"Grain?" The old lady looked at Chu Huan, "Does Chu Du have any good way?" ”

Chu Huan said: "Master, as far as I know, although the treasury is empty, it does not mean that the empire has no grain, especially the gentry in those wealthy areas in the Guannai, who have a huge stock of grain at home. ”

The old lady smiled: "This is also a common thing, where there is land, there is food, in addition to spending a part of the grain of the hired farmers, paying a part of the taxes, you can save a lot." If it is an official family, there is no need to pay taxes, and there is more grain left every year. He sighed lightly: "Just like our Su family, before the Xiliang people called, they also had their own granary, and the grain storage was also tens of thousands of stones, and after the Xiliang people called, we also funded some of the officers and soldiers to ......!" Shaking his head and saying with a wry smile: "It's just that the Xiliang people came too fast, the Qin army couldn't resist it, when we took refuge, we didn't have time to transfer the grain, and when we turned back later, the grain in the granary had already been looted, some of them were robbed by the Xiliang people, but most of them were snatched away by the displaced people in the northwest......!" ”

Chu Huan said with a smile: "That's it, the rich places in the Guannei, such as Jinling Road, Yuling Road, and Suzhou and Hangzhou Road, are all rich families, many of them are big families who don't have to pay taxes to the imperial court, and the grain in their hands is by no means a few." ”

"Not bad." The old lady nodded and said: "These places are called rich places, not because they really paid much tax to the imperial court, but because there are a lot of gentry in those places, and I think our Su family was also second to none in Xiguan Road, but if you go to Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jinling and other places, you can't rank at all." ”

"Old lady, you said that if we exchange salt for food with them, are they willing to make this deal?"

The old lady groaned slightly, and finally said: "If you are an old man and trade a part of the grain, it will still be unwanted." The common people do not know the situation, but they know very well that the salt shortage is approaching, and I am afraid that they have secretly stored salt. Like these gentry families, they are good at observing the direction of the wind, and once there is something lacking in the market, they will more or less hurry up and save some. ”

"That's the direction of the wind." Gongsun Chu also smiled: "As long as there are one or two well-informed, grasp the inventory, and be known by other big households, other big households will immediately follow and store it, and it is inevitable that there will be a salt shortage in the Guan, and those gentry and big households know that they will inevitably seize the time to store salt, but this thing has begun to be in deficit, there are more monks and less porridge, and there is only so much salt on the market, and it is impossible for the salt road yamen to watch them snap up all the salt, once the salt is taken up by them, Then the salt shortage will come in advance, and once the people are in chaos, the officials of the Yandao Yamen, large and small, will not be able to eat and walk around. ”

Chu Huan smiled and said, "In this way, if we enter the customs with new salt, for them, it can be regarded as timely rain?" ”

The old lady stroked her white beard, "Although Chu Du's idea is excellent, it ...... Will the salt road yamen of each province allow us to do this? Although the official document of the new salt entry into the customs has been approved, it is also clear that we are only providing a source of goods, and it is still the salt road yamen of various provinces that really control the market, and they will not watch us exchange new salt for food, but ignore ......! The wrinkled face of the vicissitudes of life seemed to be smiling, "If this new salt is taken care of by the Yandao Yamen, they will always be able to get some benefits, if they are left alone, they will not let us do things smoothly." ”

Chu Huan said with a smile: "The old lady said it well, the most important point is that the supply of goods is in our hands." Several more salt factories have recently been added, and although new salt is being made day and night, the quantity is still limited, and at the present capacity, we simply cannot supply the entire empire...... Although we have obtained the entry documents, we are not able to supply all the customs in the customs. ”

"What do you mean?"

"If there is a salt shortage, even if it is a last resort, but the Yandao Yamen will inevitably have a big stake, and the people have no salt to eat, so they will inevitably make trouble with the Yandao Yamen, and the officials of the Yandao Yamen will inevitably be miserable, not to mention oil and water, but I am afraid that even the future of their lives will be gone." Chu Huan said slowly: "It may not be too serious at present, but the gang of Yandao Yamen must know what is going on, as long as the supply of salt is cut off, then the fattest Yandao Yamen in the world will soon become the Qingshui Yamen, and it will also face the siege of the people, so according to my judgment, the officials of the Yandao Yamen are now worried day and night, that is, the salt source will break." ”

The old lady smiled and said, "Yes, without the salt source, the Yandao Yamen would be nothing." ”

"So what they are most concerned about is the source of salt." Gongsun Chu also understood, "We Xiguan produces new salt, and the customs must know about this, and it is even more impossible for the salt road yamen who specializes in salt not to know, and the imperial court has approved the new salt of Xiguan to enter the customs, but I am afraid that those people in the salt road yamen are looking forward to it, waiting for us to hurry over." ”

The old lady smiled and said: "Chu Du said, our new salt is mainly for supplying the northwest, and with the current output, it cannot supply the entire empire, not to mention now, even if the scale is really expanded, the sixteen provinces of Great Qin, the territory of thousands of miles, and the population of tens of millions, we still can't supply it...... So not every salt road yamen has the opportunity to get our new salt. ”

Chu Huan saw that the old man was smiling a little cunningly, knowing that this old guy had understood something, he stretched out his hand and pulled a dry grass from the ground, and said with a smile: "In this way, the initiative is completely on our side." The imperial court did not order us to supply all the state capitals and counties of the empire, and the documents in our hands only gave us the right to enter the customs and sell salt, where to sell salt, and how much to supply, that is our final say. ”

Gongsun Chuna was also an extremely shrewd person, and his eyes flashed, "As long as this is the case, we have the initiative in our hands, and if we want to make some requests with the Yandao Yamen, of course they will not ignore it." ”

