Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 111 Salt Benefits
In front of Jingchun Tower, after hearing Zhao Sihai's question, Li Youjin hurriedly tugged on his sleeve, moved to a place where there were few people, and after looking around, he replied in a low voice: "Is there someone from Brother Zhao's house?"

Zhao Sihai heard his voice, and knew that Li Youjin must have encountered a situation similar to his own.So I roughly narrated the events of that day, but withdrew many embarrassing details.

Li Youjin sighed: "The younger brother is in the same situation as the elder brother. Jin Yiwei has already found out the details of my family, and even found out that the younger brother has close contacts with Liu Er from Zhanshan, Liufeng Mountain, Laishui County! He threatened that if the younger brother does not come to the meeting, he will Send soldiers to suppress Liu Er, and then give me the name of a bandit to ransack my family and exterminate my family!"

Zhao Sihai said suspiciously: "If you want me to say it, I will come. If it is true as those people said, this is a good thing! Such good salt, someone will deliver it to your door, saving countless costs, and the price is low. Let's take it as it is now. If you sell it at a lower price, wouldn’t the profit be even greater?”

Li Youjin shook his head and said, "Brother, haven't you thought about it? If this is the case, how can the government stop? This is equivalent to stealing money from the imperial court! Even if it is really good salt, but once we buy the distribution, if the imperial court sends troops to inspect It's a big disaster!"

Zhao Sihai thought for a while, and felt that what Li Youjin said was indeed reasonable.

Originally, they had to buy salt from the government first, and the imperial court had already received a profit.Then send people to the Lianghuai Salt Fields to get salt according to the quotation, and they have to spend extra money to manage various relationships.Afterwards, it was transported back to the Northland by water boat, and at various checkpoints along the way, it would cost money to exploit officers, soldiers and petty officials.Lin Lin finally figured it out, and the money spent on the management was much higher than the money used to buy the salt.

This is a practice that has been formed over the years, and no one can change it.The salt provided by Yanyin is too little, so the salt merchants will buy more from the salt households, and bring them back to sell in order to earn more profits.

What they don't know is that most of the profits collected by the salt households after selling them private salt will be taken away by officials and subordinates, and then go into personal pockets.

Why is the salt given on the salt guide less?It is because if there are more official salts, those who take the opportunity to enrich their own pockets will have less profit.These people colluded together, colluded up and down, deliberately reduced the official salt, and then made huge profits by selling it privately to salt merchants, so that the salt tax revenue received by the court decreased sharply.

This kind of matter is an open secret, and Jin Yiwei can find out clearly after a little investigation.After Chongzhen came up with sun-dried salt, if the original salt was still introduced, most of the profits generated by the salt would still be divided up by old and new moths, and internal money and the treasury would still only get small profits.

Chongzhen originally wanted to abolish the salt introduction system and nationalize all salt from production to sales.Although it is inevitable that some people will get money from it, but the accounts are clear and the vast majority of the profits are still included in the national treasury and internal funds when regular inquiries are made.

But the abolition of salt will surely move the cheese of interest groups.There are countless people involved in this group, ranging from senior cabinet ministers to junior officials Cao Ding, a little carelessness can lead to catastrophe.At present, internal and external troubles, natural and man-made disasters continue one after another, forbearance is the best choice for the time being.

But Chongzhen was unwilling to let his own profits be divided up by these people. After thinking hard for a long time, he came up with such a plan-to use high-quality and cheap sun-dried salt and distribute it through salt merchants in Beidi to divide Lianghuai And Sichuan salt is gradually squeezed out of the northern market.After the domestic situation stabilizes in the future, it will further develop to the south until it completely occupies the entire salt market of Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen roughly calculated an account. According to historical data, the current total population of Ming Dynasty is about 2000 million.The amount of salt that people eat every year at this time is very amazing. There are a lot of data to prove that adults need about fifteen catties of salt every year.

If this number is balanced with the old, weak, women and children, and a lower value is taken, each person eats five catties of salt per year, and the population is calculated as [-] million, then the annual salt consumption of the whole of Daming is around [-] million catties.

According to the data provided by Jinyiwei, the price of salt in the north of the Yangtze River in Daming is much higher than that in Jiangnan and other places. Now the price of salt in the vicinity of Gyeonggi has reached about [-] yuan per catty, and there is a tendency to continue to rise.

Chongzhen plans to use low-cost sea salt on the market in large quantities to attack the low-quality and high-priced Lianghuai salt, and cancel the old salt rationing system based on head.As long as there is demand in the market, increase the supply and sell as much as you want.

Of course, all of this cannot be made in the name of the official, and he doesn't want to make any further twists and turns.

Due to the increase in the number of salt pans, the cost of drying salt can be ignored.According to the price set by Chongzhen, the price of salt merchants this time was set at [-] Wen per catty.This is because of the lack of money, Chongzhen ruthlessly raised the low price. Originally, he wanted to pay fifty cents per catty. After all, the people are in poverty, and they earn their hard-earned money from this basic living material. , Chongzhen couldn't bear it.

After a few years, when internal and external troubles subside, Chongzhen will greatly reduce the price of salt to reduce the basic living pressure and burden of the people.

The price of eighty coins, based on the current salt consumption of about 4000 million people in the Jiangbei area, the amount of money received each year is an astronomical figure.Excluding some miscellaneous expenses, the salt interest alone is enough to support all the expenses of the court.

After doing some calculations, Chongzhen understood why the salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River were so rich. It would cost millions of taels of silver to build a garden.The profit of salt is really too rich, so rich that as long as someone wants to go to the tiger's mouth to grab food, even if you are the emperor, these people will unite and fight you desperately.

