Chu Zhongtian was unwilling to let this happen and hurriedly asked: "Brother Wang, can you still find a way to get another batch of salt?"
Wang Fu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "In previous years, there should be no problem, but this year, Brother Chu also knows that our border merchant villages were robbed by aliens and suffered heavy losses. This batch of salt is the surplus grain we mobilized from warehouses across the country.
It took a lot of effort to get it together, but there is absolutely nothing we can do about another batch."
"Then what will we do with the salt business in the next year?" Chu Zhongtian sat back on the chair heavily, as if he had suddenly aged many years.
In fact, I knew that there was probably no chance, so I just asked as a precaution.
Wang Fu gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Chu, I have an idea."
"What?" Chu Zhongtian asked hurriedly.
Wang Fu said: "I have controlled all the insiders of Yanyin's robbery this time. No matter who asks me in the future, I will not admit it. Just pretend that Yanyin was not robbed. Let's use the Yanyin from the year after tomorrow."
Be prepared for emergencies, and the weather will be clear once you get through this."
The scale of salt merchants' transactions was huge, and sometimes one year's supply of salt was not enough, so the government reserved the next three years' supply for emergencies.
However, using these salts does not come without cost. The most intuitive thing is that the cost is much higher.
A normal salt certificate costs 1.5 taels of silver, but an advance of 2.1 taels of silver for the next few years is equivalent to loan interest. This move by the court also played a certain role in macro-control, so that salt merchants would not have to pay for it.
Because of huge profits in the salt industry, large amounts of salt will be thrown onto the market unscrupulously.
"But then the cost of salt introduction would be too expensive." Chu Zhongtian frowned. With various management measures, the cost would be equivalent to 3 or 4 times of the current price. It is really too expensive.
Wang Fu shook his head: "Brother Chu didn't understand what I meant. What I meant was to advance those salt coins and pretend to be next year's salt coins. After we recover next year, we can collect enough salt coins and return them to the warehouse. This way, God doesn't know.
Before I know it, I can still solve your and my urgent needs."
Chu Zhongtian's face changed: "You must not do this. This is poaching the court. Once it happens, it will be a serious crime!"
Wang Fu said: "With Brother Chu's connections in Mingyue City, coupled with our Wang family's many years of management, how could things happen so easily? Moreover, things like advance salt payment have been done by every family in the past. How many of them really
Have you paid the tax in full?”
Chu Zhongtian said in a deep voice: "But in previous years, it was only a small amount of advances, and everyone just turned a blind eye and passed by. This time it is a year-round salt advance. The movement is too big. I can't believe it, absolutely not."
.”
Wang Fu sighed: "Brother Chu, don't blame me for speaking out. Otherwise, what else can we do?"
"As far as I know, illicit salt sales have become more and more rampant this year. A lot of your Chu family's salt cannot be sold, right?"
"In the past, you couldn't sell the salt at a cost of 1.5 taels of silver. Now that it costs close to 4 taels of silver, you will only be unable to sell it. And even if it is sold, how much can the Chu family make? The Chu family is so big.
, a huge amount of money is consumed in all aspects, if there is no income from the salt business, there will probably be a fiscal deficit soon, right?" Wang Fu analyzed.
Chu Zhongtian's expression changed, and he stood up suddenly and said: "Our Chu family has been inherited for hundreds of years, so we can still afford this loss."
Although it will break your muscles and bones, the worst thing you can do is sell off some of your ancestral land.
Just when he was about to get angry, who knew that Wang Fu knelt down in front of him, hugged his thigh and said: "Brother Chu, your Chu family can afford the big business, but our Wang family can't afford it. Because
The border merchant villages were robbed before, and our Wang family was already in dire straits. If the news of the robbery of Yanyin spreads again, our Wang family will be completely ruined. Brother Chu, we have known each other for so many years, and I have never asked for help.
I’ll beg you this time, okay?”
"Brother Wang, please get up quickly, what are you doing!" Chu Zhongtian hurriedly helped him up. You must know that among the major families, the Chu family and the Wang family are the closest. After decades of interaction, they have already regarded each other as friends.
"The Wang family is about to completely collapse. What's the use of my old face?" Wang Fu simply collapsed on the ground, unable to get up.
Chu Zhongtian's expression changed: "Let me think about it, this matter is really important."
Hearing his relaxed tone, Wang Fu couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Thank you, Brother Chu. I can't thank Brother Chu enough for having such a heart. As for whether he can succeed in the future, I'll leave it to God."
