The scope of private salt in the Qing Dynasty was very extensive, and there were many types and large scales, and the harm was increasing day by day. Private salt mainly includes several points, one is private salt that evades harsh taxes and inspections, and the other is private salt that exceeds the boundaries. In both cases, the Qing government adopted the armor protection system and the fire ambush system to intercept at the source of private salt. At the same time, it is prevented and hunted down during distribution and sales.
The Qing government promulgated many legal orders on private salt, strengthened the system of arresting private salt, and clearly distinguished rewards and punishments to promote the enforcement of the government. The Qing government also stepped up patrols at the salt ports to make them airtight. We took the lead from point to point to see clearly from Jiangxi the government's prevention and crackdown on illegal salt at that time.
I. Measures taken by the imperial court against smuggling salt before the Qing Dynasty
Private salt is not only a major feature of the Qing Dynasty, private salt has existed before the Qing Dynasty, and in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, due to the implementation of the demarcation of the salt system, private salt is more rampant, but the rulers of the imperial court have never stopped the prohibition and punishment of private salt. The Tang Dynasty enacted many prohibitions and established anti-smuggling agencies specifically to arrest smugglers of salt.
Later, Liu Yan changed the salt law and set up thirteen inspection courts in Huaibei to arrest smuggled salt dealers, so the patrolling soldiers were all over the prefectures and counties, and the more the illegal salt was, the more severe the state's punishment was, but the results were minimal, and the private salt was still flooded. In the middle of the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, the state imposed a capital offense of smuggling more than one stone, and during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, the death penalty was changed to exile, but soon after, due to the emperor's request, the ruler changed the guilt to a capital offense, and it was more severe than in the Zhenyuan period.
The Five Dynasties period was even more cruel than the Tang Dynasty, and the Later Han Dynasty stipulated that no matter how much the weight of private salt was, it was punishable by capital punishment, which was understood to be the most severe and harsh period in the history of private salt management. The Song Dynasty continued the Tang Dynasty's salt system, and from the beginning it was very concerned about the management of private salt, and the Song Dynasty was more tolerant and benevolent than the previous dynasty, and only took exile measures for private salt.
During the Yuan Dynasty, the state strengthened the supervision and management of salt industry traffic, and promulgated relevant prohibitions, such as Yanqing for six years, the state stipulated that salt dealers would be sentenced to two years in prison, half of their property confiscated, and sent to work in the big salt field after 70 years of cane responsibility. Those who buy and eat salt are also punished, and the first cane is punished with sixty, and the re-offender is given a heavier punishment. Officials and non-commissioned officers were responsible for selling salt rods for forty years and removed from their names. Conniving and helping salt dealers is the same as salt dealers. The imperial court also made clear rewards and punishments, and effectively managed the officials who managed the salt.
It can be seen that at that time, smuggling, indulging in smuggling, and buying private goods were all punished, and the government checked at all levels, and the strict management was staggering. The Ming Dynasty adopted the management experience of the previous dynasty and formulated laws, which formulated severe punishment items for the people to sell smuggled salt, merchants and soldiers for selling smuggled salt, stipulating that as long as they sold smuggled salt, they would be punished with 100 rods and sentenced to three years in prison, which shows the severity of the law.
2. Formulate an anti-smuggling system according to different groups
1. Stove-ding private salt system
The Qing Dynasty followed the system of the previous dynasty, stipulating that those who sold illegal salt should be punished with a staff of one hundred and sentenced to three years in prison, if there is a weapon, the crime of framing others is added to the third degree, the beheading of those who resist arrest, and the confiscation of cars and boats loaded with illegal salt. But even if the law is harsh, it still can't stop the flood of salt, especially salt, for salt, the government has also formulated a series of systems, such as the promulgation of salt related to the salt of the stove, ship and business.
