The Prosperous Era of Longwan

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a relatively complete system was set up. For salt and iron tea, a special yamen was set up in the Ministry of Household Affairs to manage it.

The method of obtaining salt in the early Ming Dynasty was mainly the method of opening the middle. The method of opening the middle can be roughly divided into three steps: reporting the middle, guarding the branch, and changing the market.

In the report, the salt merchants transported grain, grass, horses, and even cloth, silk, and money to the designated border area granaries in accordance with the requirements of the Ming court's investment invitation list, and exchanged them for salt imports with the Ministry of Household Affairs; Shouzhi was after the salt merchants exchanged salt imports , with the salt lead to the designated salt farm to wait for the salt supply; the market trade means that the salt merchants transport the salt to the designated area for sale.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the treatment for kitchen households was relatively generous. They were often given pasture and cultivated land, exempted from chores, and given rice to workers and a stone for every salt.

But after the orthodoxy, Zaoding's life became increasingly poor. Most of his fields and pastures were taken away by powerful men, and they had no place to dry salt. Their enthusiasm for production was frustrated and they often failed to complete the task of boiling salt, so they had no choice but to go bankrupt and go into exile.

The unstable salt production directly led to problems in the process of keeping the supply. Merchants paid grain and grass and horses to obtain salt, but they were unable to pick up salt from the salt field. The entire salt sales cycle was lengthened and the cost increased.

At the same time, ordinary salt merchants may not be able to queue up to receive their own salt even if they have salt citations in their hands, because at this time there is still a group of people who can obtain salt citations in large quantities, and this is Xungui.

Since the Chenghua Dynasty, there have been continuous petitions from wealthy and distinguished families to the emperor to beg for salt. In the Hongzhi Dynasty, such petitions continued unabated. The Zhou family of Qingyun Hou offered to buy 800,000 yuan of residual salt from the Huaihe River. Zhang Heling, Marquis of Shouning, reported to his family that they had bought 960,000 citations of Changlu and the remaining salt from the Huaihe River.

When these powerful people intervene in the salt industry, the result is that merchants may hold salt in their hands for a few years, but they may not be able to raise the salt for decades because the salt is taken away by the powerful.

"Businessmen have kept their branches for decades, and when they grow old and die, they can no longer use them, but their brothers and wives take over their branches instead."

Under this situation, some businessmen began to directly engage in transactions with kitchen households. This is the origin of private salt.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the punishments were severe and the Zao households were living well, so naturally no one took the risk.

But by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, for the sake of living, the connection between merchants and kitchen households inevitably emerged.

During this time, Wei Guangde did not just read the Four Books and Five Classics while studying in the government. He also carefully considered the previous imperial palace newspapers. After all, if he wanted to be an official, he had to understand the changes in the imperial policies, and it was not enough to just read the Ming Dynasty Laws.

In the past, Wei Guangde thought that the Kaizhong method was a salt method, but after reading a book during this period, he realized that the same applies to tea. The Ancient Tea Horse Road that he had heard about in the past actually means that merchants obtained tea according to the requirements of the Kaizhong method. , thereby transporting tea to surrounding areas.

However, in the Hongzhi Dynasty, Ye Qi, the then Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, reformed the salt law. Merchants did not need to pay grain, grass and other materials to the border towns in exchange for salt. Instead, they could pay money directly to the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs.

In the short term, this change allowed the Ministry of Revenue to quickly accumulate millions of taels of cash. Perhaps this is the truth behind the so-called Hongzhi ZTE.

Wei Guangde didn't understand this, but he also saw from the Di newspaper that there were mountains of silver in the Hubu warehouse.

He felt something was wrong. The merchant's money was not so easy to get, but he couldn't figure it out after thinking for a long time.

However, this seemingly complicated issue was explained casually by Zhang Hongfu, because when the money reaches the central government, it can be deducted at various levels when disbursing military pay. In the past, the grain and grass went directly to the border towns, and the officials of various ministries did not receive any money.

