stubborn thief

The sixth day of the first lunar month.

Sun Zhensheng, a tribute student from Sanyuan and a wealthy businessman, brought his son, the scholar Sun Zhiwei, and, holding a visiting card personally issued by the Marshal's Office as an enlightened gentry, crossed the Xianyang Ferry and entered the city of Xi'an.

The journey was smooth.

This word is not a compliment at this time.

When the border soldiers from the Marshal's Office entered Xi'an Prefecture, they saw prosperity everywhere.

But for Sun Zhensheng, who has lived in Sanyuan for a long time, all he saw was scenes of decline.

  What place is Xianyang?

The most important water and land port in the northwest, from Xianyang to Xi'an is full of shops for floating merchants. Food, wood boards, hides, official tea and other general merchandise are all loaded here from various counties and transported to Shanxi and Henan by water.

In previous years, if you wanted to enter and leave Xi'an Prefecture, was it always smooth sailing?

The sound of horse hooves behind him interrupted his reverie. Without time to take a closer look, he hurriedly pulled his son to the side of the road.

Across the long street is the former Prince of Weiyang’s Palace. The dusty red door is half-open, and one can see a courtyard covered with withered grass and an imposing front gate tower with three rooms and five frames.

Sun Zhensheng then noticed that a group of more than ten elite soldiers from the general's mansion were patrolling the city on horseback.

The Hexi horse, dressed in half armor and decorated with an iron face armor, and the horse bells tinkled with the footsteps, giving off a sense of oppression.

The mounted cavalry were all dressed in red cloth and iron armbands, still dressed like the frontier soldiers with goose-feather swords hanging in front of their horses, large bows carried behind their horses, and more than ten three-foot-long arrows inserted into their bodies. The only difference was that there was an exotic flintlock pistol inserted in leather holsters on each side of the horse's neck.

However, the cloth armor was a lot larger, and from the seams one could see that it had a fur lining. The collar, cuffs, and hem of the armor were all furry as well.

It looks very warm.

His son Sun Zhiwei, who was a scholar, was only fifteen years old. When the patrolling cavalry passed by, he looked at the cavalry's backs and snorted coldly, "So arrogant!"

"My dear, don't say too much. We have done everything we can do."

Sun Zhensheng showed no fear or dissatisfaction. He just shook his head and said, "Things in life are unpredictable. Now that we are in Xi'an, don't think about those things anymore."

It's so unpredictable.

Sun Zhensheng studied since he was young, but failed to pass the imperial examination. He and his brothers became wealthy by selling Huai salt. He set up many businesses in Yangzhou and donated a casual official position of Fengyi Doctor. He is 55 years old this year.

He had eight sons, five of whom were in Yangzhou, following their uncles in business. Two years ago, because his eighth son Sun Zhiwei was going to take the boy's examination, he took his sons back to his hometown to take the exam.

I was very happy at first because my son was a child prodigy. He was only fifteen years old, but he passed the examination and was admitted as an attached student of the county school. He was awarded the title of scholar and was famous in Sanyuan!

  This is more valuable than anything else he could earn in Yangzhou. It brings honor to his father!

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong went on an expedition to the east, and Chang'an was in chaos due to war. The Tongguan Road was blocked, and the father and son could not go back all of a sudden.

Faced with national crisis, Sun Zhensheng did not stand idly by. Instead, he sold all his remaining wealth in Sanyuan and donated money to support the militia training and sending troops. Even Sun Zhiwei was pulled into the militia because he had passed the imperial examination and had many friends.

As a result, this army was defeated the next afternoon after it went out on the first day.

Fortunately, Sun Zhiwei was not injured. He did not even survive the battle between the landlord's armed forces and the Mongolian cavalry. He fell into a ditch and was knocked unconscious while marching in the dark the night before.

Even Mo Yujing's troops from the Marshal's Office discovered him the next morning on horseback and brought him to the camp. After asking around, they found out that he was a scholar from Sanyuan, so they sent two men to escort him home.

