Spring and Autumn I Am King

s: Thank you book friend Wuchen &am;am; Young Master Xiaobai for becoming the master of this book. The data in this chapter is from "Guanzi". For all questions, please contact the original author. July will not be responsible. The second chapter will be published in the afternoon.

One day in early February, just after the crowing of the rooster, Zigong was summoned by Cao Bo's Yousi to enter the palace for questioning.

In the past, Uncle Cao was not interested in political affairs at all. Everything was handled by Da Sicheng and other officials.

Until last autumn and winter, he was persuaded by Zigong's eloquent tongue to participate in the "hunting the country" game of Zhao's father and son. Although he was defeated by the belly-like guards in the end, he had to rely on postal support to ensure his position. without losing. But Cao Bo began to be more interested in the war. After seeing the magic of Zhao's light cavalry, he not only tried to buy horses from the Jin state, but also expanded the number of cavalry in his office, and encouraged him in the extravagant place. Horse racing.

For a time, Zhao Wuxi's horse racing, which was unable to promote it, gradually became popular among the upper classes of Cao Guo by virtue of this coincidence.

Cao Bolian has always been able to push and push the court a lot on time. He read the memorial book all day, and wanted to know when the delivery of Punan's Lishan-Leize Land will be completed...

But he had never been summoned so early. Zigong guessed that the matter was probably already known to Uncle Cao.

∝↑,

When Zigong covered his yawn to meet Cao Bo, the lord threw a scroll of silk books in front of him.

"See for yourself!"

Zigong knew that this was definitely not from Xilu. Zhao Wuxi had clearly stipulated that paper should be used for official offices and external books.

really. However, Cao Bo said angrily: "The Marquis of Qi has issued an edict that it is strictly forbidden to transport sea salt into Cao and Xilu. How can this be done!"

Zigong was not in a hurry, he glanced at the words on the silk book. It was the people of Qi who asked the merchants of Qi in Taoqiu to pass it on. The wording above was severe, stating that in order to punish Cao Guo's actions of "helping Zhou to abuse" during the war, it was decided to terminate the salt trade from Linzi to Taoqiu and Qufu, and sell it in Puyang, Xinzheng, and Shangqiu. This was done until the state of Cao took the initiative to ask Qi and Wei for peace, sever all relations with the state of Jin and Zhao Wuxi in Xilu, and returned the occupied Punan towns.

He had to admit that Qi's threat was quite heavy.

...

Zigong also bought and sold Qi salt, and he knew that Taigongwang was enfeoffed in Yingqiu. The land was drained of brine, and the people were few, so the Taigong of Qi persuaded his women to weave, to be extremely skilled in craftsmanship, and to benefit from fish and salt.

People can not eat fish, do not wear clothes and silks woven by the state of Qi, and rely on monotonous corn, wild vegetables, and juniper bean leaves for a living, and reluctantly supplement protein. When it is cold, it can maintain its life even in the rough brown of kudzu. But there is only one thing that cannot be lacking, and that is salt.

The white crystal particles that appear to be incomparable in later generations are condensed with life and death, and the country is prosperous!

Spring and Autumn. Almost every state stores and uses salt as a rare resource, no less than grain and copper and tin.

"Shangshu. Said Mingxia" has a cloud: If you make a soup, you will taste the salt and plum. As early as Yu, Shun, Xia, Yin and Shang times. People have combined salt with sourness and sweetness to modulate food, and it has become a very important seasoning. Because it is relatively rare. Usually in the cooking process, salt is not often added directly to meals to avoid waste. When Zhou people eat, they first mix meat or vegetables with salt and other seasonings to make a sauce. When eating meat, white meat is served with sauce placed in copper beans.

Nobles are so stingy, let alone commoners? Few people in later generations will have a similar experience. If you don’t eat this stuff for a long time, you will be weak all over the body, and in severe cases, your body will be swollen. The main reason for forcing the people of small countries and few people to leave the world and go to the city shops to trade is to buy salt to a large extent. Salt dealers are probably the earliest merchants on the land of China. The original trade routes of Xia, Shang and Zhou were largely opened up to trade salt.

However, the production areas of salt are not average. Among them, the coastal state of Qi has the most. If there is sea, salt can be boiled in sea water. It is called the country of "Sea King". The state of Qi became rich because of this, and the state of Lu, which had only a few salt mines, also fell behind Qi from that time.

