Lu Yunhuan suffered heavy losses in this Holy Spirit Society rebellion. Because Lu Yunhuan was in the salt business, his main business must be private salt. Although Lu Yunhuan also opened up all the joints in the officialdom, he could not
Selling private salt under the nose of the government openly and openly.
Therefore, Lu Yunhuan placed the place where the salt products were stored in one of his villages outside the county town. He also arranged most of his villagers to guard the village.
However, after the Holy Spirit Society rebels came, Lu Yunhuan had no way to evacuate the heavy salt goods to the county town, so he could only take his family and Xinruan into the county town to seek refuge.
But in this way, his village where the salt goods were stored was destroyed by the Holy Spirit Society mobs. Not to mention the loss of the salt goods, even the majority of his men who guarded the salt transportation were lost.
To make matters worse, the counties to the north of Runing Prefecture, which were the birthplaces of the Holy Spirit Society's rebellion, were exactly where Lu Yunhuan's salt products were sold. Lu Yunhuan's lower-level sellers in those counties were dying and escaping.
He escaped and suddenly broke up Lu Yunhuan's salt sales network.
In comparison, the problems faced by Yangzhou salt merchant Lu Jianchen are even greater. We already know that Lu Yunhuan's salt sales area accounts for more than half of the total annual salt sales of the Lu family where Lu Jianchen is located.
.Therefore, this sales area is very important to the Lu family.
As for why the Lu family occupies this sales area, in addition to the close relationship between generations of the Lu family and Lu Yunhuan's Lu family, the main reason is that this sales area is relatively remote for Yangzhou salt merchants.
At this point, we may be a little surprised. Judging from the straight-line distance, Guide Prefecture should be one of the closest places to Yangzhou among all the prefectures in Henan Province. How can it be relatively remote?
This is mainly because salt cargo must be transported by boat. To reach the small town of Wu Shigong from Yangzhou, you need to pass through the Grand Canal, enter the Yellow River, and then bend into the river in front of the town. It is a complete detour.
A big circle. It can be said that Kaifeng City, which is much further away in a straight line than a small town, is much more convenient for transporting salt than the small town of Wu Shigong.
But no matter how small the mosquito legs are, they still have meat. If the Lu family gives up this sales area, other Yangzhou salt merchants will definitely not mind entering this area.
Due to the rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society, the Lu family's salt sales have been greatly affected. What's even more troublesome is that the sales of Yangzhou salt merchants are based on the quantity of salt they have in hand.
Except for the fact that part of the salt supply can be inherited by the family, most of it is obtained by various salt merchants, big and small, who go to Yangzhou Salt Transport Envoy Yamen once a year.
Every salt merchant completes the sales of salt products based on the quantity of salt introduced. It cannot sell too much or too little. Of course, if a certain salt merchant can sell salt without affecting the salt of other salt merchants,
Under the premise of selling more salt products in newly developed areas, that is your responsibility, and other salt merchants will not care about you.
But if the quantity sold by a certain salt merchant decreases, then when he receives the salt quota next year, his share will be reduced by a certain amount, and that share will be divided among other salt merchants.
Among the salt merchants in Yangzhou, once a certain salt merchant reduces his salt quota, a vicious cycle will basically occur in the future. That salt merchant's salt quota will also decrease year by year, and he will eventually be squeezed out.
Get out of the circle of salt merchants.
Lu Jianchen's Lu family is now facing this problem. This time he came to Guide Mansion again, precisely to find Lu Yunhuan to discuss solving this problem. After the two of them discussed it, they decided that the way to solve the problem was to restart the family as soon as possible.
Open the salt markets in several counties of Runing Prefecture.
Lu Yunhuan has already sent people to contact the sellers in those counties. Now those counties have no supply of salt for several months, so they do need salt. However, because in small towns, those counties have no salt supplies.
On the way to the county, we have to pass through a mountainous area, and the mountainous area is now inhabited by bandits, so there is no way to transport salt to those counties.
Due to the loss of his subordinate Zhuang Ding, Lu Yunhuan could not arrange enough force to transport these salt goods. In this way, Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen thought of Wu Shigong.
Wu Shigong not only has strong military force in his hands, but also had escorted a caravan to Jining Prefecture some time ago, so he is a very suitable candidate. Therefore, Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen invited Wu Shigong this time and wanted to explore Wu Shigong at the banquet.
If Wu Shigong's request is not excessive, they would like Wu Shigong to send troops to escort them to transport salt cargo.
Needless to say, Wu Shigong's reputation in the eyes of the local gentry is quite good. Although some gentry can't stand the behavior of Wu Shigong's warriors, so far, Wu Shigong is still very reputable in doing things. What he promised has also been done.