There is also the border town, where it is estimated that food rations are more difficult. It is no wonder that An Dahan was sent to Beijing, fearing that the border troops would not have enough to eat.

Only then did Wei Guangde realize that Ye Qi's salt law reform had directly weakened the border defense capability.

Now that he suddenly heard that his father was involved in a private relationship, Wei Guangde inevitably didn't want to think more about it.

"Have you found the salt merchant?"

Wei Guangde asked cautiously.

"You are still afraid that he will come to us. If he dares to come, he will come back with his life or death."

Father Wei said nonchalantly, "It's true that salt merchants are rich and powerful, but it also depends on who you meet. The Japanese pirates took it away. Whoever you ask to take it out can go to the Japanese pirates if you have the ability."

Of course Wei Guangde was not afraid that the private salt dealers would dare to come back to retrieve the salt goods. In fact, he was thinking about the huge profits from the private salt.

By the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde had deeply realized the importance of money, especially when he stayed in Jiujiang during this period. Everyone only went to Cuixiu Hall to drink on the first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, but that place was the Gold Sales Cave.

Wei Guangde has truly realized that the entertainment industry is always profitable no matter what era it is in.

Cuixiu Tang also mainly plays the card of "Qinghuan", but it is also the most expensive. On the contrary, those prostitutes are not favored by wealthy businessmen. Most of the prostitutes are converted from Qinghuan, and the business is actually not that good. Very average.

Perhaps when they were still shepherds, many wealthy businessmen and scholars were willing to spend thousands of dollars to worship them, but once they became prostitutes, well, that means no one offered money to redeem themselves, and the so-called alliances became a thing of the past. .

Wei Guangde's classmates were willing to spend a lot of money to win the smiles of the poor people, but they were not willing to spend a small amount of money to make the poor people popular because they felt that it would be a loss of status.

At this point, Wei Guangde didn't intend to tell his true thoughts. His father was back, so how could he find those private salt dealers.

However, Wei Guangde immediately thought of Zhang Fugui and Uncle Zhang. He was afraid that he had some friendship with the private salt dealer. No, it should be said that he was a salt dealer, otherwise it would be difficult to sell that batch of goods.

"Dad, you are in Zhejiang"

Wei Guangde did not intend to continue the topic of private relationships, and turned the conversation to Father Wei's life in Zhejiang.

“It was tense at the beginning, but after we conquered Dinghai County, we became more stable, and the Japanese pirates no longer dared to come.

He should have returned a long time ago, but several defeated guards were still there to re-check their soldiers, so it was delayed for a while. "

Father Wei smiled and briefly introduced life in Zhejiang.

"It's because of the appointment of Zhejiang's new general Yu Dayou that we can escape. He is also a powerful person, much more powerful than your cousin Wu Dong. He passed the scholar examination at the age of fifteen, and later participated in the martial arts examination and passed the Wu Jin Scholars, a hundred households will become a thousand households."

When Wei Guangde heard the name Yu Dayou, he felt it was familiar. Now that Wei Guangde was more literate, he recalled the names he had seen before and already knew that the famous anti-Japanese general who was similar to Qi Jiguang was named Yu Dayou, but he didn't know whether he was a scholar or a martial scholar. .

"Why is he, a talented scholar, participating in martial arts competitions? This is not the case."

Wei Guangde didn't say that he was willing to fall, but he just felt that something was wrong. Who can study and become a soldier these days?

"He is about the same as your cousin. He is the only one in the family. Like ours, his family has a hereditary position. His father is dead, so he can't go."

Father Wei smiled and said: "Hey, this time your uncle returns to Pengze, he will definitely train him hard. Wu Dong joined the army in his twenties. In twenty years, he has been promoted from a hundred households to a commanding officer. Now he is Zhejiang imperial Japanese general has the power to command troops."