Chapter 121: Salt Lesson

Du Daworm wiped the sweat on his head, looked up at the sun hanging in the middle of the sky, took off the water hyacinth from his waist and drank a few sips, subconsciously touched the new scar on his face that was still flushed with pink, scolded angrily, and continued to bury his head in the road.

Cheng Ha'er walked a few steps and said: "Brother, the hot card (Yucheng dialect, the pronunciation of the word "crotch", the original meaning is to describe the indecency of scratching the private part in public, here is the mood word), do you want to let the brothers take a break?" ”

Du Daworm shook his head: "Take a break!" It's better to hurry up, if this vote is intercepted by the turtle son dog official army, it will be all over. ”

Cheng Ha'er nodded: "Okay." Then he opened his throat and shouted, "Brothers, hurry up!" Rushed to the riverside early, and everyone went to Dachang City to play in the dark! ”

There was a burst of laughter in the ranks.

Du Daworm's real name is Du Hu, and he is the nephew of Du Duan, the salt lord of Daning (now Wuxi, Chongqing), and his right-hand man. Because he dared to work hard and was ruthless, he got such a nickname. He was very happy with the nickname, and gradually, few people remembered his real name.

Cheng Ha'er is a native of Nanchong, he has been a beggar without a father and a mother since he was a child, he only knows his surname Cheng, and when he was a half-grown child, he was ignorant and wandered to Daning, and he followed the poisonous insect in a daze, and it has been seven or eight years now.

At this moment, the two brothers are leading a team of more than 100 people to walk on the rugged mountain road from Daning to Dachang. The vast majority of the people in the procession carried their burdens, sandwiching seven or eight bantam horses carrying baskets, and twenty or so sturdy men walked on the side to escort them, most of them with knives tied to their waists, and a few of them carried guns. Needless to say, it's a gang of smugglers.

Originally, from Daning to Dachang, it was most convenient to take the Daning River waterway. However, the officers and soldiers set up a card by the river, so they had to take the mountain road to bypass that section by horses. In recent years, the mountain road has become more and more difficult to walk, since the old thief Jian Jing can be the governor of Yunyang, the investigation is getting stricter day by day, but his Fubiao camp is still very capable of fighting, the old thief has gradually touched the law of action of the brothers, in the last seven or eight months, more than 100 brothers have been broken one after another, Du Daworm himself was also stabbed in the face, if it wasn't for Cheng Ha'er desperately snatching him out, he might have become another nameless corpse in the mountains.

The 20,000 catties of salt are the last of these shipments, and Du Daworm's task is to send it to Dachang safely. Du Yuanwai's business there had already taken care of everything, and the salt bales that had arrived in the previous trips had been loaded, and as soon as the last time arrived, he set sail, along the Daning River to Wushan, and then down the Yangtze River. Along the way, there were people answering the stops at Badong and Guizhou (now Zigui, Hubei), and some of them would be unloaded separately, and finally the delivery of the last batch of goods was completed in Yiling Prefecture (now Yichang, Hubei). After this trip, how could Du Yuanwai have an income of nearly 10,000 taels, so Du Daworm had to hurry as soon as possible, praying in his heart that there would be no accidents.

The originator of the salt industry is called Shusha. Legend has it that once he set up a crockpot on the beach to boil seawater, and was about to wait for a few fish to come up and cook them, when suddenly he ran over a wild boar, so he pulled his legs and chased after him. By the time he returned with the boar, the sea water had dried up, and only a layer of white powder remained at the bottom of the tank. Susha was dipped in pork and sent to his mouth, and since then he has been revered as the god of salt - this is called a dipping god.

The monopoly of salt and iron was the first idea that Guan Zhong of Qi Guo came up with. Qi Huan Gong needed money, and Guan Zhong helped him calculate an account: "Salt for ten people in a family of ten, salt for one hundred people in a family of hundred." Thirty dollars per month, for thirty million dollars! "However, Guan Zhong is only collecting taxes, as long as in the territory of Qi State, the people still do it themselves to cook and sell salt, and pay taxes to the government. Guan Zhong was indeed talented, and by stipulating that salt could only be boiled from October to the first month of the following year, the output was controlled, and then the amount of salt used by the Qi people was controlled through the rationing system, and the excess salt was sold by the government to other countries. No matter how much the diet of the people of Qi is weaker than before, anyway, soon, Qi Huan Gong will become the head of the five hegemons.

How could Great Qin turn a blind eye to such a good thing? Shang Ying changed the law, put the "salt and iron city officials", boiled salt, transported, and sold all the arrests - the people of Sanqin only had to sacrifice their lives for the country, and the Daqin government was responsible for the salt harvest.

