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A slightly yellowed, boxer-sized lump of salt.

This rock salt is the block rock salt mined by the Yingcheng salt mine in the way of dry mining, which can be eaten directly, and it is the salt mine in Yingcheng that solves the salt shortage of the two lakes to a certain extent, so that the 45 million people in the two lakes are exempt from the suffering of light food.

Looking at the salt seems to be inconspicuous, but for the people, this salt is an indispensable thing, although the price of salt is several times higher than in the past, but for the people, no one will cut off salt, at most, the food that can be eaten lightly does not add salt, and the salt that cannot be eaten lightly is as little salt as possible; The women at home eat less salt and let the men who do heavy work eat a little more. Because if you eat too little salt, you will often get dizzy, your muscles will cramp, your whole body will be weak, and you will naturally be unable to work.

For the people, salt is a must! For the Governor's Mansion of the Han Dynasty, this inconspicuous rock salt is equivalent to the lifeblood of the Governor's Mansion, to be precise, the economic lifeline. In fact, for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the salt tax was also extremely important, and for the two lakes, it was not just a little salt tax, because there was no salt in Hubei at first, and the local salt merchants in Wuchang either killed or fled, in order to control the salt goods and avoid the salt shortage, the Governorate has been implementing a strict monopoly system, setting up special institutions to sell salt goods, although after the capture of Hunan, the establishment of local contractors, but the profits given to the salt merchants are extremely limited, and the vast majority of profits go to the Governor's Office.

“…… Based on the 45 million people in the two lakes, each person must need half a kilogram of salt per month, which is a surprising 22 million kilograms per month, and 30 million to 35 million kilograms per month with salt for livestock...... Now Yingcheng Salt Mine can mine 1,500 tons of stone salt per month, and about 1,500 tons can be obtained through the blue plate and soil miscellaneous brine in the mine, and the monthly salt is 3,000 tons, which is 6 million catties per month, even if it is up to 15 million catties to 20 million catties of salt per month next year, there is still a gap with the actual demand......"

Wang Fu, as a salt commissioner, pointed out the fact that the salt shortage in the two lakes has not been alleviated by salt mining in Yingcheng, because its output is always limited.

He used to be the head of the second regiment, after the change of the governor's office, he was appointed as the salt commissioner of the governor's household department, the reason why he was appointed to this position is because he was a salt merchant, and he was also a soldier, and even together with the second regiment, he was also reorganized into a tax police to ensure salt tax revenue, after all, for the government, the salt tax commission is too important, almost equivalent to the lifeblood of the governor's office.

In the eyes of outsiders, this is a fat difference, at the beginning, Wang Fu also thought it was a fat difference, but after taking over as the salt commissioner, he found that this is not a "good or bad" at all, but a "bad worry", and it is very likely to lose his head if he is not careful.

"Now, the government sells 12 million catties of salt every month, except for six million catties provided by the Yingcheng salt mine, the other six million catties can only be purchased from Sichuan and Huainan through the river road, and the influx of private salt is as much as 5 million catties per month, of which thirty percent is from Guangdong, and sixty percent is from Sichuan......

If it affects the sales of official salt, it will inevitably affect the salt class, and how many salt classes are there? The salt tax, which seems to be less than 400,000 taels per month, seems inconspicuous, but it accounts for about 40% of the income of the governor's office, so how can it not be valued?

Listening to the impact on the sales of official salt, Zhu Yifeng nodded and said that there must be an answer, while thinking about it, and said slowly. "This salt tax is of course very important to the governor's office, after all, forty percent of the governor's tax comes from salt, but now the problem of the two lakes is that we can't provide enough salt, and the official salt production is insufficient. The common people can't eat official salt, so they have to eat private salt; Of course, those salt barons are competing with the country for profit, but for the common people, if there are no salt barons, how can the suffering of these two lakes be lightly eaten? In this way, instead of banning it, we must welcome the salt barons, and even help the salt barons everywhere, so that they can transport this private salt from Guangdong and Sichuan to our two lakes, and only in this way can the common people eat salt. ”

Hearing that the Metropolitan Governor came here, Wang Fu said as if he had a big understanding:

"Now private salt is really important to my two lakes, but the problem is that private salt is rampant, official salt is naturally unsalable, and business naturally can't be done, we can only sell 12 million catties a month, but what if it sells 20 million catties? How much can this salt class increase? After all, what salt lords value is profit, and on the one hand, they strictly prohibit it, and on the other hand, they set up official purchases, allowing their benefits, weighing the risks, and they are naturally more willing to sell salt to the government! ”

As a salt commissioner, Wang Fu made this suggestion very simply, in order to be able to show himself in front of the governor, that is, he can no longer be a founding father on the battlefield, so he should be a famous official who will leave a name in history! What is most important to the Governor's Office now? Naturally, it's silver!

Whether it is a war or a machine factory, a lot of silver is needed in the end, and in Wang Fu's opinion, as long as this salt class can be done well, the governor's mansion will no longer be short of silver.

"It's done!"

Regarding Wang Fu's suggestion, Zhu Yifeng naturally did not refuse.

