have so many manpower to assist him."

Moreover, judging from the scale of the case, there may be more than two officials involved in the case, so for the sake of safety, the minister thought that one or two ministers with rich experience in handling cases should be transferred from the capital to take over the case, so as not to prevent Han Yiliang from continuing to poke out any baskets in the handling of the case. ”

Lu Chengyuan's suggestion resonated with many officials. Whether they want to meddle in this case to save their own people, or they want to take the opportunity to get rid of the huge impact of this case, most of the officials at the meeting are unwilling to continue to let Han Yiliang handle this big case alone.

Even Huang Liji wants to pick a protégé to continue, and wants to control the scale of the investigation and handling of the salt introduction case, so as not to continue to spread, if this case involves a certain important minister in the DPRK, the situation will be a little ugly.

Lu Chengyuan made this suggestion, but he was forced to let others take over the case, so as to protect several salt merchants and officials of the transportation department, and not be caught by Han Yiliang.

To improve the specifications of case handling, the emperor must have asked the three chiefs, namely: the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Criminal Department and the Dali Temple. The Zuo Du Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is not very in charge, and now he is about to be set aside by Li Kuilong.

But the secretary of the criminal department is Yuan Keli, an old minister of the Four Dynasties, and even the current Dali Siqing is also his protégé. Therefore, as long as Yuan Keli came forward to recommend the personnel who took over Han Yiliang's case, even if he sent one person to each of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it would be better than now that they could only stare at the sidelines.

Hearing that many officials were speaking out in support of Lu Chengyuan's proposal, Li Kuilong, who had just returned to the capital, felt that he could work harder and go down for a run. The net worth of Yangzhou salt merchants is much richer than that of the gentry in Henan, and it is estimated that handling this case is better than letting a governor go out.

Seeing Chongzhen's gaze sweeping towards him, Li Kuilong quickly straightened up and prepared to answer Chongzhen's question. Now he is a little used to how to cooperate with the emperor's questions and speak at the court meeting.

However, Li Kuilong just moved half a step, and he was busy taking it back. Because the emperor's gaze did not stay on him, but crossed him and looked at Yuan Keli, the secretary of the criminal department.

Zhu Youzhen looked at it for a long time, but he couldn't see any expression on Yuan Keli's face, so he subconsciously sat up straight, and asked the criminal department secretary cautiously: "What do you think of Lu Langzhong's proposal?" ”

Yuan Keli sighed softly in his heart, but when he spoke, he was as calm as ever, "The old minister thinks that the number of officials and businessmen involved in the Lianghuai salt case is incomparable, except for a few major cases at the beginning of the country.

According to reason, in a case like this, the three divisions should select personnel to investigate and inquire about the case, so that they can convince the public and be more secure. Although Han Yiliang is in charge of the salt patrol of the Lianghuai Salt Administration, he still lacks qualifications in presiding over such a big case.

However, as Lu Langzhong said, the stakes of this case are too great, and it has even shaken the lives of the entire southeastern people. The southeast is the land of my Ming Dynasty's wealth, if the southeast is in chaos, then my Ming Society is in danger.

It is because the old minister thinks that the key to this case is to be fast, and only by concluding the case as soon as possible and calming down the people in the southeast is the most urgent need of the imperial court now.

Since Han Yiliang has already started to question the case, the old minister thinks that there is no need to change people halfway. In addition to Han Yiliang's part-time job as a salt inspector, he is also the director of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which is investigating the corruption case of officials in the transportation department.

However, in order to avoid different opinions, His Majesty might as well arrange for two officials to go down to observe the interrogation of the case, so as to be a witness for Han Yiliang. ”

Yuan Keli's answer immediately made Lu Chengyuan and the others feel stunned. Wouldn't such an answer be tantamount to acquiescing in the emperor's handling of the case?

Zhu Youzhen paused, and then continued to ask: "If you let the Great Sikou choose, who do you think is suitable to go down?" ”

Yuan Keli opened his slightly narrowed eyes, and after inspecting the officials around him, he replied: "The minister thinks that Ni Yuanlu, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, is loyal and reliable, and he can go down and have a look." ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said to Huang Liji: "I think it's better to let Taichang Siqing be the main envoy, Ni Bian Xiu as the deputy envoy, and another person from the household department to go to Yangzhou to have a look, so as to give the court a practical report." What does the Cabinet think? ”

Huang Liji turned around and discussed with several colleagues for a while, and then replied to Chongzhen: "The cabinet ministers have no objections. ”