In order to control the people or gain great wealth and enjoy the state-owned salt industry, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty took great interest in this work without exception.
However, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, official salt was difficult to sell, and the trend of private salt was repeatedly banned. Coupled with the "efforts" made by the rulers at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the salt industry became an important factor for the Ming Dynasty to slide into an irreparable abyss.
First, as soon as "opening the law to China" came out, the salt industry was subject to many restrictions.
Talking about the development history of salt industry in Ming Dynasty is an unavoidable term. Opening China to France refers to the method that the Ming and Qing governments used salt and tea as an intermediary to recruit businessmen to send military food, horses and other materials. In June of the third year of Hongwu (1370), Shanxi and other places were in urgent need of military grain, so merchants were urged to transport grain, and after the grain was transported, the salt was given to the merchants, who could sell it in the designated area. This resulted in the Development Law, which was subsequently implemented in remote areas such as Shaanxi and Gansu. At the beginning of France's implementation, transporting grain to help the border was undoubtedly its main purpose.
Figure | Merchants lose rations
The opening up of China and France is mainly divided into three steps: reporting to China, defending disciplines and changing markets. In newspapers, salt merchants transported grain to designated granaries in border areas according to the requirements of the investment list of the Ming government in exchange for the introduction of salt by the government; Keeping the system means that after salt merchants exchange salt for salt introduction, they wait for salt assistance at the designated salt field with salt introduction; This market is convenient for salt merchants to transport the salt they get to designated areas for sale.
As the first link in the process of opening ports in France, newspapers are the most primitive conditions for businessmen to obtain salt sales. But businessmen can't sell salt if they can't complete the task of transporting grain. In other words, the government can allow the private sale of salt, but only if businessmen need to help the government solve the problem of grain transportation at the border. It can be seen that selling salt must complete the task designated by the government, and it is illegal without the permission of the government.
Behind this link is the ruler's strict control over the salt industry, and he does not want to see the right to sell salt. Just think, if the rulers can have a simple solution to the problem of difficult transportation of border grain, then businessmen will never get the right to sell salt.
From an economic point of view, the cost of transporting border grain by the government itself is far greater than that of transporting border grain by businessmen. This first link shows the government's strict control over salt industry.
Figure | Salt reference
Just because the government has the conditions to allow the sale of salt does not mean that businessmen can make their own salt. The salt sold by businessmen is produced in a government-controlled saltworks. In fact, it is not difficult to understand that the government wants the production right of salt to be in its own hands, so as to control the development of salt industry to the maximum extent. At this point, it is very important to defend the branch. Because merchants can get salt after transporting grain to the designated place, they can get salt from the designated saltworks. In other words, the salt introduction is just a certificate of returning salt, and after getting it, it will wait for the government saltworks to mix salt.
The amount of extraction is also very particular, and the share is distributed according to the amount and difficulty of grain transportation by merchants. Generally speaking, it is based on the contribution of businessmen to the country as the standard and basis for distribution. It is not difficult to see that the feudal ruling class further strengthened its control over the salt industry through this link.
Shiyi is not simply buying and selling salt. The place of sale is designated by the government in advance, and businessmen have no choice. This is the choice made by the ruling class under the condition of fully considering the profits of businessmen, otherwise the businessmen will grab a lot of profits and pose a great threat to the rule of the dynasty.
All these can be seen that the Zhu Ming dynasty was unwilling to give up the right to sell salt. Since it is inevitable, it is simply a heavy request. From this point of view, the opening up of China and France seems to have effectively prevented the proliferation of illicit salt, but with the passage of time, various problems have arisen in the opening up of China and France.
Figure | Ming Dynasty officials
Second, the management of salt industry is slack, and private salt is prevalent.
A familiar reading of China's ancient history reveals a rule: in the early days of the dynasty, it was generally clear politically, and with the passage of time, politics became more and more chaotic, which eventually led to the demise of the dynasty. Obviously, the Zhu Ming dynasty could not be divorced from this law. At the beginning of the implementation of Kaifa Law, it was resolutely implemented by emperors and officials, and there was basically no problem of corruption and fraud. However, collusion between officials and businessmen became the norm, and officials arbitrarily recovered the sales quota of salt, making strict salt management unsustainable. At this time, private salt seemed to smell the opportunity and began to flourish, which eventually led to the inability of the dynasty to return to heaven.
The destruction of the law in the development has strictly restricted the share of salt extraction and the place of sale, effectively avoiding the harm of illegal salt flooding 3. But people sometimes relax, not to mention a huge empire. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, rich and powerful people participated in salt trading. In order to satisfy their own interests, it is inevitable to look for open loopholes in the law everywhere. In this context, the strict control of salt industry between China and France has become an empty talk. After all, after the supervisors of China and France become the beneficiaries of China and France, the purpose of supervision is no longer so simple.