For the private salt of the stove, the government formulated the "Law of Obtaining The Source of Private Property" and "The Law of Private Salt of the Stove Ding", and for the private salt of the soldiers, the government formulated the "Law of PatrolLing Salt Soldiers and Selling Private Salt", which stipulates that if you break the law, you will be punished by forty to seventy, and you will be halved, and the negligence will be recorded after reinstatement. If you condone smuggling, you will be punished with the same crime.
In the third year of Yongzheng, this system was slightly changed, and there was no provision for halving the number of soldiers, which shows that the punishment for soldiers selling salt has been reduced. Historically, the imperial court was more tolerant of officials and soldiers serving themselves, so the guilt was mitigated, on the one hand, it could make them go to the extremes of the salt lords, and on the other hand, it could ensure that they continued to serve the court.
2. Regulations related to ship privacy
In response to the smuggling of ships, the Qing government promulgated the "Law of Entrained Salt", which stipulates that those who resist arrest, injure people, and kill people are immediately executed. The hair distribution frontier that did not hurt or kill people was charged with troops. The helmsman and others, although they did not carry private salt, but those who broke through the pass, two months later, were issued with border passes to charge the army. The crew members who accompanied him were shackled for one month, punished with a hundred rods, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. It can be seen that the crackdown on ship smuggling is far more severe than that of soldiers.
In view of the salt merchants' private salt, the Qing government also formulated relevant laws, stipulating that merchants operating official salt cannot be separated by salt introduction, otherwise they will be punished as private salt, and those who do not pay the withdrawal within ten years will be punished for forty. If the old citation is not paid, it will be punished as smuggling salt. Smuggling originates from ship smuggling, stove smuggling, salt merchants and soldiers, so the above indirect crackdown on smuggling, especially the prevention and measures against bootleg smuggling have curbed smuggling from the source.
3. Direct regulation of smuggling
According to the "History of China's Salt Industry", the Qing government formulated the "Law of Armed Smuggling" and the "Law of Powerful Smuggling", stipulating that once the smugglers were arrested, they would be kidnapped or even beheaded. For example, the "Law of Powerful And Powerful Smuggling" stipulates that those who have more than ten people in the Haoqiang Salt Smuggling Group, who drive large ships, have flags, and have weapons, and who injure and kill more than three people, must be beheaded, and the leader will be beheaded and paraded to the public.
Although they tried their best to resist arrest, but did not hurt anyone, the leaders were beheaded, and the rest were sent to the frontier to charge the army. If the group has less than ten people, there is no weapon, but it resists arrest and injures more than two people, and the leader is beheaded. If it is a poor and miserable soldier and civilian, carrying salt on their shoulders and exchanging rice for a hard time, there is no need to ban and arrest.
It can be seen from the regulations that the Qing Dynasty was not only a group of several people privately salting, but even a group of more than ten people, which shows the seriousness of private salt at that time. Moreover, the government has not imposed a particularly severe punishment on the poor people who carry private salt on their shoulders, and has cracked down on the gathering of private salt with great intensity and severity.
Third, set up checkpoints and strengthen management
In addition to formulating systems to block and crack down on illegal salt, the Qing government also strengthened its vigilance, set up checkpoints, and strengthened its crackdown in many aspects, such as transportation and sales.
Taking Jiangxi as an example, according to the Yanzheng Dictionary, during the Qing Dynasty, Jiangxi had seventeen anti-smuggling checkpoints, such as the Taihe South Gate Anti-Smuggling Card, the Liangkou Anti-Smuggling Card, the Luling Shengangshan Anti-Smuggling Card, the Leping Tubakou Anti-Smuggling Card, the Anrenshigang Anti-Smuggling Card, the Wan'an Nanmen Anti-Smuggling Card, the Fuliang Jingde Anti-Smuggling Card, and so on. Seventeen anti-smuggling cards in a province, how many should there be in a country, and the flood of illegal salt can be seen.
In addition to being set up at the junction of the province to crack down on Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian, these anti-smuggling cards were all set up within Jiangxi Province to crack down on the intrusion of Guangdong and Zhejiang into Ji'an Province, and these anti-smuggling cards made the surrounding areas of Ji'an Province unable to leak out.
