Two days later, the internal guards captured Wang Kuang's second son Wang Huaiyi on the river. According to his and Hu Gong's confessions, the evidence that Yuezhou Governor Wang Kuang was involved in selling illegal salt was conclusive, and Zhong Huan immediately used the Yongwang gold medal to remove him.
As the governor of Yuezhou, he was sent to Jiangling County for detention together with other criminals.
At this time, more than a thousand of Zhonghuan's main forces returned and began to carry out a comprehensive crackdown on illegal salt in Jiangling Prefecture, Yuezhou, Lizhou, Dingzhou, Ezhou and other four prefectures, arresting thirteen illegal salt dealers.
There were seventy-five shops selling illicit salt. The private wealth of Wang Kuang and Hu Gong alone was worth nearly 300,000 guan, and more than 100,000 guan were confiscated from other salt dealers and salt shops.
Why is the wealth of illegal salt seized in the five northern states far less than that of Zhang Tai? This is mainly a matter of time and scope. Officials have not been involved in smuggling illegal salt for a long time, only three years, and the scope is limited to one government and four
state.
Before that, this place was occupied by Zhang Tai's private salt industry, and was later squeezed out of the north by Zhang Jun's private salt industry.
Zhang Tai was different. He had been selling private salt for twenty years, occupying the entire Jiangnan West Road market, and later entered Jinghu South Road. Even before Zhang Jun used salt to support his army, the Jingxiang area was also Zhang Tai's territory.
Although he did not make much money, he was severely punished. All salt dealers, including Wang Huaiyi, were executed, all salt shop owners were executed, and officials involved in selling illegal salt were also killed, except Wang Kuanghe.
They had to be escorted to Jingzhao for their crimes, but they could not escape death. Although Lu Jing was one of the main criminals, he reported meritoriously and escaped the fate of being executed. Lu Jing was killed and his family property was confiscated, but
The family survived.
Chen Qing later returned the three chief stewards and several subordinates to Zhang Jun, but they were publicly executed by Zhang Jun for selling illegal salt. Zhang Jun denied that he was selling illegal salt, but that some of his subordinates colluded with the salt lords.
If caught, he will be severely punished. How could the dignified Huaixi Xuanfu Envoy sell illegal salt?
After the crackdown on illegal salt was over, when Zhang Tai's wealth was transported to Jingzhao, the court made a one-time profit of 15 million guan. The annual salt tax increased by 1 million guan, and the price of salt rose to 100 guan per catty.
Only then did the income and expenditure finally balance.
The hero this time is undoubtedly Zhong Huan. Chen Qing specially signed the Yongwang Order, which promoted Zhong Huan to the commander-in-chief and Deng Jinshan to the commander. The rest of the generals above the head were promoted to one level, with a reward of 100,000 yuan and a cloth of 200,000 yuan.
Horse, reward this army for its meritorious service in checking illegal salt.
Time flashed to mid-November, and the first heavy snowfall of the year fell one after another. Jingzhao City became covered with heavy makeup, and every household was covered with heavy snow. On the streets, tens of thousands of troops used shovels to remove snow, and tens of thousands of people walked out of their homes.
, cooperate with the army to remove snow.
There must be no snow on the street, otherwise it will turn into mud after pedestrians and large vehicles pass by. Once it freezes, it will be difficult for everyone to walk, so the snow must be shoveled away in time.
After entering winter, the demand for cold protection and warmth increased sharply, and the transactions in the Jingzhao market were extremely hot. Of course, it was not just Jingzhao, but also the entire Shaanxi Road, Hedong Road, Sichuan Road, Henan Road, Lingxia Road, Xihe Road, Jinghunan
Lu and Hexi areas, etc., tens of millions of people have the need to protect themselves from the cold.
It's just that Jingzhao is a trading center, and merchants from all over the country come to buy goods. The demand for silver has soared. The year before last, the Finance and Taxation Department of Yongwang Mansion gave one million taels of silver to the merchants to exchange, but it was all exchanged within three days.
The silver was collected and not circulated on the market.
It forced the Finance and Taxation Department to implement bills, which were promoted by Sichuan-Shaanxi No. 1 Cabinet Shop and Baoji Cabinet Shop. This kind of bills is actually very effective, such as depositing money in Taiyuan and withdrawing money in Jingzhao, or depositing money in Chengdu and withdrawing money in Jingzhao; this
This kind of business of depositing and withdrawing money in other places was relatively mature during the Tianbao period of the Middle Tang Dynasty. It was called Feiqian at that time.
