Volume 97 Treatises 50: Finance and Economics 5

食貨五

Finance and Economics, Part Five

食貨前誌，據《經世大典》為之目，凡十有九，自天歷以前，載之詳矣。若夫元統以後，海運之多寡，鈔法之更變，鹽茶之利害，其見於《六條政類》之中，及有司采訪事跡，凡有足征者，具錄於篇，以備參考；而喪亂之際，其亡逸不存者，則闕之。

The earlier treatises on finance and economics drew their chapter headings from the Jingshi Datian; there are nineteen sections in all, and for the period before the Tianli era the account is already thorough. For the period after the Yuantong reign, whatever can be verified about fluctuations in sea transport, revisions to paper currency, and the gains and losses of the salt and tea monopolies—whether drawn from the Liutiao Zhenglei or from investigations by the relevant agencies—is recorded here in full for consultation. Material lost in the chaos of collapse and no longer extant has been left blank.

○海運

Maritime Grain Transport

元自世祖用伯顏之言，歲漕東南粟，由海道以給京師，始自至元二十年，至於天歷、至順，由四萬石以上增而為三百萬以上，其所以為國計者大矣。歷歲既久，弊日以生，水旱相仍，公私俱困，疲三省之民力，以充歲運之恒數，而押運監臨之官，與夫司出納之吏，恣為貪黷，腳價不以時給，收支不得其平，船戶貧乏，耗損益甚。兼以風濤不測，盜賊出沒，剽劫覆亡之患，自仍改至元之後，有不可勝言者矣。由是歲運之數，漸不如舊。至正元年，益以河南之粟，通計江南三省所運，止得二百八十萬石。二年，又令江浙行省及中政院財賦總管府，撥賜諸人寺觀之糧，盡數起運，僅得二百六十萬石而已。及汝、潁倡亂，湖廣、江右相繼陷沒，而方國珍、張士誠竊據浙東、西之地，雖縻以好爵，資為藩屏，而貢賦不供，剝民以自奉，於是海運之舟不至京師者積年矣。

After Emperor Shizu adopted Bayan's proposal to ship southeastern grain to the capital by sea each year, the annual volume grew from just over forty thousand piculs at the start in Zhiyuan 20 to more than three million by the Tianli and Zhishun reigns—a pillar of the dynasty's fiscal policy. Over time abuses multiplied: drought and flood came in succession, and both state and populace were squeezed dry. The three southeastern provinces were worked to exhaustion to meet the fixed annual quota, while escort officers, supervising officials, and treasury clerks plundered at will, porterage wages were paid late, accounts never balanced, ship owners fell into poverty, and losses mounted steadily. Unpredictable storms, roving pirates, and the disasters of raiding and sinking after the Zhiyuan reign change became too numerous to recount. For these reasons the annual haul gradually fell below earlier totals. In Zhizheng 1, even counting Henan grain together with shipments from the three Jiangnan provinces, the total reached only 2.8 million piculs. In the second year the court also ordered the Jiang-Zhe Secretariat and the Central Secretariat revenue bureau to ship every picul of grain allocated to temples and monasteries, yet the total still reached only 2.6 million piculs. After revolt erupted in the Ru and Ying region and Huguang and Jiangyou fell one after another, Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng carved up eastern and western Zhejiang. Though the court lavished noble ranks on them as supposed bulwarks of the realm, they withheld tribute and taxed the populace for their own upkeep, and for years no grain fleet reached the capital.

至十九年，朝廷遣兵部尚書伯顏帖木兒、戶部尚書齊履亨征海運於江浙，由海道至慶元，抵杭州。時達識帖睦邇為江浙行中書省丞相，張士誠為太尉，方國珍為平章政事，詔命士誠輸粟，國珍具舟，達識帖睦邇總督之。既達朝廷之命，而方、張互相猜疑，士誠慮方氏載其粟而不以輸於京也，國珍恐張氏掣其舟而因乘虛以襲己也。伯顏帖木兒白於丞相，正辭以責之，巽言以諭之，乃釋二家之疑，克濟其事。先率海舟俟於嘉興之澉浦，而平江之粟展轉以達杭之石墩，又一舍而後抵澉浦，乃載於舟。海灘淺澀，躬履艱苦，粟之載於舟者，為石十有一萬。二十年五月赴京。是年秋，又遣戶部尚書王宗禮等至江浙。二十一年五月，運糧赴京，如上年之數。九月，又遣兵部尚書徹徹不花、侍郎韓祺往征海運一百萬石。二十二年五月，運糧赴京，視上年之數，僅加二萬而已。九月，遣戶部尚書脫脫歡察爾、兵部尚書帖木至江浙。二十三年五月，仍運糧十有三萬石赴京。九月，又遣戶部侍郎博羅帖木兒、監丞賽因不花往征海運。士誠托辭以拒命，由是東南之粟給京師者，遂止於是歲云。

In the nineteenth year the court dispatched Minister of War Bayan Temür and Minister of Revenue Qi Lüheng to requisition sea transport in Jiang-Zhe; they sailed to Qingyuan and then proceeded to Hangzhou. Tash Temür was then chief councillor of the Jiang-Zhe Secretariat, Zhang Shicheng held the title Grand Marshal, and Fang Guozhen was vice councillor. The edict assigned Zhang to furnish grain, Fang to supply vessels, and Tash Temür to supervise the operation. After the imperial orders arrived, the two warlords distrusted each other. Zhang worried that Fang would load his grain but never send it to the capital; Fang feared Zhang would detain his fleet and strike while he was exposed. Bayan Temür reported to the chief councillor, rebuked both sides in plain terms and reasoned with them gently, dispelled their mutual suspicions, and brought the transport through. Sea vessels were first stationed at Ganpu in Jiaxing while Pingjiang grain was relayed in stages to Shidun near Hangzhou, then carried one more leg to Ganpu before loading. The coast was shallow and treacherous; he endured the hardship in person, and the ships finally carried 110,000 piculs of grain. In the fifth month of the twentieth year the fleet reached the capital. That autumn the court again sent Minister of Revenue Wang Zongli and others to Jiang-Zhe. In the fifth month of the twenty-first year grain reached the capital in the same quantity as before. In the ninth month the court again dispatched Minister of War Cheche Buhua and Vice Minister Han Qi to requisition one million piculs by sea. In the fifth month of the twenty-second year the fleet reached the capital with only twenty thousand piculs more than the year before. In the ninth month Minister of Revenue Toghto Qanchar and Minister of War Temür were sent to Jiang-Zhe. In the fifth month of the twenty-third year 130,000 piculs were again shipped to the capital. In the ninth month Vice Minister Boluo Temür and Supervisor Sayin Buqa were again dispatched to collect sea transport. Zhang Shicheng pleaded pretexts and refused; from that year onward southeastern grain no longer reached the capital.

至正十年，右丞相脫脫欲更鈔法，乃會中書省、樞密院、御史臺及集賢、翰林兩院官共議之。先是，左司都事武祺嘗建言云：「鈔法自世祖時已行之後，除撥支料本、倒易昏鈔以布天下外，有合支名目，於寶鈔總庫料鈔轉撥，所以鈔法疏通，民受其利。比年以來，失祖宗元行鈔法本意。不與轉撥，故民間流轉者少，致偽鈔滋多。」遂準其所言，凡合支名目，已於總庫轉支。至是，吏部尚書偰哲篤及武祺，俱欲迎合丞相之意。偰哲篤言更鈔法，以楮幣一貫文省權銅錢一千文為母，而錢為子。眾人皆唯唯，不敢出一語，惟集賢大學士兼國子祭酒呂思誠獨奮然曰：「中統、至元自有母子，上料為母，下料為子。比之達達人乞養漢人為子，是終為漢人之子而已，豈有故紙為父，而以銅為過房兒子者乎！」一坐皆笑。思誠又曰：「錢鈔用法，以虛換實，其致一也。今歷代錢及至正錢，中統鈔及至元鈔、交鈔，分為五項，若下民知之，藏其實而棄其虛，恐非國之利也。」偰哲篤、武祺又曰：「至元鈔多偽，故更之爾。」思誠曰：「至元鈔非偽，人為偽爾，交鈔若出，亦有偽者矣。且至元鈔猶故戚也，家之童稚皆識之矣。交鈔猶新戚也，雖不敢不親，人未識也，其偽反滋多爾。況祖宗成憲，豈可輕改。」偰哲篤曰：「祖宗法弊，亦可改矣。」思誠曰：「汝輩更法，又欲上誣世皇，是汝又欲與世皇爭高下也。且自世皇以來，諸帝皆謚曰孝，改其成憲，可謂孝乎？」武祺又欲錢鈔兼行，思誠曰：「錢鈔兼行，輕重不倫，何者為母，何者為子？汝不通古今，道聽途說，何足以行，徒以口舌取媚大臣，可乎？」偰哲篤曰：「我等策既不可行，公有何策？」思誠曰：「我有三字策，曰行不得，行不得。」又曰：「丞相勿聽此言。如向日開金口河，成則歸功汝等，不成則歸罪丞相矣。」脫脫見其言直，猶豫未決。御史大夫也先帖木兒言曰：「呂祭酒言有是者，有非者，但不當坐廟堂高聲厲色。若從其言，此事終不行耶！」明日，諷御史劾之，思誠歸臥不出，遂定更鈔之議而奏之。下詔云：「朕聞帝王之治，因時制宜，損益之方，在乎通變。惟我世祖皇帝，建元之初，頒行中統交鈔，以錢為文，雖鼓鑄之規未遑，而錢幣兼行之意已具。厥後印造至元寶鈔，以一當五，名曰子母相權，而錢實未用。歷歲滋久，鈔法偏虛，物價騰踴，奸偽日萌，民用匱乏。爰詢廷臣，博采輿論，僉謂拯弊必合更張。其以中統交鈔壹貫文省權銅錢一千文，準至元寶鈔二貫，仍鑄至正通寶錢與歷代銅錢並用，以實鈔法。至元寶鈔，通行如故。子母相權，新舊相濟，上副世祖立法之初意。」