In the life of Duke Huan of Qi, it was even more extraordinary. Guan Yiwu thought: "In the kingdom of the sea king, we should be honest with salt." He suggested that Duke Huan should implement the salt policy of "official mountain and sea". Arrangement, setting up gates at the border, almost strangling all channels for smuggling salt.

Therefore, the salt of Qi State was sold all the way to Chengzhou, Wei, Song, Cao, Chen, Cai and other places. They did not produce salt locally and lived by importing sea salt. The salt produced in the state of Lu is only enough to supply the people of Lu City, and most of the time they have to eat all the salt.

Zigong calculated that in a month, adult men eat nearly five and a half liters of salt, adult women nearly three and a half liters, and minors nearly two and a half liters. These are approximate numbers. One hundred liters of salt make one kettle, and ten kettles make one bell. A family of ten people eats salt for ten people, at least 40 liters per month, and a town of one hundred people eats salt for 100 people, 400 liters a month.

A small state with a population of 100,000 needs to eat for 400 minutes, while a medium-sized state like Lu with a population of nearly one million needs to eat for 3,000 to 4,000 minutes! This does not include salt used in livestock and cured meats.

Qi salt sold in China is worth 150 yuan per minute, and sold abroad, the highest price is over 1,000 yuan per minute!

The annual output of salt in Qi is more than 30,000 bells, enough for 10 million people to eat, which almost covers all the needs of Zhuxiabangguo. The official trade in salt allowed Qi to earn millions of dollars, accounting for almost half of the annual income! And there's a bit of a shortage.

By selling salt to other countries and making money from foreign countries, no one complains, and no one can escape. This is Guanzi's salt policy. Because they have resources in hand, Qi people will increase the price if they want, and cut it if they want to cut it. Duke Huan of Qi used the big stick of first-hand salt resources to implement the method of light and heavy, forcing the princes to be obedient.

From then on, between the rich sea and Dai in the state of Qi, the eastern princes gathered up their robes and went to court.

Only the state of Jin, which owns the natural treasure land of Jiechi, dares not to equate its people.

In a short period of time, Zigong sorted out his understanding of Qiyan after many years of business, and now Qi is using the same salt policy as when Duke Huan of Qi was used to force Cao and Xilu to submit.

He closed the silk book and said lightly: "The people of Qi are taking advantage of the heavy sea salt to intimidate the country of Cao, and they have done it in the past. But in the eyes of the ministers, it is not enough to be afraid of."

Cao Cao was very angry: "Isn't it enough to be afraid of? You know. Qi's annual production of sea salt is 36,000 bells, of which 10,000 bells are transported to Taoqiu for trading. If each pot is traded with two cents in tax, one minute is two. Ten coins, 10,000 minutes is 200,000 coins (seven knife coins, weighing about half a tael)! Nearly two-tenths of the annual revenue of the Cao Guo market comes from this, which is more than the tax you pay for your extravagant money. Twice as high!"

Zigong knew it in his heart. It seemed that before he came, Cao Cao summoned Chu and the city officials who were in charge of the store to ask for details.

These data are probably correct. Taoqiu is a commercial capital in the Central Plains, so the merchants of Qi will also be allowed by the official. The sea salt was shipped here to wait for merchants from Chen, Cai, Song, Chu and other countries to buy it, and Taoqiu Market collected part of the transaction tax from it, which has always been the bulk of Cao Guo’s annual income. Now, under the economic sanctions imposed by the Qi people, the state of Cao is likely to lose two-tenths of his income. Then the price of salt in Taoqiu has soared, and a series of impacts will be brought about by the reduction in the flow of salt merchants. .

At this time, the people of Qi who proposed this strategy were secretly enjoying themselves, waiting to see the miserable appearance of Xilu's lack of salt.

But no matter who that person is. He probably didn't realize that the opponent he met this time was called Zigong!

But he is all right, and he is rich in history. Duanmu, the ancestor of the Confucian businessman who was able to compete with the feudal feudal lords!

...

In the face of Cao Bo, who retreated at the slightest threat, Zigong kept his hands in his sleeves. Says:

"Could it be that Your Majesty wants to accept the request of the Marquis of Qi? In the past few months, Cao Kingdom has also paid hundreds of casualties, grain, leather armor, and arrows. Wei Guo. But Zhao Xiaosikou is still willing to station the area south of Lei Xiaze-Lishan by Cao Shi. The minister has been in business all the year round. He once heard a saying that it is easy to get on the ship but difficult to get off. This is the current situation of the state of Cao. already."

