Tang Dynasty: The beginning of the game is to touch the Princess Changle

Li Shimin looked at the heads of the various noble families who were bowing their heads below, and his face was full of smiles of great ambition.

Then, the smile on his face turned into a contemptuous expression.

"You have come to this day. When did you think of ruling the world with me?"

After a moment, he restrained his emotions and said lightly:

"Everyone, I can share the method of refining snowflake salt with you."

As soon as Li Shimin said this, the heads of the noble families who were bowing their heads below instantly raised their heads, as if they had heard something incredible, and looked at Li Shimin with shock and confusion in their eyes.

Everyone saw that Li Shimin's face was very calm, which made them even more puzzled.

In their view, the method of refining snowflake salt is no different from the foundation of a family, and can be used as a family inheritance.

Why did Li Shimin disclose the method of refining snowflake salt to them?

Could it be that Li Shimin was not aware of the interests involved?

Li Shimin sat on the top, looking expressionlessly at the heads of the noble families standing below.

The heads of the fifteen noble families, big and small, had different thoughts.

Wang Zhen and Cui Bo looked so gloomy that they seemed to be squeezed out of water, and their eyes were slightly fierce.

Li Shimin was going to dig up their roots!

However, they did not dare to attack on the spot. Did they really think that Li Shimin could not lift a knife?

However, the other heads of noble families did not think so, and they even had a little secret joy.

For a long time, the salt business has been in the hands of the Cui and Wang families. Other families could not intervene and had no salt refining technology.

Now, there is a better way to refine snowflake salt than refined salt, which is tantamount to giving them the opportunity to enter the salt market.

…

The whole side hall was silent,

Everyone was thinking about it, and Li Shimin slowly picked up the teacup and tasted the tea!

On ordinary days, the sound of drinking tea was barely audible, but now it resounded throughout the hall. It seemed that those noble family heads who were secretly delighted by this were awakened by it, and now they were ready to move, and their minds were active.

Everyone still stood up. You can stand up on your own initiative, but you can't sit down by yourself if the emperor doesn't ask you to sit down.

At this time, Li Shanhuai, the head of the Longxi Li family, bowed his hands and said respectfully:

"I, Li Shanhuai of the Longxi Li family, dare to ask Your Majesty: How much do you want to share this snowflake salt refining method with us?"

They are not stupid. There is no free lunch in the world, let alone this method of refining fine salt that is no less than a family heirloom.

It can also be guessed that Li Shimin must have some conditions, how can he give it away for free?

Everyone looked at Li Shimin with expectation at this moment, wanting to know what His Majesty was planning.

Li Shimin slowly put down the teacup and raised his hand to press it.

"Masters, please take a seat and have some tea!"

Everyone thanked them in unison, picked up the teacup nonchalantly, and took a sip.

They had no intention of tasting the tea that was rarely tasted at ordinary times, and put down the teacup to look at Li Shimin who was sitting on the main seat.

Li Shimin looked at everyone with dignity.

Suddenly, the imperial power bloomed.

"I will divide the Tang Dynasty into ten roads: Guannei Road, Jiangnan Road, Hebei Road, Shannan Road, Henan Road... and auction the salt mining rights in these ten roads. The highest bidder will win, and there will be one quota for each road."

Among these ten roads, Henan Road has the widest scope, including the entire territory of Henan, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Anhui today. Henan Province is also named after Henan Road.

"From now on, if you privately mine and sell private salt without the permission of the royal family or the court, your family will be confiscated and your clan will be exterminated!"

Li Shimin said this, stopped talking, and looked at everyone indifferently.

The heads of the noble families heard two meanings from Li Shimin's words. One is: not everyone can sell salt in the future, and the other is: the salt mines in the hands of the family must be handed over.

The royal family can refine snowflake salt. If the salt mines of the noble families are not handed over, Li Shimin does not need to do anything, the people of the world will smash the doors of the noble families.

These noble families with salt mines also understand that it does not matter whether the salt mines are handed over now.

Anyway, their salt cannot be sold.

Official salt, snowflake salt, is sold at 50 coins per bucket. The crude salt of the noble families before was 100 coins. Only fools would buy it.

