Whether it is from the Yangtze River or the sea to the Grand Canal, or from the canal along the Yangtze River into the interior, or to the sea, all the merchant ships have to be transshipped from Beijing.

Jingkou Wharf is one of the most important and busiest wharves in the Ming Dynasty.

Fang Yuan and his entourage crossed the river along the Guazhou Ferry on a merchant ship, and before they arrived at the Jingkou Wharf, they saw the spectacular scene of thousands of sails covering the sun and thousands of boats competing for the current, and the spectacular prosperity of waterway transportation can be seen.

Waiting on the Jingkou wharf, the merchants unloading the goods on the wharf, the coolies who moved the goods, the slender man pulling the boat, as well as a bunch of beggars asking for money, idlers looking for hired workers, the whole wharf was a busy and lively scene.

Xiao Yuan, a beautiful and delicate woman in such a place full of male hormones, is very eye-catching, all the way through, countless pairs of eyes staring directly at Xiao Yuan, if it weren't for Fang Yuan and his party following Chigutai, who looks fierce, and there are three burly brocade guards, it is estimated that there will be disciples who come up to find trouble.

Fang Yuan and his entourage walked around the Jingkou Wharf, spent a few hours, and asked seven or eight people, but they had never heard of such a Ruyi wine shop.

The weather was hot, so Fang Yuan led everyone to sit in a teahouse to rest. According to Fang Yuan's estimate, the Haisha Gang will definitely operate secretly at the Jingkou Wharf, and such an important wharf as the Jingkou Wharf will inevitably have a place for them to contact.

Fang Yuan spread out the map of Jingkou Wharf and carefully compared it with Qin Zhan, looking for the location of the Ruyi Distillery before.

"Hey, there's a trail here, how can it be a wide road?"

"Where's the little gazebo here?"

"Isn't this a river temple? How did it become a warehouse? ”

Fang Yuan tossed around for a long time with the map given by the Xi family, and found that many of the buildings marked on the map did not correspond to them in reality, and then he remembered that the map drawn by the Xi family was at least five years ago, and the Jingkou Wharf had been rebuilt in the past few years, and it had already changed with each passing day and had a new look.

It's a headache!

He and Qin Zhan compared them one by one, and looked at the buildings on the dock from time to time, trying to find out some clues from that year.

He wanted to ask the teahouse owner for directions, but Qin Zhan hurriedly dissuaded him, and said in a low voice, "Boss, the Haisha Gang is engaged in the business of raising heads, and its whereabouts must be hidden. ”

Fang Yuan also felt that he was reasonable, so he endured this thought, and sent a brocade guard to the dock to secretly investigate whether there was the slightest trace of selling illicit salt.

Jin Yiwei went out and tossed for a long time, but he found nothing, seeing that it was nearly dusk, Xiao Yuan was quite impatient, and asked, "Childe, haven't found the Ruyi Wine Shop yet?" ”

Qin Zhan hurriedly asked her to whisper, "Shhh Beware of the walls with ears! ”

The chubby teahouse owner suddenly walked up, and a pair of squinting eyes kept looking at Xiao Yuan up and down, "The girl is looking for Ruyi Wine?" ”

Fang Yuan was slightly stunned, and secretly squeezed Xiao Yuan's hand, ordering her to continue asking.

Xiao Yuan asked in a coquettish voice, "Yes! Boss, is there a Ruyi wine shop nearby? ”

The teahouse owner finally waited for the opportunity to talk to the stunning little beauty, and immediately answered Xiao Yuan's words, "Ruyi Tavern? It was demolished three years ago! ”

He saw Xiao Yuan showing a look of disappointment, and said excitedly, "You are looking for Ruyi Wine Workshop, you are looking for the Haisha Gang!" ”

As soon as he opened his mouth, he mentioned the Haisha Gang, Fang Yuan secretly became vigilant, and glanced at Chigutai, asking him to do a good job of embankment.

Under Fang Yuan's instructions, Xiao Yuan nodded, pointed at Qin Zhan and said, "Yes! My son-in-law came to the Haisha Gang to buy some private salt. ”

The teahouse owner's flattery was reciprocated, and he sat down opposite her, and said with a smile on his face, "The girl has found the right person to buy private salt, and I am an old friend of the Haisha Gang, and I can sell it at your lowest price." ”

Fang Yuan was determined to rectify the salt tax under his jurisdiction this time, so he had to understand clearly from all parties what the price of private salt and official salt was, and the origin of the price difference, so that he could fight against the drug.

To deal with men, especially lustful men, women are far more capable of means than men.

Xiao Yuan understood his thoughts, and said in a coquettish voice, "Boss, everyone said that it was the lowest price to sell, so I'd better go to another place and ask, thank you!" ”

The owner of the teahouse saw that he couldn't talk to the beautiful woman anymore, and the business was gone, so he took two steps back awkwardly and sat back at the table, "Girl, I really sell it here at a lower price than other places." ”

"They all say that there is no treachery and no business, and the ghost believes your words!"

