After the contracting system was proposed, it aroused the interest of many princes, nobles and high officials in the court.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs engages in contracting and outsources farms, pastures, mines, furs, ginseng, jade and other businesses. This is an excellent opportunity for them to make money.
Not to mention anything else, just from the fur and ginseng business outside the customs, it is easy to make a million taels a year. After all, these are all popular goods in the customs, so there is no need to worry about selling them.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs, because of its self-stealing and personal enrichment, claimed that the annual profit of one million taels was only a few hundred thousand taels. It was really dark-hearted.
If they take over this business, they will make a lot of money, more money than working as an errand in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. So there is a lot of interest in contracting.
Many princes, nobles, high officials in the court, and wealthy businessmen are inquiring about what kind of contracting method this contracting system is. It would be great if it was the same as salt.
The salt production during the Qing Dynasty was "civilian system, commercial collection, commercial transportation and commercial sales." It was also called "commercial monopoly system". There are eight major salt merchants in the Lianghuai area, who are responsible for collecting and selling salt.
Because they have a monopoly on the sale of salt, each of them is extremely rich, and is as rich as the country. Even Emperor Qianlong lamented, "The salt merchants have great financial resources!"
If the Ministry of Internal Affairs contracts it, just like salt production, it will really make a fortune, so everyone is very interested.
…
In the first month of the second year of Qianlong's reign, Lang Hua successfully gave birth to a son.
Xiang Nan named him Yonglian. Lian is a ritual vessel used to hold millet in the ancestral temple. Like Huang and Zhang, it is a ritual vessel used for sacrifices. It also symbolizes the throne and the throne. After all, "the great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military affairs."
Because of the birth of his son, Xiang Nan pardoned some officials who were punished for the "Corruption Case of the Ministry of Internal Affairs".
Of course, the birth of Takako is just an excuse for Xiang Nan.
The reason why he pardoned these officials was mainly because there were too many officials involved in this "Corruption Case of the Ministry of Internal Affairs". There were more than 2,000 officials, accounting for more than 80% of the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
If all these people are dealt with, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will become an empty yamen. By then, there will be no one to manage the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and his losses will be even greater, so he has to leave a group of officials.
It also means that as long as they work hard in the future and change things for the better, the past things can be forgotten. This naturally excited the prisoners.
At first, they thought they had no hope in this life, but they didn't expect to be able to come back to life. How could they not be overjoyed, and then they were trembling, walking on thin ice, for fear of making mistakes again.
All in all, after this beating, they will definitely become more honest in a short period of time.
And Xiang Nan will continue to beat them in the future, so that they dare not be greedy, cannot be greedy, and do not want to be greedy.
…
In the same month, Tiangongfang launched ready-made perfumes, soaps and other products.
Perfume manufacturing has a long history. Ancient Egyptian pharaohs already used perfume to bathe. After that, the manufacturing process of perfume was gradually improved, and essential oil distillation methods, alcohol extraction methods, etc. were successively invented, which gradually reduced the manufacturing cost of perfume and gradually improved the product quality. Gradually, luxury goods that only nobles could afford became daily necessities that ordinary people could also afford.
Ancient Chinese princes and nobles also liked to use spices, such as ambergris, sandalwood, borneol, agarwood, musk, clove, etc., which were used in large quantities for seasoning, medicine, makeup, fumigation, worshiping gods, making candles, and repelling insects. epidemic and so on.
So during the Five Dynasties, when merchants from Dashi introduced rose perfume to the Middle Earth, it was very popular and was called "rose scented dew". It was a quite high-end luxury product. Rose dew is also recorded in "A Dream of Red Mansions", and it was a tribute to the emperor, which shows how rare it is.
Therefore, after the launch of Tiangongfang's perfume, it usually caused a rush of looting in the city.
…
In March of the second year of Qianlong's reign, the contracting system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs finally came into being.
Official fields, pastures, and mines under the Ministry of Internal Affairs are contracted by counties. Furs, ginseng, jade, etc. outside the customs are made following the example of salt and purchased and sold by the general merchant.
The contracting rights are determined in the form of a hidden bid auction, and the one with the highest price wins. The winning bidder will be announced on the list, and if there is no objection within three months, the contract can be signed and the contract payment paid.
The contracting right changes every three years. During the contracting period, all business activities are autonomous, but no malicious damage is allowed.
For example, destructive mining in mines, destructive grazing in pastures, destructive planting in government fields, etc. Supervision by local officials to avoid excesses.
After the introduction of the contract system, many princes, nobles, high officials in the court, and wealthy businessmen expressed their interest. Contract for three years and operate independently. As long as it is developed well, there is no possibility of losing money.
Especially the four items of mining, fur, ginseng, and jade, which are almost monopoly businesses that can make a profit without losing money. Naturally, everyone is interested in these businesses.
Subsequently, various provinces began to invite bids for government land, pastures, and mines, and Xiang Nan also sent censors to oversee the bidding process. Prevent bidding rigging, bid leakage, fraud for personal gain, and private giving and receiving.
By May, provinces had completed bidding. The Ministry of Internal Affairs received six million taels of silver from just three items: official land, pastures, and mines.
After all, the winning bidders have to pay as much money as possible in order to win the bid. In particular, the minerals under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can produce gold, silver, and copper, and one of them is worth more than one million.
Three years of continuous mining and continuous mining can always get the capital back, so they bid very actively. One mine can produce hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
As for the three items of fur, ginseng, and jade, the Shengjing General’s Office and the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor’s Office conducted bidding.
Because fur and ginseng were imported from outside the customs, the Shengjing General Mansion happened to manage them; while jade was imported from the Western Regions, and it happened to be managed by the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.
Eight general merchants were recruited for each of these three items, and the fur, ginseng, and jade exported to the mainland in the future would be monopolized by them. Because these are cool items and very popular in the mainland, there is no need to worry about selling them.
So the princes, nobles, court officials, and wealthy businessmen who participated in the bidding all risked their lives in order to obtain the management rights, and all bid at high prices. In the end, these three items also sold for 4.5 million taels of standard silver.
As a result, the Ministry of Internal Affairs received 10.5 million taels of silver for just three years of contracting rights for official fields, pastures, mines, jade, ginseng, furs, etc., with an average annual income of 3.5 million. two.
In comparison, the total income from these six items before this was basically only 600,000 taels, a huge difference of five times.
Seeing this result, Xiang Nan wished he could kill the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs again. Just because of these rats, the royal family's annual losses are probably as high as tens of millions of taels of silver.
In order to save money, the concubines in the palace no longer wear high-quality fabrics that are fully embroidered. The number of charcoal fires in winter has been cut in half, and even the slaves and eunuchs who take care of the elder brother and the princess have been cut in half.
These big rats are harming the public and enriching themselves and lining their own pockets. It is really abominable!
The money I saved so diligently only enriched the pockets of those slaves, how can I not make people angry!