At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 1456

fair enough.

The lonely Guo Peng relaxed his body, leaning against the stone pillar next to him, with the afterglow of the setting sun on his body, he could see through 300 years at a glance.

In the middle of the year, Guo Jin ordered Crown Prince Guo Chengzhi to follow him and begin to assist him in handling government affairs.

He intends to exercise his political ability early and cultivate his emperor's thinking according to the way Guo Peng educated him.

Guo Peng heard about it, sighed, and held Cao Lan's hand beside him.

"The third emperor of our Guo family is about to be born."

Cao Lan looked at him resentfully.

"Isn't this what you're looking forward to the most?"

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it, I'm really looking forward to it."

Guo Peng nodded, leaned slightly, and said again: "I just feel a little sorry for Cheng Zhi, I hope he can be like A Jin, and in the end, he can understand me."

Cao Lan didn't speak any more, she put her other hand on the back of Guo Peng's hand, and squeezed Guo Peng's hand tightly.

At the beginning of July in the fourth year of Xingyuan, the Grand Canal project was completely completed. The super large project that lasted ten years was finally successfully completed, and the whole country celebrated with joy.

In order to express her congratulations, Guo Jin pardoned the world again, and exempted the people who participated in the whole project from paying taxes for one year. Then she went to Yecheng, Jizhou to watch the end of the northern section of the Grand Canal, and then took a boat all the way south, traveling the whole Grand Canal.

Straight to Yangzhou.

The thorough passage of the Grand Canal Project laid the foundation for the Wei Empire to resist the attack of the Little Ice River.

This made Guo Peng more confident and more convinced that the Wei Empire could lead the people to survive the invasion of the Little Ice River and usher in the february peach blossoms in Chang'an City together.

The entire second half of the fourth year of Xingyuan was uneventful, and the financial strain of the Wei Empire, which ended the two major projects, was greatly eased.

Under such a premise, Guo Jin began to prepare for currency reform, intending to issue a brand new currency to make business more prosperous.

At the same time, he announced to strengthen the functions of the local police, give the police more powers, and let the local police step up their efforts to crack down on all kinds of smuggling of salt.

The Wei Empire implemented a strict salt and iron monopoly. In order to earn enough money from these two hard currencies, under the strict supervision of Guo Peng, the official salt and official iron of the Wei Empire were of good quality, the quantity was sufficient, and the price was low. high.

Common people are no different than buying salt and iron in ordinary stores, so the Wei Empire's behavior of selling illegal salt was basically negligible during Guo Peng's rule.

In March of the fifth year of Xingyuan, the Central Bureau of Linziying reported to Guo Jin the corruption case in the salt system that they had been investigating and collecting evidence for more than a year, and let Guo Jin know that there was a big problem in the salt system of the Wei Empire.

The Wei Empire’s salt and iron monopoly, the establishment of royal caravans to open up two silk roads, and the elimination of middlemen to directly control farmers’ tax revenues. These three major actions ensured a great deal of fiscal revenue. These three can be called the troika of the Wei Empire’s economy. .

With the escort of these three horse-drawn carriages, the financial revenue of the Wei Empire far exceeded that of the Eastern Han Dynasty, so that it was able to support even a major project to carry out major projects. Although the finances were tight, they were not unsupportable. It can be said that they were quite rich. .

Among the troika, agricultural taxation is the absolute leader, the salt and iron monopoly is the second, and the two silk roads are the third. As an important part of the Wei Empire's fiscal revenue, the salt and iron monopoly has always been valued.

Guo Peng decided to monopolize salt and iron before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and set up a special salt and iron department to be in charge of monopoly matters, responsible for mining, making salt, and managing the sale of salt.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Guo Peng refined the functional departments and set up special iron and salt affairs departments, which belonged to the Ministry of Finance and were responsible for salt and iron monopoly matters.

In order to further ensure this part of the income, Guo Peng ordered the Department of Iron Affairs and the Department of Salt Affairs to cooperate with the Royal Caravan. They are responsible for mining, production and collection of money. The shops under the Royal Caravan are responsible for in-depth local sales. Divide this income.

