In fact, there is a whole chain of interests between stove households, haozao, and salt merchants, and any problem in any link in the chain of interests will lead to the paralysis of salt administration.

As the upper echelon of this chain of interests, Jiang Heming didn't need to say hello to a luxury stove like Wang Xian, as long as he stopped collecting salt, the salt that Wang Xian had accumulated would not be able to be sold, and he would stop collecting salt.

But in that case, time is too slow, and for Jiang Heming, his business will lose a lot of silver if it stops for a day. is also worried that it will anger Wang Xian's arrogance and lead to trouble in the future business, so he communicated in advance.

But he didn't expect Wang Xian to be more anxious than him in the face of this situation, and he had the idea of making trouble. It seems that the ignorant are really fearless, Wang Xian, who is far away in the coastal salt area, doesn't know how powerful Chen Yue is!

Jiang Heming sighed in his heart, persuading Wang Xian to be careful, but his words were full of encouragement, if Wang Xian instigated the stove households to make trouble, it would naturally be the greatest benefit to Jiang Heming.

The news spread quickly, and when the first stove household asked Wang Xian to sell salt but was refused, the news that Wang Xian stopped collecting salt quickly spread throughout the Rugao salt area. The stove households had no choice but to find other luxury stoves to sell salt, but they were shocked to find that the stoves stopped buying, saying that the big salt merchants in Yangzhou had been raided by the governor's mansion, and the collected salt could not be sold at all.

The stove households were immediately alarmed, and the salt merchants above stopped collecting salt, and the salt they had worked so hard to make could not be exchanged for silver, so they could not buy grain, and the whole family had to go hungry.

It's okay for two days a day, but if this situation continues, it won't take half a month, and most stove households will not be able to survive. This is because most of the households are in abject poverty, worse than the peasants in the interior.

At this time, for some reason, the salt inspection departments suddenly stepped up their efforts to crack down on illegal salt dealers, and many illegal salt dealers in the salt area were arrested one after another, making it impossible for the stove households to sell their salt at all.

At this time, for some reason, the grain merchants quietly raised the price of grain, which made the lives of the stove households even worse.

In order to buy grain, the stove households spent their last money, and a desperate atmosphere spread in the Lianghuai salt area, from the northernmost Haizhou to the southernmost Tongzhou, the same situation appeared, that is, the stove households could not sell their salt.

Xichang, a town of 100 households, is only 10 miles away from the sea, and all the families in the town are stoves that cook sea salt. Although most families have a hard life, as long as they are willing to work hard, they can earn enough money to fill the stomach of the whole family.

Since the former Song Dynasty, they have lived here for generations, their ancestors have lived the same life for generations, although they are poor and miserable, but there is a tranquility that the inland peasants do not have, and the war can rarely spread to this remote seaside town, and no matter when people have to eat salt, as long as someone eats salt, the stove households in the town will not worry about having no food.

But now, strange and strange things have happened, and the salt they have worked so hard to make cannot be sold!

This has never been encountered in the past, although the salt boiled in the past could not be sold at a price, although the officials of the salt transportation department and the wealthy stoves were selective and deliberately lowered the price of salt, but they did not worry that there was no market.

If you can't buy salt, you won't have money to buy food, and you'll have to go hungry. Now, several families have run out of food.

Zhao Da lifted the lid of the pot, looked at the thin wild vegetable porridge that could illuminate people's faces and sighed, there are not a few grains of rice in a pot of porridge, where is the strength to eat such a meal?

"This is the last bit of rice in the house...... the wife whispered, took the wooden spoon from Zhao Da's hand, and began to scoop the porridge.

The thickest bowl was given to the elderly mother-in-law, who had been in poor health and could not go hungry.

The husband has to boil salt, and he does heavy work, and he can't eat enough.

When several little cubs in the family can eat, it is also when they grow their bodies, and half of the children eat Lao Tzu to death, and a bowl of wild vegetable porridge can't last for half a day.

In the end, all she was left with was a bowl of thin soup.

Zhao Da saw that there was not even a grain of rice in his wife's bowl, so he silently put his bowl in front of his wife, and forcibly took his wife's rice bowl and drank it slowly.

"Daddy, I want to eat dry!" The eight-year-old second son looked at the wild vegetables in the bowl and protested loudly.

"Lao Tzu still wants to eat dry, some are good!" Zhao scolded his son, his face was stinky.

"Boss, salt really can't be sold?" The wife asked in a whisper.

"Alas, don't mention it. The Wang family has stopped collecting salt, saying that the salt can't go out at all, and there is no money to collect salt. I've been to see it, and the Wang family's salt factory warehouse is indeed full of salt. Zhao sighed.

"Then you can sell them to Ma Liu!" The wife said anxiously that Ma Liu and the others were smuggler salt dealers, wandering between the salt districts, fighting guerrilla warfare with the salt inspection department and the Haozao, and collecting salt from the stove households at a price slightly higher than the price of salt in the Haozao. Most of the people in the salt area have dealt with them.

However, the capital of the smuggler salt dealers is too small, and the salt of the stove households is more sold to the stove.

"What to sell? Just three days ago, Ma Liu was arrested by the Salt Inspection Division, and now he is in prison in Rugao, and I heard that he will be beheaded after the autumn. "Zhao Da didn't have a good air.

"Ahh The wife was stunned, "What should I do?" ”

This month, more than 100 catties of salt have been cooked at home, just waiting to be sold for rice, and now the salt can't be sold, but how can it be good?

"Is Brother Zhao at home?" At this moment, a voice sounded outside, Zhao Da pushed open the rice bowl, and when he walked outside, he saw the stove household Qian Er standing outside his firewood door.

"Has the second brother eaten?" Zhao Da asked casually. This is an ordinary question, and the person who is asked will usually answer whether he ate or did not eat.

But today, Qian Er didn't follow the routine, but showed embarrassment on his face.

"I can't hide it, big brother, I don't have any food at home, I want to ask my eldest brother if there is any surplus food at home, can you give me a little." Qian Er rubbed his hands and said very uncomfortably, everyone lives in a town, the situation is similar, it is very inappropriate to borrow food from others at this time, but if there is a little way, he will not open this mouth, because his wife has just given birth, and his body is weak and tight, and he really can't go hungry.

Zhao Da nodded, turned around and walked back to the house, and said to his wife, "Take out all the food at home and give it to the second brother!" ”

The wife opened her mouth and was about to speak, but was glared at by the man, so she had to stand up and walk to the rice bowl, and took out a bowl from the bowl, which contained a small half bowl of crystal clear white rice.

"That's all there is to ......"

"This, this ......" Looking at the little rice in the bowl, Qian Er was in a dilemma, and he didn't know whether to take it or not.