Figure | Private salt making
In addition, the opening of China and France is also flawed. Businessmen can't sell salt immediately after helping the government to transport grain, but should take the lead in obtaining the right to sell salt by virtue of their own years of transporting grain and qualifications. After the situation that "when the time comes, merchants have to wait for Yongle to send salt, and grandparents and grandchildren can't replace each other" became the norm, the defects of the opening of France and France were fully exposed. With the joint efforts of internal and external forces, it will be difficult for France to continue to open up.
The inflow of silver from the United States led to an increase in prices. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, a large amount of silver flowed in from the United States, which did great harm to China. Due to the limited silver production in the Ming Dynasty itself, except for natural and man-made disasters, the economic development was basically in a balanced state, and there would be no skyrocketing prices. However, after the inflow of cheap silver, prices in ancient China rose sharply.
This phenomenon also means that the government's fiscal revenue will be relatively less, so the dynasty levied more taxes to meet its own needs. It has caused more businessmen to join the ranks of selling silver in order to obtain greater profits. Businessmen do this in order to cope with various taxes of the country and to expand their profit scale.
With the change of social atmosphere, the trend of money worship was introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty, and some western ideas were gradually introduced to the United States. China's ancient concept of justice and benefit had a great influence, and ordinary people jumped into the arms of illicit salt. The trend of western money worship caused by colonial expansion and plunder also had a great influence on ancient China, and all social strata were proud of acquiring greater wealth. Some industrious nature is gradually lost, and more people hoard and speculate to satisfy their desire for silver.
Profit from private salt comes from the cognition of officials, businessmen and the people. Once the three parties reach a consensus, the sales of smuggled salt will intensify.
Figure | Emperor Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty
Third, private salt is rampant, and the dynasty is difficult to pay back.
The proliferation of illicit salt has dealt a fatal blow to the sale of official salt, which is an important financial income of feudal dynasties, and its consequence is a sharp decline in financial income. When the country needs money, there is no money to use, which causes sharp social contradictions and threatens dynasty rule. In addition, officials also participate in the sale of illicit salt, and businessmen use it to bribe officials after making profits, causing bureaucratic confusion. Under the threat of these two contradictions, the dynasty slipped into an irreversible abyss step by step.
The direct competitor of illicit salt with sharply reduced fiscal revenue is official salt, but because of its higher price and lower quality, it has not been recognized by the public. There may be such a question: don't people buy low-priced and high-quality private salt in disguise, which means the improvement of living standards?
But this is not the case in this country. Insufficient official salt sales have seriously affected fiscal revenue. Imagine that in the era of natural and man-made disasters, the country needs money and food to help the victims. The money used by the state for relief comes from fiscal revenue, but the state has no income to help the victims, so it will fall into an infinite cycle.
Throughout the history of peasant uprisings, most of them were forced to revolt because there was no way out without uprisings. At this point, it is not difficult to understand why the peasant uprising continued at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Linked to the history of the late Ming dynasty, floods and droughts continued, but the country had no money to help, and ministers were rich but penniless. Over time, farmers will complain, and they will inevitably be involved in the wave of the uprising.
Officialdom corrupts the huge profits of the folk salt industry, which makes a batch of businessmen invest in it, and even some officials can't resist the great temptation to invest in it. Businessmen make huge profits by selling illicit salt, and then use the money to bribe officials to make greater profits.
Figure | Ming handicraft industry
Just imagine, officials are devoting all their thoughts to studying how to accept more bribes from businessmen, and where to start the official management of the country. As the rulers of the country, officials do nothing in their positions, and the consequences are obvious. Therefore, the decline of the Ming Dynasty also had a lot to do with officials' doing nothing and taking bribes at will.
The contradiction between the germination of capitalism and the small-scale peasant economy, the people's choice of cheaper private salt is undoubtedly the result of the market, which also represents the development of commodity economy. The development of commodity economy requires breaking the national mechanism that hinders its development, and the feudal dynasty is the biggest obstacle to its development. The feudal dynasty compromised in this confrontation, but the commodity economy will not choose to let go of the mechanism that hinders its development because of the compromise of the feudal dynasty.
From a philosophical point of view, new things refer to things that conform to the objective laws and trends of things' development and have strong vitality and broad prospects.
It is not difficult to understand that the capitalist embryonic economy is a more advanced economic component than the feudal small-scale peasant economy, because it contains components that the small-scale peasant economy does not have. Generally speaking, the bud of capitalism is a newborn baby, but it is full of infinite possibilities; The feudal small-scale peasant economy is an old man who is dying and will inevitably decline.