Yangzhou City, this ancient city can be traced back to 486 BC. Due to its convenient transportation and fertile soil, by the Tianqi period, the city had developed into a large city with a population of 800,000. Due to Yangzhou's unique geographical location, there has been a saying since ancient times that "a crane with a waist of 100,000 chunks to Yangzhou", which shows the prosperity of Yangzhou.

The economic pillars of this city are textiles, salt trading and shipping, and the most famous one is salt merchant, and the most powerful one is also salt merchant.

No matter which dynasty, the monopoly system was implemented for the salt industry. The Ming Dynasty implemented the "Salt System". The merchants holding salt citations were divided into 10 citations by region, with each citation of 200,000 citations, each citation of 300 kilograms of salt, or 6 cents of silver and 4 cents of silver, which was called "Wanben". There was another tax of 3 taels of silver and 3 taels of silver (transport) 3 taels of silver. Named after "the sage virtue exceeds the ages, and the imperial wind covers the nine sides", those who have not entered the citation have no right to operate the salt industry.

If a merchant wants to sell salt legally, he must first obtain salt inlet from the government office. The merchant uses salt to lead the salt to the salt field to support salt, and then sell salt in the designated salt sales area.

This policy looks very effective and good on the surface. It can be coordinated and resource allocation can be reasonably allocated. Both the court and the merchants have benefited. It looks harmonious, but it is full of loopholes in actual implementation.

Is salt very valuable? It is indeed very valuable. Today, coarse salt costs three cents of silver per pound, which is about fifty yuan for later generations. If this price is placed in later generations, it will probably make the people rebel without hesitation? But it is so expensive, because it is a necessity, it won’t work if you don’t eat it.

But you say that salt is valuable and not very valuable. You should know that the sea is an inexhaustible treasure house. As long as the sea water mark is brought ashore, pieces of white salt will come out after the sun is exposed to the sun. The cost of producing a pound of salt is only a few cents. But when this salt comes to the hands of the people, it becomes three cents of silver, with nearly a hundred times huge profits in the middle. Such violence is even if drug dealers in later generations feel inferior to themselves.

Why is there such a huge price difference in salt prices? In fact, it is very simple to say, because the money has been made away by salt merchants and government officials at all levels. Salt merchants spent a lot of money to buy salt intakes, so they naturally had to double the profits. In order to make extra money, the government officials at all levels naturally had to set up checkpoints and pluck their hair to get benefits. With such layers of increase, the salt price was naturally outrageously high.

The production and sales process of salt can be regarded as a feast. In this feast, government officials and salt merchants at all levels have gained a lot of benefits, but the court did not get any benefits. Everyone seemed to have amnesia and left behind the court and emperor they were loyal to. They do not care whether your emperor and the court have money or not, as long as they have money to spend money.

In Jiangnan, those salt merchants with a net worth of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands can only be called small shrimps at best, while those with a net worth of hundreds of thousands of silver can only be considered ordinary. It is not uncommon for huge merchants with a net worth of millions of taels of silver. You can imagine what kind of sensation and rebound will be caused when the Ming Dynasty's Royal Trading Company sold the fine salt obtained by Yang Feng from modern times at the price of coarse salt.

Yangzhou is a country with a very prosperous commercial atmosphere. The commercial trade here is mainly divided into textiles, shipping and salt merchants. Among them, salt merchants are the richest and arrogant. The people in Yangzhou call the eight most powerful salt merchants the eight major in Yangzhou, namely He, Lu, Shi, Zhang, Yan, Shi, Wei, and Yu Bajia.

On May 20th, today is the 60th birthday of Mr. He, the largest salt merchant in Yangzhou. Anyone who consciously has a certain identity flocks to the He family compound and delivers gift lists. The people of the He family are not stingy. Today, they set up a total of 300 tables of banquets in the He family to entertain guests who came to congratulate the guests. The banquet was arranged outside the He family. When the Yangzhou prefect Gao Yannian arrived, the whole banquet reached its climax.

In a quiet living room in the backyard of the He family, the old man of the He family was entertaining more than ten guests who came to celebrate his birthday. If someone familiar here, he would find that these salt merchants were all the most powerful and most capitalized in Yangzhou City. If the people in this living room were united, they could control and control the salt bags in the entire Yangzhou and Gaoyou area.

