Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Chapter 137 Salt Industry Certificate
  In the sixth year of Xifeng, July 23rd, it was appropriate to open the business.

Early in the morning, many guests came to Jiangjia Wanshu Garden, including hundreds of salt merchants and their accompanying butlers and servants, totaling one to two thousand people.

Fortunately, the Jiang family has a big business and is fully prepared. The chores of welcoming guests, leading the way, pouring tea, leading horses, and harnessing carts are all meticulous and orderly.

At three o'clock in the morning, Jia Cong, Lin Ruhai, Xu Qing, Zhang Ning, etc., as well as officials from the Yanyuan Yamen, arrived in cars and sedans.

"Master Lin, Third Master, all gentlemen, please come inside. All the salt merchants are here." Jiang Chuan and several important members of his family were already waiting at the door. Seeing them coming, he hurriedly came up to greet them.

"Thank you for your hard work." Lin Ruhai smiled.

Jiang Chuan hurriedly bowed and said: "It's a small thing, but it's hard work. Your Majesty, I can't help but feel ashamed."

"No need to be polite, let's go in first." Jia Cong said with a smile.

Lin Ruhai nodded.

Jiang Chuan hurriedly led everyone straight to the main hall of Wanshu Garden - Wanmei Hall. Nowadays, there are naturally no plum blossoms in early autumn. If thousands of white plums and red plums bloom here in winter, it will show the courage of the leader of salt merchants.

"I have met Master Lin and Third Master. Sirs, please be polite."

"Greetings to all my lords."

"Mr. Lin, how are you now? You look so energetic today."

The hall was already full of people. When the salt merchants saw Lin Ruhai and his entourage coming in, they stood up in a mess to say hello.

Everyone smiled, waved and walked to the front stage to sit down.

Lin Ruhai took a sip of tea and nodded to Jiang Biehe, who was in the middle of the first row, indicating that it was time to start.

Jiang Biehe is wearing a black and white Taoist robe with a jacquard background and cloud brocade embroidered with Tai Chi patterns. He wears an ink chalcedony lotus crown on his head and a white jade hairpin. He looks energetic, low-key yet super. With all the dignity of the great salt merchant, he stood up and waved his hand, and the originally noisy hall suddenly fell silent.

"Friends and merchants, we are all gathered here today to discuss salt affairs, so we won't go into details. Please give me your instructions, Mr. Lin Yanyuan."

Lin Ruhai stood up and said with a smile: "Everyone knows that I have just recovered from a serious illness, and the doctor asked me to rest at home. I thought that today is a big event, and if I don't come, you will inevitably feel unsure, so I still insist on coming to see you. , Firstly, I want to reassure everyone, and secondly, I miss you all, so I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words from my heart to everyone."

"Master Yanyuan, please speak."

"We all also think about you all the time."

"Seeing Mr. Lin recover, I am willing to wait for death." This man's voice was full of emotion, with tears in his eyes. He overacted, and everyone around him was forced to show empathy, and they all cursed in their hearts for being shameless.

Lin Ruhai waved his hands, suppressed everyone's voices, and said with a smile: "I accept your thoughts. Let's get back to the topic, today's revision of the outline book is to inherit the essence of the Supreme Emperor's salt law..." He said and raised his hands to the sky, "Zhongheliang The true situation of the Huai salt industry is the voice of hundreds of millions of people. All of you who have been involved in the salt industry for a long time should know it very well."

Everyone hurriedly nodded in agreement, as if they were all ears, and cursed in their hearts. It sounds nice, but they are just trying to make money in different ways.

“Since I took office at the Lianghuai Salt Institute, I have not slacked off for a day. I am deeply aware that there are many accumulated shortcomings in the salt affairs. If it is not rectified, it will not only be harmful to the country and the court, but also harmful to everyone here.

After thinking about it, I only started with the Gang of Salt Law, so I thought of several ways. One is to carry forward the Gang of Salt Law, the other is to straighten out the tangles and discords in salt affairs, and the third is to ban illegal salt and return everyone to a clear sky. Lin Ruhai said slowly.

"Thank you, Mr. Salt Court! You have said what we have been waiting for for a long time." All the salt merchants nodded and applauded in agreement.

