Because of the mine supervision system, the person who can really call the shots in Jiezhou Yanjing has always been the mine supervisor.

The mine supervisor is the person who is close to the emperor, and he is also there to do things for the emperor. But the mine supervisor is also a human being, and since he is a human being, he has greed, not to mention that these eggless eunuchs have always had a greater desire for money than ordinary people.

The main reason why Zhu Shencone and Wangjiacun were able to get salt from Jiezhou was that they bought off the people around the mine supervisor, that is, one of the stewards below.

As a mine supervisor, isn't it normal to make some money privately when doing things for the master? So the stewards below are naturally the same. This is no different from the original nature of officials, the only difference is that no matter how much money the mine supervisor makes, the big head is still filial to the emperor, after all, without the emperor's support, he can't be a mine supervisor.

Zhu Shencone is very familiar with the situation in Jiezhou, so he has a judgment in his heart after listening to Xia Dong's words, the so-called intensification of demand in the army is probably a pretext, you must know that the northwest side of the mountain has been very peaceful in the past two years, since Lin Dan Khan and the imperial court reached an agreement, the border market has been opened, everyone has not fought for a long time, since there is no war, where can we talk about what needs in the army.

Now the only place where there is war in the Ming Dynasty is in Liaodong, and the situation in Liaodong has changed greatly after the Battle of Salhu. Now the Ming army has turned from offensive to defensive because of the defeat, if it is Liaodong, it is true, but the problem of Liaodong is related to their Shanxi?

Even if salt is used, the salt used in Liaodong is also the salt of Changlu, and the two places are far away.

Changlu is one of the three major salt farms, and the salt produced far exceeds that of a small place like Jiezhou, if even the Changlu salt field can not meet the needs of the war in Liaodong, then the entire Ming Dynasty may not even be able to eat salt.

The salt production in Jiezhou has always had a fixed number, and the so-called fixed number is also called "positive salt", and the one outside the fixed number is called "residual salt".

To put it in simple terms, it is the difference between planned and unplanned. The positive salt is made by Zhengda Guangming on the account, and the surplus salt is off-the-books, Zhu Shencone and they are engaged in private salt trading, and the salt they take is actually the unplanned surplus salt.

The surplus salt can be completely decided by the mine supervisor and the steward below, and the price is much cheaper than the regular salt, also known as "cost salt". But at this time, Xia Dong told Zhu Shen that there would be a change in the salt taken by Xie Zhou next year, and he found a reason for the demand in the army that didn't sound very reliable, and it was a little intriguing what the real reason behind this was.

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Shencone said to Xia Dong: "In this way, you don't have to go this time, you can take a few people to Jiezhou, and hurry up to get a batch of salt back while it hasn't changed yet. ”

Xia Dong also thought about it this way, and naturally agreed with Zhu Shencone when he heard this arrangement, and immediately nodded in agreement.

After explaining this, Zhu Shencone adjusted the number of people who will leave tomorrow, and divided some parts for Xia Dong to take to Jiezhou, and after the explanation, Wang Jinwu couldn't help it.

"Sixth brother, take me with you this time!"

Zhu Shencone was stunned for a moment, and his eyes subconsciously looked towards his uncle Wang Rong.

Wang Rongchong nodded at Zhu Shenchong: "Jin Wu is not small, this time he has divided people to go to Jiezhou, so let him follow." When he goes into battle as a father and son soldier and fights a tiger brother, it is also time for him to follow the experience. ”

Hearing Wang Rong say this, Zhu Shencone understood what his uncle meant, and Wang Jinwu is his cousin, although he is a little reckless, but he is a good hand in terms of fist and foot kung fu, and this time the road he has taken in the past is the way he often takes, and there is no risk, and it is not a problem to take him.

So Zhu Shencone didn't refuse, but he made an agreement with Wang Jinwu in front of everyone, everyone is a brother at home, but it's different when he goes out. What they are doing is not an ordinary business, on the road, Zhu Shencone said that the east will be the west, all actions must be under his command, and must not act without authorization, if Wang Jinwu can't do it, it's better not to go, if he has to go, these ugly words will be said in front, if Wang Jinwu makes a mistake at that time, he Zhu Shencone will not easily spare this kid in the face of his cousin.

"Sixth brother, I can swear! I promise to listen to you on the way! When Wang Jinwu saw that Zhu Shencone was willing to take him on the road, his face immediately turned red with excitement, and he patted his chest and swore a curse.

"You kid remember, go out and learn from your sixth brother, your sixth brother will do whatever you want, if you get into trouble outside, don't say that your sixth brother will punish you, and when you come back, Lao Tzu will have to screw off your kid's head as a urinal!" Wang Rong stared at the beads of his eyes and reminded.