In Zhizheng 10 Right Chancellor Toghto proposed revising paper currency and convened officials from the Secretariat, Privy Council, Censorate, and the Academies of Scholarly Worthies and Hanlin to deliberate. Earlier Wu Qi, a director in the Left Secretariat, had argued: 'Since Emperor Shizu established paper currency, aside from setting aside reserve funds and exchanging worn notes nationwide, every statutory payment was supposed to pass through reserve notes at the general treasury—keeping circulation smooth and benefiting the people. In recent years the court has abandoned the original intent of the ancestral currency policy. Without those transfers, notes scarcely circulated among the populace, and counterfeits proliferated.' The court approved his proposal, and all statutory payments were again routed through the general treasury. By then Minister of Personnel Jiezhidu and Wu Qi were both eager to align themselves with the chancellor. Jiezhidu urged a new currency scheme in which one standard string of paper notes, equivalent to one thousand cash, would be the parent and coin the child. Everyone murmured agreement and stayed silent, until Grand Academician and Imperial College Rector Lü Sicheng alone spoke up boldly: 'The Zhongtong and Zhiyuan notes already have parent and child—the higher denomination is parent, the lower is child. It is like a Mongol asking to adopt a Han as his son—he still ends up a Han's son in the end. How can worn paper be the father and copper an adopted heir!' The whole room burst out laughing. Sicheng went on: 'Whether using coin or notes, the insubstantial stands in for the substantial—the principle is the same. If you split circulation into five categories—old and new coin, Zhongtong notes, Zhiyuan notes, and Jiaochao—the people will hoard what is real and discard what is paper. That can hardly benefit the state.' Jiezhidu and Wu Qi replied: 'Zhiyuan notes are widely counterfeited—that is why we must change them.' Sicheng retorted: 'The Zhiyuan notes are not false—the forgers are. Issue Jiaochao and you will have forgeries of that too. Besides, Zhiyuan notes are like old relatives—even children in every household know them. Jiaochao would be like new kin—people must accept it, yet they do not know it, and counterfeits would multiply all the more. And how can you lightly alter the settled institutions of the ancestors?' Jiezhidu said: 'When ancestral institutions fail, they too may be changed.' Sicheng said: 'By changing the law you would slander Emperor Shizu from above—you are trying to outdo the founding emperor himself. Every emperor since Shizu has borne the posthumous title 'Filial.' Is it filial to overturn his settled institutions?' Wu Qi again urged concurrent circulation of coin and notes. Sicheng said: 'If coin and notes circulate together, their relative weight is out of order—which is parent and which is child? You know neither past nor present and repeat street gossip—how can that be policy? You only flatter powerful ministers with your tongue—is that acceptable?' Jiezhidu asked: 'If our plan will not work, what is yours?' Sicheng answered: 'I have a three-word plan: it cannot be done, it cannot be done.' He added: 'Chancellor, do not listen to them. Remember the Jinkou River project: if it succeeds they take the credit; if it fails the chancellor bears the blame. Toghto, struck by his blunt honesty, hesitated and could not decide. Censor-in-Chief Yeshi Temür said: 'Rector Lü is partly right and partly wrong, but he should not shout in the council chamber. If we heed him, will the reform never go forward!' The next day he prompted the censors to impeach Lü, who stayed home in bed. The currency reform was then settled and memorialized. An edict declared: 'We have heard that sage rulers adapt policy to the times; the art of reform lies in timely change. At the founding of his reign Emperor Shizu issued Zhongtong Jiaochao denominated in cash; though minting rules were not yet complete, the intent to circulate coin and notes together was already established. Later Zhiyuan notes were issued at a one-to-five ratio, called 'parent and child in mutual balance,' though coin was never actually put into circulation. Over the years the currency grew hollow, prices soared, counterfeiting spread, and the populace was left destitute. We consulted court ministers and gathered public opinion; all agreed that rescuing the system required thorough reform. One standard string of Zhongtong Jiaochao shall equal one thousand cash and two strings of Zhiyuan notes; Zhizheng Tongbao shall be minted and circulate alongside earlier coin to back the paper currency. Zhiyuan notes shall continue to circulate as before. Parent and child in balance, new and old in support—fulfilling the founding intent of Emperor Shizu's monetary law.'

十一年，置寶泉提舉司，掌鼓鑄至正通寶錢、印造交鈔，令民間通用。行之未久，物價騰踴，價逾十倍。又值海內大亂，軍儲供給，賞賜犒勞，每日印造，不可數計。舟車裝運，軸轤相接，交料之散滿人間者，無處無之。昏軟者不復行用。京師料鈔十錠，易鬥粟不可得。既而所在郡縣，皆以物貨相貿易，公私所積之鈔，遂俱不行，人視之若弊楮，而國用由是遂乏矣。

In the eleventh year the Baocuan Intendant Office was established to mint Zhizheng Tongbao and print Jiaochao for general circulation. Soon after implementation prices more than tripled—indeed rose tenfold. Meanwhile civil war engulfed the realm; military supplies, rewards, and consolation payments required daily printing beyond measure. Ships and carts hauled endless loads, axle to axle; paper money lay scattered everywhere. Worn, limp notes were no longer accepted. In the capital ten ingots of reserve notes could not buy a single dou of grain. Soon every prefecture and county bartered in kind; public and private hoards of notes alike ceased to circulate; people treated them as scrap paper, and state finances collapsed.

大都之鹽：元統二年四月，御史臺備監察御史言：「竊睹京畿居民繁盛，日用之中，鹽不可闕。大德中，因商販把握行市，民食貴鹽，乃置局設官賣之。中統鈔一貫，買鹽四斤八兩。後雖倍其價，猶敷民用。及泰定間，因所任局官不得其人，在上者失於鈐束，致有短少之弊。於是巨商趨利者營屬當道，以局官侵盜為由，輒奏罷之，復從民販賣。自是鈔一貫，僅買鹽一斤。無籍之徒，私相犯界，煎賣獨受其利，官課為所侵礙。而民食貴鹽益甚，貧者多不得食，甚不副朝廷恤小民之意。如朝廷仍舊設局，官為發賣，庶課不虧，而民受賜矣。」

Salt in Dadu: In the fourth month of Yuantong 2 the Censorate relayed a supervising censor's memorial: 'The capital region is densely populated, and salt is indispensable in daily life. During the Dade era merchants cornered the market and salt grew costly, so the government set up bureaus to sell it directly. One string of Zhongtong notes bought four jin eight liang of salt. Even after the price was doubled, households could still afford it. By the Taiding era unsuitable bureau officers were appointed, superiors failed to enforce discipline, and short-weighting became common. Great merchants then cultivated patrons at court, cited bureau corruption, and had the offices abolished so private trade could resume. From then on one string bought only one jin of salt. Unlicensed ruffians illegally crossed salting boundaries, boiled and sold salt for private profit, and encroached on official revenue. Salt grew ever costlier; many poor households could no longer afford it—far from the court's intent to care for common people. If the court restores the bureaus and sells salt directly, revenue need not suffer and the people will benefit.'

既而大都路備三巡院及大興、宛平縣所申，又戶部尚書建言，皆如御史所陳。戶部乃言，以謂「榷鹽之法，本以裕國而便民。始自大德七年罷大都運司，令河間運司兼辦。每歲存留鹽數，散之米鋪，從其發賣。後因富商專利，遂於南北二城設局，凡十有五處，官為賣之。當時立法嚴明，民甚便益。泰定二年，因局官綱船人等多有侵盜之弊，復從民販賣，而罷所置之局。未及數載，有司屢言富商高擡價直之害。運司所言綱船作弊，蓋因立法不嚴，失於關防所致。且各處俱有官設鹽鋪，與商賈販賣並無窒礙，豈有京城之內，乃革罷官賣之局。宜準本部尚書所言，及大都路所申，依舊制於南北二城置局十有五處。每局日賣十引，設賣鹽官二員，以歲一周為滿，責其奉公發賣。每中統鈔一貫，買鹽二斤四兩，毋令雜灰土其中，及權衡不得其平。凡買鹽過十貫者禁之，不及貫者從所買與之。如滿歲無短少失陷及元定分數者，減一界升用之；若有侵盜者，依例追斷其合賣鹽數。令河間運司分為四季，起赴京廒，用官定法物，兩平稱收，分給各局。其所賣價鈔，逐旬起解，委本部官輪次提調之。仍委官巡視，如有豪強兼利之徒，頻買局鹽而增價轉賣於外者，從提調巡督官痛治之。仍令運司嚴督押運之人，設法防禁，毋致縱令綱船人等作弊。其客商鹽貨，從便相參發賣。」四月二十六日，中書省上奏，如戶部所擬行之。

The Dadu Circuit then relayed petitions from the three patrol offices and from Daxing and Wanping counties, and the Minister of Revenue memorialized in the same terms as the censor. The Ministry of Revenue replied: 'The salt monopoly was originally meant to enrich the state and benefit the people. In Dade 7 the Dadu Transport Commission was abolished and the Hejian commission took over. Each year's retained salt quota was distributed to rice shops for resale. Later, because wealthy merchants monopolized profits, fifteen bureaus were set up in the northern and southern cities for official sale. The regulations were then strict and clear, and the people benefited greatly. In Taiding 2, citing corruption among bureau staff and transport crews, the government restored private sales and abolished the bureaus. Within a few years officials repeatedly reported the harm of merchants raising prices. Transport-boat fraud, as the commission alleged, stemmed from lax legislation and failed oversight. Every region has government salt shops alongside merchant trade without conflict—why abolish official sale only in the capital? The ministry recommends approving the minister's proposal and the Dadu Circuit's petition, and restoring fifteen bureaus in the northern and southern cities under the former system. Each bureau shall sell ten yin per day, with two salt officers appointed for one-year terms and charged to sell faithfully in the public interest. One string of Zhongtong notes shall buy two jin four liang of salt, without adulteration or false weights. Purchases exceeding ten strings are forbidden; for amounts under one string, sell the amount requested. If at year's end there is no shortfall, loss, or failure to meet the fixed quota, reduce one term of service and promote them; if there is embezzlement, pursue and punish according to statute for the salt they should have sold. The Hejian Transport Commission shall deliver in four seasonal shipments to the capital depots, receive them on official standard scales, and distribute to each bureau. Sale proceeds in notes shall be remitted every ten days under rotating supervision by ministry officials. Inspectors shall remain posted; any powerful profiteer who repeatedly buys bureau salt and resells it outside at inflated prices shall be severely punished by the supervising officials. The transport commission shall strictly supervise escort crews and prevent transport-boat crews from cheating. Merchant salt may be sold alongside as convenient. On the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month the Secretariat memorialized and approved the Ministry of Revenue proposal.

至元三年三月，大都京廒申戶部云：「近奉文帖，起運至元二年京廒發賣食鹽一萬五千引，令兩平稱收，如數具實申部。除各綱淹沒短少鹽計八百四十八引，本廒實收一萬四千一百五十有二引，已支一萬一百引付各局發賣，見存鹽四千五十有二引，支撥欲盡。所據至元三年食鹽，宜依例於河間運司起運一萬五千引赴都，庶民間食用不闕。」戶部準其所言，乃議：「京廒食鹽，今歲宜從河間運一萬五千引，其腳價席索等費，令運司於鹽課錢內通算支用。仍召募有產業船戶，互相保識，每一千引為一綱，就差各該場官一員，並本司奏差或監運巡鹽官，每名管押一綱，於大都興國等場見收鹽內驗數，分派分司官監視，如數兩平支收，限三月內赴京廒交卸，取文憑赴部銷照。但有雜和沙土，濕潤短少數，並令本綱船戶、押運場官、奏差監運諸人，如數均賠，依例坐罪。」中書如戶部所議行之。

In the third month of Zhiyuan 3 the Dadu capital granaries reported to the Ministry of Revenue: "Pursuant to recent orders we transported 15,000 yin of salt from the Zhiyuan 2 capital stock for sale, received on the even balance, and reported the full amount to the ministry. After deducting 848 yin lost or short from sunk convoys, the granaries actually received 14,152 yin; 10,100 yin were issued to the bureaus for sale; only 4,052 yin remain and stock is nearly exhausted. Zhiyuan 3 salt should, as usual, be transported 15,000 yin from the Hejian commission to the capital so households do not go without.' The ministry approved and proposed: 'This year the capital should receive 15,000 yin from Hejian; porterage, matting, and rope costs shall be drawn from salt-tax revenue by the transport commission. Recruit property-owning ship households under mutual guarantee; form convoys of 1,000 yin each; assign one field official plus a commission envoy or salt patrol officer per convoy; verify quantities at Xingguo and other Dadu depots under branch supervision; receive on the even balance; deliver to capital granaries within three months and obtain cancellation documents from the ministry. Any adulteration with sand or earth, dampness, or short weight shall be compensated equally by convoy crews, escort officials, envoys, and supervisors, who shall be punished according to statute.' The Secretariat approved the Ministry of Revenue plan.

