bookbashuk Chapter 545
Chapter 545
When Zhou Yuan took out the 30,000 taels of silver notes, Bao Shanru's expression was like an old smoker who took his first puff in half a month. He leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.
Then he quickly took the money, counted it carefully twice, confirmed that it was 30 1,000 taels of silver notes, then put it in his arms, patted it gently, and felt the thick feeling.
Only then did he slowly smile and said, "Don't worry, it's the rule to take money to do things. I won't mess around, otherwise who will be willing to give me money in the future? I still understand the principle of slow and steady flow."
"You brought 100,000 shi of grain, how many salt permits do you plan to exchange?"
This sentence also confused Zhou Yuan. The court clearly stipulated that one shi of grain could be exchanged for four jin of salt, and 100,000 shi should be exactly 40,000 jin of salt permits!
Is there any mystery in this?
Zhou Yuan pretended to be generous and said, "Just do the same as the Bai family. We are not greedy."
"Okay!"
Bao Shanru said, "The salt permit will be delivered the day after tomorrow morning at the latest, but you should know the rules of selling salt, right?"
Zhou Yuan nodded and said, "Of course I understand, but I hope Lord Bao can give us more advice, so that we don't commit unknown taboos due to lack of experience."
Bao Shanru waved his hand and said, "Then I'll make a long story short. It's very simple. One out of a hundred is sold in the store. The price must not exceed twenty coins. It's better to be cheaper. Ten coins is the most appropriate."
"The remaining nine out of a hundred are sold in the store. Selling on the black market, you need to prepare manpower and understand the rules. The price must not be lower than 40 wen. As for how much you want to sell it for, that's your business. "
"Anyway, it's too expensive, and ordinary people can't afford it. It's pointless to lose money."
Zhou Yuan understood in his heart, and then whispered: "Master Bao, can I sell it for 35 wen?"
Bao Shanru frowned and said: "Didn't you say it can't be lower than 40 wen? If you sell it for 35 wen, aren't you going against other salt merchants? It's almost a monopoly, and there's no point in fighting a price war. The division of regions is fixed. How high it can be sold depends on the people. "It's not less than 40 wen."
Zhou Yuan nodded quickly and said, "I understand, we will bring the salt as soon as possible."
"Don't worry."
Bao Shanru smiled and said, "You just got the salt permit. Whether you can get the salt or not is another matter. Whether you can sell the salt is another matter."
Zhou Yuan smiled embarrassedly and said, "Who should we find then?"
Bao Shanru shook his head and said, "I don't know. I'm just a fifth-rank prefect and I don't know those big shots."
Zhou Yuan quickly handed over two silver notes from his arms and whispered, "Please help me, Lord Bao. I will be very grateful."
Bao Shanru took the banknote and said in a low voice: "To get salt with the salt permit, you have to spend money there. If you want to sell salt, you are coming to Shandong, so of course you have to find someone in Shandong... ahem... the governor's office."
Zhou Yuan pretended to be enlightened and said quickly: "Thank you, Lord Bao."
Bao Shanru smiled and said: "Don't say I'm harsh. Let me remind you that you have to take care of the river, otherwise it will be difficult for your boat to pass."
"You should know who to find on the river..."
Zhou Yuan secretly remembered two people - the governor of Shandong and the governor of the grain transport.
Good guy, is this selling private salt?
No, no, no, this is clearly the court and the salt merchants working together to suck the blood of the people!
The small Bai family involved two second-rank officials of the court, the governor of Shandong and the governor of the grain transport. Which one was not a frontier official, which one was not a pillar of the court, and which one was not a capable minister of the court.
Zhou Yuan did not refuse Bao Shanru's invitation to the dinner. For a businessman's "personality", it was of course a blessing to be able to make friends with such an official.
For this reason, he played a good show at the dinner table, toasting and grabbing orders, and did everything.
This is not over yet. After drinking, he had to go to the brothel to listen to opera and music, and let the girls serve him for two hours before returning to the mansion.
Of course, it was Bao Shanru's mansion. Zhou Yuan couldn't refuse his invitation.
