Chapter 112 Salt and Military Salaries

After the "Zhangnan Campaign" began, Wang Shouren quickly encountered the first problem - the soldiers and horses did not move, and the food and fodder came first. Since taking office is to put down theft and chaos, military expenditure is the first problem that must be solved in front of Wang Shouren.

There are three kinds of troops of Wang Shourenping's southern Jiangxi thieves, one is the guard station, the other is the Ganzhen battalion, and the other is the militia he recruited himself. Among them, the military expenditure of the Wei Institute's army should be settled by the military garrison according to the system of the Ming Dynasty. However, in fact, there is no way to do it. The military expenses of the battalion and the newly recruited militia are settled by ransom, grain storage and salt tax. The ransom is listed in the above table. When the military pay is not enough, it can be done occasionally, but it is not a reliable income. Storage could have come from the farmland, but Yu Zhijia's above research has proved that this source is almost impossible, so it can only be through local Tianfu, but Tianfu needs to be returned.

So, in the final analysis, Wang Shouren's most reliable source of military expenditure is salt tax and commercial tax. As for the relationship between the two, Wang Shouren has the saying that "although all goods are included in the commercial tax, they are full of salt and profit". He even directly pointed out that "South and Jiangxi provinces use troops twice, and the middle commercial tax is actually less military pay; however, in commercial tax, salt tax is actually two-thirds." Salt tax has become the most important source of military expenditure in the term of governor Wang Shouren.

Since Liu Yan reformed the salt method at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the mainstream of the salt method has been formed into a "land salt" system, that is, the salt produced in a certain place must be sold in a fixed area. In the Song Dynasty, Huaiyan should be sold in Nan'an and Ganzhou (when known as Qianzhou) according to the regulations. However, the actual situation is very different, according to history:

At the beginning, the salt of rivers and lakes was not only miscellaneous, but also highly valued by officials, so the people benefited from private salt, and the sea people used fish salt as their industry, and saved labor and gained rich profits, which was caused by thieves. Vendors are not scoundrels, and when it is urgent to catch them, they are thieves. Although Jiang and Huai are well-dressed, they are rich and profitable, or sell salt. Jiangxi is Qianzhou, which is connected to Guangnan, while Tingzhou in Fujian is also connected to Qian. Salt is good, and Ting does not produce salt. The people of the two states steal and sell Guangnan salt for profit. Every year in autumn and winter, when the field is finished, there are often hundreds of people in groups, holding armored soldiers, flags and drums, and traveling to and from the eight prefectures of Qian, Ting, Zhang, Chao, Xun, Mei, Hui and Guang. He robbed people's valleys, plundered women, and fought with the patrol officers. When it comes to killing and wounding officials, they will be thieves. They can't be caught or forgive their sins. Years have been soaked in **.

It is very difficult to promote Huai salt locally, while Guangdong salt is widely sold locally due to its proximity to Qianting and other places, which is the result of the local comparative advantages of salt in the two places. This incident has also caused quite complex social problems. First, the local people's smuggling of salt to Guangdong in winter has become an integral part of daily life, and secondly, it has led to the rise of a large number of local salt pirates.

Faced with such a problem, some insightful people in the Northern Song Dynasty began to plan to change the local area into a Guangdong salt sales area. After a long habitual discussion when dealing with administrative issues in the Song Dynasty and sent three or four Beijing officials to discuss, in the fourth year of Yuanfeng (1081), through the efforts of Zhou Fu, officially dismissed Huaiyan, and changed more than 6.16 million catties of Huaiyan sold by the original Qianzhou and Nan'an military to Hongzhou, Jiangnan West Road and other places. Eight-state army. Maintain the salt profits that can be obtained by the local finance of the original eight-state army, and at the same time transport 7 million catties of Guangdong salt to Qianzhou and 1.2 million catties to the Nan'an army, so that Guangdong salt broke through the original salt transportation and marketing area for the first time and entered the Qianzhou and Nan'an army, that is, the two prefectures of Nan'an and Ganzhou in the Ming Dynasty. However, due to the failure of the party struggle, after Zhou Fu was deposed in the first year of Yuanyou (1086), his Qianzhou salt method of transporting Guangyan was finally completely eliminated. Nan'an, Ganzhou and other places re-marketed Huaiyan.

