Getting off his carriage, Zhao Liang looked around, and really found a lot of acquaintances, groups of three or five got together, but they didn't mean to go in, obviously these people didn't have the bottom in their hearts, and they wanted to be together outside.

Zhao Liang is noncommittal about this approach, sometimes it is useful, but other times, it is really useless.

"Brother Zhao Xian!"

Just as Zhao Liang was pondering whether to go in, a voice interrupted his thinking, Zhao Liang turned his head to take a look, and found that it was Lu Qian, the head of the Lu family who was in the same family as his own family and the Qi family.

Lu Qian is a lot older than Zhao Liang, in his fifties, white and fat, very rich, and he smiles very kindly, looking like a big monk in the temple. But Zhao Liang knew that this guy was an old fox.

You have to be careful when dealing with him, and if you are not careful, you will be caught by him.

"Brother Lu!" Zhao Liang also hugged Lu Qian and greeted him with a smile: "I haven't seen you for many days, but when I see it today, Brother Lu's demeanor is really better than in the past!" ”

Lu Qian looked at Zhao Liang and scolded in his heart: "Little fox!" ”

Although the two of them chatted happily on their faces, they were each making their own calculations in their hearts.

There are a lot of people in this place, who doesn't know Lu Qian of the Lu family and Zhao Liang of the Zhao family, when they saw the two greetings, many people immediately cast their eyes over, and some people wanted to come over to talk, but in the face of these two people, they couldn't let go.

Lu Qian and Zhao Liang naturally didn't have the heart to deal with others, and the two of them chatted a few words, and then turned the topic back to the invitation this time.

"Brother Zhao Xian, what do you think of this time?" Lu Qian glanced back at Lichun Courtyard, lowered his voice and said.

"What do you think?" Zhao Liang was stunned for a moment, and then said with some hesitation: "We haven't gone in yet, and I don't know what is going on, maybe we are invited to dinner!" Speaking of this, Zhao Liang showed a strange look on his face: "Could it be that Brother Lu has any news?" ”

Lu Qian glanced at Zhao Liang, and the smile on his face also retracted: "Brother Zhao Xian, I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate to behave like this at this time, right?" ”

Glancing at Lu Qian, the smile on Zhao Liang's face also retracted: "Then Brother Lu, tell me, if you have anything to say, I'll listen to it." ”

Seeing that Zhao Liang still had such an attitude, Lu Qian didn't say anything more, but turned around and left.

Looking at Lu Qian's back, Zhao Liang sneered in his heart, old fox, at this time, he still has some messy ideas. However, when he saw Lu Qian walking towards Lichun Courtyard and wanted to walk in, Zhao Liang also followed with steps, and he couldn't let this old fox take the lead.

The two of them entered the Lichun Courtyard and found that the layout here was completely different.

The bells and whistles were gone, replaced by round tables and plain chairs. However, the original dancing platform was still there, and the decorations around it were removed.

Lu Qian and Zhao Liang came to the table in front of them and sat down, and soon a plainly dressed maid came over to serve tea.

Seeing this woman, Lu Qian and Zhao Liang were stunned, this is not the Oiran Qian'er girl from Lichun Courtyard, why did she come here to serve tea and pour water? It's really, neither of them knows what to say.

After Lu Qian and Zhao Liang came in, the merchants at the door also followed.

When the table was full, a person walked down from the second floor with a smile, and as he walked, he clasped his fists at the people present: "Everyone, I haven't seen you for many days, how are you doing these days?" Fortunately, I will be glad to meet you! ”

It was none other than Li Zhongxing, and the smile on his face was bright.

Li Zhongxing's smile looked sincere, but listening to what he said, it didn't seem so sincere. Don't you know what kind of days we've been living these days? Aren't you sorry to say this?

Even if you feel uncomfortable in your heart, you can't show it on your face.

Everyone present smiled and said, "Fortunately, I will be lucky".

Li Zhong walked onto the stage, his eyes swept over the faces of everyone at the scene, and then said with a smile: "I invite you to come here today, for the sake of the salt of our two Huai, this must be clear to everyone, right?" ”

"These days, our salt in Yangzhou is quite a big trouble."

Although Li Zhongxing said it easily, the expression on his face was also relaxed, and he was full of smiles, but the people below were not relaxed at all. What kind of life everyone is living in this period, they can't be clearer.

The life of the salt merchants was particularly sad, more than 30 salt merchants were raided and arrested, how could life be easy.

"Before I left Beijing, the emperor transferred the salt to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that is to say, from today onwards, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will have the final say." Li Zhongxing's words were loud and confident.

"From now on, the salt fields of Lianghuai will no longer be used to produce salt, and all salt will be abolished."

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the salt merchants below suddenly became ugly.

