Duan Tianya has always been known for his steadiness and gentleness, and he has been doing business for many years, and few turmoil can make him look irritable.

Today, however, he had just furrowed his frowns and stared at the pair of children in front of him.

"Father, we'll go home."

Duan Tianya's expression was solemn, Duan Ling'er looked at it like this, I was afraid that it was not because of what happened to Duan Lan and Liu Feng last night, but because of that week's trouble, I don't know what he said that made Duan Tianya really angry.

Duan Yu also saw Duan Tianya's expression for the first time, not at all saying that business was not going well, or that he was tied up by some ordinary things, but it seemed that he hit Duan Tianya in something that could hit the bottom.

Duan Yu always believed that with his father's steady, meticulous and shrewd ability, he would never look at them so solemnly without special circumstances.

"Do you know why my father stayed in Yangzhou for so long? In previous years, I only stayed for one month, but this year I have lived for more than two months. ”

Duan Ling'er shook her head.

"Have you ever heard of a salt merchant?"

Duan Ling'er's heart sank.

In his previous life, his father was the leading salt merchant in the Great Zhou.

It would not be long before my father took over the salt business.

In the previous life, everyone knew that "Sichuan Salt Jichu", Zigong Salt Farm became the essence of Sichuan Province, rich in Shu.

In addition to Yangzhou, his father has always had business contacts in Shu, and even there are two aunts and wives living there, he has ups and downs in this life, half a life of ups and downs, by the royal nobles in the capital to find rare treasures everywhere to do the salt business, the business from Shu to Yangzhou, in the years when he was a salt merchant, no matter the collection of salt and salt, he treated people with generosity and integrity, accumulated and dispersed, regarded others as himself, and took care of a small salt field into the famous Duan family salt.

Duan Tianya's teaching to the salt affairs at that time was: eagerness is a taboo for business.

He often told people: "Others are grabbing a point for three feet, but I am one foot back for three points, they only see me retreating, but they don't expect that after three years, five years and ten years, I will still walk in front of them." ”

is also such a Duan Tianya, who has been working steadily in the salt business for more than ten years, even if he later became a key person in the salt transportation of Lianghuai with the help of King Chu, he is still humble everywhere, whether it is called in the yamen, or there are activities in the Lianghuai business circle, and there are meetings, his habit is to say: "What do you think is good!" ”

The people present argued, but he was able to fall asleep.

The business partners he chose had been able to live with him for many years. In the business circle, people who don't know him will always think he is gentle, and those who know him often regard him as a very terrible opponent.

In Duan Ling'er's previous life, even though she was far away in Daliang, even if her father had been indifferent to her for many years, she always firmly believed that her father could have today's achievements because he was a man who stood up to the sky and the earth, and he relied on an extremely broad mind.

When Duan Ling'er was in a trance, Duan Tianya was slowly explaining to Duan Yu what a salt merchant was.

"The salt industry system of the Great Zhou Dynasty is based on the self-employed model of stove households."

"As a branch of the artisan household system, the stove household undertook the salt class assigned by the imperial court. In order to facilitate management, the general manager of the field dealer is indicated above the stove household. The dealer buys the salt from the stove household

Hoarded it, and when the salt official called it, the salt was transported to Yangzhou for a centralized and handed over to the merchant at a pre-negotiated price. ”

Duan Yu was puzzled: "Father, but salt can be sold freely in Da Zhou?" ”

"Salt was originally freely available for sale in Da Zhou." Duan Tianya took a sip of tea: "But Da Zhou has always had the problem of food shortage in the border army, and since last year's war in Northern Xinjiang, the shortage of grain and grass has become more serious. General Guo reported the situation in Beicheng to the imperial court, and the emperor consulted with the ministers for a long time, and decided that the most effective and least costly way was to have merchants transport grain and grass. ”

Duan Yu didn't know anything about doing business, but he also understood: "Transporting grain and grass to the border is not easy and easy to transport, so in order to encourage merchants to transport grain from the interior to the border guards, the imperial court allowed merchants to buy salt and resell it for profit?" ”

Duan Tianya looked at his son with some approval: "Brother Yu is still very smart. ”

Duan Yu's face flushed, this was the first time his father praised him, he was a little excited, and a little embarrassed.

