"Grain?" The old man looked at Chu Huan, "Is there any good way for Duke Chu?"

Chu Huan said: "Grandmaster, as far as I know, although the treasury is empty, it does not mean that the empire has no food, especially the gentry in the wealthy areas in the pass, who have huge grain reserves at home."

The old man smiled and said, "This is also common. If there is land, there is food. In addition to spending part of the grain of the employed farmers and paying part of the tax, a lot of it can be saved. If it is an official family, there is no need to pay taxes, and the food will be stored every year." He sighed, "Just like our Su family, before the people of Xiliang came here, it also had its own granary, and the grain was stored at tens of thousands of stones. After the people of Xiliang came here, we also funded part of the officers and soldiers..." He shook his head and smiled bitterly: "It's just that the people of Xiliang came too fast and the Qin army could not resist it. When we took refuge, we didn't have time to transfer the grain. When we looked back later, the grain in the granary had been looted. Some of them were stolen by the people of Xiliang, but most of them were stolen by the refugees in the northwest...!"

Chu Huan laughed and said, "That's it. The wealthy places in the pass, such as Jinling Road, Yuling Road, and Suhang Road, are all rich families, many of them are aristocratic families who do not have to pay taxes to the court. Their food is definitely not a small number of."

"Not bad." The old man nodded and said, "These places are called wealthy places. It is not that they really paid a lot of taxes to the court, but that there are many gentry and wealthy families in those places. I remember that our Su family was also the most important family in Xiguan Road, but if we went to Suhang, Jinling and other places, we would not be able to rank at all."

"Grandmaster, do you think if we exchange salt for food with them, would they be willing to do this transaction?"

The old man pondered for a moment and finally said, "If it were me who traded some food, it would be impossible to ask for it. The people were not sure about the situation, but they knew it clearly. Knowing that the salt wasteland was approaching, they were afraid that they had already stored salt secretly. These gentry clans were good at observing the direction of the wind. Once something was missing on the market, they would more or less hurry up and save some."

"That's a wind direction." Gongsun Chu also smiled and said, "As long as there are one or two well-informed people, they should hurry up and be informed by other big investors, the other big investors will immediately follow and store them. It is inevitable that a salt shortage in the pass is inevitable. Those gentry and wealthy people know that they will definitely seize the time to store salt. However, this thing is beginning to be in short supply. There are too many monks and less porridge, and there is only so much salt on the market. The Salt Road Yamen cannot watch them buy all the salt. Once the salt is occupied by them, the salt shortage will come early. Once the people get in chaos, the officials of all sizes of the Salt Road Yamen will not be able to take advantage of it."

Chu Huan smiled and said, "In this way, if we enter the pass, it will be considered timely rain for them?"

The old man stroked his white beard, "Although Duke Chu's idea is very good, but... will the salt yamen of each road allow us to do this? Although the official documents of the new salt entering the customs have been approved, it is also clear that we only provide the source of goods and truly control the market. They will not watch us exchange new salt for food, but ignore it...!" The wrinkled face was smiling, "If this new salt is taken care of by the salt yamen, they will always get some benefits. If they leave them aside, they will not let us do things smoothly."

Chu Huan laughed and said, "The old man said it well. The most important thing is that the supply of goods is in our hands. Recently, several salt making farms have been added. Although new salt is made day and night, the quantity is still limited. With the current ability, we cannot supply the entire empire at all... Although we have obtained the documents for entry into the customs, we are not able to supply all the various departments in the customs."

"What do you mean by sir?"

"Even if there is a salt famine, even if it is forced, the Salt Road yamen will inevitably have great relations. The people have no salt to eat, so they will inevitably make trouble in the Salt Road yamen. The officials of the Salt Road yamen will inevitably suffer. Not to mention oil and water, I am afraid that even their lives will be gone." Chu Huan said slowly: "Maybe it is not too serious at the moment, but the people of the Salt Road yamen must know what's going on. As long as the source of salt food is cut off, the fattest Salt Road yamen in the world will soon become a Qingshui Yamen, and they will face the siege of the people. So according to my judgment, the officials of each Salt Road yamen are worried day and night that the salt source will break."

The old man laughed and said, "No, without the salt source, the salt road yamen will be nothing."

"So what they are most concerned about is the salt source issue." Gongsun Chu also understood, "We produce new salt in Xiguan. We must know about this matter. The salt road yamen that specializes in salt food is even more impossible to know. The court has criticized the new salt from Wenxiguan to enter the pass, but I am afraid that those people from the salt road yamen will look forward to it and wait for us to go there quickly."

The old man smiled and said, "Duke Chu said that our new salt is mainly supplied to the northwest. With the current output, it cannot supply the entire empire. Not to mention now, even if the scale is really expanded, the sixteen roads of the Qin Dynasty, the territory is thousands of miles, and the population is tens of millions, we still cannot supply it... So not every salt road yamen has the opportunity to get our new salt."

Seeing that the old man was a little cunning, Chu Huan knew that the old guy had already understood something, so he reached out to pull up a dead grass from the ground and said with a smile: "In this way, the initiative is entirely on our side. The court did not order us to supply all the prefectures and counties in the empire. The documents in our hands only gave us the right to enter the customs and sell salt. Where to sell salt and how much supply it can be provided, we have the final say."

