In a courtyard with carved beams and painted buildings in Yangzhou, several big salt merchants who usually fought three hundred times a day gathered together but did not even start a fight. As soon as the decree of the imperial court on salt inspection was issued, they had already received the news. No matter how hard we fight, we fight no matter what. Whenever something happens, we always join the group to keep warm.
The biggest salt merchant among them is Zhou Wanwan. Zhou Wanwan was originally a scholar. He wanted to get fame and serve the country. He studied hard for ten years and failed to pass the exam three times, so he relied on his meager income. Di Xiahai started doing business, but he didn't expect that he would earn more and more. He could earn one million a year just by selling salt, so he was called Zhou Wanwan. However, this Zhou Wanwan didn't make his fortune by selling salt, but by selling salt. It's by reselling salt.
The smart and capable Zhou Wanwan was sitting at the top, but he was extremely irritable at this time. Even his most beloved concubine was scolded to tears by her. He always had a bad premonition that the Emperor and his courtiers would become weak. He is playful, and most of the courtiers are smooth and sycophantic. As long as everyone can get along, it is fine. Now that he has heard that the current emperor is tough, he will not compromise at all even in the face of the cabinet's pressing pressure, and he has won the victory of the great ceremony, which shows that He is very scheming. Such a person must rectify the political agenda, clean up the government, make some achievements and leave a mark in the history books. It seems that life will not be easy in the future...
Liu Changchun and Shen Wanpeng are also big salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. Both of them have seen how powerful Zhou Wanwan is, and they have both been beaten by Zhou Wanwan. If they can't compete with each other as the boss, they start to compete for the second position. No one is convinced by the other, and they want to win. If Zhou Wanwan had not been here, the fight would have started already.
Liu Changchun was impatient, so he spoke first: "This time the emperor sent an imperial envoy south to inspect the salt affairs. How about we continue as before, offer money, eat, drink, have fun, have wives and concubines, and arrange one-stop services, and then sell a few more" An unscrupulous little salt merchant, so that the imperial envoy can return to the capital for business."
Although Shen Wanpeng didn't care about him, it was always the same when he met with the salt patrol sent by the imperial court in previous years. This was a routine, and he said in a deep voice: "I think it's okay, no one will have trouble with money, but how much should we donate?" "
"It's rare that you and I still have the same opinion. I thought you could come up with some clever ideas with your big belly. It's definitely not possible if you don't have anything less. In my opinion, one million taels is about the same. I'll adapt accordingly. If the Imperial Envoy feels that If it’s not enough, then we’ll add more. It’s still the old rule that the three of us will contribute the big share, but we can let other salt merchants contribute the small share to make up one million taels.”
"Hey! You little bitch, when I treat you like a human being, you'd better pretend to be more like me. Don't urinate and show your own skin. You still leave me here to attack me personally. You little bitch is Why do you have the nerve to tell me, you are complaining about having concubines every day! Even if they don't say it, they might scold you." Shen Wanpeng became anxious when he heard this. This Liu Changchun was always stumbling for him. Recently, he insisted on starting from He defrauded fifty thousand dans of salt, which was comparable to real gold and platinum. Thinking about it, Shen Wanpeng felt a pain in his body, and he had no place to vent!
"you this……"
"Ping!" came the sound of a teacup being placed on the table, and the scene instantly became quiet. The furious Liu Changchun had to hold back his words as he sat on the chair, not even daring to take a breath.
The sound of porcelain tiles colliding with the solid wood tabletop was neither light nor heavy. Zhou Wanwan made everyone jealous without even saying a word. In the salt business world, they only played what was left from Zhou Wanwan’s play, and he, Zhou Wanwan played Either they can't play with it, or they don't dare to play with it. Anyone who dares to touch Zhou Wanwan's cake will be sent to Jinyiwei's prison tomorrow.
Zhou Wanwan said in a deep voice: "I don't think this is appropriate. I sent someone to investigate why the salt patrol is necessary. This person is upright and upright. He regards money as dirt. Giving silver to those rotten scholars is like throwing himself into a trap. Instead of bribing them, it is better to pretend to be poor and live in misery. We also have our own difficulties. Who here has not been bullied by the people from the Salt Transportation Department? Our hands and feet are not clean, but the people in the court have done evil things, but we are Humbled."
In the Ming Dynasty, the salt transportation was first posted by the central Ministry of Household Affairs, stating the basic content such as the area where grain was to be received, the type and quantity to be shipped, and then the merchants transported the rice grain to the designated side warehouse, which was called Baozhong. At home and abroad, there are also situations where cash, cloth, horses, tea, grass, iron, etc. are collected;
Secondly, the warehouse official faithfully filled in the variety and quantity of the grain received by the merchant, the amount of salt that should be paid, and the merchant's place of origin and physical characteristics on the salt and grain survey, and stamped the middle line in duplicate. One of them is issued to the merchants, called Kanhe, as a voucher for the payment of grain and salt, and the other is sent by the government to the salt transfer department or the salt class promotion department in various places, called the book.
The merchant brings the prospectus to the designated salt transportation department. After the chief of the transportation department compares the prospectus with the contents of the book he received, he will issue a salt quotation with the word "dispatched" marked, allowing the salt merchant to go to the salt farm to deliver salt. The period of waiting in line for salt support is called Shou Zhi.
After collecting the salt, the merchants have to go to various batching offices to check and weigh the salt. If the salt is found to be correct, the salt merchants will transport the salt to the designated marketing area for sale, which is called market trade.
Due to the huge profit of salt, those princes, nobles and distinguished persons who want to get a share of the pie have led to more and more private salt on the market, less and less salt in the salt field, and the time required to support salt is getting longer and longer. Merchants worked hard to spend money to collect grain, hire teams to transport grain, and queue up day and night to exchange salt. Sometimes they even had to queue for half a year or even a year before they could get salt from the salt field or not get it.
If you don't have money to clear the way, you can work step by step to become a salt merchant. If you can support your family after one year's work, it will be good. In this era, those with clean hands and feet cannot make money, while those with unclean hands and feet will live a more dignified life. It depends on who can hide his tail well. The method is more sophisticated.
Liu Changchun quickly echoed: "Yes, brother is right. When the people on the street scolded us for our greed, they didn't know that the entire salt transportation in Jiangnan is maintained by us. We can also leak some from the cracks of our fingers to the poor people. Those officials can't even leak anything out, which will kill us. The entire salt industry in Jiangnan will fall into chaos. No matter how upright he is, he has the ability to go to the top to investigate!"
"Then we will follow Big Brother's arrangements in everything."
…
At this time, Su Xiaolou had woken up early, had already packed up and saluted, and got on the carriage to go to the ferry to meet Lu Datong, Xiong Er Xiucai and the others. This was their second business trip together, mainly because Su Xiaolou Xiaolou's current situation is that he is worried that if Xiong Er and Xiucai stay in the Yamen, they will be bullied by other Jin Yiwei.