When Chu Zhongtian went back and mentioned this matter to Qin Wanru, Qin Wanru's face turned pale: "Of course not, husband, why are you so confused and agree to such a thing!"
Chu Zhongtian sighed: "I don't know that this move is very dangerous, but what Wang Fu said is quite reasonable. If we really follow the procedure and pay advance silver for every salt quote, then the cost of official salt will be too high.
No ordinary people will buy it."
Qin Wanru said anxiously: "So what if we don't buy it? Our Chu family can afford to lose a year's income. Now the imperial court has sent Sang Hong to keep an eye on us. We really have to take action. Once he notices it, we will be in trouble."
Big."
"The situation of the Chu family is not as good as you think," Chu Zhongtian said solemnly, "In the past few years, we have suffered losses every year. It was only after Yan came out at the beginning of the year that the situation improved slightly, but we cannot withstand such a big situation.
A loss.”
Qin Wanru couldn't help but said: "Actually, I have always wanted to ask. Although it is due to our poor management, the Chu family has two extremely profitable businesses, salt and iron. Where did the money go? Why did it happen?
Losing money every year?”
"I didn't want to hide this from you, but you were too worried and didn't ask," Chu Zhongtian explained. "You should know that they will be transferred to the Salt Transportation Department, right?"
"Of course I know." Qin Wanru replied.
Only then did Chu Zhongtian explain the whole story.
Because of the huge profits from salt, such a department has been established in all dynasties to supervise the production, transportation and sales of salt, and anti-smuggling.
The person who oversees Mingyue City is the Linchuan County Salt Transportation Envoy Department. Among them, the top salt transportation envoy is the most fertile vacancy, a position that countless officials are fascinated by.
However, because the Chu family has been in charge of the salt industry in Mingyue City for thousands of years, becoming a salt transporter generally requires the consent of the Chu family.
To a certain extent, these salt transporters are all members of the Chu family, or people close to the Chu family.
But in the officialdom, there are few officials who are not greedy when it comes to receiving or receiving gifts.
Every salt transport envoy and his group of deputies and lower-level officials will more or less make a fortune from it.
The successive heads of the Chu family could only turn a blind eye to this. Firstly, they were officials close to the Chu family. Secondly, this was also an unspoken rule of the officialdom. This was true for the Salt Transportation Department and other departments as well.
In addition, after these officials at all levels of the Salt Transport Department left their posts, they were either promoted to the central court or transferred to local officials to become high-ranking officials. A huge network was formed in the court, and a single move affected the whole body.
If the Chu family dares to say anything, they will offend an extremely terrifying force.
In this way, over the course of hundreds of years, the actual deficit in the treasurer's room of the Salt Transport Envoy has reached an astronomical figure.
In the past, it was possible to conceal the past by making various accounts, but in Chu Zhongtian's generation, the number has become so large that it is impossible to hide it through accounting.
"So the money earned by the Chu family over the years has been used to fill the deficit accumulated by the Salt Transport Treasurer for hundreds of years?" The blood on Qin Wanru's pretty cheeks faded away.
Chu Zhongtian smiled bitterly: "Not bad."
"Why!" Qin Wanru's face was full of anger, "Why should our Chu family make up for the money embezzled by successive salt officials?"
Chu Zhongtian said solemnly: "Because our Chu family has been able to occupy the salt-rich fiefdom of Mingyue City, do you think that with such a fat piece of meat, the Chu family can sit securely just relying on the merits of our ancestors? That's not all.
Thanks to the efforts of those officials, our Chu family can always have such a place."
"Originally, I didn't have to go to such trouble before, but in recent years I feel that the emperor seems to be planning to attack our Chu family. I have to take precautions and make up for the shortfall in the salt transportation treasury. At least I must be able to make a fool of myself in the accounts, so that I can survive.
It can survive the imperial court’s investigation.”
Chu Zhongtian paused and continued: "This is why I have the confidence to withstand the pressure from the emperor and the king of Qi and remain neutral, because we have countless officials from the imperial court as our backers! They least want anything to happen to the Chu family, otherwise
If so, none of them can even think of running away!"
Qin Wanru suddenly felt something in his heart: "The account book you solemnly handed over to Chu Yan for safekeeping last time was said to be the accounts with business partners. Looking at it now, I'm afraid it is evidence of corruption by officials in the Salt Transport Department of the past dynasties.
Bar."
Chu Zhongtian nodded: "Yes, as long as the account book is not lost, no matter whether the emperor or the king of Qi, no matter how much he wants to deal with our Chu family, our Chu family will be fine!"