Xiao Yuan simply pretended to be stupid and sweet, lightly angry and angry, and the fat boss stayed there, "This, I won't lie to anyone!" ”

Xiao Yuan asked seriously, "Then you tell me, this is also selling illicit salt, why is your house cheaper than other houses?" How much cheaper? ”

The fat boss hurriedly said, "This girl doesn't know anything, the Haisha Gang never sells illegal salt in person, but has an offline line." According to the level of the downline, there are at least three levels, ranging from 30 to 60 to 100. From my line, it is directly traded with the Haisha Gang Jingkou Tangkou, and it only costs sixty wen a catty. If you go to other merchants to buy it, it will be at least a hundred dollars a catty. ”

Fang Yuan frowned secretly, the so-called down-line level, according to modern terms, is actually the development of dealers, the cost of the general level dealer must be the lowest, the lowest level of dealers, the cost is the highest.

Unexpectedly, this Haisha gang still sells illicit salt or purely commercial, marketing-like management, and spreads all the risks on the heads of dealers at all levels, and the real black hands behind the scenes are at large. The so-called sale of smuggled salt has developed into a collectivized and industrialized management, which is simply unscrupulous.

The official salt selling price in the Lianghuai salt area is 300 Wen/jin, and the highest price of private salt is 100 Wen/jin, and the cheap one is only sold to 30 Wen/jin, and the price is only one-tenth of the price of official salt.

Fang Yuan didn't know anything about the cost of salt making, but just by the selling price of the Haisha Gang's private salt, he knew that the Haisha Gang was not a living Lei Feng, and would never buy and sell at a loss, and the cost of salt production, from the salt households to the Haisha Gang, would never exceed 30 yuan, or even only 10 or 20 yuan.

So putting aside the smuggling of smuggled salt, the official salt, which costs only 10 or 20 yuan, can be sold for 300 yuan in the end, and the price has increased by 20 times, and how many interest groups in the middle have profited from it? It's unimaginable!

A group of powerful and corrupt officials, profiteers and corrupt officials, after eating and drinking enough, actually spread all the salt price and cost on the people!

Fang Yuan had already made up his mind, the bandits who smuggled smuggled salt should indeed be rectified, but the robbers who were robbing with official licenses could not be left alone.

Xiao Yuan listened to him tell him the price of buying and selling illicit salt, chuckled, and said coquettishly, "Boss, your price is not low!" Why don't you sell us for thirty dollars a pound? ”

The fat boss looked at everyone hesitantly and said embarrassedly, "This ...... Thirty dollars are sold to big merchants, how much salt do you buy? ”

In the Ming Dynasty, a salt introduction is 300 catties, each salt area is 200,000 salt, the price of each official salt is 90 taels, and the price of private salt is 9 taels to 30 taels.

Xiao Yuan looked at the nominal owner, Qin Zhan, according to the prior agreement, coughed and said, "Is 10,000 citations considered a big businessman?" ”

10,000 leads are at least 90,000 taels of silver, and the fat boss has also seen the world, where can they be easily fooled, "Are you kidding me?" If you don't want to buy or sell, just buy and sell! ”

Xiao Yuan Jiao said angrily, "Boss, do you know who my son-in-law is?" Have you heard of the Xi family of the Dongting Merchant Gang? ”

The fat boss still shook his head and said, "The Dongting Merchant Gang can't find a place to buy salt from the Haisha Gang, and they still need me to introduce them?" Are you really thinking I'm a fool?! ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Boss, I said that you haven't done a big deal, more than 100,000 taels of trading, which merchant gang doesn't do market research first, and first understand the price of selling illicit salt?" Go directly to the Haisha Gang to buy salt, and your pants will be pitted. We came to Jingkou Wharf to conduct market research and open up channels. If the boss is willing to introduce us to us, as long as we can see the leader of the Haisha Gang in the first few transactions, a reward of one hundred taels will be given immediately. ”

One hundred taels is a lot of money for a teahouse owner.

The fat boss looked at everyone hesitantly, still a little worried, if he introduced businessmen to the door indiscriminately, but after talking, he was fooling the Haisha Gang, and it was estimated that he would not be able to eat and walk around, and he would not want to be the downline of the Haisha Gang.

The fat boss asked hesitantly, "Where is the leader of the Haisha Gang who can be seen if you want to, you say that you are from the Dongting Business Gang, do you have any credentials?" ”

Qin Zhan took out the letter of introduction from the Dongting Merchant Gang from his arms, and there was a big red mark of the Dongting Merchant Gang on it, and handed it to the fat boss, "This, it should always be fake!" ”

As soon as the fat boss saw the letter, he had at least seven or eighty percent credibility, and no one in Jiangnan knew the name of the Dongting Merchant Gang, and the Dongting Merchant Gang would spend 100,000 taels of silver to buy private salt, and no one would question the economic strength of the Dongting Merchant Gang.

The fat boss realized that he had really encountered an opportunity to make a fortune, and nodded and promised, "Okay, I'll introduce it immediately, three days, and there will be a response in three days at the latest." ”

Since the fat boss was willing to be introduced, Fang Yuan paid a deposit of fifty taels of silver first, and paid the rest afterwards.