Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 363, Salt Merchant Gathering

"It's been saved for thirty years, the old man's head must be broken."

In the lounge behind the bank, Zhu Houzhao and Liu Jin witnessed the birth of the first deposit. Zhu Houzhao couldn't help shaking his head when he saw that Wang Shirui had saved it for [-] years.

"Actually, it's not like he doesn't know this, but he has no choice. His son is really disappointing. If he doesn't keep it in the bank, the money will definitely be lost."

Liu Jin said with a smile.

"It's really rich, [-] taels of silver, just a small businessman. The whole Daming doesn't know how many businessmen like this, and the famous Huizhou merchants don't know how much silver they have."

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then began to sigh again, there are so many rich people in Ming Dynasty.

Today is considered to be a lot of knowledge, a small businessman is only worth [-] taels of silver, and this is only silver, he must have a lot of land, real estate, etc., these are also silver, count it The value of this master Wang is really extraordinary.

This also let Zhu Houzhao know how pitiful his father was in the past. He lived frugally for ten years and only saved one million taels of silver. There are many people in Ming Dynasty who are richer than Emperor Hongzhi. The key is that Emperor Hongzhi was still stared at by the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty every day, calling you to be diligent and thrifty.

Emperor Hongzhi also realized this, so he also supported Zhu Houzhao's business with Liu Jin, and now he is involved in it himself.

You must know that now Emperor Hongzhi can receive a lot of memorials every day, saying that Emperor Hongzhi and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are fighting for the interests of the people, that the king is engaged in the way of merchants, it is unbecoming, and so on.

For these ministers, Emperor Hongzhi was getting farther and farther away from their control, and farther and farther away from the holy king in their minds. This made countless people feel sad, and wished they could die to remonstrate with Emperor Hongzhi.

But Emperor Hongzhi is not the Emperor Hongzhi in history. He now has factory guards as his eyes and ears. He has checked the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty clearly, seen the faces of countless people, and ignored them at all.

Some ministers seem to be upright and upright on the surface, but behind the scenes they have another way, living extravagantly and corruptly.

There are also some ministers who are stupid, brainless, ignorant, and only have the so-called sage king advocated by Confucianism in their heads. They are like stubborn cows, and they insist on pulling Emperor Hongzhi back.

"There are still a lot of rich people in our Ming Dynasty, and we don't know how much money there is in the underground."

Liu Jin smiled and said, the real rich are the salt merchants and Anhui merchants in the Jiangnan area, and each of them can be as rich as an enemy. This is definitely not a joke.

Soon, Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao left the bank and continued to wander around the capital.

……

Nanjing, the nominal capital of Ming Dynasty and the birthplace of Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang.

Because of its special status, Nanjing City has always been the economic center of the Ming Dynasty. Because it is located in the Jiangnan area, there are even more wealthy businessmen from all over the world, making the entire Nanjing City extremely prosperous and lively.

The land in the south of the Yangtze River has been a famous land of romance since ancient times, and Yangzhou Shouma is even more famous all over the world.

As the center of the Jiangnan area, Nanjing City has a long history and tradition in this regard, playing all kinds of tricks, such as competitions for oirans, brothels and Chu houses are just the most ordinary people who are really rich and powerful What I like more is to go to the flower boat to play.

A flower boat here is a gold-selling cave. It is very common to spend thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver a night. Some high-level flower boats cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a night. There have been.

At this time, the most famous flower boat in Nanjing—Yanyu Jiangnan, this flower boat is very large, it was rebuilt from a lucky boat, and it has always been the leader of the flower boat circle in Nanjing. It costs thousands of taels of silver to drink a cup of tea or listen to a piece of music on it.

Today, the Yanyu Jiangnan was chartered by a big businessman. The whole ship was slowly driving on the Yangtze River. A group of businessmen gathered on the ship, discussing something with each other.

"Everyone, I called you here today because there is a major matter that needs to be discussed that is related to the wealth of our people."

Sitting on the main seat was a handsome middle-aged man, very refined, he didn't look like a businessman, but more like a Confucian scholar.

His name is Cheng Boan, and he is the largest salt merchant in the Jiangnan area and a representative of Huizhou merchants. The Cheng family behind him is the leader among the top ten families of Huizhou merchants.

Hearing Cheng Bo'an's words, everyone cheered up one after another, and at the same time, the girls in their arms also left here one by one very wisely, so that they could discuss important matters quietly.

"A major event related to our financial resources?"

"That is related to salt. Is the imperial court going to reform the salt policy?"