In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to prepare for border storage, the salt system of the Song Dynasty was imitated and the salt method was implemented. In 1370, according to the suggestion of Shanxi Province, the Ming Dynasty began to implement the opening system, connecting the grain and salaries produced in the mainland with the military salaries required by the border army with the "official salt" controlled by the government, that is, to say, to let merchants transport grain to the border, and then according to the merchants The amount of grain transported is given to the corresponding amount of salt, and the merchant leads the salt to the designated salt farm and transports it to the designated area for sale, thus reaching the purpose of monopoly.

Under the opening of China and France, Nan'an, Ganzhou and other governments in southern Jiangxi continued to sell Huaiyan. However, in the 30th year of Hongwu (1397), a letter from the supervision of the imperial historian Yan Zhenzhi temporarily changed this situation. Its cloud:

Called merchants to sell salt in Nan'an, Ganzhou, Ji'an and Linjiang, Jiangxi Province.

The four departments have been marketing Cantonese salt for a period of time under the opening system. However, it is believed that this system was later interrupted. Ming History • Food Records:

Salt of Guangdong, for example, does not leave the country... Ye Sheng, the governor, thought that if he let it go, the law would be abolished, and if it was banned, he would be a sick merchant. Please order him to enter the rice and pay, and he was allowed to leave the country for public and private.

Ye Sheng made Guangdong salt cross-border marketing because it requires a lot of military spending. His "please be ordered to get into the rice" happened in the fourth year of Tianshun (1460). In the second year of Tianshun (1458), Ye Sheng was summoned as the imperial historian of the right capital and governor of Liangguang. At that time, the chaos of Huang Xiaoyang was not yet calm. "Two broad robbers rose up and killed the generals who broke the city. The generals were afraid to fight, killed civilians and risked their meritorious deeds, and the people led the thieves. Yushui (now Luoding) Yao Fengguang Mountain (Fengdiji) and other places were flourishing, as well as Lianzhou, Leizhou, Huazhou and other places, and broke through long water, Yangjiang and other counties. After Ye Sheng took office, in order to calm down the turmoil and needed a large amount of military salary, he managed to sell Guangdong salt to other provinces and obtain military salary from its sales process. Ye Sheng said:

According to the troubles in Guangdong, there is an urgent shortage of grain and salaries in the border warehouses, ... It is seen that the salt merchants and other places are willing to spend the salt in Nan'an, Jiangxi, Ganzhou, Guangxi and other local sellers. First prepare the salt number and go to the Political Department to sign up. Each time it is scheduled to be short of grain warehouses along the river, it will be divided into nanometers and get the actual income. In Japan, the government will be released. The company will pay the diploma of the seal and listen to its transit sale, wait for the local peace, the border grain is sufficient, and the local government will abide by it as usual. Or the clean officials of the government of the election committee are exclusively managed in Nanxiong Wuzhou, which is convenient for both merchants and the people.

The following year, on this basis, Ye Sheng's title:

For those who are willing to sell to Wuzhou and other prefectures, every time they are scheduled to add two buckets of nanometers in the warehouse of Wuzhou, and for those who sell them to the second prefectures of southern Jiangxi Province, each time they are introduced to add one bucket of nanometers in the warehouse of Nanxiong Mansion to help the army's.

So far, Guangdong salt has been officially and legally sold to Nan'an and Ganzhou, and has basically become customized. Of course, this is still a kind of variation under the Kaizhong system, which lies in "addition of a bucket" as military service during transit. However, this military wage was collected by Ye Sheng, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and was not for the benefit of Nan'an and Ganzhou. Moreover, the sales scope of Guangdong salt is only in Nan'an and Ganzhou.