"If we don't think about it, we won't provide a salt source." Chu Huan said: "Before the new salt enters the customs, let's send people into the customs to talk to the salt road yamen of each province, and tell them that we can provide the salt source to them, and the new salt is still controlled by the salt road yamen, but the new salt we provide to them must be exchanged for grain." In addition to the thirty percent of the taxes paid to the imperial court, among the remaining seventy percent, we must get the same amount of grain, whether it is grain, millet, beam, soybeans, adzuki beans, or barley, wheat, rice, as long as it is grain, we all want it. ”

The old lady asked, "Does Chu Du want the Yandao Yamen to come forward to make this deal?" ”

"Not bad." Chu Huan nodded and said: "The new salt will be handed over to the Yandao Yamen, and the Yandao Yamen will provide us with grain according to the same value, and they will negotiate with those large grain storage households, and they will trade from it themselves, so that they will still be able to get some oil and water, and we will still give some benefits secretly, after all, we have to eat, and if the horses want to run, we naturally have to give them some sweetness to eat......!" ”

"Who are we going to send to negotiate?"

"Lord Gongsun, I still have you to do this." Chu Huan said with a smile.

"Huh?" Gongsun Chu was stunned, "My lord is letting the lower officials negotiate?" But...... But the lower officials don't know about salt affairs, and they are not good at this kind of buying and selling ......! ”

Chu Huan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Lord Gongsun misunderstood, you are the governor of Yuezhou, and you are going to the customs to inquire about the negotiation between the real and the truth, of course you can't let you go, and even if you are allowed to go, it is not right." ”

"What do you mean?"

"It's up to you to find Lu Dongting from the Yamen of Xiguan Salt Road." Chu Huan said: "After the establishment of the new salt department, the Xiguan Yandao Yamen has nothing to do, and now it's time for them to do something." ”

The operation of the Xiguan Yandao Yamen made Lu Dongting have always been in charge of the salt transportation affairs in Xiguan, and he sat in the position of the Yandao Yamen, but it was also very comfortable, but the salt supplied from the imperial court was getting less and less, and Lu Dongting was anxious, if it wasn't for Chu Huan to make new salt and solve the big salt shortage in the northwest, the consequences would be unimaginable, and it would be impossible for him, the transfer envoy, to sit leisurely in the yamen and drink tea every day.

After Chu Huan made the new salt, Lu Dongting once thought that there was oil and water, but Chu Huan was on top of the salt business, so he simply put him aside, and directly set up the new salt to belong to the yamen, Lu Dongting wanted to intervene but had no way to start, although the salt allocated by the imperial court belonged to Lu Dongting's salt road yamen allocation, but the imperial court obviously did not expect that the northwest could still produce salt, and the new salt in the northwest was controlled by Chu Huan from production to sales, and the new salt produced in the local area, Lu Dongting didn't know if he was qualified to interfere. Although a few folds were handed over to the capital, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no news back, so the once fat and oily Xiguan Yandao Yamen became a real Qingshui Yamen, and the Yamen of all ministries and departments even forgot that there was still this yamen.

Gongsun Chu understood, "Your Excellency said that you should let Lu Dongting go to the Guannei to talk to them?" ”

Chu Huan said with a smile: "Lu Dongting is the transfer envoy of the Salt Road Administration, it is most appropriate for him to do this matter, after all, he is a person from the Salt Road, and he is very familiar with salt affairs, so he finally has something to do, and Lu Dongting should be very hard-working." ”

"It's a good idea to let him go to Kannai to inquire first." Gongsun Chu was the first to say.

"It's just this matter, will the court have any objections?" Old Lady Su asked.

"Probably not." Chu Huan shook his head and said: "There is a shortage of salt in the Guan, and there is a shortage of grain in the Xiguan, let's do this, not only to help the imperial court solve the dilemma of salt shortage in the Guan, but also to solve the problem of lack of grain in Xiguan, killing two birds with one stone, even if there are some irregularities in the middle, the imperial court can only turn a blind eye." ”

Gongsun Chu said: "In this case, after the official returns to the city, he can go to Lu Dongting to discuss this matter and let him enter the customs as soon as possible." ”

Chu Huan looked at the old lady and said: "Old lady, if nothing goes wrong with the matter of exchanging new salt for grain, it should be imperative, if you can, I would like to ask you to help set up a few transportation teams, which can transport goods back and forth, if this matter is directly handled by the government, it is not very good." ”

The old lady immediately said: "This matter is not difficult, it is on the old man." I think that we were very familiar with the trade with Kannai at the beginning, and we were very familiar with the road from Kannai to the northwest, and we were also familiar with both black and white roads along the way, so there would be no major problems. After a pause, Chu Huan looked at him with a hint of worry in his eyes and asked, "What else does the old lady have to worry about?" ”

"Nothing else, just ...... From Kannai to Xiguan, you must pass through the ground ...... of Qingzhou in Beishan Road! The old lady said softly: "Beishan is Xiao Huanzhang's territory, this part of the road in Qingzhou, just like our seven inches, Xiao Huanzhang grasps it in his hands, nothing is enough, once Xiao Huanzhang cuts off the road in Qingzhou and blocks the checkpoints along the way, our trade with the customs will be broken...... This business road was pinched by Xiao Huanzhang. ”

Chu Huan frowned, thoughtfully, was silent for a moment, his expression was cold, and finally said: "If you pinch this road, it is like pinching the livelihood of the people of Xiguan, it is better to have nothing to do...... He wants our lives, and we won't let him live well. ”