Yangzhou West City, Dongguan Street.

Tall blue brick castle towers stand on the side of the road.

The tower was divided into three levels, the upper two of which were pavilion-like watchtowers, which could be condescending, and below which there was an arched gate, which was the passage in and out. Under the arched door, there is an endless stream of pedestrians.

A smooth stone pavement leads straight into the distance, and on both sides of the street are neatly arranged shops, both neat and messy blue brick walls, with the tiled roof, revealing a thick quaintness.

A pitch-black door appeared in the blue brick array on the side of the street, and a big red wooden sign hung on the lintel that read "Geyuan".

The garden is one of the famous gardens in Yangzhou, built by the salt merchants, receives guests and friends from all over the world, it is said that its name takes half of the word "bamboo", the garden is full of cyan bamboo, the green bamboo is full of stacked stones, the rockery and the green bamboo are stacked by the bamboo shoot stone, the lake stone, the yellow stone, the Xuanshi and so on are stacked into a rockery and the green bamboo.

In a side hall in the park, the heavy eaves frame purple smoke.

A bronze turtle in the hall spit out streams of incense from time to time, refreshing people's hearts.

Dozens of richly dressed men, with white beards and hair, or middle-aged people, sat in the hall.

Although they are of different ages, they all look quite powerful.

As the saying goes: "Yangzhou salt merchants are extravagant in the world, and those who are less than one million are called small businessmen"

Millions of families are still "small businessmen", and the dozens of people who are doing it are all famous salt merchants in the two Huai lands, and the total assets of these people are no less than 100 million.

The person sitting on the main seat in the center is the Wu family, one of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou today.

The Wu family has been a businessman for generations, and since Taizu, he has always offered money to the court, and among the wealthy businessmen invited by the Great Qianli Dynasty, there is an old lady of the Wu family, who has contributed to the country.

Therefore, since the establishment of the Great Qianli Dynasty for nearly a hundred years, Yangzhou salt merchants have changed several batches, but only the Wu family has not fallen.

The contemporary head of the Wu family is named Wu Hai, about forty, with a gentle and elegant image.

No one in the hall spoke at the moment, and everyone's eyes stayed on Wu Hai's face, either bright or dark, as if waiting for him to make some idea.

Wu Hai was not in a hurry and sipped the tea.

Others didn't dare to say anything, so they could only be patient.

The man of the Qian family, who is also one of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou, said: "Master Wu, you have an idea, this silver, let's donate it or not." ”

The eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou, headed by the Wu family, the Qian family is close to the Wu family, and the daughter of the Qian family marries into the Wu family for in-laws.

I think that Lin Ruhai had just taken office to rectify the salt affairs and rectified many people, and it was because of this that the Qian family rose to the top with the help of the Wu family and became one of the new eight salt merchants.

Wu Hai put down the teacup and said calmly: "Master Qian, don't be anxious, the Yellow River is flooding, and the victims are everywhere. ”

The Wu family can stand tall precisely because they are anxious for the imperial court and receive the praise of the saints, and others need to give a little thin face.

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, since they wanted to donate silver, why did they donate so many thousand taels of silver to fill the table before, and donate all at once, wouldn't it be troublesome....

"Master Wu, what does this mean, you might as well say it bluntly." An old man with gray hair said with a solemn face.

This person is also one of the eight major salt merchants, named Sun Ming.

Wu Hai groaned and said to everyone: "We are all merchants, and we can't donate money for nothing. ”

Everyone was silent when they heard this, but Wu Hai didn't care, and continued: "Silver.... Let's donate, but we can't donate in vain, donate out to get silver, naturally we have to earn it back, I believe the court will not be so unkind.