至正三年，監察御史王思誠、侯思禮等建言：「京師自大德七年罷大都鹽運司，設官賣鹽，置局十有五處，泰定二年以其不便罷之，元統二年又復之，迨今十年，法久弊生。在船則有侵盜滲溺之患，入局則有和雜灰土之奸。名曰一貫二斤四兩，實不得一斤之上。其潔凈不雜，而斤兩足者，唯上司提調數處耳。又常白鹽一千五百引，用船五十艘，每歲以四月起運，官鹽二萬引，用船五十艘，每歲以七月起運，而運司所遣之人，擅作威福，南抵臨清，北自通州，所至以索截河道，舟楫往來，無不被擾。名為和顧，實乃強奪。一歲之中，千里之內，凡富商巨賈之載米粟者，達官貴人之載家室者，一概遮截，得重賄而放行，所拘留者，皆貧弱無力之人耳。其舟小而不固，滲溺侵盜，弊病多端。既達京廒，又不得依時交收，淹延歲月，困守無聊，鬻妻子、質舟楫者，往往有之。此客船所以狼顧不前，使京師百物湧貴者，實由於此。竊計官鹽二萬引，每引腳價中統鈔七貫，總為鈔三千錠，而十五局官典俸給，以一歲計之又五百七十六錠，其就支賃房之資，短腳之價，席草諸物，又在外焉。當時置局設官，但為民食貴鹽，殊不料官賣之弊，反不如商販之賤，豈忍徒費國家，而使百物貴也。宜從憲臺具呈中書省，議罷其鹽局，及來歲起運之時，出榜文播告鹽商，從便入京興販。若常白鹽所用船五十艘，亦宜於江南造小料船處如數造之。既成之後，付運司顧人運載，庶舟楫通而商賈集，則京師百物賤，而鹽亦不貴矣。」御史臺以其言具呈中書，而河間運司所申，亦如前議。

In Zhizheng 3 supervising censors Wang Sicheng, Hou Sili, and others proposed: 'Since Dade 7 the Dadu Salt Transport Commission was abolished and fifteen official salt bureaus were set up; Taiding 2 abolished them as inconvenient; Yuantong 2 restored them; ten years on, entrenched abuses have appeared. At sea there is embezzlement and leakage; in the bureaus there is adulteration with ash and earth. The price is one string for two jin four liang, but buyers receive less than one jin. Clean, unadulterated, full-weight salt is found only where senior officials personally supervise. Changbai salt of 1,500 yin uses fifty ships yearly from the fourth month; official salt of 20,000 yin uses fifty ships from the seventh month; yet transport commission agents abuse their power from Linqing south to Tongzhou north, blocking waterways to extort every passing vessel. Called contracted hire, it was in fact forcible seizure. Within a year and a thousand li, grain-laden merchants and officials moving household goods were stopped wholesale and released only after heavy bribes; those detained were the poor and powerless. Their boats were small and flimsy; leakage and theft produced endless abuses. After reaching the capital granaries they could not be received on time; months dragged on; many sold wives and children or pawned their boats while waiting. This is why merchant shipping stalls and capital prices soar—it stems from this. Official salt of 20,000 yin at seven strings porterage per yin totals 3,000 ingots; salaries for fifteen bureaus add 576 ingots yearly; rent, short haulage, and matting are extra. Bureaus were set up only because salt was costly for the people; they never imagined official sale would prove worse than merchants—why waste state funds and make everything dear? The Censorate should memorialize the Secretariat to abolish the salt bureaus and, when transport resumes next year, announce that salt merchants may freely enter the capital to trade. The fifty ships for changbai salt should be built in equal number where Jiangnan builds small craft. Once built, let the transport commission hire carriers so shipping flows and merchants gather; then capital goods will be cheap and salt will not be costly.' The Censorate relayed this to the Secretariat, and the Hejian Transport Commission reported likewise.

戶部言：「運司及大都路講究，即同監察御史所言，元設鹽局，合準革罷，聽從客旅興販。其常白鹽系內府必用之物，起運如故，宜從都省聞奏。」二月初五日，中書省上奏，如戶部所擬行之。

The Ministry of Revenue stated: 'After investigation the transport commission and Dadu Circuit agree with the censor: abolish the salt bureaus and allow traveling merchants to trade. Changbai salt is required by the inner palace; transport shall continue as before and be reported through the metropolitan secretariat.' On the fifth day of the second month the Secretariat memorialized and approved the Ministry of Revenue proposal.

河間之鹽：至正二年，河間運司申戶部云：「本司歲辦額余鹽共三十八萬引，計課鈔一百一十四萬錠，以供國用，不為不重。近年以來，各處私鹽及犯界鹽販賣者眾，蓋因軍民官失於禁治，以致侵礙官課，鹽法澀滯，實由於此。乞轉呈都省，頒降詔旨，宣諭所司，欽依規辦。」本部具呈中書省，遂於四月十七日上奏，降旨戒飭之。

Salt in Hejian: In Zhizheng 2 the Hejian Transport Commission reported: 'We fulfill 380,000 yin yearly including surplus salt, totaling 1.14 million ingots in tax notes—a heavy burden on state finance. Private and boundary-violating salt sales have proliferated because officials failed to enforce prohibition, encroaching on official revenue and stalling the salt law. We ask that this be forwarded to the metropolitan secretariat for an edict ordering strict compliance.' The ministry memorialized the Secretariat; on the seventeenth day of the fourth month an admonitory edict was issued.

七月，又據河間運司申：「本司辦課，全藉郡縣行鹽地方買食官鹽。去歲河間等路旱蝗闕食，累蒙賑恤，民力未蘇，食鹽者少。又因古北口等處，把隘官及軍人不為用心詰捕，大都路所屬有司，亦不奉公巡禁，致令諸人裝載疙疸鹽於街市賣之，或量以鬥，或盛以盤，明相饋送。今紫荊關捕獲犯人張狡群等所載疙疸鹽，計一千六百餘斤。自至元六年三月迄今犯者，將及百起。若不申聞，恐年終課不如數，虛負其咎。」本部具呈中書省，照會樞密院給降榜文禁治之。

In the seventh month the Hejian commission again reported: 'Our tax revenue depends entirely on salt-consuming districts buying official salt. Last year Hejian and other circuits suffered drought, locusts, and famine despite relief; the populace has not recovered and salt consumption is low. Officials at Gubeikou and elsewhere failed to pursue smugglers, and Dadu subordinates failed to patrol, so people sold kediyan salt in the streets by the dou or on plates, openly trading it. At Zijing Pass smugglers led by Zhang Jiaoqun were captured with more than 1,600 jin of kediyan salt. Since Zhiyuan 6, third month, offenders have approached a hundred cases. If we do not report, we fear missing the annual quota and bearing unjust blame.' The ministry memorialized the Secretariat and notified the Privy Council to issue prohibitory placards.

三年，又據河間運司申：「生財節用，固治國之常經；薄賦輕徭，實理民之大本。本司歲額鹽三十五萬引，近年又添余鹽三萬引，元簽竈戶五千七百七十四戶，除逃亡外，止存四千三百有一戶。每年額鹽，勒令見在疲乏之戶勉強包煎。今歲若依舊煎辦，人力不足。又兼行鹽地方旱蝗相仍，百姓焉有買鹽之資。如蒙矜閔，自至正二年為始，權免余鹽三萬引，俟豐稔之歲，煎辦如舊。」本部以錢糧支用不敷，權擬住煎一萬引，具呈中書省。正月二十八日上奏，如戶部所擬行之。

In the third year the Hejian commission again reported: 'Generating wealth and practicing economy are constant principles of statecraft; light taxes and easy corvée are the great foundation of governing the people. Our annual quota is 350,000 yin; recently 30,000 yin surplus was added; of 5,774 registered saltern households only 4,301 remain after flight. Each year exhausted remaining households are compelled to fulfill the fixed quota under contract. This year the old quota cannot be boiled with available manpower. Moreover salt districts suffer repeated drought and locusts; the people lack funds to buy salt. If the court shows compassion, exempt the 30,000 yin surplus from Zhizheng 2 onward until harvest years return.' Because expenditures were insufficient, the ministry provisionally proposed suspending 10,000 yin and memorialized the Secretariat. On the twenty-eighth day of the first month the Secretariat approved the ministry proposal.

既而運司又言：「至元三十一年，本司辦鹽額二十五萬引，自後累增至三十有五萬。元統元年，又增余鹽三萬引，已經具呈。蒙都省奏準，住煎一萬引。外有二萬引，若依前勒令見戶包煎，實為難堪。如並將余鹽二萬引住煎，誠為便益。」戶部又以所言具呈中書省，權擬余鹽二萬引住煎一年，至正四年煎辦如故。四月十二日上奏，如戶部所擬行之。

The transport commission then stated: 'In Zhiyuan 31 we fulfilled 250,000 yin; the quota was later raised to 350,000. In Yuantong 1 another 30,000 yin surplus was added; this was already memorialized. The metropolitan secretariat approved suspending 10,000 yin. The remaining 20,000 yin, if compelled from present households as before, is truly unbearable. Suspending the remaining 20,000 yin surplus would truly be beneficial.' The ministry again memorialized and provisionally suspended 20,000 yin surplus for one year, resuming in Zhizheng 4. On the twelfth day of the fourth month the Secretariat approved.

山東之鹽：元統二年，戶部呈：「據山東運司準濟南路牒，依副達魯花赤完者、同知阇裏帖木兒所言，比大都、河間運司，改設巡鹽官一十二員，專一巡禁本部。詳山東運司，歲辦鈔七十五萬餘錠，行鹽之地，周圍三萬餘里，止是運判一員，豈能遍歷，恐私鹽來往，侵礙國課。本司既與濟南路講究便益，宜準所言。」中書省令戶部復議之，本部言：「河間運司定設奏差一十二名，巡鹽官一十六名，山東運司設奏差二十四名，今既比例添設巡鹽官外，據元設奏差內減去一十二名。」具呈中書省，如所擬行之。

Salt in Shandong: In Yuantong 2 the ministry submitted: 'Per the Shandong Transport Commission, following Jinan officials Wanzhe and Jarlig Temür, compared with Dadu and Hejian, establish twelve dedicated salt-patrol officials. Shandong fulfills over 750,000 ingots yearly across 30,000 li with only one transport judge—he cannot cover it all; private salt will encroach on revenue. Having deliberated with Jinan Circuit, the commission recommends approval.' The Secretariat ordered reconsideration; the ministry stated: 'Hejian has twelve envoys and sixteen patrol officers; Shandong has twenty-four envoys; add patrol officers proportionally but reduce twelve envoys.' Memorialized and approved.

