Chapter 21 Good People, Let's Buy All the Emperor's Salt
Chapter 21 Good people, let’s buy up all the emperor’s salt
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the situation was turbulent and there were as many heroes as stars.
The most famous woman is naturally the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai.
Li Yunze, who went to Jiangnan, never thought about collecting stamps. He came here wholeheartedly to save the Ming Dynasty.
After all, before dealing with the Tartars, he had to forcefully straighten out the internal problems of the Ming Dynasty.
But his subordinates all saw that he was a philanderer and tried their best to get girls around him.
It is really an old tradition that the eldest brother gives whatever he likes to the younger brothers.
As a gentleman, in order to prevent Li Xiangjun from being implicated by the idiots who returned to society, he could only reluctantly accept the girl.
He did this to protect his sister, and had no other intentions!
Li Xiangjun was placed in the backyard and given to Gu Hengbo to take care of.
After all, we are colleagues, and we still had some friendship in the past.
The girls lived in adjacent rooms. Li Xiangjun, who was too nervous that night, listened to the teaching process in the next room.
The next morning, although the sky was already bright, the spring breeze from last night brought a slight coolness through the window.
Hearing the eunuchs helping Li Yunze get up and then leaving immediately, Li Xiangjun, who had been up almost all night, finally stopped thickening his soup and sighed like a fish spitting bubbles.
Big news soon came from Jiangnan, and salt shops in various places encountered a large-scale rush to buy.
After looking through the large pile of documents sent over, Li Yunze asked a question that seemed unbelievable to Wen Tiren.
"Is there anyone in the salt shop who took advantage of the opportunity to raise prices to make a profit?"
Wen Tirenxin said, is now the time to pay attention to this? People will feel uncomfortable if they don't have salt for one day, and they will cause trouble if they don't have salt for ten days. Why are you asking if anyone is making profits? What are you thinking?
He hurriedly looked through the documents sent by the royal guards from various places, and then found more than a dozen "The salt shops in these places took advantage of the opportunity to increase their prices and sell them."
"These."
Li Yunze shook the dozen or so documents in his hand, "Those who raise prices will be punished and fired, and they will never be hired. The jobs they leave behind will be replaced by their neighbors. You must find familiar neighbors. In the past,
The one with gaps inside is the best. If there are salt shops all over the world, and if there are people doing the same thing, they will all be dealt with accordingly."
The job that had been passed down for generations was gone, and it actually fell into the hands of neighbors with whom they had a grudge in the past.
Shrimp and pork heart, nothing more than that.
Li Yunze never worried about panic buying of salt or anything like that.
Those idiots simply don’t understand how terrifying the scale of modern industrial production is.
What really needs to be strictly controlled is the behavior of taking advantage of price increases to gain benefits.
This will greatly damage the credibility of the court and the emperor's reputation. It will also increase the burden on the people.
Li Yunze wanted to save the Ming Dynasty, so he had to do everything possible to lighten the burden on the people. Afraid of being hungry and cold, they pulled up their clothes and shouted, "Princes, generals, and generals should be peaceful."
No matter how much supplies he obtains and how many elite soldiers he trains, he will still not be able to face the people of the world.
After answering, the majestic-looking Wen Tiren bowed his head and asked, "Long live, salt shops everywhere are short of salt, but the daily output of the salt farms is limited, how should we deal with this matter?"
"My dear." Li Yunze asked with a straight face, "Do you have any good ideas?"
Wen Tiren, who was secretly happy, hurriedly responded, "I have three strategies, upper, middle and lower, to solve this problem."
"Oh?" Li Yunze said in his heart, are you telling me about the Three Kingdoms? "Tell me."
The energetic Wen Tiren immediately began to show off his talents.
"It is the best policy to send Jin Yiwei to arrest profiteers who are hoarding money in various places."
Li Yunze picked up the tea bowl and said noncommittally, "Yeah."