The tyrannical Qin II died, and the devastated Western Han Dynasty really couldn't toss anymore, but the monopoly of the big killer was reluctant to let go completely, so he resumed Guan Zhong's practice: production, transportation and sales were all handed over to the people, and paying taxes was the most glorious...... Until there was a "heroic" Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Liu Che is definitely a big spender, and the huge wealth left by Wen Jingzhizhi has been completely wiped out in a few years. What to do? Two tricks come to mind. One is "sue", that is, rewarded reporting - the whistleblower can get half of the property of the reported person, and those who do not report it are guilty of the same crime! Some people say that if such a high reward is set, won't the country lose money? Hehe. Too young, too simple, you think shallowly: whistleblowers easily acquired huge wealth overnight, and then what? There will be people with red eyes! So yesterday's whistleblower will soon become today's whistleblower! After playing such a game of mutual pit for a few rounds, all the wealth will still return to Emperor Wu, so that he can continue to make great achievements and toss the light! Another trick is to learn business martingale, salt and iron will be nationalized and bigger and stronger, production, transportation, and sales are all run by the government, and private individuals are not allowed to operate in violation of regulations! Some people say that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty hit Haoqiang and prevented it from becoming bigger and endangering the stability of the Western Han Dynasty! Well, there's some truth to that – so to speak...... A cold can be more uncomfortable, so hang yourself first and never worry about a fever again, right? Don't laugh, a truth, because ...... Then soon after, the Western Han Dynasty was finished.

The lessons of the violent Qin and Han dynasties were too profound, so after the Eastern Han Dynasty, the business model of salt basically did not go out of the circle drawn by Guan Zhong: the government controlled the private sector. In one sentence, "the people are three of their strength, and the other is in the official", which translates to mean that if you take off the cheongsam 996, I will take away two-thirds, and you must know how to be grateful.

The Ming Dynasty implemented the "salt introduction" system - salt introduction can be regarded as a salt monopoly license. Production is monopolized by the state, for example, salt farmers are provided with large iron pots for boiling salt, and all the salt boiled is handed over to the government. The whole country is divided into ten "outlines" according to the naming method of "saintly virtue is over the ages, and the imperial wind outlines nine circles", each of which is 200,000 yuan of salt, and each of them is 300 catties of salt (200 catties of small quotes). Merchants have to apply to the government to buy salt, and then use the salt to the salt field to support the salt, and then sell it to the designated area, so the official salt is also called the introduction of salt. The salt quotation is a piece of numbered paper, one tear and two open, the half left by the government as a stub is called "leading the root", and the half that the merchant takes away as a sales voucher is called "leading the paper" - note that the salt quotation is time-limited, expired and invalid, and the official salt becomes private salt in seconds.

Some people feel that table salt is highly profitable.

Miss by a mile.

The profit of table salt is not high, it is very, very high!

Oddly high!

Six dollars and four cents of silver per quotation. Three hundred pounds, it really can't be considered high, right? Oh, don't forget, there's also taxes! Three or two. There is also the minister's silver (freight), which is also three taels. And the hard work of each bayonet along the way...... From the salt field to the people's frying pot, it has risen more than ten times, which is the price of conscience - it has risen by a full thirty or forty times! By the way, after the salt system was vigorously rectified during the Daoguang period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the main lesson of a salt introduction (all kinds of taxes that must be paid in full without deduction) was one tael and one dollar and seven cents, and miscellaneous lessons (strange local miscellaneous taxes) had to have a little, not much, twelve taels, only ten times. Of course, it doesn't include the various unaccounted points of the fairy ghosts along the way.

Even if they have to bear these indispensable huge expenses, the salt merchants are still rich: the average total income of the whole country in the Ming Dynasty is about 10 million taels, and the capital of the two Huai salt merchants in Yangzhou is "no less than 30 million taels in Guangling"! Or a later sentence, Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River to Yangzhou, and the salt merchants invested hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for their construction palace, and repaired the Great Rainbow Garden (now Slender West Lake) for their enjoyment. So much so that Qianlong issued "The financial strength of the salt merchant is great!" Exclamation. Later, this guy soon copied all the salt merchants who received him - although "his production was all gone", and the people did not get a copper plate, they still cheered from the bottom of their hearts for Lord Qianlong.

And private salt, without these expenses at all, how much profit do you say will be?

