This book has 1,000 chapters, 2.61 million words. After counting, it is updated by 5,000 words per day. I sighed that writing a book is difficult, and writing a book that does not make money is even more difficult. But no matter how difficult it is, you must always insist on writing. As I said before, some things must be written by someone. Many book friends sometimes express their opinions, thinking that Bones often describe the history they know, making the atmosphere of the book very depressing, or that bones are pouring water, but in fact, these are what Bones really want to write.

This book is actually not a novel. It just writes history in the form of novels. It is a painful history that has been artificially obscured in history books.

We should not forget the 17th year of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

In those 17 years, some of our ancestors chose to be slaves of the country, and some of our ancestors chose to fight. We had no intention of forcing our ancestors to be all bloody, because in that way, we might not be as we are today. But we will definitely respect those ancestors who dared to fight against foreign races!

We can be conquered, but we must not forget who we are and who they are!

It is not scary to be conquered, but what is scary is that we dare not pick up swords again.

Our ancestors were not always strong, and our land was not always large, but we would not accept their "doll". Our land was fought over by our own swords. Our history was also written by ourselves!

Zhenjiang Ganlu Temple, since Zhou Shi moved here, the monks in the temple had long been driven away, so I don’t know where to place orders. The former Buddhist pure land has now become the military and political center of the Taiping Army. People who come and go every day are not Bai Ding, but leading generals with high power.

Zhou Shixiang's leg injury had already been cured, but he didn't want to go back to the Qi Palace in Nanjing. Princess Changle had already returned to Nanjing before ten years. Before leaving, she hoped that Zhou Shixiang could return to Nanjing as soon as possible. Emperor Dingwu was sick and had been sick since the Tonglu case. He had not been to court for three months. As a niece, Princess Changle could no longer stay in Zhenjiang, and she wanted to go back to take care of her uncle. However, Zhou Shixiang knew that the emperor was not sick. If there was, it was just a heart disease. He had no intention of pointing out the emperor's "illness" to his fiancée, nor did he want to go back to Nanjing to discuss the "sick" emperor now. He just wanted to do everything he wanted to do quietly.

The two important things of salt affairs and debt clearance have been completed. The former is now under the charge of the State Administration of Salt Affairs, located in Yangzhou. Guo Shao is the one who presided over the salt rectification. Under the leadership of Guo Shao, the State Administration of Salt Affairs has set up branches in Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong to clear the chaos of salt administration from top to bottom. However, the establishment of the State Administration of Salt Affairs and local branches is still short, and in the short term, it can only implement salt monopoly in some key cities. Private salt is still rampant in other places, especially in the countryside. In less than three or five years, private salt that has flourished due to the war cannot be completely resolved.

Several large salt farms along the coast, except for the Changlu Salt Farm in the north, were still controlled by the Qing court, and the other places have been controlled by the Taiping Army. The attack on private salt in salt production areas is now the top priority of the State Administration of Salt Affairs and is also an important indicator for evaluating the government administration of the salt-producing areas. The "salt induced" system used in the Ming Dynasty was abolished by Zhou Shixiang and was replaced by the local salt bureaus to sell them exclusively at designated locations. All major salt farms were taken over by the State Administration of Salt Affairs and appointed officials to operate them. This system was called state-owned. For the pricing of salt, Zhou Shixiang also asked the State Administration of Salt Affairs to set the price of salt as cheap as possible, which is half cheaper than the current salt price on the market, ensuring that all people under their rule, regardless of wealth, can eat salt.

After the chaos, a great governance will be the first priority. The major governance will focus on restoring arable land production. This requires a large amount of human resources, farm tools and oxen. In addition, it is necessary to have sufficient salt to ensure that the people eat. If the people cannot eat salt or eat less salt, they will have no strength. Therefore, the first thing to ensure that the people can afford salt and salt is Zhou Shixiang's core explanation to the State Administration of Salt Affairs and Guo Shao.

As a former salt patrolman, Guo Shao is familiar with the inside story of salt affairs. He believes that if the salt industry implements the government's specialty from then on and even the salt sellers are under the jurisdiction of the government, then the salt industry will become a huge interest group in the future, and it is difficult to guarantee whether the State Administration of Salt will be so huge that it is unacceptable in the future. After all, salt is a necessity for people's lives, and no matter how cheap it is, it will be an amazing asset.

According to Guo Shao's past experience, once a yamen has a fixed and amazing source of wealth, it will not take long for this yamen to breed a large number of corrupt officials. Moreover, in this model, the people of the Salt Affairs Bureau will probably become hereditary system in the future, that is, the father will die and the son will succeed, just like the six houses in the governments in various places, but if there are any errands, the people in power will always think about passing it to their own people, rather than willing to give up the virtuous.

Zhou Shixiang also knew Guo Shao’s concerns. With the identity of an official and businessman, the State Administration of Salt Affairs will definitely move towards the other side of his original intention in the future, because human nature is selfish, and no matter what ideology or belief will change.

However, the disadvantage is in the future, not now. Zhou Shixiang urgently needs to clean up the salt affairs, bring a lot of money to the empty Dingwu regime, ensure the operation of the court, ensure the salary of officials at all levels, ensure the development of various water conservancy, farmland, minerals, weapons, transportation and other projects he needs to build, and also ensure that he can restore the Central Plains without worries. These projects on paper and the great cause of the Northern Expedition will be waiting for enough money to be put into the pot before they can be started. Otherwise, simply using corvee labor, as before, will easily arouse dissatisfaction among the people and cause civil unrest; secondly, it will be unfavorable to restore people's livelihood.

Money is not omnipotent, but there is a world of difference between working for free and getting money for the people.

Motivation is the most powerful guarantee for doing anything.

Zhou Shixiang believed that at least he could control the situation when he was alive, and he did not improve it step by step, so he insisted on the salt industry's specialty. As a subordinate, Guo Shao had already mentioned the opinions that should be made. It was not his business for the lord to accept or not. All he had to do was implement the lord's intention. The new official took office for three reasons. Guo Shao had only taken office in Yangzhou for one month. More than 600 private salt dealers were arrested in several salt fields in Huai'an Prefecture, and more than 300 were taken in Yancheng County alone. The decisive and decisive behavior and the heads hanging on the city gate shocked the desperate people, and the salt industry began to transform to what Zhou Shixiang expected. The initial investment was also slowly rewarded.

It cannot be said that there is no result in the clearance of debt, but Zhou Shixiang is not satisfied. As of June, the four prefectures of Susongchang Town have removed 6,820 officials and gentry, and have arrested more than 2,000 rioters who gathered people to advocate chaos and resist taxes. The "achievements" paid by the local debt clearance department show that they have received more than 14 million taels of tax owed silver, and used grain to deduct more than 4 million stones of tax.
Chapter completed!