Mo Yujing didn't know that Sanyuan was organizing militia at that time, so he sent him home in the morning. It was not until the afternoon that the Mongolian cavalry encountered the landlord's armed forces.

The war was a mess, but it didn't matter to Sun Zhensheng. He just did his best and it didn't matter if he spent all his wealth. He didn't have much property in his hometown of Sanyuan.

However, it is inevitable to feel discouraged.

In fact, after the gentry's armed forces were defeated and Xi'an was opened, Sun Zhensheng had always planned to pack up and leave, move to Yangzhou and never come back.

Even when Ye Ding, the pseudo-official of the Marshal's Office of Sanyuan County, announced that he would invite enlightened gentry to Xi'an Prefecture to discuss important matters, he did not think of himself.

Considering Sanyuan's flourishing literary culture, numerous officials and wealthy merchants, Sun Zhensheng was not the biggest businessman, nor was he ranked high in terms of fame, and he had made all his wealth.

He didn't think this matter had anything to do with him. He just thought that if the Marshal's Mansion really came to ask for money and property, he had no money left and would have to die.

So I really hope that Wang Zheng, Jiao Yuanpu and others can withstand the pressure.

As it turned out, for some unknown reason, the young parents of Ye found me first.

He was also very easy to talk to. He didn't want his money or his life. He only said that he was a prestigious wealthy businessman and hoped to recommend him to the central government, so that he could understand the business environment in Shaanxi and offer suggestions for the business of the Marshal's Mansion.

It seems... quite formal.

Sun Zhensheng didn't dare to refuse when he first arrived.

Secondly, he is a businessman.

No businessman in the world can refuse the business environment of the Marshal's Mansion.

The Marshal's Office could turn any private industry into a government-run monopoly. Sun Zhensheng, who came from a salt merchant family, certainly understood what this meant - huge profits without competitors.

It was this huge profit that lured him into the city of Xi'an.

The father and son of the Sun family submitted their business cards to the Xi'an government office, and were then placed in the Yongshou Prince's Mansion opposite the government office to rest and wait for an interview.

The Yongshou County Prince's Mansion looks similar to the Weiyang County Prince's Mansion. Both have become dilapidated places with no one to take care of them. This place is even worse than the Weiyang County Prince's Mansion. Even the plaque has been removed.

But since it was a royal palace, the Sun father and son did not dare to wander around, and after being placed in the side rooms, they did not even dare to go out.

It was not until the afternoon that Yu Lin Lang shouted in the courtyard, and then he followed him all the way into the Qin Palace.

It was not until this time, when he heard Yu Lin Lang say that the Grand Marshal had summoned him, that Sun Zhensheng realized that Ye Ding's so-called recommendation to the Marshal's Office was actually a direct recommendation of him to Liu Chengzong.

When the group passed by the Temple of Heaven and Earth outside the palace, they saw hundreds of soldiers transporting stones, apparently in preparation for a ceremony to worship the heavens.

The father and son looked at this situation with complicated feelings and dared not say much, they just lowered their heads and hurried on their way.

Then the Yulin rider who led the way said, "The Marshal is meeting with the martial artists from the two counties. You don't have to kowtow when you see him. Just say hello. This will save the Marshal from having to support you."

This was half true and half false. It was true that there was no need to kowtow, but when others kowtowed, it was impossible for Liu Chengzong to help them one by one. At most, he would just say, "Please stand up."

Sun and his son entered the side hall and waited. Not long after, they heard several people walking quickly from the wind and rain corridor.

Someone said, "Feng Chaoyu, Zhao Deshou, and Chen Minshi of Chang'an are good at martial arts. There is also Zhang Yong of Xianning, but he is still young, but he is also very good at riding and shooting."

"Check these people's backgrounds to see if they are clean. If they are fine, recruit them into the Yulin Camp."

As they were talking, footsteps reached the door, and a warrior pushed open the door. A handsome young man with a short beard, accompanied by his servants, entered the hall in the cold air outside. He handed a lynx fur robe to the servant, and wore a leather shawl with dark patterns, a goose feather knife on his waist. He glanced at the father and son, walked to their side, and stretched out his hands to warm himself by the stove.