"Intensifying the crackdown on salt lords, confiscating their hidden possessions of illegal salt and increasing supply are the best strategies."
Li Yunze took a sip of tea and snorted slowly.
"Raising the price of salt is so high that profiteers can't afford it, so it's a bad idea."
What I have to say is that although Wen Tiren was a treacherous minister, he still had some abilities.
These three strategies, upper, middle and lower, can be regarded as ways to deal with this panic buying trend.
However, Li Yunze doesn't need to go to such trouble.
"When you open a shop to do business, and people spend money to buy salt, why should you arrest them? Besides, after the trend spreads, people will also come to buy salt. Are they arresting the people together? Confused!"
"As for the capture of the salt owl, do you think the salt owl is like a leek in the field that can be harvested if you want? Where can we catch the salt owl in such a hurry? There is no way to seize the private salt. It's nonsense."
He put down the tea bowl and shook his head slightly. "Finally, we have already written about the unified retail price before. If we say it will increase in the morning and evening, we will increase the price. No matter where the imperial decree is, we will do it randomly."
"Tell Cao Wenzhao to gather all the ships of the Yangtze River Navy at the largest dock outside Yangzhou City."
Li Yunze stood up after yawning, "Salt, I have plenty. If they like to store salt simply, I will satisfy their preferences."
Daming's salt production was very high, enough to meet everyone's needs.
But that's the annual output, which needs to be produced day by day. A short-term rush will inevitably lead to tight supply.
If it were anyone else, they would have to use Wen Tiren's strategy to deal with it, and the result would undoubtedly be a mess.
But for Li Yunze, this is nothing.
The largest dock in Yangzhou City is located in Guazhou in the south of the city, across the river from Zhenjiang on the other side of the river.
The originally bustling dock quickly became deserted due to the cessation of private salt business.
Many coolies who made a living by resisting parcels at the docks also lost their livelihoods.
During these days, except for making some money when transporting official salt, their income has been greatly reduced.
The dissatisfied contractors were still debating how to respond when they suddenly received a big job.
"Everyone go to the pier, and there are ships waiting to load salt!"
When the anti-pack coolies rushed to the dock, they saw that the river was full of navy ships.
While everyone was still surprised that something had happened, the door of Nuo Da's warehouse not far away opened, and the guard sergeants shouted, "Come in and resist the bag! One bag is worth a penny!"
As soon as the price came out, the coolies rushed to the warehouse with cheers.
For these bag-bearers, who rely on their strength to make a living, carrying a hundred and eighty bags is no big deal.
That's hundreds of dollars, enough to support a family for half a month.
When they ran into the warehouse, what they saw was a mountain of salt bags, so densely packed that they were too numerous to count.
Nothing to say, just line up and start working.
Hundreds of bag bearers worked together to transport the salt bags on an assembly line, and it didn't take long for a ship to be filled.
The ship there immediately set sail and headed straight for the designated destination along the waterway.
There is also a team of guards on board, responsible for escorting and supervising the entire journey.
The second ship quickly approached, and the baggage workers were busy again.
From breakfast to noon, the piles of salt packets in the warehouse were finally completely emptied.
After receiving their wages, the baggage workers looked at the closed warehouse door, happily counting their copper coins and preparing to go home.
Then a sergeant stopped them, "What are you doing? Come work here!"
Everyone was surprised when the door of another warehouse was opened, and after entering, there were mountains of salt bags!
"Where did you get all this salt?"
In the past, even if Jiangchun Jianghang was the first to ship goods, it would not be possible to have so many.
The baggage workers worked hard, and in the evening they finally emptied three salt warehouses.
When they were preparing to go home for dinner with a large bag full of copper coins, another sergeant shouted, "There is still work tonight, is there anyone willing to do it?"
Countless torches were lit around the pier, making sounds in the night wind.
The door of the fourth warehouse opened, and it was also full of salt bags.
