The capital transfer envoy twisted his beard and said unhurriedly: "The first is the method of Guan Zhong just mentioned; the second is to share the benefits of salt with the people and the court does not care about it at all, such as the Sui and early Tang Dynasties." The third type is the free mining of salt by the people, and the court only collects taxes regardless of the sale, such as the Eastern Han Dynasty; the fourth type is the democratic system, official collection, official transportation, and official sales, such as the late Tang Dynasty; the fifth type is the imperial monopoly in coastal areas; remote areas , using military rations in exchange for salt, and the 'on-the-spot monopoly' system, this is the method used by the Song Dynasty. The sixth method, no matter what region, the court unified the production and sale of salt, prohibiting private production and sale of salt. For example, the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. I am the Ming Dynasty Originally we implemented the sixth option, but now we are leaning towards the fifth option.”
After he finished speaking, he raised his hand to Zhu Bai and took the opportunity to flatter Zhu Bai: "This is all thanks to His Highness's wise suggestion to the emperor to use the 'opening method'"
Zhu Bai was not surprised at all that they knew the inside story. After all, they are all salt-of-the-earth officials and senior officials.
The Du Zhuan envoy added: "Because of the different salt policies, merchants are also divided into two types. One is the government merchants who have a formal business license issued by the court and specialize in salt, and the other is the private merchants who buy salt from the government merchants and resell it to earn the price difference. Before the Ming Dynasty, there were only official merchants. After the emperor promulgated the "Kai Zhong Law", there were private merchants who went to the border to exchange grain for salt. Because of the existence of these two kinds of merchants, after the salt was dried in the salt field, it was exported from the salt field in two ways. Arrive in the hands of the people. The salt from the salt field is first transported from the salt field to the Salt Envoy Department of the capital, and then transferred to the Salt Envoy Department to be sold to officials, merchants or private traders. It is then transferred to various government offices through official and private merchants. The government offices distribute it to the people, and the people pay it to them. Salt tax.”
Zhu Bai thought to himself: It sounds like there is no problem in the middle.
Either this bastard isn't telling the truth.
He sat for a while and then left.
He went back to Guanya Bureau and told Zhang Yu this.
Zhang Yu hurriedly waved his hand: "I can't do it, I can't do it. This is trespassing and a capital crime. I don't dare."
Zhu Bai smiled and said: "This king asked you to do it, what are you afraid of? Besides, soldiers are not afraid of deceit. We also want to win the war, and my father will never blame you."
A moment later, a group of servants, surrounded by a sturdy businessman, came out of the Guanya Bureau's trading hall and went straight to the largest restaurant in Yangzhou City.
The businessman was so lavishly dressed in gold and silver that he immediately attracted the attention of many people as soon as he entered the restaurant.
After he sat down, he ordered a table of food and wine.
The servants sat down at the table next to him, leaving only a child beside him to pour him wine.
The businessman drank a few drinks and muttered: "It's boring. Drinking alone is really boring."
There was a man next to him who was half drunk and smiled: "Then let's drink together."
The businessman handed over his hand: "If you don't mind, let's drink together."
The man stood up unsteadily and sat down next to the merchant.
The boy hurriedly poured a glass for the man.
The man drank it all and asked the businessman: "What kind of business does this gentleman do?"
The businessman said: "In the cloth business, I heard that the most profitable business now is selling Huai salt. So I came to Yangzhou to have a look."
The man: "What a coincidence, I am in the salt business."
The businessman asked: "Oh, are you a government businessman or a private businessman?"
The man: "Of course it's a private businessman. How can it be the turn of ordinary people like us to be the official businessmen?"
The businessman nodded: "Oh, that means going to the border to pay for food in exchange for salt."
The man laughed: "He is indeed a layman. There are three types of private merchants, and the one you mentioned is just one of them. We call him a border merchant."
Businessman: "Three types? What are the other two?"
The man said: "There are also people who do not go to the border, but use silver to buy salt. We call them internal merchants. There are two types of internal merchants, one is the hoarder who specializes in reselling salt, and the other is the hoarder. A water merchant who buys salt from household and then transports the salt to designated areas for sale based on the water flow chart provided by the inspection.”
The businessman suddenly understood and nodded, but then frowned: "But the salt is marked with an expiration date, how can you resell it?"
The man laughed: "Those hoarders naturally have the ability to buy salt at the lowest price at any time with the salt guide. Moreover, the salt guide has an expiration date, but the salt does not. Even if it doesn't work for a while, the huge price difference earned from it will be enough for them to build the latest Good warehouses to stock up on salt.”
"I've learned a lesson." The businessman handed over his hand and poured the man a drink himself. "Listening to what you said, you must be a water merchant."
The man sighed: "No, I am the only water merchant among salt merchants who can only make hard money."
The businessman laughed: "Isn't it true that border merchants are earning hard-earned money by sending grain in exchange for salt?"
The man shook his head and smiled bitterly: "You don't know something. Not everyone who transports grain can get salt in exchange."
The businessman raised an eyebrow.
But the man waved his hand: "Stop talking. If you talk too much, you will make mistakes."
Businessman: "Look at this old man looking melancholy, but something happened."
"A friend who worked with me as a water merchant transporting salt was transporting salt to Dingyuan a few years ago. On the way back, he met thieves. Not only was his gold and silver and other valuables robbed, but he was also killed and his body was thrown into the river. ." The man covered his face and cried, "I advised him that it was the end of the year, there were few people on the road, and it was unsafe. Don't do it anymore. But he said that he had a mother, wife and children at home, and it was rare for him to come across a big order and finish it well. During the Chinese New Year, I didn’t expect...the three bodyguards who were traveling with us were killed. It was me who went to identify the bodies. It was so tragic."
Upon hearing this, the businessman's face became serious, and he subconsciously glanced at the silent child beside him.
The child silently raised his chin at the man.
The businessman asked again: "But the Japanese pirates?"
The man raised his teary eyes and looked at the businessman: "How did you know it was a Japanese pirate?!"
The businessman said: "I once encountered Japanese pirates on the coast of Zhejiang. They were very cruel. They burned, killed and looted, and few of them were left alive."
The man nodded: "Yes." Wu Zuo said that the stab wounds on the corpse were also consistent with the characteristics of Japanese swords. My friend has an easy-going personality and will not resist when encountering robbers. He will definitely give up all his belongings. Go. If it were other gangsters, his life would not be hurt. After thinking about it, it is only possible that they are Japanese pirates. Now in order not to expose themselves, they are becoming more vicious and will kill and silence them after robbing."
This is the most painful, frightening and helpless place.
I knew there were Japanese pirates in the city, but I didn’t know where they were or how many there were.
Because anyone who knew these Japanese pirates was either a comrade or dead.
Those people killed people and robbed things, and in a blink of an eye they turned into innocent and harmless ordinary people.
Perhaps the person he passed by in the market or the neighbor he was chatting with just now is the devil who killed his friend and may come to kill him one day.
These people are demons hiding in the marketplace.
"It's pitiful that the whole family is helpless. Now I see everyone looks like a Japanese pirate, and I don't dare to go out to do business anymore." The man held his head and huddled up.
