At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the salt was divided into large and small leads, which would lead to 300 catties of salt, or six coins and four cents of silver, called "woben", and three taels of silver for taxes, and three taels of silver for the minister (transportation).

To put it simply, a large salt quote itself is worth nearly seven taels.

However, in the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), the imperial court formulated the Chinese salt regulations, according to the distance, one to five stone grain can be exchanged for a small introduction (200 catties) of salt to the imperial court, and two to eight stone grains can be exchanged for a large introduction (300 catties).

For example, if a salt merchant like Mao Xiong helped the imperial court transport grain to a certain place, how much grain could be transported, how much salt could be exchanged for it, and the price of the distance was different.

For example, now a stone of grain costs one tael of silver.

If the salt merchant transports the distance closely, he can help the imperial court transport two stone grains to Beiping, and he can exchange it for a large salt guide.

According to two stones of grain, it is only two taels of silver, but a piece of salt leads to nearly seven taels, which has increased several times, and if the salt merchant takes the salt and sells it again, the price is high and the profit is also high.

It is now just after Hongwu, the first year of Jianwen, and the imperial court is still using treasure money.

Historical records: 'Ten pounds of salt, two runs through five hundred texts'.

Each catty of salt is 20 wen (treasure banknotes), which is considered a high price. (The lowest salt price in the Ming Dynasty was 1.79 Wen per catty during the Jingtai period, and the highest salt price should be in the Chongzhen year, close to ten Wen.) ）

Of course, this will be the Ming Dynasty still use treasure money, so the price is a bit inflated, after the Hongzhi year, the people will not use treasure money at all, and the price will return to normal.

Some people may want to say that according to the current price of salt, a 300-kilogram salt guide seems to be only sold for seven taels and five dollars, and there is no profit?

But in fact, salt merchants will mix sand in salt after getting it, and those who mix 100 catties of salt with 20 catties of sand are considered conscientious merchants.

In the later dynasties of the Ming Dynasty, 100 catties of salt mixed with more than 100 catties of sand were available, and the direct price was doubled, and the profits were amazing.

But this is not unique to the Ming Dynasty, the salt merchants of the Song Dynasty mixed ash into the salt, and the Ming Dynasty still belonged to the improvement, because the sand and gravel were heavier than the ash.

In short, this salt introduction can make money, otherwise Zhu Di, the king of Yan, would not have the idea of salt introduction immediately after the death of the prince.

Back then, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, asked the king of Gaoyang and the prince to sell salt in exchange for grain or silver, and the main role was to appease the old subordinates and win fame.

Uncle Mao Xiong took Zhu Gaochu back then, when Zhu Gaochu was still young, he followed his father on the expedition, and he couldn't go to the battlefield, Uncle Mao Xiong took him and taught him some military affairs on the battlefield.

With this relationship, Zhu Gaoxu was also quite willing, and immediately gave Mao Xiong fifty salt citations.

But the prince was not very happy, because Zhu Gaoxu's salt price for Mao Xiong was not high, that is, the market price, after all, Zhu Gaochu and Mao Xiong knew each other well, and he had a good relationship with Uncle Mao Xiong.

At that time, Zhu Gaochu was not short of money, and his hobbies were not money, before the current Zhu Gaochu crossed over, he never cared about how much property he had in his house, he only knew how to train and fight.

But Shizi likes money, and he has many people in his house, several times more than Zhu Gaoxu, which costs money.

Therefore, the son of the world looked at his father's face and sold Mao Xiong's five salt leads.

In recent years, Mao Xiong has done a good job, many counties and townships near Beiping have used his salt, his business is booming, and Zhu Gaoxu has more contacts, every New Year's holiday, he must go to the county king's mansion to pay respects, and give generous gifts, and Zhu Gaoxu's mansion Qian Xun is responsible for the long history, usually a quick return gift to Mao Xiong, come and go, the relationship between the two sides is getting better and better.

This morning, Mao Xiong was about to eat in the store when suddenly there was a knock on the door outside.