Only then did he say, "I am Liu Chengzong, and you are Uncle Zhensheng and Balang from Sanyuan?"

This familiar way of greeting made Sun Zhensheng stunned on the spot. He recovered his composure in an instant, but he completely forgot the instructions of the Yulin Cavalry. He immediately took a step back and was about to bow down: "Yes, I am here to pay my respects to you..."

Before he could finish, Liu Chengzong held him up with his hand and said, "No need to be so polite. Now that you are here, let's talk business."

"I heard from Ye Ding that the Sun family is a salt merchant in Yangzhou. How much impact will the closure of the border have on their business?"

Sun Zhensheng was stunned again when he heard this. He didn't know how to describe it to Liu Chengzong. The family business in Yangzhou was managed by the Yangzhou family, and the family business in Sanyuan... was also given away by him when he supported the militia training.

He shook his head and said, "Replying to the commander, my family does not have much business in Sanyuan, so it has no impact."

The Shaanxi salt merchants were a huge group that played an important role in the imperial salt industry in the early years, but they did not sell salt.

Their part was to provide military rations in the three borders and five towns in exchange for salt permits through the Kaizhong policy, and then sell the salt permits to salt merchants.

This is also the reason why there are more salt merchants in Shaanxi than in the Guanzhong Plateau. Their first identity is a big landlord.

However, as the Kaizhong Policy was abolished for a time, a large number of royal nobles invested in the salt industry. They relied on their status to put pressure on the salt officials, used one salt permit to repeatedly withdraw salt, and also had priority in redeeming official salt due to their status.

This blurred the boundaries between official salt and private salt.

This was actually the court's response to the financial crisis by selling the salt industry in packages to royal relatives and overdrawing on credit.

Ordinary merchants were unable to compete with their privileged counterparts and withdrew one after another. Some stopped dealing in salt, while some stubborn ones began to sell private salt.

Such aristocratic monopoly soon collapsed, and the imperial court was forced to restore the Kaizhong method and include private salt purchased by merchants from salt farmers in the system, calling it surplus salt, which was mixed with official salt and sold in bundles.

After all this trouble, the items that the salt merchants needed to pay increased from one to three: the money for opening the business, the capital for buying the remaining salt, and the remaining salt tax to be paid to the prefect after buying the remaining salt.

This income could provide the Ming Dynasty with 1.5 million taels of silver every year, and could also solve some of the food source problems for border towns, but the border merchants and salt merchants were much weaker.

During this process, Shaanxi merchants once again became border merchants, partners of the salt industry, exchanging grain for permits and then permits for money.

This was the situation before Wanli.

Half of the salt in the Ming Dynasty was managed by the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office. This department had a total of 60 officials and 100 clerks. Compared with its huge responsibilities, the department was already extremely difficult to operate.

During the Wanli period, a large number of officials were left vacant and the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office was unable to stay out of the matter. The collapse of the salt industry was inevitable.

What's more, Wanli once again issued a large number of salt permits to the royal family. Due to the huge overdraft, the salt industry collapsed again, causing starvation among the border troops during the Tianqi and Chongzhen years.

At the same time, the salt permits for border towns were no longer valuable. The price of a salt permit dropped to a few cents of silver, only one-tenth of the official price, and no one came to buy it.

Under such circumstances, Shaanxi merchants had a large number of salt permits but nowhere to sell them, so they had no choice but to move south to Yangzhou and become salt merchants themselves.

It was at that time that Sun Zhensheng went to Yangzhou with a salt permit in hand and built up his family fortune.

Liu Shizi did not comment on the statement that it had "no impact". He knew that Sun Zhensheng sold 14 houses and 50 acres of land to finance the landlords' militia.

This is not to say that Sun Zhensheng had no money, but that he mortgaged his land to finance militia training, which gave him more reputation.

In his understanding, this was not forced by the situation, but Sun Zhensheng's way of building momentum for his son who had just passed the examination to become a scholar.

