Confucian scholars protested agasint this policy, saying that the nation was pursuing profits and depriving the property of the common people, so the next Emperor Zhao (Han) held a debate to discuss the pros and cons of this policy (it is said that this debate was summarized into "Discourses on Salt and Iron").
これには国家が利益追求を行って庶民から財を貪るものだとして儒学者から反対の声が上がり、次の昭帝(漢)の代にはこの政策の賛否を巡る論争会が開かれた（この論争を纏めたのが『塩鉄論』であると言われている）。