In the year before last, the Lu family had more Wu Shigong's salt sales area, and their income grew rapidly. But when the Lu family was ready to show their skills last year, suddenly, the salt transportation made the yamen no longer give the Lu family a salt introduction. The same fate was also suffered by several small salt merchants in Yangzhou.

The reason for the salt transportation envoy was that because of the flood of private salt, the salt tax of the imperial court fell too quickly, so it was necessary to concentrate the salt in the hands of a few large salt merchants, which was conducive to the unified collection of taxes by the imperial court.

But God knows, which year was not overflowing with illicit salt? In fact, the salt merchants understand this set, and this is another drama of big fish eating small fish. As expected, the Lu family's salt was distributed to the Qi family, while the salt of several other small salt merchants was distributed to several other big salt merchants.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, it was not like modern commerce, where commercial warfare could be carried out by unscrupulous means, and as long as it was won, the winner was king. Commercial competition in the Ming Dynasty was actually confined to a very small area.

This was especially true for the large group of salt merchants in Yangzhou, who formed an influential business guild. In this business guild, it is basically a unified external action to maintain the high profits of the industry, while minimizing friction internally.

Of course, this is not to say that there is no competition among the salt merchants in Yangzhou, but there must be a reasonable reason for this competition, otherwise, the winner is likely to be squeezed out by the entire salt merchant group, and eventually ruined.

Therefore, the behavior of the Qi family and other big salt merchants who robbed the Lu family and other small salt merchants of the salt through salt transportation this time is completely out of line with the rules of the industry. This is also the main reason why the two brothers of the Lu family can't bear this breath.

But what the two brothers of the Lu family didn't know was that this kind of behavior that did not conform to the rules of the industry this time was not the behavior of big fish eating small fish after the Qi family and other big salt merchants bought the salt transportation envoys. On the contrary, it was the Yangzhou salt envoy who found the Qi family and other big salt merchants and asked them to swallow the salt of the Lu family and other small salt merchants.

Since Emperor Chongzhen came to power, eunuchs have been recruited back to supervise taxes in various places. In Emperor Chongzhen's view, without these corrupt eunuchs and honest civil officials, the country's tax situation will definitely improve.

But what Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect was that the appetite of civil officials was not small at all. What is even more incredible is that the civil officials all claim that "taxes come from the fields", and in addition to increasing taxes from the land of the freemen, other taxes such as commercial taxes and mining taxes can be exempted. And the same is true of the salt tax in Yangzhou.

It can also be seen from here that although eunuchs may be more greedy than civil officials, with their existence, the imperial court can still collect some commercial taxes and mining taxes, but without the existence of eunuchs, the imperial court will not be able to collect one or two pieces of silver from these taxes. From this point of view, in fact, for the Ming court, it was actually better to have eunuchs to collect taxes locally than to have no eunuchs to collect taxes locally.

The salt tax in Yangzhou accounted for one-fifth of the income of the entire Ming court, but after Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, without the supervision of eunuchs, Yangzhou's salt tax immediately dropped by one-third. This was a huge hole for the Ming Dynasty.

And when this happened, it was definitely necessary to pursue responsibility, so the original salt envoy was dismissed from office. And now the salt transport envoy Guan Yin took office.

After Guan Yin took office, he knew that Emperor Chongzhen would definitely not be able to pass without increasing the salt tax, but he also knew that the shili of the salt merchant group was quite large. In particular, a large number of southern scholars supported by the salt merchants entered the officialdom, forming a huge protective umbrella for the salt merchants. If Guan Yin raised the salt tax like this, he would definitely not be in this position for long.

Therefore, Guan Yin and his staff discussed this method: reduce the number of small salt merchants, and concentrate the salt in the hands of those small salt merchants into the hands of the big salt merchants. And the big salt merchants took out a part of their increased profits as taxes for the imperial court. Of course, a large part of this will fall into the hands of Guan Yin's private individuals.

And Guan Yin's idea, after being proposed to the Qi family and other big salt merchants, it was simply an instant hit. Although those big salt merchants were still half-pushed in front of Guan Yin, in their hearts, they had long wanted to swallow the salt of those small salt merchants. It's just that because of the rules of the industry, I couldn't open my bloody mouth naked before. And now with the support of the Yamen, they can also eat these small fish of the Lu family with peace of mind.

This is the ins and outs of the Lu family's loss of salt. But now, the Lu family still doesn't quite understand the reason why they lost the salt introduction, and they still hate the Qi family's unabiding behavior.

Wu Shigong, under the guidance of the steward sent by the Lu family, had just settled down in an inn arranged by the Lu family, and Lu Jianyin and Lu Jianchen came to the inn to meet Wu Shigong.

