Water Margin people

Chapter 1415: The Salt Merchant

"Okay, as long as my father-in-law likes it, you guys take the kids to rest first, I'll be out for a while!"

Sun Lei handed his son to Cheng Wan'er and said with a smile that since Cheng Wanli wanted to show his ability, he would naturally be happy to see it. After all, he did lack such experienced officials under his command.

"You want to go out and flirt with other girls again. The skinny horses of Yangzhou are famous all over the world!"

Li Shishi glared at Sun Lei. A man leaving four beautiful wives behind in the middle of the night was going out. Even a fool would know that there was something wrong.

"Nonsense, there are no skinny horses now!"

Sun Lei knocked Li Shishi on the forehead. Most of the skinny horses were underage girls who were bought and sold. This was a feudal cruelty. How could he allow it?

The State of Qi did not allow any trafficking of human beings, especially minors, but if anyone was found guilty, they would be investigated thoroughly and all the perpetrators would be sentenced to death.

Now, even if parents take their children to be sold, no one dares to look at them. This industry has been completely destroyed from both the buying and selling ends.

"That means you want to hang out in a brothel!"

Li Shishi put her hands on her hips and looked at Sun Lei.

"I'm not going to the brothel, I'm going to the Tea and Salt Bureau and the Cargo Bureau. I have to work on state affairs in the middle of the night, how could you misunderstand me?"

Sun Lei said speechlessly.

"Really? Are you that diligent?"

Li Shishi was a little skeptical, because Sun Lei was not so diligent in his work when he was in Liangshan.

"Didn't you have someone to help you before? Now there's no one around, so I have to do it all by myself!"

Sun Lei spread his hands. When he was in Liangshan, he could leave the government affairs to Wen Huanzhang, Xiao Jiasui and others, but now it is no longer possible.

"By the way, why don't you follow me and be a housekeeper!"

Sun Lei looked at Li Shishi and smiled.

"Humph, you want to trick me, so I'll follow you! I don't think you dare to go to a brothel again!"

Li Shishi thought Sun Lei was deliberately provoking her, so she agreed immediately.

"Okay then, let's go!"

Sun Lei took Li Shishi and went out.

Li Shishi still wanted to see what tricks Sun Lei would play, but unexpectedly he really went to the Tea and Salt Bureau not far from the inn.

"You really need to work!"

Li Shishi had already started to back down in her heart, she didn't want to care about these things.

"Greetings to your majesty, hello to the empress!"

Before Li Shishi could escape, the officials waiting at the door had already begun to salute.

There is not much business on this street and few people walk on it at night.

"Go in and talk!"

Sun Lei pulled Li Shishi in.

"How's the salt business going?"

Sun Lei looked at the official in front of him and asked, "Yangzhou has developed shipping and has made money from salt since ancient times."

"Your Majesty, the salt merchants are asking for a price increase because there are too many typhoons this year!"

Tiju said.

"Too many typhoons? Ridiculous. They are just boiling salt. What does that have to do with typhoons? Besides, there are only three more typhoons this year!"

Sun Lei sneered.

"Liu Dong, you are also an old man in Liangshan, can't you control those black-hearted businessmen?"

Sun Lei looked at Liu Dong, the director of the Tea and Salt Bureau, and asked. Liu Dong was a follower when Liangshan was rising. He followed them in battles and was promoted to the seventh rank due to his military achievements. After taking over Tokyo last year, he was assigned to Yangzhou to serve as the director of the Tea and Salt Bureau due to his military achievements.

"Your Majesty, I am ready to attack you with a knife. We in Liangshan started out as salt smugglers, and these people are trying to cheat us! But these people stick together tightly and insist on raising the price."

"And they have objections to our strict control of salt prices. Before our Qi State took control of Jiangnan, the price of salt here was as high as 60 wen, while our Liangshan salt price has never exceeded 30 wen!"

"Once we take action against them, the salt-making workshops will stop working and Jiangnan will likely be plunged into a salt shortage."

Liu Dong said, salt is a necessity, if there is a salt panic, it may be more terrible than a war. "I'll give you a tip, in a few days there will be a steady supply of salt, you have to keep the price below 25 cents."

Sun Lei looked at Liu Dong and spoke.

"Your Majesty, the current market price of forty cents is already very tight!"

Liu Dong was in a dilemma. The salt merchants were very united and the low-priced salt would most likely be bought by them and hoarded.

"Don't worry, there's plenty of salt, and it's in endless supply! But you have to pretend that you don't have much. If they want to buy, you can sell it and give me all their money!"

Sun Lei smiled and said that the salt industry was one of the foundations of Liangshan. He had set up salt fields along the coast a long time ago. They needed to be covered up before, but now they don’t need to be covered up. Moreover, the salt production in Hedong is not only sea salt, but also very large, which can fully supply the entire Jiangnan region.

"Your Majesty, I understand."

Liu Dong was overjoyed. If there really was an endless supply of salt, then he wouldn't have to worry about any salt merchants. If they didn't obey, he would just drive them out of the industry.

"How about you? Is the rest of your business going well?"

Sun Lei looked at the other officials and asked, in addition to salt, Yangzhou also has silk, tea and other things, which are also major sources of tax revenue.

"Your Majesty, the rest are relatively well behaved!"

The officials spoke up.

The salt merchants in Yangzhou have come forward, and the other merchants are all waiting for the result. If the salt merchants win, merchants in other industries will follow suit, and Jiangnan will be the world of merchants in the future.

"Well, keep a close eye on them. The imperial court has just been established, and these people must be thinking of competing with the country for profits. Such signs must be killed immediately! If they want to do business, they must do it honestly. If they are not honest, they will have no share!"

Sun Lei said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

All the officials bowed together.

"Zhu Wu, tell me about the silver number!"

Sun Lei looked at Zhu Wudao.

"Everyone, in a month, the imperial court will ship a million silver coins to Jiangnan, and the silver banks in various places can exchange them freely. During this time, everyone should collect statistics on the situation among the people."

Zhu Wu looked at everyone and said.

"Master Zhu, is there no limit on the number of exchanges?"

an official immediately asked.

"No, gold, silver and copper can all be exchanged according to their purity and weight."

Zhu Wu said.

"Sir, Jiangnan is a wealthy place, and the wealth of big merchants is more than one million. If this money could be freely exchanged, wouldn't they have exchanged it all away?"

Liu Dong immediately said that during the time he was in Yangzhou, he had seen the wealth of the merchants, and that a million strings of cash was nothing to them.

"It doesn't matter. It depends on whether they have more money or our Qi State has more money."

Zhu Wu said with a smile.

No one said anything else. Now that the decision had been made, they just carried it out.

Everyone reported some important government affairs in turn, and Sun Lei made the decision.

It was already late at night when the matter was discussed.

Li Shishi followed Sun Lei out of the Tea and Salt Bureau with sleepy eyes.

"bored to death!"

Li Shishi pouted and said that after leaving the Tea and Salt Bureau, she finally felt better.

"You want to come with me? How can I have time to go to a brothel?"

Sun Lei smiled and held her hand, but Li Shishi slapped Sun Lei's hand in dissatisfaction.

"The moon is so round today!"

Sun Lei looked up at the full moon. There was no light pollution, the sky was exceptionally clear, and the moon looked exceptionally bright.

"Let's go on a boat tour to admire the moon!"

Sun Lei pulled Li Shishi to the canal. Of course, he wanted to enjoy the night view with the beautiful lady.