Wei and Jin Cooks

  Chapter 975 Salt

   Zhao Ming picked up his glass and took a sip of the wine, watching them leave quietly, with some curiosity in his eyes.

  With such a lack of money and no taxation, where is she going to ask for money?

When Zhao Hanzhang went out, he saw Zhao Hu's carriage, which was a double-horse carriage, with tulle hanging on it. The yarn was already dirty all the way, and the servants were taking off the necklaces, pearls, etc. hanging on it, and then replaced the yarn with it. new.

  She stopped involuntarily and asked, "What is the use of the removed yarn?"

  When the people saw her, they bowed and stood up immediately, bending over and not daring to look at her, and replied respectfully: "Wash and clean it for a replacement."

  Zhao Hanzhang nodded. Fortunately, he was not extravagant enough to use it once and throw it away, but...it is still a luxury. Can’t the carriage cover be made of dirt-resistant and cheap blue cloth?

  Zhao Hanzhang sighed, the rich are really rich, and the poor are poor.

Zhao Hanzhang turned and left. Zhao Kuan, who was standing behind her, had a panoramic view of her expression. He endured it, but still couldn't hold back, and whispered: "This white gauze is not washable, and it can only be replaced once at most. There are as many as three carts of white gauze used every year, not only like to use it on the carts in Xiaqiu, but also like to use it to surround the pavilion."

  Zhao Hanzhang looked around and asked him quietly, "How much money do you think the seventh uncle has?"

Zhao Kuan pondered for a moment and then said: "In the past two years, because you have been fighting everywhere, the clan needs to give a sum of military expenses from time to time, so he spent a lot of money, but he also made a lot of money by taking advantage of your power. Uncle's share of the family property is large, but not too small."

  Uncle refers to Zhao Changyu.

   Zhao Hanzhang thought about the family property left by Zhao Changyu, feeling very sad.

  She handed the horse over to the guards behind her, and walked by herself, so Zhao Kuan could only keep up.

  She went all the way until she stopped at the grocery store, "Is there any salt?"

  The shopkeeper of the grocery store recognized Zhao Hanzhang. She is a national star. Everyone in the city does not know Zhao Hanzhang. So many times she rode into the city from outside and returned triumphantly.

  He hurried out of the counter, saluted Zhao Hanzhang repeatedly, and then trotted to carry the salt jar.

   It was a big salt jar, which he and his son took out, and carefully put it on the ground to show Zhao Hanzhang, "Your envoy wants to buy salt? How much do you want?"

  Zhao Hanzhang asked with a smile, "How do you sell salt now?"

  The shopkeeper said: "Eight coins and one coin."

  Yihe is a special square wooden bowl with a big mouth and a small bottom. He used it to hold Yihe salt, and then looked at Zhao Hanzhang.

  Zhao Hanzhang also looked at him silently, and the shopkeeper immediately realized that she didn't bring a container.

  The shopkeeper carefully put down the wooden bowl immediately, went to rummage for a while, and found a small earthen jar that looked okay, and gave it to Zhao Hanzhang, and said with a gentle smile, "This jar is for the envoy."

   Zhao Hanzhang thanked him, watched him pour in the salt but didn't take it, but asked: "This is too little, I want to buy more, but there are too many two, what should I do?"

  The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment and then said: "This salt won't spoil, so you can buy more and keep it."

  Zhao Hanzhang shook his head, "I just want to buy another Xiaobanhe."

  This is not difficult, he turned around and took out a small spoon: "How about four more spoons?"

  Zhao Hanzhang blinked, looked at the spoon he took out, and asked, "How much is this spoon?"

  The shopkeeper smiled: "One penny."

   "How many scoops in one combination?"

   Shopkeeper: "Ten Spoons"

  Zhao Hanzhang nodded thoughtfully, agreed, but just sighed in his heart, profiteer.

  Zhao Hanzhang took out twelve coins from his purse and gave him, and asked, "How much would I pay for a rock salt?"

  The shopkeeper thought for a while and said: "It costs about 8,000 yuan a stone now, and it may be cheaper in a while."

