Frying salt is a simple thing to do, especially in winter.

With the arrival of severe cold, the salt production of Jianghuai Salt Farm and Zhejiang Salt Farm will drop rapidly to a very low level, and the decline of Fujian Salt Field is not small, and winter is the time when salt consumption is the largest. To do this, salt merchants had to start stockpiling salt in the autumn to ensure a supply for the winter.

The annual salt consumption of the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River is about 400 million jin to 450 million jin, and the supply in winter is relatively high, about 140 million jin.

In order to ensure the supply of salt, the Jiangnan Commercial Bank hoarded 150 million catties of salt in advance according to the industry regulations, which was enough to cope with the sales of three months in winter.

If you want to fry salt, you only need to buy the 15000000 catties of salt in the hands of the commercial bank, and the price of salt in the market will be completely determined by speculators, because more new salt will not appear until tomorrow March.

After buying the 15000000 catties of salt, Jiangnan Commercial Bank can only lead the neck and wait for death.

The unified sales monopolized the salt sales in the five provinces, but they sat back and watched the price of salt in the five provinces rise to 200 Wen or 300 Wen, so the Hu family is waiting to be investigated!

……

Yu Garden, Shanghai.

Tang Yanshu invited a troupe and invited all the wealthy businessmen in Shanghai to watch the play together, and everyone gathered together and greeted each other.

As soon as he entered the door, he smiled and said to the rich businessmen: "Bosses, how offended, Tang talked to a friend about the price of salt, so it's too late!" ”

"Master Tang, don't hide it with us, just say it bluntly, can Jiangnan Commercial Bank still hold on?" Someone laughed evilly.

Tang Yanshu also sneered and said: "Jiangnan Commercial Bank is an official commercial house of the imperial court, so of course it can hold up, but unfortunately, Hu Chuyuan's little deflated third can't hold it." Ladies and gentlemen, you can rest assured that if he dares to sell, you will sell. I checked very clearly in advance that the salt hoarded by Jiangnan Commercial Bank this time was only 140 million catties, and the total amount of salt stored in various places would not exceed 160 million catties. As long as we buy all this salt, he will only be dismissed from his post and investigated. ”

Speaking of this, he became more and more proud, and snorted and laughed: "What about us, we are both rich and evil." As soon as he dies, Jiangnan Commercial Bank will definitely fall into the hands of Li Zhongtang, and when the time comes, all bosses will have the opportunity to buy shares, and we will continue to make money in the salt market! ”

"Master Tang, then please!"

"Yes, Master Tang, we're all counting on you right now!"

Tang Yanshu laughed and said, "Everyone, everyone, let's watch the play with peace of mind, and when this scene is over, everyone will continue to go back and buy salt, and we will buy as much as Hu Chuyuan's little deflated three dare to sell." In addition, ask a few hooligans to coax and smash, I'll see how long he can last! ”

"It's easy to say, I've already said it with Master Jin of Hongmen, this time I still have to ask him to come forward and smash the facades of that little deflated three, and see how he cleans up!"

……

The insaneness of salt prices is shocking enough.

The price of salt in Shanghai rose the most, and a pound of salt was quickly fried to 600 yuan, ten times higher than the original market price, but even so, the price of salt is still soaring.

Similarly, Tang Yanshu's first expectation was quickly disappointed.

In the imperial court, two factions soon appeared, one faction was dominated by household officials and imperial historians, who believed that the high price of salt was caused by the unified sales law, and the unified sales law should be abolished and the Hu family should be investigated, and the other faction was Prince Gong and Wan Qingqui and others, who believed that it was the result of speculation and speculation by merchants, and they should first send people to inspect these speculative merchants.

The two sides are at loggerheads.

At least there are a large number of Beijing officials who are restraining them, and the imperial court does not dare to take the liberty of canceling the unified sales law, which is even more unsuitable for investigating and prosecuting the Hu family.

Suzhou, Humble Administrator's Garden.

Hu Rong hurriedly ran into the Fucui Pavilion, and when he saw Hu Chuyuan, he said, "Dongjia, Lord Tan is here!" ”

"Oh...... Please let him in! ”

Hu Chuyuan immediately stood up from the desk and walked out quickly, when Tan Zhonglin, who was wearing the official uniform of a second-grade officer, had already come in.

"Lord Tan!"

Hu Chuyuan arched his hand, and then invited Tan Zhonglin to sit down.

Tan Zhonglin nodded gloomily, sat down and said, "Chu Yuan, how much salt do you still have in your hand?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "It's not much, I originally had 160 million catties in my hand, but recently I have restricted sales, and I have retailed 1.35 million catties of salt every day, and I sold more than 20 million catties in half a month." According to common sense, this sales volume is enough to support the salt consumption of the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. In addition, I sold nearly 40 million catties of salt through middlemen, and the price was calculated according to the market price. ”

Tan Zhonglin was slightly puzzled and asked, "How do you sell so much through middlemen?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "My lord, others are deliberately trying to empty me this time, how much salt I have in store, they must have calculated, if I don't sell this salt, they won't give up." Therefore, I deliberately shipped at a high price through middlemen, ostensibly because I wanted to make huge profits, but in fact, I wanted them to expose it quickly. ”

"Indeed!" Tan Zhonglin nodded, and said to Hu Chuyuan: "I have hoarded 30 million catties of salt for you in Suzhou, Haizhou and Yancheng, this is my limit, the output of the Jianghuai Salt Farm in winter is very low, I forced the local salt service to grab salt for me, so I barely scraped out so much." But I'm worried that those salt merchants probably have a number in their hearts! ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded and said, "The amount that Lord Mei, the governor of Zhejiang, hoarded for me is almost 30 million catties. ”

Tan Zhonglin suddenly said: "Do you remember that we gave you more than 10 million catties of salt when we raided the salt merchants?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "I remember, Lord Zhongtang sold those salts to the trading houses at the average price, as a stepping stone for the commercial houses to step into the salt industry. ”

Tan Zhonglin lowered his voice and said: "In fact, there are still 26 million catties of salt hidden on Chongming Island, and I have been detaining it in the granary of the county government, which can be transported into Shanghai at any time. However, this salt has been written off by me, and there is no source for it. ”

"Oh......!" Hu Chuyuan understood that this salt had become private salt, and no one except Tan Zhonglin knew about their existence.

Tan Zhonglin said again: "I originally planned to sell this salt slowly through the trading house, exchange it for money, and hide it in the discount shares of the trading house, and the profits obtained will continue to roll down, and sooner or later, Lord Zhongtang and the Hunan army will have an urgent time." Now, you'll have to figure out how to pull them out! ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded silently and said, "It's easy to pull it out." ”

The so-called "pumping out" means that these illegal illegal salts are labeled as legal and sold.

"Discount shares", this is another concept, the total share capital of Jiangnan Commercial Bank is 10 million taels of silver, the imperial court accounts for 24% of the share capital, and the income of official shares is managed by the governor of Liangjiang and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.

In addition to the 10 million taels of silver, the firm also has 2 million taels of silver dividend shares, these shares have no shareholder equity, once a year, according to the ratio of 2/12 dividends.

These are discount stocks, the main role of which is to make the big treasurers, managers, and stewards pay dividends, and the other role is to bribe those officials in charge of salt affairs to buy shares.