Regarding these, Duke Xingguo also told him how to deal with them.
For example, about kitchen households. Originally, the kitchen households stipulated how much salt they had to hand over, and then the remaining salt was purchased by the court.
Nowadays, it is necessary to pay a monthly salary to kitchen households, which should be higher. In addition, what kind of reward system will be implemented? A considerable amount of money will be allocated from the profits from the sale of salt every month to reward the stoves with the highest salt production. Accounts will be rewarded according to their ranking. If the kitchen households at the bottom of the list do not meet the required salt production for three consecutive months without reasonable reasons, they will lose their jobs.
In addition, if a kitchen household is found to have secretly hidden salt and resells it privately to those private salt dealers, it will be a serious crime if it is discovered.
Thinking about this, Zhang Huangyan felt that there were too many things to do and that there was not enough time at all.
So, he came back to his senses, looked at the salt merchants below, and said directly: "This time, I have prepared one million copies of salt to sell in advance, but considering that if I sell it to others, I am afraid that it will It will have a great impact on your current sales of salt. Therefore, I have decided that these one million copies of salt will be divided among you. As for the money to buy salt, it will be escorted to the warehouse together with the tax payment money. The military camp outside the city is used for military expenses.”
Hearing this, these salt merchants were a little dumbfounded. Zhang Huangyan gave them the feeling that he was really trying to smooth things over. Although they did not directly confiscate their homes like Kong Dayu, they were forced to pay taxes and buy salt in advance, which was an attempt to drain their wealth!
To be honest, at this time, some salt merchants wanted to get angry. This made them feel aggrieved. It was really just fish on the knife board, and they could be slaughtered at will!
However, looking at the eager soldiers and guards standing on both sides, they suddenly understood the fact that they were the meat on the knife board, that's right!
Thinking about it this way, these salt merchants were quite helpless.
They believe that if anyone dares to disagree, believe it or not, all the reasons just mentioned will be gone, and Kong Dayu will end up directly!
Thinking like this, they comforted themselves that although they would have to bleed heavily, they were still much better than Kong Dayu. Besides, it wasn’t Mr. Zhang who said that if we do more work on table salt, such as turning it into refined salt, or conjuring up some treasures, we might still be able to make a lot of money.
Forget it, forget it, just make small profits but quick turnover!
Therefore, whether they were willing or not, they finally expressed that they felt that Mr. Zhang's kindness gave them the right to purchase these salts first.
As for whether Yanyin can be fulfilled, they are not worried. Because they know that the salt output produced by the sun salt method is definitely large enough!
Therefore, after these salt merchants returned, they could only mobilize the money and grain in their hands, pay taxes, recall the sealed salt warehouses, buy salt, and then transport the money to the camp outside the city.
Just like this, while the people of Yangzhou City were panic-stricken and worried, they saw the troops in the city slowly withdrawing, and the salt merchants escorting carts of boxes to the camp outside the city.
Subsequently, a notice from the transshipment envoy Si Yamen was also posted, stating that the salt merchant Kong Dayu colluded with the officials of the former transshipment envoy Si Yamen to sell huge amounts of private salt and make huge profits, and his house was ransacked in the north for questioning. Other salt merchants all support the new salt policy and so on.
Although this notice is posted, it must be understood by those who can read. This means that the right to interpret the notices rests with the literati. Ordinary people, even if the literacy rate here in Jiangnan is relatively high, is still limited, and they still have to listen to those literati.
The imperial court's actions in Yangzhou Mansion frightened them. Many of them have a close relationship with salt merchants, and some are even raised by salt merchants. Their interests were inevitably impacted by this incident. In addition, other people whose interests were affected were naturally not willing to let it go like this.
So, they began to misinterpret the notice. Without being able to confront them openly, they resorted to covert means to discredit this new salt policy.
It is said that the imperial court was accustomed to confiscation of homes to collect money. This was because they were eyeing the salt merchants' money, so they made up a name to ask for the salt merchants' money. If the court does this, it is competing with the people for profit...
Ordinary people, can they tell what is what? Whatever they say is basically what they believe.
Soon, the public opinion in Yangzhou City, although they did not dare to say it openly, after all, there were guards and troops in the city, and there were even large armies outside the city. But their private conversations were unavoidable.
If this is allowed to continue, it can be foreseen that once the army leaves Yangzhou, or there is some fluctuation in the court, it will be easy for Yangzhou Prefecture to counterattack based on such public opinion.
However, no one expected that at noon, when there were the largest number of people in restaurants and other restaurants, they would suddenly hear the sound of gongs and drums on the street, and people shouting loudly.
When the people of Yangzhou Prefecture heard this, they immediately became curious.
"What, the art soldiers in the army want to perform? What is this?"