There was a worker who was so tired that he gritted his teeth and wanted to make money. However, he was stopped by his smarter companions and said, "Silly, go back and fill your stomach first and then come back to work! Now that I have no strength, I can still carry a few more bags."
The baggage workers who came back from the meal worked hard to empty the fourth salt warehouse.
They were all very happy when they went home. They definitely made a lot of money today.
Although they are all so tired that they can hardly walk, their strength can be gained by going home and sleeping, and it is better than anything else if they can be exchanged for copper coins.
Early the next morning, the bag-bearers who were still sleeping were awakened by the knocking on the door of their companions.
"There's work on the dock again, and it's still a penny a bag!"
When they arrived at the dock, they were surprised to find that the doors of the salt warehouses that had been emptied yesterday were all open, and they were once again filled with bags of salt.
The bag bearers looked at each other and asked, "Where did you get so much salt?"
A few days later, a group of big businessmen from Yingtian Mansion gathered together and also shouted this sentence.
"Where did you get all this salt?"
After they launched salt hoarding in various places in the south of the Yangtze River, the effect was indeed very good at first. The stocks of salt shops in various places were wiped out, and the people who could not buy salt complained.
Even private salt, which had disappeared somewhat before, has become rampant again.
But within a few days, large quantities of extremely high-quality salt were shipped to various places in the south of the Yangtze River along with the navy's fleet.
The big merchants scanned goods again, but were shocked to find that more and more goods were scanned.
As long as I can bring you some silver and two copper coins, I will give you as much as you need, and I can cover the whole ship for you, no problem.
Although the price of salt is now cheap, no matter how much the imperial court sells, it costs ten cents per catty.
Moreover, these rich people have a huge amount of wealth in their hands.
But when the supply of goods reaches an almost endless amount, the vast wealth will eventually be spent.
"Master, we are almost running out of silver, what should we do?"
"Yes, Master. Now that the supply is sufficient, the common people no longer buy private salt. What should we do if we cannot sell the salt we have hoarded?"
"Amitabha." The kind-hearted Master Hongdu proclaimed the Buddha's name, "Everyone is worried. Although the emperor's side continues to produce salt, the Ming Dynasty's salt production is countless, and it cannot be conjured out of thin air. The poor monk thought that these might be
Official salt is transported through the canal from Changlu and even Sichuan and Shu."
"Impossible." Someone immediately retorted, "My merchant ships use the canal all year round, and there is no news of a large number of salt ships going south."
"You don't have to go through the canal, you can also go by sea."
"Now is not the time to talk about this. Now we have no money, what should we do?"
"Yes, if the court continues to provide it like this, the salt we hoard will have to be sold until the end of the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?"
Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Master Hongdu said again, "Dear good people, please listen to what I have to say."
"There are countless salt products, and the emperor cannot conjure them out of thin air. No matter where we get the salt, we just buy it. When there is no salt to produce, then we will not be able to sell it for a pound or a penny.
There are many people who want to buy it.”
"But there's no silver left."
"Haha~~~" Master Hongdu shook his long eyebrows and smiled very kindly, "I would like to contact various temples in the south of the Yangtze River and send money to you."
To put it bluntly, this is a typical nine-out and thirteen-out approach.
The temple lends believers money for incense and earns a lot of interest. If the money is not repaid, the mortgaged fields and houses will be confiscated.
Regardless of whether they can pay it back or not, they will make a lot of money.
Otherwise, where would those monks be able to eat well, live in temples coated with gold and silver, and have a large amount of bronze utensils, as well as a large amount of temple property and land?
The biggest source of money in various places in the south of the Yangtze River is the temples in various places.
Everyone was a little hesitant. After all, not only did the bank loan have interest, but it also had to be mortgaged.
Master Hongdu smiled and nodded cordially, "You don't have to worry. We have as much gold, silver, and copper coins as we need, but the court has a lot of salt. As long as the court can't bear it anymore, it will be earned back at least several times!"
"Good people, let's buy up all the emperor's salt!"