The governor of Southern Jiangxi was re-established in six years. In order to meet the needs of military expenditure, it has changed the situation of Guangdong salt being sold to Jiangxi, and only Guangdong has made profits. That year, Jiangxi set up a "drawing factory" in Ganzhou, followed Guangdong's method to extract salt tax on Guangdong salt, and then sold Guangdong salt to Yuanzhou, Ji'an and Linjiang. According to Wang Shouren Shuyun:

In the sixth year of Zhengde, Chen Jin, the imperial historian of military affairs in Jiangxi and other places under the general system, criticized: "According to the submission of Jiangxi Buzheng, Ren Han, the right political envoy of this department, said that the thirteen prefectures of Jiangxi were all found to be the salt places of the two Huai River, and the two roads in Huxi and Lingbei were dangerous, so Huai salt was not available. Merchants often smuggle a wide range of salt across the border to enrich themselves. The governor of Mongolia asked Xu Xingnan and Gan to sell it, and ordered Nanxiong to pursue Mina's price, such as to relieve Wuzhou's military gate, both officials and businessmen, and the military's rates were sufficient. At that time, it was played in the south and Jiangxi, and did not carry the three mansions of Yuan, Lin and Ji. If you don't follow the edict and dispose of it cheaply, Guangyan will be sold by Yuan, Yan and Ji for the time being, and set up a factory to help the military. However, the Ministry of Household only agreed to this salt method on reserve. By October of the ninth year of Zhengde, the Ministry of Household demanded to stop Guangdong salt from entering Yuan, Lin and Jifu in the north, saying:

Guangdong salt class is still based on Zhengde's three-year title. There is official salt, which is allowed to be sold in Nan and Jiangxi, and it is not allowed to be taxed again. Yuan, Lin and Ji are not the usual salt places, and they are not allowed to go there. If there is a criminal, regardless of whether it is cited or not, all of them will be questioned according to the law.

When Guangdong salt was banned from going north, the funds of the governor of Southern Jiangxi naturally suffered a great blow, and salt merchants were also affected. Therefore, according to Sun Sui, the governor of Jiangxi, the salt merchants immediately appealed, saying that Guangdong salt has been implemented for four years, which belongs to the convenience of merchants and the people, while banning Guangdong salt to the north hinders the livelihood of the people of Yuan, Lin, Ji and other places. Its text:

According to Ji'an, Linjiang, Yuanzhou and other prefectures, Peng Gong, Liu Chang, Guo Run, Peng Xiu and other merchants in Wan'an, Taihe, Qingjiang, Yichun and other counties complained: "In the sixth year of Zhengde, Meng's superior Mingwen ordered Ganzhou Prefecture to set up a salt factory to draw salt factories to inform merchants, but there were vendors in Fujian and Guangyan classes, and Nanxiongfu once folded Meiting to persuade them to borrow silver. Those who stop selling in Ganzhou Prefecture are exempted from tax; those who are willing to pretend to sell in Yuan, Lin and Ji provinces will be drawn every ten. Min salt comes from Tingzhou through Huichang Yangjiaoshui, and Guangyan comes from Huangtian River and Jiudu water. Without folding Meiting, it is sold in Ganzhou Prefecture, with one draw every ten draws; it is willing to be sold in Yuan, Lin and Ji's three prefectures, and every ten draws another draw. After four years of dredging, both officials and businessmen have been at ease. In October of the ninth year of Zhengde, the Ganzhou government also announced that the survey was jointly opened. Guangyan stopped the sale of Xunan and Ganfu. Yuan, Lin and Ji were not the old usual salt places and were not allowed to cross the border. As a result, Guangyan was banned for several years, and Huaiyan stopped at the three prefectures of the provincial capital due to the timid river flow and the rocks. Residents suffered from its high prices, and merchants blocked the source of trading. Begging for Xi Nianji, Lin and other prefectures are connected to the land of Ganzhou. Since the past, they have only eaten broad salt and have not been banned. Moreover, Guangyan Xu was sold in the two prefectures of Nan and Jiangxi, which was not the old system of Hongwu. It was a new example for the establishment of the people's affairs during the orthodox period. If Mongolia investigates the cases of Guangyan in the south and Jiangxi, and unblocks the downstream and sells them as usual, the people are very lucky.

