Chapter 4 Blackmailing Salt Merchant (I)

Zhu Yinglong and the others came early, and the meeting time was set at noon. According to the inherent habits of Chinese people, big people never went in advance and only fell behind. Therefore, even if there were crowds of people at the entrance of Qionglin Garden, no one of the real people on the stage came, let alone the officials, I don’t know that they were staying in the gentle village of Ge.

Perhaps it was because Zhu Yinglong's outfit was too eye-catching, or Cheng Huaixiu, who had disguised himself, could not hide his peerless charm, or the Hai brothers were too eye-catching, anyway, they attracted a lot of attention as soon as no one entered their business, some were contemptuous, some were envious, some shook their heads and sighs, and even some were greedy.

"San Master, there is an empty table over there!" Looking at Hai Chengxin's honest and honest voice, it turned out at the corner, and there was a lonely old table at the end of the corridor, with several plates of fruits and pastries on it.

If he really looked at the show, Zhu Yinglong would definitely choose that table. No one would pay attention to it, no one would pay attention to it, no one would show off the mountain, no water, it would be the best, but he had the purpose. If he really sat there, would there be someone to ask about it? Isn’t he not able to hear anything? Therefore, Zhu Yinglong shook his head at Hai Chengxin and walked straight to the most lively place in the lobby.

"Three guys, why are you so happy? Is there a place to sit down?" Zhu Yinglong quickly stepped forward, raised his head and chest, stepped forward and bowed his fists, with a smile on his face that was neither humble nor arrogant.

The three fat salt merchants in the middle had a very happy conversation. The spitting stars flew everywhere and were suddenly interrupted. At the same time, they all looked up and saw Zhu Yinglong's face with a calm smile. They were stunned. Are there such an extraordinary person in Yangzhou City?

"Are you a salt merchant?" The fat master who was close to Zhu Yinglong unnaturally moved his body back, as if he felt a little ashamed.

"It's true!" Zhu Yinglong bent down and said, "The lesson he taught in the teahouse was profound. He looked like a country bun, and others were reluctant to say no to you, so he would talk to you immediately. As soon as his temperament changed, his image changed immediately.

"Brother, please sit down!" The older one in the middle seemed to be the leader of the three. When he said this, both of them said nothing, which was to be convinced that Zhu Yinglong had temporarily been at the same table with them.

Zhu Yinglong hugged his fist gratefully, pulled Cheng Huaixiu and sat down.

"What is this?" The salt merchant on Zhu Yinglong's right saw Cheng Huaixiu sitting down and asked.

"This is a slut. I have to come with me and see what the emperor looks like. I can't argue, so I brought it here." Zhu Yinglong smiled and explained awkwardly. When he came in, he glanced at the lobby and found that most salt merchants came alone, and there were very few people with their children, let alone those who brought their wives.

The three of us at the same table looked at each other and smiled. The salt merchant in the middle said, "The couple is so loving, so I really envied us all!"

"Let the three brothers laugh." Zhu Yinglong smiled and covered up his embarrassment. Cheng Huaixiu smiled generously at the three of them, then glanced at Zhu Yinglong tenderly and said, "I begged him to come. We ordinary people will never see the emperor in our lives. How can we miss this opportunity today?"

"Have you asked for your brother's name yet?"

"My younger brother's surname is Huang, and he ranks third in his family. He is a naughty man. Don't ask for advice?"

"Oh, it turns out it's Brother Huang, Mrs. Huang, my surname is Zhou, one of them is Wu and the other is Wang."

"It turns out it's Brother Zhou, Brother Wu and Brother Wang, I'll be lucky, I'll be lucky!" Zhu Yinglong stood up and greeted him enthusiastically again. Cheng Huaixiu also stood up and said a blessing to the three of them.

"Brother Huang is so lucky. He married such a well-educated and well-educated wife!" Wu Jiong exclaimed softly. Cheng Huaixiu had quietly told him the names of the three of them. The oldest man with a white goatee in the middle, named Zhou Buqun, was also a celebrity in Yangzhou City. This person is not a private person. He is a Juren and has a certain character. On the left side of Zhou Buqun is the one who just now, Wu Jiong, a scholar who fell into the past, and a regular visitor in the romantic field. He had a family in his early years, but later he became a little excited after he started working in business. He was lingering in the romantic place, both qi and blood were deficient. A typical medicine jar, named Wang Fu, who was born barefoot on the right, started from picking salt, and worked for decades to make him earn hundreds of thousands of yuan in his family business. He had a little hunchbacked figure. He had lost his problems in picking salt in the early years. He has gained weight in recent years. If he didn't look carefully, he wouldn't be able to see it.

Zhu Yinglong smiled and told Wu Jiong about his praise.

"Just just now, I saw the three brothers talking excitedly. I took the initiative to disturb you. I wonder what the three brothers are talking about?" Zhu Yinglong asked.

"Brother Huang, you are also a salt merchant, don't you not know?" Zhou Buqun asked in surprise.

"Oh, no, my father felt a little uncomfortable, so he sent me over. My brother rarely paid attention to the business at home." Zhu Yinglong quickly explained.

"So that's it, no wonder!" Wu Jiong said with a few twitches, thinking to himself, it turned out that it was the surrogate father present. No wonder he didn't understand the rules. How could he bring his wife in such an occasion?

"Do you have fame and fortune?" Zhou Buqun asked.

"Yes, I'm not talented. Four years ago, the 16th place in the second place in Yingtianfu's provincial examination!" Zhu Yinglong said nonsense.

