Requesting Salt and Iron Trade to Fund the State請開鹽鐵之路以足國用。啓
兵興三載財穀殫盡生財之道不可不極力措置前者設立鹽鐵使使管鹽鐵之利苟能善爲區畫則不擾一民而利益必多議者但以近來檢察使等官多以無賴之人稱爲煮鹽官列邑苦之遂幷與鹽鐵使而廢之誠可恨也夫人不能一日無鹽其切於生人之需與五穀相等而出於海水者無有竆極昔齊桓公問爲國於管仲而仲以鹽筴對其後自漢唐宋以及。皇朝無不以此爲理財足食之源特我國之人狃於尋常不知要領而泛規爲等閒無益之事乍興乍廢有同戱劇實爲未便今則以鹽鐵之任歸於度支此則果爲得體蓋戶曹盡管財利之政如善爲之不必別出一使也但爲之亦當得其要領蓋沿海處處本有鹽戶可以興煮無竆第綠徭役煩重苛政相侵故鹽戶日漸流散鹽戶流散故鹽盆數少而鹽貴如金公私交病今盡除許多紛紜張設之事惟减其鹽戶之役使之安集而逐日所煮與之相約以幾石爲公鹽其餘使之自食一年公鹽其數不可勝紀於是戶曹通計各處見在之數從時直許民和賣又以舟船連次輸運散布於山谷稀鹽之處隨時平價務在便民則穀物流行公私兩便生財之道無過於此竊見中原遼東志載鹽盆幾處鹽軍幾名今亦只知某邑鹽戶幾何鹽盆多少而已其事豈不簡省而易行哉至於鐵則亦儘有可行之方雖不必一時幷擧而近日中江開市唐人多求水鐵故以此貿穀其利亦多此亦在有司詳參利害如鹽戶安集之規使鐵物興產則似亦有通行之路右兩條命戶曹堂上一員專管責成如何
Three years have passed since the raising of the armies, and goods and grain are wholly spent; we cannot but bend every effort to open ways of producing wealth. Earlier a Salt and Iron Commissioner (鹽鐵使) was set up to take charge of the profits of salt and iron, and if the matter could truly be apportioned and reckoned well, the profit would surely be great without troubling a single one of the people. Yet those who debated it said only that of late there have been many worthless men among officials such as the Inspectors (檢察使), who call themselves officers of the salt-boiling and so bring suffering upon the various districts; and in the end they did away with the Salt and Iron Commissioner along with the rest. This is truly to be regretted.
No man can live a single day without salt. For the needs of the living it is as pressing as the five grains, and since it comes from seawater it is without end. In old days, when Duke Huan (桓公) of Qi asked Guan Zhong (管仲) how a state is governed, Guan Zhong answered him with the policy of salt; and from that time on, from Han, Tang, and Song down to the Imperial Court (皇朝), there has been no state that did not make this the source for ordering its wealth and making its food plentiful. Only the people of our country, grown used to what they have always done, do not know the knack of it; they treat it carelessly as an idle and useless business, raising it up for a moment and abolishing it the next as though at play. This is truly not proper.
Now the charge of salt and iron has been turned over to the Treasury (度支), and in this the proper form has indeed been found. For the Ministry of Taxation holds the whole administration of goods and profit, and if it be well done there is no need to send out a separate commissioner. Only, even in the doing of it, the knack of it must be got.
Along the seacoast there have always been salt households (鹽戶) in every place, and they can boil out salt without end. Only, because the labor services laid upon them are vexatious and heavy and harsh government encroaches upon them from every side, the salt households scatter day by day; and because the salt households scatter, the salt cauldrons are few and salt is as dear as gold, and both the state and the people are sickened by it. If now every one of the vexatious undertakings that have been set up were done away with, and only the labor services of the salt households were lightened so that they might gather and dwell in peace; and if what they boil each day were agreed upon beforehand, so many seom to be taken as public salt (公鹽) and the remainder to be the salt households' own to live upon, then the amount of public salt in a year could not be written down for its greatness.
Then, if the Ministry of Taxation reckons up the whole amount held in every place and allows the people to buy and sell at the market price, and further carries it by ship one load after another and distributes it through the mountain valleys where salt is scarce, evening out the price as the season requires and bending its effort to the people's ease, grain will circulate and state and people alike will be at ease. There is no better way of producing wealth than this.
Observing quietly, we find that the Gazetteer of Liaodong (遼東志) of the Central Plain records how many places there are with salt cauldrons and how many soldiers boil the salt. Now we too need only know how many salt households and how many salt cauldrons there are in each district; how should such a business not be simple and easy to carry out?
As for iron too, there is no lack of methods that may be put into practice. Though there is no need to take them all up at once, a market has lately been opened at Junggang (中江), and the Chinese there seek much cast iron; if grain be exchanged for it, the profit is likewise great. In this too, if the officials in charge (有司) reckon the gains and losses closely and bring forth iron in quantity after the same manner by which the salt households are gathered in peace, there seems likewise to be a way through.
Would it not be well to command one senior official (堂上) of the Ministry of Taxation to take sole charge of the two items above and bring them to completion?