After depositing 10,000 yuan at the No. 1 Taiyuan Sichuan-Shaanxi counter shop, the merchant can bring a batch of Taiyuan specialties to Jingzhao. At the same time, the Taiyuan counter shop will send a money withdrawal slip on horseback in an expedited manner.
Go to Jingzhao.
When the merchant arrived in Jingzhao, he first confirmed that he could withdraw money, then sold the goods, bought a batch of sheepskins or cashmere to keep out the cold, and then withdrew the money from the No. 1 Sichuan-Shaanxi Counter Shop in Jingzhao.
This is very convenient, and you can transport more goods and do more business.
As for paper money Huizi, Chen Qing does not want to implement it for the time being, as it can easily be copied by the Jin Kingdom or the imperial court.
In the morning, Chen Qing took an ordinary carriage to Dongda Street. Unlike Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were more carriages on Jingzhao Street. They were basically old horses. They were docile, easy to control, and fast, so they were very suitable for riding on the streets.
It is used in Jingzhao, where the streets are wider. Large households basically have a carriage, which is usually pulled by two horses.
There are also many carriages pulled by one horse. They are basically rental carriages. They run on the streets and stop at any time. The carriages are wide and much more comfortable than the slow ox-carts. This is also due to the Western Army.
A large number of old war horses were eliminated, and of course priority was given to supplying Jingzhao City, resulting in many carriages appearing in Jingzhao City.
Chen Qing's carriage stopped in front of a large store specializing in various filling and heating materials. This large store is a government-run store and is affiliated with the Department of Commerce and Trade under the Secretary for Government Affairs.
The name of this store is Junuange, and the brand name is still inscribed by Chen Qing. There is a bronze plaque next to it with the words "official store" written on it. On the left side, it says that it specializes in all kinds of fur, linen and velvet.
Chen Qing walked into the lobby and found that there were many customers inside, all of whom were carefully selecting goods. There were four rows of long tables in the lobby. The tables were all filled with small baskets, and the baskets were various samples. The furnishings of large stores were basically like this.
The pattern is mainly based on samples.
The four rows of tables are divided into major categories, such as wool, which contains various types of wool, cashmere, camel hair, etc., with different grades and different prices. There are more than twenty kinds of this item alone.
Then there is poultry down, mainly duck and goose down. For example, some poor people use feathers to be dried and used as bedding and pillow fillings. This is a very low-end item and will not be sold in this store.
The third row is fur, including various furs, sheepskin, deerskin, rabbit skin, fox skin, among which sheepskin is the most common, and there are more than a dozen types of sheepskin alone.
The fourth and fifth rows are filled with plant fillers. There are many types, mainly fine linen and multi-layered linen. This is currently the most commonly used by civilians. When civilians make winter clothes at home, they will buy multi-layered linen and then densify it.
It is tightly sewn inside the underwear, and four or five pieces of clothing are put on outside, which makes it very bulky. Poor people spend the winter like this, wearing all the clothes they can wear to keep themselves warm.
The best-selling items are sheepskin and cashmere, and the long tables here are crowded with merchants.
At this time, the shopkeeper quietly came to Chen Qing and said, "Your Highness, please come to the back room to talk!"
Chen Qing smiled and followed the shopkeeper to the inner room. When he reached the innermost row of tables, Chen Qing stopped again. He saw cotton, kapok and straw cotton in the basket.
He stepped forward and twisted the grass cotton. It was short-staple cotton and could not be woven into cloth. It was the best filling material for quilts and cotton-padded clothes. However, he requested that long-staple cotton be planted in large quantities on Lingxia Road and the Hexi Corridor.
Where does short staple cotton come from?
Chen Qing frowned slightly and asked the shopkeeper: "Where does this straw cotton come from?"
"It is produced in Liangzhou. Two hundred thousand kilograms were shipped. It seems that the seeds used for planting are wrong, so this batch will be replaced with new ones next year."
Hearing the news, Chen Qing felt annoyed. Needless to say, this was a major liability accident. The wrong seeds were used and the seeds were concealed. If the shopkeeper hadn't mentioned it, he would not have known about it.
It's not that mistakes are not allowed, the key is to conceal this fact, which makes Chen Qing very dissatisfied.