The salt problem is not a big one. As the only source of salt resources in the Big-headed Ant Kingdom, "Salt City" will restore the supply of salt sooner or later. At present, the various nests under the protagonist can tolerate it for a while, and it will be over. It will not be a problem. life threatening.
But the problem of salt is not trivial to say the least.
Salt is a necessity, not only for ants but also for humans. Because of its necessity and scarcity, it has always been a very important strategic resource.
The distribution pattern of salt shows a centralized trend. In ancient times, salt-producing areas were mainly concentrated near the seaside, salt ponds and natural rock salt mines. Modern salt production relies on coastal salt fields, salt lakes and underground well salt. Like ancient China, for a long time it mainly relied on sea salt from coastal areas, well salt from Sichuan and pool salt from Shanxi.
Salt is one of the necessities of human production and life. The social demand is large and the consumption elasticity is extremely small. There is a huge contradiction between the universal demand for salt and its non-universal distribution. This contradiction is also the root of many policies and events in human history.
In China, the original meaning of the word "salt" is "to cook brine in a vessel." "Shuowen" records: What is born is called brine, and what is cooked is called salt. Legend has it that during the time of the Yellow Emperor, Susha was boiled with sea water and fried into salt. The colors were green, yellow, white, black, and purple. It can be seen that the Chinese began to cook salt around the time of Shennong (Yan Emperor) and the Yellow Emperor. The salt at that time It is boiled with sea water.
China is also where salt wells were invented. "The Chronicles of the King of Shu": "During Emperor Xuan's Dijie, dozens of salt wells were first pierced."
Since the Han Dynasty, salt ponds have also been used to obtain salt. Wang Zhen praised it in "Luodu Fu": "There is a salt pond in the east, which is clean and fresh, and it can be cooked without labor, so it can be done naturally."
Historically, the production of salt in the early days required boiling over fire. This primitive method of boiling salt is time-consuming, fuel-intensive, and has low yield, resulting in high salt prices.
Therefore, from the birth of salt, the royal family has established a salt law. In the Zhou Dynasty, the official in charge of salt administration was called "Salt Man". "Zhou Li·Tianguan·Salt Man" records that the salt man was in charge of salt administration and managed various salt-use affairs: bitter salt and loose salt were used for sacrifices, and guests were treated with salt. Use shaped salt, and the king’s delicacies must use malt salt.
In feudal society, most of the production and living materials were self-sufficient, but salt in most areas could not be self-sufficient and had to be obtained from the outside world.
In ancient Chinese society, salt, iron, tea, and wine were among the few commodities traded in large quantities. However, these commodities were subject to monopoly at different times. Salt was the variety that was monopolized for the longest time, with the widest scope, and causing the greatest economic impact.
Under the monopoly system, the commodity attributes of salt changed significantly compared with those under conditions of free production and circulation.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, if there was salt, the country would be rich. "Book of Han": "Wu boiled the water of the East China Sea into salt to become rich and have enough for the country." Guan Zhong of Qi State also set up a salt officer to boil salt to rejuvenate the country with the benefit of fishing salt.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the Salt Law, implemented official salt monopoly, and prohibited private property. "Historical Records Pingzhunshu" records that anyone who dared to make salt privately at that time would be punished by having his left toe cut off. During the Jin Dynasty, people who boiled salt privately were sentenced to four years in prison, and officials were sentenced to two years.
The salt monopoly system in feudal society was a set of systems in which the ruling class monopolized salt production and sales channels. It became a fiscal revenue tool for the ruling class in feudal society, plundering people's wealth for its feudal rule, making huge profits, and increasing fiscal revenue. .
Those scholar-bureaucrats with financial awareness in feudal society had a vivid description of this, "making a hole for profit", which is vivid in that it only sees the benefits, but does not look at how the benefits are generated.
For example, Guan Zhong made an account specifically for Qi Huangong: "Ten people in a family eat salt, and a hundred people in a hundred people eat salt. An adult man eats five and a half liters of salt a month, a woman three and a half liters, and a child two and a half liters. One. Cauldron salt is one hundred liters. If the price of salt per liter is increased by half a cent, one cauldron can earn fifty cents. Add one cent per liter and one cauldron can earn one hundred cents. Add two cents per liter and one cauldron can earn two hundred cents. Ten cauldrons are one bell. Calculated as one thousand bells, it is two million yuan. If a big country of ten thousand times earns two million yuan from the price of salt every day, it will be 20 million yuan in ten days, and it can get 60 million yuan in one month. . In comparison, a large country of ten thousand times has a population of only one million people that can be taxed. Each person can tax 30 yuan per month, which is only 30 million in total. You see, we don’t have to levy taxes directly from adults and children. If you tax, you will get twice the tax. But if you publicly say: I will directly tax adults and children across the country, then there will definitely be a lot of resentment among the people. If we adopt the salt fiscal policy now, even if we get a hundred times the tax profit, no one will Can't escape."
The ruling class cleverly borrowed salt's commercial appearance to conceal its essence of plundering people's wealth.
The ancient salt merchants who were directly responsible for the sale of salt generally had monopoly privileges, so in all likelihood, the salt merchants made a fortune.
The first salt merchant in China was Yidun, a native of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period. There is an old saying that "Tao Zhu and Yidun were rich". Tao Zhu is Fan Li. According to legend, Fan Li helped King Gou Jian of Yue to destroy Empress Wu. Because he believed that the King of Yue was a man who could not live in peace and happiness, he abandoned his official position and went to Dingtao County, Shandong Province, where he became known as "Dong Tao Zhu" and became rich through business. The business prospered and reached tens of thousands." Yidun went to the Xi State in the Spring and Autumn Period. The Han State of Xi belonged to Hedong County, which is now Shanxi, and there was Chiyan. Yidun managed Hedong salt in the country of Xi for ten years and became a wealthy man.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the extravagance of salt merchants in Yangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River reached its peak. According to the record "Qing Bailei Chao": "Those who want to spend tens of thousands of gold at a time can ask their guests to buy gold foil with all their gold, carry it to the tower of Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, throw it in the wind, and scatter it in an instant among the grass and trees along the edge. , cannot be recovered.
In the human world, the history of salt is a history in which the ruling class continues to strengthen its control over the people and plunder invisibly.
The protagonist who understands this period of history naturally understands the huge interests behind the seemingly small amount of salt.
Because of this, the protagonist now has the will to be independent. Of course, he cannot let such an important resource as salt be out of his control and be choked by others.
For example, during the Warring States Period in Japan, the Takeda family, which was deep inland and had no salt mines in its territory, was at odds with the Hojo family on the seaside. The Hojo family teamed up with the Imagawa family to impose a salt blockade on the Takeda family. For a time, the Takeda family was helpless and the territory was in depression. , had to buy salt at a high price from another enemy, the Uesugi family, which wasted a lot of national power.
It can be seen that salt can be transformed into a weapon to restrict and blockade the enemy at any time, especially when the opponent does not control the salt mines.
Faced with such huge political, military, social and economic interests, the protagonist made up his mind to take the salt mine into his own hands.
