"Impossible", in front of a group of subordinates, Gao Feihan directly scolded regardless of face, "Damn, these businessmen are all full of food and can't support it, and if they don't make good money, they have to give it to the surnamed Liu." ”

"Which merchants are going to buy this license?" , Huang Tao hurriedly asked.

That experience wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said with a bitter face: "Dozens of businesses such as Hanyuan firm and Hengshun firm have gone. ”

A group of officials in the main hall of the yamen were in an uproar.

Han Yuan firms who don't know who doesn't know, they not only have branches in the major prefectures, but also good quality and low price, they have long been well-known inside and outside Henan.

Gao Feihan rolled his eyes a little puzzled, "Didn't these Han Yuan firms or something, say that they have a lot to do with his new Amber Mansion?" What does he want to do, take out his own money to do things for the court? ”

Han Yuan firm and Hengshun firm wanted to open up the situation in the whole country before, they had to use Liu Ximing's relationship, although they didn't know much about the twists and turns in these, but Gao Feihan was naturally clear as a provincial political envoy.

Huang Tao ignored Gao Feihan's question, but slapped it on the table, "Hey, I'll just say that this person surnamed Liu is not good, and his mother has planned it." ”

Suddenly, Huang Tao stood up and looked at Gao Feihan with a shocked expression, "Fantai, did you say that this surnamed Liu was specially here to ...... because of His Majesty's instructions?"

Gao Feihan was so frightened by Huang Tao's words that his hands trembled, and then he reacted and shook his head: "No, Henan is in a hurry at the moment, and the imperial court will not do anything that is not conducive to Henan's stability at this time, I think it was the idea of this surnamed Liu for the sake of epidemic prevention money and food." ”

"It's just that there is a weirdness in this, if his family wants to meddle in the salt industry, they can directly sell private salt, why bother to pay money to the court, it's really strange."

Gao Feihan's self-talk did not help Huang Tao and the others at all, and the thought that the large amount of money received every year might slip away, these officials of all sizes were anxious.

"Fantai, what should be done about this, we have to come up with a strategy quickly."

Under the anxious eyes of Huang Tao and others, Gao Feihan closed his eyes and thought lightly for a while, opened his eyes and said:

"Regardless of the rest, since these businesses have a relationship with his family, then the official will first refer to him and then talk about it, drag his hands and feet, and you go to the Lin family and the Wang family to discuss with these big salt sellers, no matter what, you must not let the surname Liu succeed and cut off everyone's way of life."

