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Chapter 80 The Blood Book
(PS: There are two updates today, and the first one will be delivered.)
"Bosses of the Great Salt Company in Yangzhou, hello, I finally see you." Young Master Zhang's voice was full of complacency, treachery, cruelty, and endless overtones—"Finally arrested It's your turn, let's see how you run this time?"

"Master Qin... Imperial Envoy." Looking at the smug grin of Young Master Zhang, the 25 Yangzhou salt merchants headed by Wang Fuguang had trembling legs, pale faces, trembling voices, and struggled to stand up with a lot of effort. , saluted Young Master Zhang, "Cao... Caomin and others have seen the imperial envoy, and the imperial envoy is blessed and safe." Only Li Sancai's two sons, Li Jiaguo and Li Jiabin, did not stand up, but stared fiercely at Zhang Da. Young master, but he was really flustered in his heart, and was caught off guard by Young Master Zhang's return carbine.

"Every shopkeeper, you don't need to be too polite, just sit down, sit down." Young Master Zhang waved his fan hypocritically, took the lead to sit next to Zhang Qing, and smiled at Long Yuqi, who was also ashen-faced, and said, "Master Long, it's better to treat guests than bump into them. Since you invited Mr. Zhang to drink flower wine and I was bumped into by this official, how about asking me to drink some too?" Long Yuqi dared not follow, and just nodded with a mournful face, saying that the imperial envoy is welcome, and Young Master Zhang is not polite, and directly Shaking the folding fan, he smiled and said, "Thank you." When he said this, Young Master Zhang looked at Zhang Qing again, and exchanged a smug look with him, but he didn't notice at all that the pair of tender eyes on the flower table were looking at him with tenderness. looking at himself.

While Young Master Zhang and Long Yuqi were talking, 25 big salt merchants headed by Wang Fuguang and Qiao Chengwang had already sat back in their seats. The 25 pairs of trembling eyes for help were all focused on Li Sancai's two sons, Li Jiaguo and Li Sancai. On Li Jiabin, and after the Li family brothers exchanged glances with each other, they each whispered to the neighboring Yangzhou salt merchants: "Don't be afraid, anyway, you have already donated silver. If he asks you to donate again, you will complain that business is not good." The tax is high and there is no money. If he uses force to force you to donate, you will follow the original plan, stop the market, and block the river." The neighboring Yangzhou salt merchants suddenly realized that they whispered to each other, and quickly passed on the original words of the Li brothers. all over the world.

"All shopkeepers." First Young Master Zhang remained calm, until the twenty or so Yangzhou salt merchants had finished exchanging ears, and then Young Master Zhang said loudly with a smile: "Today, with the blessings of Mr. Long and Mr. Zhang, I am finally here! Now that I have seen you, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you in person. Thank you for your concern for the needs of the victims and the concerns of the court, and everyone volunteered to donate money!" As he said, Young Master Zhang stood Standing up, he slapped Gongsheng together, hugged the Yangzhou salt merchants present, and said loudly: "I represent the imperial court and the victims of the disaster in Shandong. Thank you very much, thank you!"

Because Young Master Zhang had already announced the amount of donations, the twenty or so Yangzhou salt merchants who had been scolded as iron cocks by the people were embarrassed, and reluctantly smiled and got up and clasped their fists to return the salute. You don’t have to be polite, the imperial envoy, these are what the grassroots should do. The grassroots volunteered to donate money not only to show their loyalty to the imperial court and pity the victims, but also to serve the imperial envoy, and I hope that the imperial envoy will take care of the grassroots.”

"No problem, no problem, take care of me, easy to say." Young Master Zhang agreed, sighed again, and said loudly: "However, although you volunteered to donate money, I am both happy and worried. The happy thing is , Finally, someone took the initiative to donate money. What is worrying is that the 600 taels you donated, not to mention giving a bowl of porridge to each of the millions of disaster victims in Shandong, is just asking Miss Yang Wanyang, a famous prostitute in the south of the Yangtze River, to sing The last song is far from enough!"

Young Master Zhang's words are indeed a bit exaggerated. Long Yuqi invited Yang Wan to sing in the Yiqing Courtyard today, and the money he paid was only 800 taels, but there was still silence in the flower hall, and none of the twenty or so Yangzhou salt merchants dared to stand up Rebuttal, just look more embarrassed.It was not until a long time later that Wang Fuguang stood up again, and said with a sad face: "Master Zhang, the money donated by the grassroots is a little less, but we really have nothing to do. You don't know, Mr. Zhang, business is difficult now. , The profit of salt is already low, and the situation of unscrupulous local people selling illegal salt is serious, which has lowered the price of salt in the whole country.

