On November 20, 2014, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China confirmed that China would cancel the salt monopoly, ending the salt monopoly system for more than 2,000 years.
Historically, why monopolize the salt industry? Liang Xiaomin thinks that the goal of a centralized country is to make it strong, and if the country wants to be strong, it is necessary to increase income. In the traditional era, the two most important aspects of the national treasury were the land tax on people and the salt tax. The salt tax accounts for half of the country's revenue, sometimes slightly higher. This is the most fundamental reason why the state exercises direct control over the operation of the salt industry. In the history of China's salt administration, the salt government outline law, the relationship between officials and businessmen, the sale of private salt, and the salt merchants of the two Huai are all key contents.
Recently, the TV series "Salt Merchants of the Qing Dynasty" with the background of Qianlong's 33rd year of "Two Huai Salt Cases" is being screened, and The Paper interviewed economist Liang Xiaomin and asked him to popularize science for readers about the rise and fall of salt merchants in Chinese history.
The garden was built by Huang Zhiyun, the head of the two Huai salt merchants, in the 23rd year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1818 AD).
The Paper: How did the official salt business appear in history and what changes did it undertake?
Liang Xiaomin: The salt and iron government has a very long history in China, and it was not until last year that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the abolition of the salt monopoly, which was considered to be the end of the monopoly of the salt industry.
The monopoly of the salt industry can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period of the Qi State of Guan Zhong, in order to make the Qi State strong, Guan Zhong set up a "state-owned enterprise", one is the monopoly of salt, control the salt industry; The other is a government-run brothel. After the Spring and Autumn Period to the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the monopoly system of the salt industry was not strict, and it was basically in a state of freedom. Until the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Sang Hongyang advocated the monopoly of salt and iron, and since then, the salt monopoly system has basically stabilized in Chinese history.
Generally speaking, there are two types of salt monopoly systems: one is the direct monopoly system, that is, the state completely monopolizes the whole process from the production to the sale of salt; The second is the indirect monopoly system, that is, the state monopolizes the production of salt, and allows merchants to participate in the sale of salt. Historically, the salt administration has undergone many changes and adjustments.
First of all, I want to talk about Liu Yan's salt political reform in the Tang Dynasty.
The Tang Dynasty had more than one change in salt administration. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the salt tax was not levied, and the salt tax was only levied in the Kaiyuan period. After the Anshi Rebellion, in order to alleviate the difficulties of the imperial court's finances, in the first year of Su Zongqian's first year (758 AD), the Fifth Qi served as the salt and iron envoy, reformed the salt administration, and implemented the salt monopoly system of the civil system, official revenue, official transportation, and official sales, and made huge profits by comprehensively controlling the production and operation of salt, however, the ** regime is still weakening day by day.
In the second year of Baoying (762 AD), the Tang Dynasty appointed Liu Yan as the salt and iron transport envoy of Duzhi and presided over the reform of the salt law. Liu Yan's reform was to prepare for military salaries, to strengthen the power of the whole country, and to accumulate economic power in order to cut down the power of the feudal towns. Liu Yan adopted the new salt law of the civil system, official revenue, commercial transportation, and commercial sales, and implemented the policy of "sharing profits between officials and businessmen". That is to say, the production of salt is handed over to the common people, and the retail is sold to merchants, and the state controls the wholesale link, which is the official salt business, also known as "semi-monopoly".
This way of salt monopoly was basically inherited in the later Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, that is, to organize the common people to carry out salt production, and to give the salt produced to the merchants, and the merchants to sell, but there were also changes in the process.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Kaizhong method was implemented, that is, the merchants transported the grain and grass to the northern frontier, and then the units that received the grain and grass issued them salt quotations (that is, salt certificates), and the merchants led the salt to the salt field to receive salt, and then sold it in the designated area. That is to say, the way of officials and businessmen is to exchange grain and grass for salt, not for currency. This is to imitate the Song and Yuan dynasties' "salt method in millet".
Shanxi salt merchants exchanged grain for salt.
During the Hongzhi period, Ye Qi, the head of the household department, reformed the salt law, changed the nanometer to pay silver, and allowed salt merchants to go directly to Lianghuai to exchange cash silver for industrial salt patents. Later, Yuan Shizhen in the Wanli period presided over the reform of the salt law, which is the gang salt system, also known as the "gang law", in fact, this is a kind of merchant monopoly system. ** Holding a directory, that is, the compendium, also called "woben", where the name of the salt merchant recorded in the compendium can monopolize the salt profit for generations, and the nameless person is not allowed to join as a salt merchant.
