"Do you know why the imperial court has only dealt with Kong Dayu so far?" In the lobby of the transfer envoy's Yamen, Zhang Huangyan pressed the door button and directly asked the salt merchants below.
At this time, most of the salt merchants were still in shock.
They never expected that the transfer envoy from the third rank would be so young, and most people would recognize him. Just yesterday, when Duke Xingguo called Zhang Huangyan's name in public, it was this young man who answered the call.
From this, they obtained a lot of information.
For example, this Zhang Huangyan was just a person who promoted people. He had no official position before, but now he got a high-ranking official position. He must be grateful to the court. Plus, being so young, he must be quite reckless, and if he feels dissatisfied, he will probably act recklessly.
In addition, the people standing on both sides of the lobby were all soldiers and guards, not any of the original government officials. This shows that this new transfer envoy has strong support from Duke Xingguo. It can even be said that this Zhang Huangyan may be the minion of Duke Xingguo. From this point of view, this new transport envoy is expected to be very powerful.
This kind of information made them immediately understand that today's test was not going to be easy. If one is not careful, he may follow in the footsteps of Kong Daewoo.
While they were thinking this, they heard Zhang Huangyan's question. For a moment, they all had guesses in their minds, but no one dared to say anything. They had to lower their heads and look at their feet. Of course, there are also a few where you can't see their feet at all, only their belly.
Seeing that they didn't answer, Zhang Huangyan sneered and said: "Now that the major salt warehouses have been sealed, I believe that if I start an investigation, it will be similar to Kong Dayu's crime of adulterating official salt with private salt." I believe something will be discovered again? Why didn’t you investigate again immediately? I can tell you!”
Hearing this, the salt merchants present shed sweat on their faces.
The matter of adulterating official salt with private salt is done by almost all salt merchants, big and small. It is an open secret in the entire industry and is only tacitly understood by everyone. Especially these big salt merchants, their warehouses have also been sealed. If they really want to be investigated, they will definitely be found, and the quantities will be huge.
However, they also heard some hope that the court would not deal with them like Kong Dayu. Otherwise, why would you need so much nonsense?
So, each of them didn't bother to wipe their sweat, looked at Zhang Huangyan carefully, and listened to the next key words with their ears pricked up.
Zhang Huangyan glanced at them and said coldly: "Kong Dayu used illegal means to earn a huge amount of wealth, but only used it for himself to squander it. What benefit did it benefit the country? What benefit did it benefit the people? Naturally, the court will not be soft on this kind of rubbish. .but……"
At this point, when he saw that all the salt merchants in front of him were thinking about it and paying close attention to the next words with panic, Zhang Huangyan raised his voice a little and emphasized: "Most of you, and Build roads and bridges, support poor students and other good deeds. Therefore, if the court is willing to give you another chance, it depends on whether you have the heart to serve the country and the people?"
Upon hearing this, the salt merchants couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did they realize that their faces were covered in sweat, so they quickly wiped away the sweat while nodding and bowing in response.
"The adults know it well, the villain has nothing else to do. He does good deeds without leaving his name, but he does them all the time."
"Sir, I am most willing to do such charitable things!"
"..."
Listening to their words, Zhang Huangyan curled his lips slightly with a sarcastic smile. He suddenly waved his hand to stop their useless words, and then said in a cold voice: "Let me be clear, the court can give you a chance. , I asked you to pay back the tax when you go back today. In this way, private salt is official salt, which is justifiable!"
"It should be done, it should be done! Make it up right away when you get back, I will make it up for sure!" Upon hearing this, these salt merchants nodded in agreement.
This time, Zhang Huangyan did not interrupt their statements. After everyone had finished speaking, he continued: "As for your history of selling illegal salt, it depends on your support for the new salt policy and your performance. Okay, then let’s forget about these things. If you don’t perform well, I won’t talk nonsense to you. Nowadays, the court uses money everywhere, and it is a time when it is short of money. You must also know it. Haha..."
His laughter made all these salt merchants tremble with fear.
I was thinking in my heart, sure enough, it is true, the court has no money, come and kill the pigs!
These salt merchants are definitely not good people. Most of them are ruthless. Otherwise, they would not be able to get away with it. In this way, they judge others by themselves and immediately believe that as long as they don't cooperate, they will really be the fat pigs waiting to be slaughtered!
Thinking like this, they became worried again. Although they didn't know what the New Deal was, they had to express their stance immediately before talking about it.
"Don't worry, sir. We naturally fully support the new deal without any hesitation!"
"Yes, the imperial court gave us a meal, how can we not know what is good and what is bad!"
