In the face of the sudden reduction in the supply of sea salt, the big salt merchants in Nanyang County suddenly felt refreshed and comfortable, and seemed to see the dawn of victory.

Guo Xianyang, a big farmer in Wancheng, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, but he had nothing to do. Although he knew that the big grain merchants led by the Cheng clan in Nanyang were doing this, and the salt merchants were naturally indispensable behind them, he was unable to use administrative means to hold him accountable. After all, it is a matter of course for grain merchants to transport grain through Huaishui, and it has not had any impact on the fortune of the imperial court, which is really difficult to grasp.

The so-called hundred secrets and one sparse, it is said that Dongguo Xianyang has a keen sense of business and dexterous economic skills to deal with all the many means of the Nanyang salt merchants one by one, but he did not expect that the salt merchants could still invite the grain merchants to help, and cut off the sea salt transportation on the Huaishui line in disguise. The intertwined relationship between the wealthy businessmen and magnates in Nanyang County is extremely powerful, which really makes Dongguo Xianyang quite moved.

"Zhang Jun, now that the Huaishui freight is not smooth, and the ice age of the river is imminent, what can I do about it?" Dongguo Xianyang frowned and asked Zhang Qian beside him.

Zhang Qian's face was as usual, and he said without any anxiety: "Didn't Da Nong Cheng deliberately order people to hoard more than a million stone sea salt in Henan County?" What are the concerns? ”

Dongguo Xianyang smiled bitterly: "According to the news from the Confucius family in Nanyang, although the local salt merchants have used a lot of land and mining products as collateral loans, they have not yet touched the roots. If it is launched at this time, I am afraid that it will not be able to achieve all the success. ”

Zhang Qian said with a confident smile: "Don't be anxious, and you don't have to expect to finish your work in one battle. As for the local salt merchants, they have many salt mines under their control. In fact, in the eyes of Xia Guan, since the production of sea salt in Qidi has increased greatly and the cost has plummeted, the Nanyang salt merchants, who are mainly engaged in the trading of mineral salt, have been rootless duckweed, even if they can barely maintain their livelihood, but they are no longer the same as before. ”

Dongguo Xianyang's eyes lit up, in fact, he was not too worried about the stubborn resistance of the local salt merchants, the only thing he cared about was whether His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Liu Fei, the King of Jiangdu, were satisfied with his recent results, so he spoke out to test Zhang Qian. After all, Zhang Qian, as the prince's concubine, was specially sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to assist him in cleaning up the Nanyang salt industry, which to a large extent represents His Royal Highness's attitude towards this matter.

Dongguo Xianyang was reassured and full of confidence. He secretly asked people to find Kong only from the Confucius family in Nanyang, explained in detail the matters that needed his cooperation, and sent a fast horse to Chang'an City and Henan County to govern Luoyang.

For most of the following month, the Nanyang Kong family continued to lend to the big salt merchants led by Cao Zhuo and the two families, and they were not as harsh on the collateral as Cheng and other grain merchants, and seemed to have no interest in many salt mines, but instead preferred to let the salt merchants use their salt shops and other shops and farmhouses to make offset.

The big salt merchants appreciated the Confucian family for being so kind and did not take advantage of the danger of others at all, and they came to thank them one after another. Although Kong Yu, the head of the Kong family, was smiling on the surface, he smiled bitterly in his heart.

Now the Kong family has already boarded the chariot of the royal industrial group, and in this business war is getting deeper and deeper, once the royal industrial group launches a counterattack in the future, it will be a situation where the Kong family and many wealthy businessmen in Nanyang tear their faces apart, and they are incompatible. Even if the Imperial Industrial Group finally wins with its strong background and strong strength, the Kong family may also be isolated in this Nanyang County.

For the sake of the future, only by assisting the Imperial Industrial Group to strive for the greatest victory, and doing its best to crack down on the salt merchants, and even the grain merchants who assisted them, can the Kong family be a little easier in the future by the expected joint exclusion of the Nanyang giants.

The so-called "don't do two", Kong Yu faintly guessed Dongguo Xianyang's intentions, and secretly ordered Kong to send all the land deeds and deeds of the salt shops and field houses used by the salt merchants as collateral to Dongguo Xianyang for free. As a smelting family with a net worth of hundreds of millions, money is just copper coins minted in the smelting workshop overnight, and if hundreds of millions of dollars can be exchanged for the future of the family, it is really a very cost-effective deal.

Dongguo Xianyang was very pleased with the Confucian family's knowledgeable and interesting performance, although he did not dare to make any guarantees to the Confucian family privately, but he brought Kong only to Zhang Qian, and praised it. Zhang Qian is also a wonderful person who is good at communicating, and he has no arrogance to talk to Kong and make friends, and has repeatedly stated that he will ask His Royal Highness the Prince for credit for the Kong family, and promise to recommend Kong only to join the scholars.

The Kong family was personally guaranteed by Zhang Qian, the prince's concubine, so they were naturally excited, and they did their best to do things.

The social atmosphere of the early Han Dynasty was the most honest, and people did not stand without trust. What's more, the prince's concubine is the prince's confidant, and he will definitely become an important minister of the court in the future. Such a person will not make promises at will, lest he break his promise in the future and affect his reputation, and spreading it will have a great impact on his future.

