In the Lu Ji grocery store in Jiangmi Lane, Yangzhou City, Lu Yaozu was carefully wiping the counter. Pedestrians on the streets are in a hurry, many shops are crowded, and the air above Yangzhou City seems to be frozen.

The reason for all this is because the emperor went south to Yangzhou and wantonly arrested people and raided the salt merchants in Yangzhou, which made the people in the market panic, and the merchants had no intention of doing business at all.

Yangzhou is located on the bank of the canal, the salt transport is an important place, the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River to the north of the goods must pass through Yangzhou, is an important goods transshipment place, such as Lu Yaozu and other small businessmen are countless. Of course, the most profitable business in Yangzhou City is salt, and the richest businessman is the salt merchant. It's just that the current Huaiyan is controlled by the Hui merchants and the Jin merchants, and it is almost impossible for others to intervene in the Huaiyan business, which is the monopolist of the Woben system.

While wiping the counter, Lu Yaozu sighed for a long time, the business of the grocery store in the past few days was too bad, which made him feel very depressed. Every inch of land in Yangzhou is expensive, and the rent of the shops is expensive, if this continues, it will not take a few months, and the grocery store will have to go bankrupt.

"This Emperor Chongzhen can't go anywhere, why did he come to Yangzhou. Come on, why do you have to get along with the merchants? Lu Yaozu kept scolding in his heart.

There were already rumors in the market that the emperor was going to raid the homes of all the merchants and officials in Yangzhou. Lu Yaozu didn't believe it at first, after all, there were not 10,000 merchants in Yangzhou City, but also 8,000 merchants, Yangzhou Mansion was hilly, the land was very barren, and it was supported by salt and other trade to be so prosperous.

However, the rumor has a nose and an eye, saying that the emperor went on a killing spree when he was in Shandong, and almost copied the gentry and officials and merchants in Shandong, saying that the emperor started by copying his family, and soon after he ascended the throne, he copied the home of the nine-thousand-year-old Wei Zhongxian and his henchmen, and later copied the house of his own uncle King Fu on trumped-up charges, and relied on the silver obtained from the house to feed a huge army, so as to expel Jiannu and recover Liaodong. Now that the emperor has come to such a prosperous place as Yangzhou, how can he not be tempted in the face of such a rich Yangzhou? How can you not raid your home? Let's see, now it's the salt merchants, and then it's going to be the other merchants, big and small, such as the money number and the silk village.

The rumors spread very quickly, and in just a few days, they spread all over Yangzhou City, making the merchants panic, many shops closed their doors and stopped business, and the owners of the shops hid one after another, especially those small and medium-sized salt merchants, one by one.

Lu Yaozu also wanted to close the shop door and hide, but he didn't dare, because his business was too small to support the consequences of not being open for a long time. He was even more afraid that after he hid, no one in the store would be patronized by thieves and lose the goods in the store, and that would really be the end.

"The owner, the owner." At this moment, the shopkeeper Lu Liuzi ran back.

"What's the panic, so that the goods you sent can be delivered?" Lu Yaozu asked with a calm face. This Lu Liuzi is his distant cousin, and he is also one of the only three guys in the store.

"The goods have been delivered. When I came back, I passed by Yanyunsi Street, and do you know what I saw? Lu Liuzi shouted.

"Is it that Hu Wan, those salt merchants have been killed?" Lu Yaozu hurriedly asked.

"No, no one was beheaded. However, I saw a notice posted at the entrance of the yamen, saying that the emperor wanted to reform the salt system and abolish the woben system, and from now on, anyone who registered with the yamen of the salt transportation department and paid a certain deposit could do salt business. Owner, haven't you always wanted to be a salt merchant? What a great opportunity! Lu Liuzi shouted.

"Isn't the emperor going to confiscate all the merchants, why is he going to reform the salt administration and recruit salt merchants?" Lu Yaozu was stunned. But after thinking about it, I quickly understood.

After all, the emperor is not a bandit, he is the master of the entire Ming Dynasty, and the merchants of Yangzhou are also his people, so how can he ignore the reason that all the merchants in Yangzhou are raided? The reason why Hu million and those salt merchants' homes were raided must be because those people went too far! It has nothing to do with other merchants.

It's a pity that I've been worried for a few days, for fear that the emperor's army will rush in and raid the store! The emperor is a dignified emperor, he uses a golden rice bowl for eating, and he uses a golden toilet for his toilet, how can he look at his own small grocery store? It's funny to think about.

"You two look at the shop, Liuzi, you and I will go to Yanyunsi Street, I'll see what's going on?" Lu Yaozu immediately decided.

He had long wanted to be a salt merchant, but he had no way or too much money, and now he finally saw an opportunity. The emperor raided the nest merchants, and the salt merchants in the entire Yangzhou were panicked, and at this time, I am afraid that no one would dare to take the lead, and he might be able to take this opportunity to intervene.

When I arrived at Yanyunsi Street, I saw many people outside the yamen, all looking at the notices posted on the wall. With the help of the sixth son, Lu Yaozu desperately squeezed to the front, looked fixedly, and sure enough, he said about recruiting salt merchants.

According to the notice, from now on, anyone who files with the Yamen of the Salt Transportation Department and pays a sum of management silver, which is not much, 50 taels of silver, can be issued a salt license by the Yamen, and from then on he can do salt business, and the threshold is so low!

Seeing this, Lu Yaozu felt a burst of excitement in his heart. He still took out fifty taels of silver! It's really not good, it's a big deal to sell the grocery store and raise it.

Hurriedly continued to look down, and then found that the purchase price and selling price of salt were actually stipulated, and I couldn't help but be stunned.

According to the provisions of the notice, the price of all salt farms in Lianghuai is unified, the price of salt is three taels of silver, plus the salt tax of three coins is a total of three taels and three dollars, one is four hundred catties, and the purchase price of each catty of salt is about eight yuan.

And no matter which prefecture or county it is, the price of salt is 15 wen per catty! Any commercial salt shop is not allowed to increase the price, and the offender will be punished for selling private salt, and the family will be distributed or even killed!

After reading it, Lu Yaozu suddenly pondered, the purchase price was eight wen and the price was fifteen wen, which seemed to have double the profit, but considering the cost of transportation along the way, plus the taxes and other expenses that had to be paid to the local government when selling salt, the total profit was at most two percent!

Compared with more than ten times and twenty times the salt profit, this profit is really pitiful! Lu Yaozu couldn't help but shake his head again and again.

The other onlookers around him also talked about it, and many even wailed.

"I can't do business, I can't make money if I don't double the gross profit, and I can't make any money after removing all kinds of expenses. If you are in the salt business, you can only drink the northwest wind. ”

Lu Yaozu heard someone sighing beside him, turned his head and saw that this person was a small salt merchant.

Twenty percent of the profit is indeed not much money, but it is always more profitable than the grocery store business, Lu Yaozu couldn't help but think.

He is a native of Luzhou, and he comes to Yangzhou several times a year to sell salt, and he can earn at least 180 taels of silver. The salt merchants of the past did not look down on the profits of today, but they were a rare good business for themselves.

Thinking of this, Lu Yaozu didn't hesitate any longer, turned around and squeezed out of the crowd, and walked towards the yamen of the Salt Transportation Division.

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