Although Mr. He is already sixty years old, he still looks rosy and speaks with a good attitude.

Looking at the guests sitting around him, Mr. He took a sip of the health ginseng tea specially made for him, put down the tea cup and then stroked his beard and said, "Everyone, today is my 60th birthday. You can come to He's mansion to congratulate me. I am really grateful. I just don't know if you all rushed into my backyard and don't know what you can do to teach me?"

Seeing Mr. He looking calm and composed, the people sitting around him couldn't help but curse the old fox in unison. However, although everyone knew that this old guy was pretending to be confused, no one dared to show any dissatisfaction.

You should know that although the old man in front of him has never been an official, he also has the reputation of a scholar. In addition, two of his three sons have entered the officialdom, and his eldest son even served in the Ministry of Personnel, which is known as the "Heaven Official" in the capital. Therefore, the He family in Yangzhou can be said to have money, power and power, and even the prefect of Yangzhou has to give them three points.

Seeing Mr. He picking up the ginseng tea again and slowly looking at the ginseng slices floating on the water in the teacup, a fat middle-aged fat man with a face full of fat smiled and said, "Mr. He, it is logical that today is your happy day. My nephews and others should not disturb you by using those mundane things no matter what. But because this matter is so big, my nephews and others really have no choice but to disturb you. You also know that the day before yesterday, the Royal Trading Company of the Ming Dynasty also began to reach into our bowls, three cents of silver and one pound of fine salt, which is to force everyone to death!"

A middle-aged man facing the gloomy side also said in a deep voice: "Yes, Mr. He, as the saying goes, the state-owned national and legal families have family rules. When we sell salt, we must have the rules of selling salt. We all know that the Ming Dynasty Royal Trading Company is Jiang Ningbo's tool for making money. Originally, if they wanted to include it in this circle, it would not matter if we share a bowl of rice, but now it is no longer as simple as snatching food. He is going to ruin our rice bowl!"

The fat man nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Wei said it's right. It's okay for Jiang Ningbo to enter the market to make money, but he shouldn't have to ruin our jobs. Not to mention him, even the King of Heaven will not do it."

"Although that's the case, Jiang Ningbo is not easy to mess with. I heard that he killed the Tartars in Liaodong. He was a cruel and ruthless master. If you want to deal with him, we have to make a long-term plan!" A middle-aged man wearing a light green silk gown said with a worried look on his face.

"Old Yan, you are too timid and timid in everything you do. No wonder you have fewer and fewer salt players in recent years." The middle-aged man named Wei glanced at the other party and said disdainfully.

"I……"

The person who was ridiculed was the head of the Yan family, named Yan Lanmin. The name is a bit feminine and he is very cautious and has never been very popular with those present.

After a nod, Yan Lanmin blushed and said, "Wei Wenbao, don't just talk about me. If you really have the courage, why don't you snatch that royal business? There are not too many good things produced by the royal business over the years. Glass, rouge, soap and shampoo are sold all over the south of the Yangtze River. The money you earned in the mountains of gold and silver has gone, and I didn't see you dare to touch someone's hair!"

Wei Wenbao slapped the table and pointed at Yan Lanmin and shouted: "Is the surname Yan, what do you mean? Do you think your business is too good?"

"Enough..."

While the two were arguing, the old man of the He family finally spoke.

"What are you quarreling? Can you solve the problem by just quarreling? The Royal Trading Company is aggressive outside, and it's fine if you don't think of a solution, but instead quarrel here, and I blush for you."

The old man of the He family is worthy of being the highest-ranking person. Everyone calmed down as soon as he opened his mouth. Yan Lanmin said noddedly: "Old man, there is no way out for me. My nephew's salt shop business has plummeted these days, and my nephew almost turned white in his hair, but there is no way. Otherwise, my nephew and others would not have bothered you on this good day."

"snort!"

Mr. He sneered: "Is there really no way? Or do you dare not think or do it?"

"I dare not think or do it?" Everyone was shocked slightly, and Wei Wenbao asked carefully: "Mr. He, what do you mean?"