Chongzhen thought to himself, the profit of salt is so high, why did those travelers go to great lengths to make soap and perfume to make money?Those things are not necessary, but salt is a must for everyone.In the time-traveling text, whether it is time-traveling to the emperor or a commoner, most of them hold strong force in their hands in the end.Now that we have force, it is enough to directly benefit from salt. Why go to such lengths and attract criticism from countless readers to make soap?Could it be that all the time-traveling bosses disdain this little profit?
The reason why Chongzhen used Jin Yiwei to endorse the salt merchants conference was to let the salt merchants know who was behind it.Jin Yiwei's current reputation is enough to suppress all kinds of dissatisfaction, and the civil servants who have been passive to Cheese can't do anything about them.Jin Yiwei is the emperor's pro-army, no one has jurisdiction over them, and impeachment has no effect.If he went too far and completely offended the boss of Jinyiwei, he might be caught by Beizhen Fusi for corruption and sent directly to prison.Once in prison, no one except the emperor can save himself.

Although Chongzhen didn't like this privileged system, he had no choice but to take tough measures to make money in a troubled world. The disadvantages of it should be reformed after the situation stabilizes.

Around noon, when all the notified salt merchants had gathered, Gong Fanwu appeared on the stage in white clothes. He introduced himself as an idler, and by chance, he got the method of making salt, so he made good salt. Today, he wanted to make a fortune with everyone.Because every salt merchant present had heard from Jin Yiwei who came to the door, Gong Fanwu explained the purpose of the gathering openly and honestly, and then the banquet began.Gong Fanwu began to toast at each table, followed by several captains in Jinyi, each holding a plate in his hand, on which was a pile of fine salt that was slightly yellower than snow.

Everywhere they went, guests at every table were shocked by the color of the salt.The table salt they sell has been thick, dark, and bitter-tasting coarse salt for many years. I have never seen such fine salt.After tasting it with your fingers, the taste is much better than the original one, and the bitter taste is very light.No matter in terms of appearance or taste, it is already a good salt.

After Gong Fanwu toasted on the second floor, he returned to the main table on the third floor. Zhao Sihai, who was at the same table, couldn't help it.Salt is good salt, and there is no need for salt introduction, and it saves the cost of long-distance transportation. It is a good deal no matter what, but the attitude of the government is the key.

He stood up and cupped his hands and said, "Besides Gong, the young one is Zhao Sihai, a salt merchant from Zhending Prefecture. The small one has been selling table salt for more than ten years. The salt you see today is indeed the best salt! But there is one thing that I don't understand. Please speak frankly to Member Gong!"

Gong Fanwu smiled and said, "Mr. Zhao is worried about the affairs of the government?"

Zhao Sihai quickly nodded and said yes, the reason why he was so respectful was, of course, that he was afraid of Gong Fanwu's background.Although I don't know who this person is, but with Jin Yiwei as his backer, he is definitely not a simple person.

Seeing that the salt merchants on the table and in the surrounding area were eagerly waiting for his answer, Gong Fanwu smiled and said, "Don't worry about distributing the salt, my master has already come forward to arrange it in the government, and the salt you sell will not be regarded as illegal salt." No investigation. Presumably you can also guess the reliance of XX. Gong XX said here, but if you are found selling salt in a certain company, Gong XX will protect the safety of you and your family, and bear the resulting All expenses! Gong believes that there is no one who dares to openly challenge a certain master!"

Seeing everyone's half-believing and skeptical expressions, Gong Fanwu immediately threw out his trump card: "I know that you have doubts, so let's do it! Today, I will give you the salt that you have seen! Distributors for big households with more than four counties Five hundred shi for households! Three hundred shi for middle households above two counties! One hundred shi for small households! Once sold out, the silver taels will be settled!"

After everyone listened, they immediately whispered to each other.Since they are guaranteed tickets, and give everyone a trial sale for free, and they have a background in Jinyiwei, then there should be no problem in all likelihood.

Just when everyone was about to express their acceptance of this condition, Zhao Sihai gritted his teeth and stood up again. He cupped his hands at Gong Fanwu and said, "Mr. Gong! It's the first time for everyone to deal with each other. There is no reason why she sells and makes money." ! The little one came here with cash this time, and the little one trusts Gong Yuanwai! I am willing to buy a thousand shi for the cash!"

Li Youjin knew that Zhao Sihai was gambling.Jin Yiwei's reputation is too great, since they can send someone to come to the door in person, they must be confident.

Although they are rich men with a lot of wealth, they also have such a good relationship with the people in the local government, but how can those relationships compare to Jin Yiwei?

Now that people have taken a fancy to their own distribution channels, instead of half-heartedly pushing them, it's better to just jump into their arms directly, and to take the opportunity to get such a big backer, which is a good thing that I never dared to think about at ordinary times.

Li Youjin immediately got up and cupped his hands and said, "Young Baoding Li Youjin! May I buy a thousand stones for cash!"

　According to health standards, the optimal salt intake per person per day is 6 grams. In fact, we all greatly exceed the standard, and there are more than ten grams per day.Calculated by ten grams, we eat 6-7 catties of salt per person per year. When food was scarce and nutrition was insufficient hundreds of years ago, it was normal for adults to eat more than ten catties of salt a year.If you don't believe it, you can check the information.Furthermore, the price of salt in the late Ming Dynasty should be higher than what I said, but I still took a lower value, otherwise someone would say that I was talking nonsense.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)