"Yes, yes, business is too difficult." With Wang Fuguang taking the lead, more than 150 salt merchants cried out, and Qiao Chengwang was the second to say: "Master Imperial Envoy, we regular merchants are no better than those who sell salt." Salt lords who privately sell salt, they don’t have to pay a penny of tax to the court, and they get the profit as soon as they get it, but we have to pay a lot of salt tax, support a large group of boatmen, and sometimes have public and private entertainment to thank the local government. Officials, big and small, really can’t earn a few silvers throughout the year—the [-] taels of silver donated by grass-roots people are still deducted from their teeth.”

"That's right, shopkeeper Wang and shopkeeper Qiao are both right. We have indeed tried our best." Other salt merchants echoed one after another, complaining to Young Master Zhang about how difficult it is to do business, and the flood of illegal salt. How high are the taxes of the imperial court, and how high are the expenses in the salt shop—in a word, being a salt merchant is actually harder than being a shopkeeper or ordinary people farming, and the income is even lower. Everyone who is a salt merchant Donating 100 taels of silver is already exhausting and bankrupt.But Young Master Zhang shook his fan and smiled noncommittally. He just kept watching the salt merchants present with a pair of thieves' eyes.

After finally waiting for more than 200 Yangzhou salt merchants to complain about their troubles, Young Master Zhang smiled and said: "You are right, you are right, the profits of salt sales are really too low! The imperial court distributes 26 million salt tickets every year." , each piece of salt costs [-] catties and pays tax [-] cents and [-] cents, and one tael of silver is exchanged for [-] Wen. The average tax for each catty of salt is [-] and a half cents, and the official selling price of salt is [-] cents per catty. That is to say, your profit per catty of salt is only thirteen and a half cents, which is indeed pitifully low—all shopkeepers, do you think I’m right?”

"Yes, yes, the imperial envoy's calculations are too correct." The twenty or so Yangzhou salt merchants nodded happily, thinking that of course it would be best for you to do so. This is how we calculate the price of salt and the tax on salt.Only the brothers of the Li family knew how powerful Young Master Zhang was, and they were vigilant, knowing that Young Master Zhang dared to make such a calculation, so they must have a plan in place.

Sure enough, Young Master Zhang continued to say: "Very good, since all the big shopkeepers think that I am right, then I will continue to count, Wang Fuguang Wang, Qiao Chengwang Qiao, the salt in your hands There are more than 6 litters, but I only count 800 litters, 800 litters are 300 million catties, and the profit per catty of salt is 20 cents, and the profit of 500 million catties is 20 million pennies , which is equivalent to 22 taels of silver! That is to say, the annual net profit of shopkeepers Wang and Qiao is more than 10 taels of silver! And the other [-] shopkeepers present all have nest books in their hands of [-]. In other words, each of you will earn more than [-] taels per year!"

Speaking of this, Young Master Zhang suddenly stopped talking, waved his folding fan to admire the earthy-faced Yangzhou salt merchants, and asked with a smile: "All shopkeepers, is this official correct?"

There was no sound in the flower hall again, and after a while, Qiao Chengwang reluctantly said: "Master Zhang, you are right, but you can't do business like this. You have underestimated the cost of drying salt, the shipping cost of selling salt, and the cost of selling salt. With the rent of the store and the labor of the clerks, after removing these costs and miscellaneous expenses, we can earn a lot, which is really not much.”

"Costs and miscellaneous expenses?" Young Master Zhang put down his fan, leaned his elbows on the table and leaned forward, staring at Qiao Chengwang with his triangular eyes, and said with a smirk: "Master Qiao, since you want to calculate the shipping cost with me, then I will also Calculate the price increase of your salt sales, the price of official salt is 75 yuan, but you sell salt to foreign merchants in Yangzhou, the price is 360 yuan per catty, and the price you transport to other places is even lower. High, in Shandong and Henan it is [-] wen, in Zhili it is [-] wen, and other places are higher, at least more than [-] wen per catty, hundreds of wen are not uncommon, some places even reach [-] wen, right? Is the price increase enough to cover your shipping costs?"

"Master Imperial Envoy, don't talk nonsense if you don't know how to do business." Li Jiaguo said eccentrically. It’s true that the price of salt on the Internet is extremely high, but those price differences were all earned by the local merchants, and Shopkeeper Wang and the others didn’t make any money.”

"It was earned by local businessmen?" Young Master Zhang asked back: "Then Mr. Li, you are the head of the Chamber of Commerce in Beizhili, and the salt from Yangzhou has to go through your hands before being sold to the north. How much did you add to the price? How much did you earn from it?"

