As soon as he returned to the county office, Su Jun came to report.

"My lord, the rest of the sixteen salt merchants, and their families have all come to the county government to inquire about the news, crying and crying, and the little ones have not received instructions from the adults, and they dare not make their own decisions."

"I know what I know, half an hour later, I will take Song Sijun to the secret room, and the official has something to ask."

How to deal with these salt merchants, Su Tiancheng has already thought about it, the largest salt merchant Kuang Siming has been exterminated, thanks to the sufficient preparation work in the early stage, and even more thanks to Kuang Siming's arrogance, he did not expect to pay attention to the affairs of the county government.

Song Sijun is the second largest salt merchant in Jiangning County, Kuang Siming is dead, and the next thing is Song Sijun leading the salt merchant in Jiangning County, the business can continue to be done, but the silver must be handed over, they make money, the county is poor, such a thing must not continue to continue, besides, there are many things that need to be done, no silver, don't talk about it.

All the blame was borne by Kuang Siming alone, and no other salt merchants were implicated, Su Tianwei thought that Ying Tianfu and Nanjing Liubu might have some opinions, but unfortunately everyone knew it and did not want to involve the rest of the salt merchants.

As for the emperor's holy decree, there will be a period of time before he will come down, at this time, he will not be idle, what should be done, must be done, and the action must be fast.

Su Tiancheng entered the secret room again.

Song Sijun knelt in the middle of the secret room, his face was bloodless, and his body was still trembling.

The jailers in the prison specially publicized what happened to Kuang Siming, Kuang Siming had committed suicide in fear of crime, his home was raided, a number of weapons were found, and there was collusion with Houjin, these words, like a whip, whipped his heart.

Song Sijun knows these things.

He also knew that if the magistrate of the county had a heart, none of the salt merchants in Jiangning County should think about running away.

The more I thought about it, the greater the fear, the relationships that I had before, now it seems that they are all unreliable, Kuang Siming has such a big momentum, he said that he copied the family, and no one even came out to speak.

Su Tiancheng sat opposite Song Sijun, didn't say a word, and looked at Song Sijun.

Song Sijun couldn't help it.

"My lord, the grass people are guilty, and I beg your lord to forgive."

"Hehe, Boss Song, you are very wise, you know what you have done."

"The grass people are guilty, the grass people are guilty, beg the adults for forgiveness."

"Don't always talk about it, Kuang Siming's wealth, the official really didn't expect it, his family wealth, counted, more than 20 million taels of silver, not in an instant, he died unexpectedly, the official doesn't understand, what do you want so much silver, looking at the court is so difficult, I don't know how to donate some, I have done it a long time ago, where will there be the current thing."

Song Sijun is such a smart person, he immediately understood the meaning.

"My lord, the grass people didn't understand this before, and they deserve death, if the adults have any requirements, the grass people will definitely do it."

As if grasping a life-saving straw, he heard the meaning from Su Tiancheng's words, and it seemed that he would not worry about his life.

"Boss Song is really smart, he understood the meaning so quickly, then tell me, what are you going to do."

"The grass people are willing to donate half of their family property, no, two-thirds of their family property, to the government."

Su Tiancheng smiled, Song Sijun is a businessman, it is not easy to say such a thing, that is, he really feels fear, of course, he is not so greedy, after all, in the process of economic development, there are naturally wealthy people.

"Boss Song's understanding is very good, and the official is not thinking about asking for your family property, but the county government is really difficult, and the official can't think of any other way, I think so, you go back to the prison, and the rest of the salt merchants will sum it up, and see how much money each family is willing to take out, this is what you are willing to do, as for your affairs, the official will think about it carefully, and give you a day, is it enough."

"No, no, an hour is enough."

"Okay, then the official is waiting for your news."

Wang Dazhi took Song Sijun out of the secret room.

In less than an hour, Su Jun took Song Sijun and came to the secret room again.

Song Sijun knelt down when he came in.

"My lord, the grass people have already discussed with everyone, and each family is willing to take out 500,000 taels of silver and donate it to the county government."

"Oh, then do you have any requirements, 500,000 taels of silver, which is not a small amount."

"The grass people don't dare to have any extravagant hopes."

"This can't be done, it's useless, what do you mean by your discussion, does it mean that the county government wants to covet your silver?"

Song Sijun was a little confused, he didn't know what Su Tiancheng meant, at such a time, he didn't dare to say the wrong thing, this was a life-threatening moment.

"My lord, the grass people really don't have any extravagant hopes."