The salt permit had not been obtained yet, and it would take two days. Zhou Yuan believed that Bao Shanru would definitely not need that long. On the one hand, he asked his superiors for instructions, and on the other hand, he was probably investigating the authenticity of Zhou Yuan and others' identities.
So that night, Zhou Yuan was indeed in the same room with Li Yu'an and Zhuang Xuansu, a couple's drama.
The candlelight flickered, Zhou Yuan said with a sullen face: "Salt permits cost money, salt costs money, salt transportation costs money, and salt sales also cost money... Hehe, in addition to the serious business costs, the money for maintaining these relationships alone is an astronomical figure."
"According to the information given to me by the Wu family, the Bai family has to give Bao Shanru 10,000 taels of silver every year, 200,000 taels to the Governor of Shandong, 200,000 taels to the Governor of the Canal Transport, and 100,000 taels to the Salt Field Inspector...”
“Counting other inexplicable arrangements, including the passage of major checkpoints, and paying for the mountain bandits, it actually costs a full 600,000 taels of silver.”
Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan laughed angrily, grinning: “600,000 per year! Counting other costs, wouldn’t it be easy to make millions? Even so, the Bai family earns more than 400,000 taels of silver every year.”
“You should know that Qu Ling’s Mo Yun Zhai is already the largest bookstore in Dajin. Except for the sales period of "Three Kingdoms", it is less than 100,000 taels per year.”
Zhuang Xuansu sighed and said: “No wonder His Majesty wants to investigate the salt merchants. So much money is really enviable.”
Guan Caixi also gritted his teeth and said: “The treasury has no money, but they can make so much money. They really deserve to be killed.”
Zhou Yuan stared at them and said in a serious voice: “You…you are actually thinking about this?”
Guan Caixi said: “What are you thinking? Are we wrong? "
Zhou Yuan took a deep breath and nodded, "You are right, but you don't realize where the money comes from?"
"This is the hard-earned money of the people, the money they live on!"
Zhou Yuan slammed the table with a loud noise.
The two women looked at each other, not daring to look Zhou Yuan in the eye, and lowered their heads quickly.
Zhou Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "After getting the salt permit, go to the Jinan Prefecture Governor's Office immediately and meet the Shandong Governor. I want to see how big his appetite is."
"The parents of the parents, the people really treat them as their own parents!"
"How can they be officials of the court? They are clearly the borers of the country and the tumors of the people."
Li Yu'an changed the subject at the right time and whispered, "Let's not talk about this, Zhou Yuan, there is new information today. Wen Tieli led the three-border army to repel the attack of the 40,000-strong Mongolian army. The Hetao victory was a great victory and the national prestige was greatly shaken. "
This is obviously good news. With the defeat of the Eastern Tartars and the repulsion of Mongolia, the national self-confidence of the Jin Dynasty has finally been restored.
Guan Caixi also laughed and said, "A great victory in Hetao? That's great, Zhou Yuan, you have made a good start, and everyone has started to win battles."
Zhuang Xuansu also said, "Yes, Zhou Yuan, don't think about those bad things. The Jin Dynasty is always getting better. When we have enough evidence, we will catch all these people and punish them according to the law."
Zhou Yuan knew that they were comforting him, but he just couldn't feel better.
Perhaps this is the difference between people. The aristocracy like Guan Caixi and Zhuang Xuansu will never feel the suffering of the people in the first place.
Those silver and money, those numbers, hundreds of thousands of taels, millions of taels, are just silver and money to them, but they really can't think of the blood of the people at that time.
Finally, Zhou Yuan waved his hand and said, "What is the specific situation in Hetao? "
Li Yu'an said: "Wen Tieli integrated the three frontier armies and deployed 100,000 troops to defend the city, giving Mongolia no chance to take advantage of the situation."
"The enemy did not have sufficient supplies, and they dared not fight anymore after running out of military rations, so they retreated in disgrace."
Zhou Yuan nodded and said: "It is indeed good news. I hope the North will continue to work hard. Only when the problems in the North are completely resolved, will the Jin Dynasty have the energy to implement new policies. "