The internal treasury occupies a small portion, while the national treasury occupies a large portion, and the left hand is replaced by the right hand. Anyway, the money always belongs to the court.

This system not only facilitates the strict implementation of the salt and iron monopoly, but also ensures the emperor's control over the salt and iron monopoly to a considerable extent, so that the salt and iron monopoly will not be disordered.

Guo Peng referred to the disadvantages of the salt and iron monopoly system in the past dynasties, especially the plight of private salt in the Northern Song and Southern Song Dynasties, and set strict standards for quality, quantity and price.

You can't make money while providing poor-quality salt to ordinary people.

It is already a profiteering industry that guarantees income from droughts and floods, and it is necessary to add more profits to corruption. This situation will greatly affect the national tax revenue, and it will also greatly expand the private private salt dealer group and cause great interference. State taxation and administration.

The salt tax in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties was extremely high, and the price of salt itself was very high. When it came to the localities, local officials took advantage of it for corruption and took all kinds of tricks. In the end, they often sold low-quality and insufficient salt to the people.

The official salt bought by ordinary people is often yellow, smelly and damp, and it tastes bitter and astringent. The price is still high, and the quantity is not enough, so it is often out of stock.

People have to eat salt, but official salt is not good, so they can only buy private salt. The quality of private salt is good, and the price is more than twice that of official salt, so it is a fool not to buy private salt.

The huge market demand gave birth to an extremely large illegal salt sales group, which spread all over the country, and there are gangs selling illegal salt everywhere along the coast and inland.

Moreover, both the government and the local government seem to have reached a strange tacit agreement on the existence of private salt. Everyone benefits from the salt, and the treasury and the people suffer in the end.

Guo Peng strictly controlled the quality, quantity and price, and controlled the salt business very well. Therefore, during the Yande period, there was no market for private salt.

According to reports from Linziying, around the second year of Xingyuan, officials in the Hebei salt department began to steal official salt and resell it privately.

They took advantage of their positions to steal official salt, and then sold it to merchants at a lower price than the official salt to make a profit.

The businessman is well-informed and knows that the price of official salt varies from place to place. According to the distance between each place and the salt production area, the closer the price is, the lower the price is, and the farther the price is, the higher it is.

After getting the salt, merchants will go to places where the price of official salt is higher, and sell private salt at a price lower than that of official salt. Although the price is low, compared with the cost, they still earn a lot, and they earn a lot. sharp.

In order to avoid being inspected by the tax guards on the official road, they even chose not to take the official road, but chose to go deep in the mountains and old forests.

In order to avoid the attack of ferocious beasts, they often smear and move forward in groups, and do everything in order to make money. They have also summed up a lot of effective experience in selling private salt and spread them widely.

The gangs that sell private salt are often greedy for profit. They are well-organized, and the members are blood-stained alliances.

In the third year of Xingyuan, this situation began to spread further.

By Xingyuan four years, Hebei, Liaodong, Central Plains, and Guanzhong were all spying on the news of the emergence of private salt by the Linzi camp.

In the fifth year of Xingyuan, Guo Chaodong, director of the Central Bureau, submitted all the rectified information to Guo Jin. Guo Jin spent a day and a night reading it, and then felt that his sword was a little hungry and thirsty.

Chapter 1623 One thousand five hundred and fourty three stern Guo Jin

The monopoly of salt and iron was an important financial guarantee for the Wei Empire to survive the difficult period.

In the early days of Guo Peng's rule, the money from salt and iron monopoly played an important role in the stability and expansion of the empire.

Today, under the premise that Guo Peng opened up the two major commercial routes on the sea road, the economy of the Wei Empire has also made great progress, and agricultural production has fully recovered and further improved. The benefits brought by the salt and iron monopoly have gradually become less than the Wei Empire financial backbone.

Of course, the same is very important.

"This time, you have collected such detailed evidence, you should also have some understanding of these private salt gangs, right?"