In late November of the third year of Emperor Jingdi, as the waterway between Henan and Hanoi began to freeze, the water transportation in the middle and upper reaches of the river gradually entered a state of suspension.

Before the big salt merchants of Nanyang County had time to cheer, several shocking news spread all over Nanyang and the surrounding counties one after another.

Nearly 2 million stone of sea salt suddenly appeared on the market in Henan County, and the salt merchants of Qidi dumped it at an ultra-low price of 30 yuan per stone. The price of salt in the whole of Henan County fell in response, and the salt merchants in Henan did not try to hedge with the salt merchants in Qidi like the salt merchants in Nanyang, but took advantage of the situation to buy some sea salt and organized caravans to sell sea salt to other counties with different water transportation. Especially around Nanyang County, the general salt price is still about 100 yuan, which is the most suitable place for Henan salt merchants to earn the price difference.

In just a few days, hundreds of caravans marched west or south from Henan County. The straight roads to Hongnong, Nanyang and Runan counties were unusually congested in this cold season, and the speed of travel was too slow, and many caravans sent people to push smaller wheelbarrows to sell sea salt to the people in the villages and towns along the way.

At the same time, the Imperial Post Office under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu issued a notice that due to the great reduction in the amount of goods and letters to and from the postal service in winter, in order to waste public money in vain, the official salt department would sell sea salt at a price of 40 yuan per stone through various "post booths" (note that it is not a post post, it is written on the back) throughout the winter to support the post men and postmen.

As soon as the news came out, not only the surrounding counties of Nanyang, but also the whole country of Dahan, the price of salt plummeted. It has been nearly a year since the establishment of the Imperial Post Office, and as the magnates across the country began to build asphalt roads that could be charged privately, a large number of four-wheeled vehicles put into the market by the workshops of the two giants of the Royal Industrial Group and the Tian Commercial Group began to be widely used by postal posts everywhere.

Since Gaozu Liu Bang set up five miles of a post, ten miles of a pavilion, thirty miles of a post of the Han post system, this year after the royal industrial group at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate all of them, now the country's major counties and counties can be described as a smooth and fast postal route, every day there are hundreds of thousands of postmen in the straight road around the four-wheeled car back and forth.

Although the Han Dynasty has been recuperating for decades, the total population must be less than 50 million. Salt is not like grain, a family of five can eat a few catties of grain, but only a small pinch of salt. Therefore, a large number of post booths transported sea salt are enough to supply the surrounding people to eat.

Of course, although this drastic method has an immediate short-term effect, it will inevitably affect the pond fish, and it will also cause great harm to many law-abiding and honest salt merchants.

Even though the crown prince Liu Che had expected the huge influence of the postal route, he was still a little surprised when he suddenly received a secret letter from Dongguo Xianyang, asking him to ask for assistance from the Imperial Post Department of Shaofu on his behalf.

When Liu Che found Shaofu Qing Chen Yu and mentioned this matter to him, he was ready to be rejected by him on the grounds that it was undignified to compete with the people for profit. However, unexpectedly, Chen Yu not only agreed very happily, but also appeared to be a little greedy, and strongly begged Liu Che to let Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu, "wholesale" the sea salt to the Imperial Post Office at a price of twenty yuan per stone, so as to obtain up to double the windfall profits.

Liu Che asked Chen Yu suspiciously about the incomprehension in his heart, and Chen Yu couldn't help but smile dumbly and slowly explained.

It turned out that the postal system in various places in the early Han Dynasty was another system in addition to the local political axe, and it was not under its jurisdiction. And there is a big difference between a post post and a post booth.

The kiosks that also have the function of post posts are generally along the traffic arteries, so these kiosks are mostly places for travelers to stay. There is even an unspoken rule that "officials dare not leave the post booth", which means that in order to prevent subordinate officials from disturbing the post booth, officials are not allowed to stay in the post booth, and if they want to stay overnight, they must stay at a slightly higher post station. The prefect of the post post has the official administrative level of the central court, and is an official rather than an official, so he is not afraid of local officials being too arrogant.

As a result, most post booths will have very different ways of existing, some opening inns, some opening shops, some opening teahouses, in short, as long as they can provide the postman with rest along the way and the occasional accommodation. The management of the post booth is basically extremely relaxed, and most of the people will not regard it as a political axe institution, after all, the post booth is only more than ten miles away from the farthest post station, just a transit station.

Therefore, it is not a big deal for Dongguo Xianyang to let the post booths around the country sell sea salt, and there is no concern about competing with the people for profit, but it is a great good deed to find a way for the low-cost post office officials to make money, and let the people eat cheap and high-quality sea salt.

Liu Che knew the reason, and only then did he really understand the true intention of Dongguo Xianyang. Dongguo Xianyang actually didn't want to ask him for help, but wanted to sell him for a good time, showing that this good way was the result of the strategy of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was wise and martial. Liu Che couldn't help but laugh at Dongguo Xianyang's psychology of annihilating businessmen, and at the same time felt that he was still too tender, and the gap between him and the top people in all walks of life was too big. (To be continued.) )