Chapter 222: Have Mercy — Let Us Pay Taxes!

Wang Wanchun, the great chief salt merchant, arrived a step too late with his fifty thousand taels of gold — he was not the first salt merchant to come to Daming Temple seeking an audience. The other three of the four great salt merchants of the Hui merchant guild — Shen Hanshuang of the Xiuning Shen family, Wang Baichuan of the Shexian Wang family, and Li Sanbao of the Jixi Li family — had all come with cartloads of gold and silver, requesting an audience outside Daming Temple. No, not requesting an audience, but begging to confess their crimes!

Crimes — they certainly had them! The Lianghuai salt trade brought in over ten million taels a year no matter how one calculated it, and they had given the Chongzhen Emperor only a few hundred thousand. How could they possibly be without crime? Even if they had not been involved in the treason of the southeastern meritorious nobles, their crimes were still monstrous!

As for whether they would be forgiven — that depended on how they performed.

"Thousand Years," Huang Xiaobao said with a grin as he walked up to Zhu Cilang, who was reading memorials, "the four chief salt merchants of the Hui guild are all kneeling outside! They have brought gold and silver, and beg only for an audience with Thousand Years."

"Oh." Zhu Cilang nodded. "Bring them to Pingshan Hall, and also call for my senior brother and Shen Tingyang."

Pingshan Hall lay on the west side of the Great Buddha Hall at Daming Temple. It had been built when Ouyang Xiu of the Northern Song served as Prefect of Yangzhou. Flowers and trees flourished before the hall, the courtyard was quiet and secluded, and when one leaned on the railing and gazed into the distance at the mountains of Jiangnan, they appeared exactly level with one's line of sight — hence the name "Pingshan Hall."

When Huang Xiaobao brought the four chief salt merchants of the Hui guild and Ji Kun over, Zhu Cilang was inside Pingshan Hall talking with Zheng Sen and Shen Tingyang.

Shen Tingyang had come south by sea from Dengzhou. Because it had still been summer when Zhu Cilang left Dengzhou, the winds at sea had all been blowing northward. Shen Tingyang's sand ships had thus faced headwinds, making it inconvenient to sail south.

Moreover, Boss Shen's fleet operated at its own profit and loss — Zhu Cilang had granted the Sea Sand Gang the privilege of managing all northern maritime affairs, allowing them to run the northern sea trade and collect ship taxes (also known as protection fees).

He had also appointed Boss Shen as Governor-General of Northern Maritime Trade and Military Affairs, concurrently in charge of the Northern Fleet, and had placed the Dengzhou naval fortress under Shen Tingyang's jurisdiction as the home base of the Northern Fleet.

So Shen Tingyang had not followed Zhu Cilang south, but had remained at the Northern Governor-General's yamen in Dengzhou to handle northern affairs. During that time he had also sent a fleet to Joseon and demanded from King Yi Jong of the Joseon court several thousand catties of ginseng, several thousand animal hides, and a hundred thousand shi of white rice as "protection fees" — not given for nothing, and not as tribute either, but as payment for protecting Joseon's coasts from pirate raids.

What? There are no pirates now?

Heh heh — if Yi Jong refused Shen Tingyang's demands, pirates would most certainly come knocking, and every one of them would be a ferocious genuine pirate.

"Hahaha, well done! That is exactly how it should be! Our Great Ming cannot always play the fool. We must make the Joseon people bleed a little. Without our protection, would they not be robbed clean by pirates? If pirates are needed, I can borrow some from my senior brother — his family has plenty of pirates! Is that not so, Senior Brother?"

Zheng Sen laughed awkwardly. "Junior Brother, Your Highness, my family does not have many pirates — truly not many. I will write to my father as soon as I return and tell him to drive all the pirates away!"

"No, no," Zhu Cilang waved his hand. "We know your family's situation. Without pirates helping in the fighting, could your family's men even make it ashore?"

Every trade is a world apart! The Zheng family were veteran sea bandits — at sea they could run rampant without trouble. But on land they truly could not. Historically, after Zheng Sen took charge, he worked hard to reform and even established the Iron Men Army, which gave them a slight land-combat capability.

But for now it was still the old sea bandit Zheng Zhilong who ran the family, and he had no mind at all for land warfare. He merely hired a few Japanese fighters to charge into battle, and their numbers were not large — only a few hundred.

Zhu Cilang smiled. "We can discuss this matter after your father arrives. When the time comes, we will still need him to help hire more pirates. The Joseon people need pirates!"

Zheng Sen was taken aback. "But the Joseon king already gave ginseng, hides, and white rice."

Zhu Cilang laughed. "With pirates around, he will give even more! And besides, the eastern barbarians are Joseon's suzerain! Should they not send a few thousand Tartars to protect Joseon?"

"Tartars going to protect Joseon? Would they be so kind?"

