Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 8 The great cause of salt production
Things were pretty much as Yang Xian expected, and he received a reply from the court within a few days.

At the beginning of this year, because Shanxi and other border areas were in urgent need of military rations, the imperial court implemented the "Open China" method.

The entire method of opening the middle is roughly divided into three steps, namely reporting the middle, guarding the support, and changing the market.

According to the report, the salt merchants transported grain to the designated border areas in accordance with the requirements of the imperial court's investment invitation list in exchange for salt from the imperial court.Shouzhi means that after the salt merchants exchange salt for salt, they go to the designated salt field to wait for the salt.Market trading is when salt merchants transport the salt they obtain to designated areas for sale.

Originally this was not a problem, but as time went by, disadvantages gradually emerged.

As time went by, the royal family, aristocrats, bureaucrats and other privileged classes, seeing the huge profits to be made from mastering the salt guide, rushed to seize the salt guide and then resold it to salt merchants to make profits.

This phenomenon is called "nest occupation".

By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the phenomenon of "occupying nests" became more and more intense, which not only destroyed the Kaizhong system, but also seriously affected the imperial court's fiscal revenue.

In Yang Xian's opinion, there are solutions to these problems, but now is not the time to mention this, he just points it out.

Lao Zhu has just implemented it and is in high spirits. If you talk to him about this now, wouldn't it directly ruin his interest?

Therefore, what Yang Xian mentioned in the memorial was only to open a salt farm in Yangzhou, and at the same time implement self-production and self-marketing. All the official salt income would be used to build Yangzhou.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has just been established, the national treasury is not full.

And the construction of Yangzhou requires a lot of money. You must know that Zhu Yuanzhang put forward the great slogan of rebuilding Yangzhou in five years, which was a hardship for Lu Chang, who was in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs.I don't know how many times I have mentioned this matter to Lao Zhu, and now Yang Xian's plan can just solve the matter.

In addition, Yang Xianjin's contribution to the method of making salt was meritorious, and Zhu Yuanzhang had no reason not to agree.

A salt mine discovered by Lu Mingyi was five miles outside the city.

In addition to the government officials, Yang Xian brought dozens of people from Yangzhou City this time, most of whom were the same people who had eaten Yang Xian's chicken soup.

A group of people pulled several carts of supplies and rushed to the salt mine.

In less than an hour, we arrived at our destination.

Without waiting for Yang Xian's instructions, the officers, soldiers and civilians spontaneously took action and cleared a large flat area.

Yang Xian arranged for someone to take down the equipment from the carriage and place it properly in the open space.

Since this time I am no longer making something for myself, I naturally can’t make a fuss anymore, and all the utensils are fully prepared.

In addition to sieves for making salt, hammers, iron drills, linen cloth, charcoal, wooden barrels, iron pots, stone mills, etc. are all available.

"Next, I will demonstrate the entire process of making salt on the spot. Please watch carefully." Yang Xian took a piece of salt mine handed over by the officers and soldiers, picked up the small hammer next to him and carefully smashed it into small pieces, and then continued to say . "It doesn't matter if you haven't learned it all at once. I will be at the salt field for the first few days to ensure that everyone has a complete understanding before I leave. I have something ugly to say to everyone first. You are not allowed to take anything away from the salt field without permission. Of course, the promised treatment and remuneration will be , I can guarantee that not a penny of money will be lost."

Grinding, dissolving, filtering, analyzing, crystallizing.

Yang Xian did every step very slowly to ensure that everyone present learned it, but even so, he still did it three times in a row in the end.

Then I stood up, my waist was sore.

In the next few days, Yang Xian spent almost all his time in the salt field outside the city. After all, the salt field had just been established and there were still some problems, big and small, and he had to be on site.Once everything was on track, he could withdraw.

In July of the third year of Hongwu.

It's still hot.

After these few months of recuperation, the entire city of Yangzhou is gradually getting back on track.

The people watched the rice in the rice fields growing better and better, and everyone had a smile on their faces.

While waiting for the autumn harvest, they discovered that five or six new shops had suddenly opened in Yangzhou City.

As soon as these shops opened, they immediately attracted the attention of the people in Yangzhou City.

Because these are not other shops, but salt shops!

Selling salt is not unusual, but selling it so cheaply is truly unprecedented! "How many?"

A common man from Yangzhou City stood in front of a salt shop, his face full of disbelief, and he subconsciously asked again.

"10 cents per catty? Real or fake?"

Because the salt in front of us is not only cheap, but also of really good quality. This is the coarse salt that Yang Xian asked the saltworks workers to make considering the current consumption level in Yangzhou.

He has other uses for real fine salt, so the price will naturally not be so low.

But even if it's just the coarse salt in Yang Xian's mouth, its quality is already better than the fine salt before.

"Of course this is true, can I still lie to you?" the store clerk said with a smile. "This is a salt shop opened by a government official. From now on, the standard salt in the shop will be sold at the price of 10 cents. There are no restrictions. You can buy it freely. You can buy as much as you like."

Soon one spreads ten, ten spreads one hundred.

It didn't take long for long queues to form in front of several salt shops in Yangzhou City.

Suzhou House.

The Suzhou magistrate took the salt shaker handed over by one of his subordinate magistrates, dipped his finger in it, and put it in his mouth.

He immediately changed his face.

"You said this salt costs 10 cents per pound?!"

"Yes, and there is no limit. You can buy as much as you want." The magistrate reported.

The prefect of Suzhou finally understood why the Suzhou Prefectural Salt Society had been slow to sell in the past few days.

Not to mention official salt, this is cheaper than private salt and the quality is even better.

It's surprising that the official salt from Suzhou Prefecture can be sold.

However, he quickly reacted, with a look of ecstasy on his face, and saw the major business opportunities.

Of course, he would definitely not be able to eat it by himself.

"Come here, prepare pen, ink, paper and inkstone immediately. I want to write a letter of divorce to the capital."

Beijing.

Sapphire Mansion.

Lan Yu put down the letter in her hand and asked, "Is it true that there are such huge profits as Guowu said?"

The confidant of the Suzhou Prefecture who was standing aside and responsible for delivering the letter immediately said: "General Lan, you don't know that the current salt in Yangzhou Prefecture is 10 yuan per pound, but if it is sold to other places, take our Suzhou Prefecture as an example, then It’s 18 Wen per catty. If sold further away from Lianghuai, it can even be sold for [-] or [-] Wen per catty, and the profit will be three or four times that of resale!”

Lan Yu's eyes lit up after hearing this.

Damn it, this is more than just huge profits.

Lan Yu licked her lips fiercely: "Who is the magistrate of Yangzhou?"

"Yang Xian."

"I remember, he is a student of that old man Liu Bowen. Some time ago, he just angered the emperor." Lan Yu remembered the situation of the morning court that day and said.

"General, shall we do this business?"

"Do it, why not do it!" Lan Yu said. "Come here, prepare your horses!"

(End of this chapter)