三年二月，又據山東運司備臨朐、沂水等縣申：「本縣十山九水，居民稀少，元系食鹽地方，後因改為行鹽，民間遂食貴鹽，公私不便。如蒙仍舊改為食鹽，令居民驗戶口多寡，以輸納課鈔，則官民俱便，抑且可革私鹽之弊。」運司移文分司，並益都路及下滕、嶧等州，從長講究，互言食鹽為便。及準本司運使辛朝列牒云：「所據零鹽，擬依登、萊等處，銓註局官，給印置局，散賣於民，非惟大課無虧，官釋私鹽之憂，民免刑配之罪。」戶部議：「山東運司所言，於滕、嶧等處增置十有一局，如登、萊三十五局之例，於錢谷官內通行銓註局官，散賣食鹽，官民俱便。既經有司講究，宜從所議。」具呈中書省，如所擬行之。

In the third year, second month, Linqu, Yishui, and other counties petitioned: 'We are nine-tenths mountain; residents are few; formerly salt-consuming, later changed to salt-selling; the people eat costly salt to public and private inconvenience. If reverted to salt-consuming districts with tax assessed by household, official and people would benefit and private salt abuses end.' Branch offices and prefectures deliberated and agreed salt-consuming was convenient. Commissioner Xin proposed: 'For scattered salt areas, like Deng and Lai appoint bureau officials, issue seals, set up bureaus, and sell to the people—revenue will not suffer, the state avoids private-salt worry, and the people avoid penal servitude.' The ministry deliberated: 'Add eleven bureaus in Teng, Yi, and elsewhere following Deng and Lai's thirty-five; appoint officials from revenue officers—convenient for all. Responsible offices have deliberated; follow the proposal.' Memorialized and approved.

至元二年，御史臺據山東肅政廉訪司申：「準濟南路備章丘縣申『見奉山東運司為本司額辦鹽課二十八萬引，除客商承辦之外，見存十三萬引，絕無買者，將及年終，歲課不能如數。所據新城、章丘、長山、鄒平、濟南俱近鹽場，與大、小清河相接，客旅興販，宜依商河、滕、嶧等處，改為食鹽，權派八千引，責付本處有司自備席索腳力，赴已擬固堤等場，於元統三年依例支出，均散於民』等事，竊照山東運司，初無上司明文，輒擅散民食鹽，追納課鈔，使民不得安業。今於至元元年正月、二月，兩次奉到中書戶部符文，行鹽食鹽地分已有定例，毋得樁配於民。本司不遵省部所行，寢匿符文，依前差人馳驛，督責州縣，臨逼百姓，追征食鹽課鈔，不無擾害。據本司恣意行事，玩法擾民，理應取問，緣系辦課之時，宜從憲臺區處。又據監察御史所呈，亦為茲事。若便行取問，即系辦課時月，具呈中書省區處。」戶部議呈：「行鹽食鹽已有定所，宜從改正。若準御史臺所呈，取問運司，卻緣鹽法例應從長規畫，似難別議。」中書省如所擬行之。

In Zhiyuan 2 the Censorate relayed Zhangqiu County: 'The commission fulfills 280,000 yin yearly; 130,000 yin remain unsold and year-end revenue falls short. Nearby counties should become salt-consuming with 8,000 yin assigned—yet the commission, without authorization, arbitrarily distributed salt and pursued taxes, unsettling the people. In Zhiyuan 1 the Secretariat twice ordered fixed rules for salt districts and forbade compulsory assignment. The commission disobeyed, concealed the documents, and pressed counties to collect consuming-salt taxes by post—clearly harmful. They should be interrogated for defying law and harming the people, but during tax season the Censorate should handle it. Supervising censors also memorialized on this matter. Immediate interrogation falls in tax season; submit to the Secretariat.' The ministry submitted: 'Salt districts have fixed places; correct them. Interrogating the commission is hard to separate from comprehensive salt-law planning.' The Secretariat approved.

陜西之鹽：至元二年九月，御史臺準陜西行臺咨備監察御史帖木兒不花建言：「近蒙委巡歷奉元東道，至元元年各州縣戶口額辦鹽課，其陜西運司官不思轉運之方，每年豫期差人，分道賫引，遍散州縣，甫及旬月，杖限追鈔，不問民之無有。竊照諸處運司之例，皆運官召商發賣，惟陜西等處鹽司，近年散於民戶。且如陜西行省食鹽之戶，該辦課二十萬三千一百六十四錠有餘。於內鞏昌、延安等處認定課鈔一萬六千二百七十一錠，慶陽、環州、鳳翔、興元等處歲辦課一萬七千九百八十五錠，其餘課鈔，先因關陜旱饑，民多流亡，準中書省咨，至順三年鹽課，十分為率，減免四分，於今三載，尚有虧負。蓋因戶口雕殘，十亡八九，縱或有復業者，家產已空，爾來歲頗豐收，而物價甚賤，得鈔為艱。本司官皆勒有司征辦，無分高下，一概給散，少者不下二三引，每一引收價三錠，富家無以應辦，貧下安能措畫？糶終歲之糧，不酬一引之價，緩則輸息而借貸，急則典鬻妻子。縱引目到手，力窘不能裝運，止從各處鹽商，勒價收買。舊債未償，新引又至，民力有限，官賦無窮。又寧夏所產韋紅鹽池，不辦課程，除鞏昌等處循例認納乾課，從便食用外，其池鄰接陜西環州百餘里，紅鹽味甘而價賤，解鹽味苦而價貴，百姓私相販易，不可禁約。以此參詳，河東鹽池，除撈鹽戶口食鹽外，辦課引數，今後宜從運官設法，募商興販。但遇行鹽之處，諸人毋得侵擾韋紅鹽法。運司每歲分輪官吏監視，聽民采取，立法抽分，依例發賣，每引收價鈔三錠。自黃河以西，從民食用，通辦運司元額課鈔。因時夾帶至黃河東南者，同私鹽法罪之，陜西興販解鹽者不禁。如此庶望官民兩便，而課亦無虧矣。」

Salt in Shaanxi: In the ninth month of Zhiyuan 2 censor Temür Buhua proposed: 'Shaanxi salt officials distribute warrants to every prefecture and pursue payment within ten days regardless of means. Elsewhere transport officials summon merchants; only Shaanxi recently distributes to households. Shaanxi salt-consuming households owe more than 203,164 ingots. Part is fixed assessment; the rest was reduced four-tenths after famine in Zhishun 3; deficits remain after three years. Households are decimated; returnees are destitute; notes are hard to obtain despite good harvests. Officials compel uniform distribution of at least two or three yin at three ingots each—unbearable for rich and poor alike. A year's grain cannot pay one yin; they borrow or pawn families. They cannot transport and sell cheaply to local merchants. Old debts unpaid, new warrants arrive—endless levies. Ningxia weihong salt is sweet and cheap beside bitter dear jie salt—private trade is unstoppable. Hedong ponds should sell quota yin through merchants recruited by transport officials. Salt-selling districts must not encroach on weihong salt rules. Rotate officials yearly to supervise gathering, tax by statute, sell at three ingots per yin. West of the Yellow River let people consume freely while fulfilling the original quota. Smuggling east is punished as private salt; Shaanxi jie merchants are not forbidden. Thus official and people benefit and revenue is preserved.'

又據陜西漢中道肅政廉訪使胡通奉所陳云：「陜西百姓，許食解鹽，近脫荒儉，流移漸復，正宜安輯，而鹽吏不察民瘼，止以恢辦為名，不論貧富，散引收課，或納錢入官，動經歲月，猶未得鹽。蓋因地遠，腳力艱澀。今後若令大河以東之民，分定課程，買食解鹽，其以西之民，計口攤課，任食韋紅之鹽，則官不被擾，民無蕩產之禍矣。且解鹽結之於風，韋紅之鹽產之於地，東鹽味苦，西鹽味甘，又豈肯舍其美而就其惡乎？使陜西百姓，一概均攤解鹽之課，令食韋紅之鹽，則鹽吏免巡禁之勞，而民亦受惠矣。」本臺詳所言鹽法，宜從省部定擬，具呈中書省，送戶部議之。本部議云：「陜西行臺所言鹽事，宜從都省選官，前赴陜西，與行省、行臺及河東運司官一同講究，是否便益，明白咨呈。」

Hu Tongfeng memorialized: 'Salt clerks ignore people's suffering, collect money, and delay delivery for months. Distance makes porterage difficult. East of the river buy jie salt by quota; west pay per mouth for weihong salt—officials unharassed, people unruined. Jie salt forms in wind, weihong from earth—who chooses bitter over sweet? If Shaanxi pays jie tax uniformly but eats weihong salt, clerks avoid patrol toil and people benefit. The regional commission held that the salt regulations it had laid out should be drafted by the provincial ministries, forwarded in full to the Central Secretariat, and referred to the Ministry of Revenue for review. The ministry recommended that the Metropolitan Secretariat appoint officials to travel to Shaanxi and confer there with representatives of the branch secretariat, the regional commission, and the Hedong salt transport bureau on whether the proposed changes would actually help, then submit a clear memorial on their findings.

三年，都省移咨陜西行省，仍摘委河東運司正官一員赴省，一同再行講究。三月初二日，陜西行省官及李御史、運司同知郝中順會鞏昌、延安、興元、奉元、鳳翔、邠州等官，與總帥汪通議等，俱稱當從御史帖木兒不花及廉使胡通奉所言，限以黃河為界，令陜西之民從便食用韋紅二鹽，解鹽依舊西行，紅鹽不許東渡。其咸寧、長安錄事司三處未散者，依已散州縣，一體斟酌，認納乾課，與運司已散食鹽引價同。見納乾課，辦鈔七萬錠，通行按季輸納，運司不須散引。如此則民不受害，而課以無虧矣。郝同知獨言：「運司每歲辦課四十五萬錠，陜西該辦二十萬錠，今止認七萬錠，余十三萬錠，從何處恢辦？」議不合而散。本省檢照運司逐年申報文冊，陜西止辦七萬二千六十餘錠，郝遂稱疾不出，其後訖無定論。

In the third year the metropolitan Secretariat instructed the Shaanxi branch secretariat to appoint again a chief officer from the Hedong salt transport commission to join the province in a further round of deliberation. On the second day of the third month, Shaanxi provincial officials met with Censor Li, Transport Associate Commissioner Hao Zhongshun, magistrates from Gongchang, Yan'an, Xingyuan, Fengyuan, Fengxiang, Binzhou, and other jurisdictions, and with regional commander Wang Tongyi. All agreed to adopt the proposal of Censor Temür Buqa and Commissioner Hu Tongfeng: the Yellow River would mark the boundary; Shaanxi residents might use Wei and Hong salt freely; Jie salt would continue to flow west as before; and Hong salt would not be allowed to cross eastward. For the three recorder offices at Xianning and Chang'an that had not yet been abolished, they should be treated like the prefectures and counties already discharged from the old system: a uniform dry quota would be assessed, matching the salt-certificate prices the transport commission had set for the abolished districts. Under the dry quota now accepted, Shaanxi would remit seventy thousand ingots of paper money each year in quarterly installments, and the transport commission would no longer need to issue salt certificates. In this way the populace would be spared hardship while revenue obligations would still be met. Associate Commissioner Hao alone objected: 'The transport commission must deliver four hundred fifty thousand ingots in revenue each year. Shaanxi's share is two hundred thousand. If the province now accepts only seventy thousand, where will the remaining one hundred thirty thousand come from?' The parties could not agree, and the conference adjourned without resolution. The province reviewed the transport commission's annual returns and found that Shaanxi had in fact remitted only a little over seventy-two thousand ingots. Hao then pleaded illness and stopped attending meetings. No final settlement was ever reached.