Salt was a good thing in the past, but it took a lot of money and a lot of effort to get it. Now that the imperial court says that it will be abolished, it will be abolished, and this loss will be great. Zhao Liang and Lu Qian also changed their expressions, neither of them expected that the imperial court would directly abolish the salt introduction.

"Someone is about to ask, if there is no salt guide, how can you sell salt?"

"It's very simple, the emperor decided to adopt the policy of contracting salt farms, what does it mean, it's very simple, that is, the businessmen present, you can spend money to contract salt farms. During the period of your contract, all the salt produced by the salt factory belongs to you, and even if the court wants to use salt, it must be purchased from you. ”

As soon as this sentence came out, there was chaos below, is this going to release the salt ban? The imperial court is no longer in the official camp.

Salt and iron official camp, from ancient times to the present, all dynasties, salt and iron are court officials, which is the main financial source of the imperial court. This is the release of the salt official camp? Many people looked at Li Zhongxing in disbelief, they heard it right, right?

"There are a total of 46 salt farms in Lianghuai, and one can shoot up to three salt farms."

"I won't say much about how profitable the salt works are, but there is one thing I want to say in front of me, that is, for every salt factory, our Ministry of Internal Affairs has to hold 60% of the shares. The remaining forty percent are contracted by you. ”

Everyone was stunned, and sure enough, the Internal Affairs Office accounted for sixty percent, which means that the imperial court accounted for sixty percent.

Zhao Liang listened to Li Zhongxing's words, his brain kept flipping, thinking about the whole thing. The salt introduction was abolished, and the imperial court sold forty percent of the shares of the salt farm, is there any profit in this? After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Liang was able to answer himself: Yes!

"Master Li, Lu has an inquiry!"

While Zhao Liang was pondering, Lu Qian stood up, hugged his fists at Li Zhongxing, and then said.

Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "Mr. Lu has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it!" ”

"If Lu buys these forty percent of the shares, then who will take care of this salt farm? Is it the imperial court that sends people, or do we send people? Is the money earned every year divided into six or four parts? Lu Qian opened his mouth and directly asked the question that everyone was most concerned about.

Li Zhongxing said with a smile: "Mr. Lu asked this question well.

"I have a charter here about the sale of salt works, you can take it back and have a look." Saying that, Li Zhongxing nodded to the person next to him, and then said with a smile: "The matter of the salt field will be here first, and then I will talk about the matter of Daming Shipping." ”

Everyone was stunned again, what the hell is this Daming Shipping? That's all the salt works?

"Daming shipping, as the name suggests, is a cargo, this shipping is led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, each government only accepts one, and only looks for people in Lianghuai for the time being. The newly established Daming Shipping, the first thing to go is salt. ”

"All the salt produced in the Lianghuai salt area must be carried by Daming Shipping."

In fact, this is a special transport team, or a transport department established by the imperial court. In this era, transportation is always a hurdle that cannot be bypassed, and the huge cost in the transshipment process is really unbearable.

Focusing on the Ministry of Internal Affairs, supplemented by the way of joining, and taking salt transportation as the pioneer, a professional and specialized transportation team has been formed.

Separating the production, transportation and sale of salt to prevent anyone from doing anything is also one of the purposes. Create a one-stop production, transportation and marketing of Daming salt. Keeping the profits of salt in your hands will also help you increase your salt yield.

No one spoke, all wondering how much it was good to do.

"This is an elaboration about Daming Shipping, you can take it back and take a look!" Li Zhongxing asked people to hand out a booklet to everyone, and then continued to speak: "Let's talk about the establishment of Daming Salt Industry. ”

Daming Salt Industry? What the hell is this?

"Like Daming Shipping, Daming Salt Industry also recruits three companies per prefecture, and its role is very simple, that is, to sell salt. The salt was transported from the salt factory, transported by Daming Shipping, and finally delivered to the store of Daming Salt Industry. ”

"Any shop that joins the Daming salt industry can sell salt in this house."

Everyone understood this time, saying that it was no longer an official camp, but this was no different from the official camp. The management is stricter, and there are even fewer places where you can cheat, and if you want to do something, you can only sell smuggled salt.

"There is a charter about Daming Salt Industry here, and you can also take it back and take a look."

Although Li Zhongxing said joy, he knew in his heart that this time the matter was limited to the Lianghuai Salt District, not the entire Ming Dynasty. In the words of the emperor, this is a pilot, and the effect is good, and it will be launched in the future.

The Lianghuai Salt Area is the largest salt area in the Ming Dynasty, and if it works here, it will work in other places.

Among these three errands, the most rare is Daming Shipping, there must be a lot of people who sell salt and salt farms to rob, and it is estimated that there are not many people who want to do it, and transportation is a chore, and it is easy to have problems.

But Li Zhongxing knew that among these three things, the emperor valued salt transportation the most.

The original intention of setting up the salt introduction was to transport grain to the border pass, but this policy was abolished in the Chenghua year, and Shangtun was gone.