Please ask me to be the emperor

Could it be that there was a miscalculation somewhere?

Zhang Shun was stunned and couldn't help but feel a little strange.

"Yes, four qian of salt per person per day is a fixed number. How can it be false?" Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but said after hearing this.

It turns out that there was a lot of heavy physical labor in this era, so the salt intake was also high, basically reaching about 16 grams a day, which exceeded the ten to twelve grams of later generations, and was much higher than the World Health Organization's daily limit of 10 to 12 grams. higher than the five-gram standard.

"It's just that the yellow book has been copied year by year, and it has long been inconsistent with its name. Therefore, based on this calculation, the three towns and four towns in Shaanxi Province should actually have a population of six million." Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but make a decisive conclusion.

It turns out that in addition to Xi'an, Pingliang, Qingyang, Yan'an and Hanzhong, Shaanxi also has Gansu, Ningxia, Yulin, Lintao, Gongchang and other places. If they were combined into one place, it would not be surprising to have a total population of 6 million.

In fact, the population of the late Ming Dynasty has always been a mystery. According to later expert research, the actual number was about 160 million, which was almost three times the number of registered residents in the Ming Dynasty.

Nowadays, the registered population of Shaanxi is 45 million, so the entire three sides and four towns of Shaanxi have a population of at least tens of millions.

It's just that the means limited to this era cannot be thoroughly investigated.

But even with a population of six million, Zhang Shun couldn't help but be satisfied.

It's exactly one-half more than the registered population. Isn't it a free bargain?

Not to mention the population, according to Zhang Shunyan's temperament of plucking hair, when he heard that he taught salt, he only received three cents and five cents for six stones.

When they came to buy it, they sold it for one cent per catty, and six shi could be sold for seven taels, which was twenty times what they paid for themselves. How could they still sit there?

Zhang Shun couldn't help but open his mouth and said: "The price of each salt introduction is three cents and five cents, and the actual sale price is seven taels and two cents. Is it too cheap?"

Lu Xiangsheng immediately couldn't laugh or cry, and quickly explained: "The person who collects salt is a tax. After the salt merchant collects the silver, he still needs to go to the kitchen household to pay the salt."

"The price for each quotation is three to two cents, this is the price!"

"After the salt merchant got the salt, he spent a total of three taels and five cents of silver per salt."

"Although it seems that the profit is doubled, in fact, it is sold layer by layer and transported back and forth, which is not the actual profit."

Well, the salt tax alone costs more than 20,000 taels for feelings?

"Okay, let's leave it at that for now!" Zhang Shun shook his head helplessly and said, "I will go to Lingzhou Qianhu Office for on-site inspection after the matter in Yulin is over." "

Although Lingzhou is under the jurisdiction of Ningxia Town, the salt business is placed under the name of Yulin Town.

Among them, the salt tax involved the purchase of horses in Yulin, so Lu Xiangsheng specifically mentioned this matter.

Seeing that Zhang Shun had already made up his mind, Lu Xiangsheng stopped talking.

Later, Zhang Shun learned about some conditions in Yulin with Lu Xiangsheng and Zhang Fengyi, and then resigned from Lu Xiangsheng with satisfaction.

As for Zhang Fengyi, there is a saying that "a little separation is better than a new marriage." It's so easy for the two to meet once, so how can they not get into a fight?

It's just that the red lady is on the left, Wang Qiying is on the right, and Ma Yingniang is behind them. The three of them surround Zhang Shun in a double-team, leaving Zhang Fengyi scratching her ears and cheeks outside in vain.

Just when Zhang Shun couldn't laugh or cry, a voice suddenly came: "His Royal Highness King Shun, 'There is something wrong with the guilty minister. I don't know whether to say it or not?"

"Say!" Zhang Shunxin said: You won't be like Zhao Yutou who tried to persuade me with such nonsense as "Shang Zhou is fond of Daji, Xia Jie is fond of Ximei", right?

"Actually... In fact, General Lu knows very little about the salt method, and he can easily be deceived by villains." It turned out that the person who spoke was none other than Kong Wenzheng, the successor of Kong Sage recommended by Ding Qirui.

"How do you say this?" Zhang Shun was stunned when he heard this.

