In the Qing Dynasty, the Huai River and Huai River patrol salt empire had infinite scenery, but have you seen through its days in detail?

1704, Kangxi reigned for more than forty years, and a mature and stable Qing empire was rising in Ran Ran. At this time, all policies tend to be perfect and most of them are typical. Today, let's take a look at the salt policy system of the Qing Dynasty. We don't need to analyze the salt courses all over the country, as long as we accurately analyze the representative salt taxes in Huaihe River and Huaihe River Basin, we can be clear at a glance. This year, the Huaihe River salt tax provided 2.52 million taels of silver for the country, and covered most municipalities directly under the Central China, so the Huaihe River salt inspection became an important and complicated position. But is the salt patrol suggestion really a fat job in everyone's eyes? If you simply think so, it's all wet. Through accurate data analysis, it is found that this risky job must not be touched, otherwise you will be ruined!

What is the introduction of salt? The main responsibilities of salt inspection in Huaihe River include Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and even parts of Henan. Because of the vast territory and rich people, the salt tax in Huaihe River Basin in Qing Dynasty was much higher than that in other areas in the same period. During the period of 1705-1720, the total amount of salt tax in Huaihe river basin in Qing dynasty was basically maintained at 2.52 million silver, accounting for 52% of the whole country at that time and 6.5% of the imperial salt tax and land tax.

Salt tax, salt tax, what is salt tax? I believe that people who don't understand can't explain it, and where the salt comes from is also a problem. The salt of Huaihe River in Qing Dynasty was obtained from seawater, but the method of making salt was not uniform. For example, Songjiang Prefecture put seawater on a wooden board to dry, commonly known as plate drying. The beach north of Huaihe River is steaming, commonly known as sunbathing. The quality of board drying is good, and the cost of beach drying is low.

Salt production is mainly monopolized by more than 30 saltworks, which control a large number of small stove households or some saltworks. Marketers are middlemen who are responsible for the upstream and downstream contact of salt trading. They can make huge profits, but they may also suffer huge losses. Since Guanzhong, the state has implemented salt and iron monopoly, and if it is caught selling privately, it will be beheaded. However, the court could not send someone to take over all the salt sales in person, so the salt tax came into being. Salt tax is called "salt guide" by issuing licenses to these saltworks. Each salt guide details the weight of salt that can be sold and the areas where salt can be sold. Marketers have to pay taxes when buying salt, and then they can sell salt with salt. After selling it, they must get it back. If the sales exceed the weight of salt or there is no salt at all, it shall be punished as the crime of selling smuggled salt.

Why is it difficult to do salt patrol in Huaihe River? It is the official position to manage these salt guides, authorize salt merchants and levy complex salt taxes. There is indeed a lot of corruption in this, but if you take it for granted that this is a very fat job, then simply think about it. Because the duty of the salt patrol proposal is to collect the money that the state stipulates to be paid every year, even if the real money is confiscated, it will be criticized, and there may be charges of losing your head.

It is the official position to manage the quotation of these salts, authorize salt merchants and collect complex salt taxes. There is indeed a lot of corruption in this, but if you take it for granted that this is a very fat job, then simply think about it. Because the duty of the salt patrol proposal is to collect the money that the state stipulates to be paid every year, even if the real money is confiscated, it will be criticized, and there may be charges of losing your head.

The salt patrol empire of Huaihe River is difficult to protect, and it is the most representative. Unless the weather is good every year and the salt merchants are prosperous, the salt patrol empire can guarantee to complete the task. Cao Yin, Cao Xueqin's grandfather, and Xu Li, Cao Yin's little friend, as the emperor's coating, took turns to be the salt supervisor of the two provinces for a long time. Through a series of tough measures, we can only try our best to meet the emperor's taxes and occasionally embezzle to earn some extra money. Cao Yin successfully misappropriated salt tax for Jiangning weaving for many times, trying to make a time difference to earn some extra money. However, despite his repeated warnings, he did not suddenly die in the office. Results 17 12 could not recover the salt tax public funds borrowed, leaving a huge deficit for his son. Finally, the emperor reluctantly paid off with the sympathy and help of Cao family. It can be seen that not everyone can do this job.