As early as the Han and Tang Dynasties, there were records of salt production. In ancient times, the Sichuan Basin was a huge salt water lake, and with climate change, the lake water evaporated and the low-lying areas were closed, forming a huge underground brine layer. The Daning people carried the brine from the salt wells deep in the mountains, and when it was boiled dry, it was salt. However, because the mining time is too long, now it is often necessary to go down to a depth of dozens of zhang to hit the brine, and the salt workers have to carry wooden barrels up and down the wooden ladder that has been built for hundreds of years. Since it is a monopoly business, the government naturally has to take care of it, but no adult is willing to run into the dark, damp and hot salt well to stare at the group of outlaw salt workers. Besides, the risks are high, the profits are high, and the members have to be strong...... A proper hotbed of the underworld! Adults will not risk their good lives, so they need the help of a strong man like Du Duan.

On the bright side, Du Duan is a wealthy family in Daning City, although he has no fame, but there are really many industries, silk villages, rice shops, pawnshops, and pharmacies. In fact, everyone knows that Daning, who has a big palm, can't make a lot of money from these businesses, and what Du Yuanwai really does is the business of selling smuggled salt. Don't look at Du Yuan's smile when he meets people outside, there are more than a dozen lives under his hands. The quality of Daning's well salt is very good, which is often referred to as "snowflake salt" - as white as snowflakes in the sky, and the grains are crystal clear. How good is it? Can be used as silver! A small bag of snowflake salt can be worth one or two taels of silver. Almost 20% of the production of those salt wells in Daning is from Du Yuanwai - the adults all turn a blind eye, which is the reward for Du Yuanwai's help.

In addition to a wife, Du Yuan also accepted three concubines, but he was destined to have no children. Some people say that it is his retribution for doing this, but the guy disappeared soon after, and after that, no one dared to say it again.

Du Hu has been raised by Du Yuanwai as his own son since he was a child, but Du Hu's personality is not like Du Yuanwai at all, he is brave and ruthless, and he is very flamboyant in life and work, which makes Du Yuanwai very worried, and told him more than once that if he doesn't know the convergence, this family business will be broken in his hands sooner or later. However, it doesn't seem to be of much use, every time he is scolded, Du Hu will be honest for three or five days at most. Fortunately, Du Da Worm is righteous, and the thousands of trumpet brothers who rely on the Du family to eat obey him. In recent years, Du Yuanwai has been very worried about Governor Jian's increasingly powerful crackdown - he knows that he is only a local powerhouse, and his power is only limited to Daning Dachang, and in the eyes of the governor in charge of the eight mansions, it will not take a lot more effort to pinch him to death than to pinch a worm to death.

It is true that Du Yuanwai has money, but he can only do it hard, and it is impossible to wash his hands and enjoy the blessings of the golden basin - the county magistrate of Dachang, Daning buys face, that is because he needs to maintain the production order of dozens of salt wells, once there is no use value, the grandfathers will turn their faces faster than turning books, and their own smuggling team will only fight and kill, and no one wants to do it if they go down to the salt well to carry brine, and the families of the disabled salt workers who have lost their footing must be raised, and the families of the brothers who died in the hands of officers and soldiers must also be raised...... Jianghu, how can you say that you can retreat?

After Du Hu led the team away, Du Yuanwai's right eyelid has been jumping for the past few days, as the saying goes, the left eye is rich and the right eye is in trouble, Du Yuanwai is particularly worried.

It is only a dozen miles away from the scheduled boat mooring, after this valley bottom, and then turn the col in front of you to see the Daning River, and the brother who explored the road in front did not send out an early warning signal, Du Daworm let go of his hanging heart. At this moment, Du Da Worm heard a bang in front of him, and his heart chuckled: Immortal Banban! There are dog officers guarding here!

Thirty-six plans are the best, although Du Daworm is brave and ruthless, but unless he has to do so, he can't avoid it, and no one wants to openly oppose the officials and soldiers. Du Da Worm had just drawn his knife and was about to call his brothers to step forward to cover the pickers to retreat, when two clangs rang out from the back of the team!

Mom's sale of batches is over, and she is surrounded!

Seeing the shaking of the grass and trees on the mountainside less than half a mile behind, Du Da Worm's heart was cold: not to mention that there were two or three hundred people and cats waiting there to send a signal from the front to cut off the back road! There are only a lot of blockages in front - Old Dog Jane has sent out all his standard camps! More than 100 cloth clothes to 500 armor......

I'm going to die!

* A fun trivia.

Why do people in coastal areas generally don't like spicy food as people in inland provinces? If you ask a Sichuan person, there is a high probability that he will answer, "We are more trendy here, and eating chili pepper can remove moisture." In fact, this is a false rumor - before the introduction of chili pepper and pepper, it was not trendy in Shudi? ^_^

The answer is because of salt.

Salt is relatively easy to obtain in coastal areas. On the contrary, the salt monopoly, people in Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan and Guizhou had to spend a very expensive price to buy salt in the Ming and Qing dynasties. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, chili pepper was introduced, and everyone found that this thing can be eaten like salt......