Chapter 590: Poor Bidding

The salt industry of Lianghuai has been very developed since ancient times, and it is known as "the benefit of boiling salt since ancient times, which is heavier than that of the southeast, and Lianghuai is the most".

Since the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, salt has been produced here, because there are a large number of natural beach fields, the sunshine is long, the wind is strong in the dry season, it is a good place for sea salt production.

Before the Northern Song Dynasty, the largest salt farms were in the Huainan area, and the salt boiling method was used at that time.

Although the ancients discovered early on that a small amount of salt could be condensed after the evaporation of seawater accumulated on the reef, the process of drying salt on a large scale was relatively complex, and the quality of salt dried with the technology mastered at that time was far inferior to that of salt boiled in an iron pot.

"Self-generated is brine, life is salt", stove households are accustomed to call the natural evaporation called "raw brine", and the high-temperature decoction is called "cooked salt".

Cooked salt can be stored for many years, so it is also called "old salt", elderly people have a special preference for old salt, can be used as medicine, anti-inflammatory, treatment of mouth and tongue sores and other very effective, massage the body after heating, but also dredge the meridians.

However, after all, the production process of boiling salt is backward, the output is small and the cost is high, and the biggest disadvantage is that it needs to consume a large amount of firewood, so with the continuous improvement of technology, the salt drying method has gradually replaced it.

Around the time of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, due to the bursting of the Yellow River and the seizure of Huai into the sea, a large amount of sediment was deposited on the seashore, forcing the coastline to continue to expand to the east, making the Huainan salt area far away from the sea, which brought great difficulties to the salt production.

As a result, the Huaibei salt field gradually emerged, because of the less precipitation, the natural conditions are more superior, and most of these newly opened salt fields use the salt drying method for large-scale production.

Regardless of the method, however, the most feared by those who make a living on the beach are tides and typhoons.

Whenever the tide rises, the salt stove will be completely submerged, and when a strong typhoon crosses, it is a raging tide, sweeping westward invasion, people, animals and houses wandering around, and the stove households are often ruined and killed, and it is miserable to see.

During the Tianxi period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan was appointed as the supervisor of the salt warehouse in Xixi, Taizhou, which was at the peak of the autumn tide, the tide was raging, the salt fields were barren, and the people were struggling to make a living.

Fan Zhongyan inspected the disaster area, heard and witnessed the tragic situation of the displacement of the people, and resolutely wrote a letter to build a sea weir, which was finally completed after four years of hardship.

The rammed earth built "Fan Gong Dike" is nearly 100 kilometers long, about five meters high, 10 meters wide at the bottom, more than 3 meters wide at the face, the construction technology of the embankment is perfect, and the majestic embankment body is like a great wall on the sea standing on the shore of the sea.

After the completion of the embankment, the east of the tide brine, the west of the fresh water, that year has produced an effect, more than 3,000 families who went out to flee the famine have returned, the fishery and salt industry has been revived again, there has been no record of the tide disaster for many years since then, the people are known as "defending the sea weir".

The role of the Fan Gong Causeway, respected by the honest officials of the past dynasties, has been repaired as a measure to protect the people and the state during the term of office, so that the Fan Gong Causeway can be maintained and expanded, and gradually extended to the north and south, to the Southern Song Dynasty, this seawall has reached Funing in the north, and reached Lusi in the south, with a total length of nearly 300 kilometers.

Later generations cherish the merits of Fan Zhongyan, then this whole section of the coastal embankment is collectively called "Fan Gong Dike", Ming Jiajing seven years, Hai'an also built Fan Wenzheng Ancestral Hall for it in the West Temple, become a good story through the ages.

Although the Fan Gongdi of later generations has lost its ability to defend the sea, it is still recorded in the annals of history with Fan Zhongyan's famous words "the worries of the world first, and the joy of the world after the world......

……

Lin Xiao led a team of thousands of people, stopping and stopping all the way, constantly buying salt from various salt farms along the way, loading it and transporting it south.

Or because of the relationship in the "rear" - Cao Governor Chen Jin never dreamed that the Ming army would suddenly "attack" directly from the Yellow River, at this time, although the Qing army has collapsed on the whole line, but due to poor information, the large and small salt farms in Huai'an Prefecture are still producing as usual.

Therefore, the supply of major salt farms along the way was quite sufficient, and their acquisition operation was unexpectedly smooth, and on the fourth day, when they arrived in Yancheng, they had to stop and unload the truck.

Because, by this time, they had purchased about 5,000 stone of salt, or 300 tons, and the team of more than 5,000 people was overwhelmed, not only were all the large and small vehicles fully loaded, but even each porter had already carried hundreds of pounds, and could no longer afford more.

However, after receiving so much salt, Lin Xiao was not happy at all.

Because, for the money spent on this trip, Lin Xiao was very, very "egg pain" - not too much, but too little.

Although he had done some homework in advance and had some psychological preparation, the purchase price offered by the salt farmers was still so low that it broke through his psychological bottom line.

The salt for each white flower is about three hundred catties, but it only needs to bid seven dollars in silver—less than half a tael.

This is a pitiful asking price, Lin Xiao silently calculated, the total cost of five thousand stone salt was only 1,000 taels of silver - this is still the situation when he temporarily decided to raise the purchase price to eight yuan.

Although he knew that the price of naked money without taxes must not be high, he still hated the actions of the government and profiteers in this era.

In order to temporarily alleviate the salt shortage in the provinces south of the Yangtze River, he planned to purchase 10,000 stones to transport across the river in advance, and then organize manpower to completely solve this problem after the situation in the two Huai provinces was completely stabilized.

For this reason, he brought a full 10,000 taels of silver - you must know that at present, in Jiangnan, the price of each salt introduction has been as high as 16 taels, and this 10,000 stone of salt is worth more than 50,000 taels of silver.

Later, he inquired clearly, in the Lianghuai production area, the market dealer offered a lower purchase price to the stove household—only six dollars and four cents of silver for each salt introduction.

However, after being transported to Yangzhou, its value immediately rose to two taels, and then transported from Yangzhou to the southeastern provinces for sale, even in the peaceful years, its retail price is often as high as about twelve taels, more than ten times.

This surprisingly high price can be said to have completely fed the major salt merchants in Yangzhou - even if the tax silver is deducted for every three taels, and then the transportation costs, labor costs and other expenses are deducted, the light transport merchants can earn three taels of silver per quote, only this one, the major merchants can earn more than 10 million taels of silver every year, and small and medium-sized merchants can often earn a million taels, which is terrible.

However, the people who have suffered greatly from exploitation dare not speak out about this, after all, salt is an indispensable necessity for human survival, and in order to survive, no matter how hard it is, it is necessary to endure it......

"It's time to nationalize this resource and keep it firmly in our hands."

Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and secretly made up his mind.

In this era, the collusion between officials and businessmen is very serious, and the core resources of the country have been privatized in disguise, resulting in an empty treasury, and the common people are so poor that they can't even afford to drink water.

If we want to make this country really strong and let the people really stand up, it is time to fight against these big landlords and big capitalists without hesitation.

Even if we take a step back, in this era when the commodity economy is still quite backward, the new type of government that has just been established under the leadership of itself is in dire need of a hard currency that is convenient for circulation and exchange, and there is no more suitable exchange than salt except grain.

In addition, salt is not only a necessity of life, but also an important raw material for the modern chemical industry, Lin Xiao is very clear that in the near future, the consumption of salt will increase significantly, since he is determined to become an industrial power, of course, he must quickly take over this important resource......