Compared with the various chaos in the Great Wei Dynasty, the northwest and northeast sides are peaceful and prosperous.

In particular, the Jiujiang Port in Jiujiang Prefecture has now become a Far East terminal that is not inferior to the major ports in the south of the Yangtze River.

A large number of merchant ships have gathered in Jiujiang Port like schools of fish entering the bay, and many of them are foreigners' merchant ships.

The main reason why these merchant ships came to Jiujiang in such a large circle to do business was that Jiujiang Port was completely exempt from customs duties.

Any merchant ship that wants to do business in Jiujiang does not have to pay any customs duties.

Only merchants who enter the Jiujiang Bazaar near Jiujiang Port to do business need to pay a certain rent before entering. And the rent is calculated on a daily basis, and the longer the stay, the more the rent.

Although it is said that the rent has to be paid, the amount of rent is not large, and it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the tariffs in Jiangnan and other places.

If you want to save this rent, it's easy, just do business outside the bazaar, and the government won't take care of it.

But few merchants do this, as most of them trade in the bazaar.

If a merchant can't even pay the rent of the bazaar, who dares to do business with him is not a liar.

Especially those big deals that cost thousands of taels or even tens of thousands of taels can only be encountered in the bazaar.

Therefore, no businessman will come for nothing to save that little money.

In fact, at the beginning, many foreign businessmen did not believe that Jiujiang Port would really be exempt from tariffs as rumored, after all, this kind of thing was unheard of.

All ports, the main income comes from tariffs, if there are no tariffs, then how can the port make money? Isn't that the same as being busy in vain?

However, as the rumors continued to grow, a merchant ship finally ventured over to check on the situation, and it turned out that it was indeed a place where customs duties were waived, as rumored to be.

Moreover, the local government was so incorruptible that people could not believe it, not only did they not reach out to the merchants who came to Hong Kong to ask for money, but they even did not dare to accept the goods that the merchants took the initiative to send over, and all of them were returned.

Is there an official in the world who is not greedy? This vision was inconceivable to all the merchants.

It wasn't until the merchants had spent more time in the area that they knew why this was happening.

It turned out that there was an official organization called the "Integrity Society" in the area, which was dedicated to monitoring violations of the law by local officials. Once a report is received, the official is thoroughly investigated and no mercy is given.

Officials at Jiujiang Port did not dare to accept money from merchants because they were afraid of being reported for taking bribes.

When the businessmen inquired again, they learned that this was not only the case in Jiujiang, but also in the entire northeast and even northwest, and that there were corresponding levels of "clean and honest societies" in various prefectures and counties supervising local officials.

It is precisely because of this "clean and honest society" that officials in various localities do not dare to arbitrarily distribute and collect money, so as not to be investigated and questioned if they are reported.

After hearing about this, all the merchants couldn't help but applaud.

This "clean and honest society" system is really wonderful, if the Great Wei also has such an official organization, then these businessmen will not be exploited and blackmailed by officials everywhere.

For a while, all the businessmen were full of good feelings about this Jiujiang Mansion and began to do business in the local area.

The reputation of Jiujiang Port gradually spread through the word of mouth of these merchants, and soon attracted more and more merchants to come to do business.

In addition to the complete exemption from customs duties, merchants found that Jiujiang had another advantage that was not found elsewhere, that is, they could buy and sell salt at will.

Can you buy and sell illicit salt at will? This was once again an eye-opener for the merchants.

You must know that it is very difficult to do salt business in Dawei, and you can't do it without a backstage.

If a merchant wants to sell salt, he must first apply to the Salt Transportation Division for salt quotation.

This step alone has already killed countless people, and if you don't have a background and relationship, you won't be able to get salt at all.

After getting the salt introduction, the salt merchant can get the salt with the salt introduction, and then take the salt to the laboratory for inspection.

After the inspection, you can't find a place to sell it at will, so you can only go to the place designated by the government to sell salt.

After the salt is sold, the salt must be returned to the local salt transportation department.

The whole process is not only troublesome, but it also costs a lot of money to pay officials at all levels to pass smoothly.

Otherwise, as long as any official gets stuck a little, this business will not be able to continue.

Because the circulation link is so troublesome and expensive, the price of salt in Dawei will remain high.

In Jiujiang, however, the opposite was true, and the government did not care about it at all, treating salt only as an ordinary commodity, which naturally surprised the merchants.

Not only is the customs duty completely free, but it can also buy and sell illicit salt at will. In addition, the local security is excellent, and there are officers and soldiers patrolling everywhere, so businessmen can do business with peace of mind without worrying about being blackmailed by ruffians and hooligans.

This kind of benefit naturally attracts more and more businessmen to come here.

So in just three years, the reputation of this Jiujiang port spread more and more, and gradually became a large port that was not inferior to other places in the south of the Yangtze River.

Countless ships come and go every day, and the whole port is bustling and lively.

……………………

That night, in the upper room of an inn, two merchants were discussing things.

The older of them, the merchant was about forty years old, with two small mustaches, a magnificent robe, and a big shy belly, and looked a bit like Maitreya Buddha.

The other merchant was much younger, about twenty-five or six years old, handsome, slender, white-faced, and a bit of a scholar.

Although he was much older than the other party, the middle-aged businessman was quite respectful to the young businessman, and even had a bit of a stammer, obviously the other party was not small.

"Young Master Lin, do you really plan to buy a lot of salt? It's a big risk. The middle-aged merchant cautiously probed.

The merchant surnamed Lin said with a smile: "I naturally know that the private salt business is risky, so I'm just a second-tier dealer, and there are other people who really ship the goods." ”

Seeing that the other party really had a way, the middle-aged businessman didn't ask any more.

"Then I don't know how much salt Young Master Lin wants?"

"100,000 catties of tribute salt."

Hearing this number, the merchant surnamed Ma was immediately shocked, and then frowned and said, "This number is too big, and there is nothing I can do about it." ”

"I'm sure Mr. Ma will have a way. As far as I know, more than one salt merchant has received large quantities of white salt from Mr. Ma. ”

The middle-aged businessman suddenly put away his stuttering attitude and looked at the young man in front of him with a scrutinizing gaze.

The merchant surnamed Lin did not avoid his gaze, and looked at him very calmly.

After a while, the middle-aged merchant finally spoke: "If Young Master Lin really wants such a large amount of white salt, I know an adult who can introduce it on his behalf." ”

"Can the adult meet my request?"

The middle-aged businessman said confidently: "As long as that adult agrees, let alone 100,000 catties of white salt, even if it is doubled."

It's just that in the first ugly words, that adult has a noble status and a high position, Young Master Lin must not be rude in front of him, otherwise it is difficult to say whether you can leave Jiujiang safely. ”

"Dare to ask that adult's surname?"

"His surname is Su, you can call him Lord Su."

When he heard this surname, the pupils of the businessman surnamed Lin instantly dilated, and his body even trembled unconsciously, and his heart was excited.

He finally had a chance to meet that person!

()