Since ancient times, selling illegal salt has been a good way to make a fortune.
Anyone who has the courage to sell private salt with his head up is a wealthy businessman who is the richest in the world.
In ancient times, there was often the name "Su Yang is the best in the world", which refers to Suzhou and Yangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, which are the richest places in the world.
No matter which dynasty or generation it is, this is almost always the case.
It can be said that the strong Huaiyang merchants, the flowing imperial court, and all kinds of folk luxury almost all started from the Yangzhou merchants.
Why are Huaiyang merchants so rich?
That's because they control nearly half of the private salt trade in the world.
The Huaiyang salt merchants are almost world-famous, and they have been constantly harvested and suppressed by successive dynasties.
The Zhao and Song dynasties had the most lax control over private merchants, which led to the prosperity of private salt smuggling and selling, and there were even private merchants who transported salt on their own with the permission of the government.
When Gao Kan was still in Tokyo, he met a salt merchant from Shu.
Shu also produces salt, but compared to Huaiyang, the reputation of private salt in ancient times was not that great.
The mountain pass in the west is very important, and it leads to the entrance of the Tuohe River waterway into Zhending Mansion. They have long known about this high hurdle, but they did not expect that they actually still have a way to go north too much, and even into Xianliao. The land's private salt waterway.
With such a steady stream of money, it's no wonder that Xu Wen, a small military stronghold under the jurisdiction, has one hundred thousand taels of silver on hand, which he now uses to buy his life.
Subconsciously, Gao Kan thought of another question.
Xu Wen said that the dirty silver was not his, but the salt merchants who trafficked private salt through the Tuohe River waterway, and used it to bribe the river officials of Zhending Prefecture.
Therefore, these coins, which should have belonged to the river officials of Zhending Prefecture, may have been temporarily stored in Xilin Village.
With just a quick thought, Gao Kan realized that there was a big deal here.
With a sudden thought, he asked in person: "As you said, among the river officials of Zhending Prefecture, they should often do this business. They have received such a huge payment from the salt merchants to buy the road. Why are they not in Zhending Prefecture instead of putting it in Zhending Prefecture? Xilin Shanzhai, a remote place in the mountains?"
"Young master, I don't know. Although the Hedao adults in Zhending Mansion are all in Zhending Mansion, the private salt buying and selling should be done in Zhending Mansion. However, there are many people in Zhending Mansion City, and it is easy to do bad things."
Xu Wen hurriedly explained: "And all the money is not just passing money for bribery, but also money from adults' partnership."
Hearing this, Gao Kan's eyes flashed with light, and he asked again: "Partnership money? What kind of partnership money?"
"The Tuohe River carries the entire Hebei West Road, half of the Hebei East Road, and even the Xijing Road in Liaodi. The annual accounts are so huge that even if you think about it, you can't even imagine how much it is."
Xu Wen explained repeatedly: "On this trip, there are people in various places along the way, who manage the upper and lower rivers. Some people get money directly, and some do business. Each has his own method. If he does business, it is called a partnership. For half a year Within the limit, the total transfer amount is calculated, and then it is entrusted to a place to collect the cash. After counting and storing it, it is then transferred to the local place and delivered to various places.”
"Zhending Mansion is involved in some business. The one hundred thousand taels in the villain's hands are the accounts settled in the first half of the year. Before it could be transferred to Zhending Mansion, the gold thieves invaded."
After hearing this, Gao Kan actually roughly understood the ins and outs of this business.
It seems that these officials in Zhao Song's official family are really good at finding ways to make money, and they can even get involved in businesses such as smuggling salt.
Just this section of the river in Zhending Mansion can generate a profit of one hundred thousand taels in just half a year.
If it were a high road, he would be willing to do such a good business.
Moreover, this matter poses almost no threat to the officials of the Zhending Prefecture River Road. The so-called "meddling" will definitely never require them to pay for it themselves.
The merchants who smuggle and sell salt should be directly calculated according to the number of goods smuggled each time.
Those officials in Zhending Mansion's river channel used their fair share of shares to invest in transshipment and smuggling. In this way, they did nothing but made a lot of money while they were lying there.
If something happened, it would be the business of some merchants who smuggled and sold illegal salt, and had nothing to do with them.
Those merchants who smuggle and sell illegal salt will definitely not recruit these people.
If the Jin army hadn't invaded the south brazenly, entered Zhending Mansion, occupied many places and cities, and even the cities of Zhending Mansion fell, they might have been able to survive this business.
What Gao Kan cares about is not how much money these people have embezzled.
What he cares about is that since this private salt road is so profitable, whether he should consider pocketing it in the future.
In any case, smuggling of illegal salt cannot be stopped no matter how controlled it is, and some people will definitely take risks.
And even if he takes control, the extra salt tax collected will be squandered by the two Zhao and Song officials. It is a waste of snowflake silver. Wouldn't it be better to fall into his hands and use it for military and civilian purposes?
If you take both black and white, you will definitely earn more money.
Look at the river officials of Zhending Prefecture who spend one hundred thousand taels on one trip every six months. If they all gathered together, at least tens of thousands of people would be able to spend on military expenses.
Gaokan was originally going to grow in strength and needed a lot of money to support it.
When I was in Tokyo, I was thinking of various ways to earn more money and find more ways to make money.
Now there is a great way to make money in front of him, but he has lost a lot of effort, and Gao Kan still has a salt mine on his hands.
He has the supply of goods, trade routes, buyers, upstream and downstream all at once. As long as he finds the merchants who follow this path and takes them under his account, the business will be long-lasting.
After thinking about this, Gao Kan looked at Xu Wen with brighter eyes.
This person really couldn't be killed right now. At least he had to recruit the salt merchants who were taking this route.
While thinking about it, Gao Kan smiled and said, "Xu Tiha, I have a good way out for you now. It depends on whether you are willing to leave."
When Xu Wen heard this, there was no hesitation. He kowtowed and said, "The villain is willing to leave, the villain is willing to leave!"
"You should be familiar with the salt merchants who go to and sell private salt in Xilin Village, right?"
Gao Kan asked with narrowed eyes.
"I'm familiar with it. I know everyone who sells smuggled salt through the Tuo River waterway!" Xu Wen said without hesitation.
"Okay, I'll give you a chance. Call all the private salt merchants you know who use the Tuohe waterway and ask them to come to Xilin Village. Tell them that there is a fortune waiting for them. If If you want to continue on this path of making money in the future and make it smoother, just do it honestly."
As he spoke, Gao Kan's voice suddenly turned cold: "If you never want to visit Zhending Mansion again, don't come here."
