Yipin Tang

Chapter 392
"Have you taken down all the salt that was put out by the court today?" Wang Tong stroked his beard and asked.

"Take it." Wang Yuan replied respectfully: "But..."

"But what?"

"The price of salt in the imperial court has risen."

"Oh?" Wang Tong heard it with his hand stroking his beard, and asked with flickering eyes: "How much has it increased?"

"Previously, the salt that was put in by the imperial court was [-] Wen a bucket, but today it has increased by [-] Wen."

Hearing this, Wang Tong smiled slightly and continued to stroke his beard and said, "It doesn't matter if you have four hundred coins for a fight, you can still take them all."

"there's one more thing."

Seeing the difference in Wang Yuan's expression, Wang Tong asked suspiciously, "What's the matter?"

"The imperial court canceled the purchase restriction."

"The purchase restriction has been cancelled?" Wang Tong frowned in a relaxed manner, and said in a low voice, "What's Li Shimin thinking again?"

Wang Yuan hesitated and said, "Father, should we be more careful?"

Wang Tong pondered for a moment and said: "It's okay, according to our people's report, there is not much salt in the court. Li Shimin is now throwing the salt for the frontline Tang army to the people, and he will not last long. Now nearly half of the Tang army The salt lake is under the secret control of that person, without the supply of salt, let me see what Li Shimin can do to appease public grievances."

Li Shimin's intention to weaken the aristocratic family is already very obvious. Naturally, the aristocratic family will not let him be weakened willingly. The previous silence was just to wait for the opportunity, but now is the best time. If it succeeds, the Wang family will have the merit of being a dragon!

With Wang Tong, Wang Yuan felt at ease. In the next few days, the salt released by the imperial court became more and more expensive day by day. Three strings and one bucket, because there is no purchase restriction, it is even more difficult for the common people to grab the salt, and almost all the salt released by the imperial court is taken by the aristocratic family.

After a few more days, the amount of table salt released by the imperial court was reduced by half, and it was no longer the original coarse salt but white and fine refined salt, and the price of salt was always the same!
"It seems that the court's salt reserves have been exhausted, and even the high-quality refined salt used in the palace has been used for emergency. It seems that Li Shimin is really desperate, haha!"

After listening to Wang Yuan's report, Wang Tong was in a good mood, and seemed to have seen Li Shimin's anxious and helpless appearance.

"Do we want two buckets of refined salt..."

"Take it!" Wang Tong said decisively: "Even refined salt like this usually costs one bucket, two buckets...it's very cheap." The price of ordinary coarse salt and private salt has risen to three buckets, two buckets A bucket of refined salt is really cheap for the family.

"When the refined salt in the palace is exhausted, I want to see where Li Shimin can conjure table salt!" A stern look flashed in Wang Tong's eyes.

On the second day, the amount of refined salt released by the imperial court decreased again, and Wang Tong was determined that as long as the imperial court stopped supplying salt, it would be enough to stir up public grievances at that time!

……

"Father."

"En." Wang Tong was thinking about the promise made by that person, but he didn't notice that Wang Yuan's expression was a little strange, so he responded casually.

"Father."

Wang Yuan raised his voice and called Wang Tong again before recovering, looked at Wang Yuan and asked, "What's wrong?"

Wang Yuan said in a deep voice, "A new salt shop opened in Chang'an today."

"The imperial court opened another salt shop?" Wang Tong asked strangely: "Didn't it mean that the imperial court's salt supply has decreased, so why open another salt shop?"

Wang Yuan shook his head and said, "It's not a salt shop opened by the imperial court."

"What!" Wang Yuan was really surprised this time. Salt and iron are the country's sharp weapons, and no one except the imperial court is allowed to privately sell them. Open a salt shop!

"Didn't the imperial court intervene?"

Wang Yuan shook his head, Wang Tong frowned and pondered for a moment and said: "Although the salt shop was opened privately, it can be regarded as helping Li Shimin alleviate some public grievances. I am afraid that it is precisely because of this that Li Shimin will turn a blind eye. The small businessman wants to take this opportunity to earn some money. It’s nothing to worry about.” Now most of the salt is hoarded in the hands of a few big families, although some profiteers have also hoarded some salt, but it’s just a drop in the bucket for the salt needed by the people of the entire Tang Dynasty, so Wang Tong didn’t take it too seriously superior.

Seeing Wang Tongman's indifferent look, Wang Yuan whispered, "The one who opened the salt shop is the Marquis of Jiayuan."

"Jiayuanhou?" Wang Tong was stunned for a moment, then asked suspiciously, "Jiayuanhou, Wang Zixin?"

Wang Yuan nodded.

"Didn't he go to the Lingnan fief? Some time ago, there was news that he was killed by the Tibetans. Why did he run back to Chang'an to open a salt shop?"

Wang Yuan explained: "The Marquis of Jiayuan did not return to Chang'an. It was Laifu from his mansion who came forward to open the salt shop. He put in [-] buckets of refined salt just after opening the shop today! He also said that the salt shop puts in at least [-] buckets of refined salt every day. , If you don’t have money, you can exchange grain for grain, and many people will trade for salt.”

Wang Tong frowned when he heard this, the court's daily salt supply has been reduced to two thousand buckets, where did Wang Zixin get so much salt?He does not believe that at least [-] buckets of refined salt are provided every day, not to mention that refined salt is ordinary coarse salt. I have never heard of Jiayuanhou hoarding salt before.

Wang Yuan asked, "Father, what are we going to do now?"

Wang Tong raised his hand and pondered for a while, then asked Wang Yuan, "How is the quality of the refined salt in the salt shop, and what is the price of the salt?"

Wang Yuan had been prepared for a long time, took out a bag of salt and handed it to Wang Tong, saying: "This is the refined salt that our people bought from the salt shop. It is the same as the refined salt released by the imperial court recently. Three times and one fight."

Wang Tong dipped his fingers in a little salt and looked carefully, then suddenly squinted and smiled.

"The private opening of the salt shop turned out to be Li Shimin's desperate plan, but this move was just a deception. The Turkic war will not end so soon."

Wang Yuan wondered, "What does father mean?"

Wang Tong said with a smile: "This refined salt is not the same as the refined salt of the imperial court, but it is the refined salt of the imperial court. Li Shimin knew that the refined salt used in the palace would not last long, so he came up with the idea that Marquis Jiayuan opened a private salt shop to sell salt. The thing is, he also said that at least [-] buckets of refined salt will be provided every day, creating the illusion that the Marquis of Jiayuan has a lot of salt, first to appease Baixin, and second, to make us have some scruples and dare not continue to hoard salt."

After listening to Wang Tong's explanation, Wang Yuan suddenly realized, and asked, "Then what should we do now?"

Wang Tong wiped off the table salt dipped on his fingers and said with a smile, "Don't you think it's cheap to have such a good refined salt for three times a bucket?"

Wang Yuan understood Wang Tong's meaning as soon as he heard it, nodded and said: "I will inform the other companies to take all the refined salt from the salt shop."

Wang Tong nodded, with a smile of victory appearing on his face.

(End of this chapter)