戶部參照至順二年中書省嘗遣兵部郎中井朝散，與陜西行省官一同講究，以涇州白家河永為定界，聽民食用。仍督所在軍民官嚴行禁約，毋致韋紅二鹽犯境侵課。中書如所擬行之。

The Ministry of Revenue cited a prior precedent from the second year of Zhishun, when the Central Secretariat had sent Military Affairs Bureau Director Jing Chaosan to confer with Shaanxi officials and fix the Baijia River in Jing Prefecture as the permanent boundary within which residents might lawfully consume local salt. Local military and civil officials were also ordered to enforce the boundary strictly so that Wei and Hong salt could not cross into the zone and undermine official revenue. The Central Secretariat approved the plan and put it into effect.

兩淮之鹽：至元六年八月，兩淮運司準行戶部尚書運使王正奉牒：「本司自至元十四年創立，當時鹽課未有定額，但從實恢辦，自後累增至六十五萬七十五引。客人買引，自行赴場支鹽，場官逼勒竈戶，加其斛面，以通鹽商，壞亂鹽法。大德四年，中書省奏準，改法立倉，設綱攢運，撥袋支發，以革前弊。本司行鹽之地，江浙、江西、河南、湖廣所轄路分，上江下流，鹽法通行。至大間，煎添正額余鹽三十萬引，通九十五萬七十五引。客商運至揚州東關，俱於城河內停泊，聽候通放，不下三四十萬餘引，積疊數多，不能以時發放。至順四年，前運使韓大中等又言：『歲賣額鹽九十五萬七十五引。客商買引，關給勘合，赴倉支鹽，雇船腳力，每引遠倉該鈔十二三貫，近倉不下七八貫，運至揚州東關，俟候以次通放。其船梢人等，恃以鹽主不能照管，視同己物，恣為侵盜，弊病多端。及事敗到官，非不嚴加懲治，莫能禁止。其所盜鹽，以鈔計之，不過折其舊船以償而已，安能如數征之？是以裏河客商，虧陷資本，外江興販，多被欺侮，而百姓高價以買不潔之鹽，公私俱受其害。』竊照揚州東關城外，沿河兩岸，多有官民空閑之地。如蒙聽從鹽商自行賃買基地，起造倉房，支運鹽袋到場，籍定資次，貯置倉內，以俟通放。臨期用船，載往真州發賣，既防侵盜之患，可為悠久之利，其於鹽法非小補也。」

Salt in the Two Huai region: In the eighth month of the sixth year of Zhiyuan, the Lianghuai salt transport commission implemented a directive from Wang Zhengfeng, Minister of Revenue and transport commissioner. He reported that the bureau, founded in the fourteenth year of Zhiyuan, had initially had no fixed salt quota and had met its obligations as best it could. The quota had since risen cumulatively to six hundred fifty-seven thousand and seventy-five certificates. Merchants purchased certificates and collected salt directly from the production sites. Depot officials extorted the salt-furnace households, padded the measures, favored private traders, and corrupted the salt monopoly. In the fourth year of Dade the Central Secretariat approved a reform: warehouses were established, convoy transport was organized, and salt was issued by the sack in order to eliminate the old abuses. The commission's salt was marketed throughout the circuits of Jiangzhe, Jiangxi, Henan, and Huguang along the upper and lower Yangtze, wherever the monopoly applied. During the Zhida reign an additional three hundred thousand certificates of surplus salt were boiled on top of the regular quota, bringing the total to nine hundred fifty-seven thousand and seventy-five certificates. Merchants brought their salt to the East Pass at Yangzhou and moored inside the city canal to await clearance. At least three or four hundred thousand certificates were backed up there, far too many to release on schedule. In the fourth year of Zhishun the former transport commissioner Han Dazhong and others reported again that annual sales of quota salt amounted to nine hundred fifty-seven thousand and seventy-five certificates. Merchants bought certificates, received verification tallies, drew salt from the warehouses, and hired boats and labor. Transport to a distant warehouse cost twelve or thirteen strings per certificate; even a nearby warehouse cost at least seven or eight. They then hauled the salt to Yangzhou's East Pass and waited their turn for clearance. Boat crews took advantage of owners who could not supervise them, treated the cargo as their own, and stole freely. The resulting abuses were countless. Even when offenders were caught and severely punished, the thefts could not be stopped. When stolen salt was assessed in cash, offenders were typically fined only the value of their old boats. Full restitution was impossible. Inland merchants lost their investment; traders on the outer waterways were routinely cheated; and commoners paid high prices for adulterated salt. Both government and populace suffered.' Along both banks of the river outside Yangzhou's East Pass,' they noted, 'there is abundant vacant land held by officials and private owners.' If approved, salt merchants could lease or purchase sites, build warehouses, haul their sacks of salt to the depot, register them in order of arrival, and store them until clearance. When clearance came due, boats could carry the salt to Zhen Prefecture for sale. That would prevent theft and yield lasting benefit—a substantial improvement to the salt monopoly.'

既申中書戶部及河南行省，照勘議擬，文移往復，紛紜不決。久之，戶部乃定議，令運司於已收在官客商帶納挑河錢內，撥鈔一萬錠，起蓋倉房，仍從都省移咨河南行省，委官與運司偕往，相視空地，果無違礙，而後行之。

The proposal went to the Central Secretariat, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Henan branch secretariat. Memorials shuttled back and forth for a long time without resolution. Eventually the Ministry of Revenue decided that the transport commission should allocate ten thousand ingots from the canal-dredging surcharges already collected from merchants to build the warehouses. The Metropolitan Secretariat would instruct the Henan branch secretariat to send officials with the transport commission to survey vacant land and proceed only if no legal obstacle was found.

兩浙之鹽：至元五年，兩浙運司申中書省云：

Salt in the Two Zhe region: In the fifth year of Zhiyuan the Liangzhe salt transport commission reported to the Central Secretariat:

本司自至元十三年創立，當時未有定額。至十五年始立額，辦鹽十五萬九千引。自後累增至四十五萬引，元統元年又增余鹽三萬引，每歲總計四十有八萬。每引初定官價中統鈔五貫，自後增為九貫、十貫，以至三十、五十、六十、一百，今則為三錠矣。每年辦正課中統鈔一百四十四萬錠，較之初年，引增十倍，價增三十倍。課額愈重，煎辦愈難，兼以行鹽地界所拘戶口有限。前時聽從客商就場支給，設立檢校所，稱檢出場鹽袋。又因支查停積，延祐七年，比兩淮之例，改法立倉，綱官押船到場，運鹽赴倉收貯，客旅就倉支鹽。始則為便，經今二十餘年，綱場倉官任非其人，惟務掊克。況淮、浙風土不同，兩淮跨涉四省，課額雖大，地廣民多，食之者眾，可以辦集。本司地界，居江枕海，煎鹽亭竈，散漫海隅，行鹽之地，裏河則與兩淮鄰接，海洋則與遼東相通，番舶往來，私鹽出沒，侵礙官課，雖有刑禁，難盡防禦。鹽法隳壞，亭民消廢，其弊有五：

Our bureau was established in the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan, when no fixed quota yet existed. A quota was first set in the fifteenth year at one hundred fifty-nine thousand certificates. It later rose cumulatively to four hundred fifty thousand certificates. In the first year of Yuantong an additional thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt were added, for an annual total of four hundred eighty thousand. The official price per certificate was initially five strings of Zhongtong notes. It was later raised to nine, then ten, and eventually to thirty, fifty, sixty, and one hundred strings. The current price is three ingots. Annual regular revenue now totals one million four hundred forty thousand ingots of Zhongtong notes. Compared with the founding year, the certificate quota has risen tenfold and the price thirtyfold. As quotas grew heavier, production became harder, and the registered population within the monopoly zone was limited. Merchants had previously been allowed to collect salt directly from the production sites. Inspection offices were set up to check sacks leaving the fields. Because direct collection led to delays and stockpiling, the seventh year of Yanyou brought reform on the Lianghuai model: warehouses were built, convoy officers escorted boats from the fields, salt was stored in warehouses, and merchants drew their allotments there. The system was convenient at first, but over more than twenty years the convoy, field, and warehouse officers have been unfit for their posts and devoted themselves chiefly to extortion. Moreover, the Huai and Zhe regions differ in conditions. Lianghuai spans four provinces. Although its quota is large, its territory is vast, its population numerous, and its consumers many, so the quota can still be met. Our territory lies between river and sea, with boiling sheds and furnaces scattered along the coast. Inland waterways border Lianghuai; the open sea connects with Liaodong. Foreign vessels come and go, and smuggled salt appears everywhere, undermining official revenue. Penalties exist, but complete control is impossible. The salt monopoly has collapsed and the shed households are ruined. There are five major abuses:

本司所轄場司三十四處，各設令、丞、管勾、典史，管領竈戶火丁。用工之時，正當炎暑之月，晝夜不休。才值陰雨，束手仿徨。貧窮小戶，余無生理，衣食所資，全籍工本，稍存抵業之家，十無一二。有司不體其勞，又復差充他役。各場元簽竈戶一萬七千有餘，後因水旱疫癘，流移死亡，止存七千有餘。即今未蒙簽補，所據拋下額鹽，唯勒見戶包煎而已。若不早為簽補，優加存恤，將來必致損見戶而虧大課。此弊之一也。

The commission oversees thirty-four field offices, each staffed with a director, deputy, controller, and clerk to supervise salt-furnace households and boiling laborers. Labor falls in the hottest summer months, with work continuing day and night. When rain sets in, they can only wait helplessly. Poor small households have no other livelihood. Food and clothing depend entirely on wages from boiling. Fewer than one household in ten still has assets to pledge. Officials ignore their hardship and conscript them for other labor duties as well. The fields originally registered more than seventeen thousand salt-furnace households. Floods, drought, and plague have since driven many away or to their deaths, leaving little more than seven thousand. No replenishment registrations have been approved. The abandoned quota salt is simply forced onto the remaining households to boil. Unless households are registered and relieved soon, the survivors will be ruined and major revenue will be lost. This is the first abuse.