It is recorded in the "Two Huai Salt Laws" that in the seventh year of Qianlong, Shuidongka in Luling County, Jiangxi Province, inspected the land and private entry and exit of Guangdong. The junction of the Shaanxi River and the Tongjiang River in Jishui County, Jiangxi Province, is the entry gate of Zhejiang private and provincial private, and it is necessary to set up water cards, each set up eight inspectors, two patrol boats, used to block. The above shows the seriousness of private salt in Jiangxi at that time, and also shows that the Qing government took pains to crack down on illegal salt.
According to relevant statistics, during the Daoguang period, Wan'an County and Taihe County in Jiangxi Province set up four and six checkpoints respectively, Ganzhou Prefecture set up three, Ningdu Prefecture set up one, Jianchang Prefecture set up thirteen, of which Xincheng County and Nanfeng County each set up three, Guangchang County five, Nancheng County two, indicating that Jiangxi Province had twenty-seven during the Daoguang year.
It can be seen that the Qing government's measures did not curb the development of private salt, but more serious than before, so the Qing government strengthened the management of private salt, set up more checkpoints, and even Jiangxi's yi salt has become a crackdown on private salt, in addition, the Supervision and Marketing Bureau in Nanchang, Jiangxi also has the role of cracking down on private salt.
Fourth, the problems in the management of private salt
The official salt monopoly system has caused continuous problems in the salt industry, and the reason for the rampant private salt lies in the high price and inferior quality of official salt on the one hand, and the high quality and low price of private salt on the other hand. However, it is mainly the defects of the salt industry system and the official system that have led to the rise and fall of official corruption and collusion between officials and businessmen, and have been repeatedly prohibited. In addition, subjectively, the complex structure of anti-smuggling officials, the lack of official ability, and objectively, backward equipment and lack of incentive mechanisms are all the reasons for the proliferation of smuggling salt.
Chai rice oil salt sauce vinegar tea as people's daily necessities, lucrative, but the Qing Dynasty almost monopolized the salt industry, making the salt industry a major source of replenishment of the national treasury. However, people who see that official salt is so profitable and avoid harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and some lawbreakers will naturally operate private salt. Due to the defects of the salt industry system in the country, the officials are meager, resulting in repeated prohibitions on official corruption, coupled with the serious collusion between officials and businessmen, making private salt a blatant and secret existence.
According to historical records, if the officials who arrest smuggling salt run away without a trace when they encounter smuggling, they are afraid that the government will ask too much and will not be able to pull out the grass and remove the roots, so they will indiscriminately call the smugglers on the streets who carry smuggled salt on their shoulders and violate the orders lightly, and arrest the government for questioning, so as to avoid being condemned. The real tyrants, on the other hand, go unpunished, and no one can help.
It can be seen from this that anti-smuggling officials are not only helpless against real smuggling, but also ask for credit to involve innocent people. This will not only fail to fundamentally solve the problem of private salt, but will cause public resentment. It can be seen that it is the corruption of officials and the inability of the imperial court to manage the salt that has led to the flooding of private salt.
epilogue
On the one hand, the flood of private salt reflects the generous profits of official salt and the hardships of people's lives, on the other hand, it also reflects the backwardness and flashiness of the relevant systems of the Qing government, and also reflects the incompetence of the Qing government. The existence of private salt has its historical significance, it is the way for the people to make a living, just think, unless it is a last resort, who will be willing to take risks to operate private salt?
In feudal society, the huge gap between the rich and the poor made people miserable, in order to make life tasteful, in order to survive, so that people would drill Confucius. Just think, if the Qing government knew the reason for the existence of private salt and solved people's problems from the source, then it did not dare to say that it was all resisted, at least it would not be flooded. Taking history as a mirror, we must pay attention to people's livelihood, serve people's livelihood, and gradually solve the gap between rich and poor, then people's psychology will also be balanced, and illegal incidents will disappear.
bibliography
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