"Your Majesty, please calm down. Your Majesty, please calm down. This is indeed middle-grade salt. The finest refined salt is produced in quantity every year. It needs to be presented to the royal family. The Salt Supervisor inspects it very strictly every year, and we cannot pour it out."
The old shopkeeper was so frightened that he fell to his knees and said.
"Oh, you have salt supervision and you dare to sell illegal salt?"
Sun Lei asked with narrowed eyes.
"Your Majesty, you don't know. Salt has been boiled in this coastal area for a long time. The salt supervision is very strict. The price of salt given is too low. We have no choice but to secretly withhold some salt and sell it privately. As long as it is not the highest quality refined salt, , this middle grade and low grade salt can still leave a lot."
The old shopkeeper explained that the salt cooking industry is actually the same as farming. It is also squeezed layer by layer. The boiled salt can only be sold to the Salt Supervisor and designated salt merchants. The price of salt is decided by the Salt Supervisor, and the government and businessmen collude. The shipping price was extremely depressed, which forced salt merchants to take risks and sell illicit salt.
"The quality of your salt is not good. Look at my silver. This is snow-white and shiny snowflake silver. What if I take that dirty silver?"
Sun Lei looked at the old shopkeeper, holding a handful of snowflake silver in his hand. The shining silver ingots were eye-catching, and the quality of the silver also determined its value.
"If your Majesty wants it, then give me twenty dollars!"
The old shopkeeper knew that Sun Lei was lowering the price, so he could only make concessions. Although the profit was less, he was able to save his capital and his life.
"What's your local purchase price for this salt?"
Sun Lei threw a few coins in his hand on the table and asked.
"The price given by the Salt Supervisor is eighteen cents."
The old shopkeeper didn't dare to lie and had to answer.
"The Salt Supervisor gave me eighteen cents? You sold me twenty cents?"
Sun Lei touched his chin and thought.
"You, this old man, want to die, how dare you make money from your grandfathers?"
Ruan Xiaowu took off the crocodile claw from his waist and slapped it on the table. He stared at the old shopkeeper. This old man dared to quote an inflated price. He was really looking for death.
"Fifth brother, let me skin this old boy, sink him to the bottom of the water, and feed him to the bastard!"
Ruan Xiaoqi took out the fish knife and stabbed it on the table.
Ruan Xiaoer looked at the old shopkeeper and said nothing.
"Oh! Don't get excited. Twenty cents is just twenty cents. They came all the way to deliver it, so you should give them some money for running errands."
Sun Lei waved his hand to stop Ruan Xiaowu and Ruan Xiaoqi.
"Okay, twenty cents is twenty cents. Remember, any high-grade salt can be shipped to me in the future. I want as much as I want. Every kilogram will be two cents more than what the salt supervisor gives me!"
Sun Lei nodded to Zhu Gui, who quickly took out four hundred taels of silver from the box and stacked them neatly on the table.
“Let’s count the points.”
Sun Lei looked at the old shopkeeper and said.
"No points needed! No points needed!"
The old shopkeeper quickly took out a cloth to wrap the silver from his waist. When Zhu Gui laid out the silver, he could see clearly that four hundred taels was quite a lot.
"If you remember to bring good salt to me from now on, I've always been very good at money."
Sun Lei looked at the old shopkeeper and said.
"This... I will discuss it with my master when I get back."
The old shopkeeper didn't dare agree. After all, Sun Lei's identity was too special. If he stuck to it, he might be confiscating his family and exterminating his family.
"There is no need to negotiate. You sell me salt and I will give you money. What is there to discuss?"
Sun Lei said with a smile.
The old shopkeeper's face froze, and his hands that were quick to hold the silver suddenly became sluggish. This silver was not easy to take. Once he took it, it would be related to Sun Lei. He knew the meaning of Sun Lei's words very well. If he didn't sell the money in the future, Yanlai will not only look for trouble, but will also spread the word about it, and they still won't be able to escape.
"You understand what I mean. Go back and convey it properly. As long as you continue to send salt, no one will know about it."
