King of Han Dynasty of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 152 Whose pocket does the profit go into?

See what is in front of you.

Everyone's faces were full of confusion, and they looked at Zhu Gaoxu subconsciously.

"Your Majesty, what is this?"

Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and pointed at the object in front of him, with a faint smile on his face and said:

"What else could it be?"

"Of course it's what I just said, table salt!"

"Let's see"

what?

Is the thing in front of me salt?

numb!

Completely numb!

Everyone was confused. They looked at each other and the brocade box on the desk. They didn't come back to their senses for a while, with expressions of disbelief on their faces.

When could the color of table salt be so pure, like snow?

It’s not surprising that people are so pretentious. The current method of making salt in the Ming Dynasty is to obtain table salt by boiling, drying, and brine.

These methods are not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also produce coarse salt, which contains very little salt. In addition, cooking, brine, drying and other methods will also cause the salt to have a slight bitter taste.

Even if the royal tribute salt is slightly better, it will still have a slight bitter taste.

Also because of the salt content and light bitter taste of salt, the price of salt varies.

After a moment, Zhu Gaochi recovered from his daze, raised his head and looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a look of astonishment, and asked cautiously:

"Second child"

"Are you sure this is salt?"

In response to this question, Zhu Gaoxu smiled noncommittally and responded:

"Boss, look at what you said. Whether it is true or not, you will know after you try it."

"Could it be...that the taste can still be faked?"

After hearing this, Xia Yuanji, who was sitting on the chair, stood up suddenly, stepped to the desk, carefully stretched out his fingers to smear a little, and put the snow-white particles directly into his mouth without any hesitation. inside.

It melts in your mouth and the light salty taste hits your taste buds directly.

Xia Yuanji's pupils couldn't help but shrink, and his half-closed eyes slowly opened. His eyes lit up instantly, full of fiery meaning, and his voice trembled unknowingly as he said:

"Salt"

"His Royal Highness, gentlemen, it is really salt."

"You guys have a taste. Come and have a taste"

"I have never tasted such a pure salty taste, without any bitterness, and the color is as pure as white snow."

“It can be said that it completely surpasses all table salts on the market.”

After saying this, his face couldn't help but show a hint of aftertaste and enjoyment, and he unconsciously reached out his hand and put some of it into his mouth again.

Everyone who was sitting on the chairs, who were still hesitant at first, looked slightly startled after hearing this. They were still sitting there. They stood up from the chairs in an instant, walked quickly to the table, and eagerly stretched out their hands to taste it carefully. got up.

After a brief taste, everyone's faces were filled with surprise and astonishment. Their eyes unconsciously focused on Zhu Gaoxu, and they couldn't help but sigh:

"This, this, this"

"My innocence is salt!"

"How is it possible to have such high quality salt? How is it possible?"

"It's amazing, it's amazing, it's a miraculous workmanship, it's a masterpiece!"

Zhu Gaochi, who was standing aside, had excitement on his face at this moment. Hearing the emotions of the people around him, he half-closed his eyes and looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the soft couch, and praised him repeatedly and asked:

"Second child"

"This salt tastes really good."

"How on earth did you do that?"

"Boiled, dried, marinated or something else?"

“Sea salt, pool salt, or well salt?”

"Can it really be produced in unlimited quantities and be able to catch up with the supply of everyone in the Ming Dynasty?"

After asking four questions in a row, all the ministers standing on the side came to their senses in an instant, and their eyes couldn't help but focus on Zhu Gaoxu. Their faces were full of curiosity, and they all wanted to know how the salt in front of them was obtained.

Regarding this matter, everyone is smart and their minds are extremely clear.

You must know that even bitter coarse salt can create such great value and provide high taxes for the court. As far as the thing in front of you is concerned, the value of such high-quality salt can be said to be higher than that of coarse salt. I don’t know if it can be found out. How many times!

Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but get excited.

"hehe."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu raised the corners of his mouth slightly, with a faint smile on his face. Facing everyone's curious eyes, he shook his head and responded:

"These salts come from our Daming mine salt!"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions on everyone's faces suddenly changed in a wonderful way.

