The Emperor of the Apocalypse looked at the stall in front of him with a smile, sighed slightly, and said: "The first time my son came to Yangzhou City, he saw that Yangzhou was so prosperous, and he wanted to do some business. But my son is not familiar with the place, do you know what business is the most profitable in Yangzhou City? ”。

The vendor was stunned for a moment, and the god sè looked at the Emperor of the Apocalypse quite strangely, and there was actually a jǐng ti god sè in his eyes. However, when the Emperor of the Apocalypse put a piece of silver on the table, the vendor suddenly smiled and said, "Childe, although this Yangzhou City is prosperous, there is not much business that can be done. The small one looks at the noble status of the son, and this restaurant is disdainful of doing such a business. There is a business in this Yangzhou City that is suitable for the son. ”

Nodding with a smile, the Emperor of the Apocalypse asked in a brisk tone, "What business?" Tell me about it! ”

"Childe, you are joking, the best business in Yangzhou City is naturally salt, and the most profitable is naturally salt!" Xiao Er raised his eyebrows slightly, and said with a smile while putting his things up.

"Salt is a good thing, but it's not so easy to start a salt business! There are ten districts in the Ming Dynasty, each of which has 200,000 salts, and each of them is 300 catties. The salt works of the Ming Dynasty are these cigarettes every year, and the salt has long been divided, and it is not easy to insert a foot in it. "The Emperor of the Apocalypse is very clear about these natures, and he has already understood them all before coming to Yangzhou.

According to the provisions of the Ming Law, the tax silver for each salt introduction is three taels, of which the public transportation fee is three taels. The public loss fee is also the money for transportation, and the imperial court cannot get it, and all the imperial court can get is tax silver. In fact, the number of salt citations was still in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, and it increased later, directly increasing to three million citations.

The official record is that there are three million taels of salt, and if the tax is collected according to every three taels, the annual salt tax of the imperial court is nine million taels. At present, the annual salt tax collected by the imperial court is only more than one million taels. More than 7 million taels of them were gone.

Before leaving the capital, the Emperor of the Apocalypse looked through all the records of the Ming Dynasty about the annual income, and the first thing he saw was the salt tax. In the eyes of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, this is simply an incredible thing, the salt tax of nine million should have been levied, but now it can only be done for more than a hundred. Where does the rest of the money go?

There are all high-sounding reasons on the accounts of the household department, but the Emperor of the Apocalypse is all disdainful and blatantly lies. Since he wanted to make money, and he couldn't increase taxes, the eyes of the Emperor of the Apocalypse naturally fell on this. Emperor Tianqi looked through some historical materials again, and in the forty years of Jiajing, the imperial court was seriously deficient.

Emperor Jiajing ordered Yan Song to send people to Lianghuai to collect salt taxes, and that year he got six million salt taxes for the national treasury. Later, when Yan Song fell, evidence of this salt tax corruption was found in Yan Song's account book. A total of seven million taels were embezzled, and he had one million taels more than the treasury.

Rewarding 13 million taels of salt tax for 40 years was an event that the Emperor of the Apocalypse believed was a true reflection of the salt tax. In this thirteen million taels of salt tax, the Emperor of the Apocalypse knew that there was no private salt, and if private salt was counted, it would definitely be more.

After going through the news he knew in his mind, the Emperor of the Apocalypse looked at the vendor with a smile, waiting for him to speak.

Looking at the Emperor of the Apocalypse in a daze, the peddler's face was full of disbelief. Ai Ai said: "Childe is an expert, don't be embarrassed." The small one is just a stall. ”

Looking at the hawker with a smile, the Emperor of the Apocalypse waved his hand lightly, not embarrassing the hawker. Beckoning Dang Han on the side to eat, the Emperor of the Apocalypse smiled and said to Dang Han: "How many merchants are there in this Yangzhou city?" ”

"Hui Gongzi, there are a total of eighteen merchants in Yangzhou City, and the most of them have three gangs of salt every year. The least has also a class of salt. These people divided the three million salt induces a year equally, and it can be said that the entire Ming Dynasty was operated by these merchants. "These things are naturally very clear, and they are like treasures.

Nodding slowly, the Emperor of the Apocalypse nodded to Dang Han, he was very satisfied with this Dang Han. The person who was trained by Luo Sigong. It seems to be outstanding.

"In the city of Yangzhou, there are countless businessmen engaged in the salt industry, about 300 people. Among them, of course, these eighteen people are the leader, and there is another characteristic, eighty percent of these merchants are Hui merchants. Luo Sigong saw that the Emperor of the Apocalypse motioned for himself to continue, nodded, and continued.

Frowning and pondering, the Emperor of the Apocalypse suddenly remembered something, starting from the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was the golden age of the Hui merchants. I have forgotten where I saw this sentence, but at this time, the Emperor of the Apocalypse remembered it. It seems that these Hui merchants started by relying on salt, and I don't know if these Hui merchants can get up after this time.