Seeing the old shopkeeper's hesitant movements, Sun Lei knew that he already understood.
"Your Majesty, the person you offended is Captain Gao, who is a popular figure around the emperor. We really don't dare to offend him!"
The old shopkeeper plucked up the courage and said that although they were in a remote place, they had heard about Gao Qiu. He was a scoundrel who held a grudge. Sun Lei killed Gao Yanei, how could Gao Qiu just let it go?
"You don't have to worry about that. You just need to send the salt secretly, and the rest will not involve you."
Sun Lei knew the old manager's worries and waved his hands as if one person was responsible for the work.
"You old thing, my brother is such a god. He can do it even in Tokyo. Who can stop him? No matter how nagging you are, no one else needs to take action. I will take people to your farm to borrow some money and food!"
Ruan Xiaoqi slapped the table and looked at the old shopkeeper and threatened them. The old man was sure that they would be wiped out by Gao Qiu when he opened his mouth.
"I don't dare! I don't dare!"
The old shopkeeper was really afraid of a bad-tempered thief like Ruan Xiaoqi, who would use the knife if he disagreed.
A boatload of salt was unloaded quickly. The old shopkeeper didn't dare to stay any longer, so he took the money and left by boat. The only thing that made him happy this time was that Sun Lei was more trustworthy and actually gave the money, although the price was a little lower. , but what he got was real money. Wang Lun was not so forthcoming in the past, and every time he would use various excuses to delay payment.
"Brother, why do we need so much salt? We can't finish it."
Ruan Xiaoqi looked at the bags of salt. This stuff is usually expensive, but it is useless if there is too much. He only eats a little salt in a day.
"Sell it. Didn't I say it last time? We want to do a long-term business, and this salt is good!"
Sun Lei patted the sacks and said.
"Brother, how are you going to sell this salt? Should we push the cart to the villages and towns to sell it?"
Ruan Xiaoer and Ruan Xiaowu were also worried. There was no need to worry about selling salt, but how to sell it was another problem. They couldn't go to the city to open a shop to sell salt. Firstly, they didn't have a salt certificate issued by the Salt Supervisor. Secondly, The identity of the bandit is also not allowed.
"That's a problem!"
Sun Lei was asked at once, how could he sell this? It was really a troublesome thing. So many salt sales channels were a big problem. Wang Lun could sell it to Jeju Prefecture in large quantities, but he couldn't. He was a wanted criminal who had offended Gao Qiu. , Even if you give the governor of Jeju Prefecture a hundred courages, you won't dare to offend Gao Qiu.
"Brother, why don't we sell it at the Lijia Daokou Hotel first? It's an important thoroughfare and the salt will be sold quickly. When the news spreads slowly, the market will open up."
Zhu Gui said that he was the best suited to do this.
"Well, that's it for now, but how much does it cost per pound?"
Sun Lei nodded and looked at Zhu Gui again. Zhu Gui knew better about this business.
"The quality of this salt is actually not bad. It can be sold as middle-grade salt. Now the middle-grade salt on East and West Road in Beijing is about 34 Wen per catty. If we sell private salt, it is more appropriate to set it at 30 Wen per catty."
Zhu Gui clasped his fists at Sun Lei and said, "The price of private salt is naturally not higher than official salt, otherwise it won't be sold at all. The price difference of four Wen is tempting enough."
"Holy shit, you can make ten pennies from this pound of salt? Can you make a net profit of two hundred pennies from a shipload of salt?"
Sun Lei was shocked by this hugely profitable business. This was just a boatload of salt. If the scale could be expanded, the profits would be much higher than robbing families. Which household in these eight hundred miles of water got less salt?
The three Ruan brothers were incredulous when they heard that they could earn two hundred guan from these salts. If they were fishing normally, the three brothers would not be able to earn 100 guan in a year.
"Zhu Gui, I'll leave this salt to you to sell, so do your best!"
Sun Lei patted the salt packets and looked at the white salt inside. He suddenly felt like a gangster boss commanding his younger brother to sell white powder.