"Ah bah. Bah bah"

After reacting, everyone reached out to dig at their own throats and vomited uncontrollably.

The scene is nothing short of spectacular.

Seeing the extremely embarrassed appearance of everyone, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but be startled. He seemed to have thought of something in an instant, and laughed involuntarily, "Haha", and asked aloud:

"Are you concerned?"

Zhu Gaochi: "."

Ministers: "????"

Good guy.

What a great guy!

What does it mean?

See, is this human language?

How could such cold words come out of your mouth so easily?

For a moment, everyone looked at Zhu Gaoxu with resentment and a trace of hatred. If eyes could kill, Zhu Gaoxu would have been riddled with holes at this moment.

Is this bastard really out of his mind and planning to throw them and the prince into the same pot?

Could it be that the struggle to seize the direct descendant has gone to this level?

Emperor Yongle is not dead yet, and the King of Han has just begun to supervise the country. Is he so courageous and has no scruples?

Xia Yuanji, who was the first to taste it, thought about how much he had just eaten, a smile uglier than crying appeared on his face, and he said in a deep voice:

"My lord!"

"Are you really not aware, or are you pretending not to know? Or is it intentional?"

"The salt produced in the mineral salt is all poisonous salt!"

"As long as humans and animals dare to eat it, they will be poisoned to death. No one will be spared."

"This is why there are so many mineral salts in the Ming Dynasty, but no one in the court or the people takes the salt."

While speaking, Xia Yuanji unconsciously sank to the bottom of his heart at this moment. He felt extremely uncomfortable!

I secretly hated myself for feeling like I had never seen anything before, why I had to taste it a second time, and the amount was still so big the second time.

If you know that everyone at the moment has only tasted a little bit, it should still be within the controllable range.

He was the only one who tasted it twice, and he was the only one who ate the most.

He didn't know and wasn't sure whether the others would die or be poisoned, but if the table salt in front of him really came from mineral salt, he might really have to pay the fate of his old life here today.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but secretly cursed at himself:

"Why do you obviously know what kind of virtue the King of Han has?"

"But I still believe him."

"It's fine now. I didn't have the slightest precaution. I had to risk my life."

Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the soft couch, listened to the explanation and looked at the slightly depressed people. The smile on his face became stronger and stronger, and he no longer wanted to tease them.

After all, they are all quite old people, and they are also high-ranking people in the court, and his eldest brother is also among them.

If these people were really scared out of their wits because of this incident, it would be a lot of fun.

Zhu Laosi, who was hiding behind closed doors, would use his Emperor's Sword to chop himself at any time to make himself look good.

Immediately, Zhu Gaoxu grinned, waved his hand at him, and replied:

"Okay. Okay."

"Can you all put away your stupid faces?" "The matter is not as serious as you think."

"Haha. Don't worry!"

"Mineral salt is indeed toxic in nature."

"But after it passed through my hands, the toxicity in it was long gone."

"You must know that you are all important ministers and princes of the court. If it is really poisonous, how dare I let you taste it?"

"Just thinking about it, I know it's impossible."

Not poisonous?

How is this possible?

While everyone was stunned, Zhu Gaoxu reached out and gently dipped the salt in front of him, took a small sip and put it into his mouth, and then grinned at them.

Hearing this and seeing such an action, everyone subconsciously exclaimed and looked at Zhu Gaoxu with disbelief. When they came back to their senses, a trace of embarrassment appeared on their faces. They couldn't help but secretly feel happy in their hearts. They stretched out their hands and gently He patted his heaving chest.

He finally believed what Zhu Gaoxu said just now.

After all, if the salt in front of him was really poisonous or if Zhu Gaoxu deliberately wanted to harm people like them, he would definitely not be able to put his own life in danger.

After that, Zhu Gaochi came back to his senses, looked at Zhu Gaoxu aside, his face was full of excitement, and asked:

"Second child"

"Is what you said true?"