Duan Tianya continued: "Therefore, this salt merchant is a merchant appointed by the imperial court to do salt business after salt cannot be sold freely. Now that the imperial court is preparing to implement the outline law in the Lianghuai region, it will not allow the free sale of salt, and the imperial court will continue to divide the official salt produced each year into fixed batches and hand them over to powerful merchants who pay the salt tax in advance. The imperial court would also register the names of these merchants, making them royal merchants with the right to monopolize salt. ”

Duan Yu held the teacup: "Does my father want to be a salt merchant for this royal use?" ”

Duan Tianya nodded: "I have calculated that the wholesale price of each salt sold to the trafficker is around 12 taels of silver. These salts are transported to the main sales markets of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and other places, and it is conservatively estimated that they can obtain a profit of 3 taels per lead. It is estimated that more than half of the profits made by the merchants in the Huai salt yards are from their business activities. ”

Duan Yu's eyes lit up: "The salt business is so reliable? Although it is hard and risky to transport grain and grass, the profits obtained in exchange for salt selling opportunities are much faster than the silver obtained in exchange for other businesses in Duanfu. ”

Duan Tianya nodded again and agreed.

Duan Ling'er frowned: "Father, since this business is so easy to do, there are many people who must do this business, right?" ”

Duan Tianya's eyes were filled with deep meaning: "For the sake of this profit that is not known to be higher than other trade routes, probably the merchants in Yangzhou have tried their best to fight for their status as franchised businessmen appointed by the state. ”

Duan Ling'er pursed her lips silently, this is indeed the case.

In his previous life, although his father got the position of salt merchant, in order to keep this position, the Duan Mansion also exhausted his mental and material resources.

Not only was he presented to the imperial court as a sharp weapon as a sharp knife, but he was later favored by the Great Liang State to marry and marry, but several of his concubine sisters and sisters from the side branches were also given by the eldest lady to the powerful nobles in the capital and even Yangzhou as concubines.

In addition to the daughters of the Duan family who have contributed their lives, Duan Tianya has always been working hard in other aspects:

In the previous life, Duan Fu provided financial support for important military operations in the Great Zhou, and laid the financial resources for the king of Chu in the struggle for the throne between the king of Chu and the king of Xian, but ten years after the king of Chu ascended the throne, he would have a huge reward for himself

The Duan family was all over the house, except for herself, the princess of Liang who was far away in the Liang Kingdom, there was no one of her relatives in the Great Zhou.

Before that, his father was also constantly cultivating a large number of his own people to enter the court, and had been using his accumulated wealth to work for the official positions of these people, and gradually established a bureaucrat-businessman relationship network from the central to the local, but it was precisely in this way that he was finally trapped in the trap by his own "own people", standing on the side of the king of Chu, and finally died at the hands of an official who he had always supported and supported with countless gold and silver.

Duan Ling'er closed her eyes.

In a moment, it seemed as if she had re-experienced the sharp pain of hearing that all her family had been lost, and this moment was as long as her previous life.

Unreal, she only felt that she wanted Huo Ran to stretch out her palm and grab something.

That thing is the fate of his own people.

She must not let this life, like her previous life, she must not watch the entire Duan Mansion repeat the mistakes of the past.

At this time, Ling'er had long been unable to maintain a calm and calm feeling in her heart, and her face changed color and said:

"Father, this salt merchant, can you not do it?"

Duan Tianya seemed a little surprised that his daughter would object to him asking for this business.

It stands to reason that after his observation these days, although it has only been two months, although this daughter has not yet reached the end of his life, this daughter is the one who knows how to do business the most among the children in his Duan Mansion.

Such a person should not oppose the salt business.

"Why don't you want to do this for your father?"

Duan Ling'er paused, and organized the language: "After all, the profits are high, and I am afraid that extremely high profits will also bring great disasters......

Duan Tianya looked at his daughter with a worried look, although he didn't know where this worry came from, but he really felt Duan Ling'er's worry, he was a little unexpected, and sighed secretly.

These family members of their own, each thinking about how he, the head of the Duan family, could earn more money for them to squander, as if he was not their brother, not their father and uncle, nor their husband, but a dustpan basket that was born to accumulate wealth, and a treasure gourd that could naturally earn gold and silver.

The people under their wings are used to enjoying the monthly routine, and they are used to having a signboard of "Duan Mansion" behind them, and they never think about whether they, the head of the Duan family, are also taking risks.

But Duan Ling'er was really worried about him, with the eyes of a daughter, worried about her father.

In the position of a Duanfu person, he is worried about Duanfu.

Duan Tianya thought silently for a while, but finally shook his head: "No." ”

"Why?"

Duan Ling'er suddenly felt the cold wind hit her whole body, and said eagerly: "Father, since we haven't done this business yet, then there is nothing to cling to. There are so many competitors in this salt business, and I don't know if it's easy to do in the future, why can't I not do it? Besides, we have so much business, even if we can't guarantee that Duan Mansion will always be rich, we can guarantee that Duan Mansion will always be rich, isn't that enough? ”

Duan Tianya smiled slightly: "Sister Ling, this is not like your style of acting. ”