Seeing that the Emperor of the Apocalypse was frowning and thinking, Luo Sigong on the side didn't say anything, just quietly accompanied him. Luo Sigong knew a lot in his heart, but he didn't know how to tell the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

"Childe, the little one has a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not!" Luo Sigong hesitated for a long time, and said in a rather complicated manner.

"What do you have to say! Along the way, you should know what kind of person this son is. Is there anything you can't say? ”。 The Emperor of the Apocalypse looked at Dang Han with a smile, and his appreciation for Dang Han made the Emperor of the Apocalypse look forward to what he was going to say.

Dang Han organized the language for a while, and after a long silence, he said slowly: "Childe, if you want to intervene in the salt business, the important thing is not these salt merchants. They seem to be in charge of the salt, but it is not these people who really call the shots, but the old men who sit in the yamen. ”

Looking at Dang Han, the Emperor of the Apocalypse nodded with a smile, and said with appreciation in his tone: "Not bad, really good!" I didn't expect you to have such an insight, waiting for my son to have a heavy reward after I go back. ”

"Gongzi Xie!" Dang Han's face suddenly showed joy, and he said with a smile. The thing he wanted to tell the Emperor of the Apocalypse was very simple, that is, behind these salt merchants were officials of the Ming Dynasty. The water in this is very deep, and the Emperor of the Apocalypse wants to rectify the salt merchants, but he is facing the officialdom in the south of the Yangtze River.

For this point, the Emperor of the Apocalypse is naturally very clear that any reform of the Ming Dynasty will involve officials. These people are the real vested interests, and if they want to grab money, they can only snatch it out of the innermost part of these people.

Standing up slowly, the Emperor of the Apocalypse said to Dang Han on the side: "Go!" Let's go back! Mr. Yuan, they should also get up, today we are going to take a good look at this Yangzhou City! ”

"Yes, Childe!" Dang Han stood up respectfully and bowed to the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

At the moment when the Emperor of the Apocalypse had just turned around, the street suddenly remembered the scolding, and there was a noise not far away. The guards who followed the Emperor of the Apocalypse reacted quickly, surrounding the Emperor of the Apocalypse in the middle, all holding the hilts of their swords, and looking cautiously at the street.

A little girl stumbled over, looking not very old, looking like she was old. She was supposed to be the best age, but at this time, her face was red and swollen very badly, and she knew that she had been beaten at a glance. The brocade clothes on his body now looked like they had been torn, and he looked very embarrassed.

The little girl looked back from time to time, with deep fear on her face, and ran forward desperately, perhaps because she was in too much of a hurry, and fell out hard. Running forward quickly, the tears in the little girl's eyes were like broken threads, but she still pursed her lips tightly and ran forward.

There were many people on the street who saw this scene, but no one stepped forward to pull the girl, because several people were chasing after the little girl. These are all dressed in the same clothes, with little hats on their heads, and they look like thugs raised by someone. The men, all with sticks in their hands, shouted loudly as they chased after them.

Frowning at this scene, the Emperor of the Apocalypse did not speak, but just looked at Dang Han on the side.

Seeing the Emperor of the Apocalypse looking at him, Dang Han's heart trembled, he didn't dare to hesitate at all, strode to the front, and grabbed the little girl. Without saying anything to the little girl, he held the little girl and handed it to a janitarian guard.

"Don't worry, it's safest to take here!" The Emperor of the Apocalypse slowly squatted down and reached out to touch the girl's head, but the little girl avoided it.

Staring cautiously at the Emperor of the Apocalypse, the little girl kept looking behind her with deep fear in her eyes.

The Emperor of the Apocalypse tried his best to speak softly, and said cautiously: "Don't be afraid! We have a lot of people here, and if you look at it, we will definitely win. I don't know if it's because of the attitude of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, or if the little girl saw the guards with knives around her, she actually nodded slowly. However, there was still awe in his eyes, and the muscles on his face were constantly trembling.

This group of thugs had already come to the front, and when they saw the Emperor of the Apocalypse, several people were stunned. Looking at the guards beside the Emperor of the Apocalypse, the leader suddenly felt bitter, how could there be such a mistake, the one on the opposite side was unusual at a glance.

strode out, and the leader hugged his fist at the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and said loudly: "This friend, under Zhao Decai, I don't know what to call this son?" ”

The Emperor of the Apocalypse naturally won't bother with him, who do you think you are! Still messing with little girls.

"What do you have to tell me?" Dang Han shouted at the leader, with a faint smile on his face, and gently unfolded the folding fan in his hand, looking like a talented and beautiful woman.

The leader's face suddenly turned red, he glanced at the guards beside the Emperor of the Apocalypse, hugged his fists at Dang Han, and said, "This brother, that little girl is the person we want, I hope you will hand her over to us." ”

Dang Han shook his head slowly, shook the paper fan in his hand, and said with a smile: "I don't see it, you seem to have abducted this little girl." (To be continued......)