"Did you really extract these salts from mineral salts?"

"Have you found a way to remove the highly toxic mineral salt?"

Zhu Gaoxu smiled noncommittally, shrugged, and said:

"if not?"

"Can what I said still be true?"

"Is there any point in deceiving you with such a childish thing?"

This is real?

Everyone got a positive answer and were completely stunned.

The king of Han Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu, was able to extract such exquisite table salt from mineral salt, and was able to increase the output, and was able to completely officialize salt.

what does this mean?

If this is really the case, the income of the imperial court will reach an unprecedented height.

And you no longer need to be controlled by merchants and need their help in selling.

It can better curb corruption and save countless costs.

Of course, if this is the case... people like them will probably lose a lot of income!

At the same time, I also understood where the confidence of the people in front of me who dared to talk about changing the salt introduction, salt tax, and salt law came from.

After a moment of silence, Xia Yuanji took out a long breath and asked in a deep voice:

"My lord."

"If you follow your method of extracting table salt."

“How much edible salt can be extracted in one year?”

"Is it really possible for the people of Ming Dynasty to eat it?"

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu half-squinted his eyes and did not answer his words. Instead, he asked aloud:

"Old Man Xia"

“First of all, let’s talk about how much salt we, the people of Ming Dynasty, need to consume in one year?”

Xia Yuanji frowned and thought for a moment, then replied:

"Report to the prince."

"The people of the Ming Dynasty today are about 80 million people."

"The average person consumes about ten kilograms of coarse salt every year."

"but."

Having said this, he paused, his eyes couldn't help but fall on the snow-white salt in the brocade box, he took a few deep breaths and said:

“The salt content of coarse salt is not high..”

"It's only about half as heavy as Wang Ye's refined salt."

"For this reason, if all the people eat the refined salt in front of them, the amount of salt consumed by the people every year will drop by about 30 to 40%."

Got a positive answer.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and said with a faint smile on his face:

"Because it has just begun."

"Relatively speaking, the output may be slightly insufficient, but if you give me one or two years, the refined salt now produced will be able to meet the needs of our people."

"But even if today's refined salt production cannot meet the needs of all people, you are all smart people. Once such refined salt is launched, what do you think the price of today's coarse salt will be like?"

"The price of coarse salt has dropped. Even if people can't afford refined salt, what about coarse salt?"

As far as today's Daming is concerned, it seems that a lot of salt is produced in a year.

But if we really dig into it, the vast majority of people in the Ming Dynasty still have not been able to eat refined salt.

What is the reason?

There is no doubt that the confusion and high price of salt are naturally caused by the entanglement of interests involved.

After hearing this, everyone was slightly startled, with a trace of surprise and suspicion flashing in their eyes, and they all looked over curiously.

The sun is really coming out in the west.

Isn’t the King of Han a brave and foolish Qiu Ba?

When did you start caring about the lives and deaths of people?

After a moment of silence, Zhu Gaochi half-squinted his eyes, a trace of doubt flashed across his face, and asked aloud:

"Second child"

“How much does such exquisite table salt cost?”

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu laughed and replied directly without any hesitation:

"This salt requires a few more steps than boiling, brine, and drying."

"But in terms of the real cost, including labor, it's only about ten copper coins."

"If nothing else, the production cost of coarse salt should be much lower than today's!"

Everyone: "???????"

What the hell?

How incredible!

Such exquisite table salt costs only ten copper coins?

Such an answer immediately made everyone lose their composure instantly, and they looked at the refined salt on the table with disbelief.

Seeing the shocked people, Zhu Gaoxu narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression instantly became extremely solemn, his voice also became extremely deep, and he said in a deep voice:

"The price of such exquisite table salt is only about ten copper coins."

"You can imagine how much it costs to make coarse salt."

"Under such circumstances, you might as well think about the price of coarse salt, then think about the profits, and then compare it with our Ming Dynasty's salt tax revenue."

"Whose pocket did the profits fall into?"

"Is the biggest beneficiary really the imperial court?"

(End of this chapter)