So, who is eligible to enter the compendium and operate the salt business? ** Say what. Merchants obtain the qualifications to be recorded and exchanged for salt to sell salt, which is called "occupying the nest". Then, the businessmen who are close to the ** become the profiteers of the salt industry. As a result, ** monopolized the power of the salt industry by restricting competition and ensuring that salt merchants monopolized patents.
Gang salt license during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.
This system continued until the middle of the Qing Dynasty, until the Daoguang period of the Liangjiang Governor and Lianghuai Salt Governor Tao Shu carried out salt administration reform in the Lianghuai region, from the Gang Salt System to the ticket salt system, the Gangben was cancelled, and the merchants did not need to occupy the nest, no matter who took the money can be exchanged for salt and led to the salt industry.
This method was not the first of Tao Shu's initiative, and Zhejiang and Shandong in the Ming Dynasty implemented the ticket law. The ticket salt system dealt a great blow to the salt merchants of the two Huai.
The Paper: Qing Dynasty two Huai salt merchants, especially Yangzhou salt merchants famous, introduce the situation of Yangzhou salt merchants.
Liang XiaominThe Lianghuai region, bordered by the Yellow Sea in the east and the canal in the west, has many salt farms in the coastal zone, with low cost and high output. Therefore, a long time ago, Lianghuai was an important salt-producing area. Yangzhou also has the convenience of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
The salt merchants in Yangzhou mainly include Jin merchants, Shaanxi merchants, and Hui merchants. Why is it concentrated in Yangzhou? This is mainly related to the reform of the Ye Qi salt law in the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the law of opening up to China was implemented, so after the merchants who were engaged in business and developing grain production on the border were changed to paying silver, all kinds of salt merchants in the northwest region came to the Huaiyang area to take root and do business. This includes Shanxi and Shaanxi merchants. Yan Ruoxuan of the Qianjia School was born in a family of feudal bureaucrats and salt merchants, and his ancestors were merchants who immigrated to Yangzhou from Shanxi.
In addition, about half of the salt merchants in Yangzhou are Huizhou merchants, and the Huizhou merchants have geographical advantages, and they are more familiar with the two Huaihang salt areas; Moreover, Hui merchants have a good relationship with ** and have political advantages.
Hui merchants attached great importance to education and imperial examinations, and their families cultivated more. For example, Cao Wenyun and Cao Zhenyong, father and son, were both ministers of military aircraft in the Qing Dynasty, and experienced the Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Daoguang dynasties, and their families were engaged in the salt industry. In addition to the family members among the scholars, the Hui merchants did not hesitate to donate generously to the imperial court, and served the court, and were "loyal" to the salt government yamen and salt officials. Emperor Kangxi made six southern tours and Emperor Qianlong made seven southern tours, all of which came from Hui merchants. Therefore, they can enter the Gangben, occupy the nest, and monopolize the salt industry. These Hui merchants bought a large amount of salt, not only selling salt themselves, but also reselling it.
The Paper: What impact did the relationship between government and business have on the rise and fall of salt merchants?
Liang Xiaomin: During the implementation of the program, salt merchants mainly relied on ** to obtain the license to operate the salt industry, so the relationship between salt merchants and ** was very close, whether it was Jin merchants or Hui merchants.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were two big salt merchants, in Yongji, Yuncheng, Shanxi, which was called Puzhou in the past, Wang Chonggu of the Wang family was a jinshi, an official worshipping the military department, and the governor was in the border areas of the mountains and Shaanxi, and Zhang Siwei of the Zhang family was a member of Zhang Juzheng's cabinet, and after Zhang Juzheng's death, he also briefly served as the first assistant of the cabinet. Wang Chonggu's younger brother is in the salt industry, and Zhang Siwei's elder brother is also a salt merchant, and the two of them monopolize the salt works in Hedong, and the two families are also related, Wang Chonggu is Zhang Siwei's uncle. The Wang and Zhang families and the Ming Dynasty's military department Shangshu, and many of the cabinets have money relations, forming official and business groups, and the imperial history in charge of salt administration can't help them at all.
Zhang Siwei, the prime minister of the Jin Shang family, succeeded Zhang Juzheng as the first assistant after his death.
After the Qing Dynasty, the relationship between Hui merchants and ** was extremely close. Kangxi and Qianlong's southern tour were entertained by Huizhou salt merchants. The gardens built by the Hui merchants, the singers and prostitutes cultivated, as well as the Hui cuisine, the Hui class, as well as the antiques and cultural relics, are all needed to bribe the royal family and the first place. The life of Hui merchants in Yangzhou was very luxurious, which is reflected in the "Yangzhou Painting Boat Record". However, Mr. He Bingdi said that the corruption of the life of the Hui merchants was their own need and their need to make friends with the officialdom.