"Uncle, isn't that enough, besides, why do you want your cousin's head? You don't feel panicked at night when you put such a big thing next to your bed? ”

"Hahaha!"

Everyone burst into laughter, and even Wang Rong shook his head with laughter.

The dinner table is mainly to talk about things, and everyone eats after chatting about business.

Because we are going to leave tomorrow, we didn't drink any wine, and the pot of wine that was prepared was also drunk two sips, and after dinner, we got up and went back, and made an appointment to leave early tomorrow morning.

After a good night's rest, Zhu Shencone woke up the next day and had breakfast with Wang Rong and his son, and then took his bags and went to the entrance of the village.

At the entrance of the village, the people had already arrived, except for Zhu Shencone, Wang Jinwu and Wang Chuer, Wang Gui, and Wang Yinsheng, who they had seen yesterday, there were still sixteen young people.

Among the sixteen young people, one was surnamed Xia, and the other was surnamed Zhao, and the rest were all children of the Wang family.

The descendant surnamed Xia is from Xia Dong's second uncle's family, that is, his cousin. The descendants surnamed Zhao are the nephews of the blacksmith Zhao family, and they are also from Wangjia Village.

Everyone was ready, and when they saw Zhu Shencone coming, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

Zhu Shencone waved his hand, first looked at their preparations, and was quite satisfied after turning around, after all, this is not the first time they have done this kind of work, they have become experts and veterans in the past two years, and everything is in order.

"Uncle, please keep an eye on it at home."

"Don't worry, family, you should be careful all the way." Wang Rong nodded with a straight face.

Arching his hand at Wang Rong, Zhu Shencone turned around and said to everyone: "Let's go!" ”

The crowd answered, and then drove the donkeys and mules, carrying the burdens, and silently drifting away along the path at the entrance of the village.

Smuggling salt is very risky, and Zhu Shencone's destination this time is Zhao Village in the east.

The reason why I chose this place is also exquisite.

Zhao Village is located in the east of Shanxi, after Zhao Village and then to the east is Yuxia Pass, and after Yuxia Pass over Taihang Mountain is Lin County, and Lin County belongs to the boundary of North Zhili.

There are many people who smuggle salt in Shanxi, and the main ones are those big merchants.

Since Lao Zhu implemented the Kaizhong Law in Shanxi, it has long been a common practice for Jin merchants to sell salt privately through salt, and due to the monopoly of these Jin merchants, many trade routes have long been carved up.

It is simply impossible for small smuggled salt dealers like Zhu Shencone and Wangjiacun to compete for the market with these Jin merchants in Shanxi. People have a big business, half official and half private, and there are thousands of households, commanders, and even border army generals, deputy generals, and general soldiers behind the scenes.

It is precisely because of this, for the sake of safety, Zhu Shencone has put a lot of effort into the past two years, and finally chose two private salt trade routes, one of which is that they took the road from Wangjia Village to Zhao Village this time.

This private salt trade road is not easy to walk, and Zhao Village, like Wangjia Village, is only a small 100-household Juntun village, with limited demand, far inferior to other trade routes. But this is only relatively speaking, for those Jin merchants, the gains outweigh the losses, but for Zhu Shencone, it is different.

Zhu Shencone and the others only take forty or fifty stones of salt every time, which is a lot for ordinary people, but for the large Jin merchants who take hundreds or even thousands of stones each time, it is simply pediatrics.

Even a small amount is profitable, and the profit of private salt is huge.

The cheapest salt in the Ming Dynasty was in the Jingtai period, only 1.79 wen per catty of salt, and the salt price in the Jiajing period was about 4-5 wen, and it reached 10 wen when it was high.

During the Wanli years, the price of salt often fluctuates, and according to the different salt prices in the north and the south, from the early years of Wanli to the present, the price of salt is on the rise, taking Beizhili as an example, the price of salt today is around 43 Wen per catty.

The cost of Zhu Shen's salt from Jiezhou was only 2 wen a catty, which means that the salt was transported to Zhao Village and sold, which was more than 20 times the profit. Even if this profit is divided into 30% by Zhao Village, it will be more than ten times that left to Zhu Shenchong.

After such a trip, the profit was about more than 200 taels of silver.

This profit is really not small, and the purchasing power of Daming's silver is extremely strong, and more than two hundred taels is a huge amount of money.

You must know that as a clan, Zhu Shencone's full amount is 300 stones, according to the later folding ratio is 30%, that is, 90 stones, and then according to Wanli's Yongwei quota system, all the money converted into hands is almost 45 taels of silver, that is to say, as long as Zhu Shencone runs like this, he can earn his own nearly five years of Yulu in only one month.