Gongsun Chu was also an extremely smart person, with a light flashing in his eyes, "As long as this is the case, we have the initiative and we have to make some requests with the Salt Road Yamen. Of course, they will not ignore it."

"If we don't think about it, we won't provide salt sources." Chu Huan said: "Before the new salt enters the pass, we will send people to the pass to talk to the salt yamen of each road and tell them that we can provide them with the salt yamen. The new salt we provide to them must be exchanged for grain. Excluding the 30% tax paid to the court, we must get equivalent grains, whether it is grain, millet, beam, soybeans, barley, wheat, rice, as long as it is grain, we must."

The old man asked, "Does Chu want the Salt Road Office to come forward to do this transaction?"

"Not bad." Chu Huan nodded and said, "Transfer the new salt to the Salt Road Office. The Salt Road Office provides us with food according to the value of the same. They go to negotiate with the big grain storage households and trade them from it themselves. In this way, they can still get some oil and water. We secretly give some benefits. After all, we all have to eat. Since we have to run away, we naturally have to give them some sweetness...!"

"Who are we sending to negotiate?"

"Mr. Gongsun, you still have to do this." Chu Huan said with a smile.

"Ah?" Gongsun Chu was stunned, "Did you ask the officials to negotiate? But... But the officials are not good at salt affairs and are not good at this kind of trading transaction...!"

Chu Huan waved his hand and smiled, "Mr. Gongsun misunderstood. You are the governor of Yuezhou. You are going to the pass to investigate the negotiations between reality and reality. Of course, you can't let you go. And even if you let you go, it would be injustice."

"What does that mean by sir?"

"You can go to Lu Dongting of the Xiguan Salt Road Yamen." Chu Huan said: "After the establishment of the New Salt Bureau, the Xiguan Salt Road Yamen has never had anything to do, and now it's time for them to do something."

Lu Dongting, the operation envoy of the Salt Road Yamen in Xiguan, was always responsible for the salt transportation affairs of Xiguan. It was also very comfortable to sit in the position of the Salt Road Yamen in the Salt Road Yamen in the position. However, the salt supplied from the court was getting less and less, and Lu Dongting was in a mess. If Chu Huan had not made new salt and solved the great salt waste facing the northwest, the consequences would have been unimaginable. He, the transport envoy, would not have been able to sit leisurely in the yamen to drink tea every day like now.

After Chu Huan made new salt, Lu Dongting once thought that oil and water had come. However, Chu Huan simply left him aside and set up a new salt yamen directly. Lu Dongting wanted to intervene but had no idea that the salt transported by the court belonged to Lu Dongting's salt yamen, but the court obviously did not expect that the northwest could produce salt. From the production to the sales of new salt in the northwest, Lu Dongting didn't know if he was qualified to intervene. Although he submitted some complaints to the capital, it was like a rock sinking into the sea and there was no news. So the once fat and oily Xiguan Salt Road yamen became a real clean water yamen, and the various departments and yamen even forgot that there was still this yamen.

Gongsun Chu understood, "Sir, did you say that Lu Dongting would go to the pass to talk to them?"

Chu Huan laughed and said, "Lu Dongting is the transshipment officer of the Salt Road Bureau. It is most appropriate for him to do this. After all, he is a person from the Salt Road and is very familiar with salt affairs. Finally, there is something to do. Lu Dongting should work hard."

"It would be a good idea to ask him to go to the pass to inquire first." Gongsun Chu nodded.

"It's just about this matter, will the court have any objections?" asked Old Master Su.

"It shouldn't be." Chu Huan shook his head and said, "There is a shortage of salt in the pass and a shortage of food in the pass. We will not only help the court solve the dilemma of salt famine in the pass, but also solve the problem of food in the pass. It kills two birds with one stone. Even if there is something wrong with the rules in the middle, the court can only turn a blind eye."

Gongsun Chu said: "Since that's the case, after Xiaguan returns to the city, he can go to Lu Dongting to discuss the matter and let him enter the pass as soon as possible."

Chu Huan looked at the old man and said, "Old man, if nothing goes wrong with changing the new salt and grain, it should be imperative. If possible, I would like to ask you to help you form several transportation teams to transport goods. If this matter is directly brought to the government, it would not be very good."

The old man immediately said, "This is not difficult, I have to cover it. I remember that we traded with Guannei, from Guannei to the northwest, we were very familiar with the roads of black and white along the way, so there would be no major problems." After a pause, Chu Huan saw a hint of worry in his eyes and asked, "What are the old man's concerns?"

"The rest is nothing, but... from Guannei to Xiguan, you must pass the ground of Qingzhou on Beishan Road...!" The old man said softly: "Beishan is Xiao Huanzhang's territory. If this journey of Qingzhou is just waiting for us, Xiao Huanzhang will hold it in his hands. It would be fine if there is nothing wrong. Once Xiao Huanzhang cuts off the road in Qingzhou and blocks the checkpoints along the way, our trade with Guannei will break... This business road was pinned to Xiao Huanzhang."

Chu Huan frowned, thoughtful, silent for a moment, with a cold expression, and finally said: "If you pinch this road, just wait until the livelihood of the people of Xiguan, it would be fine. If Xiao Huanzhang really wanted to interfere, I would never be polite... He wants our lives, and we will not let him live well."
Chapter completed!