Fang Chen's plan is being fully implemented. In just one month, more than 5,000 banks have been opened across the country!
A lot of money was used to invest in soap factories, textile factories, and pharmaceutical factories.
Fang Chen cooperates with major chambers of commerce in each city to enter other business fields.
The economy of the Great Yan Dynasty is developing rapidly, and all of this is due to Fang Chen!
People are in high spirits when happy events happen, and everyone in the court is very happy. In the recent morning court, every official went to court with a cheerful smile, which was very harmonious.
Luo Ningxin and the minister discussed various matters with great passion.
Fang Chen is also very busy recently and has to sign many documents every day.
Bai Ling'er investigates in Ghost Pavilion.
The people of Jinyiwei were fully protecting the sixteen businessmen and their families.
Because Fang Chen received a secret report, Bai Yongliang wanted to kill the sixteen traitors.
We must not let anything happen to these people.
Fang Chen has been going to court every day recently to listen to the opinions of the ministers.
This day, go up early in the morning.
General Lu Yang of the Shipping Department has returned to Beijing.
He brought some very surprising news.
"Your Majesty! I have something important to report!"
"The Daqian Dynasty suddenly cut off the salt trade with the Dayan Dynasty. From now on, the Daqian Dynasty will not provide us with any salt!"
All the civil and military officials present were shocked.
This news is like a bolt from the blue!
The Municipal Shipping Department is a government office established in major seaports to manage maritime foreign trade. It manages foreign merchants, collects import taxes from merchants, purchases non-prohibited items, and sends the acquired cargo to the imperial capital.
A long time ago, the Shishi Shipping Department mainly focused on land trade, and later on sea trade.
In the process of foreign trade, there are great benefits, cultural exchanges and technological dissemination, which promote civilization and economic development between countries.
Lu Yang has always been responsible for foreign trade transactions with major empires.
Luo Ningxin asked: "General Lu, the cooperation between Daqian Dynasty and our Dayan has not had any problems for many years. Why is Daqian doing this now? Is there any problem in the business recently?"
Lu Yang explained: "Your Majesty, there were no signs before the Daqian Dynasty terminated the cooperation, and there were no problems with the cooperation in other businesses. It was just the salt aspect that unilaterally terminated the cooperation."
"Originally, the salt for this month was delivered half a month ago, but the Daqian Dynasty has not delivered it. Our officials from the imperial court communicated with the person in charge of the Daqian Dynasty, but they used various reasons to evade it, saying that it was table salt. Exported to other countries, salt has become less and less over the years, and there is no way to provide it to the populous Dayan Dynasty, who refuses to cooperate with us."
"Even if we increase the price, the other party still cuts off cooperation and has a very tough attitude."
Luo Ningxin's face was very ugly, and all the civil and military officials were very puzzled and started talking about it.
"We have had a very good relationship with the Daqian Dynasty over the years. Why did this happen suddenly?"
"The salt and minerals of the Daqian Dynasty are one of the country's main economic sources. They have cooperated with other countries for hundreds of years and rarely have problems. Unless there is a war between the two countries, they will cut off the supply. What happened now It’s really unbelievable that something like this happened!”
"Although we still have a lot of existing salt, the population base is too large and it won't last long. Problems will arise within two or three months at most."
"Salt is already very expensive. Many poor people cannot afford it and are reluctant to spend money to buy it. If the supply is completely cut off, it will have serious consequences!"
Fang Chen remained silent and listened to the discussions among the ministers.
Salt is a very important mineral that can stimulate the taste of food, arouse appetite, preserve food, and give food a different flavor. It is also an essential mineral in the human body and animals.
If a person's body lacks sodium, it will cause symptoms such as low sodium content in the body, dizziness, fatigue, loss of appetite, accelerated heart rate, weak pulse, muscle spasms, headaches and other symptoms.
Long-term sodium deficiency is prone to heart disease and can lead to hyponatremia syndrome. Let alone farming, marching and fighting, it is difficult to even walk two steps.
A person can live for decades like a normal person without eating meat, but he can live for less than a year without eating salt!
Based on the importance of salt to people, salt has become an official strategic resource. Especially in ancient times, when transportation was inconvenient, many places did not produce salt, but there was a serious need for salt. This made selling salt a very profitable business, and even more so.
In many ancient countries, wars broke out between tribes because you can’t live without salt, no matter how expensive it is!
Therefore, in order to maintain national stability and ensure national fiscal revenue, salt is monopolized by the state as a specialty product!
The state also implements a monopoly on the sale of official salt and prohibits private property ownership. Violators will be severely fined.
However, some merchants would still try their best to sell some private salt, but the court sometimes turned a blind eye.
As long as the price of the salt being sold is not too high and can be transported to all parts of the country for the common people, then it is a good thing and the court will not be too involved.
Because the Great Yan Dynasty was too short of salt!
The cost of mining salt is very low, and the Daqian Dynasty also had a large amount of salt and a large number of mines.
They set the price of salt relatively high and almost achieved a salt monopoly.
If the supply of salt in the Great Yan Dynasty was completely cut off, the entire country would eventually fall into disaster!
Fang Chen also realized the seriousness of the matter.
Luo Ningxin and the civil and military officials began to discuss countermeasures.
The Daqian Dynasty has always had envoys and merchants living in the Dayan Dynasty.
The chamber of commerce responsible for salt is called the Qiankun Chamber of Commerce. It is also the first chamber of commerce in the Daqian Dynasty. It is very close to the government and specializes in delivering official supplies to major empires.
After discussion, it was finally decided to send an envoy from the Daqian Dynasty to communicate the matter. No matter what conditions the Daqian Dynasty offered, as long as they were not too excessive, they must be accepted.
Lu Yang said: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, I have communicated with the person in charge of the Qiankun Chamber of Commerce twice before, and offered an extremely high price, more than a quarter of the previous price, but they still did not agree and refused!"
"The third time I went to see them, I was met with disappointment. They closed their doors and refused to see any visitors!"
"The other party only sent the message to me after my hard request, so I am not qualified to negotiate with them!"
"This time, they want to talk to Mr. Fang Chenfang!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone felt that the situation was very serious.
And they asked to talk to Fang Chen, something must be weird!
At this time, Fang Chen finally spoke.
"Our Dayan Dynasty and Daqian Dynasty are cooperating in other businesses, and there are no problems with the official resources and items, but there is a problem with salt. At this time, they designated to talk to me. Someone must be behind it!