"Hahaha, just do it, I'll arrange it."

~~~

Kaifeng City only has the station of the Henan Governor's Yamen, and Liu Ximing, the Central Plains Governor, can only requisition the Henan Governor's Imperial History Inspectorate as an official residence.

He already has the title of the right deputy imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so it is not a violation to do this.

At this time, the patrol courtyard had become extraordinary, Sun Chuanting, Sun Jiao, Gu Yanwu and others looked at the smiling faces of the shopkeepers of the various businesses in front of them in a daze, and they didn't know that they thought they were receiving money from Liu Ximing.

Looking at Su Yan, the manager of the commercial house disguised as the shopkeeper of the Han Yuan firm, Liu Ximing said in a serious nonsense:

"Although you are a businessman, you can know the difficulties of the imperial court, which shows that you have a pure heart, you can rest assured, the reform of the salt law has been approved by His Majesty and the cabinet, and the local authorities will not dare to stop it, and the official will also form a salt army to protect the salt road, and you can only sell salt."

Su Yan was wearing a black embroidered straight-collared thick shirt and a staff hat, dressed properly as a businessman.

At this time, on behalf of the shopkeepers of the Liu family, he smiled and thanked:

"With the uncle coming forward, we are naturally relieved, here are the 200,000 taels of silver tickets funded by our merchants, all of which are issued by Chase Bank, which can be exchanged directly, and please ask the uncle to verify."

Liu Ximing smiled and waved his hand to signal Li Biao to put away the silver ticket, "There is no need to verify, doing business is about integrity, the official believes you, you wait for this to go down to the side room to get the license, if there is something, the official will call you." ”

"Yes, I'll retire."

Su Yan bowed to Liu Ximing in a manner, and bowed to Sun Chuanting, who was also wearing a red official uniform, and then came out.

When Su Yan and the others walked out of the door, Liu Ximing proudly raised the silver ticket handed over by Li Biao.

"Brother Boya, how's it going? Even if the epidemic prevention funds are in hand, we can also get down to business. ”

Sun Chuanting was a little incredulous, what was the end of it? In less than a quarter of an hour, he raised 200,000 taels of silver?

Sun Jiao, Gu Yanwu and others were also dumbfounded, 200,000 taels of silver is light to say, but it is already equivalent to the taxes paid by Henan Province in silver throughout the year.

Liu Ximing hurriedly played a round while stealing fun, "Don't think too much about it, this is purely Yin's food, and it will only cost 40,000 taels of silver a year." ”

Gu Yanwu jumped and said: "This, since the money comes so quickly, why don't we issue more cards, so that even the financial difficulties of the imperial court can be alleviated." ”

"Nonsense, how can this kind of thing come when you open your mouth", Liu Ximing refuted it with a righteous and stern face.

He looked at Sun Chuanting and the others, who were also looking at him, and explained:

"This silver is not levied by me arbitrarily, but according to the annual salt consumption of Henan Province, it is equivalent to an additional tax of one to one and two cents per stone of salt, and if it is more, the people of Henan will not be able to afford to eat salt."

Sun Chuanting still looked puzzled, "Then why are these merchants willing to buy licenses, you can only manage the license until it is sold, unlike the salt introduction of the imperial court before, which can still extract salt from the salt field." ”

Liu Xi's heart is down, he can't say that his salt factories in Luzon, Taiwan and other places have already been built, and he has been waiting to enter the mainland market for a long time.

At that moment, he had to change his statement and explain: "Speaking of which, this is still related to the imperial court salt law, the imperial court stipulates that salt must be sold in different areas, for example, the price of salt in Guangdong and other places is obviously lower than that in Hedong, but it cannot be sold in Henan." ”

"Now with my license, I don't care if they can sell it in Henan, but I don't ask where their salt comes from, these merchants can naturally make a profit by taking salt from other places at a low price and selling it in Henan."

Thinking that this was also a good opportunity to popularize economic concepts, Liu Ximing further explained to Gu Yanwu, Sun Ji and others:

"In the process of goods circulation, the more intermediate links, the higher the selling price will reach the people. In the past, my Daming salt industry had to go through dozens of salt farms, small officials, officials, businessmen, etc., and a large amount of income was taken by these people. ”

"By the time it reached the hands of the people, it was already a high-priced salt, and in addition, it was difficult for the imperial court to receive any taxes from it. The problem of too many middlemen basically runs through all aspects of my Ming Dynasty, such as the gentry do not pay grain, and a large number of peasants' income is put into the pockets of the gentry, and the court naturally has no money to use. ”

Liu Ximing ordered a sentence about the official gentry's question and did not continue to say in depth, but his method of combining practical problems and borrowing the question still had a big impact on Gu Yanwu and others, causing Gu Yanwu and other children of the official gentry to ponder and be silent.

"Okay, let's not talk about it in detail, epidemic prevention is important", Liu Ximing looked at Li Biao who was standing at the door, "Pass my order and inform all prefectures and counties in Henan that this official will set up a salt protection army to see if there are any states and counties who voluntarily sign up to bear it, and the money and grain will be transferred by the salt envoy department." ”

Li Biaoqiang held back the smile in his eyebrows, lowered his head and hugged his fist, and hurriedly walked out of the yard.

If it's a little later, he's afraid that he will laugh directly, isn't this just to make his own militia official, it's really a shame that the second brother can think of it.

Liu Ximing also flashed a smile in his heart, to get the power of salt politics from Chongzhen, raising money is one thing, and this is the reason on the other hand.

Dengzhou, Neixiang and other places have long become the actual control areas of the Liu family, because the political situation is stable and there is the Liu family as the backing, food and other materials are sufficient, and at this time it has become a paradise in the troubled times.

According to Dou Yuquan's letter, in the past few years, there have been more than 700,000 people in Dengzhou, and in order to ensure the safety of these places, the Liu family has implemented a militia system in every village and town, and the total number of militia has reached 100,000.

Of course, these figures have never appeared in any official documents, and in this era of rampant banditry, officials in Henan have neither the heart nor the ability to investigate all these things of the Liu family.

But in order to facilitate future action, Liu Ximing also had to turn a part of the militia into an official force.

It's just that if you are directly transferred to the official army, it is easy to be transferred by Yang Sichang and others who are eyeing you, and it is safer to transfer to the capital to transfer the salt envoys.