清代两淮盐商捐输新探

A New Exploration of the Donations of Lianghuai Salt Merchants in the Qing Dynasty

清代盐商捐输很少起到补苴国家财政的效果。乾嘉时期,两淮盐商频繁获准“借帑报效、分纲纳还”,导致运库账目“公私交杂”,部分总商借机控制运库并以“赏借办公”为名大肆侵吞库款。皇帝“赏收”捐银是为绕过户部灵活支用库银,总商则是为“借”而“捐”,即借口捐输、套出库银以获取维持经营的现金流。管库总商越捐越富,散商则因无法染指库银越捐越穷,两淮“质窝”借贷市场由是发展。延至道光初年,运库存银已被瓜分殆尽,朝廷勒令长期以来“虚称报效”的盐商按限归缴巨额欠款。市场银根紧俏,抛售根窝,两淮盐商因窝价下跌、利率飙升而消乏歇业,最终在陶澍改革中破产。清代收支定额原则下的会计制度,不能实现对利润、损失的精确核算,是政府财政管理失败的根源所在。

The donations of salt merchants in the Qing Dynasty seldom had the effect of supplementing the national finances.During the Qianlong-Jiaqing period,Lianghuai salt merchants were frequently allowed to borrow funds from the Treasury to make donations,causing the Treasury’s accounts to be in chaos.Some head merchants took the opportunity to control the Treasury and embezzle financial funds.The emperor also collected donations to bypass the Ministry of Finance and flexibly spend the Treasury funds,while the head merchants“donated”funds for“borrowing.”The head merchants donated and became richer,while the retail merchants donated and become poorer because they were unable to take advantage of the Treasury funds.In the early years of the Daoguang reign,the silver deposits in the Treasury had been divided up,and the court therefore demanded that the salt merchants who had falsely donated funds for a long time should repay the huge debts within a specified time limit.The money market was tight,and genwo was sold off.Lianghuai salt merchants were exhausted due to the fall in prices and the soaring interest rates,and eventually they went bankrupt under Tao Shu’s reform.The accounting system using the principle of fixed income and expenditure in the Qing Dynasty could not accurately account for profits and losses,which was the root cause of the failure of government financial management.