As soon as they saw Wu Shigong, Lu Jianyin and Lu Jianchen bowed to Wu Shigong and said, "Lord Wu, the villain did not greet him at the city gate, it is rude." ”

Wu Shigong also hurriedly smiled and bowed back: "It's okay!" However, this official is traveling in civilian clothes this time, so the two gentlemen still call me Mr. Wu. ”

Wu Shigong welcomed the two brothers of the Lu family to his room and sat down, and Lu Jianyin said: "Mr. Wu, I took the liberty to let you come to Yangzhou this time, and the brothers have something to talk about in person." Mr. Wu was tired from the journey, so he took a rest first, and then his brother would do the east in the evening, so that Mr. Wu could enjoy the night view of the small Qinhuai River. ”

"You're welcome! Polite! Wu Shigong smiled and waved his hand. For Wu Shigong, when he came to Yangzhou this time, he didn't have the mood and time to run any Fengyue places. He is not the protagonist of any online article, and he will have an affair as soon as he arrives in Yangzhou.

Wu Shigong thought about talking about good things earlier, and then returned to Runing Mansion as soon as possible. Therefore, Wu Shigong said to the two brothers of the Lu family: "Brother, I am an anxious person, I don't talk about good things, and I have no intention of having fun." Do you want to explain the matter of the salt pan immediately? ”

Lu Jianyin and Lu Jianchen glanced at each other, they didn't expect Wu Shigong's heart to be so anxious. Lu Jianyin nodded, straightened up and said, "That's good!" Mr. Wu knew that our Lu family had a salt farm, and the salt output could reach more than 20,000 stone per year. If it is fully produced, it can reach more than 30,000 stones. ”

"But because of the changes in the Lu family, since last year, the Lu family has lost the salt introduction, and the salt in this salt farm cannot be sold. Mr. Wu, I don't want to lie to you, there are not one or two salt merchants who covet this salt farm, and they all force the Lu family to sell the salt farm to them. ”

"But because they snatched the salt from the Lu family by unscrupulous means, our Lu family will never sell this salt farm to other salt merchants. However, those salt merchants in Yangzhou Shili are huge, and they join forces with their peers to refuse to buy the salt goods of the Lujia Salt Factory, so that the salt works are now deserted. ”

"So I invited Mr. Wu to come this time, because I wanted to borrow the two Hou mansions behind Mr. Wu. Otherwise, without the support of the Hou Mansion, the salt farm would sooner or later be swallowed by other salt merchants. Our Lu family can give the salt farm to Mr. Wu, but Mr. Wu is in Henan, and he definitely can't take care of this salt farm, and our Lu family can manage this salt farm. As long as Mr. Wu gives our Lu family forty percent of the profit, plus with the support of the Hou Mansion, our Lu family will borrow some salt from other salt merchants, which can completely solve the problem that the salt goods in the salt field cannot be sold. ”

After listening to Lu Jianyin's words, Wu Shigong frowned. It's not quite what he imagined before he came. Along the way, Wu Shigong and Yuan Xingshan once guessed the reason why the Lu family sent him a salt farm. However, the biggest possibility they speculated was that the Lu family wanted to use the territory controlled by Wu Shigong in Henan to sell the salt from their salt farm.

For the Lu family to be divided into this, Wu Shigong has long been mentally prepared. He was also ready to agree to the conditions of giving the Lu family four percent of the benefits. But what I didn't expect was that the Lu family took a fancy to the Shili of the Xue Mansion and the Wu Mansion behind Wu Shigong.

But I know my own affairs, not to mention whether the shili of the Xungui family in the capital can reach the southern region of Yangzhou. Just talk about the situation of these two Hou Mansions. Xue Fu is still thinking about it behind closed doors. If you venture into the Yangzhou salt business circle with fierce conflicting interests, it may make the current not so good situation even worse.

But what about Wu Mansion? Wu Shigong believed that if he told his father Wu Weizhong about this situation, he would definitely smile happily. But Wu Shigong himself couldn't get anything, at most his father Wu Weizhong gave him some leftovers and cold rice. It doesn't help your income.

Wu Shigong's mind turned for a long time, and Zuihou decided to agree to the Lu family's conditions first. Wu Shigong first took it upon himself to lend the shili of the two Hou mansions to the Lu family, and as for any problems in the future, then let's look at it then.

Seeing that Wu Shigong agreed, the two brothers of the Lu family smiled happily. They also immediately agreed, and the goods brought by Wu Shigong this time were purchased by the Lu family first, and helped Yuan Xingshan prepare the goods and ships that were transported back to Runing Mansion.

Then, the two brothers of the Lu family said goodbye first and prepared to arrange Wu Shigong's banquet in the evening. Wu Shigong also stretched his waist and wanted to lie down on the bed to rest.