All of them twisted their beards and said unhurriedly: "The first is the method of managing the middle that I just said; The second is to share the benefits of salt with the people, and the imperial court does not care about it, such as the Sui and early Tang dynasties. Third, the people freely exploited salt, and the imperial court only levied taxes regardless of the sale, such as the Eastern Han Dynasty; the fourth, the civil system, official revenue, official transportation, and official sales, such as the late Tang Dynasty; fifth, coastal areas, using the imperial court monopoly; In remote areas, military rations were exchanged for salt, and the 'on-site monopoly' system was used, which was used in the Song Dynasty. Sixth, no matter what the region, the imperial court uniformly produces and sells salt, and prohibits the manufacture and sale of salt by the people. For example, the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. I originally implemented the sixth type, but now I prefer the fifth. ”

After he finished speaking, he also threw his hand at Zhu Bai, and seized the opportunity to pat Zhu Bai's ass: "This is all thanks to His Royal Highness's wisdom in suggesting to the emperor the 'open middle method'"

Zhu Bai was not surprised at all, they knew the inside story. After all, they are all in charge of salt, and they are old men in officialdom.

The envoy said: "Because the salt administration is different, the merchants are also divided into two kinds. The first is the official businessman who has a formal business license issued by the imperial court and specializes in salt, and the second is the private businessman who buys salt from the official and merchant and sells it to make the difference. Before my Ming Dynasty, I only had officials and businessmen. After the emperor promulgated the 'Open China Law', there were private businessmen who went to the border to pay grain for salt. Because of the existence of these two kinds of merchants, the salt from the salt works reached the hands of the people in two ways after the salt was dried. The salt from the salt works is first transported from the salt works to the Metropolitan Salt Envoy Division, and then the Salt Envoy Division is sold to officials or private merchants, and then transferred to the local government offices through official merchants and private merchants, and the government offices distribute them to the people, and the people pay salt taxes. ”

Zhu Bai thought to himself: This sounds, there doesn't seem to be a problem in the middle.

Either that, or the bastard didn't tell the truth.

He sat down for a moment and left.

He went back to the official tooth bureau and said this to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu hurriedly waved his hand: "I can't do it, I can't do it." This is transgression, a capital offense. Wechen didn't dare. ”

Zhu Bai smiled: "This king asked you to do it, what are you afraid of." Besides, soldiers are not tired of cheating, we are also in order to win the battle, and my father will never blame you. ”

A moment later, a group of servants gathered around a sturdy merchant came out of the trading hall of the Guanya Bureau and went straight to the largest restaurant in Yangzhou City.

The merchant wore gold and silver, and he was not arrogant, and as soon as he entered the restaurant, he immediately attracted the attention of many people.

He sat down and ordered a table of food and drinks.

The servants sat down at the table next to them, leaving only a boy to pour him wine.

The businessman drank a few glasses and muttered, "It's boring, it's really boring to drink alone." ”

There was a person next to him who was half drunk and smiled: "Then let's drink together." ”

The merchant arched his hand: "If you don't dislike it, let's drink it together." ”

The man staggered to his feet and sat down beside the merchant.

The boy hurriedly poured a glass for the man.

The man drank it all and asked the merchant, "What kind of business does this old man have?" ”

The merchant said, "In the cloth business, I heard that the most profitable thing today is the sale of Huai salt. So I came to Yangzhou to have a look. ”

The man: "Coincidentally, I'm in the salt business." ”

The merchant asked, "Oh, are you an official or a private businessman?" ”

The man: "Naturally, it's a private businessman." Where is it the turn of the government and businessmen to do it for ordinary people like us? ”

The merchant nodded: "Oh, that's to exchange grain for salt." ”

The man laughed: "Sure enough, it's a layman." There are three kinds of private businessmen, and this one is just one of them, we call him a border businessman. ”

Merchant: "Three? What are the other two? ”

The man said, "There are also those who do not go to the border, but use silver to support salt, and we all call them internal merchants." There are two types of domestic merchants, one is the hoarder who specializes in reselling salt, and the other is the water merchant who buys salt from the hoarder and then transports the salt to the designated area for sale according to the water schedule given by the inspection. ”

The merchant suddenly nodded in realization, but frowned again: "But the salt guide is marked with an expiration date, how can I resell the salt lead?"

The man laughed: "Those hoarders naturally have the ability to buy salt at the lowest price at any time. And salt has an expiration date, but salt doesn't. Even if they don't work for a while, the huge difference in price will be enough for them to build the best warehouse to stock up on salt. ”

"Taught." The merchant gave up his hand and poured a glass for the man himself, "Hearing you say that, you should be a water merchant." ”

The man sighed, "No, I'm the only kind of salt merchant who can only make hard-earned money." ”

The merchant smiled: "Isn't it also hard money for border merchants to send grain for salt?" ”

The man shook his head and smiled bitterly: "You don't know, not everyone can get salt when they transport grain." ”

The businessman raised his eyebrows.

But the man waved his hand: "If you don't say anything, you will lose too many words." ”

Merchant: "Look at this uncle's melancholy face, but something has happened." ”

"A friend who was with me as a water merchant and transported salt was a young man who transported salt to Dingyuan, and on the way back he met a thief, not only was he robbed of gold and silver and other valuable things, but he was also killed and thrown into the river." The man covered his face and cried, "I persuaded him that it was the end of the year, and there were few people on the road, so it was not safe. Don't do it again. But he said that he had an old mother, wife and children at home, and it was rare to encounter a big order, and he did it well for the New Year, but he didn't expect it...... All three of the bodyguards who were traveling with him were killed. It's the corpse I went to recognize, it's too miserable. ”

The businessman's face became solemn when he heard this, and he subconsciously glanced at the boy beside him who had been silent.

The boy silently raised his chin at the man.

The merchant asked, "But the widows?" ”

The man raised his teary eyes and looked at the merchant, "How do you know it's a wolf?!" ”

The merchant said: "I once met the Japanese on the coast of Zhejiang, and they were very cruel. Burning, killing and looting, rarely leaving a living mouth. ”

The man nodded, "Yes." The knife wound on the corpse also matched the characteristics of the knife. My friend is easy-going and flexible, and when he encounters robbers, he will not resist, and he will definitely give all his possessions. If it were any other bandit, it would not have hurt his life. Come to think of it, the only thing that could be a Japanese coar. Now, in order not to expose themselves, they are becoming more and more vicious, and after robbery, they will kill people and destroy their mouths. ”

That's where the most pain, fright, and helplessness comes in.

I knew that there were Japanese in the city, but I didn't know where and how many people there were.

Because those who know these pirates are either in the same party or dead.

Those people killed people and robbed things, and in the blink of an eye, they turned back to the appearance of innocent and harmless ordinary people.

Maybe the person who just passed by in the street market or the neighbor who was talking and laughing is the devil who killed his friend and may come to kill him one day.

These are all demons hiding in the market.

"Pity his family for being helpless. Now I see that everyone is like a wolf, and I don't dare to go out to do business at all. The man held his head and shrunk into a ball.