The people looked in the direction pointed by the waiter and saw several salt shops quietly opening on the opposite side, with plaques of Huitong Salt Shop hanging on them.
The people soon flocked to the place, fearing that they would fall behind others.
"Give me a pound of salt!"
"I want it too, give me two pounds!"
Facing the swarming crowd, the clerk at Huitong Salt Shop was at a loss and had no choice but to persuade him.
"Don't be anxious, take your time, we have plenty of salt here!"
At this moment, the shopkeeper of the salt shop walked out at a leisurely pace, with a smile on his face and said slowly.
"Everyone, please stop, I have something to announce!"
"As everyone knows, there is a shortage of salt right now, and we are also doing business at a loss! There is only so much salt in stock, and it will be gone when it is sold out."
After hearing the shopkeeper's words, everyone present had an ominous premonition in their hearts.
“It’s not about raising prices!”
Later, the words spoken from the shopkeeper's mouth confirmed everyone's guesses.
"So, if you want to buy salt, you have to pay more!"
"The price of salt will rise from the original seven cents per catty to sixteen cents per catty."
As expected, the shopkeeper's words aroused resistance from the people at the scene.
"Bah, what the hell!"
"The profiteers took advantage of the shortage of salt to increase the price, and it more than doubled!"
"I don't believe it. Is your salt shop the only one in the city? Let's go look elsewhere."
Soon, most of the people at the scene left.
The shopkeeper didn't seem surprised by this, but looked at the remaining people and spoke to comfort them.
"Right now, our Huitong Salt Shop is the only one that has salt in the city! If you want to buy it, you can buy it while the price is low now. Otherwise, the price will be the same every day."
Faced with this naked extortion, the people present were all angry and stared angrily!
Just when there were still people hesitating to buy, a waiter ran over quickly, whispered a few words into the shopkeeper's ear, and left quickly.
After hearing the news, the shopkeeper also shared it with the people present.
"Everyone, I'm sorry, my boss just sent someone to deliver the news that the price of salt will go up again! Now a pound of salt costs seventeen cents."
"But, I can pretend that I haven't heard the news and sell it to everyone at the price of sixteen cents per pound of salt!"
After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he took the hot tea from the waiter on the side and took a sip.
Faced with this news, the people present were shaken. They were not sure whether the price of salt would continue to rise tomorrow!
Looking at the confident shopkeeper in front of him, some people were already groping for money on their bodies.
"Give me a pound of salt!"
A man in coarse linen clothes gritted his teeth, took out the money from his pocket, slapped it on the table, and said loudly.
"Okay, wait a moment!"
Seeing this, the waiter on the side quickly collected the money and quickly packed a pound of salt for the man.
"Walk slowly!"
The man took the bag with salt, roughly weighed the weight, and left quickly.
"You can rest assured, we are a big company and we will never do anything unfair!"
The shopkeeper on the side saw this and immediately assured the people present.
If there is the first one, there will naturally be the second and third ones! Soon, the emotions of the people present were aroused.
"Give me a pound of salt!"
"I want a pound too!"
"I want two pounds!"
Looking at the endless stream of people buying salt at high prices, the shopkeeper couldn't help but smile.
"It's so exciting now!"
…
The group of people who couldn't accept the high salt price before visited all the salt shops in the city and found out that the salt shops in the city were either out of salt or had increased prices!
Moreover, the price increase is exactly the same as that of Huitong Salt Shop. It is difficult not to believe that this is not a deliberate collusion.
"Is this really unreasonable? Let's go to the government and sue them!"
"Yes, let the government give us justice!"
"Let's go to the government office!"
Soon, excited people gathered in front of the government office. They wanted the government to come forward and punish these salt merchants.
In the government office, Cao Shunhe was thinking about how to deliver the news.
His subordinates rushed in and reported to him.
"Lord Governor, what's wrong, there are people gathering to make trouble outside!"
"What, what happened? Why are people gathering outside the government office?"
After Cao Shunhe learned the news, he was quite surprised and asked immediately.
"Report to the Governor, the people outside are clamoring for the government to come forward and punish those salt merchants!"
"I heard from them that the price of salt in the city has increased from seven cents to sixteen cents now!"
Facing Cao Shunhe's questioning, the subordinate hesitated for a moment and then answered.
"What? From seven cents to sixteen cents! I can't spare these profiteers!"
"Take me over there!"
After hearing the news brought by his subordinates, Cao Shunhe was also quite angry and ordered this.
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
After the subordinates responded, they went about their own business and led the way.
After learning the news, the local prefect Zheng Shizhong immediately put aside his official duties and rushed to the scene of the incident without stopping.
"If you let this group of unruly people disturb the governor, you will be doomed!"
Zheng Shizhong thought so and couldn't help but speed up.
At this moment, the guards of the government office were confronting this group of people.
"What are you doing here? Do you want to rebel? Why don't you disperse quickly!"
I saw the guards of the government formed a human wall to keep the people out, and pulled out the long swords from their waists, threatening them like this.
"Excuse me, sir, please go in and let me know. We are almost unable to survive. Now the cost of a pound of salt has increased from seven cents to sixteen cents!"
"Please, the governor, please make the decision for us!"
Among the crowd, someone quickly stood up and asked the guards.
"No, the governor is busy with official duties every day, so why do you have time to waste on you?"
"You guys should go find the prefect!"
The leading official said this after listening to the people's demands.
"But sir, we just came from the governor. He said that he was not capable of handling this matter. Let us come to the governor!"
"The prefect can't do it, and the governor can't do it either, so who should we go to?"
"Humph, they just don't want to solve the problem for us! Let's rush in and meet the governor directly!"
"Yes, let's rush in and let the governor make the decision for us and punish those salt merchants!"
After hearing what the official said, the crowd became even more excited and even started to push each other.
"You bunch of unruly people, what do you want to do when you gather here? Do you want to rebel?"
"If you disturb the governor, I will never spare you!"
At this moment, the local magistrate Zheng Shizhong hurriedly arrived at the scene, accompanied by a large number of guards.
Under Zheng Shizhong's instructions, his group of guards quickly surrounded the common people.
"Hmph, you bunch of unruly people gathered here for no reason today. Someone must be instigating you behind the scenes!"
"When I take you back, I will interrogate you carefully and find out the mastermind behind the scenes!"
"Come on, take them all back to prison for me! Interrogate them strictly."
Zheng Shizhong squinted his eyes, looked at the group of people in front of him, and ordered like this.
"etc!"
Cao Shunhe was seen walking out of the government office with his hands behind his back and said loudly.
(End of chapter)