However, this was a different time, so Liu Chengzong didn't need to bring up the matter. He just asked, "What do you think of the current Shaanxi salt industry?"

Sun Zhensheng quickly shook his head.

He really had no idea at all. Salt was like anything else, it had always been a government-run business.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was even more special. In the early years, the Sino-French Treaty helped a lot in stabilizing the grain prices in the border areas, which once stabilized at the level of four or five cents of silver per stone of grain.

Later, because the imperial court was not sincere and used it as a tool to make money, it kept overdrawing its credit and corrupting the salt law, which also led to the collapse of the grain market in the border areas, with huge consequences.

At present, the Marshal's Office did not even have a salt law in Shaanxi, so Sun Zhensheng dared not have any ideas. He only said: "I don't know much about the salt industry in Shaanxi, but I do have ideas about the tea, leather, coal, paper, wood, lacquer, fungus, ear, and medicine industries. If the Marshal wants to attract investment to build a factory..."

Before he could finish, Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "Mr. Sun, I don't want merchants, but officials who are proficient in business."

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he turned to look at Sun Zhensheng and asked, "What is the ear karma you are talking about?"

"Oh, it's wood ear. Similar to fungi, they are both specialties of the Qinba Mountains. Locals in Shangnan, Hanzhong and other places have set up factories, using rosewood and cycad wood to make wood pickers. The wood will grow in the next year, which can be profitable for three years. After three years, the newly grown wood can be used to pick wood again. In previous years, merchants went to buy them and made a lot of profit."

As Sun Zhensheng said this, his mind was rapidly thinking about what Liu Chengzong had said about the need for officials who were proficient in business, and his heart was moved.

He couldn't help but say to Liu Chengzong: "The Grand Marshal is rich in green salt. If the salt is sold in the middle, the trade route will be opened, and the salt ponds and border towns will become more and more prosperous..."

The more Sun Zhensheng spoke, the softer his voice became, and his heart felt colder.

The Shaanxi Salt Development, which he was familiar with, was established on the basis of the large number of garrisons in the three borders and five towns and the insufficient local grain output.

  The destroyer of this environment is right in front of us. He has pulled out all the border troops, so why would he need salt to open the center?

Doesn't it seem ridiculous that he is completely unaware of the situation when he says this?

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong did not laugh at him. Instead, he listened very seriously. When he saw him pause, he urged him in a calm tone, "Go on."

Sun Zhensheng didn't dare to say anything, but just shook his head and said: "The Grand Marshal's border town garrison doesn't seem to need to be supplied with food."

"The Three Borders and Five Garrisons are not needed, but the southern and northern parts of the desert need them. Even if the central part is not needed, the salt quota system is still feasible."

Liu Chengzong nodded and said, "The trade routes you mentioned are open and prosperous, which is very useful to the Marshal's Office."

Sun Zhensheng looked embarrassed and said, "Since the border soldiers started to demand military pay, private salt has taken root everywhere in Shaanxi. I'm afraid it won't be easy to rebuild the official salt industry."

"Smuggling? Ha, ha."

Liu Chengzong couldn't help but laugh, and waved his hand, saying, "It doesn't matter. Nothing is easy these days. Since you have such an idea, I will appoint you as the Imperial Salt Inspector. Your office will be in the Tea Inspectorate next to the Yongshou Palace. I will also assign some personnel to investigate the salt industry first, such as the amount of salt used in each province, the number of stoves, and the appropriate price of salt permits."

He estimated that if the salt permit system was implemented in Shaanxi, the profit would definitely not be as high as the previous distribution of green salt by the Hehuang government. After all, it was selling salt permits, not selling salt.

But the benefits of unimpeded trade routes are also great.

What's more, the territory is now much larger than Hehuang. Even if the unit price is cheap, the government can sell salt permits and it is estimated that there can be an income of 200,000 taels.

If the crackdown on smuggled salt is efficient, this income can be increased further.

"Show me the specific rules after some time." (End of this chapter)