Mr. He glanced at Wei Wenbao: "Nephew Wei, people say that you are the best and bravest person in the Wei family generation, but I didn't see this today. Or are you pretending to be confused on purpose?"

Wei Wenbao looked panicked: "My nephew dare not!"

Mr. He said disdainfully: "I don't know what you do on weekdays. Who hasn't done anything you have done before? Now that things are about to come, I'm afraid. What else can I say?"

As soon as these words were said, the people present looked a little red. Killing and setting fires depended on people. There were no taboos for those little vendors who were powerless or those mud legs, but this time they had to face Jiang Ningbo of the Ming Dynasty, so they naturally didn't dare to do it as reckless as before.

Seeing everyone's appearance, Mr. He snorted coldly. It is no exaggeration to describe it as an old spirit who is already sixty. He naturally knew what these people were thinking, just to encourage themselves to stand up, and then follow behind their butts to sing flags or get a bargain. However, he couldn't ignore this matter. After all, his salt shop is the most in Yangzhou City and has been affected the most, so he should naturally stand up.

After coughing lightly, he sat upright and looked at everyone and said lightly: "Although the Royal Trading Company has the background of Jiang Ningbo, it is just a business company no matter what, which is also his innate disadvantage. We might as well act in two ways here, and we should do this next..."

The Royal Business of the Ming Dynasty has eight stores in Yangzhou. The largest store is located in Hongyun Street, the most prosperous west of the city, covering an area of ​​more than 500 square meters. The shopkeeper of this shop is Niu, who comes from Nanjing and is also an old shopkeeper, and he is extremely safe to do things.

Since the opening of the salt shop ten days ago, the business of the store can no longer be described as prosperity. For ten days, the people who bought salt lined up outside the street, which is enough to prove the popularity of their business. In order to prevent local competitors from hiring people to buy goods, Niu Zhangguan also specifically stipulated that each person could only buy one pound of salt per day, but even so, it could not stop people's madness. They had never heard of it, let alone saw the fine salt of three cents of silver.

In just ten days, this shop on this street alone made more than 3,600 taels of silver. When Manager Niu saw the report sent by his friend below, he felt that his hands were trembling. The Royal Trading Company had eight stores in Yangzhou. Based on such a turnover, their turnover in Yangzhou alone would have more than 20,000 taels of silver. In this way, how much can they make in a month? How much can they make in a year? And this is only made in Yangzhou. If the shops in other states and prefectures are added, the money earned by the Royal Trading Company in the Ming Dynasty will be so popular.

Thinking of this, what made Manager Niu feel in his heart was not excited, but instead felt a sense of coldness surge upon his backbone.

Of course, Niu Zhanggui would not think that he made too much money, but the first thing he thought of was the reflection of major salt merchants in Yangzhou. Doing this is no longer as simple as grabbing business, but digging the roots of those salt merchants. Will the salt merchants who have been cut off from their lives be left alone? He even thought about this problem with his knees and knew that it was impossible.

As time goes by, Manager Niu feels more and more worried. In recent days, he is even worried that he can't sleep.

That night, Manager Niu, who had been tossing and turning for the middle of the night, had just fallen asleep. He seemed to hear someone whispering outside. He was already very alert when he was sleeping, and he woke up immediately. As soon as he got up, he smelled a kerosene smell, and then he saw a flame burning outside.

Manager Niu's heart immediately sank to the bottom of the valley. He immediately shouted without thinking: "No... someone is setting fire... Xiaoma... Erbao, hurry up and put out the fire!"

Manager Niu’s reaction was extremely pleasant. He only shouted a few times. The flames outside had swallowed up the entire store. It was not until the next day that the government officials came late. When the yamen runners cleared the ruins, in addition to finding the bodies of three friends, they also found Manager Niu who was already dying in the large water tank of the store.

"Lawless... It's simply lawless..."

In the imperial study, Zhu Youxiao slapped the table, his fair face turned red with anger. Although Yang Feng, who was sitting next to him, looked calm, those who were familiar with him could find the familiar murderous aura in the corner of his eyes.
Chapter completed!