As the master of ceremonies announced that Zheng Boxin and others had won the four places for the Jiaozhi tea franchise, everyone finally waited for the highlight of tonight - the Jiaozhi salt industry franchise.

Salt is an indispensable condiment for the human body, maintaining the normal operation of human physiological functions, lack of salt will cause fatigue in the whole body, and will lead to the production of diseases, so it has been controlled by the state since ancient times.

Li Yuntian set the reserve price of the Jiaozhi salt industry franchise at 100,000 taels, and the name at four.

Although many businessmen at the scene are interested in the franchise of the Jiaozhi salt industry, there are very few people who really want to raise the card, because the affairs of the salt industry have always been taken care of by the salt merchants' association, and it is difficult for outsiders to get involved.

In addition, in terms of economic strength alone, only grain merchants and cloth merchants can compete with Yangzhou business circles, and the rest of the businessmen can only stare at the lively part.

Therefore, in the eyes of the people, the monopoly of the Kochin salt industry is likely to be seized by the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce and the Salt Merchants Association.

Although the people of the Salt Merchants Association have a deep background, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce is not easy to provoke, with Li Yuntian's support behind him, and Li Yuntian is responsible for the Jiaozhi commercial franchise, so it is logical for the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce to take a piece of the pie.

Li Yuntian sat on the chair and leisurely blew the heat emitted from the hot water in the teacup in his hand, because salt is not a commodity of overseas trade, so there is only one person from the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce who participated in the bidding for the monopoly of the Jiaozhi salt industry this time, neither Zheng Boxin nor Wang Yu, but a deacon of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce.

According to the popularity of the previous cloth franchise and tea franchise, Li Yuntian believes that the price of the Jiaozhi salt industry franchise should reach 200,000 taels, which means that he can increase his input by 400,000 taels more than the predetermined amount.

However, when the master of ceremonies announced the start of the bidding for the Jiaozhi salt industry franchise, a strange thing happened that Li Yuntian did not expect, except for the deacon of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, no one raised a number plate at the scene, and a number plate was held alone in the crowded hall.

This made everyone at the scene stunned for a while, and then they were in a commotion, buzzing there and whispering in surprise, no one thought that such a bizarre scene would happen beforehand.

Seeing this situation, Li Yuntian's brows suddenly frowned slightly, and he quietly put down the teacup in his hand, there must be a demon when something goes wrong, and he immediately realized that someone was making trouble from it, otherwise there would never be a strange thing that no one would raise a sign in the salt merchants.

The master of ceremonies couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and looked at Li Yuntian a little bewildered, not knowing how to deal with the strange situation in front of him.

Just when people were discussing there with shocked expressions, the number plate No. 66 was slowly raised, and Li Yuntian suddenly felt a burst of relief in his heart, and bowed slightly to the white-clothed boy who relieved him, and the white-clothed boy smiled disapprovingly.

Then, Li Yuntian swept over the salt merchants sitting in the audience with an expressionless face.

Although he was not familiar with people in the Yangzhou business community, because he had dealt with people from the Salt Merchants Association, he still remembered those important figures in the Salt Merchants Association, such as Yang Muen, President of the Salt Merchants Association, Wei Deguang, Vice President of the Salt Merchants Association, Lu Dezhong, Vice President of the Salt Merchants Association, and so on.

Seeing Li Yuntian looking over, Yang Muen, Wei Deguang and the others all showed embarrassed looks, looked away from him, and looked quite weak, which made Li Yuntian sure that something must be wrong within the Salt Merchants Association.

However, not all salt merchants were avoiding Li Yuntian's sight, and after Lu Dezhong and Li Yuntian glanced at each other, a complicated look appeared on their faces, and their eyes flickered as if they were doing a fierce ideological struggle.

Under Li Yuntian's stern gaze, Lu Dezhong's face quickly showed a resolute look, as if he had made up his mind, and then turned his head and nodded to the entourage holding the No. 23 number plate in his hand who was looking at him.

Seeing this, the entourage immediately raised the No. 23 number plate in his hand, which not only attracted people's attention from the white-clothed boy to Lu Dezhong, but also Yang Muen and others from the Salt Merchants Association were taken aback, and looked at Lu Dezhong with a stunned expression, obviously not expecting him to raise the card.

Li Yuntian's fists couldn't help but clench, and his face became cold, it was obvious that someone was making trouble behind his back, so that those salt merchants did not dare to raise their cards, didn't the other party know that this would be dangerous to the counterinsurgency of Jiaozhi? It's really abominable!

In Li Yuntian's impression, except for Lu Tianxing, whose whereabouts are unknown, he does not have the kind of enemy who does not share the sky, and Lu Tianxing is no longer the little grandfather of the past, and those salt merchants dare not communicate with the traitors wanted by the imperial court.

When the Han King rebelled last year, Lu Tianxing led the army under the command of Lu Zhongqian to fight with Zhou Zheng in Zhending Mansion, and Lu Tianxing disappeared after Lu Zhongqian's suicide, and no one knew where he went, so the court also issued a wanted warrant to arrest him.

But if it weren't for Lu Tianxing, then who would do it? Blatantly opposed him, disrupting the bidding for the Jiaozhi salt industry franchise, and then causing the interests of the Jiaozhi counterinsurgency army to be damaged.

