Suyuanfu is one of the most prosperous and developed cities in the south of the Yangtze River, which is not only the land of water and fish, but also has a well-developed local handicraft industry and workshops everywhere.

Among these workshops, the number of weaving mills is the largest.

Countless high-grade raw materials such as raw silk, fine linen, fur, and fine cotton are processed by local workshops and turned into high-grade fabrics that are continuously exported to all parts of the Great Wei Dynasty.

In addition to the production of high-end fabrics, more workshops will choose to produce relatively cheap ordinary fabrics, taking the cheap route of small profits and quick turnover.

In addition to the developed textile and handicraft industries, Suyuanfu is an important waterway hub in the south of the Yangtze River because of its proximity to the river and developed water transportation, so it is also the largest salt transportation transit station in the south of the Yangtze River.

Almost every day, large quantities of official and even private salt are transported here from the salt-producing areas, and then sent to all parts of the country through waterways, and the cycle repeats.

As we all know, if people don't eat salt, they will get sick or even die, so salt was a very expensive necessity in ancient society.

As for why salt is so expensive, it is mainly caused by the production and circulation links.

Needless to say, the production process is mainly used in this era, and the traditional salt frying method is still used.

Frying salt requires a lot of firewood and manpower and material resources, so the cost is relatively high.

However, compared with the cost of circulation, the production cost is only a small head, and the big head is in the circulation link.

For example, if a merchant wants to sell salt, he must apply to the Salt Transportation Department for a salt introduction, that is, a license to sell salt.

After the salt is obtained, the salt must be taken 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 distribution link is so cumbersome and expensive, it is natural for salt merchants to raise the price of salt to make up the difference.

In this way, of course, the salt will not be cheap.

But it is precisely because the official salt is too expensive that it has led to the flood of private salt in the south of the Yangtze River, which has become a stubborn disease that is difficult to cure in all dynasties.

However, even if it is private salt, it is only a little cheaper than official salt, and it is not too far behind.

Because salt and iron have always been the most important weapons of the country, all dynasties have implemented state monopoly, and private transactions are not allowed.

Anyone who makes or sells illegal salt has always been a felony, and if caught, he will be sentenced to prison or beheaded.

Wei Lu wrote very clearly: Those who make and sell smuggled salt over one stone will be decided.

One stone is only more than 100 catties, which means that as long as the production and sale of smuggled salt exceeds 100 catties, the head will be beheaded.

Because the punishment for making and selling illicit salt is so severe, this illicit salt will naturally not be too cheap, after all, people earn money with their lives.

However, for those who are really big salt merchants, although there are risks, they are not as great as imagined.

Because if they want to do a private salt business, the first thing they need to do is to buy off local officials and form a community of interests that integrates government and business, so that they can do this kind of business with confidence and boldness.

This is also the reason why every time a major case of illegal salt is detected, a large number of local officials will be arrested.

These big salt merchants in the south of the Yangtze River usually sell official salt and private salt to make huge profits.

In order to control costs and raw materials, most of these salt merchants have their own private salt farms to produce salt in large quantities to ensure a continuous supply of private salt.

However, it is precisely because there are so many salt farms that the risk of exposure of salt merchants is correspondingly increased.

Once someone finds the salt merchant himself along these salt farms, it is easy to uproot it.

That night, on Liuye Lake, the largest inner lake in Suyuan Prefecture, a beautifully decorated painting boat was staying in the middle of the lake.

The boat is brightly lit, and there is music coming out from time to time, and it is clear that the guests inside are enjoying themselves.

In fact, in the hall of the painting boat, more than a dozen men of different ages and expensive clothes were drinking and watching the song and dance performance in the center of the hall.

Next to everyone, there is also a beautiful artist sitting to help pour wine or ** with it, completely a luxurious style with a strong aroma of wine.

If there are local merchants present, you will find that these people are all big salt merchants from all over the south of the Yangtze River, and all of them are amazingly wealthy.

And tonight, the person who invited them over was Master Zhong Shixun, the largest salt merchant in Suyuan Mansion, who was also the owner of this luxury painting boat.

After the song and dance performance in the field ended, Master Zhong suddenly clapped his hands.

The silk music that was being played suddenly stopped, and the musicians quickly packed up their instruments and quietly left.

Leaving the scene with these musicians were also the miki of the various salt merchants.

For the departure of these beauties, there is no salt merchant who feels reluctant.

Although these micha are excellent, they have never seen anything like them.

And they meet together tonight, supposedly with a big business to discuss.

As for what kind of business it is, it will have to wait for the old man Zhong who invited them to say clearly.

Compared to the beauties, the white flowers and silver are obviously more attractive to them.

After all the idle people, including the subordinates, were called away, Master Zhong said with a smile: "It is really an honor for Zhong to gather together tonight.