又如所設三十五綱監運綱司，專掌召募船戶，照依隨場日煎月辦課額，官給水腳錢，就場支裝所煎鹽袋，每引元額四百斤，又加折耗等鹽十斤，裝為二袋，綱官押運前赴所撥之倉而交納焉。客人到倉支鹽，如自二月至於十月河凍之時，以運足為度，其立法非不周密也。今各綱運鹽船戶，經行歲久，奸弊日滋。凡遇到場裝鹽之時，私屬鹽場官吏司秤人等，重其斤兩，裝為硬袋，出場之後，沿途盜賣，雜以灰土，補其所虧。及到所赴之倉，而倉官司秤人又各受賄，既不加辨，秤盤又不如法。在倉日久，又復消折。袋法不均，誠非細故。不若仍舊令客商就場支給，既免綱運俸給水腳之費，又鹽法一新。此弊之二也。

The thirty-five convoy transport offices recruit boat households and, according to each field's daily production and monthly quota, pay official freight charges. Salt sacks are loaded at the fields: four hundred catties per certificate plus ten catties allowance for loss, packed in two sacks, then escorted by convoy officers to the assigned warehouses for delivery. Merchants drew salt from the warehouses between the second month and the river freeze in the tenth month, with transport considered complete when delivered. The regulations were thorough in design. Convoy boat crews have operated for many years, and fraud grows worse every day. Whenever salt is loaded at the fields, crews bribe depot officials and weighmasters to overweight the sacks. After leaving the depot they sell salt along the route and refill the sacks with ash and dirt. At the receiving warehouses, officials and weighmasters take bribes again, fail to inspect the cargo, and use improper scales. Long warehouse storage causes further loss through seepage and evaporation. Uneven sack weights are no minor matter. It would be better to restore direct collection by merchants at the fields. That would eliminate convoy salaries and freight charges and renew the salt monopoly. This is the second abuse.

本司歲辦額鹽四十八萬引，行鹽之地，兩浙、江東凡一千九百六萬餘口。每日食鹽四錢一分八厘，總而計之，為四十四萬九千餘引。雖賣盡其數，猶剩鹽三萬一千餘引。每年督勒有司，驗戶口請買。又值荒歉連年，流亡者眾，兼以瀕江並海，私鹽公行，軍民官失於防禦，所以各倉停積累歲未賣之鹽，凡九十餘萬引，無從支散。如蒙早降定制，以憑遵守，賞罰既明，私鹽減少，戶口食鹽，不致廢弛。此弊之三也。

The commission produces four hundred eighty thousand certificates of quota salt annually. The monopoly zone in Liangzhe and Jiangdong contains more than nineteen million registered persons. At four mace, one fen, and eight li of salt per person per day, total consumption amounts to a little over four hundred forty-nine thousand certificates. Even if every person bought the full allotment, more than thirty-one thousand certificates would remain unsold. Every year officials are pressed to verify household registers and compel purchases. Years of famine have driven many into exile. Along rivers and coasts smuggled salt circulates openly because military and civil officials fail to enforce the law. As a result, more than nine hundred thousand certificates of unsold salt have accumulated in the warehouses year after year with no way to distribute them. If fixed regulations were issued promptly for officials to follow, with clear rewards and penalties, smuggling would decline and household salt consumption would not collapse. This is the third abuse.

又每季拘收退引，凡遇客人運鹽到所賣之地，先須住報水程及所止店肆，繳納退引。豈期各處提調之官，不能用心檢舉，縱令吏胥坊里正等，需求分例錢，不滿所欲，則多端留難。客人或因發賣遲滯，轉往他所，水程雖住，引不拘納，遂有埋沒，致容奸民藏匿在家，影射私鹽，所司亦不檢勘拘收。其懦善者，賣過官鹽之後，即將引目投之鄉胥。又有狡猾之徒，不行納官，通同鹽徒，執以為憑，興販私鹽。如蒙將有司官吏，明定黜降罪名，使退引盡實還官，不致影射私鹽。此弊之四也。

Each quarter the commission also collects surrendered certificates. When merchants bring salt to a sales point, they must first report their route and lodging and surrender the used certificate. Yet supervising officials in many places fail to investigate properly and allow clerks, runners, and ward heads to demand customary fees. If their demands are not met, they invent endless delays. When sales are slow, merchants move elsewhere. They may report their route but fail to surrender the certificate. Certificates are lost or hidden at home and used to cover smuggling, while officials fail to recover them. Timid merchants hand their certificates to village runners as soon as they finish selling official salt. Craftier men never surrender them to the government but collude with smugglers, keeping the certificates as proof to trade in illicit salt. If officials were given clear penalties for dereliction, surrendered certificates would truly be returned to the government and could no longer shield smuggling. This is the fourth abuse.

本司自延祐七年改立杭州等七倉，設置部轄，掌收各綱船戶，運到鹽袋，貯頓在倉，聽候客人，依次支鹽，俱有定制。比年以來，各倉官攢，肆其貪欲，出納之間，兩收其利。凡遇綱船到倉，必受船戶之賄，縱其雜和灰土，收納入倉。或船戶運至好鹽，無錢致賄，則故生事留難，以致停泊河岸，侵欺盜賣。其倉官與鹽運人等為弊多端，是以各倉積鹽九十餘萬引，新舊相並，充溢廊屋，不能支發，走鹵消折，利害非輕。雖系客人買過之物，課鈔入官，實恐年復一年，為患益甚。若仍舊令客商自備腳力，就場支裝，庶免停積。此弊之五也。

Since the seventh year of Yanyou the commission has operated seven warehouses including Hangzhou under departmental supervision. Convoy boats deliver salt sacks for storage until merchants draw them in order. All of this is governed by fixed regulations. In recent years warehouse superintendents have indulged their greed and profited from both receipts and disbursements. Whenever convoy boats arrive, superintendents take bribes from the crews and accept sacks adulterated with ash and dirt. When crews deliver good salt but cannot pay bribes, superintendents invent obstacles that force boats to moor along the bank, where salt is stolen or sold off. Warehouse officials and transport staff commit many abuses. More than nine hundred thousand certificates of salt have piled up in the warehouses, old stock and new together, filling the halls beyond capacity. The salt cannot be distributed, seeps away, and evaporates—a serious loss. Although merchants have already paid for this salt and revenue has entered the treasury, the problem grows worse every year. If merchants were again allowed to provide their own transport and load salt at the fields, the backlog might be avoided. This is the fifth abuse.

五者之中，各倉停積，最為急務。驗一歲合賣之數，止該四十四萬餘引，盡賣二年，尚不能盡，又復煎運到倉，積累轉多。如蒙特賜奏聞，選委德望重臣，與拘該官府，從長講究，參酌時宜，更張法制，定為良規，惠濟黎元，庶望大課無虧。見為住煎余鹽三萬引，差人賫江浙行省咨文赴中書省，請照詳焉。

Of the five abuses, warehouse stockpiling is the most urgent. Annual sales capacity is only a little over four hundred forty thousand certificates. Even two years of full sales would not clear the stock, yet more salt is boiled and delivered to the warehouses, and the surplus keeps growing. We beg permission to memorialize the throne, appoint a senior statesman of standing, and convene the relevant agencies for thorough deliberation. They should weigh present conditions, reform the regulations, establish sound rules, relieve the people, and preserve major revenue. Boiling of the thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt has been suspended, and an envoy has been sent with a memorial from the Jiangzhe branch secretariat to the Central Secretariat requesting review.

戶部詳運司所言，除余鹽三萬引別議外，其餘事理，未經行省明白定擬，呈省移咨，從長講究。六年五月，中書省奏，選官整治江浙鹽法，命江浙行省右丞納麟及首領官趙郎中等提調，既而納麟又以他故辭。

The Ministry of Revenue reviewed the transport commission's report. Aside from the thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt, which would be considered separately, the remaining issues had not yet been clearly resolved by the branch secretariat. A directive was sent for further deliberation. In the fifth month of the sixth year the Central Secretariat memorialized to appoint officials to reform the Jiangzhe salt monopoly and placed Right Chancellor Nalin of the Jiangzhe branch secretariat and chief officer Zhao Langzhong in charge of the effort. Nalin later declined for other reasons.

至正元年，運使霍亞中又言：「兩淮、福建運司，俱有餘鹽，已行住免。本司系同一體，如蒙依例住煎三萬引，庶大課易為辦集。」中書省上奏，得旨權將余鹽三萬引倚閣，俟鹽法通行而後辦之。

In the first year of Zhizheng Transport Commissioner Huo Yazhong reported again: 'The Lianghuai and Fujian transport commissions both have surplus salt, and boiling has already been suspended. Our bureau is in the same position. If we too are permitted to suspend boiling of thirty thousand certificates on the same precedent, the major quota should be easier to meet.' The Central Secretariat memorialized the throne and received approval to suspend the thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt temporarily until the monopoly functioned again, when production could resume.

二年十月，中書右丞相脫脫、平章鐵木兒塔識等奏：「兩浙食鹽，害民為甚，江浙行省官、運司官屢以為言。擬合欽依世祖皇帝舊制，除近鹽地十里之內，令民認買，革罷見設鹽倉綱運，聽從客商赴運司買引，就場支鹽，許於行鹽地方發賣，革去派散之弊。及設檢校批驗所四處，選任廉幹之人，直隸運司，如遇客商載鹽經過，依例秤盤，均平袋法，批驗引目，運司官常行體究。又自至元十三年歲辦鹽課，額少價輕，今增至四十五萬，額多價重，轉運不行。今戶部定擬，自至正三年為始，將兩浙額鹽量減一十萬引，俟鹽法流通，復還元額，散派食鹽，擬合住罷。」有旨從之。

In the tenth month of the second year Right Chancellor Toghto of the Central Secretariat, Pacification Commissioner Temür Tash, and others memorialized: 'Salt policy in Liangzhe harms the people severely. Officials of the Jiangzhe branch secretariat and the transport commission have reported this repeatedly. We propose to follow the old regulations of Emperor Shizu. Within ten li of the salt fields, residents would continue to purchase salt directly. The existing warehouses and convoy transport would be abolished. Merchants would buy certificates from the transport commission, collect salt at the production sites, and sell within the monopoly zone, eliminating compulsory distribution. Four inspection and verification offices would be established, staffed with honest and capable men directly under the transport commission. When merchants transport salt through them, officials would weigh the cargo by regulation, standardize sack weights, and verify certificates, with transport commissioners conducting regular inspections. Since the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan the annual salt quota was small and the price low. It has now risen to four hundred fifty thousand certificates at a much higher price, and distribution has stalled. The Ministry of Revenue has decided that beginning in the third year of Zhizheng the Liangzhe quota would be reduced by one hundred thousand certificates until the monopoly functioned again, when the original quota would be restored. Compulsory household distribution would also be suspended.' The throne approved.

