Chapter 53: Ten Years of Tibetan Zhuo Yang Salt King
Yang Lin's heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, his father Jinpen washed his hands. Otherwise, as a top scholar, he might have become the young boss of a group of desperadoes and salt dealers.
The Song Dynasty was a paradise for literati, and it was most comfortable to be the number one scholar. If you listen to salt dealers, you will know how dangerous it is.
"Dad, why have I never heard you talk about it?"
Since Yang Tong was a salt dealer, he had to keep this secret. Once it spread, the consequences would be disastrous.
Yang Tong thought about the past, recalling memories, his eyes became blurred, and he said with a flick of his eyelids: "Now that you have grown up, there are some things that I should tell you. We are not from Yangzhou Prefecture. Fundamentally, we are from Jiangning, East Road, Zhejiang Province.
I am a native of Taiping Prefecture. When the south of the Yangtze River was hit by floods, heavy rains irrigated Taiping Prefecture and people died of hunger all over the place. Five brothers and I met in a refugee camp.
Our hometown was destroyed, and we were exploited by wolf officials and hawks. When the relief grains distributed by the court arrived, we still had a few grains of rice left, which were not even as good as water when boiled in the pot. When people are hungry, they dare to eat anything.
Dare to do it, dad was chosen to cook the porridge, and the cruel official who distributed the food at the end of the day took it away. There wasn't much left after all the layers were peeled off, and this damned official wanted to take it away!"
Yang Lin's scalp felt numb after hearing this. His father, who was broad and fat, always smiled and laughed, but when he talked about this matter decades later, his eyes still burned, which showed the depth of hatred back then.
"When I saw this, I begged him to leave a bag to save dozens of people. The thief refused, so your third uncle knocked him out with a stone from behind. Although Lao Liu is young, he has the most violent temper.
When he went up, he was bitten and beaten, and the clerk's head was smashed and his eyes fell out."
Yang Lin could feel that the scene at that time was really a rebellion between the government and the people. Not only did he not feel cruel, but he even felt a little happy.
"So you came to Yangzhou Mansion incognito?"
Yang Tong smiled and said: "When a disaster breaks out, human lives are like ants, how can we escape? When dad saw that the third and sixth children had killed people, he simply stopped doing it and took the five of them to rob the local area.
The corrupt official's other hospital took a sum of money and started a hugely profitable business."
"What kind of deal?" Yang Lin's tone began to tremble.
"It's just selling salt! Back then, there were salt dealers all over the Huaihe River, fighting for salt people and trade routes, so what couldn't be done? We had to fight with the government and compete with our colleagues, and every one of them was a life-threatening business."
Selling salt is indeed a very profitable business, and the profit is no less than that of drugs in later generations. Of course, the risks are also high.
As cool and comfortable as the scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty were, how miserable the people at the bottom were. The productivity of society was still very backward. They occupied too many resources at the top. Many people below could only survive by wandering on the edge of crime.
Make a living.
The imperial court exclusively sold wine, salt, tea and other products or authorized merchants to sell them. This was called the "Ganjiu Gongsalt" system. This system was the source of the luxurious life of the court and officials, but it was also a nightmare for the common people.
When it comes to eating salt, it doesn’t matter who produces and sells it. People don’t care whether they get violence from it. The actual situation is that the price of official salt is high and the quality is poor. There are even occasional reports of people dying after eating official salt. On the contrary,
The quality of private salt is better.
Because of this, the existence of salt dealers has actually helped many people who cannot eat salt.
Yang Tong sighed and said: "In Taiping Prefecture, we had a bad start, and we lost our sixth brother first. Two years later, when we began to take shape, we got into trouble in Qingzhou, Shandong, and our second and third sons died. Many people died.
After that, our hearts hardened, and in the remaining few years we killed all the hostile salt gangs and monopolized the private salt in Huaiyang."
At this point, Yang Tong's tone softened, his eyes softened, and he said: "I got you later. Dad didn't want you to be in trouble as soon as you were born, so he took the remaining brothers to wash their hands in a golden basin, lest they would not accept it. Dad
So I took them to the Taoist temple to ask for the signature. Hehe, how did these frustrated birds know? I had already changed the signature. That day we got the sixty-eight signatures of Guandi. The signature was: Sell pearls in the south and sell salt in the north.
, My goods and wealth have increased several times over the past few years; I advise you to stop looking for farmland and houses. How long will your desires be tired of you?
From then on, I bought a lot of land for my fourth brother Lu Taixuan in his hometown in Zhejiang, and my fifth brother controlled our water transportation in Chuzhou, allowing them to enjoy their wealth and wealth. In recent years, the situation has become tense again. Some juniors are so arrogant that the government
Rumors spread that the Lianghuai Salt King had returned to the world, so I told them not to come, lest they get into trouble."
Only then did Yang Lin remember that he had known since he was a child that there was a fourth uncle and a fifth uncle in Zhejiang. They would come once a year, bringing a group of burly villagers with them, and they would stay for a few days and then leave. I used to be curious.
When I asked about it, Yang Tong only said that there was something going on at home and he couldn't leave.
These two uncles loved me very much. When they met, they always liked to throw themselves into the sky and catch them steadily. But then they didn't come for a long time. It seemed that they were the two remaining sworn brothers of my father.
Yang Tong's experience amazed Yang Lin. What kind of father he had become?
If this is the case, these people are really the best choices for me. After all, what I want to do is not necessarily very glorious, and many of them cannot be brought to light, so these people are just right for me.
"Dad, it's not too late. The Long Live Camp is about to be established. I still need to trouble you, old man, to make another trip." Yang Lin said with a smile.
Yang Tong was afraid that his son's bookishness would offend him and he would be killed if he ignored him. When he saw that he was so open-minded, he was really very different from before, and he couldn't help but feel happy.
His identity has been like a thorn over the years. Yang Tong, who is not afraid of anything, is afraid that his son will not recognize him. After all, Yang Lin was indeed a moral saint in the past. He said that the fourth and fifth sons wanted to avoid the wind.
The reason why I didn't come back was actually because I was afraid that Yang Lin would not like it.
Now that his worries were gone, Yang Tong just felt comfortable all over. He stood up and said, "Dad, let's go now. Just wait for my good news."
Yang Tong wanted to go to Chuzhou, so he naturally took the Bianhe River. Yang Lin sent him to the dock and told him, "Dad, take care of yourself along the way. Yang San, take good care of my dad."
Yang San patted his chest: "Don't worry, young master, as long as there are small ones." Before he could finish his words, the hull of the ship shook for a while, shaking him so much that he almost fell into the ship, but Yang Tong grabbed him and held him in the air like a chicken. He put it down after the ship was flat.
.
Is this still the fat, naive father? Yang Tong has been a clumsy actor for so many years. He seems to be out of breath when he walks too much. His acting skills are really unparalleled.
"Hahaha, Lin'er, go back. Are you relieved now?"
What's there to worry about? No wonder the Yang family's caravan seldom gets into trouble. This group of people is a group of desperadoes.