The head of the Ding family's salt factory is called Ding Li, a son of the Ding family's side branch, this person is insidious and capable, and he is extremely cruel to the methods of salt households. It is precisely because of his cruel methods that the Ding family uses a small number of domestic slaves here, but controls tens of thousands of salt households, making these salt households tremble and dare not resist.

Ding Li lazily surrounded the fox fur, sat in front of the charcoal brazier, drank a glass of spirits slowly, knelt opposite him, and the imperial court salt supervisor with a flattering smile on his face diligently stirred the charcoal fire in the basin from time to time.

As a five-grade imperial court salt supervisor, he flattered and courteous a white-clothed cloth, and this salt supervisor not only did not think that he had lost his identity, but thought it was an honor.

Ding Li looked at him with slanted eyes while drinking: "During the Chinese New Year this year, the patriarch of the family passed down the word that this year's salt output will be halved compared with last year, and this task must be achieved, and we must not slack off." ”

The salt supervisor turned the charcoal fire while turning the wine jug on the charcoal fire and said with a smile: "Now that those salt farmers have reached the limit, how to add half, I'm afraid this task will be difficult to complete." ”

Ding Li sighed: "This is also a matter of no way, now the situation of turmoil in the court has begun, and our Taishou Liu Yan of Youzhou asked the emperor to set up a state pastor in various places has also been approved, the establishment of the official title of state pastor is equivalent to mastering the military and political affairs of a state, and it is a real feudal monarch, to put it mildly, that is the soil emperor of a state, and our backer Lord Ding is just a thorn in the history of the state, and it is one step away from the state pastor, At this time, we must seize the opportunity to sit in this position, during this period, there are countless amounts of money that need to be paid up and down, especially our emperor, who has priced this official title at 50 million yuan, and this expense can only be paid in our salt farm. ”

When the salt supervisor heard the price, he could only smile bitterly and shake his head.

According to the rules of previous dynasties, buying officials and lords should be done by traitors, but our Han court has produced a freak emperor.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty loved to do business and could be called the first emperor in history to be a "stubborn master". He specially opened up the "palace market" in the harem, imitating street markets, markets, various shops, and vendors, so that some of the palace maids and concubines were dressed as various merchants and sellers, and the other part was dressed as guests buying things, and some were dressed as singers and monkeys.

And he himself put on the clothes of a merchant, pretended to be a merchant selling goods, and walked up and down this man-made bazaar, or drank and had fun in the hotel, or quarreled and fought with the shopkeepers and customers. The Spirit Emperor was mixed up here, and he had a lot of fun.

Such absurd acts can be tolerated, because after all, they have not caused much damage to the country. Sadly, Emperor Ling of Han soon developed his penchant for business to the point of selling official titles, and the consequences were naturally unimaginable.

Some emperors before Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty also had the phenomenon of selling officials, but they only did it occasionally, and the money obtained was generally "the urgent use of the country". And by the time of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, everything was naked, and the most absurd thing was that Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty actually opened an official exchange in the West Garden, clearly marked the price, and sold officials publicly. The money from the sale of officials flowed into Emperor Han Ling's own pocket. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty personally formulated the rules for selling officials: the price of local officials is twice as high as that of court officials, and the price of county officials is different; Officials must also be promoted according to the price. Generally speaking, the price of an official position is calculated based on the annual salary of an official, for example, the price of an official position of 2,000 stone per year is 20 million yuan, and the price of an official position of 400 stone is 4 million yuan, that is to say, the price of an official position is 1,000 times the annual income of an official. In addition to the fixed price, it also increases or decreases at any time according to the value of the seeker and the property he owns, which may be the origin of the name of the bargain.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty sold his official position, and he did not miss any opportunity, and even Zhang Wen, Duan Cheng and others, who had great merit and high prestige, all paid enough money for Emperor Ling of Han to buy an official before ascending to the public position.

Among them, the story of Cui Lie's buying an official at that time was very funny. Cui Lie was born in a famous family in the north, and successively served as a county warden and court secretary. In March of the second year of Zhongping, Cui Lie wanted to be Situ, Situ was one of the three princes, a real minister of the country, but he could only spend 5 million yuan to buy a Situ. On the day of worship, the court held a grand worship ceremony, and the Emperor Ling came to the palace in person, and the hundred officials stood under the steps. Looking at Cui Liechun's proud appearance, Emperor Ling suddenly felt that his position as Situ was too cheap, so he wanted to regret it, and couldn't help but mumble regretfully to his entourage's cronies: "This official sold at a loss, and he should have been asked for 50 million." The Zhongchang attendant next to him interjected: "He can give five million, which is already very good." Your Majesty, you have to have a little brand awareness, how can a famous person in Jizhou like Cui Gong buy an official easily? Now even he recognizes His Majesty's products, and just gives us free advertising, and this official position will sell more well in the future. ”

Afterwards, Cui Lie asked his son Cui Jun one day: "I live in the third duke, what is the person who is in the discussion?" "It means that what people say about me being the third prince. Cui Jun told the truth: "Commentators think it stinks of copper. This is where the term "copper smell" comes from.

This time, out of his own ambition, Liu Yan proposed the idea of setting up a state pastor in the Han states, but he was in the taste of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, because this allowed him to sell the state pastor title of the Han states again and earn him a hand, so this method of asking for the source of turmoil in the Han Dynasty was implemented so easily.

Although the emperor set the price at a high level of 50 million yuan, he still flocked to it, because as long as he got the position of state pastor, from now on, the land of a state has become his own private property, and he can take what he wants from the people of a state, and the capital will come back in a blink of an eye, and he can make money for a long time, how can this not make people blush?

"If Uncle Ding can become the state pastor of a state, it will be of great benefit to the entire development of our family, at least like Gongsun Zhan, arrange countless jobs for the children of the family, and the 50 million money is worth spent, but the production capacity of our salt farm has reached the limit, if we want to increase production, maybe it will provoke a civil uprising, which has to be prevented." The bartender continued his misery.