"I seem to have heard that the imperial army led by Duke Xingguo has new art soldiers, and they are all female soldiers. Their monthly salary is very high, the same as that of the cavalry."
"No way, there are such female soldiers? Then what do they do? Artistic soldiers, are they the ones who sing?"
"Then how come they are equal to the cavalry? Isn't this too outrageous? They are still women. There is no such thing as a woman on the battlefield!"
"You are wrong. In the imperial army led by Duke Xingguo, not only are the artistic soldiers female soldiers, but also the medical soldiers are female soldiers. Their monthly salary is also the same as that of the cavalry army. Have you never heard of it?"
"..."
As mentioned earlier, Yangzhou Prefecture has always been the leading city of the entire Ming Dynasty. Whatever new things happened, including writing style, poetry, clothing, etc., were all first developed in Yangzhou Prefecture and then imitated by other parts of the country.
The result is now good, there are actually women serving as soldiers outside Yangzhou Prefecture! Not only are women serving as soldiers, but they are also serving as unheard-of art soldiers, health soldiers, etc. The monthly salary is even higher than that of ordinary people, and is actually the same as that of a cavalryman.
It can be said that this topic immediately overshadowed the incident of the army entering the city yesterday. Almost all Yangzhou people, including the elders, the ladies of the house, and the Yingying Yanyan in Fengyuechang, were all discussing this matter that made them very happy. Surprising things.
Therefore, many people want to join in the fun, at least first to see what the art soldiers are like?
Not to mention, the number of people watching this event was definitely more than any previous Yangzhou event.
But fortunately, the news said that there would be performances by art soldiers in at least twenty-five places throughout the city, so they were not afraid that there would be too many people to get in.
Suddenly, the people in Yangzhou City, calling their friends, rushed to watch the excitement and wonders.
"Let's go, brother, go see the woman!"
"It's such a vulgar thing to say. That's a female soldier. Believe it or not, if you don't cover up your words and are heard, I will turn around and chop you with a knife!"
"Artists, what on earth are you going to perform? Is Mu Guiying in charge?"
"Who knows, the monthly salary is the same as that of a cavalryman. I really want to see how powerful this female soldier is!"
"..."
The atmosphere of Yangzhou City was the best in the whole country during the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention our daughters, at least those in the romantic field have absolutely no scruples about being in public, and they all go to the theater together.
To be honest, as women, they are more curious about female soldiers in the army!
That's it, the time hasn't come yet, and the performance place is full of people.
As a result, some small traders took the opportunity to do business.
"Melon seeds, peanuts and eight-treasure porridge, sold cheaply!"
"Melon and fruit snacks and orange water, the man in front of you can help me!"
"..."
It was really lively!
I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly, someone shouted loudly: “Look, it’s coming, it’s coming!”
As a result, the scene fell silent, and everyone turned their heads when they heard the sound.
Sure enough, I saw a group of soldiers approaching. Behind a group of male soldiers, there were about thirty or forty female soldiers wearing Ming Dynasty Yuanyang uniforms, marching neatly.
This appearance shocked everyone.
Here in Yangzhou City, there are many gorgeous and strange costumes.
However, at this time, they had never thought about the feeling that the Ming Dynasty military uniforms gave them when they walked over to women in unison. It was really heroic, and that amazing feeling made them feel a little bit after seeing all the colorful things. shocked.
At this time, they all had a feeling that women could look so good in military uniforms!
It wasn't until the female soldiers hid behind a newly erected curtain and disappeared from their eyes that they all came back to their senses. For a moment, they all started discussing in surprise. Even those Yingying Yanyan who thought they were leading the fashion trend were also communicating in low voices.
This kind of discussion didn't quiet down until the female soldiers started to perform.
The performance of the female soldiers is actually a modern play. Of course, in the eyes of later generations, it is still an ancient play.
It's like a sketch, and it's a story about an ordinary family living an ordinary life with food, rice, oil and salt.
Of course, this is not the core. The core is the impact of salt price fluctuations on ordinary people.
The price of salt in the Ming Dynasty, especially Huai salt, was actually the most expensive among all dynasties. According to the Jiajing period, a pound of salt sold for three-quarters of a cent of silver, and a pound of salt sold for one cent and a half of silver. When converted into RMB in later generations, the gross estimate was that of salt per catty, which reached 100 yuan when it was expensive. Five to two hundred yuan, the lowest is fifty or sixty yuan.
Ordinary people don't have much money. Therefore, a lot of the money a family finally earns has to be spent on salt. The most important thing is that salt is a necessity. It does not mean that you buy it once and then not buy it, but it is used all year round.
Zhang Mingwei compiled this sketch to reflect the changes in salt prices before and after the new salt policy and its impact on ordinary people.
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