Lin Ruhai continued: "Thank you for your understanding. Now that my energy is low, the rest of the matter will be explained by my colleagues in the Yanyuan and my nephew, Jia Cong and Jia Zilong of the Rongguo Mansion in Shenjing, the Enqi Lieutenant who has been bestowed by me. "After that, he went to the inner hall to rest with the help of the girl.

Everyone got up and saw each other off.

After Lin Ruhai left, Jia Cong and Xu Qing looked at each other, stood up and said loudly: "Everyone, my uncle just talked about the big policy, and I will talk about the specific methods." "Third Master, please give me instructions, and we will follow them." That's it." The salt merchants said hurriedly.

Jia Cong said with a smile: "Then let me tell you the first thing. Everyone is an expert, so I won't beat around the bush. In view of the fact that there are many good and bad people in the salt industry today. Some people mix salt in the sand, pass off inferior quality, and some hoard it. , those who drive up salt prices include those who collude with government and businessmen, falsely report losses, and even those who take both sides and secretly sell salt.

Therefore, in order to rectify the salt affairs, a threshold must be set up so that not just any traveling businessman can come in and be stubborn. "

Everyone's hearts tightened, knowing that what Jia Cong said was true, but if the threshold was too high, who could bear it.

“Therefore, the Salt Institute has established a salt industry access system to keep short-term businessmen, profit-taking businessmen, and businessmen with weak foundations out of the door, so as not to disrupt the salt business.”

"Survival of the fittest, I understand this truth. But what is the meaning of this admission system?" Everyone asked one after another.

Jia Cong smiled slightly, took a palm-sized bast paper from Xu Qing's hand, held it in his hand and showed it: "This is the salt industry access certificate." He handed it to everyone to see.

Everyone saw that the piece of paper was stamped with the seal of the Yanyuan Yamen, and there were two spaces left to fill in the name of the owner and the upper limit of salt industry.

"Third Master, how can I obtain this certificate?" Everyone asked hurriedly.

Jia Cong said: "As long as you pay a certain amount of deposit, you can receive the certificate. Don't misunderstand me and think that the Salt Institute is trying to make money under a clever name. This is all voluntary."

Everyone laughed and said, "Don't worry, Third Master. I'll take care of it later. Third Master just says how much it is."

Jia Cong said: "I still need to explain. This deposit does not charge any cents. It is only used as a mortgage. If it is found that you have violated laws and disciplines or committed crimes during the salt industry, it will be deducted from the deposit." The corresponding fine will have to be paid again after deduction.

If you operate in good faith and abide by the law, if one day you no longer want to do this business and want to change careers, you only need to return this certificate and get back the deposit you paid. "

"Third Master's words are reasonable. Once I'm convinced, I'll tell you how much the deposit is." Everyone nodded. This deposit is reasonable.

Jia Cong smiled slightly: "The starting price is 10 silver, corresponding to the upper limit of 10 silver for operating salt. For every 10 silver, if you pay 50 silver, there is no upper limit. Of course, it is limited to the capital in each person's hand."

"Third Master, if the number of nests is different from the limit of the voucher, what should I do?"

"It's easy. It depends on the number of litters. The larger the deposit, the smaller the deposit." Jia Cong explained.

Everyone understood, and they all said, "Third Master, I want 10 yuan."

"I want 30."

"I want 20."

……

"If you want to pay a deposit, go to the left and right sides to register and get the voucher." Jia Cong smiled and pointed to the left and right. There were already two rows of tables and chairs lined up on both sides, and thirty or forty clerks were waiting.

Everyone swarmed to both sides, because it was just registration on site and no payment was required, so it was done very quickly.

The eight major salt merchants smiled slightly, sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, and had their own affairs in charge to apply for a top-level card.

In less than half an hour, everyone had finished processing and sat down again. About half of the people were still dejected, as if they were mourning for a heir. These people didn't have much capital. How could they come up with 10 cash to buy this piece of paper? The threshold set by Yanyuan is too high.

A clerk had already calculated the number, and came up and reported in a low voice: "Third Master, Mr. Xu, we have just registered and collected a total of 1860 million taels of deposit."

Jia Cong and Xu Qing looked at each other and smiled. This was just an appetizer.

(End of this chapter)