"Well, your sincerity, the official is understandable, this donation of silver, can be regarded as a lesson for you, the official still has a few requirements, you remember, if you can do it, you will continue to do business in the future, the county government is supportive, if you can't do it, also decided earlier, the county government will not want your donation of silver."

Song Sijun was prostrate on the ground, not daring to speak at all.

"First, donating silver is not a one-year thing, you have to insist on it every year, of course, the official does not do everything to catch fish, starting next year, sixteen salt merchants, each family will donate 100,000 taels of silver to the county government every year."

"Second, the county government maintains sixteen salt merchants, and does not continue to expand the ranks of salt merchants, as for the market left by Kuang Siming, you will digest it yourself, the county government will not interfere, if there are disputes between you, solve them by yourself, don't make any trouble, otherwise, you will see Kuang Siming's ending."

"Third, I will purchase 1,000 horses for the county government within the year, and I don't want you to pay money, but it must be a good horse, no matter what you think, this official must do it."

"Fourth, all the ordnance and materials of each of your families will be taken out and sold to the Inspection Department at the market price, and the official will not be held accountable.

Song Sijun, who was trembling, calmed down a lot when he heard the back.

He felt strange, he originally thought that Su Tiancheng would take advantage of this opportunity to bankrupt their families, so that the county government could get a lot of gold and silver, but he didn't expect Su Tiancheng to say this.

Taking out 100,000 taels of silver every year is not too much of a burden for salt merchants who sell illegal salt, and it is a big deal to do business a few more times, and the next three things, which are beneficial to salt merchants, are all within the scope of doing business, and you can take advantage of this opportunity to sell illegal salt.

The most critical one, Su Tiancheng did not propose to do things that were not allowed, such as selling illicit salt and occasionally selling weapons, which shows that Su Tiancheng acquiesced in the existence of these things, and in the future, many salt merchants can continue to do it, but they must be more secretive and obey the arrangements of the county government.

There is also the biggest advantageous place, that is, the place vacated by Kuang Siming, everyone can divide it, on average, each salt merchant will not have much problem earning tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Song Sijun suddenly felt that everyone said that Su Tiancheng was ruthless, as if it was not so simple.

"Boss Song, can these things be done?"

"My lord, the grass will definitely do it if you guarantee your life."

"Well, after you go back to the prison, discuss with everyone, and when the donation is in place, you can go home."

Song Sijun is not in a hurry, he can't afford to be unprofitable, and the nature of a businessman prompts him to seize this opportunity.

"My lord, the grass people have a reluctant request, and I ask for your permission."

"Boss Song still has something, just say it."

"The grass people are familiar with the merchants of Jiangning County, if the adults have any other requirements, the grass people will do their best to do a good job."

After Song Sijun left, Su Tiancheng fell into deep thought.

Each of the sixteen salt merchants took out 500,000 taels of silver, which was nine million taels, and the amount was too great for him to swallow

went, it is estimated that the county government will not be able to fall much, and in the end it will be hard for Zhu Youzhen for a while, but this time, no matter what, it is necessary to leave some silver for the county government, or to win some policies, a lot of things, so that it is easy to do.

As for what Song Sijun said, it is also something he has been worrying about, thinking about moving those gentry, it is impossible for the time being, and he has to wait for the right time, the small merchants in Jiangning County are also not able to move, and the silver earned by others is used to support his family, as for the farmers' field endowment, if it were not for the regulations of the imperial court, Su Tiancheng would have to accept it, how many silver taels is this.

The best thing is to move the big merchants first, they have the silver, and they can also take out the silver.

After the autumn harvest, many things will have to be dealt with, especially the matter of cultivated land, the people take food as the sky, and they cannot harvest a large amount of grain, and the peasants have no food, which is unstable.

If we want to get a bumper harvest, water conservancy construction is fundamental, which requires a lot of investment, and the county government must come up with these silver taels to solve this problem, and can basically guarantee the harvest in drought and flood, and can completely stabilize the peasants in Jiangning County.

Land annexation is serious, in this place in Jiangning County, in fact, some peasant households, in order to escape the field tax, committed to the gentry, once the land tax is reduced, or even exempted from the field tax, I believe that no one is willing to do this.

There is also the construction of the inspection department, what he thought of before was to recruit more than 10,000 salt dices to the inspection department, this idea also needs to be changed, salt merchants want to continue to do business, they must need salt ding, even if the number is controlled, at least half of them must be left, and half of them can enter the inspection department, even if it is very good.

The most worrying thing is the issue of ordnance, and it is estimated that the possibility of obtaining these ordnance this time is very small, and he has to make another plan.

Including the issue of Guantian.

There are still too many things, and we have to move forward step by step.