It's time to change this salt quote. ”

Speaking of this, Wu Hai stopped, Sun Ming frowned, and wanted to change the salt citation, with his understanding of Wu Hai, he must not be referring to the quantity, thinking about the joint, Sun Ming said tentatively: "The meaning of the Wu family master is "plus citation"? ”

Salt citation is a certificate issued by the salt road, only with his certificate can it be regarded as official salt, if not, it belongs to the trafficking of illicit salt, the crime is very large, and even the family members are involved.

Salt is not calculated by catties, but by "citation".

The Great Qianchao is about 360 catties, and this "additional citation" is the weight of the additional citation, such as the current 160 catties, or it can be added to 380 catties, which is called "additional citation".

According to the policy of the Great Qian's Dynasty of "compassionate to businessmen and abundant lessons," the salt added to it "is not within the original cost, so that it can be benefited forever." This is white prostitution.

At the beginning of the founding of the Great Qian Dynasty, the salt quotation was set at 280 catties.

But during the reign of Emperor Tai, he made previous southern tours, and every time he passed through the south of the Yangtze River, he added ten catties and twenty catties per citation as usual, so that it became one hundred and sixty catties now.

This not only resulted in a lot of cost savings for the salt merchants, but also increased the exploitation of the porters, who were counted per citation rather than by weight.

After the throne of Emperor Taishang, Emperor Chongming ascended the throne for nine years, the amount of salt has not changed, and the amount has increased a lot, after all, "the country and the people are safe", the population of the people has naturally increased a lot, and the amount of salt required has naturally to be increased.

Wu Hai nodded and said, "It's still the head of the Sun family." ”

After that, Wu Hai turned his head to everyone and said, "What do you think." ”

Hearing this, everyone nodded, this is a good way, so that they can settle in the heart of the saint without losing money, why not do it.

What's more, after a long time, the silver can not only return to the capital, but also make a fortune.

At this time, a salt merchant at the back of the hall said: "The idea of the head of the Wu family is naturally clever, but in this way, wouldn't it let those Jin merchants, Guangdong merchants, and Lu merchants take advantage of them for nothing?" ”

This "addition" matter, naturally it is impossible to just Jianghuai, other regions are also treated equally, this silver is from their Jianghuai salt merchants, but let others get benefits, where can the heart be balanced.

Wu Hai sneered and said: "Naturally, we can't let others get benefits in vain, this "addition" matter, naturally talk to Lord Qincha carefully, the silver from our two Huai people can naturally only be counted in two Huai, anyway, we can't fight with them, and we can't stop us." ”

When everyone heard this, they also suddenly realized that the Great Qian Dynasty stipulated that the salt was sold in whichever region it was received, and it was never allowed to cross regions, for example, the salt merchants in the hall were all received from the salt administration yamen of the Lianghuai salt transportation history, and naturally they could only be sold in the land of the two Huai.

As long as you make it clear to Qincha, it will not be a problem, Jianghuai donated silver, and the saint was compassionate, and this spread out, which is also a beautiful talk.

Everyone looked at each other and agreed.

"Master Wu, what if the court doesn't allow it?"

Someone in the hall asked inappropriately, after all, this matter still depends on the meaning of the imperial court, and judging from the attitude of Emperor Chongming who has not increased the amount of salt since he ascended the throne, I am afraid that he will not agree....

Wu Hai replied indifferently: "It's okay, if it's not allowed, let's symbolically donate some silver, the house is poor, and the court can't force us to donate silver!"

What's more, we donate and honor the emperor every year, which one will say that ours is not. ”

In fact, not only the merchants of Yangzhou, but also the merchants of other regions will donate a lot of silver to the imperial court every year, some are filial piety to Emperor Ming, and more are filial piety to Emperor Taishang, after all, the Emperor Taishang's "compassionate merchants" are more practical and not, and even give gifts to dignitaries and nobles in Beijing to ask for an "eye".

When everyone heard this, they also felt reasonable, anyway, they pretended to be poor.

As for pledges, it's not that they haven't donated, and they can't force others to donate. br>

Seeing that everyone agreed, Wu Hai nodded with satisfaction...........