Strengthening of the Ming Salt and Iron Monopoly

Timeline

1. 1391Yangzhou Prefecture, Taizhou · JiangsuIn Hongwu 24, the court ordered salt-boiling households of Yangzhou Prefecture and Taizhou to pay in paper currency when drawing official salt for their own consumption, following the precedent set in Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Chuzhou prefectures. This brought the salt rationing of boiling households into the monetary fiscal system and strengthened state control over salt production and circulation as well as salt-tax collection.
2. 1391Nine Frontier garrisons and Lianghuai salt fields · ChinaIn the early Ming, both salt and iron were managed by the state, with salt transport commissions established at Lianghuai, Liangzhe, Changlu, and elsewhere. The kaizhong system, founded in Hongwu 3, allowed merchants to deliver grain to frontier granaries in exchange for salt certificates; salt law and frontier defense planning proceeded hand in hand. During the Hongwu era, each boiling household was assigned an annual quota of small-denomination salt, and merchants drew salt from designated fields, with the state monopolizing salt profits to fund military pay.
3. 1391Iron smelting offices and guard units in various places · ChinaThe Ming inherited and strengthened Yuan institutions of state-run iron production, setting up iron smelting offices in various places. Iron goods, apart from farm tools, were largely controlled by the government in production and sale, and the weapons and farm tools of the guard units mostly relied on state-run supply. The salt and iron monopolies together formed a basic state policy of the early Ming for controlling the economic lifelines and ensuring frontier military needs.