Uncle Cao's face was ashen, Zigong was right, Cao Guo is now tied to the chariots of Zhao and Jin, and if he wants to overtake halfway, the price is probably not small.

"What should the widow do?"

In Zigong's opinion, although there have been rumors that Zhao Wuxi and Confucius were at odds with Lu recently, but when he wanted to come, he and his fellow apprentices were highly valued, and Ran Qiu was promoted to Sima Xuju, even though he wanted to come here. Yes, that's just a small difference of "gentlemen are harmonious but different". Who can think of a piece of everything? Zigong and his fellow apprentices and brothers sometimes think very differently from the Master!

So no matter what outsiders say, he is still doing his best to serve Zhao Wuchen. After all, the careers of the Zhao family and Xilu are in a booming period, and Zigong himself earns more and more money in Taoqiu. The status is also getting higher and higher.

After the expansion of the Grand Arena, the extravagant business has grown bigger and bigger, adding many competitions and gambling games, and acquiring a lot of Taoqiu's market real estate. Last year, the profit was as high as 400,000 yuan! Among them, 100,000 were handed over to the master of the state of Cao Chu as a high tax, the remaining half of the 300,000 was reserved for development, and the other 150,000 was exchanged for food, clothing, silk, copper and tin to support Zhao Wuxi's war.

The reason why Zhao Wuxi was able to persevere in the predicament of strong walls and clear fields is due to the uterus.

Zigong holds such a huge batch of money, silk and resources. If he were to change to a normal lord, he would definitely be suspicious. However, Zhao Wuxi just let a few military officials beside him to assist, and basically did not interfere with Zigong's strategy of colonizing goods, allowing him to use his abilities to the fullest.

Therefore, while Zigong was grateful, he also felt a sense of crisis in his heart. He is now the second person after Zhang Mengtan among the Wuxi forces, but he is far away from Xilu after all. Kan Zhizheng, who hated him, chased after him and was given the post of supervisory order.

So this time it happened that Qi State launched the Haiyan War. This was Zigong's specialty. How could he not try his best to help Zhao Wuxi come up with a solution? In order to fight for Kongmen and suppress the arrogance of Xia Kanzhi.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, not to mention the businessman's sense of smell is the most sensitive. As early as half a month ago, he got the wind from the Qi country and made various preparations for it.

Taoqiu Waiguo, belonging to Zhao Wuxi's warehouse, through Zigong's half-month frenzy of purchases, thousands of bells of green and white salt that can be used for several months have long been stored. It is enough to temporarily stabilize the price of Cao State's salt, and it can also go down the river at any time, enter Dayozawa, and then land in Yuncheng to save Xilu.

Not only that, Zigong also has a series of follow-up methods!

So he said with a smile: "Don't worry about your lord, the ministers already have a countermeasure, and within three months of guaranteeing, the Qi people's policy of banning salt will inevitably fail!"

"To make Qi people self-defeating? I don't know what's the plan~www.wuxiaspot.com~ I hope Zigong can teach me!" Cao Bo asked Master Chu, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Of course, but the premise is that Your Majesty must cooperate with Zhao Xiaosikou's actions. Since Qi State relied on itself to be the Kingdom of the Sea King, it has no fear of abusing the salt policy to coerce the princes, then we must immediately launch a countermeasure and let the other generation Taste the pain that the light and heavy measures have inflicted on your head!"

That's right, Zhao Wuxi's battlefield was on the outskirts of the city, between the palaces and temples. The battlefield of the doctor Bianque and his disciples lies within the patient's body, skin, stomach, and infirmity.

On top of the market, inside the government treasury, and on the communication line of boats and vehicles, is the battlefield that Zigong is very familiar with, the place where the victory or defeat of this salt war will survive!

Since the people of Qi are self-sufficient in economic sanctions, let them know what counter-sanctions are! (To be continued.)

s: Thanks to the book friend Wuchen &am;am; Young Master Xiaobai, Mobumo Sunlight, the second reincarnation, the male fish who committed suicide by jumping into the sea, Yongcan, water and electricity bills, hehe v, Chen Dingguo's reward! Thank you for your monthly pass!

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