"No, thunder, rain and dew are all your kindness. No matter what the new policy is, as long as it is implemented, you will definitely support it!"
"..."
Listening to their statements, Zhang Huangyan kept in mind what Duke Xingguo said. If he had to hurry up, he didn't want to deal with the fish ink marks on the knife boards. He directly announced: "The imperial court has decided to implement the salt-drying method in Lianghuai. In the future, the salt production will be open to the public." supply. I am not afraid to tell you that the court is in urgent need of money. The first purpose of the New Deal is money. Do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, all the salt merchants were a little dumbfounded.
As salt merchants, they certainly know that the output of the sun-dried salt method is simply incomparable to the current fried salt method. And in terms of cost, it will also become very cheap, thus making them lose the reason to sell salt at high prices.
It can be said that if the imperial court really implements the salt drying method in Lianghuai, their profits from selling salt will be reduced by more than half at once, and they are likely to be subject to a lot of competition, and it will no longer be possible to make a lot of money lying down.
If it were normal times, they would definitely not be happy and would find various reasons to complain. Even if you don't do this, you will definitely be doing it in disguise and coming up with various tricks to resist.
However, Kong Dayu had just been arrested, and the new transfer envoy also made it clear that it would depend on their performance. If they were not satisfied, it seemed that the court would be happy to confiscate a few more homes.
Faced with the power of the imperial court, these salt merchants were at a loss to do anything. Although they were very reluctant, they had to comply.
"I understand, I understand, I understand."
Zhang Huangyan listened to them and then continued: "The second purpose is to improve people's lives. Salt is an indispensable thing. No matter how poor you are, you can't live without salt. And you must use salt not only for eating. , some are used to keep food fresh and prevent it from rotting. Salt is also used in various things. It can be said that the use of salt is actually very large. For this reason, increase the supply of salt and increase the price of salt. When it comes down, it will benefit the people."
Having said this, he paused, glanced at the salt merchants and said, "You don't have to worry about making no money, it's just small profits but quick turnover. If we really lose money, I believe you won't sell salt anymore."
When the salt merchants below heard this, they all smiled bitterly in their hearts. It seemed that the good days were coming to an end. If you want to deny it, the court will flip the table and leave nothing for you. Be obedient and you will at least have a mouthful of soup to drink.
Alas, who makes the imperial court’s fist bigger and harder!
"Xingguo Gong said that in the future, those who are capable will make a lot of money!" Zhang Huangyan looked at them and suddenly spoke again.
Upon hearing the words "Xingguo Gong", the salt merchants below couldn't help but immediately focused their attention. What was Zhang Huangyan going to say next? Make a lot of money, how else can you make a lot of money?
Just listen to Zhang Huangyan continue to say to them: "Although the supply of salt will increase in the future, all the salt sold can be exchanged for salt, and your peers will be greatly increased. However, if you are willing to use your brains, for example, to carry out secondary research on salt After secondary processing to improve the quality of salt, if the price of refined salt is higher, some people will still buy it. Ordinary small salt merchants may not have the capital to participate in this industry. You have a strong foundation and will be more competitive. "
To be honest, what he said was just a paraphrase, and he didn't quite understand the meaning of some of the words in it. However, this was the salt merchant's business, and he didn't particularly care about it.
"In addition, Duke Xingguo also said that salt is actually a treasure. You can make many useful things out of it. It depends on whether you are careful. If you are really serious and want to make a lot of money, you can recruit talents and work hard. Think about it and try to see what new things you can make! If you don’t have any ideas, I can tell you that there is a discipline of chemistry, and the knowledge in it is related to this aspect!"
The salt merchants below, they could barely understand what they meant before, but after hearing it, they were a little dumbfounded. There are many things that can be conjured from table salt? Are they all babies? Also, what is the subject of chemistry?
Thinking like this, they all turned to look at their peers to see if they were ignorant. They found that all their peers had the same expression, as if there were words written on their foreheads: What is chemistry?
Zhang Huangyan did not explain to them because Xingguo Gong said so much and he did not know clearly. He also asked about it at that time, but he only saw Duke Xingguo and Princess Kunxing laughing.
He had no intention of following up on this matter, because the new transfer envoy had too many things to do. For example, switching to the sun-salted method is also a big deal for kitchen households. There are also incentives for kitchen households to produce more salt, etc.!
The various inspection departments under the Transport Envoy Department also need to be drastically reformed. Many of the people in them have colluded with the illegal salt elements. These people should be investigated while the government troops are stationed here. Check it out, things are very busy!