However, in this way, those noble families who did not run salt business before and whose families did not have salt mines were happy.

"May I ask your majesty, when and how to auction?"

Li Shanhuai stood up again and asked respectfully. He would not miss this rare opportunity.

This policy is beneficial to him. It is nothing more than that a few days ago, he was encouraged by the Cui and Wang families to buy more than 8 million kilograms of snowflake salt and store it at home.

The money spent was only over 400,000 strings of cash, which was not a big deal.

"Originally, I planned to announce it to the world and then auction the salt mining rights."

"Because your families have made contributions to the Li Tang royal family, why not let you know about it today? If you have any questions, I will answer them one by one!"

Li ShiminAfter saying that, he glanced at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling took the rice paper prepared in advance and handed it to the fifteen heads of the family in turn.

Each of the fifteen heads of the family held two pieces of rice paper in his hand.

One piece was: the method of refining fine salt, and each step was clearly written.

The method of refining snowflake salt, which they regarded as a treasure, was presented on the paper. They dared not think about it at all. Without permission, they confiscated their property and exterminated their clan.

The other piece was: about the transfer of salt mining rights in the territory of the Tang Dynasty and the explanation of the salt sales license.

At first glance, the title did not look like an official document of the Tang Dynasty. It was obviously written by Su Chen, and they copied it.

The salt mining rights and salt sales licenses were also written clearly.

The salt mining rights obtained through bidding are valid for 30 years.

After the expiration, if there is no tax evasion and major safety and quality accidents, it will be automatically renewed.

During the validity period, if there are serious violations of laws, crimes, rebellions, etc., the government has the right to revoke the mining rights.

Salt Sales License: After obtaining the right to mine salt, you can sell salt on your own or authorize others.

The price of salt sales is set by the government, and 20% tax is paid on time and according to quantity.

At the end of the manual, the cost of refining fine salt and the sales price are also attached.

Simple and clear, anyone who can read can understand it.

After reading the two pieces of rice paper that were as light as a feather in their hands, Wang Zhen and Cui Bo felt that they were holding: a huge stone weighing tens of millions of pounds.

They also understood the general trend and they were powerless.

Suddenly, eight heads of noble families stood up at the same time, including Zheng of Xingyang and Li of Longxi, who were among the Five Surnames and Seven Families. They bowed and said:

"Your Majesty..."

"Your Majesty, can we start the auction now?"

"Your Majesty, may I ask how much the salt mining rights in Henan Province are priced at?"

Li Shimin raised his hand to signal them to sit down, and smiled at Fang Xuanling:

"Lord Fang, is it appropriate to auction it now?"

Seeing your Majesty asking the question, Fang Xuanling stepped forward respectfully and thought for a while:

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, it would be more appropriate to inform all the people of the salt price of 5 wen per catty after the announcement to the world, and then to auction it publicly."

The heads of the families who wanted to obtain the mining rights immediately were panicked. In this case, how many people would come to grab these ten places?

After Fang Xuanling finished speaking, he lowered his head and retreated, glancing at Changsun Wuji from the corner of his eye.

The two smiled knowingly.

"Your Majesty, I think that the heads of the families present here have made contributions to the royal family and are quite famous, so there is nothing wrong with auctioning now."

After Changsun Wuji finished speaking, the heads of the families were overjoyed.

So, after a fierce bidding, 1.5 million guan in Henan Road was won by the Cui family.

1 million guan in Jiangnan Road was won by the Wang family, and 700,000 guan in Guannei Road was won by the Lu family.

The prices in other roads were around 500,000 guan.

So far, the price of salt in the Tang Dynasty was 5 wen per catty, and all salt mines were nationalized.

Li Shimin's treasury earned more than 8 million guan from selling salt, which was equivalent to the tax revenue of the Tang Dynasty for two years.

Add to that the more than 7 million guan from the auction, a total of more than 10 million guan.

Wang Zhen and Cui Bo thought about the more than 60 million catties of snowflake salt in their homes, and lost 45 wen per catty.

They were as disappointed as death!