Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 10, Selling Salt Is a Big Problem
"A total of 100 catties of snow salt, on average, we only extract 10 catties of snow salt a day, which is really too little."

After 10 days, Liu Jin and Zhao Erhu couldn't help shaking their heads after counting the labor results of these 10 days.

"It's not bad to extract 10 catties of snow salt in 100 days. It's just the two of us, and it's just a pot. My father and I are busy all day long, and we can only cook about 10 catties."

Zhao Erhu looked at the two big baskets full of snow salt in front of him, and said very satisfied.

"It's only 10 catties of salt a day. I hope you enjoy it. If you can produce 1000 catties or 1 catties of salt a day in the future, you will die of laughter."

Liu Jin smiled. After all, the output of cooking salt is very small. A person can't cook a few catties of salt even if he is busy all day long. What's more, it consumes a lot of wood. After years of cooking salt, the trees around Xiahetun have been cut down long ago. When they ran out, they had to buy wood from outside.

If you really want to make large-scale salt, it is best to use sun-dried salt, open up salt fields by the sea, use sunlight, wind energy, etc., which not only saves fuel, labor, and cost, but also enables large-scale salt production.

"Thousands of catties are produced a day, tens of thousands of catties, my God, how much will it cost?"

"How is it possible to produce so much salt a day?"

Zhao Erhu rubbed his head, he couldn't believe it.

"You'll find out later."

Liu Jin smiled mysteriously, and then began to think about how to sell salt in his mind.

Every time a salt dealer comes to Xiahetun to collect salt, it is a major event in the village. Every household will take out the salt they have boiled for half a month, and go to an old tree in the middle of the village to wait for the salt dealer to collect salt. .

Usually at this time, Tang Huo will also send people to collect "run money" according to the salt sold. The so-called run money is used to open up relations with the higher-ups, so that the higher-ups will turn a blind eye to the matter of cooking salt in Xiahetun One eye, of course, how much of it was used to honor the county master, and how much was put into Tang Huhu's mouth, probably only he knows.

If Liu Jin's 100 catties of snow salt were sold to private salt dealers in the public, it would definitely attract everyone's attention immediately. Everyone sells coarse salt, and it only costs a few cents per catty. But it is snow salt, more than 200 yuan per catty, and the benefits are touching. How did this snow salt come from? Don't think about peace in the future.

What's more important is that people from Tang Huo's family were also on the scene, not to mention taking away a large sum of money on the spot. Once Tang Huo got his attention, Tang Huo would bring someone over to arrest Liu Jin in less than an hour. Whether it's torture or torture, or coercion and temptation, if you don't tell Xueyan's way, Liu Jin will suffer.

Even if he said it, he would definitely be killed by Tang Huo in the end. Tang Huo naturally had to firmly grasp this way of making money in his own hands. The safest way was to kill him.

For Tang Huhu, who runs rampant in the village, bullies men and women, and does all kinds of evil, killing a scholar is nothing. The last time he did it just to annex Liu Jin's property, not to mention Xueyan, whose interests are more touching. .

"Now is definitely not the time to expose snow salt, how should I contact the salt dealer."

Liu Jin frowned. He thought it would be difficult to extract snow salt, but it was even more difficult to sell salt.

In this era when salt and iron are under control, those who dare to do salt and iron business are either people with great backgrounds and good hands and eyes, or people who dance on the edge of their knives, who are not afraid of heaven and earth.

The salt dealers who came to Xiahe Village to collect salt belonged to the latter group, they belonged to the kind of people who dared to do anything as long as they had money.

Of course, this kind of private salt dealers have always been the target of the imperial court's attack, and they are also the people who are targeted by the big salt merchants. Every time the private salt dealers are checked, the people who are found are also these private salt dealers who have no backing.

Private salt dealers with real backing and background don’t need to work hard to collect salt in a small village like Xiahetun. They can go directly to the official salt farm to get salt at a very low price.

In a small village like Xiahetun, there is not much salt cooked in a year, which cannot satisfy the appetite of those big salt merchants at all.

After thinking about this, Liu Jin's eyes lit up.

This kind of private salt dealer who eats at the knife's edge sounds terrible. He makes money by relying on the sword. He seems to be the kind of person who kills and kills at every turn, and splatters blood five steps at every turn.

But in fact, compared with those big salt merchants, this kind of private salt dealers are many grades behind. The big salt merchants have huge appetites. Money was used to connect down to the warehouse management of the salt field and up to the Zaifu of the temple.

Saying that they are private salts, they can also immediately issue documents and seals, and immediately become official seals with endorsements. No matter how the court cracks down on private salts, they will never be hit on their heads, because their There are enough ears and eyes, and enough breadth, and the established protective umbrella and interest chain are extremely huge, and the status is almost impossible to shake.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, whether it was the Donglin Party or the Qichu and Zhejiang Party, they all had the support of big salt merchants, and many of them were even big salt merchants themselves.

As for these small private salt dealers who add blood to their knife, they are completely different. Many people are forced to embark on the road of selling private salt, doing the business of beheading.

Naturally, they have no way to get salt from the official salt field, so they can only come to small seaside villages like Xiahetun to collect salt. The production of coarse salt is limited and the amount is very small, and they often have to worry about it, for fear that the government will come at any time Crack down on private salt.

In order to have a stable supply of salt, these private salt dealers are often very honest. Every time they come to Xiahetun to collect salt, they pay all the salt money on the spot and never owe money on credit.

The snow salt in Liu Jin's hands is definitely the best of all salts, and the profit is even greater than that of ordinary salt. It costs 5 Wen to collect a catty of coarse salt from Xiahetun. Carry it back with fear, and it can sell for about sixty or seventy Wen a catty.

In the middle, the management of the checkpoints along the way, the contribution of the superiors, and the loss of oneself, etc. should be deducted. A catty of salt can earn dozens of coins, and the profit is amazing.

But because the quantity is small, and it will be attacked by the government and big salt merchants, it is not stable, and you don't know where the next meal will be after eating the last meal.

And in ancient times, because the transportation was basically carried by shoulders and handcarts, and the better ones had horse-drawn carts to pull goods, the transportation capacity was really worrying, and they were selling private salt. Many times they dared not take the official route and could only travel across the mountains. Ling, business is definitely not as easy as expected.

Therefore, those who sell private salt will not be able to rely on the two knives in their hands. More often than not, they must be honest, and they must try their best to establish good relations with all parties on their fixed lines. Only in this way can they Have a steady source of income.

Soon, Liu Jin had an idea, and immediately went back to his room, and wrote a note with the brush calligraphy he had just practiced recently.

"Huzi, wrap a catty of snow salt in paper, and wrap this note inside."

"When the salt dealers collect the salt, you quietly find an opportunity to stuff this bag of snow salt into the hands of one of them."

Then Liu Jin began to give orders to Zhao Erhu.

"Okay~"

Zhao Erhu nodded and began to wrap the snow salt with paper, and then tied it with a rope to make sure it would not leak out.

"Let's go, go to the old tree to watch the salt collection."

After Zhao Erhu finished his work, Liu Jin took the lead and walked to the middle of the village, ready to see the salt dealer collect salt.

　The signing has not been done yet, let's take care of it one chapter at a time~~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)