He never broke his promise. In addition, Wu Shigong was generally very reasonable in his negotiations with the local gentry. He did not use the force in his hands to act arrogantly.
Otherwise, even if Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen wanted to open up the sales channel of salt products, they would not dare to deal with Wu Shigong, a powerful warrior. Otherwise, businessmen like them would be afraid that Wu Shigong would kill them
Even the skin and bones were swallowed into the stomach.
At the beginning of the banquet, after three drinks, Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen told Wu Shigong their idea of asking Wu Shigong to escort the salt cargo.
Wu Shigong did not agree to them immediately. He first asked: "Then what benefits can I get from this escort?" Wu Shigong wanted to know how much benefit he could get, and then weighed what he should do.
Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen had actually discussed it long ago. Lu Yunhuan replied: "Sir, this time we have to transport more than 700 shi of salt. For the first time, we will pay you 500 taels for your hard work. From now on, every time
For each transport, we will give you five coins per stone for your hard work. What do you think, sir?"
Now due to the shortage of salt in those counties, the price of local salt has risen to about two or two and a half yuan per stone. Even if Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen transported the salt goods there, causing the price of salt to drop, they assigned it to Wu Shigong's escort
Fees are nothing but wool from a sheep. Therefore, Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen didn't feel bad about giving Wu Shigong so much money.
Wu Shigong was overjoyed after hearing Lu Yunhuan's words. However, he still pretended to frown on the surface, and then said: "But the place where you want me to escort you has already left Guide Mansion and arrived at Runing Mansion.
That means we are out of my defense zone. It may be a little inconvenient to do so." Wu Shigong also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to gain more benefits.
Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen looked at each other, and Lu Jianchen said with a smile: "Sir, although we are responsible for the sales of salt products in those counties, we are not responsible for the salt products in the northern mountainous areas of those counties.
I didn’t break it in. If you have a way to break it in in the future, I will make the decision here. I will give you a price of one tael and one cent per stone, and any extra money you make will belong to you."
Then Lu Jianchen and Lu Yunhuan told Wu Shigong about the situation in the mountainous areas in the northern counties: In those mountainous areas, there are old and habitual bandits, and their forces are complex, so basically no businessmen dare to enter that area.
Do business.
Of course, if someone is brave enough to gamble with his own life, he can even bring salt products to those mountainous areas and sell them at a high price of four or five taels of silver per stone. Therefore, habitual bandits in these mountainous areas can still
Get salt.
Wu Shigong understood in his heart and thought: "It turns out that he just gave me a bad check."
However, seeing that what he had gained was about the same, and Wu Shigong still wanted to make good friends with Lu Jianchen, a Yangzhou salt merchant, so in the end, Wu Shigong agreed to Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen's request.
The atmosphere of the banquet also relaxed. Then Wu Shigong curiously asked Lu Jianchen and Lu Yunhuan: Why was the demand and profit of salt so great in the Ming Dynasty?
Lu Jianchen briefly introduced it to Wu Shigong: In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to being used as a condiment, salt also played another important role. That was the preservation of food.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were no refrigerators, so when the food was not finished, the excess food was often pickled to prevent the food from spoiling.
In addition, salt can also clean teeth, which is like modern toothpaste. In addition, livestock also need to eat a lot of salt.
If people don't eat salt, they will feel weak, but particularly poor people can still survive with simple meals. But if livestock don't eat salt, they won't have the strength to do farm work. Therefore, people who raise livestock will do everything possible to ensure that their families
Livestock have enough salt to eat. Therefore, the demand for salt is relatively large.
As for the high price of salt, in addition to the reason for the imperial court's monopoly, the main reason is the transportation cost. The transportation conditions in the Ming Dynasty were quite primitive compared to modern times. In the Jiangnan area and the capital at both ends of the Grand Canal, some commodities
The price of some products also differs by more than double, and the price of some scarce commodities even differs by three or four times.
As for heavy commodities like salt, even in the same area, the price varies depending on the convenience of transportation. Especially in mountainous areas where transportation is inconvenient, the price is even more expensive.
Wu Shigong was popularized by Lu Jianchen about the knowledge of ancient salt traders. He thought in his mind: "No wonder modern travelers are rushing to cross to coastal areas such as Shandong, Fujian and Hainan! It turns out that they are all attracted by salt.
It’s past!”
After the discussion at the banquet, Wu Shigong went back to Qianhusuo Fortress to arrange for the guards. In the end, he decided to send one squadron of 100 infantrymen and three squadrons of 150 cavalry to escort.
Originally, Xue Yongli would be the leader of the escort. However, because Wu Shigong was well-known, Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen named Wu Shigong to lead the team. Customers are God! Wu Shigong finally decided to lead the team himself. This is true.
Wu Shigong was a little excited. He finally stepped out of Xue Yongli's shadow and flew solo for the first time!