"They will, they certainly will!" Zhu Cilang said. "The Joseon king will go weeping and begging, and he can always beg for a few. Even if he only gets a thousand Tartars, that is a thousand fewer Tartars for us to face! Senior Brother, do you now see the use of pirates?"

"Junior Brother, Your Highness, you are brilliant!" Zheng Sen raised his thumb in flattery. "Your elder brother understands now. I will certainly tell my father to hire more pirates to help Governor-General Shen."

Just as Zhu Cilang was counting on his fingers and explaining to Zheng Sen the proper use of pirates, the four salt merchants, their faces and heads covered in sweat, were brought in.

They all recognized Shen Tingyang. Seeing him in his python robe and black gauze hat, looking thoroughly pleased with himself, they felt an envy beyond words!

The Shen family of the Sand Ship Gang was truly about to prosper. They must certainly curry favor with him later — if they could still go back and continue being salt merchants!

And that young man who was teaching Shen Tingyang how to do things — was he really the Crown Prince of Great Ming, Commander of the Armies? He did not look very formidable!

"You have seen the Crown Prince — why do you not kowtow?" Huang Xiaobao, seeing the four salt merchants standing there dumbfounded, had no choice but to prompt them.

Only then did the four chief salt merchants wake as if from a dream and hurriedly kneel to kowtow to Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang kept a stern face as he looked at the four salt merchants, then suddenly snorted. "So you are the four great salt lords who conspired with Zhu Guobi and Huang Shu to rebel! Guards—"

"No!"

"We are wronged!"

"We are good salt merchants—"

"We never conspired with Zhu Guobi and Huang Shu—"

The four salt merchants were nearly scared out of their wits. Ji Kun, however, remained composed and loudly reported: "Thousand Years, these four men are the chief salt merchants of the Hui guild. They are not of the same faction as the Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchants."

"Is that so? Then what are they doing here before Us?" Zhu Cilang kept his stern face.

"In reply to Thousand Years, they have come to pay salt tax to Thousand Years."

"Salt tax?" Zhu Cilang snorted. "No need. We are not short of these few coins. You may all go back."

Hearing this, the four salt merchants grew frantic and immediately kowtowed and pleaded.

"Thousand Years, show mercy and let us pay taxes!"

"Thousand Years, this old man knows his error and will never dare evade taxes again—"

"Thousand Years, this old man will certainly pay more taxes from now on!"

"Thousand Years, have pity—"

It was fortunate the Chongzhen Emperor was not here, or he would surely have been stunned.

So the salt merchants of Great Ming loved paying taxes this much! Refuse their taxes and they kowtow and beg! Had he known this, he should never have levied the three surtaxes on the peasants — he could have simply collected taxes from the salt merchants!

"No, no." Zhu Cilang shook his head repeatedly. "The edict has already been issued. How can it be withdrawn?"

He truly would not accept it? What were they to do?

The four chief salt merchants were dumbfounded. They knew that what they now had to pay was not tax, but money to buy their lives! If this money was not handed over, even if Zhu Cilang did not kill them, those corrupt officials who devoured men without spitting out the bones would eat them clean to the last scrap.

"Junior Brother, Your Highness," Zheng Sen spoke up at this point, "the court is in need of funds right now. Since the salt merchants of Yangzhou wish to make a contribution, you might as well accept it."

Shen Tingyang added: "Salt tax has always been the largest part of commercial taxes. In the Song dynasty it reached ten to twenty million strings of cash. In the early years of our dynasty, under the kaizhong system, it could raise several million shi of grain for the nine border garrisons. If the court wishes to recruit troops for a northern expedition and recover lost territory, it will still need the salt tax."

"But the edict has already been issued!" Zhu Cilang still shook his head. "We are a man of our word."

"Junior Brother, Your Highness," Zheng Sen said, "your decree only abolished the salt laws and dissolved the salt administration. It did not say to stop the monopoly."

"Without the salt laws and salt administration, how can the monopoly continue?"

Zheng Sen said: "It can follow the precedent of the eastern, southern, and northern maritime affairs — contracted out to merchants for exclusive operation. The two prefectures of Huai'an and Yangzhou have thirty salt fields in total, which can be contracted to the four chief merchants to operate. The clerks, soldiers, and runners of the salt administration can also be taken over by the four chief salt merchants. From now on the salt trade will remain a monopoly, but without a salt administration yamen and without salt laws. The court need only collect the money and oversee the market price of salt and the quality of the salt."

Zhu Cilang nodded lightly. "That is indeed a good method!"

In truth, this method had been Zhu Cilang's own idea — how could it not be good?

"How much can you give?" Zhu Cilang asked the salt merchants with a grim face.

"F-five, five—" Wang Wanchun spoke while watching Zhu Cilang's expression. Seeing the Crown Prince's brow furrow, he quickly changed his words. "S-six, six hundred thousand taels! As long as the salt monopoly policy remains unchanged, we can present the court with six hundred thousand taels of silver a year!"

(End of Chapter)