In the morning, the post house wants to sell salt in a large order, but the door is cold, but in the afternoon, the Yangcheng commercial hall is noisy and crowded like a vegetable market, and it has changed from selling salt to selling salt. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Yangcheng Commercial House was temporarily leased by Shen Xi to Hui Niang and Li Jin, and the two daughters would not show up from beginning to end, they were just the owners behind the scenes, directing people outside to do things.

The Merchant House is open twelve hours a day, which means that anyone who wants to buy salt or ask the price at any time can enter the Merchant Hall, and the Merchant Hall has officers and soldiers to provide all-round protection, and even provide services such as "masked entry" and "back door exit".

To put it bluntly, you have the intention to play against the political envoy Si Yamen, and if you have the ability to threaten the salt merchants, I have the obligation to safeguard the interests of the salt merchants and the local people.

More than one hour in the afternoon of the first day, plus six hours in the night, by the next morning, more than 40,000 taels of salt had been sold.

Shen Xi estimates that after stepping up publicity efforts in the next few days, small businessmen from Liangguang and southern Hunan will also join in the official salt trade, and 160,000 yuan of salt will be sold out in a few days.

At that time, according to the military surcharge of about six coins of silver per tame, he could get about 100,000 taels for military expenses.

This money is enough for him to feed an army of about 3,000 to counter the rebellion, and the weapons and equipment are excellent, and the soldiers' treatment and pensions are generous, which helps the soldiers to leave behind their worries and fight with pirates and pirates.

Just when Shen Xi was planning all this, Yu Niang was released from the Teaching Workshop Division, and she came to Shen Xi with a little shame and questioned Shen Xi's rude treatment of her.

“…… There was a bet between you and the official before, and now it seems that the official has won. Shen Xi said with a mocking smile on his face.

Yu Niang asked, "Did the adults win?" ”

Shen Xi spread his hands: "Otherwise?" ”

Yu Niang said: "Although the lord did not compromise and reconcile with the political envoy directly, but in disguise to help the people of the political envoy to collect money, can the lord know that after the two layers of exploitation of the governor's yamen and the feudal department's yamen, and then there is a customs duty silver at all the checkpoints, how high is the cost of this catty of salt?" Can the people still afford salt? ”

"In the end, the adults are harming the people of Li in Liangguang and southern Hunan!"

Yu Niang was righteous and stern, and her tone was fierce, mercilessly refuting Shen Xi's shameless behavior of disregarding the interests of the people for her own selfishness.

Shen Xi clapped his hands, nodded and said, "Yu Niang scolded well, the official couldn't help but be terrified when he heard it, it turns out that my sin is so big...... However, I would like to remind you that the salt is sold, but the price of salt on the market is another matter. ”

Yu Niang was originally angry, not because she was compassionate and sympathetic to the people, or for the sake of the court society, but in fact, she mainly hated Shen Xi for imprisoning her for three days, and she hated losing her personal freedom the most, because she had a psychological shadow. When he heard Shen Xi's words, he couldn't help frowning: "What does Lord Shen mean by this?" Could it be that the Governor Yamen wants to force the price of salt and let the salt merchants make a loss-making transaction? ”

Shen Xi shook his head: "The value of commodities is determined by the market, if there is a shortage of goods on the market, and the supply exceeds demand, the price will naturally rise, on the contrary, when the supply of a certain commodity on the market exceeds demand, unless there is a forced intervention by the government, the price will inevitably fall." This official is also a businessman, so of course he will not interfere in the market with his power......"

Yu Niang thought for a moment and asked, "Lord Shen has a large amount of sea salt in his hands?" ”

Shen Xi shook his head and sneered: "It seems that Yu Niang's memory is not very good, this official proposed to exchange tea for salt with the Franc machine, if the Franc machine man transports a boatload of sea salt, and the official fulfills the contract to exchange the tea for them, what is the use of the salt in exchange?" Do you want to pour them back into the sea and let them melt into the sea? ”

Yu Niang looked at Shen Xi cautiously and said, "Lord Shen, don't laugh, even if you have the authority to do business with the Franc machine without tea and salt, the Franc machine will not have a large amount of sea salt, and even the political envoy Si Yamen has expected that Lord Shen is just pretending!" ”

"Yu Niang, you are smart but you are mistaken by cleverness, thinking that this official is a person who uses tricks to coax the political envoys, but in fact, it is just your wishful thinking."

Shen Xi said coldly, "I am a dignified Ming, the Heavenly Empire, guarding thousands of miles of sea frontiers, and there are countless salt-producing places in the four seas, but in the end, the sea frontier is closed, the sampan cannot go to the sea, the people can't afford to eat salt, and the young man's head is blank, why do you say this?" Not because I am short of salt, but because I want to use salt to let the people bear the national taxes, but in the war-torn years, the price of salt is expensive, and the people can only eat bland soup, and they don't even have the strength to do things! ”

"But how did you ever know that in all coastal areas, such as those small countries in the South Seas, the people have never regarded salt as a precious thing. Things are not rare, why are they expensive? ”

Shen Xi talked eloquently, and when he finished saying this, even if Yu Niang had a lot of anger before, he was silent at this time.

It is a fact that the Ming Dynasty is short of salt, so salt is so expensive, but the reason for the scarcity of salt is not the lack of raw materials, but the fact that the imperial court gives a certain quota.

According to the number of people before the Year of the Monkey, the imperial court stipulated a few catties of salt per person a year, and then according to this amount, the quota was produced in the major salt farms.

