As soon as Zhou Xuexi heard Zhang Tinglan mention the Changlu Salt Field, a mouthful of tea almost squirted out, the old man's face was choked red, and it took the old man a long time to return to normal.

"To put it mildly, although salt is a huge profit, I advise you not to interfere, there are a lot of things in it, it's a quagmire, and it will trap you all in it."

Zhou Xuexi only thought that Zhang Tinglan was young, and he only saw the benefits, but did not see the harm, so he said bitterly: "The salt policy of the Republic of China followed the system of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the salt policy of the Manchu Dynasty was already full of drawbacks and had reached the point where it was unsustainable, but since the Republic of China, several times I wanted to change it because of too much resistance and gave up." In addition, Yuan Gongbao made a big loan for the aftermath, which was mortgaged by salt tax, plus Gengzi indemnity and so on were also mortgaged by salt tax, so the foreigners set up a lot of review structures, if you want to move the salt farm, you have to touch the interests of all aspects, it is a hornet's nest! ”

What Zhou Xuexi said is not bad at all, because salt is a necessity for everyone's life, and there are huge interests in it, and all dynasties have repeatedly played games on salt politics.

In the Ming Dynasty, a group of salt merchants appeared in China, who used the huge wealth accumulated over hundreds of years to buy off officials and form a huge interest group, and these salt merchants collectively took refuge in the Manchu Tartars at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and continued to maintain a salt policy full of loopholes by relying on the protection of the Manchu Dynasty.

After hundreds of years of accumulation, salt has become the most important tool for salt merchants, bureaucrats, gangs, and governments at all levels to make profits.

Especially after the end of the Qing Dynasty, the addition of foreigners added a layer of trouble to the already chaotic salt administration, so Beiyang wanted to reform several times, but no effect was achieved. Zhou Xuexi knew the problem well, so he didn't want Zhang Tinglan to get involved in salt politics.

But Zhang Tinglan has his own abacus in his heart, the profit in salt is too big, the total amount of salt tax in the Republic of China in a year exceeds 70 million, and it will soon exceed 80 million, accounting for the second largest proportion only to Tian Fu. And this is only collected by the government, and the profits of other salt merchants are even more amazing, and the profits of the entire industry are conservatively estimated to be more than 500 million.

The Changlu Salt Farm is the largest salt farm in China, accounting for a quarter of the country's output. As long as the Changlu Salt Farm is controlled, it is not a problem to get a profit of 20 or 30 million a year, and it is definitely a very stable source of income.

In addition, salt is definitely the most important livelihood issue in this era, and the people are all suffering from salt, due to layers of exploitation. The price of salt remained high, and the surplus money in the hands of ordinary people was basically used to buy salt. Inability to purchase other goods.

And Zhang Tinglan also observed the salt that ordinary people eat. At least one-third of it is dirt and grass, and only two-thirds, or even about half, is coarse large-grain salt, needless to say how dirty this thing is, but the common people have no choice but to endure it.

Get the salt pans. Not only can you get huge profits, but also benefit the people of the world, which is also one of the means to win the hearts of the people, so the salt industry is something that Zhang Tinglan can't help but touch.

"Zhou Gong. I am very clear about the problem of salt administration, but this trouble cannot be avoided, sooner or later it will have to be solved, the three eastern provinces are immigrating in large numbers, within five to ten years, the number of people in the three eastern provinces will exceed 30 million, if the salt is not solved, how can the people support us, and because of the maladministration of salt, how many tax sources have been lost, if we can save one or two percent of the profits, it is tens of millions, at least ten steel plants can be built, and if the three eastern provinces want to develop, the problem of salt must be solved. ”

Although Zhou Xuexi has not been in contact with Zhang Tinglan for a long time, he also knows that he will do what he says, since he is ready to start with the salt industry, it must not be changed, but Zhou Xuexi still cares about Zhang Tinglan and reminded: "Humble words, if you want to move the salt government, you must also step by step, and directly ask Lao Duan for the salt farm, he can't decide, I advise you to come up with a complete set of action plans." ”

Zhang Tinglan also nodded: "You are well-informed, I have a little idea about Yanzheng and want to ask you for advice." ”

"I don't want to ask for advice, I also participated in the management of the salt administration at the beginning, I know a thing or two, we can refer to it in detail."