At first, he listened to Lu Xiangsheng's eloquent speech, and felt that this person was really talented, but it was a pity that he was too busy to take care of the salt method for him, but when he turned around, he was told that this was wrong?

"King Shun, please!" Kong Wenxi couldn't help but explain quickly, "What General Lu said was the Lianghuai Salt Method."

"Lianghuai salt weighs 560 kilograms each, and is sold to water merchants at a price of three taels per pound by internal merchants. The water merchants then break it into small packages and sell it to various places."

"The so-called domestic merchants are those who buy salt and sell it; the so-called water merchants are those who specialize in selling salt to various places."

"However, this price comes from sea salt, which requires cooking stoves and wages, so the price remains high."

"That's not the case if it's pond salt. There's no need for firewood, it just needs to be dried for a few days. It's very cheap, and the salt is inexhaustible, so it's a source of wealth!"

"Take Hedong salt as an example. A cart of ten jins weighs two thousand kilograms, but it only sells for five taels. During the Wanli period, it was only increased to seven taels by the emperor's decree. Compared with Huai salt, how cheap is it?"

After hearing this, Zhang Shun made some mental calculations and found that a thousand pounds of Huai salt was worth more than five taels and a penny, while Hedong salt was worth three liang and a penny, which was a full two liang and a penny cheaper.

The price of a thousand pounds of Shaanxi Chiyan is four liang and two cents, which is more than one cent.

"What does Mr. Kong mean?" Zhang Shun couldn't help but probe.

"My pond salt is cheap!" Kong Wenxi couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "Now that the rebels don't have to take care of the price of Huaiyan salt, how can there be any reason to share relics with people?"

"In my opinion, the first step is to recruit manpower to increase the production of pond salt to 70 million jins."

"Secondly, we must tax salt households, levying one tael or seven taels of silver per thousand kilograms to deprive them of huge profits."

"With these two items alone, you can earn an additional 153,000 taels of silver!"

"This..." To be honest, Zhang Shun was really moved.

Originally, Hedong salt could be sold for 2,000 yuan per kilogram, but if Chi salt sold for 4,000 yuan per kilogram, which is more than 1 cent, would it be okay to charge the price difference of 1,200 yuan for 1,000 yuan?

If there is no problem, instead of losing profits to these salt households, why not impose a "production tax" to reduce the financial pressure on the rebels?

There are more than ten taels of war horses, and this income alone can buy ten thousand war horses, so Zhang Shun can't help but be tempted.

"It's just that there are so few people in Shaanxi, how can we eat so much salt?" Although Zhang Shun's eyes were shining, he knew that if too much salt was put in, the market price of salt would probably plummet, and then all the salt merchants would lose money. No one comes to do business with me anymore.

"King Shun, don't worry!" Kong heard the news and said with a smile, "King Shun only knows that there is Chi salt, doesn't he know about Huai salt and Hedong salt?"

"Although the Huai salt is thousands of miles away, Qin Fan, Han Fan, Qing Fan and Su Fan each have their own salt and sell it in their territories. This is one of them."

"The price of salt in Hedong is low, and it is across the river from Shaanxi. Doesn't it mean that private salt is rampant and the court cannot control it? This is the second reason."

"Therefore, according to my estimate, 70 million salt is not enough to meet the needs of the people of Shaanxi. I would like to ask King Shun for advice."

"Seventy million?" Zhang Shun secretly estimated, then Shaanxi will have a population of more than 7.7 million. Is it really no problem?

"Well, I happen to be short of a deputy envoy to organize the Yanfa Farm on Yulin West Road. I wonder if Mr. Kong is willing to give in?"

The Salt Ambassador who was originally in charge of the Salt Division was only an eighth-rank official. It was certainly impossible for Zhang Shun to "insult" Kong Wenzheng, the fourth-rank inspector.

The deputy envoy who was responsible for rectifying the salt field on Yulin West Road was the Bingbei Road sent by Yulin Town to be in charge of the salt field, and it was just right for Kong Wenzheng to take up the post.

So how could Kong Wenzheng refuse if his original intention was this?

He couldn't help but said with great joy: "Thank you King Shun for your love, I will certainly fulfill my mission!"