Although Lin Ruhai was reprimanded by the emperor, Lin Jin told her mother not to worry, but she couldn't help but worry about the Chamber of Commerce. Although this time, in addition to Liangzhejiang, Changlu and Liaodong and other parts of the country were reprimanded together, she felt that the emperor's main target of scolding this time was Liangzhejiang, and the means were not just reprimands.

On the sale of illicit salt, Lin Jin and Wu Jiugong's opinions were not consistent. Originally, her idea was that the Chamber of Commerce would withdraw from this business, but Wu Jiugong disagreed, so she could only warn the other party again and again not to sell illicit salt too much, so as not to attract the attention of the imperial court.

Wu Jiugong promised well, but judging from the emperor's reprimand of Yan Zheng this time, she felt that what he said and what she did might not be consistent, so she came to Wu Jiugong and didn't say anything to him, but directly checked the account of the Chamber of Commerce.

Wu Jiugong looked at Lin Jin's tightly knit brows as he was holding the account book of the Chamber of Commerce, and couldn't help but say: "I know that your Lin family is rich, but according to your usual words and deeds, although you don't take money very seriously, you haven't reached the realm of treating silver money like dung. Nowadays, the business of the Chamber of Commerce is thriving, it can be said that it is making money every day, why do you see that the Chamber of Commerce is making money, not happy, but put on such a ghostly look? Could it be that this account is wrong, and there is a cat in it? ”

Lin Jin put down the account book in his hand, looked directly at him and said, "There is nothing wrong with this account, at least I don't see the problem." But why am I frowning, you don't know? I have told you many times that our Chamber of Commerce is gradually reducing the business of illicit salt, but among the various businesses of the Chamber of Commerce, the current trade of illicit salt accounts for the majority, and it is gradually rising. ”

sighed, "You don't know the news that the officials on the Yangzhou Salt Transportation side were reprimanded, right?" As for why they were reprimanded? She waved the ledger in her hand and said, "The account above it says it all." I've said several times before that you want to control the sale of illicit salt, and you've been very happy with it, but now it seems that it's completely against the law. Now that it has attracted the attention of the imperial court, aren't you worried? ”

"What is there to worry about." Wu Jiugong said disapprerovitically: "Our salt farm is not in Daqin, and the imperial court can't seal it if it wants to." As for the illegal salt trade, we don't specialize in this, but when we do maritime trade business, we use salt as ballast stone when transporting goods, so what we sell is only ballast stone, not salt.

Therefore, this salt is sold relatively cheaply, and the shipping price is two or three cents a catty. In fact, it doesn't matter if we do this business or not, you know, the price of high-end wood in Daqin's timber market is very expensive, such as red sandalwood, huanghuali, ironwood, etc., and Luzon happens to have this kind of wood, if you replace the ballast stone with wood and transport it to sell, it is actually much more profitable than transporting salt......

Lin Jin showed a suspicious look on her face and interrupted him, "Since the timber business is more profitable than salt, there is no reason for the Chamber of Commerce to put a more profitable business and continue to sell salt, I only see in the account book that the income from selling salt is gradually rising, but the income from the timber business has been very stable, are you fooling me?" ”

Wu Jiugong glanced at her, a little disgusted, and a little puzzled: "Sometimes your brain is very smart, even what I didn't think of, you can think of it, but how can you be so stupid sometimes." Although doing business and making money is the goal, but at the point of our chamber of commerce, money is no longer the most important, but the most important thing is to spread the network. The salt produced by the Chamber of Commerce is mainly used to open up relationships. Salt can be used from peddlers and pawns to high-ranking officials and princes. And after they accept it, they don't have to worry about it being difficult to make a move, which is really a big weapon. ”

Lin Jin glanced at him with slanted eyes, then looked at the account book in his hand, and said, "You still said that you weren't fooling me, can't you count the accounts with me?" If it is given away, then why is the income from the sale of salt increasing? ”

Wu Jiugong smiled and sighed: "To tell the truth, I have known you for so many years, I have always felt that you are a particularly down-to-earth Yanei, and even a little bit like the Lin family, who was born in a scholarly family and has been an official eunuch for generations. But now you've finally made me feel like you're finally from a big family. ”

"What do you mean?"

"This officialdom gives gifts, like our merchants give gifts to officials, in order to prevent officials from taking bribes, so when giving gifts, many times it is not that they do not collect money, but although they collect money, they are discounted......"

"Needless to say, I see." Although Lin Jin has never given a gift in this life, in later generations, she has not only heard of it, but also film and television dramas have also performed in this regard.