Everyone is a big businessman from all over the south of the Yangtze River, so I won't talk about it.

I asked you to come tonight, because someone wanted Zhong to build a bridge and bring you together to talk about a big business.

As for who that person is, for some reason, Zhong is not easy to say, it depends on whether you are willing to take over this business. ”

An obese salt merchant said: "Old man Zhong is highly respected, and everyone believes in your character." In that case, let's trouble the old man to invite people out, so that everyone can meet them. ”

"Okay, then I'll invite you out now. Mr. Liu, Mr. An, please come out. ”

With Master Zhong's call, two men walked out of the guest room behind the screen.

When the two walked out, everyone looked at them as well.

I saw that the man in front of me was in his forties, thin, yellow, and had a mustache on his face, a bit like a private school teacher.

The man in the back was much younger, about twenty-five or six years old.

Tall and strong, dark-skinned, and with facial features, although he looks very ordinary, his appearance is calm, his eyes are sharp, and there is even a faint murderous aura on it, which looks more like the bodyguard of the person in front of him.

Both of them were dressed in cloth and looked like ordinary merchants at first glance.

Old Man Zhong introduced: "This is Mr. Qiu, and next to him is Mr. An, and they are the people who are here to talk to you about business."

Mr. An, Mr. Qiu, all of you present are big salt merchants from all over the south of the Yangtze River, and I won't introduce the names one by one, I hope you two will not be surprised. ”

Master Zhong's statement made all the salt merchants very satisfied.

Before they know the details of the other party, of course, they don't want to let others know their share easily.

The middle-aged man surnamed Zhao smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, since it is a peer introduced by Master Zhong, we naturally believe it."

Good evening everyone, in Xia Zhao Tao, next to this is my friend Anping, it is an honor for Zhao to be able to meet you here. ”

With that, he bowed to everyone. An Ping, who was standing next to him, also saluted a little casually.

The various salt merchants also bowed to the two of them.

Although they don't know where the two came from, the salt merchants generally feel that most of the names used by Zhao Tao and An Ping are pseudonyms. Especially that Anping, in turn is Ping'an, the name is too perfunctory.

After the two sides sat down, Master Zhong once again played the role of matchmaker, and said with a kind face: "Mr. Qiu, we are all real people who do business, you might as well say it directly." ”

Zhao Tao nodded to him, and then said aloud to the salt merchants: "I won't talk nonsense, since you are all big businessmen in the salt business, the business we want to do with you is naturally related to salt."

You may wish to take a look at the goods first. Zhao Tao glanced at An Ping next to him.

An Ping understood, and quickly took out a package of things wrapped in oiled paper from the top and opened it on the table to show everyone.

The salt merchants looked over and saw that the oil paper was wrapped in a whole package of light brown coarse salt.

Although the color of these coarse salts is not very pretty, the whole is very clean, without too many impurities, at most you can only occasionally see a few grains of sand.

Seeing these grains of salt, many salt merchants suddenly showed a sudden realization.

It turns out that the low-priced private salt that has suddenly appeared on the market recently came from these two people.

The reason why they can be recognized at a glance is because the private salt that suddenly appears on the market is this color, which is very easy to identify.

Before they could speak, Anping took out another oily paper bag from it, opened it and spread it in front of everyone.

When they saw the contents of the oil-paper packet, many of the salt merchants were puzzled.

It's full of white salt, and it's a very high-quality white salt.

When two different colors of salt are put together, the contrast is even more pronounced.

The white salt, whether it is whiteness or purity, is much higher than the bag next to it.

Such a quality can be called tribute salt.

But even with this quality of white salt, salt merchants are not surprised.

Many of them know how to continuously purify coarse salt, and finally get a similar refined salt, which they call tribute salt.

Due to the complexity of this tribute salt extraction process, which requires more manpower and material resources, it is generally only sold to the capital for the use of the palace and dignitaries.

Its price is also much higher than that of ordinary official salt, and it is more than ten times more than ten times more expensive, which is not affordable for ordinary people.

The salt merchants did not understand what the two men wanted to do when they took out a packet of coarse salt and a packet of tribute salt at the same time.

Observing the reactions of the salt merchants, Zhao Tao, who had sold enough of the guanzi, smiled and said: "The business I want to do with you is related to these two kinds of salt."

For this slightly lower quality coarse salt, we only sell 70% of the purchase price of ordinary private salt. The purchase price of this high-quality white salt is the same as that of ordinary private salt.

And we can ensure that the supply is sufficient, as much as we want. ”

As soon as these words came out, all the salt merchants suddenly showed a very shocked expression.

This kind of high-quality tribute salt is the same price as ordinary private salt? And how much or how many?!

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