Guo Jin stared at Guo Chaodong.

Guo Chaodong nodded immediately.

"Limited to the strict checkpoints on the official roads of our court, it is difficult for private salt gangs to sell across regions, and they often sell private salt locally. Now, Linzi camp organizations in various places have sent people to join the 37 private salt gangs. If His Majesty orders to collect Net, I can close the net immediately."

After the net is collected, the mastermind behind the scenes can be interrogated and then uprooted.

Guo Jin knew it.

But he was still a little dissatisfied.

"Only 37? If the scope is so wide, there should be more than 37 private salt gangs, right?"

"That's true, but the time is limited, and there are some Linzi battalion organizations in various places who can't infiltrate in time, but we still have a good grasp of their movements. If His Majesty orders, it will not be difficult to destroy about [-] private salt gangs in one fell swoop."

Guo Chaodong said so.

Guo Jin nodded slightly satisfied.

"Although it's not too much, it's more than before. This time, your Linzi operation is doing well. After it's done, you will be rewarded heavily for the secret work that lurks in, and the secret agents of the Linzi camp who participated in it will also be rewarded. That's it, close the Internet cafe. "

Guo Jin's eyes were cold: "The Linzi camp is short of manpower, so let the local police join in to help with it. I want to see how rotten the Salt Affairs Department has become!"

"According to the order!"

Guo Chaodong nodded, and immediately went down to make arrangements.

Under the premise that the Linzi Camp does not have a clear leader, the director of the Central Bureau is everyone's default deputy commander. Guo Chaodong follows Guo Jin's will and conveys the highest instructions for Guo Jin. In essence, he has already begun to perform Yan Rou's duties, but he does not have that authority. .

Now, since the emperor has given the order, what are you waiting for?

Close the net!

Guo Chaodong quickly and accurately conveyed Guo Jin's order to the local Linzi battalion organizations, and the local Linzi battalion organizations immediately started their own operations, either according to the detailed instructions, or according to the previously detected intelligence.

The local Linzi battalion organization has limited manpower, and most of them cannot reveal their identities, so the main force for the operation is the local police force.

The dispatch of the police force requires the permission of the county magistrate or the sheriff. When the transfer is decided, even the local criminal department, which has the right to dispose of the incident, cannot interfere.

There was only one exception, and that was when the Linzi Camp was in action, the police force had to cooperate unconditionally, and the chief executive had to sign the dispatch order, and no interference was allowed, nor was the Ministry of Criminal Affairs allowed to intervene.

This is the emperor's order, an extension of imperial power, how can the chief executive and the Ministry of punishment interfere?

When taking action, the head of the local Linzi battalion held a token to find the county magistrate or sheriff. The county magistrate and sheriff must immediately sign the dispatch order, and then dispatch the police force to assist in the work.

Linziying has grown from the earliest secret organization all the way. After the founding of the country, it has gradually been unable to hide its existence, and must be turned into an official organization on the face of it.

The officials already knew that this was a spy organization that followed the emperor's orders, but they didn't know much about how the Linzi Camp operated, how it acted, and what powers it had.

For example, the county magistrate and the county guard knew that once someone asked to dispatch the police force with the token of Linziying, they must cooperate unconditionally, and they must not prevaricate and interfere.

They don't know about other things, such as what Linzi operates, what powers it has, where the organization is, etc. These are all unknown.

Just like now, many county guards or county magistrates are required to sign orders to dispatch the police force to do things, but they don't know what to do.

After news of the arrest of a large number of private salt dealers came from various places, these local officials suddenly realized that the emperor had attacked the private salt dealers!

At the end of March in the fifth year of Xingyuan, the Linzi Camp completely shut down the private salt gangs hidden under the surface of the society, blasting 73 private salt selling gangs in one fell swoop, arresting more than 2000 people, killing hundreds of people in the operation, and making violent attacks. Famous.

Some people are selling private salt. Since the occurrences are not many and the scope of the occurrence is not wide, those officials and gangs who are rich in private pockets act in a low-key manner, so quite a lot of officials are still unaware of this. Suddenly I heard that the emperor is very concerned about the sale of smuggled salt. The people who closed the net were quite surprised.

