How to prohibit the sale of illicit salt?

It is difficult to stop it with violence, even if it is a business that loses its head, there are people who are willing to do it, and Bai Tu doesn't want to be so bloody, after all, it is salt trafficking, not drug trafficking, it is just a conflict of interests.

It's simple to stop it with benefits......

There are people who do the business that loses their heads, but no one does the business that loses money - when the cost of official salt is far lower than that of private salt, and the production capacity and quality are far exceeded, it is too easy to make the private salt dealers lose money!

In November of the second year of Jian'an, the Cheqi General's Mansion officially announced that from next year, the salt tax in Yangzhou will be included in the General's Mansion for war preparation.

When several Jiangdong Haoyou, who started their businesses with salt, heard the news, they were really flustered.

However, Bai Tu and the Shi clan already had many communication channels at this time, and this panic did not escalate into conflict......

Before the announcement of the tax on salt and iron, it was also illegal to sell smuggled salt, but before that, it was equivalent to digging the corner of the imperial court.

Now, as the nominal governor of the national military, the Che Cavalry General's Mansion has assigned the Yangzhou salt tax, which could not be collected, to the name of the General's Mansion, and then sold smuggled salt, which is to dig the corner of the white map!

It is easy to think that this is to start with Hao, who is engaged in salt, and Bai Tu and Lu Kang and others have vaguely mentioned it before.

In the coastal area of Jiangdong, there are a total of 17 families that control the salt pans, and seven or eight of them are based on this.

Among them, the strongest is undoubtedly the Lu family, but boiling the sea for salt is only one of the economic pillars of the Lu family, and it is just a pain to really cut it down, and the Zhang family, the Yu family, and the Wei family are also among them, but these real families will not put their foothold in such a fragile industry.

The seventeen salt merchants had already met a few times because of this, but they were only appeased by the Lu clan and other Dashi clans.

After that, Bai Tu's actions made everyone relax their vigilance, as if they did not mean to crack down on illicit salt at all, but ...... In the name of the Cheqi General's Mansion, a large flat beach was chartered in the eastern part of Wu County, saying that it was to be used as a salt pan?

Is it to compete with illegal salt?

This is a relief for everyone - competition? As long as it is not a direct dimensionality reduction attack, even if the general's mansion is biased, it will not be able to compete with their old business.

Huiji Zheng, a wealthy family who was still very worried before, even said to the Lu clansman who was in charge of boiling salt at this time: "It seems that Bai Gong really has no money...... Would you like us to pool some money and donate some? Isn't it a waste to open up a salt farm in that kind of place? Hahaha......"

Seeing Zheng Xing's somewhat smug look, Lu Yi glanced at him, and the former reined in.

Lu Yi is Lu Kang's nephew, although he is only a side branch, but the ancestor and Lu Kang did not come out of the five suits, and there was also a Taishou first-level official, which is a relatively close side branch, and he is in charge of the Lu family's salt field at this time.

"My old man has long said that Bai Gong's mind is not something you can speculate, and only by deepening ties with the General's Mansion as soon as possible can you gain greater benefits in the future changes and challenges!" Lu Yi said.

"Yes, yes."

"Old man Lu is wise ......"

Everyone said 666, but most of them didn't think so-it was said nicely, but I didn't see your Lu family donating the salt fields to the General's Mansion!

"The ugly words are in front, Bai Gong has given us the opportunity to communicate, and he has never persecuted anyone, but ...... If someone wants to make trouble for Bai Gong instead, I, the Lu family, will be the first to not let him go. Lu Yi relayed what Lu Kang meant.

"How dare you, Bai Gong can leave us some leftovers and be content with the cold." Zheng Xing said immediately.

Lu Yi glanced at him, the profits of private salt can also be said to be cold leftovers?

But...... After all, he wasn't very noble, so he didn't criticize anything.

At this time, the seventeen salt merchants, who were far or close to the general's mansion, had the same view of the so-called official salt pans - if they really boiled salt there, they were afraid that they would die!

What kind of place is good for boiling salt?

The sea water is endless, but it takes fire to boil salt, so it needs to be close to the fuel, and of course not far from the coast, otherwise the cost of transporting both fuel and seawater will rise to an unacceptable level.

Therefore, it is either close to the reeds or the coast near the mountains and forests that it is qualified to become a salt pan.

For example, the largest sea salt field in later generations, "Changlu Salt Farm", was originally located here because of the abundant local reeds, and later even if there was a salt drying method, the salt farm was not moved.

As for the beach circled by a white map, there is not even a shade around it, only patches of sand, and boiling salt there is not a loss?

Of course, you can't blame the white map for its bad location, after all...... All the places suitable for making salt farms have long been bought by the wealthy family of Jiangdong through various means.

At this time, Pang Tong was inspecting the site selection, looking down on the large flat beach from a high place, Pang Tong quickly calculated the scale of the excavated ditch, the division of the evaporation pond and the crystallization pond......

"Unfortunately, in terms of the composition and concentration of seawater, the seawater near the mouth of the Huai River is more suitable for salt pans...... However, after the future lord recovers Huainan, he can open up a salt field there.

Now it is not a waste to build a factory here, there is not only salt in the sea, but also the sand here meets the needs of firing glass, and soda ash can be extracted from seaweed......" Pang Tong muttered to himself.

"Dr. Pang, what did you say?" Zhou Tai wondered.

"It's nothing, construction will start tomorrow, and the defense task will be entrusted to General Zhou." Pang Tong said.

Pang Tong was temporarily appointed as a doctor of the Ministry of Industry, and the "doctor" at this time was originally an official position, and Zhou Tai had been reinstated by the official after the last "quelling the chaos".

At the same time, Bai Tu gave him a task that was no less important than protecting himself - protecting Pang Tong!

At first, Bai Tu was worried that those Haoyou might have a bad idea and consider sending someone to assist Pang Tong, but then he thought about it...... Although it is now starting to develop towards engineering, it is Pang Tong!

Give him enough people and enough authority, who can use crooked ideas against him?

Bai Tu had always had a headache about the candidates for the Ministry of Industry before, and once wanted to send someone to take the initiative to find the famous Cao Wei's engineering expert Ma Jun, but Ma Jun's hometown was in the north.

Now there is the best "substitute", Pang Tong can not only be more versatile than Ma Jun, but also ...... Regardless of his attainments in engineering, he is also a first-class strategist in terms of the art of war and internal governance!

Pang Tong is now just obsessed with knowledge, and he inflates the "Art of War" and "Politics" as Xiaodao, but if someone treats him as an ordinary science and engineering man, I am afraid that he will experience all-round crushing.

Even as a scholar who is tired of physics and looks at chemistry as a rest, Pang Tong is ready to bring out the mystery of firing glass in "Chemistry of Secondary 2" here......

Moreover, burning glass also requires fuel, and in terms of the value that glass can achieve at this time, it is completely acceptable to transport fuel to burn it, which can play an additional role in confusing!