"I've already thought about it, at the beginning, I must not offend too much when I attack Yanzheng, and I must choose the smallest entry point. I intend to contract the salt tax first, that is, to ensure that the amount of salt tax handed over to Beiyang remains unchanged, and the part used to repay the loan compensation remains unchanged, so that Beiyang and the foreign powers will not interfere. Then the knife of reform was cut at the bodies of those salt merchants, and this time when I checked the property of the princes of the Eight Banners, I found that many nobles of the Eight Banners had dealings with the salt merchants, and even had shares of the princes of the Manchu Dynasty, so I could take them down in one fell swoop in the name of tracing and restoring the party! ”

Zhang Tinglan often puts forward a very big idea when doing things, almost all of which are beyond the capacity of people in this era, such as the recovery of the Middle East Road, the same for immigration, and the same for road construction. But when it comes time to act, Zhang Tinglan will break down the huge target into many steps.

Step by step, the resistance will become much smaller, this time Zhang Tinglan is ready to get involved in the salt government, and he did not immediately harm the interests of everyone, but ensured the income of the great powers and Beiyang, and concentrated on dealing with the salt merchants, and these salt merchants because of their connection with the prince of the Eight Banners, it is equivalent to having a handle in Zhang Tinglan's hands, and they can also suppress their arrogance.

With such an analysis, Zhou Xuexi suddenly found that it seemed that Zhang Tinglan was not dreaming, and there was indeed a door to this matter.

"To put it mildly, there are many kinds of salt merchants, there are big merchants who hold salt and have privileges, there are merchants who are responsible for transportation, and there are merchants who are in charge of sales, how are you going to break the chain of their interests?"

"There are two most important problems in the salt administration since the Ming and Qing dynasties, one is production and the other is sales. The Ming and Qing dynasties had a salt introduction system, which simply means that certain large merchants were given the privilege of experiencing salt, and they relied on the salt to extract salt from the salt works, and then trafficked it to the designated area for sale. In this process, there is no way to guarantee the quality of salt, and due to the privilege management, the price remains high. ”

Zhou Xuexi nodded: "That's right, not only that, but salt merchants will also buy officials to over-issue salt, and there is a large amount of private salt, and all kinds of problems are entangled together." Wheels within wheels. ”

"In the production of salt, in the past, it was boiled salt, and Fan Xudong's Jiuda Salt Company has come up with a method of drying salt, in this way, the salt produced is clean and uniform, and the cost is very low, after controlling the salt farm, I am ready to promote this method, the output of the salt farm will be greatly increased!"

Zhou Xuexi suddenly realized at this time, and said with a smile: "Humble words." Your idea of getting salt isn't a day or two, otherwise how would you have agitated Fan Xudong to Fengtian and received it from you! ”

"I asked Mr. Fan to develop the chemical industry more, and the salt industry is still too rudimentary." Zhang Tinglan explained casually, and then continued: "The problem of production has been solved. Now there's the issue of sales, and I'm going to abolish the salt introduction system completely. in the salt industry. To promote free competition, any businessman, as long as he pays a reserve of 500,000 yuan, can go to the salt factory to purchase salt, transport it to various places for sale. In addition, I am also preparing to launch a new initiative, that is, the government will propose a guide price for the sale of salt. Depending on the distance and the cost of freight, the price of salt can be adjusted somewhat, but it can't go too far. ”

The current salt policy is monopolized by large salt merchants. Not only were they responsible for transporting and selling salt, but they also had the power to collect taxes on salt, which at all times were the power of the government, and the consequences of handing over this power to a group of merchants could be imagined.

The salt merchants deceived their superiors and subordinates, and the common people bore several times the tax, while the government could not even collect the money that should be collected. According to Zhang Tinglan's method, when salt merchants buy salt in the salt factory, they pay taxes directly, so that the tax is settled in the salt factory, which ensures the stability of the source.