"That's what I should earn." Li Jiaguo replied without blushing.Young Master Zhang nodded, not wanting to get entangled with Li Jiaguo in this regard, he quickly changed the subject and said: "Yes, businessmen are bound to make money. I don't care about how much you earn, and I have no right to intervene. I just want to ask you a question now, you guys Have you paid taxes in full and in accordance with the law?"

"Of course there is, of course there is." All the salt merchants in Yangzhou nodded again and again, and Wang Fuguang, who was relieved, said with a smile: "Regarding this, please rest assured, Mr. Zhang. We also know that salt tax is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and it is as important as Mount Tai. I didn't evade a single penny of taxes, and I paid the taxes in full according to the law. If you don't believe me, you can ask Lord Long and Lord Liu who are present, and our salt tax is all handed over to them."

"Yes, yes, all the shopkeepers of the salt merchants present have paid their taxes in full." Liu Duo and Long Yuqi bit the bullet and nodded to excuse the salt merchants.Young Master Zhang smiled, and said: "Since all shopkeepers pay taxes according to regulations, then I don't understand a little bit. The salt quotations issued by the imperial court every year are 200 million yuan, and the tax for each quotation is six, two, six, and four cents. It is supposed to tax 3208 million taels of silver! But in fact, since the Ming dynasty, the year with the highest salt tax revenue was the first year of the apocalypse when Cui Chengxiu was the governor of Huaiyang, and the salt tax revenue was 250 million taels , when Li Sancai was the governor of Huaiyang, the salt tax revenue of the imperial court plummeted to 180 million taels. Now it is better, and it has recovered to 220 million taels a year-but even so, there are still more than 1000 million taels of tax revenue every year The silver disappeared, where did the salt tax go?"

"Zhang Haogu, what do you mean?" The Li family brothers jumped up together in a rage, pointed at Young Master Zhang's nose aggressively and asked, "You want to slander our father for taking bribes?!"

"It's not slander, it's impeachment!" Young Master Zhang said loudly without fear: "I am impeaching the former governor of Huaiyang Li Sancai for his incompetence in power, resulting in a large loss of salt tax, and playing the memorabilia that the emperor ransacked his home and killed him. Already on the way to the capital!"

"Copy the house and kill the corpse?" The Li family brothers took a breath, rushed over with red eyes, and shouted: "Zhang Haogu, I will fight with you!"

"It depends on whether you have the ability to fight with me?" Young Master Zhang snorted coldly, Xiao Chuan and Chen Jianhuang, who were guarding the entrance of the flower hall, both rushed to protect Young Master Zhang, Xiao Chuan said coldly He shouted: "Li Jiaguo, Li Jiabin, if you want to be accused of assassinating the imperial envoy, rebelling against him, and exterminating the nine clans, then you can try to move the imperial envoy."

The Li family brothers stopped in their tracks with livid faces, and after exchanging glances, the Li family brothers turned around, turned to the salt merchants in Yangzhou and shouted loudly: "All the shopkeepers of the salt shop, the imperial envoy Zhang Haogu slandered you for evading the salt tax. Planting framing on your heads, do you just look at it like this and let him slander and slander? Mr. Wang, Mr. Qiao, what are you still doing? Call all the salt merchants in Yangzhou to stop the market, block the river, and ask the imperial court to send another imperial envoy , seek justice for you!"

Wang Fuguang, Qiao Chengwang and his group hesitated. The main reason why they were incited by the Li brothers to fight against Young Master Zhang was because they were afraid that Young Master Zhang would cut their flesh and bloodlet them. Ask them why the tax money was lost, and they didn't drive them to a dead end, and they couldn't afford to take such a big risk to anger the court-not to mention that a market strike is a double-edged sword, and the court suffered losses. There will be no less losses.And Young Master Zhang also quickly said: "All shopkeepers, listen carefully. I just want to ask you why the court's salt tax is so serious. I didn't say that you evaded tax money."

Note: The reason why the salt tax collection in the first year of Tianqi set the highest record in the Ming Dynasty was the main contributor to Yuan Shizhen, the Lianghuai salt law at that time and a genius financial expert. The salt law he created effectively curbed the loss of salt tax. Of course, this also It has something to do with the strong support of Cui Chengxiu, the governor of Huaiyang at that time-the eunuch officials are generally corrupt, but most of them can do some practical things.However, after Yuan Shizhen and Cui Chengxiu both fell from power, Li Sancai, a leader of the Donglin Party, took over as governor of Huaiyang, and Yuan Shizhen's efforts quickly came to naught.

(End of this chapter)