福建之鹽：至元六年正月，江浙行省據福建運司申：「本司歲辦額課鹽，十有三萬九引一百八十餘斤，今查勘得海口等七場，至元四年閏八月終，積下附余增辦等鹽十萬一千九百六十二引二百六十二斤。看詳，既有積攢附余鹽數，據至元五年額鹽，擬合照依天歷元年住煎正額五萬引，不給工本，將上項余鹽五萬，準作正額，省官本鈔二萬錠，免致亭民重困。本年止辦額鹽八萬九引一百八十餘斤，計鹽十有三萬九引有奇，通行發賣，辦納正課。除留余鹽五萬餘引，預支下年軍民食鹽，實為官民便益。」本省如所擬，咨呈中書省。送戶部參詳，亦如所擬。其下余鹽五萬一千九百六十二引，發賣為鈔，通行起解。回咨本省，從所擬行之。

Salt in Fujian: In the first month of the sixth year of Zhiyuan the Jiangzhe branch secretariat received a report from the Fujian transport commission. The bureau's annual quota was one hundred thirty-nine thousand certificates and a little over one hundred eighty catties. An audit of seven fields including Haikou found that by the end of the intercalary eighth month of the fourth year of Zhiyuan they had accumulated one hundred one thousand nine hundred sixty-two certificates and two hundred sixty-two catties of attached surplus and additional production salt. On review, given the accumulated surplus salt and the fifth-year quota of Zhiyuan, we propose to follow the precedent of the first year of Tianli: suspend boiling of fifty thousand certificates of regular quota, pay no production subsidies, count fifty thousand certificates of the surplus above as regular quota, save twenty thousand ingots of official capital, and spare the shed households further hardship. This year the commission would boil only eighty-nine thousand certificates and a little over one hundred eighty catties of quota salt, while roughly one hundred thirty-nine thousand certificates in all would be released for general sale and the main tax collected. More than fifty thousand certificates of surplus salt would be held back to advance next year's ration salt for troops and civilians, a genuine benefit to the administration and the public." The province endorsed the proposal and reported it to the Central Secretariat. The memorial went to the Ministry of Revenue for review, which approved it as proposed. The remaining fifty-one thousand nine hundred sixty-two certificates of surplus salt were sold for notes and forwarded for collection throughout the circuit. The secretariat replied to the province and ordered the plan carried out.

至正元年，詔：「福建、山東俵賣食鹽，病民為甚。行省、監察御史、廉訪司拘該有司官，宜公同講究。」二年六月，江浙行省左丞與行臺監察御史、福建廉訪司官及運使常山李鵬舉、漳州等八路正官講究得食鹽不便，其目有三：一曰余鹽三萬引，難同正額，擬合除免。二曰鹽額太重，比依廣海例，止收價二錠。三曰住罷食鹽，並令客商通行。

In the first year of Zhizheng an edict declared: "In Fujian and Shandong the compulsory household sale of salt inflicts severe harm on the people. The branch secretariat, the regional censorate, and the surveillance commission should summon the responsible officials and conduct a joint inquiry." In the sixth month of the second year the left councillor of the Jiangzhe branch secretariat, regional censors, Fujian surveillance officials, Transport Commissioner Li Pengju of Changshan, and the chief magistrates of Zhangzhou and the other seven circuits concluded that the salt monopoly was unworkable. They listed three reforms: first, thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt, which could not be folded into the regular quota, should be abolished outright. Second, the quota was excessive; following the Guanghai precedent, the price should be capped at two ingots per certificate. Third, compulsory household salt distribution should end and traveling merchants should be allowed to trade freely.

福建鹽課始自至元十三年，見在鹽六千五十五引，每引鈔九貫。二十年，煎賣鹽五萬四千二百引，每引鈔十四貫。二十五年，增為一錠。三十一年，始立鹽運司，增鹽額為七萬引。元貞二年，每引增價十五貫。大德八年，罷運司，並入宣慰使司恢辦。十年，立都提舉司，增鹽額為十萬引。至大元年，各場煎出余鹽三萬引。四年，復立運司，遂定額為十三萬引，增價鈔為二錠。延祐元年，又增為三錠，運司又從權改法，建、延、汀、邵仍舊客商興販，而福、興、漳、泉四路樁配民食，流害迄今三十餘年。本道山多田少，土瘠民貧，民不加多，鹽額增重。八路秋糧，每歲止二十七萬八千九百餘石，夏稅不過一萬一千五百餘錠，而鹽課十三萬引，該鈔三十九萬錠。民力日弊，每遇催征，貧者質妻鬻子以輸課，至無可規措，往往逃移他方。近年漳寇擾攘，亦由於此。運司官耳聞目見，蓋因職專恢辦，惠無所施。如蒙欽依詔書事意，罷余鹽三萬引，革去散賣食鹽之弊，聽從客商八路通行發賣，誠為官民兩便。其正額鹽，若依廣海鹽價，每引中統鈔二錠，宜從都省區處。

Fujian's salt monopoly dated from the thirteenth year of Zhiyuan, when production stood at six thousand fifty-five certificates at nine strings of notes each. In the twentieth year fifty-four thousand two hundred certificates were produced, each priced at fourteen strings. In the twenty-fifth year the price rose to one ingot per certificate. In the thirty-first year a salt transport commission was established and the quota was raised to seventy thousand certificates. In the second year of Yuandezhen the price per certificate rose by fifteen strings. In the eighth year of Dade the transport commission was abolished and its duties folded into the pacification commission. In the tenth year a chief transport directorate was created and the quota reached one hundred thousand certificates. In the first year of Zhida the fields together produced thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt. In the fourth year the transport commission was restored, the quota fixed at one hundred thirty thousand certificates, and the price raised to two ingots of notes. In the first year of Yanyou the price rose again to three ingots, and the transport commission once more altered the rules at its discretion. Jianning, Yanping, Tingzhou, and Shaowu still allowed merchant trade as before, but Fuzhou, Xinghua, Zhangzhou, and Quanzhou imposed fixed household salt quotas—a abuse that has persisted for more than thirty years. The region is mountainous and arable land scarce; the soil is thin and the people poor. The population has not grown, yet the salt quota keeps climbing. Annual autumn grain for the eight circuits totals barely two hundred seventy-eight thousand nine hundred shi; summer tax yields no more than eleven thousand five hundred ingots—while salt revenue alone is one hundred thirty thousand certificates, worth three hundred ninety thousand ingots. Popular hardship deepens daily. Under collection pressure the poor pawn their wives and sell their children to meet the levy; when they can do nothing else, they flee elsewhere. The recent unrest in Zhangzhou stems in part from this burden. Transport officials see the suffering firsthand, yet because their mandate is to maximize revenue, they can extend no relief. If the court follows the edict's intent—abolishing thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt, ending compulsory household distribution, and allowing merchants to trade freely across the eight circuits—both the administration and the populace would benefit. For regular-quota salt, pricing should follow the Guanghai rate of two Zhongtong ingots per certificate, to be decided by the metropolitan secretariat.

江浙行省遂以左丞所講究，咨呈中書省，送戶部定擬，自至正三年為始，將余鹽三萬引，權令減免，散派食鹽擬合住罷。其減正額鹽價，即與廣海提舉司事例不同，別難更議。十月二十八日，右丞相脫脫、平章帖木兒達失等，以所擬奏而行之。

The Jiangzhe branch secretariat forwarded the left councillor's findings to the Central Secretariat and the Ministry of Revenue. Beginning in the third year of Zhizheng, thirty thousand certificates of surplus salt would be temporarily exempted and compulsory household salt distribution would be suspended. A cut in the regular-quota price could not be reconciled with the Guanghai precedent and was left for separate deliberation. On the twenty-eighth day of the tenth month Right Chancellor Toghto, Pacification Commissioner Temür Tash, and others presented the plan to the throne and it was approved.

廣東之鹽：至元二年，御史臺準江南諸道行御史臺咨備監察御史韓承務建言：「廣東道所管鹽課提舉司，自至元十六年為始，止辦鹽額六百二十一引，自後累增至三萬五千五百引，延祐間又增余鹽，通正額計五萬五百五十二引。竈戶窘於工程，官民迫於催督，呻吟愁苦，已逾十年。泰定間，蒙憲臺及奉使宣撫，交章敷陳，減免余鹽一萬五千引。元統元年，都省以支持不敷，權將已減余鹽，依舊煎辦，今已三載，未蒙住罷。竊意議者，必謂廣東控制海道，連接諸蕃，船商輳集，民物富庶，易以辦納，是蓋未能深知彼中事宜。本道所轄七路八州，平土絕少，加以嵐瘴毒癘，其民刀耕火種，巢顛穴岸，崎嶇辛苦，貧窮之家，經歲淡食，額外辦鹽，賣將誰售。所謂富庶者，不過城郭商賈與舶船交易者數家而已。竈戶鹽丁，十逃三四，官吏畏罪，止將見存人戶，勒令帶煎。又有大可慮者，本道密邇蠻獠，民俗頑惡，誠恐有司責辦太嚴，斂怨生事，所系非輕。如蒙捐此微利，以示大信，疲民幸甚。」具呈中書省，送戶部定擬，自元統三年為始，廣東提舉司所辦余鹽，量減五千引。十月初九日，中書省以所擬奏聞，得旨從之。

Salt in Guangdong: In the second year of Zhiyuan the censorate endorsed a memorial from the Jiangnan regional censorate citing Supervising Censor Han Chengwu. The Guangdong salt directorate had handled only six hundred twenty-one certificates from the sixteenth year of Zhiyuan, but the quota had risen repeatedly to thirty-five thousand five hundred, and in the Yanyou era surplus salt was added, bringing the combined total to fifty thousand five hundred fifty-two certificates. Shed households buckled under production quotas while officials and commoners alike faced relentless collection. Their distress had lasted more than a decade. During the Taide reign the censorate and pacification commissioners filed repeated memorials that secured a reduction of fifteen thousand certificates of surplus salt. In the first year of Yuantong the metropolitan secretariat, facing a revenue shortfall, temporarily restored the reduced surplus salt to production. Three years later it had still not been suspended. Critics assume that because Guangdong commands the sea lanes, trades with foreign ports, and draws wealthy merchants, the region can easily meet any quota. They do not understand conditions on the ground. The seven circuits and eight prefectures under its jurisdiction contain almost no flat land. Miasma and epidemic disease are endemic; farmers slash-and-burn on cliff faces and live in cliffside shelters under brutal conditions. Poor families eat plain food year-round—who would buy salt levied beyond the quota? What prosperity exists is confined to a handful of city merchants and ocean traders. Three or four salt workers in ten have fled. Fearful of punishment, officials compel the households who remain to cover the shortfall. Worse, the circuit borders tribal territories whose peoples are fierce and unruly. If officials press collection too hard, resentment could spark unrest—a matter of no small consequence. If the court would surrender this minor revenue to show good faith, the exhausted populace would be deeply grateful." The memorial went to the Central Secretariat and the Ministry of Revenue, which ordered that from the third year of Yuantong the Guangdong directorate's surplus salt quota be cut by five thousand certificates. On the ninth day of the tenth month the Central Secretariat reported to the throne and received approval.