In addition, because of the abolition of privileges, all salt merchants will compete with each other, and the price of salt will naturally be suppressed, and the common people will also be able to profit from it.

"Humble words, your plan was actually proposed at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the essence is to be cut off by the improper profits of salt merchants, and then ensure the national tax revenue, and at the same time reduce the burden of the people, but the resistance is too great, and it has not been implemented, and now I don't know if Humble Yan has implemented this bill that benefits the country and the people?"

"Duke Zhou, my biggest backer in doing this is tens of thousands of guns, if those salt merchants want to fight with me, they should first ask me if my guns agree?"

"Humble words, don't mess around, if these merchants cut off the supply of salt, the world will be in chaos, don't you do bad things with good intentions?"

"If they dare to do this, I can't ask for it, there are many businessmen in the three eastern provinces, they are all interested in the windfall profits of salt, and now these salt merchants are picking, I have spare personnel, and I wish they would get out."

When Zhou Xuexi heard this, he also completely understood that Zhang Tinglan's desire to get involved in the salt industry was not a whim, but full preparation. And Zhang Tinglan also has enough strength, not only military liliang, but also huge economic influence.

Moreover, the rise of Fengjun outside the pass, and these salt merchants do not have too many intertwined relationships, so there is no need to be dragged down, now it seems that only Fengjun has the ability to break the dirty chain of interests of salt merchants.

"Humble words, since you have comprehensive preparations, I will talk to Duan Qirui now and ask him to hand over the Changlu Salt Farm."

After Zhou Xuexi finished explaining, he hurriedly went to find Lao Duan, and after reporting the matter to Lao Duan, Duan Qirui was also surprised, Feng Jun asked for Rehe was expected, and it was promised not to betray the three eastern provinces, and it was also said a long time ago, as for moving some factories and schools, although Lao Duan was in pain, it was not negotiable.

Only the problem of Changlu Salt Farm made Lao Duan shocked, he couldn't have imagined that Feng Jun actually wanted to get involved in the salt industry, according to Lao Duan's idea, he was ready to refuse, Yan Zheng was already chaotic enough, if Feng Jun interfered again, I was afraid that it would be even more troublesome.

At this time, Xu Shuzheng suddenly interjected: "Zhi Weng, salt politics has always been a bad government, if Feng Jun is willing to contract, it will not harm the government's taxes anyway, and the reparations of the great powers can also be guaranteed, let Feng Jun do it, if it succeeds, it will also be a great merit." ”

Xu Shuzheng said this, and paused again: "However, there are too many aspects involved in the salt administration, and we can't hand them all over to the Feng army at once, I suggest that about half of the salt farms south of Shanhaiguan and all the way to Tanggu should be handed over to the Feng army, and the other salt farms still adopt the old method!" ”

Xu Shuzheng rashly put forward this suggestion, and Lao Duan didn't figure out what was going on for a while, but with the tacit understanding between the two, Lao Duan also nodded and agreed.

"Zhiong, cutting off people's financial routes, such as killing parents. Feng Jun just offended the prince of the Eight Banners, and then went to offend the salt merchants, this is death, why should we bother with this, it is better to watch the bustle of the Feng army, let the salt merchants find trouble for them first, let's take the opportunity to drive away Li Bodhisattva. ”

Lao Duan and Xiao Xu were discussing how to deal with Fengjun, and Zhang Tinglan was also listening to the reports of his subordinates at this time.

"At present, the Feng army has raided the mansions of fifty-four princes and ministers, arrested a total of nine hundred and thirty-two nobles of the Eight Banners, and seized the ocean, bank deposits, gold and silver, which are equivalent to 47 million taels; one hundred and forty-two manors; 27 million acres of land, more than 10,000 shops of various shops! ”

Listening to these astonishing figures, Zhang Tinglan only felt that countless gold and silver had fallen and smashed directly on his head! (To be continued......)