Not long after Xunzi came back, Zhao Mu also came back.
Zhao Mu was previously sent by Zhao Kuo to receive compensation from the Yan State, and by the way, he opened up the Yan State's market and sold Chu State's lacquerware, Bashu silk, and Zhao State's excess iron farm tools to the Yan State.
Yan State ceded the capital to Zhao State, losing a lot of craftsmen and metals, and compensated Zhao State for a large amount of copper and iron, resulting in a shortage of iron farm tools in the country.
Moreover, at this time, there was only Zhao State left in the south of Yan State. Without the consent of Zhao State, goods from other countries could not enter Yan State. It is even less possible for Yan State to obtain support from other countries and can only purchase goods from Zhao State.
Zhao Mu took the opportunity to quickly capture most of the Yan State market, and then relied on the advantage of state support to suppress some competitors, win over some businessmen, and take most of the rights of the Zhao State Chamber of Commerce into his hands.
However, after all, Yan State is only a part of the market, and it is a less important part of the market, so it is impossible for Zhao Mu to completely control the chamber of commerce with these.
At this time, Zhao Kuo sent a letter to Zhao Mu.
Zhao Mu was overjoyed after seeing the letter. He took the letter to the Bohai Sea and began to dry salt according to the method recorded in the letter...
"How is it? Brother, I didn't lie to you." Zhao Kuo patted Zhao Mu on the shoulder and said with a smile.
After not seeing each other for several months, Zhao Mu has grown to be almost as tall as him, and his body has become much stronger.
"Brother Xianming, this method can indeed produce sea salt, and it is completely white and does not contain any impurities. It is comparable to the salt produced in the Hedong Salt Pond. With this method, Yudi can definitely quickly occupy the northern market and completely control the Zhao Guo Chamber of Commerce. ." Zhao Mu said excitedly.
This is a huge profit, and salt is as necessary as food. If anything cannot be sold, salt cannot be sold.
At that time, the Jin State relied on the salt ponds in Hedong to become the world's overlord. Later, the Wei State also relied on the salt ponds to support most of the military expenditures of Wei's soldiers.
Qi State also relied on the benefits of fish and salt to become the richest country in the world.
Now Zhao's salt is basically shipped from Qi and Wei.
Now that Zhao State has mastered the technology of drying salt, it can no longer be exploited by Qi State and Wei State, and the cost can be reduced to lower than Qi State's boiled salt, and it can compete with Wei State.
As for the salt ponds in the east of the river in the Wei State, how can I put it? That thing is as profitable as sun-dried salt, and it is more difficult to mine.
Sun-drying salt requires opening up a large number of salt fields, and it takes a certain amount of time to obtain salt.
There is no need for the salt ponds in Hedong. The concentration is so high that it will crystallize naturally. "Shui Jing Zhu" records: "It is muddy and does not flow. The water comes out of rock salt and condenses naturally. It is taken in the morning and restored in the evening, and there is no loss in the end." '
Did you see that not only are they naturally crystallized, but they are also harvested endlessly? Isn’t it annoying?
And the purity is extremely high. After a little purification, it becomes the best refined salt.
Even if it is not purified, it is whiter than most salt and can be sold directly.
It is said that the salt pond has been mined since the Yanhuang period, and it is still being mined in the 21st century. It has not been completely mined for five thousand years.
If it weren't for the cost of transportation, Qi's boiled salt would be no match for Wei. Wei could defeat the entire Qi salt industry by relying on price wars.
Although the other states of Qin and Chu also produce salt, the difficulty and cost of mining mineral salt and well salt are completely incomparable with the salt ponds in Hedong.
For example, Li Bing mined well salt in Sichuan by digging wells, absorbing brine, and then boiling it to precipitate salt.
After so many steps, the salt finally obtained was still muddy, and the wells dug often collapsed and killed people.
If Qin had not implemented a monopoly on salt and iron, Qin's salt industry would have been defeated by Wei long ago.
However, Wei and Qi were relatively conscientious, and the price of salt was not too outrageous, generally around 100 to 200 yuan per stone. Of course, these were coarse salt that had not been filtered and was mixed with soil and sand.
As for the refined salt eaten by nobles, it often costs hundreds or even a thousand yuan per stone.
Refined salt is too expensive and the common people cannot afford it. There are too many impurities in coarse salt. Eating too much is not good for your health and can easily cause various diseases.
Now that Zhao State has its own salt, Zhao Kuo can let all the people eat snow-white refined salt, and at the same time, the price will not increase, or even decrease.
"I plan to take the opportunity to take back the salt and iron as a national monopoly. What do you think?" Zhao Kuo kept tapping his fingers on the table, and after a moment, he said slowly.
It goes without saying how much profit there is from salt and iron. Since the beginning of Guan Zhong's reform, Qi State has collected the profits from salt and iron as a national monopoly, making Qi Huangong the first of the five hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Shang Yang's reform made the profits from salt and iron a national monopoly, laying the foundation for Qin to unify the world.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took salt and iron as a national monopoly, and relied on it to raise funds to attack the Xiongnu, forcibly bringing down the entire Xiongnu.
Previously, the salt of Zhao State was controlled by others. Domestic and foreign aristocratic merchants cooperated one after another. Even if Zhao Kuo ordered the state to monopolize it, it would be difficult to achieve it. It would also cause a boycott by businessmen, causing the price of salt in Zhao State to be unstable.
Things are different now. The State of Zhao has its own salt, the State of Qi has declined, the State of Wei has formed an alliance with the State of Zhao, the country has gradually stabilized, and the national power continues to rise. Even if businessmen unite to boycott Zhao Kuo, they are not afraid.
Zhao Kuo even hoped that someone would stand up, so that he could scare the monkeys, and enrich the national treasury by ransacking houses or something.
"What should we do with those salt merchants?" Zhao Mu asked.
Many of these salt merchants had donated grain and salt to Zhao during the Battle of Shangdang and the Five Kingdoms' conquest of Zhao. Some were for the sake of national justice, and some were to win the favor of King Zhao and Zhao Kuo.
As for the businessmen who donated money for the subsequent five kingdoms to conquer Zhao, most of them did not donate during the Shangdang War. They were worried that Zhao Kuo would settle the score with them if he won.
But no matter what the reason was, they donated after all, and they helped Zhao defeat the enemy!
This kind of thing is done regardless of the heart. What others think is not important, but how you do it is important.
At least now Zhao State owes these businessmen a favor. Zhao Kuo cannot violate morality and shoot all these businessmen to death.
In this era, not only people must be trustworthy, but the country must also be trustworthy.
Although the Qin State treats outsiders so shamelessly, cheating this and that all day long, and showing no integrity at all, Qin treats its own people with more integrity than anyone else.
The promised rewards and pensions will definitely be sent to the soldiers or their families every cent.
If the treasury is in difficulty and the payment is delayed, the King of Qin will take the lead in being frugal and cutting all expenses in half until all rewards are issued.
This is also the reason why the old Qin people are willing to fight for the country.
The country has never failed them, and they will never fail the country.
The same is true now. If the merchants of Zhao State have not failed Zhao State, Zhao State cannot fail the merchants of Zhao State.
This is the purpose of these businessmen's donations: although it seems that they have lost a lot of money, if they make any difference, the returns will far exceed the money donated.
"I didn't expect that I would become a bad guy now. How can I explain this?" Zhao Kuo complained in his heart.
