Chapter 445 The Queen's Advice
Chapter 445 The Queen's Advice
At night, Emperor Yang Guang paced back and forth in the inner study, and on the table behind him was a letter from Xiao Xia.
In fact, Yang Guang received the letter three days ago. He was a little worried about the request made by his son in the letter. He acknowledged Xiao Xia's ability, but Xiao Xia's style of doing things that abandoned his own independent development made Yang Guang feel a little unhappy.
Yang Guang hoped that his son would be like a kite flying in the sky. No matter how high he flew, the string would always be in his hands. But once he got the salt profits and had sufficient financial resources, he would be afraid that it would be difficult to control him.
What made Yang Guang even more worried was that once his son did this, it would inevitably trigger a full-scale confrontation with the Guanlong nobles, intensify the conflict and affect his own layout.
At this time, his wife Empress Xiao walked into the inner study and placed a bowl of medicinal porridge for calming the nerves and nourishing the brain on the imperial desk.
"Your Majesty, come and have some porridge!"
Yang Guang always stayed up late, and his stomach would suddenly feel hungry, so he had to eat something at night. This was a habit he developed many years ago.
Only his wife Xiao knows his various living habits best.
Yang Guang sat down and drank a mouthful of porridge with a spoon. It was just the right temperature. He couldn't help but pick up Xiao Xia's letter and read it again.
"Your Majesty, is this a letter from the Third Brother?"
Yang Guang nodded. "He wants to replace the Salt Supervisor and take away all the salt fields in Jiangdu. I am really in a dilemma."
"Will he harm the interests of the court by doing this?"
"The interests of the court have not been harmed. He promised to pay the court the salt profits handed over by the Jiangdu Salt Administration last year as normal every year."
"What is your Majesty worried about?"
Yang Guang sighed and said, "I have two concerns. First, I am worried that he will gain rich salt profits and break away from the constraints of the court. I will not be able to control him in the future. Second, he will definitely seriously damage the interests of the Guanlong family. I am worried that the contradictions between the two sides will intensify, thus causing unrest in the world."
Empress Xiao hated the Guanlong nobles deeply because of the assassination of her eldest son. She and her husband both knew that her son's assassination must have been planned and orchestrated by the Guanlong nobles as a response to her husband's move of the capital to Luoyang.
But they could not find any evidence. Seeing her son becoming a fool day by day, Empress Xiao felt heartbroken and hated the Guanlong nobles to the core.
Empress Xiao said softly, "I didn't like Xia'er before because of his mother, but later I gradually developed a good impression of him, especially when he protected our family in times of crisis and helped Your Majesty seize the country, but he escaped unscathed and handed over hundreds of thousands of troops to Your Majesty. I knew that this child was worthy of our trust. Your Majesty was worried that he could not control him, but hasn't he always been like this? In the past, he was in Jiangdu, and later in Chang'an, fighting with the prince to the death. When did he ever listen to his father's words?
At least he still respects His Majesty and asks for His Majesty's instructions. If His Majesty doesn't agree, will he give up? I don't think so. He will definitely find an excuse to take over the salt field and completely bypass the salt supervision. This is his style of doing things. I know this kid very well. He will never be vague at the critical moment!"
Yang Guang's eyes flickered, and he remained silent for a while. Empress Xiao continued, "Your Majesty is worried that the Guanlong nobles will turn against you because of the damage to Jiangnan's interests. I don't think so. The Guanlong nobles control the salt profits of the world. They only lost a small part. At most, they will make small moves behind your back, or turn against the Third Prince, but they will never turn against your Majesty, let alone rebel. Your Majesty, this is actually an opportunity. You can use the interests of Jiangnan to test the reaction of the Guanlong nobles, and at the same time weaken the strength of the Guanlong nobles. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone."
Yang Guang sighed deeply, walked to the front of the hall with his hands behind his back, and said slowly: "I hope he can take it step by step, not so fast. He has only been in power in Jiangnan for three months, and he has fallen out with the Guanlong nobles. I am worried that Jiangnan will get out of control."
