After Zhou Zong returned to the house at noon, at the banquet, when Li Yuan once again told the secret of Yanjing, Xu immediately launched an offensive on the side and echoed it, although Zhou Zong kept smiling and silent, the glitter in his eyes betrayed his heart.

After Li Yuanhe gave out what he needed, although Zhou Zong kept saying that the risk of merging private salt into the imperial court salt monopoly was too great, and he was afraid that the consequences of the deeds would be unimaginable, but how Zhou Zong became the richest man in Huainan must be well known, and who in the entire Southern Tang Dynasty knew better than Zhou Zong, how to strategize this matter and how to maximize the benefits.

Zhou Zong started from the position of Jinling Yin concurrently serving as Du Zhilang next to Liezu in the past, and then stayed in Yangzhou to take charge of the national salt and iron power, he not only knew the imperial court's financial and tax revenues well, but also knew in detail how much income salt brought to the Southern Tang Dynasty every year.

Last year alone, the salt business alone brought nearly 9 million yuan of income to the imperial court, which is still the net income excluding all aspects of salt production, transportation and sales. In terms of total volume, it is definitely more than 12 million. With such huge profits, it is no wonder that no matter how strict the laws of the imperial court are, they can never stop the adventurers from participating in the trafficking of illicit salt.

In fact, Li Yuan didn't know that since Li Jing ascended the throne, the salt affairs of the Southern Tang Dynasty today have long been very different from those of Liezu during his reign.

At the beginning of the founding of the country, at that time, all kinds of waste were waiting to be rebuilt, and the laws of the imperial court were relaxed, so it was easy to make special profits from them, but now it is the Baoda year, Li Jing has long re-regulated all the seaside salt pans of the imperial court, and the salt wells and salt mines in various places, even if it is the private salt business place where Li Jing acquiesced to the participation of the royal family, are all registered, and the amount of salt produced and sold each year is very clear, and it is really impossible to move his hands and feet, unless it is possible to cooperate with the royal family, but that also means that most of the profits will be cut away in vain......

In the final analysis, after Li Jing ascended the throne, even Zhou Zong rarely profited from the salt affair anymore, if it weren't for Zhou Zong's natural good business mind, he immediately arranged other industries after making a fortune through the salt incident in the early days, such as maritime trade, such as the pearl and jade business, otherwise how could he keep the name of the richest man in Huainan to this day? Outsiders don't know this, but they hastily think that this public is making a fortune by salt.

But what Li Yuan said today has aroused Zhou Zong's long-depressed heart, if the salt well in Lizhou is true, it is really the best time to return to his old business, after all, Lizhou is in Chu under the rule of his son-in-law, and it is not within the registration scope of the imperial court salt at all, how can Zhou Zong not be able to get high profits from it?

In Zhou Zong's view, the method is also extremely simple, as a household secretary, it is completely possible to reduce the annual output of salt on the surface of the imperial court by closing the salt mine in Yanjing, but the total demand for salt in the Southern Tang Dynasty will naturally not change, but because of the increase in population and livestock, it will increase year by year. In this way, Zhou Zong was able to mix the salt from the salt wells in Lizhou through the channels of the government and sell them.

In this way, it will not cause a crisis of salt shortage, and it will be able to cut a large piece of the big cake of salt, which is like forcibly selling these private salts by means of the imperial court, and the profits will not be handed over to the state treasury. Because of the decrease in the total salt production after the closure of the Yanjing Salt Mine in the general accounts, the decrease in the imperial court's income from salt affairs is understandable, and the imperial court cannot be held accountable.

Of course, closing the salt well and the salt mine is a technical job, and the salt well and the salt mine cannot be closed for no reason, after all, Zhou Zong, the head of the household secretary, still has a few old foxes under the Zhongshu sect, so this requires some flexible means.

For example, if a random salt well that produces 300,000 stone a year is shut down, it may also require some rumors that arise at the right time, such as that in the prefectures and counties near the salt well, some people have eaten this salt and become poisoned and sick, etc., and so on, the household department can naturally immediately launch an investigation, confirm the salt well as a poisonous salt well, immediately seal the soil and close it, stop salt mining, and so on.

Of course, a more ruthless and direct way is to find a way to make some salt wells deep underground collapse or permeable, which will solve this problem more conveniently......

In short, there are many ways to close the salt well, Zhou Zong thinks about it casually, there are several kinds, and he only needs to let a few outsiders in the household department do it, and for these officials who are not high in rank but master the practice, as long as they use both soft and hard, they will have power

After the handle makes a request, and then promises them a little benefit, it is often more obedient than a dog.

Then we have to return to the most critical question, whether Li Yuan's salt well can really produce salt, this is one of them; second, whether Li Yuan can win the war in Jingnan smoothly in the short term; Third, how to divide the account after the profit?

These are all practical problems for Zhou Zong, although the Xu family on the side was very dissatisfied with the third question raised by Zhou Zong, and felt that the family was really out of sight, but he still shut up under Zhou Zong's eyes.

However, Li Yuan was very happy, because once he talked about these practical problems, he knew that things were about to succeed. As he expected, although Zhou Zong is the founding of the country, the head of the household, and he also enjoys the first-class treatment of the title of Taifu, and he is the richest man in terms of family background, but it is often these powerful people whose pursuit of money, fame and fortune is endless.

So Li Yuan began to answer the three questions of the old father-in-law one by one. There was no need to answer the first question, Li Yuan had already prepared, he just needed to take out a bag of snow-white minced salt and let Zhou Zong dip it and taste it.

"This is the salt from the refined salt well. Father-in-law, please see, this salt is as bright as crystal white as snow, and more importantly, the taste is very delicious. The coarse salt we eat on weekdays has a bitter taste, but this salt has an umami taste. If you don't believe me, you can try it." Li Yuan pointed to the puddle of salt in his hand and smiled.

Zhou Zong and his wife Xu Shi rarely saw this kind of refined powdered fine salt, and when they heard this, they dipped the letter into their mouths with a few suspicious dips, and the result was not surprising, they nodded almost at the same time, and let out a satisfied exclamation.

"Son-in-law, is this really the salt of the salt well?" Zhou Zong's white beard trembled with satisfaction, but he still asked uncomfortably with the salty taste in his mouth.

Li Yuan smiled and said, "Father-in-law, what kind of person is this treating me, can I deceive you in this matter?" Make up a story for old Tarzan, what good can I get?"

Zhou Zong nodded and smiled, "If it's all this kind of salt, the price will definitely be higher, and the profit is immeasurable!" Son-in-law, congratulations, this is a cornucopia that fell from the sky!"

Li Yuan continued to smile and said, "As for the question of whether I can capture Jingnan City in the short term, I can't give my father-in-law an answer. I can only say that Jingnan is narrow and the people are outnumbered, and it is more than enough for our Wuping army to clean them up, and I will definitely go all out to end it as soon as possible, but in such a war, the situation on the battlefield is changing, and no one can say whether the battle will be won or lost."

Suddenly, Li Yuan muttered in a low voice: "Especially your father-in-law, after deducting the silver money that His Majesty gave me Wuping, and giving me a lot of tattered equipment and materials, I dare not guarantee that the Jingnan War will be over in the short term......