Someone smuggled salt?

Official salt is not bad, and it's not expensive, so why are you selling private salt?

Some things can only be explained by greed, or it can also be said that as long as the salt and iron franchise exists, there will inevitably be people who smuggle salt.

But anyway, the gang was arrested.

Then he was escorted to Luoyang and handed over to Sili Xiaowei Department for strict interrogation.

The emperor ordered that no matter what, useful news should be drawn from their mouths, and their uplines should be wiped out.

So Cheng Yu once again showed his talents. In just three days, he tortured and killed more than 50 private salt dealers, and used the information drawn from their mouths to construct criminal network messages one by one.

Obviously, this is a vicious incident in which official corruption drives businessman corruption, and the two sides cooperate to poach the corner of the country.

Since the income from the salt monopoly is still relatively important to the current Wei Empire, Guo Jin believed that these people could not be forgiven anyway, and rejected the sentencing proposal put forward by the Ministry of Punishment.

He ordered the beheading of all the leaders of these private salt dealers, including their family members, as a warning to others.

Trafficking gangs can avoid death, but they are assigned as coolies together with their families and go to Pingzhou, Mozhou, Yunzhou, Jiaozhou and other places to do coolie labor. Amnesty has nothing to do with them. They are coolies from birth to death and cannot be forgiven.

Punishment of more than 2000 people and their families in one go, affecting tens of thousands of people, is a large scale and difficult to implement. However, in order to prevent the corruption of the salt government and form a deterrent to the people, Guo Jin insisted on implementing such a severe punishment plan.

The punishment for the downstream executors is over, and the punishment for the upstream initiators has just begun.

The entire Salt Affairs Department was thoroughly investigated by the Linzi Camp from top to bottom, and then began to arrest the offenders and businessmen of the Salt Affairs Department.

Those within the command area of ​​Sili Xiaowei were handed over to the pawns of Sili Xiaowei for arrest, while those outside the area were handed over to the local police force for arrest, and escorted to Luoyang for the pawns to handle.

One stone caused a thousand waves, and the salt officials in the Hebei region, which had the largest number of criminals, were almost wiped out.

Some people were well-informed and knew that this time the emperor was coming for real and there was no chance of survival, so they tried to escape.

But in the strict local network of the Wei Empire, they were captured one after another.

Not without cleverness, the one with the most nimble hands and feet even ran to the sea, took refuge in a boat, and tried to escape, but was arrested by the Linziying battalion-coordinating navy dispatched warships across the sea, and was also captured.

None of these officials and businessmen were forgiven, and they were all beheaded. Their family members were deprived of their rights and sent to work as coolies, and they could not return if they were pardoned.

From March of the fifth year of Xingyuan to June of the fifth year of Xingyuan, in three months, the salt administration system was sorted out by Guo Jin, and the number of officials purged reached 230 and seven.

All their land was confiscated and nationalized pending redistribution.

Not to mention, Guo Jin felt that those who bought illegal salt for cheap should be punished and imposed a certain amount of fines to deter the common people and tell them that anyone who dared to buy illegal salt would have to pay a price.

They don't know how to be afraid until they hit the head with the stick, and they dare to buy illegal salt to disrupt the market. If they don't punish them, they won't know the majesty of the law!

It is human nature to be greedy for petty gains, and Guo Jin believes that if the punishment for being greedy for petty gains is much greater than the benefits brought by the petty gains, then naturally few people would dare to be greedy for such petty gains, so punishment is necessary.

In this regard, officials from the DPRK and China felt that this violated the principles of leniency and benevolence established during the Guo Peng period.

They felt that if civilians were to be punished, it would spread too far and cause panic among the people.

This may bring some headaches for local officials.

For example, civil gatherings to make troubles and collective protests will cause headaches for the government and it will be difficult to deal with them properly.

Guo Jin thinks otherwise.

He called a council of state, where he spoke harshly.