Without waiting for Li Yuntian to understand, the audience held up another number plate, Li Yuntian looked fixedly, and the owner of the number plate was a middle-aged man with a big belly, who seemed to be a cloth merchant from the Cloth Merchants Association.

"Although the reserve price of 100,000 taels is high, the profits of the salt industry are very considerable, and there is no boss who is interested in handing over the monopoly of the salt industry?" The master of ceremonies breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this, no matter what he said, he finally got together the four people on the quota, so he hurriedly shouted to the people at the scene.

People here, you look at me, I look at you, because it is not clear what is going on in secret, so no one rashly raises the card, so as not to get involved in the entanglement of interests that no one knows.

The master of ceremonies shouted several times in a row, and there was no one in the audience to bid, which made him look at Li Yuntian helplessly, wanting to see what Li Yuntian had instructions.

Not only the master of ceremonies, but also everyone at the scene focused on Li Yuntian's body, and in the face of this sudden scene in front of him, everyone wanted to know how he would deal with the Jiaozhi Salt Industry Franchise, and it was obvious that the bid for the Jiaozhi Salt Industry Franchise was a failure.

Li Yuntian's brows furrowed, and then he made up his mind and nodded slightly to the master of ceremonies.

Now is not the time to settle accounts, the top priority is to sell the Cochin commercial franchise and mining rights smoothly, so he decided to deal with this matter according to the rules, since no one raised the card, then the Cochin salt industry franchise belonged to the four people who just raised the card.

The master of ceremonies breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this, and hurriedly announced loudly that the four of them had won the quota for the franchise of Jiaozhi Salt Industry, ending the bizarre scene in front of him.

With the sale of the salt franchise, the dust has settled on the Cochin commercial franchise, and it is the turn of the mining rights to be sold.

Although it is talking about mining rights, it is not only mining, but also prospecting rights and smelters, which requires those businessmen who want to win the mining rights to have a good value.

According to the rules formulated by Li Yuntian, the businessmen who have obtained the commercial franchise of Jiaozhi can survey the ore veins in Jiaozhi after they have the prospecting rights, and once they find the mines, as long as they report to the Jiaozhi Commercial Department of Jiangwutang, they will have the right of priority for mining within ten years.

In other words, the ownership of the newly discovered mine belongs to the discoverer for ten years, during which it can be developed or not, and if it is not developed within ten years, then it will be nationalized.

However, the Department of Commerce of Cochin allows the owner of a newly discovered mine to resell the ownership of the new mine, provided that the person who obtained the mining rights in Cochin is the person who obtained it.

In order to prevent those who have mining rights from indiscriminately mining and rational use of resources, Li Yuntian stipulates that each person who has obtained the mining rights of Jiaozhi can only mine two iron ore and two precious metal mines at the same time, and once a new mine is to be opened, all the rights of the mine he has given up will go to the Department of Commerce of Jiaozhi.

Because the smelting technology of Daming is now at the most advanced level in the world, the iron produced by Daming is well received by overseas countries.

In addition, with the development of the domestic economy, the demand for iron tools is also increasing, so if you invest in mining, you will receive good returns in the future.

It is particularly important that the mining rights of Cochin can be mined for gold, silver and other precious metals in Cochin, which were previously only accessible to the government, which is a great temptation for all merchants.

Li Yuntian knew the importance of iron and steel, so he attached great importance to the mining rights of Jiaozhi, and set the reserve price of the mining rights of Jiaozhi at 100,000 taels, and the nominal price was set at five.

This time, Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu both joined the competition for the mining rights of Jiaozhi, and as soon as the master of ceremonies announced the start of the bidding, he asked the entourage next to him to raise the number plate, and the white-clothed boy brother immediately asked the bearded man on the side to raise the card.

After a commotion of the businessmen at the scene, the audience raised two number plates one after another, and then fell silent.

Seeing this, Li Yuntian's face was not shocked, he had already guessed this result, so Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu joined the battle for the mining rights of Jiaozhi.

Mining and smelting were a completely unfamiliar business for the businessmen here, and the profits were very small compared to the business they did.

Therefore, those powerful businessmen are reluctant to get involved in the mining and smelting industries, and some businessmen who want to try it are not enough to have funds, so it has caused the current deserted scene.

Since there were no other competitors, the five places for the Jiaozhi mining rights belonged to Zheng Boxin and Wang Yu.

At this point, all the commercial franchises and mining rights in Cochin were sold, and although the process seemed a bit anticlimactic, it was a successful end for Li Yuntian, who smoothly raised the military expenses he needed, and there was a lot more.

At this time, it was already noon, and Li Yuntian had already set up a banquet in a restaurant in Yangzhou City, and invited the businessmen who had come to participate in the Jiaozhi commercial franchise and mining rights this time, thanking them for coming to the banquet.

Li Yuntian invited those businessmen to give him face, and all of them went to attend the banquet, and the atmosphere during the banquet was very warm, and everyone was staggered, talking and laughing, which could be described as the joy of the guests and the hosts.

After the banquet, Li Yuntian invited the merchants who had obtained the commercial franchise and mining rights of Jiaozhi to the Yamen of the Yangzhou Wei Command Envoy, and he had important things to let these merchants do.!^!