廣海之鹽：至元五年三月，湖廣行省咨中書省云：「廣海鹽課提舉司額鹽三萬五千一百六十五引，余鹽一萬五千引。近因黎賊為害，民不聊生，正額積虧四萬餘引，臥收在庫。若復添辦余鹽，困苦未蘇，恐致不安。事關利害，如蒙憐憫，聞奏除免，庶期元額可辦，不致遺患邊民。」戶部議云：「上項余鹽，若全恢辦，緣非元額，兼以本司僻在海隅，所轄竈民，累遭劫掠，死亡逃竄，民物雕弊，擬於一萬五千引內，量減五千引，以舒民力。」中書以所擬奏聞，得旨從之。

Salt in Guanghai: In the third month of the fifth year of Zhiyuan the Huguang branch secretariat reported to the Central Secretariat that the Guanghai salt directorate's regular quota was thirty-five thousand one hundred sixty-five certificates and its surplus quota fifteen thousand. Li rebellions had lately ravaged the region and left the people destitute. More than forty thousand certificates of regular-quota salt sat unsold in the warehouses. Restoring surplus production before the population recovered risked further unrest. The stakes are high. We beg the court's compassion to exempt the surplus so the original quota can be met without bringing disaster on the frontier population." The ministry replied: "Full restoration of the surplus is inappropriate because it lies outside the original quota. The directorate sits at a remote corner of the sea; shed households have been raided repeatedly, and many have died or fled, leaving the region devastated. We propose cutting five thousand of the fifteen thousand certificates of surplus salt to relieve the populace." The Central Secretariat submitted the plan and the throne approved.

四川之鹽：元統三年，四川行省據鹽茶轉運使司申：「至順四年，中書坐到添辦余鹽一萬引外，又帶辦兩浙運司五千引，與正額鹽通行煎辦，已後支用不闕，再行議擬。卑司為各場別無煎出余鹽，不免勒令竈戶承認規劃，幸已足備。以後年分，若不申覆，誠恐竈戶逃竄，有妨正課。如蒙憐憫，備咨中書省，於所辦余鹽一萬引內，量減帶辦兩浙之數。」又準分司運官所言云：「四川鹽井，俱在萬山之間，比之腹裏、兩淮，優苦不同，又行帶辦余鹽，竈民由此而疲矣。」行省咨呈中書省，上奏得旨，權以帶辦余鹽五千引倚閣之。

Salt in Sichuan: In the third year of Yuantong the Sichuan branch secretariat relayed a report from the salt and tea transport commission. In the fourth year of Zhishun the Central Secretariat had ordered ten thousand certificates of surplus salt plus an attached five thousand from the Liangzhe transport commission, all to be boiled with the regular quota. Expenditures had been covered, but the arrangement was under review. Because the fields produced no surplus, the bureau had no choice but to force shed households to meet the attached quota—which they had barely fulfilled. Unless the court is petitioned again, shed households will flee and regular revenue will suffer. We beg compassion: report to the Central Secretariat and reduce the attached Liangzhe quota within the ten thousand certificates of surplus salt." A sub-commission transport officer added: "Sichuan's brine wells lie deep in the mountains. Conditions differ utterly from the interior and Lianghuai. The attached surplus quota is crushing the producers." The branch secretariat reported to the Central Secretariat and received approval to suspend temporarily the five thousand certificates of attached surplus salt.

至元二年，江西、湖廣兩行省具以茶運司同知萬家閭所言添印茶由事，咨呈中書省云：「本司歲辦額課二十八萬九千二百餘錠，除門攤批驗鈔外，數內茶引一百萬張，每引十二兩五錢，共為鈔二十五萬錠。末茶自有官印筒袋關防，其零斤草茶由帖，每年印造一千三百八萬五千二百八十九斤，該鈔二萬九千八十餘錠。茶引一張，照茶九十斤，客商興販。其小民買食及江南產茶去處零斤采賣，皆須由帖為照。春首發賣茶由，至於夏秋，茶由盡絕，民間闕用。以此考之，茶由數少課輕，便於民用而不敷，茶引課重數多，止於商旅興販，年終尚有停閑未賣者。每歲合印茶由，以十分為率，量添二分，計二百六十一萬七千五十八斤。算依引目內官茶，每斤收鈔一錢三分八厘八毫八絲，計增鈔七千二百六十九錠七兩，比驗減去引目二萬九千七十六張，庶幾引不停閑，茶無私積。中書戶部定擬，江西茶運司歲辦公據十萬道，引一百萬，計鈔二十八萬九千二百餘錠。茶引便於商販，而山場小民全憑茶由為照，歲辦茶由一千三百八萬五千二百八十九斤，每斤一錢一分一厘一毫二絲，計鈔五千八百一十六錠七兩四錢一分，減引二萬三千二百六十四張。茶引一張，造茶九十斤，納官課十二兩五錢。如於茶由量添二分，計二百六十一萬七千五十八斤，每斤添收鈔一錢三分八厘八毫八絲，計鈔七千二百六十九錠七兩，積出余零鈔數，官課無虧，而便於民用。」合準本省所擬，具呈中書省，移咨行省，如所擬行之。

In the second year of Zhiyuan the Jiangxi and Huguang branch secretariats reported Wan Jialü, vice commissioner of the tea transport commission, on expanding printed tea vouchers. The commission's annual quota was two hundred eighty-nine thousand two hundred ingots. Aside from gate and inspection fees, one million tea certificates at twelve taels five qian each accounted for two hundred fifty thousand ingots. Bulk tea already bore official canisters, bags, and seals. Vouchers for loose and inferior tea totaled thirteen million eight hundred five thousand two hundred eighty-nine jin annually, worth twenty-nine thousand eighty ingots. Each tea certificate covered ninety jin and was sold to traveling merchants. Household purchases and small-scale picking in Jiangnan tea districts all required voucher documentation. Vouchers were issued in spring, but by summer and autumn the supply ran out, leaving the public without documentation. The vouchers were too few and lightly taxed—convenient for ordinary users but inadequate. Certificates carried a heavier levy and served mainly merchants, yet many remained unsold at year's end. The proposal was to increase annual voucher production by two-tenths, adding two million six hundred seventeen thousand fifty-eight jin. Charging one qian three fen eight li eight hao eight si per jin on the added volume would yield seven thousand two hundred sixty-nine ingots seven liang, offset by cutting twenty-nine thousand seventy-six certificates—keeping certificates from sitting idle and curbing hoarding. The Central Secretariat and Ministry of Revenue approved: the Jiangxi tea transport commission would issue one hundred thousand documents and one million certificates annually, worth two hundred eighty-nine thousand two hundred ingots. Certificates suited merchants, but hill farmers depended entirely on vouchers. Annual vouchers of thirteen million eight hundred five thousand two hundred eighty-nine jin at one qian one fen one li one hao two si per jin would yield five thousand eight hundred sixteen ingots seven liang four qian one fen, with twenty-three thousand two hundred sixty-four fewer certificates. Each certificate authorized ninety jin of tea and a levy of twelve taels five qian. Adding two-tenths to the vouchers—two million six hundred seventeen thousand fifty-eight jin at one qian three fen eight li eight hao eight si per jin—would bring seven thousand two hundred sixty-nine ingots seven liang without reducing official revenue, while easing life for ordinary users." The plan was approved as the province proposed, sent to the Central Secretariat, and relayed to the branch secretariat for implementation.

至正二年，李宏陳言內一節，言江州茶司據引不便事云：「榷茶之制，古所未有，自唐以來，其法始備。國朝既於江州設立榷茶都轉運司，仍於各路出茶之地設立提舉司七處，專任散據賣引，規辦國課，莫敢誰何。每至十二月初，差人勾集各處提舉司官吏，關領次年據引。及其到司，旬月之間，司官不能偕聚。吏貼需求，各滿所欲，方能給付據引。此時春月已過。及還本司，方欲點對給散，又有分司官吏，到各處驗戶散據賣引。每引十張，除正納官課一百二十五兩外，又取要中統鈔二十五兩，名為搭頭事例錢，以為分司官吏饋饣盡之資。提舉司雖以榷茶為名，其實不能專散據賣引之任，不過為運司官吏營辦資財而已。上行下效，勢所必然。提舉司既見分司官吏所為若是，亦復仿效遷延。及茶戶得據還家，已及五六月矣。中間又存留茶引二三千本，以茶戶消乏為名，轉賣與新興之戶。每據又多取中統鈔二十五兩，上下分派，各為己私。不知此等之錢，自何而出，其為茶戶之苦，有不可言。至如得據在手，碾磨方興，吏卒踵門，催並初限。不知茶未發賣，何從得錢？間有充裕之家，必須別行措辦。其力薄者，例被拘監，無非典鬻家私，以應官限。及終限不能足備，上司緊並，重復勾追，非法苦楚。此皆由運司給引之遲，分司苛取之過。茶戶本圖求利，反受其害，日見消乏逃亡，情實堪憫。今若申明舊制，每歲正月，須要運司盡將據引給付提舉司，隨時派散，無得停留在庫，多收分例，妨誤造茶時月；如有過期，別行定罪。仍不許運司似前分司自行散賣據引，違者從肅政廉訪司依例糾治。如此，庶茶司少革貪黷之風，茶戶免損乏之害。」中書省以其言送戶部定擬，復移咨江西行省，委官與茶運司講究，如果便益，如所言行之。

In the second year of Zhizheng Li Hong's memorial included a section on problems with tea certificates at the Jiangzhou bureau: "State monopolization of tea did not exist in antiquity; the Tang dynasty first established a full regulatory system. The dynasty founded the Jiangzhou tea transport directorate and seven regional supervisory offices at tea-producing circuits, each charged with selling certificates and meeting the national quota—none could resist them. Each December officials were sent to summon the supervisory commissioners and issue the next year's certificates. After they reached the directorate, a month might pass before all commissioners could assemble. Clerks and runners extorted bribes until every demand was met before certificates were handed over. By then spring was already gone. Back at the directorate they would begin distribution—while branch officials toured the circuits to verify households and sell certificates on site. For every ten certificates, beyond the official levy of one hundred twenty-five taels, clerks extracted twenty-five liang of Zhongtong notes as "surcharge precedent fees" to fund branch officials' entertainment. Though called tea monopolies, the supervisory offices could not actually control certificate sales—they merely raised revenue for transport commissioners. What superiors do, subordinates imitate—inevitably so. Seeing branch officials behave this way, the supervisory offices copied their delays. Tea growers did not get their certificates home until the fifth or sixth month. Officials also hoarded two or three thousand certificates, claiming growers were exhausted, and resold them to newcomers. Each certificate brought another twenty-five liang in Zhongtong notes, split between superiors and subordinates for private profit. No one could say where this money came from; the growers' suffering defied description. Once certificates were in hand and grinding had barely begun, clerks and runners appeared at the door demanding the first installment. The tea had not been sold—where was the money to come from? Only well-off households could raise the cash elsewhere. The poor were routinely imprisoned and often forced to sell family property illegally to meet official deadlines. Those who missed the final deadline faced relentless pressure, repeated summons, and unlawful torment. The root cause was late issuance by the transport commission and excessive levies by the branch offices. Growers who sought profit found only injury; exhaustion and flight grew daily—a plight that merited compassion. Li Hong proposed restoring the old rule: every first month the transport commission must deliver all certificates to the supervisory offices for immediate distribution, with none held in storehouses, no surcharges, and no delay into the tea-making season; late delivery would be separately punishable by law. The transport commission must not, like the branch offices before, sell certificates on its own; violators would be prosecuted by the surveillance commission. That way the tea bureau might curb its corruption and growers would escape ruin." The Central Secretariat referred the memorial to the Ministry of Revenue and notified the Jiangxi branch secretariat to work with the tea transport commission. If the reforms proved beneficial, they were to be enacted as proposed."

Cite this Chapter