Becoming an employee of the 'Daming Salt Company', the monthly salary is 2 taels of silver, and the treatment is sufficient, and there are medical care and housing benefits, which is completely operated according to the model of the company in later generations. During the peak season of salt drying in summer, a large number of temporary workers are hired for production.

Xu Guangqi was mainly responsible for the reform of the production technology of the salt farm, and commanded the stove to reclaim the salt pans and change the boiled salt to seawater dried salt.

But at this time, it is not possible to eliminate private salt from the source, although the efficiency of boiling salt is not high, but it is not as low as imagined. Moreover, boiling salt is relatively hidden, as long as it is a seaside resident, it can be engaged.

If you make up your mind, it is easy to crack down on illegal salt, after all, salt is a commodity, not a drug for future generations. As long as the army is sent out to crack down on illegal salt, illegal salt can still be eradicated at the source.

It's just that Zhu Youxiao's current salt sales channels and production have not yet completed the layout, and it is easy to pull eggs if he takes too big a step.

Moreover, if a violent blow continues, it is easy to trigger a group of vested interests to resist.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao decided to use the method of boiling frogs in warm water, and first controlled the sales channels in the market one by one. After the scale of salt drying has expanded, and the transportation and sales channels have been laid, we will comprehensively crack down on illegal salt from the source.

Zhu Youxiao first aimed at the sale of salt in Beijing, which has a population of more than 2 million, and needs to consume at least more than 20 million catties of salt every year.

Really fast Zhu Youxiao merged all the official salt sales points in the capital into the Daming Salt Industry Company, and transferred salt from the Changlu Salt Field.

This batch of salt is still produced by boiling salt, and the cost per catty reaches about 3 Wen, but it is not involved in the sand, and the quality is very qualified.

The price of salt per catty is 25 Wen, deducting the cost, and there is a profit of 20 Wen.

However, there are still many salt merchants in the capital, and if Zhu Youxiao wants to monopolize the market, he must first squeeze out these salt merchants.

Early in the morning, Jinyiwei and the Dongchang spies began to run around the capital, and their targets were the salt merchants in the capital.

After a thorough investigation, a large number of private salt was seized, and it was directly confiscated and returned to the public, and the store was sealed. As for those official salt shops with salt introductions, Jinyiwei also put a seal on the outside of the salt shop, and these are not allowed to sell salt. The salt has not been returned to the public, and it can still be transported out of the capital for processing, anyway, it doesn't matter how to deal with the court, as long as it is no longer handled in the capital, it will be respected.

All the gates of the capital are full of spies of Jinyiwei and Dongchang, who strictly inspect the passing goods and prohibit illegal salt from entering the city.

After a lot of chicken and dog jumping, a group of salt merchants complained, and soon the Donglin Party officials also jumped up and down, protesting against the emperor's reform of the salt policy without consulting them.

Zhu Youxiao ignored this at all, and the emperor really couldn't help the civil official group's opposition to the collection of commercial taxes, after all, the taxation had to be carried out by the civil officials.

However, once the emperor bypassed the civil officials and relied on other groups to do things, these civil officials could not do anything either. After all, the Donglin Party has no military power, and they can only secretly kill the emperor in order to bring people to death. It's a pity that Zhu Youxiao is always on guard.

As for those salt merchants, they couldn't twist their thighs with their arms, and they had nothing to do after scolding their mothers. Although Zhu Youxiao learned about the salt merchants in the capital, the power of the salt merchants in the north was actually relatively scattered. The salt merchants in other towns were basically hanging up at this time.

Moreover, although Zhu Youxiao's actions monopolized the sales of salt in the capital, the outside of the city was not within the scope of this monopoly.

On the side of Daming Salt Company, Xu Guangqi is in charge of salt drying technology and salt field reclamation. However, in terms of market operation, it is specially hired with experienced shopkeepers. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy was flooded, and there were still a lot of talents in this area. Under Zhu Youxiao's high-salary employment, he still poached a lot of talents.

The shopkeeper in charge of operation and management is called Lin Jusheng, who has a reputation for showing talent, and later failed to pass the imperial examination, so he went to be the shopkeeper. Lin Jusheng, who is in his forties, used to work as a big shopkeeper in a salt shop and is very experienced.

"Your Majesty, according to the calculation of a profit of 20 wen per catty of salt, you can earn 600,000 taels of silver in the capital every year, and it may be more." Lin Jusheng calculated the accounts and came up with a very good news.

Zhu Youxiao's action to collect money has already achieved initial results.

A merchant tax was levied on the merchants at the gates, and it was estimated that there would be 500,000 taels of silver in a year. There is also a salt shop, which can have an annual income of more than 600,000 taels.

In the capital alone, there is an annual income of millions of taels of silver.

However, this is still a drop in the bucket compared to state spending. The annual military expenditure in Liaodong is at least 3 million taels or more, and even 5 million taels. Denglai also needs a military expenditure of one million taels of silver in order to be able to use it at sea to a certain extent.

Beijing's salt sales model is clearly successful.

As long as the official salt can cover the market of tens of millions of people in the north, the income from this area alone will be enough to support military spending.

"Continue to expand the market to the northern towns, and I will let Dongchang and Jinyiwei cooperate with you." Zhu Youxiao said to Lin Jusheng, Lin Jusheng's face was happy, with the cooperation of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, it is not easy to win the northern salt market? As the big shopkeeper of Daming Salt Company, Lin Jusheng has a commission. Zhu Youxiao gave him a 1% share dividend, and if he made a profit of tens of millions of taels, it meant that he could take 100,000 taels.

Immediately, Zhu Youxiao called Tian Ergeng and Li Jinzhong over, and made some arrangements.

"You and Tian Ergeng will immediately secretly investigate the salt merchants in the north and find out those who sell illicit salt, but don't startle the snakes. In addition, I went to Zhangjiakou and investigated the Jin merchants who traded with Houjin. Zhu Youxiao instructed Li Jinzhong, "In addition, a 'tax bureau' will be set up from Dongchang and Jinyiwei to be responsible for the collection of commercial taxes, and as long as the salt is spread, the commercial taxes will be received to cooperate with commercial expansion." ”

Tian Ergeng and Li Jinzhong agreed to the promise, and immediately set up a tax bureau jointly managed and supervised by Jinyiwei and Dongchang in accordance with Zhu Youxiao's instructions.

At the same time, Dongchang and Jinyiwei quickly took action, began to build a complete intelligence network in the northern provinces, and began to investigate the northern Jin merchants, as well as the illicit salt merchants.

The salt merchants in the north were mainly Jin merchants, but not all of them.

The salt monopoly in the capital is still very smooth, under the strict inspection of Jinyiwei and Dongchang, only the official salt shop is left in the city, whether it is the nobles or the common people, they can only buy salt in the official salt shop.

However, to the surprise of the people, the quality of the salt in the official salt shop is not only very good, but the price has also dropped a lot compared with before, only 25 yuan per catty of salt, which is nearly half cheaper than before.

Naturally, it is impossible for ordinary people to make trouble.

Official salt shops soon began to be opened outside the city, and there were many residents outside the city walls of the Ming Dynasty. These residents built their houses very close to the city wall, which caused a lot of hidden dangers in the military, and when the peasant army attacked the city in the late Ming Dynasty, they often used the houses outside the city to cover it.

Jinyiwei and Dongchang also strictly inspect illegal salt outside the city, and those salt merchants who have salt can sell salt in the city, but they have no competitive advantage in terms of price compared with the salt shops of Daming Salt Company. The salt shop of Daming Salt Industry Company is still welcomed by the people outside the city.