Don't look at the extremely high price of salt in the inland provinces, many places sell it for a pound of silver, and even rise to one or two when the salt is panicked. One tael of silver can buy seventy or eighty catties of grain in a normal year, but it is only enough to buy one catty of salt, resulting in many ordinary people in the mainland not being able to afford to eat salt all year round.

However, in the Lianghuai Salt Zone, the price of salt collected by the Haozao supported by the Salt Transport Envoy was very low, only about ten wen per catty of salt, and the difference between the selling price of salt in the interior was dozens or hundreds of times, and the huge profits of this fell into the hands of the Haozao, salt merchants at all levels, officials of the Salt Transport Envoy Division, and people handled by the local government.

The stove households have been boiling salt for many years, and in the end the money they have earned is just enough to make ends meet. If you encounter a little turmoil, you will not be able to eat, such as this time.

Whether it is the salt people of the stove households or other people in the mainland, in fact, their requirements for life are very low, as long as they have food to eat, they can be satisfied. But if you can't meet even the most basic survival requirements, it will be obvious to take risks or even rise up.

Of course, Chen Yue understood the root cause of this matter, so he mobilized a large amount of grain to come to the salt area, and only by making all the stove households eat would this incident be completely quelled.

As for one stone of salt for one stone and a half of rice, this price was not low in the past, and it was a few points higher than the price of salt collected by the wealthy stoves from the stove households. For the stove households, it is most cost-effective to exchange salt for grain, so that they are not subject to the exploitation of grain merchants.

When a stove household came to the county seat with their own salt and really exchanged it for grain from the government, the other stove households were immediately overjoyed! They rushed to tell each other and rushed to the county seat with their own salt.

At the wharf of the Salt River outside Dongtai County, there are more than a dozen grain boats moored in the Salt River, and hired people carry grain bags and step on slender planks to and from the ships and the wharf.

On one side of the riverbank, a huge field was fenced off with a wooden fence, and outside the site there was a long line of salt stoves, and from time to time newcomers joined in. At the entrance of the venue, there are several dendrobiums piled up, and the account office of the Four Seas Merchant is weighing the salt paid by the stove households with the dendrobium, and each one will be recorded on the account book, and the stove households are given a piece of paper with the salt number written on it, which is stamped with the seal of the Four Seas Merchant and the Pingnan Army. With this piece of paper, you can go to the dockside to exchange grain.

Lu Lao Liu carried the salt and carefully hid in the queue, his eyes looking around from time to time, for fear that an official would suddenly rush over and arrest him.

The family had already broken off, and after hearing that the grain exchange was true, Lu Lao Liu took the risk of carrying salt and came to Dongtai County.

There were two rows of soldiers with sharp blades standing at the entrance of the venue, and from time to time there were brigades of soldiers patrolling along the Yunyan River, but no soldiers looked at themselves more, and Lu Lao Liu's heart slowly relaxed.

Finally it was his turn, Lu Lao Liu untied the cloth bag, carefully lifted the cloth bag and poured the salt into the dendrobium, for fear of spilling a little, the salt was less than two dendrobium, and the remaining salt was weighed with the bucket next to it.

The two officials who were in charge of weighing the salt were very kind and did not make things difficult for themselves, which made Lu Lao Liu feel relieved.

"A total of three buckets and two liters! Grab your pieces of paper and don't lose them! The official who was sitting behind the case waved his pen and wrote down the voucher for selling salt, and called the name of Lu Lao Liu to let him pass.

Lu Laoliu carefully held the paper, looking at the red official stamp covered with it, he didn't know the numbers on the paper, for fear that he would be deceived and lose two catties.

"Let's go to the dockside to change food!" An official pushed him impatiently, and he had already affected the salt seller team behind.

It wasn't until the rice that was changed to Baihuahua was on his shoulders that Lu Lao Liu's heart was completely relaxed. More than 100 catties of rice were packed in two cloth bags, and a bamboo pole was carried on his shoulders, although it was extremely heavy, Lu Laoliu's heart was extraordinarily steady. There is so much food, enough food for the whole family to eat for more than a month. The price of salt given by this government is very real, and it is more generous than selling it to wealthy merchants.

I have to exchange the remaining half of the salt at home for grain, maybe the price of salt will drop soon, after all, the entire salt area has been without salt for more than a month, and the stove households have accumulated a lot of salt, where does the government mobilize so much grain?

Lu Laoliu was inexplicably worried, and accelerated the pace of going home.

......

Not far from the wharf, under a reed shed, Xiao Bing was watching the busy wharf in the new barracks, and the shopkeeper Lin sent to Dongtai County by the Four Seas Commercial Bank was accompanying him.

This time, the grain for salt was led by the Governor's Palace, and each recruit battalion was responsible for an area, but the actual exchange of accounts was taken care of by the shopkeepers sent by the Four Seas Commercial Bank, after all, professional matters had to be handed over to professional people.

"Today I have collected 1,200 stone of salt and spent 1,800 stone of grain. At this scale, I am afraid that the food will not last for a few days. Shopkeeper Lin said worriedly.

"You are responsible for the specific transaction, and I will assist you to ensure the normal operation of exchanging grain for salt." Xiao Bing said expressionlessly.

He is a soldier and doesn't want to get involved in this kind of thing at all, if it weren't for the fact that Pingnan Hou Chen Yue had a military order in advance, he didn't even want his soldiers to help carry salt and grain. After all, it was his duty to fight.

"Alas!" Seeing Xiao Bing's attitude, Shopkeeper Lin could only sigh.

The shopkeeper Lin himself was just a small account room, working as an errand in a shop under the name of the Duke of Wei, the Mansion of the Duke of Wei and the mansions of the nobles were raided, and the Four Seas firm was established, covering most of the business of the original nobles. The Lin account room became the Lin shopkeeper and was promoted and reused.

This time, Chen Yue's appetite was too big, and he actually wanted to get involved in the business of Lianghuai salt, the matter of exchanging grain for salt was too big, and too many talents were needed, so Wu Wan'er transferred a lot of shopkeepers and bookkeepers in the Four Seas Commercial Bank to be responsible for these things.

But after all, Sihai Commercial Bank has only been established for a few months, and Wu Wan'er does not have too many talents in his hands, which also leads to a shortage of needed talents.

"For such a long time, the stove households have accumulated too much salt, and if they exchange all the salt for food, our food will not last long. I think this is the case, this month each person is limited to one piece of salt, and I also ask the general to send a letter in the name of the government to each village. Shopkeeper Lin said to Xiao Bing.

A piece of salt in exchange for a half of rice, enough for a family of five to eat for a month, and wait until next month, the grain bought from Huguang will be transported to Yangzhou, and then there will be no fear of anything, but this kind of thing requires the cooperation of the government, and now Dongtai County implements military management, and Xiao Bing's battalion is the highest official.

"Okay. I'll give the order! Xiao Bing nodded in agreement.