When something worth a thousand gold is "bought" for one-tenth, one-hundredth, or even one-thousandth of the price, and when it is discovered, the reason given is that the value of the object is not correctly understood, and it is just a cognitive error, not "bribery". It's just that Lin Jin didn't expect that this situation generally exists in items that are difficult to judge the authenticity of gifts such as antiques, and the inconspicuous salt has become one of them at this time.

"Our salt sells for less than two pennies a catty, and no matter which dynasty or generation of private salt has such a low price, let alone official salt. Moreover, the quality of the salt supplied to the imperial family cannot be compared with ours, and it is said that even the family living in the imperial city currently uses salt produced by our salt production methods. Wu Jiugong broke the news to Lin Jin again.

Lin Jin jumped to her feet when she heard this, and confirmed to him in disbelief: "What you said is true? You're not joking with me, are you? ”

Wu Jiugong nodded deeply.

"How is that possible?" Lin Jin couldn't believe it.

Wu Jiugong sneered, "It is said that 'thousands of miles of officials are only for money', although this is a bit biased, but it is undeniable that there are few officials in the officialdom who have two sleeves and a clean breeze in the past dynasties. Nowadays, the private salt in the market is so cheap that they can buy a lot of it with a few dozen taels of silver.

Don't look at the large quantity, but this thing is needed by everyone, and you can't help but buy it, so it's not difficult to sell. What's more, they take a cheap price from us, even if they add the price, not to mention that it is compared with official salt, even if it is compared with the private salt that flows out of Daqin's salt works, it is cheaper, not to mention that the quality on our side is even better.

There is a risk of losing money in other businesses, but selling illicit salt, even if you are a fool, can make money. How could those who were in power not see this prospect, so many officials were pulled onto the boats selling illicit salt, and some of them were left alone, but the salt they used at home was still ours.

No way, who makes our stuff cheap and good. Unless the family members in the house speak and make a strict order, otherwise, unless there is something else in the house, they will buy our salt. In fact, sometimes, even if the master of the house speaks, it is useless, and the slaves below can still disobey the yin and yang, anyway, they can't go to the kitchen to see, and there is no word on the salt they bought, so they know where they bought it. ”

Looking at Wu Jiugong's proud look because the salt produced by his family was all over the place, Lin Jin asked, "You are not worried that the imperial court will trouble the Chamber of Commerce at all?" ”

Wu Jiugong smiled and said proudly: "Don't worry, you can't find our heads." Our salt changed hands several times when it was sold, and didn't I say that it was sold in the name of the ship stone, so even if the imperial court wanted to investigate, it was none of our business. Besides, I gave away a few copies of the recipe for making salt, so the biggest smuggler of salt in Daqin today is not on our side. Therefore, even if the imperial court finds out the head of the Chamber of Commerce, there are other people who bear most of the blame. ”

"So you've been prepared for a long time." Hearing this, Lin Jin breathed a sigh of relief, and was in the mood to tease him: "It's just that you are doing this, it seems that you are a bit of a blame." Would people be willing? Be careful to wait for others to react and settle accounts with you? ”

"What's the point for me?" Wu Jiugong said nonchalantly: "My recipe was not given away for nothing, some of them were taken away by people in the way of 'immortal jumping', and they took away that recipe, what should I do, what does it matter to me?"

Besides, some officials gave them the recipe here, but I didn't ask them to sell illicit salt. They got the recipe for making salt, and if they didn't think about selling smuggled salt for personal gain, then there was nothing. If you want to eat meat, you have to pay a price. They got the recipe and started making salt and selling it privately, so naturally they had already thought of this. Therefore, no matter what happens, it will not find my head. This is the rule of trade, and if they dare to break the rules, then don't think about gaining a foothold in the mall.

Besides, the people who are in charge of these things have been sent away a long time ago, and now they are all in Luzon, and they will not come back for ten or eight years. Even if something happens, they want to find the person who bears the blame, and the person who handled it is gone, if they have the ability to go to Luzon and arrest the person back, then I have nothing to say, otherwise, I will carry it myself. ”

Lin Jin smiled angrily: "You have already done it together." Originally, I didn't dislike that Luzon was not prosperous, so I refused to stay there for a long time, but now I don't dislike it? ”

Wu Jiugong smiled silently.

Although Wu Jiugong said as if it was foolproof, Lin Jin was still not very relieved, because she felt that the behemoth of the imperial court was moving, and it was definitely not something that the Chamber of Commerce could compete with now. It's just this worry, seeing Wu Jiugong's determination, that made her swallow back the words that came to her mouth.