Two days later, Li Jie rushed to the Shangli Salt Fields after a long journey. Many businessmen gathered in front of the salt department's yamen. Because Li Jie was dressed in the uniform of a lifelong scholar, the yamen officials ignored him at first until Li Jie reported to the yamen.
The officer showed the official document from the Chief Secretary's office, and the officer immediately changed his face and said with a flattering look.
"Sir, please come quickly, please come quickly!"
Upon seeing this, an older man from the Shouzhi Salt Merchant rushed up and begged Li Jie: "Sir, please help me. If I don't get the salt, my family will be destroyed."
Already."
After finishing speaking, Li Jie knelt down and kowtowed without waiting for a reply. Li Jie came to Shangli Salt Field this time just to understand the specific practices. He could tell the whole story at a glance, so he was also very interested in what happened to the old man.
The officer next to him was very panicked when he saw this, for fear of bumping into the gentleman in front of him. Although the gentleman looked young, the official document stated that the other party was a Hanlin official in Beijing and a new talent. If the gentleman was dissatisfied, he could
Can't afford to suffer.
While scolding angrily, he stretched out his hand to drive away: "Why are you being such a naughty person again? Hurry up and leave! Don't even look at where this place is. Is this the place where you are running wild?"
Li Jie waved his hand and said: "It just so happens that I also want to know about the salt transportation, so let him follow up."
The officer changed the subject and said that Li Jie was magnanimous and said to the old man: "What are you doing standing there in silence? Didn't you hear? Why don't you thank this gentleman quickly!"
Zhou Feng was still in a trap. He had done this several times before, but every time he was met with indifference, and then he would be severely beaten by the government officials. But he really had no choice but to hear what the officials said.
After coming back to his senses, he kept thanking Li Jie.
Entering the yamen, the Ambassador of the Salt Department came upon hearing the news. The Eighth Grade Ambassador of the Salt Department was originally lower in rank than Li Jie, not to mention that Li Jie also had the Hanlin status bonus. Ambassador Qian said with a flattering look: "No wonder this morning the government
A magpie came to the office, and it turned out to be Tanhua Lang. I am not expecting you from afar, so please don't take offense to Tanhua Lang!"
When Zhou Feng heard that Ambassador Qian revealed Li Jie's identity, he was very surprised. He didn't expect that the person he stopped was Xinke Tanhua. Li Jie was well-known in Fujian, and low-level businessmen like Li Feng only heard about it.
He didn't know who he was. He didn't expect to see a real person today. Li Feng secretly said that he was really lucky.
Li Jie smiled slightly: "You and I are officials in the same court, and we are both serving the court, so there is no need to be polite!"
Ambassador Qian kept saying yes. He was a little confused when he saw Zhou Feng. If I remember correctly, this man was a salt merchant from Shouzhi. He didn't know how he came in with Li Jie. Li Jie saw the confused look on his face and explained.
"I met this old man at the gate of the Yamen. It happened that I also wanted to know about the problems encountered by the salt merchants, so I asked him to come in with me."
Ambassador Qian was confused and understood, but secretly thought that the Tanhua Lang was indeed as friendly as the rumors said.
After entering the main hall and sitting down, Li Jie said to Zhou Feng who was standing in the hall: "Old man, tell me your story."
Zhou Feng bowed and saluted, and then said with a sad look on his face: "Thank you, sir! I was deceived by lard. I heard that there is always enough salt in the Shangli Salt Farm, so there is no need to guard it. I was so excited that I went to the border to buy salt.
"Yin, who would have expected that when I came back, I would find that there was no salt left in the salt field, and only the accumulated salt was left. Now I can't open the pot at home, so I had no choice but to bump into the adults."
According to the output of salt goods, each salt transportation department is divided into "sequential expenditures" and "overseas expenditures" according to a certain proportion. The former must maintain expenditures in order and is called regular salt, while the latter has priority for redemption.
The power can be withdrawn at any time, which is called accumulated salt. It is equivalent to strategic reserve materials and cannot be withdrawn at will.
Li Jie was also a little confused about this. The Shangli Salt Field used the sun-dried salt method. Logically speaking, the output was sufficient and there shouldn't be any problems with keeping the salt. Ambassador Qian saw Li Jie's confused look and said.
"Sir, although the Shangli Salt Field uses the sun-dried salt method, the output is much higher than the traditional fried salt method. Some time ago, the salt transfer envoy Si Tongzhigao sent an official document from the imperial court, exchanging all the regular salt to other companies.
The merchants who guard the salt field now have no more salt to support in the Shangli Salt Field."
Li Jie didn't believe this. The yield of residual salt from the sun salt method was definitely quite large, so there was inevitably a dispute. He asked instead, "Oh? What about the residual salt?"
Ambassador Qian originally wanted to deceive the other party into not knowing the ropes, but now the imperial court has ordered merchants to buy surplus salt, which is a big piece of meat. Ambassador Qian and other groups are always trying to deceive the superiors and the subordinates, taking advantage of the surplus salt and guarding the salt.
If the merchants are not as filial to them, then they will be sorry that the remaining salt is gone. Outsiders have no way of knowing the specific output of the remaining salt, and they can make a lot of money from this alone.
Hearing Li Jie ask about Yu Yan, Ambassador Qian's heart skipped a beat. He secretly thought it was not good, but a look of embarrassment appeared on his face as he said, "Your Excellency, you don't know. Now Yu Yan is also withdrawing money in order as usual. Like this person he met
Under the circumstances, there is nothing the official can do.”
Seeing Zhou Feng's unspeakable expression, Li Jie was afraid that there was something hidden, so he asked casually: "As far as I know, the method used in the Shangli Salt Factory is to dry the salt, and to fry the salt in a large plate day and night can produce two
One hundred catties requires a lot of firewood and manpower, but with the salt-drying method, one man can get two hundred catties a day. Isn't this output not enough to pay for it?"
Ambassador Qian didn't expect that Li Jie was so knowledgeable, and he suddenly felt bad. He didn't know how to answer when Li Jie's voice came.
"What? Is there any difficulty?"
Li Jie knew that there must be something fishy in it. Although he was a member of the Imperial Academy, he did not have much deterrence in the local area. Even if he could find out here today, there would be nothing he could do by then, and he might even be cited by the imperial censor.
I have violated my authority. I will write it down for now and make plans after returning to Fuzhou City.
Three feet of ice is not frozen in a day. If we want to break this layer of ice, the road will be long and long. We must change it from the root cause and then put in place a reasonable system. Today, we can only focus on immediate matters.
Ambassador Qian understood the meaning of Li Jie's words and hurriedly replied: "Your Excellency has spoken. No matter how difficult it is, I will give the old man's payment tomorrow. Do you think it will be paid to you, Your Excellency?"
Li Jie nodded. Zhou Feng was overjoyed when he heard that he would be able to get the salt tomorrow. He eagerly wanted to salute Li Jie, but before he could kneel down, he was helped by Li Jie.
"The old man does not need to pay any more lavish gifts, and he will do so in the future when he no longer has the pain of guarding the branch. Then I can accept it calmly."
Zhou Feng did not expect that the Tanhua Lang could actually solve the problem that he had been worried about for a long time. He cried with joy, thanked him repeatedly, called Master Qingtian, and then went back happily.