Chapter 48:
When Li Chengqian arrived at the Dew Hall, he discovered that Fang Xuanling, Zhangsun Wuji, and the others were all present. Even the Minister of Rites, Wang Gui, was present.
Wang Gui was not only the Minister of Rites and the master of the King of Wei, but he also had another identity, which was the Salt Transport Envoy!
During the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the salt law was based on the system of guiding the shore.
When salt merchants transported and sold salt, they had to pay the salt tax from the Yamen to receive the salt guide, which was the proof of salt transportation and sales. Only then could they go to the designated salt-producing area to buy salt from the stove households and sell it to the designated salt-selling area.
However, to receive salt lead, one must have a certificate nest, also known as the nest root, which proved that they had the privilege of transporting and selling salt. In order to obtain this privilege, the salt merchants had to acknowledge their territory to the imperial court! A huge amount of silver!
Therefore, although the position of a salt transporter looked very unremarkable, the things involved were extremely complicated!
Wang Gui becoming a salt envoy was closely related to the Wang family of Langya.
Langya County, where the Langya Wang Clan was located, was an important salt producing town of the Great Tang. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Wang family had begun to sell salt.
From then on, be it the Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they were the biggest salt merchants.
With this level of relationship, Wang Gui naturally became a salt commissioner!
With the collusion between the government and the merchants, 70% to 80% of the salt profits would probably go into the pockets of the Langya Wang family!
How could Li Shiming not know about this? However, for the sake of the aristocratic families, Li Shiming could only turn a blind eye!
But now!
The court was already in a mess!
" Minister Wang," Li Jing looked at Wang Gui and scolded angrily," the price of salt has risen overnight, not only in Chang 'an but in almost all areas of Guanlong. The soldiers already had difficulty eating salt, and now they couldn't even eat salt.”
"That's right." Cheng Yaojin also snorted. Your Majesty, you have to give us justice. He, Wang Gui, was in charge of the salt transportation yamen, but he had allowed those salt merchants to run amok like this!”
"Duke Lu, Duke Yi, you can't speak carelessly.”Wang Gui hurriedly stepped forward to explain.
"Wang Gui, please explain." Li Shi Min's face had long lost its good temper.
Although the price of salt provided by the royal family did not increase. But how could Li Shiming not know about the chaos outside?
Moreover, the King of Wei, Li Tai, was also involved.
This made Li Shiming even angrier!
"Your Majesty." Wang Gui hurriedly said," Recently, there has been a sudden rainstorm in the coastal areas. Countless salt-producing areas have been washed away by the rainstorm, and the salt production has dropped to one-third of its original level. Under such circumstances, as a salt transport envoy, I can only ask the salt merchants to raise the price.”
Wang Gui spoke of his difficulties.
But how could the ministers believe him?
The first to refute was Prime Minister Fang Xuanling." No matter how much the production has decreased, it shouldn't have directly increased the price by five times. If you do this, how can you let the commoners eat salt!”
Gao Shilian slowly took out a bag of salt from his sleeve and handed it to Li Shimin.
"Your Majesty, please take a look. This was the coarse salt sold by the salt merchants. Most of it was filled with impurities and could not be eaten at all. However, such low-quality salt was actually sold for a sky-high price of one to two hundred yuan!”
Li Shiming took the salt and looked at it carefully. He found that it was mixed with fine sand and other impurities!
"Ha! Wang Gui, are these salt merchants selling salt or sand? Are they fooling around like this?" Li Shi Min shouted angrily!
Wang Gui was so frightened that his expression changed drastically!
His nephew, Wang Xin, had come to the capital to raise the price of salt. He had already made an agreement with the King of Wei, but he did not expect that after raising the price, the people would be so agitated. Wang Gui did not know how to deal with this!
"Your Majesty! I'm sentenced to death, but the salt merchants are innocent. The profit of the salt merchants is only two to three hundred percent. It was really because the production this year was too low, the distance was far, and the transportation was extremely expensive, which led to the current situation!”
Wang Gui fell to his knees with a thud!
Li Shi Min flicked his sleeves and stood up!
Li Chengqian, who had just walked in, still opened his mouth.
"Wang Gui, you are indeed guilty! Moreover, it was a serious crime of beheading! Yanzhou, Bingzhou, Hezhou, the three places that sold illegal salt were uprooted by your Langya Wang family. Now that you have a complete monopoly in the Great Tang, you maliciously raise the price of salt to reap huge profits! What was the difference between this and hoarding goods? According to the laws of our Great Tang, how should we deal with hoarding goods?”
Li Chengqian had just spoken when he directly pointed out the main point.
This left Wang Gui speechless!
"According to the laws of the Great Tang," Gao Shilian said,"your house will be confiscated and exiled for three thousand miles!"”
Wang Gui's heart thumped!
However, he knew that he was from the Langya Wang family. The emperor would not directly execute him. If he didn't look at the monk's face, he had to look at the Buddha's face.
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is trying to punish me! I am a subject of the Great Tang, and I will never collude with the salt merchants. Raising the price was really helpless. How was it hoarding goods?
I hope Your Majesty will help me! I will never accept a crime that you want to add!”
As he spoke, Wang Gui kowtowed!
From the looks of it, it looked like he was going to kowtow to death in the imperial court!
Li Shi Min had no choice but to say,
"Alright, stand up first! I know that your Langya Wang family is loyal to me. I will investigate this matter and return justice to you!”
Wang Gui was originally from the Wang family of Langya.
And the salt merchants were all from the Langya Wang family.
There was no need to collude at all!
However, Li Shiming knew that it was not the right time to eliminate the Langya Wang Clan.
Although the Wang family had maliciously raised the price, it could still stabilize the salt industry in the empire!
If the Wang Clan was really eradicated, then in less than half a month, the Great Tang's salt industry would collapse!
At that time, the commoners would have nothing to eat.
Even the army might not have any salt to eat!
Without salt to eat, there was no strength! How could they fight then?
"Sigh!"
Li Shi Min sighed softly and sat back on the throne. He felt helpless!
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