"Your Majesty, you think too highly of the Guanlong nobles. They have only entered Jiangnan in recent years, supporting the powerful in Jiangnan and damaging the interests of the Jiangnan families. If you eliminate them from Jiangnan, Jiangnan will never get out of control, not to mention."
Empress Xiao took a deep breath and said, "When they assassinated Zhao'er, did they ever consider our feelings?"
His wife's last words hit Yang Guang sorely. Thinking of his eldest son's life being worse than death, hatred gradually welled up in Yang Guang's heart.
He nodded slowly and said, "The Queen is right. This is indeed an opportunity to use the interests of Jiangnan to fight back against the arrogance of the Guanlong nobles. They can do it on the first day, and I can do it on the fifteenth."
Yang Guang also decided to only give Xiao Xia official salt and not allow him to annex private salt fields, so as not to be at odds with the Guanlong nobles. The next morning, Emperor Yang Guang issued an edict to abolish the court's direct mining supervision in Jiangnan Road, and merge the management authority into the Jiangnan Road General Administration Office.
The imperial court not only had a salt inspectorate in Jiangdu County in the Jiangnan Road, but also had copper and iron mines in Lujiang County, Yuzhang County, Linchuan County and other places, with mine inspectors. There was also an iron smelting plant and coin mint in Danyang County.
The decree of Emperor Yang Guang was to hand over the management authority of these mines and smelters to the Jiangnan Road General Administration Office.
However, what was delegated was only the management authority, not the benefits. The Jiangnan Province still had to hand over all the copper, iron and minted coins to the court according to the normal annual output.
As to whether Jiangnan Dao would take the opportunity to expand its production capacity and keep the output beyond the quota submitted for itself, this decree did not mention it.
However, according to the laws of the imperial court, local officials were strictly prohibited from opening mines or minting coins without authorization.
However, the laws of the Sui Dynasty did not prohibit private mining, so there was a loophole. If local officials mined and smelted in the name of private individuals, the imperial court would not intervene.
Although there are loopholes, very few local government officials take advantage of them. The reason is simple: officials have worked hard to invest in mining and smelting, and when the success is about to come, their term of office expires, and the successor will only benefit from it.
Therefore, no official would do such a stupid thing as using private interests to benefit the public, and use private names to gain profits for the government.
If they want to do something, they will let their sons, nephews or brothers-in-law do it, and make real private investments. Even if the officials leave office, the profits of the mine will still be theirs.
Why didn't the laws of the Sui Dynasty prohibit private mining? The Tang and Song dynasties also did not prohibit it. Do you think the private miners were ordinary people? The people who mined alum in the Northern Song Dynasty made a fortune and built the first alum building in the Song Dynasty. Can ordinary people build this?
In the final analysis, the laws of the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties were all about creating conditions for the powerful to make profits.
At noon, Yuanshou hurriedly found Dugutuo.
"Brother, have you seen the emperor's latest decree today?"
"Are you talking about the emperor delegating the management rights of the Jiangnan Road mines to the Jiangnan Road General Administration Office?"
"So my brother knows!"
Dugu Tuo nodded, "I knew it as soon as the decree was issued. This father thinks of his son in everything. He is really qualified!"
"Brother, this includes the salt fields."
Yuanshou handed a copy of the pigeon letter to Dugu Tuo, "Brother, take a look! It's the pigeon letter that the Wan family sent to me."
Dugu Tuo took the pigeon letter and read it through. He frowned and asked, "When did the pigeon letter arrive?"
"The pigeon letter arrived yesterday evening, but I just saw it. The staff member I am in charge of happened to be on leave yesterday, so he copied it for me this morning."
Dugu Tuo snorted, "Xihai Salt Shop, who opened this shop? Do I need to ask? I was wondering why the emperor would issue such an order. It turns out that the key point is here!"
Yuanshou said anxiously, "Brother, the key point is not that Xiao Xia opened a salt shop, but that he only sells refined salt for 20 cents per pound, so no one wants our coarse salt."
(End of this chapter)