The relationship between government and business provides guarantee and convenience for salt merchants to monopolize their operations and make huge profits. The two Huai salt merchants have a general merchant, a chief merchant, and it is the general merchant who deals with **, and they bribe ** with the money gathered by the salt merchants, and get the benefits, and everyone will divide it.
In the 33rd year of Qianlong (1768), there was a case of two Huai salt introductions that caused shock to the government and the opposition, which was an economic case of salt merchants colluding with the salt affairs yamen. In fact, this is a case of advance introduction, and the successor salt administration and salt transportation envoy colluded with the two Huai salt merchants to erode the surplus interest and silver taels of the advance proposal, amounting to more than 10 million taels.
The relationship chart of the characters in the TV series "Salt Merchants of the Qing Dynasty" shows the struggle of interests between officials and businessmen.
What's going on in this case? That is, the salt merchant wanted to advance the salt and needed to pay interest to the imperial court, so the salt merchant bribed the salt government ** and asked for a delay in the payment of interest. The salt merchants continued to pay bribes, and the interest that should be paid was always delayed. After three salt administrations, 20 years before and after, a total of more than 10 million taels of silver.
This also involves the issue of salt merchants' donations and returns. Whenever the country was in charge of military supplies, disaster relief, and river work, salt merchants would provide hundreds of thousands, or even millions of silver taels to the imperial court in the name of "donation" and "service". The economic burden on the national finances of salt merchants is also increasing.
The Paper: Do you think this is the main reason for the decline of salt merchants, as the relationship between government and business has given protection to salt merchants on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has also caused economic burdens on salt merchants?
Liang Xiaomin: The burden on salt merchants is indeed getting heavier. During the Qianlong period, the miscellaneous tax that needed to be paid for each salt introduction was 12 taels, which later became 14 taels, and the state needed more and more money, and the burden on the salt merchants was heavy. This part is passed on to consumers, that is, the price of salt is high, and there are statistics that the expenditure of shipwrights to buy salt accounts for 20 to 40 percent of their income in those years, which shows the high price of salt. In such a situation, illegal salt is rampant, and the salt merchants' business is becoming more and more difficult.
The Paper: Are the reform of the salt law and the comparison of silver and money also factors affecting the decline of salt merchants?
Liang Xiaomin: The Qing Dynasty changed from the outline law to the ticket law, which was a very big blow to the Hui merchants. Although after the implementation of the ticket law, anyone can buy and sell salt, but there is still control, salt is limited, and there are many miscellaneous endowments. **Heavy taxation is the main reason.
The high value of silver caused by the comparison of silver and money was an important factor affecting China's economy after opium. The common people of the Qing Dynasty used copper coins for daily transactions, and paid taxes with silver to **. After Daoguang, there was a shortage of silver, silver became more and more expensive, and copper coins became less and less valuable. In this way, the burden of salt merchants to pay taxes to ** is heavy, and when it is passed on to the price of salt, the price of salt will be high.
Huang Chao, the leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, was a big salt lord.
The Paper: This brings us to the issue of illicit salt trafficking.
Liang Xiaomin: The problem of illegal salt has always existed in Chinese history, and it is a very serious problem in Chinese history, and it is a very serious problem in the history of Chinese salt politics. After the implementation of the monopoly of the salt industry, there were many illegal salt dealers. A Japanese scholar who studies China's salt industry once said that the history of China's salt industry is a history of struggle with smuggler salt. In the case of the monopoly of salt and iron, the salt industry is a very profitable industry, so although strict measures have been introduced to prohibit the sale of illicit salt, it has never been realized. Historically, official salt and smugglers have basically split evenly, and sometimes even more private salt sellers.
Historically, there are generally three types of private salt: one is commercial and private, and the other is salt merchants who do not "occupy the nest" to buy and sell salt; There is also a kind of Cao Yun, the Cao Yun ship is to transport grain and grass, and when the empty ship comes back, it will carry private salt. The second is the government and private affairs, and the salt merchants who are registered in the Woben also do private salt trading. For example, ** gives him 100 leads of salt, but he bribes the salt farm, and he will get salt beyond the quota. In addition, there is also a kind of illegal salt trading, such as the army solves financial problems by smuggling salt. The third is smuggling, that is, the use of arms to sell illegal salt. Huang Chao, Zhang Shicheng, is the salt lord.