Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 179: The Game Against the World
Zhu Houzhao now finally understood Chen Ce's logic.

All the plans were for one purpose, which was to transfer all the salt permits in the hands of the gentry, merchants and bureaucrats to the common people.

Because ordinary people did not dare to resist, this perfectly solved the problem of salt permit backlog.

But there were so many people in the Ming Dynasty, and the money they saved with great difficulty turned into nothing in the end. Didn’t the people deserve to be exploited and enslaved?
Chen Ce signaled Zhu Houzhao not to worry, and said, "I haven't finished what I want to say yet."

"If all these are done, will the people use the low price to stock up a batch of salt in their own hands?"

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "Yes, it will definitely be so."

Chen Ce hummed and said, "Then the court can regulate openly at this time."

"Can the imperial court exempt common people from land tax according to the number of salt permits they have?"

It was not until this time that Chen Ce's overall situation was fully revealed.

Zhu Houzhao was suddenly stunned!
So, you are planning this?!
The gentry, bureaucrats and big merchants had no way of exempting them from land tax in exchange for salt permits, because they could do so through various means or without having to pay taxes on their own land.

They have no demand for exemption of land tax.

But it is different for ordinary people. If the salt permits they bought at low prices can be exchanged for preferential tax exemption policies of the court, they will definitely redeem them!

Because it is in your best interest.

In this closed-loop design, the imperial court dealt with the problem of salt permits that had accumulated for decades by exempting them from taxes, and the common people took advantage of the low prices to obtain the tax exemption benefits.

If anyone is really going to suffer, it will probably be this group of big merchants and gentry.

But it doesn’t matter, they are already full, so let them suffer a little loss.

There is a key issue in this situation, that is, the fewer people who know about it, the better. The illusion of salt shortage in the salt field must be completely covered up. The powerful and wealthy must know about it, but the common people must not know about it.

If Chen Ce was given full control, he was confident that he could do a good job.

But now the power of manipulation is not in his hands, but in the hands of Zhu Houzhao and Emperor Hongzhi. Chen Ce is not sure whether they can control it well.

Zhu Houzhao left the alley with a shocked expression, and carefully went to the Qianqing Palace, where he found Emperor Hongzhi who was reading a memorial.

Emperor Hongzhi saw that his son looked a little strange and thought he was ill, so he asked, "Why are you so confused?"

"But you're sick?"

Zhu Houzhao quickly said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Father, please send all the people away. I have something important to tell you, and no one can hear it!"

Emperor Hongzhi: “…”

Why do you think they can stand by my side?

If my conversation with you could be leaked, then all these years of being an emperor would have been in vain!
"Tell me, what's the big deal you want to tell me?"

Zhu Houzhao was worried and said, "Father, let them all go out, otherwise I can't tell you!"

Emperor Hongzhi looked helpless and had to wave his hand to let Huai En and others go down. Only the father and son were left in the hall. Emperor Hongzhi then said, "Can we talk about it now?"

"What on earth happened?"

Zhu Houzhao said in a shocking tone: "Father! I know how to solve the problem of the salt permits that are in great demand."

Emperor Hongzhi was stunned for a moment, but soon he was relieved and said with a smile: "Oh, tell me about it."

Obviously, he did not take Zhu Houzhao's words seriously. This is normal. In fact, from the beginning of the salt permit to its discovery, it took only two dynasties. From the Chenghua to the Hongzhi period, many officials raised the issue of the difficulty of exchanging salt permits and the origin of salt permits. However, it is easy to raise the problem, but everyone is afraid to solve it.

Can't be solved.

These salt permits are not only piled up in the hands of merchants and gentry, but even more in the hands of the powerful and wealthy. How to deal with it?

We can't just not exchange these salt permits for them, right?

How many people would react to this? No one dared to risk the world's disapproval and do this.

So this is a dead end, and it cannot be solved in a short time! Unless one day the Ming Dynasty's salt production technology is improved, when the salt output is far higher than the salt permit, then it will be possible to completely solve the problem of the source of salt permits.

Zhu Houzhao opened his mouth slowly and said, "Father, this move of mine is called risk transfer!"

"We just need to create the illusion that the salt pond is short of salt... the illusion that no salt can be exchanged, production is in short supply, and the court is short of salt on a large scale."

"For a short period of time, we will not exchange salt permits for anyone. We just need to keep the salt in the market to meet the basic needs of the people."

"As a result, the wealthy and powerful who had many salt permits sensed the risk and realized that the salt permits in their hands were no different from waste paper."

"They will definitely find a way to get rid of the salt."

"What can they do? They can only deceive the people and sell their salt permits to them at a discount."

"Ordinary people don't know the secrets of the court officials. They must think that salt permits are valuable. The market is selling salt permits at such a low price, so people across the country will definitely scramble for salt permits."

"In this way, the salt permits will be snatched away by the common people at a low price."

In fact, this logic is the same as the short-selling stock war in later generations.

In the end, the ones who are harvested are the retail investors. It is obvious that the common people of the Ming Dynasty are the leeks.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi's face suddenly darkened and he cursed: "Zhu Houzhao!"

"Have you lost your conscience? Some time ago, you paid for the military awards in the northwest, and many people praised you as the wise prince, saying that you will definitely be a good emperor in the future."

"Your teachers in the East Palace all said that you will definitely be a wise ruler in the future. Are you going to be a wise ruler for me now?"

"You are not acting like a beast. Are you trying to drive the people to death?"

"It's ok for the rich and powerful to bully them, but you are the prince! The future emperor, and you help the rich and powerful to oppress the people. You, you, you rebellious son!"

Zhu Houzhao: "..."

Why are you so excited? I haven't finished yet.

He completely forgot that after Chen Ce said these words, his reaction seemed no better than that of Emperor Hongzhi.

Zhu Houzhao imitated Chen Ce, drank a sip of tea, pressed his hands, and said to Emperor Hongzhi in a very pretentious manner: "Father, I haven't finished speaking yet, you should listen carefully, listen carefully, and learn well, this will benefit you a lot."

Emperor Hongzhi's chest heaved violently. What a bad boy! He's actually going against the will of Heaven!
Zhu Houzhao said, "Father, if this happens, will all the salt permits... oh, not all, but most of the salt permits fall into the hands of the common people?"

Emperor Hongzhi snorted and said, "So what?"

Zhu Houzhao laughed and said, "That's easy! Now it's easy for us to deal with this batch of salt permits, isn't it?"

Simple? Tell me how it is simple? If the people rebel, they will be more terrible than the big merchants and gentry!
(End of this chapter)