A middle-aged man with a big belly stood up and asked. His name was Feng Xiang, and he was also a big salt merchant. The Feng family behind him was also a wealthy Huizhou merchant family.

"If the court reforms the salt administration, I don't worry about it. We also have people in the court, and if this is changed, we can also have policies and countermeasures."

Cheng Boan shook his head slightly and said.

"What's the matter then?"

Feng Lian asked hurriedly.

"That's right, old Cheng, don't be a fool, just speak up if you have something to say."

"Is there any news?"

The others also nodded and said.

"Do you still remember the new thing about allowing private saltworks to be run by the imperial court?"

Cheng Bo'an nodded, thought for a while and asked again.

"Remember, of course I remember, it's the matter of paying two million taels of silver to the imperial court every year to set up a saltworks, right?"

Feng Xiang nodded and said.

"I also remember this matter. We had a meeting once and talked about it. We said at the time that whoever wants to run this saltworks is a fool. After a saltworks pays two million taels of silver, don't even think about it. Earn a penny, but also lose blood."

Another person stood up and said, this person is called Zhu Benduan, and he is also a big salt merchant. The Zhu family is a big family in the Jiangnan area, monopolizing the salt of five salt farms, and their financial resources are extremely strong.

"That's right, a salt farm, even if those salt workers are exhausted, they can't produce much salt in a year, two million taels of silver, only a fool would run this private salt farm."

Feng Xiang smiled and nodded.

"What I want to tell you is that not only have people set up salt farms, but they have also started to take our business."

Cheng Bo'an looked at the crowd, and to be honest, he didn't expect that someone would actually set up a private saltworks, and could pose a threat to them.

You must know that they get salt from the salt field, which is basically zero cost. All you need is a salt guide. Every little official in the saltworks.

They only need to pay a small amount of silver to the imperial court every year, and they can get endless salt. The only thing they need to worry about is that the salt production in the salt field is really limited. That's all.

"Who?"

Zhu Benduan asked quickly.

"You mean that Liu Jin?"

Feng Xiang quickly remembered something, and immediately asked.

"Yes, that's him, this year's champion of the new division~"

Cheng Boan nodded, and then said: "The imperial court allowed private individuals to open salt farms, and he was the first one to do it. He set up a Changlu salt farm here in Tianjin."

"At the beginning, I didn't pay much attention to it. We've all played badly with salt. We all feel that no one can pay another two million taels of silver and only make money, unless his salt is sold at a sky-high price. "

"But we all underestimated this Liu Jin, and we were all too arrogant. Now the salt from Changlu Salt Field has begun to flow into the market on a large scale. In the northern region, North Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan have begun to have Changlu salt. Salt from the saltworks, our salt sales in this area have plummeted since last month, and this month sales are almost zero."

Cheng Bo'an explained the situation in detail, and when everyone heard this, their faces changed drastically.

"Is there so much salt in this Changlu Salt Field?"

"How can we seize the market in many provinces at once?"

Zhu Benduan thought for a while and asked.

"Yes, and it is absolutely beyond your imagination. The amount of salt produced is amazing. What's more important is that their salt is not only of high quality, but also very cheap. That's why they can produce salt in a very short period of time. The reason for seizing the market in northern provinces."

Cheng Boan nodded and said.

"Look at this salt, everyone. This is the salt produced by the Changlu Salt Field. They only sell it for thirty to fifty yuan a catty."

As Cheng Boan spoke, someone came up with trays of salt and put them in front of the salt merchants present. The salt merchants took a look at the salt in the tray, rubbed it carefully, and then tasted it lightly. All of them widened their eyes, and immediately understood why Cheng Boan was so nervous.

These salt merchants all have their own territories. Cheng Boan's territory is mainly for several provinces in the north, so he was the first to be impacted by the Changlu Salt Field. The sales plummeted last month, which made him stunned. Only after the investigation was clear did we understand the situation.

"Such fine salt, they only sell for less than fifty coins?"

Zhu Benduan asked in disbelief, they were all in the salt business, and knew very well that this kind of salt was definitely the best salt, and if it was in their hands, they would at least sell it for several hundred renminbi a catty.

"How is it possible? Only Shanxi's pool salt and Sichuan's well salt can compare with such high-quality salt, but the salt production in both places is very small. How could it affect our salt?"

Feng Xiang read it carefully, and after thinking about it, he shook his head again and again and said, such good salt is very expensive to sell, and the output is small, only the rich can afford it, so it will not have an impact on their sea salt of.

　If everyone is a salt merchant, how should we fight back against Liu Jin?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)