"Who?" Mao Xiong motioned to his mother-in-law and daughter to eat first, got up and went out to take a look, and a customer came in the store.

The guests were dressed in the clothes of ordinary people, and they wore hats on hot days, but when the other party looked up, Mao Xiong was surprised: "Gonggong Zhong." ”

"Shhhh ”

Then Zhong Xian put down the two boxes, which were all gifts from the Junwang's Mansion.

Mao Xiong's face showed a touched look, but he nodded immediately, he thought about it, went back to stabilize his mother-in-law first, and then hurried to the backyard.

This side leads to another alley, which is separated from the Keesu Temple.

As soon as the backyard door opened, Zhu Gaoxu walked in quickly.

"Your Highness." Mao Xiong was pleasantly surprised.

Zhu Gaoxu also wears a hat and ordinary clothes, but his body shape is too obvious, and there are few people in the Ming Dynasty who are so tall and strong, so it is easy for people to see.

Mao Xiong only looked at the body type and knew that this was Zhu Gaoxu.

When Zhu Gaoxu came to his house for the first time, Mao Xiong's expression was surprised and nervous.

Recently, the news in Beiping has been bad, and many people are rumoring that the imperial court is going to cut the feudal domain, and Mao Xiong has of course heard about it, and he is very opposed.

The reason is very simple, his development is because of the two big backers of Yanwangfu and Gaoyang Junwang, especially Gaoyang Junwang, who has taken care of him very much in recent years.

And Qiu Fu, who brought him up, has the best relationship with the king of Gaoyang County.

"Your Highness, please come inside."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and followed him into the back of the store, behind which was a small warehouse with a lot of goods.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the goods and did not continue to walk inside.

Seeing this, Mao Xiong could only stand quietly beside Zhu Gaoxu and wait, I don't know why, Mao Xiong is also considered strong, but in front of Zhu Gaoxu, he is still under a lot of pressure.

King Gaoyang is really powerful, I am not comfortable, he admired in his heart.

"More than fifty steps south here, there's a warehouse of yours?" Zhu Gaoxu asked suddenly.

Mao Xiong smiled bitterly: "This place is too small to put things down, after all, it is not easy to buy goods from the south." ”

Mao Xiong's salt is either to Shandong to get, or to Jinhai (Tianjin) to get it, are relatively far, other goods are also, especially sugar, to the south to get into the bargain, so every time you go out, try to get as much as possible, otherwise you will always run around, not to mention the cost of adding, then you have time to accompany your family.

"This king is going to arrange for someone to go to the warehouse, and you can get him a key, and leave him alone." Zhu Gaoxu said quietly.

Mao Xiong's expression did not change much, but his eyes brightened, and the warehouse was facing the back door of the backyard of Qingshou Temple, which could be monitored to Qingshou Temple.

When Zhu Gaoxu said it, he kept observing his expression.

Mao Xiong's psychological quality is very good, there is no change at all, he responded almost immediately, and said in a deep voice: "The main entrance of the shop, the small one is locked all the year round, but the back door is left, and the back door is more secretive." ”

"He has a second floor, which is relatively high and can still live in people."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled very satisfied: "You are now in the Shizi Mansion, how much salt do you take?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu was still talking about the warehouse a second ago, and suddenly there was a teleportation, which almost made Mao Xiong stunned.

"No, the little one is no longer in the Shizi's Mansion to take salt."

Back then, the prince only gave him five citations, and Zhu Gaoxu gave him fifty, Mao Xiongjue's son was too stingy, and in order to avoid suspicion, he didn't want people to say that he had two grasses, so after he took it for the first time, he didn't take it directly.

Of course, if Zhu Gaoxu doesn't ask about this, he doesn't know.

Hearing this answer, Zhu Gaoxu was quite satisfied: "There are still more than 400 salt introductions in this palace, and I want you to do it together in the future." ”

This is planning to hand over all the five hundred salt in hand to Mao Xiong.

Mao Xiong was suddenly ecstatic in his heart, he didn't think about it, pounced, knelt down directly, and said categorically: "I am willing to go to the soup for His Highness." ”