I, Jiajing, successfully cultivated immortality

Chapter 218 High Salt Price

The people looked in the direction pointed by the man, and saw several salt shops quietly open opposite, with a plaque of Huitong Salt Shop hanging on them.

The people quickly flocked here, for fear of falling behind others.

"Give me a catty of salt!"

"I want it too, give me two catties!"

Facing the swarming crowd, the clerk of Huitong Salt Shop was a little at a loss, so he kept trying to persuade him.

"Don't worry, take your time, we have plenty of salt here!"

At this moment, the shopkeeper of the salt shop came out at a leisurely pace, with a smile all over his face, and said slowly.

"Everyone stop, I have something to announce!"

"Everyone knows that salt is in short supply right now, and we are also trading at a loss! There is only so much salt in stock, and it will be gone when it is sold out."

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, everyone present had an ominous premonition in their hearts.

"It's not going to increase the price!"

Afterwards, the words from the shopkeeper's mouth confirmed everyone's guess.

"So, if you want to buy salt, you have to pay more!"

"The price of table salt will rise from seven Wen a catty to sixteen Wen a catty."

As expected, the shopkeeper's words aroused resistance from the people at the scene.

"Bah, what is it!"

"Profitable merchants, taking advantage of the lack of salt to raise prices, more than tripled!"

"I don't believe it. You are the only salt shop in the city? Let's go look elsewhere."

Soon, more than half of the people at the scene left.

The shopkeeper didn't seem surprised by this, but looked at the rest of the people and comforted him.

"Right now, Huitong Salt Store is the only one that has salt in the city! If you want to buy it, you can buy it while the price is low, otherwise, the price will be one day at that time."

Faced with this blatant extortion, all the people present were full of resentment and stared angrily!

Just when some people were still hesitating whether to buy or not, a waiter ran over quickly, whispered a few words in the shopkeeper's ear, and then left quickly.

After the shopkeeper heard the news, he also shared it with the people present.

"Everyone, I'm sorry, the owner just sent someone to deliver the news that the price of salt has to go up even more! Now a catty of salt costs seventeen cents."

"However, I can pretend that I didn't hear the news, and sell it to everyone at the price of sixteen cents a catty of salt!"

After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he took a sip of hot tea from the hand of the guy beside him.

Faced with this news, the people present were shaken. They were not sure whether the price of salt would continue to rise tomorrow!
Looking at the confident shopkeeper in front of him, someone has already started groping for money on him.

"Give me a catty of salt!"

A man in coarse linen gritted his teeth, took out money from his pocket, slapped it on the table, and said loudly.

"Okay, wait a minute!"

Seeing this, the guy at the side quickly took the money and money, and quickly packed a catty of salt for the man.

"Go slow!"

The man took the bag containing the salt, weighed it roughly, and left quickly.

"Everyone can rest assured, we are a big salt company, and we will never do anything that is short of weight!"

Seeing this, the shopkeeper at the side immediately assured the people present.

If there is the first one, there will naturally be a second and a third!Soon, the emotions of the people present were mobilized one after another.

"Give me a catty of salt!"

"I want a catty too!"

"I want two catties!"

Looking at the people in front of him who were paying high prices for salt, a smile appeared on the face of the shopkeeper.

"It's time to send it!"

……

And the group of people who couldn't accept the high salt price before found out after visiting all the salt shops in the city, that the salt shops in the city were either out of salt or the price had increased!

Moreover, the price increase is exactly the same as that of Huitong Salt Shop. It is hard not to believe that this is not intentional collusion.

"Is it really unreasonable? Let's go, let's go to the government and sue them!"

"Yes, let the government give us justice!"

"Let's go, let's go to the government!"

Soon, the excited people gathered in front of the government office, and they wanted the government to come forward to punish these salt merchants.

In the government office, Cao Shunhe was thinking about how to pass the news out.

I saw the subordinates hurried in and reported to him.

"Lord governor, it's not good, there are people gathering outside to make trouble!"

"What, what happened, why are there people gathered outside the government office?"

After Cao Shunhe heard the news, he was quite surprised, and then asked.

"Report to the governor, the people outside are clamoring for the government to come forward and punish those salt merchants!"

"I heard from them that the price of salt in the city has risen from the original seven yuan to the current sixteen yuan!"

Facing Cao Shunhe's questioning, the subordinate replied after hesitating for a moment.

"What? From seven pennies to sixteen pennies! This group of profiteers, I can't spare them!"

"Take me there!"

After listening to the news brought by his subordinates, Cao Shunhe was also quite annoyed, so he ordered so.

"Yes, Lord Governor!"

After the subordinate responded, he led the way in front of himself.

After hearing the news, the local prefect Zheng Shizhong immediately left his official duties and rushed to the scene of the incident without stopping.

"If you let this group of unscrupulous people disturb the governor, then you will be finished!"

Thinking of this, Zheng Shizhong couldn't help speeding up.

At this moment, the guards of the government office are confronting this group of people.

"What are you guys doing here? Do you want to rebel? Hurry up and disperse!"

I saw that the guards of the government office formed a human wall to block the people outside, and pulled out the long knife from their waists, threatening like this.

"Please, sir, go in and let us know. We are almost dying. Now a catty of salt has risen from seven Wen to sixteen Wen!"

"Please also ask the governor to make the decision for me!"

Among the crowd, someone soon stood up and asked the guards.

"No, the governor is busy with his daily duties, how can he waste time on you?"

"You guys should go to the magistrate!"

And one of the leading officials said so after listening to the demands of the people.

"But my lord, we just came over from the magistrate, he said he is not capable of handling this matter, let's go to the governor!"

"The prefect can't do it, and the governor can't do it either, so who should we go to?"

"Hmph, they just don't want to solve the problem for us! Let's rush in and meet the governor directly!"

"That's right, let's rush in and let the governor decide for us to punish those salt merchants!"

After listening to the official's words, the crowd became more excited and even gradually began to push and shoved.

"What do you gangsters gather here for? Do you want to rebel?"

"If you disturb the governor, I will never spare you!"

At this moment, Zheng Shizhong, the local magistrate, finally arrived at the scene, accompanied by a large number of guards.

Under Zheng Shizhong's order, the group of guards under him quickly surrounded the common people.

"Hmph, you gangsters gathered here for no reason today, there must be someone instigating behind you!"

"Wait for the officer to take you back, have a good trial, and find out who is behind the scenes!"

"Come on, bring them all back to the prison! Severe interrogation."

Zheng Shizhong squinted his eyes, looked at the group of people in front of him, and said so.

"and many more!"

I saw Cao Shunhe walking out of the government office with his hands behind his back, and said loudly.

(End of this chapter)