  Zhao Hanzhang smiled and asked: "Why?"

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes with a smile and said: "The envoy Dade regained the lost land in the north, defeated the Xiongnu, and there were fewer robbers on the road. The salt transportation will be safer, and more and more people will mine salt. Prices will naturally come down.”

  Zhao Hanzhang nodded, and was about to leave with the small jar of salt in his arms. At this moment, a half-grown child came in with a small jar. He didn't look at Zhao Hanzhang, and walked directly to the shopkeeper and said, "I want a spoonful of salt."

  The shopkeeper took the money from his hand and said, "There are five people in your family who only eat a spoonful of salt in half a month. Be careful of big neck disease."

   "Then you can make it cheaper. If it's cheaper, my family will buy an extra scoop a month."

  Zhao Hanzhang paused slightly, listening to the conversation inside, Zhao Kuan followed her in confusion.

  Zhao Hanzhang: "Did you see it?"

  Zhao Kuan shook his head in bewilderment, what did he see?

  Zhao Hanzhang said: "This is all money."

  Zhao Kuan was taken aback for a moment, then surprised, "Does the envoy want a salt and iron monopoly?"

  Zhao Hanzhang gave him an approving look, and said: "The treasury is short of money now. We need a lot of money and noble gentry to buy food from the wealthy merchants of the gentry in the south. The profit from salt and iron is huge, and the money comes quickly."

  Zhao Kuan's heart was pounding, and he objected in a low voice, "Iron is fine, salt...salt monopoly, the price will skyrocket, shouldn't the pressure be passed on to the common people?"

  Zhao Hanzhang shook his head and said, "Private salt is flooding now, but what do you think about the price? A rock of salt costs 8,000 yuan."

Zhao Kuan is not an official who doesn't understand anything, but he has been at the grassroots level. He said: "Three years ago, the price of salt was only 1,200 yuan a stone. In the middle of Yuzhou, the price even reached 900 yuan a stone. Now it has soared to this point." , One is because of the disaster of war, and the other is because of the severe drought and locusts in the north, and the displacement of the people."

   "As the shopkeeper said, now that the world's major events have been decided, the price of salt will gradually drop if the emperor is lenient." Zhao Kuan didn't think it would be better for the government to participate at this time.

   Zhao Hanzhang said: "I want money, and I can guarantee that the price of salt will drop under my control."

  Zhao Kuan said helplessly: "I'm afraid this matter needs to be discussed by the courtiers."

  Zhao Hanzhang raised his mouth slightly: "Really?"

  Zhao Kuan lowered his head in fear and said nothing.

  Zhao Hanzhang slowed down his voice, and said to him: "I asked Sun Linghui to go to Guangzhou. I wanted to take it slowly, but the treasury is empty, so I don't have time for us to take our time. Let's move together in Qingzhou."

   "Huh?" Zhao Kuan finally understood, "You mean the salt comes from Qingzhou and Guangzhou?"

  Zhao Hanzhang said: "The salt for the reform of the salt policy will come from your two states, but at this time, I will take back the salt farms in each state."

  In fact, the current national policy is also a salt monopoly, which is inherited from Cao Wei, and Cao Wei passed it down from the Han Dynasty, and changed it to supervise the sale of salt for the government.

The state of Jin was able to maintain such a situation when it was first established, but later the world was in chaos and the order collapsed. This policy has long existed in name only. Now most of the salt on the market is private salt, or official salt has been converted into private salt and sold in various shops. sold here.

   There are also people who sell private salt in government offices, and share the money with local officials.

  The situation in Yuzhou is not bad. She rectified it when she was governor of Yuzhou. Now there is more official salt than private salt on the market, but outside of Yuzhou, there is basically no shadow of official salt.

  Although there is no shadow of official salt, from Zhao Kuan's point of view, although the price fluctuates greatly, it is the most beneficial to the people, because before that, the salt monopoly of official salt was not only high in price but also low in quantity.

  The imperial court used this method to collect money to fill the national treasury and various private treasuries, and the people suffered in the end.

See you tomorrow

  (end of this chapter)