"Now there are too many things to do here in the Governor's Mansion, and there are too many places to spend money, the price of this salt is too high, and it can't be increased, you can think of using your brains on this, I think it's very good, if you can control this private salt, the income of this treasury will increase, of course, there is also a premise that it must not affect the input of private salt, after all, this salt is related to the people's hearts, if it is a people's light food, it will naturally be unstable among the people, and the people's hearts will be unstable and can win the world!"

Now Zhu Yifeng does not shy away from words that dominate the world, in fact, this is his goal, and it is also a goal he gives to everyone. Being praised by the metropolitan governor like this, Wang Fu immediately became proud, and then put forward his ideas one after another, what to expand the tax police, what to set up a salt inspection office in the Yangtze River and Yuexiang, etc., for these suggestions, Zhu Yifeng naturally agreed one by one, of course, and finally handed it over to the military government for resolution, which is a normal procedure.

"This Wang Fu started to be this salt commissioner, but he is the first to say, not to mention anything else, just this method of banning is no less than ten times more clever than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I really admire."

Looking at the inspection method given by Wang Fu, Zhang Liangji couldn't help but admire:

"Metropolitan Governor, you use this person to do salt business, you can be regarded as using the right person!"

Facing Zhang Liangji's sycophancy, Zhu Yifeng just smiled slightly, and seemed to feel proud in his heart, but Luo Bingzhang on the side sighed when he looked at it.

"The price of salt is too high! Governor, you see, the price of salt in southern Hunan has reached more than 160 Wen, which can be said to be twice as much as that of Wuchang, so how can the people have no complaints? ”

The price of salt has always been controlled by the Governor, and although the salt shortage has been alleviated to some extent, the Governor has maintained the price of salt at a high level in order to obtain salt profits.

"Now, it can only be like this, after all, most of the salt used in our two lakes is private salt purchased at a high price, which is not expensive, and the house will lose money! Moreover, the price of salt is much cheaper now than it was a few months ago! ”

Of course, it won't be a loss, but the government needs this silver, which Zhang Liangji knows very well. A few months ago, the price of salt in Hunan was as high as 100 catties of rice and 100 catties of salt, but now in his opinion, the price of salt is not only expensive, but extremely cheap.

"In that case, why not lay down the salt field!"

Turning his gaze to the Grand Duke, Luo Bingzhang said solemnly.

"Take the saltworks?"

Looking at Luo Bingzhang in surprise, Zhang Liangji immediately asked rhetorically.

"But to attack Sichuan?"

He almost naturally thought of Sichuan's well salt, after all, Sichuan's well salt could be transported directly down the river to the two lakes.

"Sichuan?"

Shaking his head, Luo Bingzhang said.

"Since the fall of Yuezhou, the governor of Sichuan sent heavy troops to defend the mouth of the river, Sichuan mountains are difficult and dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, if our army dares to attack, I am afraid of being disadvantaged, in contrast, the minister is more inclined to Guangdong!"

Guangdong!

As soon as Luo Bingzhang's words came out, Zhang Liangji understood his thoughts - he Luo Bingzhang is a native of Guangdong, as long as Guangdong is still in the hands of the Qing court for a day, then in the eyes of the villagers, he Luo Bingzhang is a rebel of the imperial court. But if Guangdong is under the Han Governor, who in the countryside dares to say that it is rebellious?

“…… Although Guangdong and Hunan are separated by thousands of miles, compared to Sichuan, Guangdong is more affluent, and has the convenience of Haikou, if you can get Guangdong, not only can you solve the worries of the two lakes of light food, but also can no longer be limited by Jianghang......"

Guangdong!

Regarding Luo Bingzhang's suggestion, Zhu Yifeng only groaned slightly, and again, someone mentioned Guangdong again, but this time it was for salt. In other words, it just started with salt, and salt was just a reason to send troops to Guangdong.

"The Metropolitan Governor, the current Governor of Liangguang Ye Mingchen, his hometown is the person of Hanyang, and his brother is Ye Mingfeng, the owner of Ye Kaitai Pharmacy, although it is the great history of the Qing Dynasty's feudal territory, but my governor's mansion has not only been undisturbed by it, but also belongs to its real estate, if it is our Han army in Guangdong, I think it will be able to lobby and make it return to the Han Governor!"

This is a fact, although Ye Kaitai Pharmacy is a centuries-old store in Hankou, although Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, is from Ye Kaitai, but for this famous century-old pharmacy, the Governor's Mansion has always been friendly, thinking of Ye Mingchen's "no war, no peace, no defense, no death, no surrender, no leaving" in history, the corners of Zhu Yifeng's lips raised slightly, is it possible that this person will surrender easily as Luo Bingzhang thought?

"Now is not a good time to use troops in Guangdong!"

As soon as the words came out, Zhu Yifeng saw the slight change in Luo Bingzhang's face, and knew that he must be unwilling, so he continued to explain.

"After all, the army is not ready to use troops in Guangdong, and the intelligence and logistics preparations have not been completed.......

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Yifeng suddenly smiled.

"Well, you can get ready first, next year! Next year, we must knock this Guangdong down! (To be continued.) )