Anyone who knows a little bit about history will know that the Later Zhou Dynasty was the last dynasty of the Five Dynasties.

In the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the change of regime is no different from a child's play.

The rain continued to fall, and there was no intention of stopping, Mei Xiaohan said: "This brother, I'm really embarrassed, can we stay here a little longer?" ”

The sheep have been fed, and the young man has nothing to do for a while. Then he nodded and said, "It's okay!" I didn't know what you were here for, so I didn't want to keep you. ”

"But now it doesn't look like you're strong!"

The so-called cannibalistic mouth is short, this is true, the young man looked at the few sheep in front of him who had just eaten enough, and nodded with satisfaction. It looks like I'm in a lot better spirits.

Even though it was raining heavily outside the house and light rain inside, the young man did not show sorrow on his face.

Looking at the three sheep, the young man's face was full of joy.

"I don't know what I want to ask the master's house, but... It's just pure curiosity, don't mind! ”

"What do you want to ask?" The young man of the main family asked.

Mei Xiaohan said: "I want to know why you have been taking care of those three sheep and have not stopped for a moment!" ”

The young man was stunned for a moment, and then said, "These three sheep are all I have, and of course I have to take good care of them." ”

Looking at the young man's thatched hut full of leaks on all sides, it is not difficult for Mei Xiaohan to imagine the importance of these three sheep to the youth.

The young man no longer asked Mei Xiaohan and his party about their true identity, but smiled and said, "Where are you going to go next?" ”

Outside, there are endless mountains, and the nearest town is more than 100 miles away, and you have to climb two mountains to get to the town.

The place where the youth is located is called "Bowang Village", although there are more than 100 villagers, but they are scattered, and the nearest market is more than ten miles away.

"The food in the tin can tastes great!"

"It's just a pity!"

Seeing that the young man said that the tin can tasted good, and at the same time said that it was a pity, he couldn't help but be a little puzzled and asked, "What does it mean to be a pity?" Could it be that there is something wrong with this canned food! ”

The young man said, "Isn't it a pity that this canned food tastes so salty?" ”

"You're saying the salt spoils the food?"

The young man said, "Wouldn't it be a waste to put so much salt!" ”

In a self-sufficient agricultural society, most of a person's needs for food and clothing can be solved by himself, but salt alone is difficult to solve by himself, and he must rely on foreign merchants for supply.

"Could it be that you are smuggling merchants?"

Mei Xiaohan was a little puzzled for a while, he originally thought that the youth club would be interested in other issues, but he didn't expect such a question suddenly.

In fact, Mei Xiaohan's gourd still contained several tons of edible salt, and he didn't plan to transfer this batch of salt out, but now he had other new ideas when he heard this young man's question.

Mei Xiaohan said: "This... How is it possible, where do we have the guts to sell illicit salt! ”

The young man said, "This is the crime of killing the head!"

A small salt may seem unremarkable, but it was once the key to the life and death of a country and its prosperity.

For a long time, the mining and extraction of salt has been controlled by the state and the government.

The value of salt to an agrarian society is too high to overstate. And it is no less valuable than oil to industrial society.

The young man said, "I raised these three sheep so that I could go to the market and exchange some salt for them. ”

Mei Xiaohan said: "I don't know what the price of salt is here?" ”

The young man said: "Three taels of silver a jar!" ”

Mei Xiaohan originally thought that the jar of salt that the young man was talking about was that kind of big jar, but the young man took out a clay pot about ten centimeters in size and said, "It takes three taels of silver to fill this jar!" ”

If someone has such a whole jar of salt at home, they can definitely be considered "rich".

If Mei Xiaohan said that she had as much salt as she could fill several rooms, she would definitely be regarded as a madman by the young man.

Modern people only see the use of salt as a seasoning agent in daily cooking, but they do not see the great significance of salt to the ancient people.

Salt is the most important preservative for vegetables, meat, fish, and milk, as these foods are perishable and do not last for a long time like cereals.

But if it is salted into pickles, ham, salted fish, cheese products, it can be preserved for months or even years.

Ancient farmers often needed to exchange grain for salt to make pickled foods.

In addition to the long-term use of pickled food, but more importantly, with salt, merchants were able to trade food over long distances.

Eating without salt is like a car running out of gas...

The young man spent all his energy on taking care of the three sheep, but the ultimate goal was only to exchange them for salt. This is something Mei Xiaohan can't believe and can't imagine.

Although the ancient governments did not give salt legal compensation because salt was not legal tender, the ancients were not worried at all that their salt could not be sold, because salt could be exchanged anywhere.

Since the invention of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago, people's lifestyles have gradually changed from hunting to farming, and the lack of salt in food has made people no longer able to supplement salt through animals as before, but instead of searching for salty minerals.

By adding salt to food, it is most natural to consume a small amount of salt every day, so most food consumption is accompanied by salt consumption.

Standing on the commanding heights of information, merchants can find various opportunities for arbitrage between systems, and the further profit-seeking behavior of merchants expands the types and geographical scope of exchange.

Grain, salt, cloth, iron, and livestock were the main bodies of trade in ancient times. Salt is the second largest commodity, so in ancient times, the areas rich in fish and salt were very suitable for industrial and commercial trade, and these areas were far more economically developed than purely agricultural areas.

In ancient societies, food expenditure accounted for the largest proportion of people's consumption expenditure, and grain was also the largest commodity in the ancient trade system, and salt flow was always accompanied by grain manifolds. This is crucial because as long as the salt flow is controlled, the agricultural trade can be controlled.

The production of salt is very centralized, which facilitates monopoly management, and as long as the supply and price of salt are controlled, a food excise tax can be levied on all consumers. Ancient Chinese dynasties relied heavily on salt taxes, which were one of the largest sources of government revenue.

It was because the ancient Chinese government controlled salt that it had the financial resources to maintain a large, centralized imperial system.

However, because of the generous salt tax, the country was able to maintain normal operations even without tariff revenues from overseas trade, which also provided support for the policy of closing the country to the outside world in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Because salt is easy to preserve and carry, and because everyone lives without it, salt is used as physical currency in many regions, and there was a time when salt was used as a reward for soldiers in ancient Rome.