"Oh, silence, silence, I'm young, I really didn't see it. No wonder, no wonder!" Zhou Buqun said with his eyes, he was reluctant to be with the scholar, and it was a bit uncomfortable to sit with a rough man. Now when he met someone on the same line as him, Zhou Buqun's impression of Zhu Yinglong suddenly improved a lot, and his tone became much more enthusiastic.

"Brother, did Lord Lingzun tell you what to do before leaving?" Wu Jiong suddenly lowered his head and asked in a low voice.

"What are you explaining?" Zhu Yinglong said in a daze.

"Silver notes!"

"Silver notes!" Zhu Yinglong looked at the three of them in surprise. When he came to see the emperor, what silver notes would he bring?

"Brother really doesn't know?" Wang Fu, who had been silent for a long time, also spoke out in surprise. He probably just now was silent because he couldn't speak.

Even Cheng Huaixiu was a little surprised, but in front of the three pairs of eyes, she couldn't remind Zhu Yinglong, so she could only show a hint of confusion.

"Although the emperor talks about meetings with us salt merchants today, in fact, there are meetings such salt merchants once a year, so Lord Ling Zun will tell you!" Zhou Buqun said strangely. There were several salt merchants surnamed Huang in Yangzhou City. For a time, he could not guess which company Zhu Yinglong came from.

No wonder Zhu Yinglong didn't know that every year, all the salt merchants in Yangzhou are convened by the three major general merchants to discuss how to divide the official salt and salt turbulences of Lianghuai Salt Farm. In addition to the procurement of the inner government and the rewards to the princes and nobles, this year, the Lianghuai Salt Farm will have nearly 1.8 million salt turbulences to the salt merchants for operation. The three general merchants divided about 1.7 million, and the remaining more than 100,000 were left to local salt merchants in Yangzhou. Although the three general merchants have strong strength, it is impossible to eat up all 1.7 million salt turbulences. Moreover, they also have many salt merchants under their command, which involves a distribution issue, so a "salt turbulence" transaction has emerged. In fact, many salt merchants here are second-hand dealers. In fact, they can't get salt at all. What to do? To do business, they can only get salt from those who can get salt.

The people who attract people to buy it, and they only get about 5,000 salt entries on the official side, but the salt entries they buy are more than 20,000. Otherwise, his business will be severely reduced and cannot be maintained. Therefore, this kind of salt merchant gathering is equivalent to a salt entries circulation conference. When the salt entries are the most expensive, they can sell them for five taels of silver. For example, the three major general merchants, they get a large amount of salt entries from the government. In fact, they do not operate it themselves, and they sell them to the salt merchants below. The salt merchants below use salt to draw salt, but they do not need it. The government has their records and directly pull salt. In this way, the government originally issued a 1.8 million salt entries, which can be doubled after all. This is a typical collusion between officials and businessmen and exploit loopholes in the court's salt law.

Originally, the court stipulated that each salt farm would set the annual production amount and buy it by the public, called "principal salt" and pay it to the production. Each 400 kilograms of salt was given to rice. After the 17th year of Hongwu, the rice was transferred to banknotes, and each 2,500 cents were transferred to Lianghuai and Liangzhe, and the remaining two thousand were held in each place. The transportation and sales of official salt were undertaken by the investment. Each nanometer was transferred to the warehouse. After the rice was collected, it was sent to the salt, indicating the quantity, the salt was taken, and the transportation and sales area.

Domain. After the sale is completed, the salt should be entrusted and disposal within five days to prevent one and two purposes. In the main salt, there are two types: "official salt" and "customer salt": transported to the official warehouse for official use for government use, it is called official salt; if the inducement merchant is taken by the inducement and sold legally, it is called guest salt. In addition, it is all private salt. The salt is sold by the inducement merchant, and the salt is not separated from the inducement; otherwise, it is also considered as private salt theory, and the punishment is severe. If the seller is hanged or bought private salt for consumption, the crime will be reduced to one level, and he must be exerted.

But in line with that sentence, rules are dead, people are alive, and the distribution of salt quotas is controlled in the hands of the government. If the government is unwilling to send it to you, you really have no choice. Therefore, the most important thing for salt merchants is to bribe officials who can manage salt quotas, so there is more and more behind-the-scenes operation, and it is becoming more and more bold. The normal operation of official and salt has been completely destroyed by the collusion between officials and businessmen. They have long formed a huge network of interests, deceiving subordinates and concealing superiors. It is not that there is no official censor who has participated in it. Unfortunately, the stones are all sinking into the sea. The emperor probably has not seen it. After Zhu Yinglong ascended the throne, he did not pay attention to the Daolianghuai and the sky.

The corruption and fraud in the salt business even airborne Shen Xi, who was the most capable, was to Lianghuai. Although he also provided a lot of evidence, he tried his best to dissuade Zhu Yinglong from being too hasty in salt business. Zhu Yinglong himself felt that the time to rectify the salt business was not mature, so he had the opportunity to take advantage of the southern expedition to see how corrupt the salt business was. Unexpectedly, it would shock him to this extent. These salt merchants were digging for the country. Why did he say that Lianghuai Salt Factory produced so much salt annually, and half of them disappeared inexplicably. It turned out that this was the case. The salt merchants were not rich!

Of course, there are some other things. As long as there are people in the government, there is no problem with one or two uses, and there is no problem with three uses. Zhou Buqun and the other two will never tell Zhu Yinglong these tricks.
Chapter completed!