Chapter 472: The Fucking Price of Salt

"These can be let go,"

Li Tao waved his hand and said boldly, "I have thought about it, the grain industry is too wide-ranging, and it will not work to rely on the government's national allocation...... But it's too big. ”

"You mean, open up the industry in an all-round way?"

Lin Xiao frowned and muttered, "Aren't you afraid that they will hoard Juqi and raise prices?" ”

"It's not enough to let go completely,"

Li Tao grinned and said, "I know what you're worried about...... I think that the state-run granary is still needed, so that the grain price can be stabilized and those unscrupulous profiteers can be cracked down......"

Lin Xiao was silent.

He was still a little worried in his heart, the food problem was the foundation of social stability.

Especially at present, what the people lack most is food, and at this time, there is no doubt that liberalizing grain prices is equivalent to tolerating those profiteers who are in the eyes of money and have no discipline to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune.

If it gets out of control, it's no joke.

"Don't forget the positivity, positivity, old man!"

Seeing that Lin Xiao was silent, Li Tao stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, if this sign really appears, we have the means to control it." ”

Lin Xiao hesitated for a moment and said softly, "Okay." ”

"As long as they don't go out of line, let them make some money, and it's okay......"

Li Tao sat down, picked up the teacup and said slowly, "As for other industries, they can be controlled by adjusting taxes......"

"Huh?"

Lin Xiao was startled when he heard this, and subconsciously asked, "What about the salt?" Also let go? ”

As a soldier from a military academy, even if he only has a rough history, Lin Xiao also knows that the grain, salt, cloth, iron, animal husbandry and other industries, in such an agricultural society in ancient times, were the main body of trade, especially official salt, which has always been monopolized by the government.

Lin Xiao knew that in ancient society, in the people's consumption expenditure, food expenditure accounted for the largest proportion, grain was the largest commodity, and salt was the second largest commodity.

A small salt, seemingly unremarkable, was once the key to determining the life and death of a country, and its value to an agrarian society was no less than the value of oil to an industrial society.

Salt is the most important preservative raw material for the preservation of vegetables, meat, fish, and milk, because these foods are easy to rot and spoil, unlike cereals, which can be stored for a long time, but if they are salted into pickles, ham, salted fish, and cheese products, they can be stored for months or even years.

People in the interior cannot eat marine fish, but if it is made into salted fish, it can be transported inland; People in agricultural areas cannot eat dairy products from the northern grasslands, but salt can be processed into cheese and shipped to the south; And people in the hinterland of the Central Plains can also dry fresh beef into corned beef jerky and transport it to all directions.

In addition to considering long-term self-use, merchants can realize long-distance food trade, which is equivalent to the ancient version of cold chain logistics.

However, in a subsistence agrarian society, most of a person's needs for food and clothing can be solved by himself, but salt is difficult to solve by himself, and he must rely on foreign merchants to supply it through transportation trade.

Through the salt trade, merchants inadvertently built complex logistics and information exchange networks, connecting a large number of isolated social systems.

Standing on the commanding heights of information, businessmen can discover various opportunities for arbitrage between systems, and their further profit-seeking behavior expands the types and geographical scope of exchange.

Therefore, the same areas as raw silk, ceramics and tea, where fish and salt are abundant, are also very suitable for the development of industrial and commercial trade, and these areas are also far more economically developed than purely agricultural areas.

Don't underestimate this, trade exchange networks can greatly contribute to the prosperity of industry and commerce.

The driving force of industry and commerce for social progress is far stronger than that of a simple agricultural economy, because trade can not only create a lot of wealth, but more importantly, it can stimulate social vitality in an all-round way, promote the exchange of ideas, the exchange of species, the innovation of commerce and the innovation of institutions, and realize the comprehensive upgrading of the national system.

Historically, from the Silk Road, the spice trade, the Age of Discovery, to the later reform, opening up and globalization, all of them have inspired great social progress.

Because of this, there is no government in all dynasties that does not firmly grasp the monopoly of salt, as long as it controls the salt industry, it is equivalent to controlling agriculture and commercial trade.

Even to put it mildly, salt transportation is also an extremely important source of national tax revenue, and salt tax accounts for almost half of national tax revenue.

If a private salt merchant wants to operate the salt industry in a bright and bright manner, he must buy salt from the household department, which is equivalent to wholesale to the government, and then he can sell and retail it, otherwise he is a private salt dealer and it is illegal.

It is no exaggeration to say that if this industry is completely liberalized, it is more likely to cause chaos than food......

"Salt?"

Seeing that Lin Xiao was anxious, Li Tao put down the teacup, frowned and said, "To be honest, old man, I'm worried about this......"

"What's wrong?"

Lin Xiao was stunned, "Don't the people have salt to eat?" ”

"But isn't it, you just came, and you don't know a lot of things,"

Li Tao sighed lightly and said, "Before the Qing army escaped, they took away or burned a large amount of grain and materials in the official warehouse, leaving us with a mess...... Right now, there is a shortage of food, and even less salt. ”

"Really?"

Lin Xiao asked urgently, "To what extent?" ”

"The grain is okay, our grain storage is constantly being transported, plus there are many gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are a lot of private grain in the people...... Not really,"

Li Tao raised his eyes to look at Lin Xiao, and raised his hand to point to the north, "The salt fields are all in Jiangbei." ”

"So?"

Lin Xiao immediately reacted, "In the hands of the Tartars? ”

Indeed, the area south of the Yangtze River has been an exclusive area of Huai salt since ancient times, and Sichuan is the production area of well salt, but if the well salt wants to be sold to the south of the Yangtze River, even if the current smooth problem of the Yangtze River is not considered, the transportation cost is extremely high.

As a native of Jiangsu, Lin Xiao knows a little about the production area of Huaiyan.

From the point of view of later generations, the whole Lianghuai salt-producing area is very large, mainly distributed in the north from the Sulu junction of the Xiuzhen River estuary, south to the Yangtze River estuary, this oblique and narrow coastal zone, across Lianyungang, Yancheng, Huaiyin, Nantong and other places more than ten counties, there occupies the country's most extensive coastal mudflats, the four seasons are distinct climatic conditions, very suitable for the production of sea salt.

"What do you say?"

Li Tao smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Although the Qing army has not been gone for a long time, all the salt stored has been destroyed, and right now, the price of a pound of salt on the market has almost risen to one or two official silver, and not long ago it was only five dollars and six cents......

"A pound of silver?"

As soon as Lin Xiao heard this, he blurted out foul language, and said indignantly, "Made! How can the people live? Doesn't it mean that in the place of origin, the purchase price of a catty of salt is less than half a catty of rice? ”

"Can this be compared?"

Xia Bomin, who was on the side, couldn't hold back his lips and said, "As for the price of salt for this fuck, it still relies on illegal salt dealers to maintain the supply of goods, and they are often out of stock......

"Scarcity is precious,"

Li Tao grunted, then raised his eyes to look at Lin Xiao, and asked, "Old man, I can ask for help again, you...... What's the solution? ”

(End of chapter)