This article is said to be a new example by the governor's Liangguang government during the orthodox period, and Xu Yueyan was sold in the second prefectures of southern Gan, which seemed to be suspicious. Zhengde has been at least 60 years away from the orthodox year. Businessmen are very likely to make mistakes based on their memory. What's more doubtful is that the Records of Officials in the History of the Ming Dynasty said: "In the third year of Jingtai, Miao Kou rose up and supported by the twoguang, and he was appointed as a governor." Then, there was no governor of Guangxi and Guangxi during the orthodox period. Some scholars specialize in the governor system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it is also believed that the governor of Guangdong was established in the third year of Jingtai (1452). Therefore, the adverbial of Peng Gong and others is likely to be wrong. Of course, Peng Gong and others may also mistake the "governor of Liangguang" as the governor of Liangguang, but the establishment of the Liangguang governor is even later. According to the Mingshi Record, the Liangguang governor was established in the second year of Tianshun (1458), which was "the right governor of the Metropolitan Inspectorate Ye Sheng, the governor of Liangguang". It may be that Ye Sheng approved the marketing of Guangdong salt in Nan'an and Ganzhou, which made Peng Gong and others mistakenly think that it was a matter of the orthodox year. In fact, after Ye Sheng decided to transport and sell Guangdong salt in Jiangxi, southern Gan and other prefectures and counties, the local amount of Huaiyan was cancelled. The original amount of Huai salt in a province of Jiangxi was 390,000. Later, due to the use of troops from the two provinces, it was proposed to allocate broad salt to the three prefectures in southern Ganji and pay taxes, so the amount of Huai was reduced by more than 99,390. However, this small mistake did not raise questions from the appointees at that time.

More importantly, the interests of local officials in southern Jiangxi and other places are connected with those of these salt merchants. Therefore, Wang De, a branch factory official of Ganzhou Prefecture, also believes that there are many difficulties in prohibiting Guangdong salt from going north.

Near Feng Kanhe, it is forbidden to sell Guangyan, Zhixunan and Ganfa, and no indegenation is allowed. However, Ganzhou and Ji'an are geographically connected, and the waterway is only a day's journey. This summer shower surged. Although there were bridges and boats blocking it, the water was vicious and broke the bridge, so that the profiteers took advantage of the water, accumulated hundreds of boats, held murder weapons, and crossed them with force. Although he got several cases, he was only guilty of only one-tenth. There are also important officials, with down-and-down sellers; there are also burdens who cross sellers from Xingguo, Gan County, Nankang and other paths. It has many disadvantages, and it can't help but violate the law. If it is banned, it will be difficult to do so and beg for it.

Wang De claimed that banning Guangdong salt to go north will cause traitors and commercial power and the poor to merger, which is a very difficult thing, and he asked for a discussion. Zhou Nan, the imperial historian, listed the income and expenditure of the Ganzhou branch factory from Zhengde six to Zhengde nine years, indicating that the northward advance of Guangdong salt is important for the funds of southern Jiangxi. He said:

Since the establishment of the branch factory in Zhengde on November 27, 2006 and ended in May 9 of Zhengde, a total of more than 482 taels of tax silver have been drawn. In succession, Fengfu Town Yamen, Mingwen issued three provinces to attack Damao Mountain and other places to reward meritorious military salaries, and reward rations for wolf soldiers, and take the pre-applications of Yao Yuan's army in Rauzhou to conquer and suppress Yao Yuan's army, and build a floating bridge in the branch factory hall, repair the city, buy grain warehouses, prepare for relief, and comply with the approval of the governor's military gate, borrow the monthly grain of Ganzhou guards and other items. More than 38,90 taels of taxed silver. From this point of view, the use of local food and salaries is not expensive and the commercial tax is exclusive. Although there are all the goods in the previous commercial tax, it is enough to benefit from salt.

According to Zhou Nan's opinion, the military expenditure of Nangan, as well as local expenses such as the construction of floating bridges, repairing cities, and buying warehouses, all depend on this income. Since the establishment of the lottery factory in November of the sixth year of Zhengde, to May of the ninth year of Zhengde, the local military expenses and other expenses have spent more than 38290 taels of silver, all relying on the collection of more than 40840 taels of silver from salt merchants and other merchants in Yuan, Lin and Ji Sanfu in Ganzhou during this period. Obviously, without this income, it will be difficult for the governor of Southern Jiangxi to maintain.