It is precisely because there is a fixed number, which means that it is scarce and can not be increased, that the government has a basis for it, so that it will add harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes from it, so that the original production cost of only two or three cents a pound of salt will be more than ten wen in the end, and in the hands of the people, it will cost forty or fifty wen.

The starting point of the salt industry is good, but the politicians ignore the background of the times and the greed of the people's hearts.

And those small countries in the South Seas, there is no salt class monopoly system, but as long as they are close to the sea, there is never a shortage of salt, even if there is a shortage, it is a big deal for the people to cook salt by themselves, and the materials and tools are ready-made, what is the difficulty?

Yu Niang's face was a little ashamed, but she still argued strongly: "What lives in the land of Nanyang is just a group of people from Fanbang who are outside the king, how can they understand the art of salt making?" ”

Shen Xi said with a smile: "Yu Niang thinks that salt making is too complicated. Besides, even if they don't, aren't there still skilled craftsmen from my Ming Dynasty who teach them the skills? ”

Yu Niang was stunned, and soon thought that it was none other than Shen Xi who taught the people of Fanbang advanced salt making methods. It's just that Shen Xi doesn't want to be charged with foreign countries and refuses to admit it.

"Lord Shen, you ......"

Yu Niang was a little speechless, thinking to herself, this Lord Shen wants to use the sea salt produced by the people of Fanbang to interfere with my Ming Dynasty's salt class monopoly system, isn't this competing with the government and the people?

Shen Xi said: "Yu Niang, the official didn't say anything, you have to report it, just go." However, I need to remind you that this official is just doing reasonable trade in accordance with the rules of trade with the Franc machine, and as for what goods the Franc machine man has shipped to my Daming, the official does not know! ”

After a pause, Shen Xi waved his hand and said, "Send off!" ”

Yu Niang originally wanted to remind Shen Xi, isn't there still a bet between us that needs to be fulfilled? But seeing that Shen Xi seemed to have forgotten about it, and was ruthlessly ordered by Shen Xi to expel the guest, he naturally wouldn't take the initiative to mention it.

……

……

In the matter of salt making, Shen Xi did not play sloppy with Yu Niang.

He really has plans to open a few salt farms outside the Ming Dynasty, and the salt making methods he knows, such as seawater infusion brine ponds, layered exposure to the brine, and then the introduction of salt drying ponds into salt methods, are much more advanced than the salt decoction method used by the Ming Dynasty today, not only the cost is low, but the purity of the salt produced is very high, there are few impurities, and it is basically the best refined salt, even the salt eaten by the royal family may not be as good as the salt made by the method used by Shen Xi.

Today's Ming court knows very little about the Nanyang Islands, and only knows that the inhabitants of those islands are barbarians. As everyone knows, when Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, he traded with the people on various islands, but everything stopped after the sea was banned, but every year after that, some small countries on the Nanyang Islands would pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Taking Luzon Island, which is very close to the coast of Guangdong, as an example, Zheng He once appointed Xu Chalao, an overseas Chinese leader in Jinjiang, as the governor of Luzon in an edict from Emperor Yongle, and took over the political, economic, military, and cultural power of the country.

It can be said that the Ming Dynasty's inclusion of Luzon in the territory is just a matter of holy decree. It is a pity that until the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court never had any intention of turning the land of Nanyang into a king, let alone the shallow Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Shen Xi is different, the Ming court is not ready to occupy the place, he has to go and occupy it in person, the Francois can occupy it, and later the Netherlands, England and other countries can occupy it, so why don't I take advantage of the pirates and pirates to take advantage of the pirates and pirates, and take the Nanyang Islands to occupy them as my own?

At present, he can even make a deal with the Franc Robot, and let the Franc Robot "sell" Luzon and other islands to him, so that not only does he not have to fight with the Franc Robot, but he can even let the Franc Robot as his ally to exterminate the natives on the island who "do not obey the king".

As long as the entire island belongs to the Ming Dynasty, or belongs to him alone, he can govern it however he wants.

On Luzon Island, there are salt pans, farms, and harbors, and in addition to the new crops he cultivated, and even large-scale immigration, it will not take long for Luzon and other islands to become a rich maritime frontier of the Ming Dynasty, which is much easier than cultivating in the northwest and northeast.

It's just that to do these things, it may take years or even decades, and it will take a long time, and what Shen Xi needs to do now is just to buy salt from the Francophone people, and then stabilize the salt prices in the Ming Dynasty, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guizhou provinces.

At the speed of a Franco-man, it would take about seven or eight days to make a trip to Luzon, and with the time it took to load the ship there, it would take about sixteen or seventeen days to transport salt at one time.

There are not many salt farms in Luzon, and their stock is only enough to transport one or two trips back, and the subsequent salt needs to be made now. Shen Xi has sent people with drawings for making salt pans, followed the sea ships of the Franc Jiren, and used the locals to open up several large-scale salt drying and salt factories in the coastal areas of Luzon, so as to continuously supply sea salt from all over the southeast of the Ming Dynasty.

After the salt pan drying method is adopted, "one or two days can be brine, four or five days can be salted", the salt production time is shortened from about half a month to five or six days, and the output is also several times or even more than ten times higher.

With sufficient funds, Shen Xi can turn against the Franc machine at any time, as long as he has the military power on the southeast coast, he can control the sea frontier, and then use the way of smuggling, let Hui Niang and Li Jin use the commercial network under his protection to transport illicit salt to sell it everywhere.

Although this move violates the law of the Ming Dynasty, it can allow the people under its jurisdiction to eat real cheap salt, and it is the most exquisite sea salt, which will benefit the people. (To be continued.) )