But when you walk along the Yangtze River from the coastal areas to the Hankou area, the price of salt soars to about fifty cents per pound! And as the distance increases, the price of salt gradually increases!
Take the Jiubian area as an example. The price of salt is about 120 cents per catty. Even private salt can be sold for eighty cents a pound! It may seem that the price is not very high, but don’t forget that the economy at that time was not as developed as it is now, and there was still a lot of bartering during the Ming and Qing dynasties!
When farmers convert materials into copper coins, they are exploited by merchants, and the amount of copper coins minted is not enough for use, making the price of copper coins high. In this way, the price of salt is quite expensive! Therefore, many remote areas have to add hot and sour flavors to their cooking due to lack of salt. This has resulted in the unique cuisine of each region.
Therefore, once Liu Haojia's low-price salt appears on the market, ordinary people, even some middle-class families and even speculators will purchase and hoard it in large quantities! At that time, the price of salt would not only be unable to go down, but would be exploited by others to drive up the price!
After figuring out the reason, Liu Haojia could only compromise and said, "Let's do this. If we only focus on Jiubian and Shanxi, will we have enough salt in reserve?"
Hearing what Liu Haojia said, Zhang Zhi nodded repeatedly as if he had been granted amnesty and said: "No problem, no problem! We have sufficient salt reserves now, and we are still producing them continuously. As long as we can transport and supply them, we can use them." There will be no problem in lowering the price of salt in the two places! But the transportation issue needs to be solved by Mr. Hou!"
Liu Haojia said happily: "This is simple, let Wu'an Army escort us! I have already invited the imperial edict, let's call it an armed drill!"
Zhang Zhi was completely relieved when he heard this. He laughed twice and said, "Master Marquis, do you think we can let the caravan secretly escort a group of people to the road first, and let the Wu'an army follow closely? "
Liu Haojia nodded and said: "What a good idea. Let the caravan leave a batch first. This way other salt merchants can estimate a lot less when estimating the quantity! Even if they plan to eat it at a low price, they will suffer a big loss!"
After a quick discussion, the two of them went their separate ways to get busy. Zhang Zhi went to contact a familiar caravan to transport salt, and Liu Haojia released the news that he would hold a banquet at Shiweizhai in three days to celebrate winning the big order! The Jiubian army has to purchase grain from Liansheng Grain Company, and the salt farm can also sell salt to the outside world!
After the news spread, the whole Tianjin was talking about it, and everyone expressed their envy! Because the trading of grain and salt can be said to be one of the long-term and stable businesses, and it is very profitable! So there are those who envy it, and there are also those who hate it!
Of course, most people envy it, but only a few people hate it. This is naturally because these people are already involved in food and salt! However, they did not do anything at this time, but were actively communicating with each other and preparing to deal with Liu Haojia in the court!
In their opinion, fighting Liu Haojia at this time cannot shake Liu Haojia's foundation. Only by defeating him in the court can they legally cut off Liu Haojia's room for intervention and give warning to those who come after him! Therefore, there were a lot of letters between the capital and various places during this period! Because both parties were working intensively to complete their respective plans, the market actually calmed down for a while.
A month and a half later, in a village below Datong Town, Mrs. Zhao Sun got up before dawn! She is almost fifty years old this year, not too old, but looking at her body movements, it is obvious that her body cannot keep up with the instructions of her mind, and she looks a little deformed!
Anyone who knows anything will understand that it's not that he can't control his body, but that there's something wrong with his eyes and he can only move tentatively.
However, when Zhao Sun was young, she had no problems with her eyes at all, and she was also a famous embroiderer! Although she has not received professional training and cannot do large-scale embroidery, he relies on his talent to do small embroidery such as handkerchiefs quite well!
However, her family had too many children and could not afford a dowry, so she ended up marrying a poor man from a neighboring village. Although her husband treats her very well, life in poverty is still hard! She burned her eyes out while doing embroidery all day long, and her husband also died of a serious illness, making the family even worse! But fortunately her husband is dying
I also saw my son get married and have children before, so I have no regrets!
However, none of their family has land, and their current life mainly relies on their son and daughter-in-law to work part-time for others. Zhao Sun worked hard to make some embroidery to supplement the household expenses, and took on all the housework. Moreover, the daughter-in-law’s family is also poor and cannot borrow money! But he is a real person, so the two families have always gotten along well!
Mrs. Zhao Sun has no other thoughts now. She just focuses on her son and his family of three! She even often complained that she should have died long ago so as not to drag others down! But her daughter-in-law always comforts her, saying that life is just like this, she can get through it if she endures it, and maybe one day things will turn around! Her equally sensible grandson also gave her the courage to live!
Zhao Sun got up so early today because she was going to Datong City to buy salt! Because he had not eaten salt for a long time, he found that his son and daughter-in-law were already staggering a bit, so he had to let them eat some salty meals today no matter what!
The reason why she had to go to the city to buy salt instead of waiting for the counterfeit salt sellers was because she had no money when the counterfeit salt sellers showed up last time and missed the opportunity. So even if official salt is a little more expensive, I still have to buy some for the health of my son and daughter-in-law!
Mrs. Zhao Sun groped her way to the kitchen and started to light the fire. As soon as she started the fire, her daughter-in-law also walked in, and they started making breakfast together. During the whole process, the two of them didn't even say a word, but they cooperated very well.
Breakfast was soon ready, and it couldn’t be simpler! Thin porridge, chopped wild vegetables, and the only thing that makes people feel like they are eating is probably three thin pancakes! Seeing these three cakes, Zhao Sun hesitated and took out the fourth cake from the cabinet. .
Seeing this, the daughter-in-law opened her mouth to speak but did not make a sound. Although Mrs. Zhao Sun couldn't see the expression on her face clearly, she guessed what she wanted to say, so she whispered: "I've forgotten it. You can still eat food for a long time! This is thanks to Mr. Qi! As soon as he came, the price of food dropped, so you should eat a whole pancake today, working outside is very tiring!"