After such changes and debates in the salt method in southern Jiangxi, on June 1517, the 12th year of Zhengde, Wang Shouren published "Drowing the Salt Method" for the first time. In the first month of the 12th year of Zhengde, Wang Shouren succeeded Vincent and arrived in Ganzhou, that is, he transferred some troops from Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces to attack Zhangnan thieves. At the end of February, he entered Shanghang, went straight to Xianghu and broke through Changfu Village. In March, he attacked Xinfeng and Longnan thieves, returned to Fujian in April, and then stationed in Hangzhou. In June, it was on the method of dredging salt. At that time, Wang Shouren had been fighting for nearly half a year, and his military pay and other expenses were quite large. Dredging the Salt Law was his first action to solve the problem of military expenditure. He said:

Gan, Nanfu, Fujian, wide throat, thief abyss. That is, if you have a problem, you will be killed in the future; the cost of grain and salary is not good; if you have nothing to do, you must save him. However, I heard that Guangdong is the teacher of the river, and the treasury is gradually exhausted; Huguang is asking for a partial bridge, saying that there are many loans; and they are all self-sufficient, and I'm afraid there is no envy to push. If you don't send internal burs, it will be a serious case for the poor. However, the internal construction of new houses is strong or not caught; the poor are extremely poor and difficult to resume. According to the salt tax mentioned above, merchants are convinced, and both public and private are at their convenience. Commoners also say that they have enough money without adding money, and they don't disturb the people. In addition to following the edict, I will approve the road from the district, and implement it for the time being. On the day of local calming, the amount of tax money and expenditure will be drawn separately. The matter of drawing points is still stopped as usual, and the fate is local matters, so this question is known.

Wang Shouren has won many battles at this time and his reputation has risen. Therefore, on the one hand, it is claimed that only the troops of the three provinces need to be gathered again to attack, and the thief's nest can be broken, and on the other hand, it emphasizes the lack of military service. He also pointed out that Guangdong and Huguang are too busy to provide support. Therefore, the raising of military money is either to ask the emperor to send money, or only the poor. Obviously, this is not what the court is willing to do. Of course, this is not what Wang Shouren really wants the court or the inner court to do. After laying enough groundwork, he turned around and pointed out that only "the salt tax in accordance with the previous item" can achieve the effect of "public and private convenience" and "rich without adding money, and doing things without disturbing the people". He also proposed that this is only a expedient measure to be settled by the place, that is, that is, "stop as usual" and does not change the current system. Of course, there is a great possibility of being inaccurate in such writing. Sure enough, his request was soon approved. Wang Shouren recorded:

After the question was removed, it was reviewed by the Ministry of Household: "The Guangdong official salt will be temporarily sold in Yuan, Lin and Ji's three prefectures, and it will be terminated in 13 years of Zhengde. The Taoist official drew points before taking the photo and provided the tax to the military's pay. There are not many arbitrary uses, and it will stop as usual" and other reasons, with the title: "By the imperial edict: Yes. I admire this."

Wang Shouren was allowed to continue to receive military pay in accordance with the previous salt tax collection method from the date of the 12th year of Zhengde until the 13th year of Zhengde.

On October 22 of the 13th year of Zhengde, the deadline for Wang Shouren to set up a draw plant approved by the Ministry of Household is approaching. In order to maintain the military expenses of the governor of Southern Jiangxi, Wang Shouren submitted a petition again, requesting to extend the period for Yueyan to enter Yuan, Lin, Ji and other prefectures in the north. shu yun：

In Yuan, Ji and other places, the streams are fierce and the beaches are steep. Huai salt goes up against the water and moves for ten months; the broad salt flows down, but it is the journey of faith. Therefore, the people suffer from the difficulty of Huai salt, but only use wide salt as the convenience. Since the end of the day, the government has been banned from reform, but in fact, private salt can't be done for a long time. ...Guangyanxing collects commercial taxes, and uses funds for military pay to save the poor; ... Although thieves in the south and Jiangxi have relied on the power of heaven and flatten their nests, they have leaked the remnants and lost their party. And the three provinces, within hundreds of miles, the peaks are towering and the deep forests cover the sun. During this period, new people have been recruited, and they are still holding back: ... Today's treasury is empty, and the people are exhausted. If the salt tax is reformed, the military's money is not taken from the poor, and it must be given to the inside. ... I earnestly thought that it was appropriate to open a wide range of salt, which was written as a precedent; based on its taxes to prepare for the urgent military pay; accumulated its envy to help the lack of the internal government; in fact, it is convenient for both public and private, and both internal and external.