Han Fatzi saw that Zhu Cihong was looking seriously, so he invited him to come and see the prepared salt, also so that the God of Wealth could inspect the goods on the spot.

"Salt is divided into three types: salt, green salt and refined salt, childe, you see, how good the composition of this refined salt is!"

Zhu Cihong took a closer look, and saw that the refined salt produced was snow-white, crystal clear and very beautiful, very delicate, very similar to the refined salt eaten in later generations.

Seeing that the prince stretched out his hand to taste it, Li Hu beside him hurriedly tapped some with his finger and put it in his mouth, smacked his lips, and reported: "Salty, melt in your mouth, good quality." ”

Later, Li Hu tasted the green salt and salt that showed blue-gray and blue-gray green, and reported again: "It is a little bitter and has a bad taste. ”

Han Fatzi said with a smile: "You get what you pay for, refined salt is something that only a master like Gongzi can afford, and I and other ordinary people can only eat this kind of coarse salt." ”

Han Fatzi also introduced: "The salt produced by our Yanghe group is 20% salt, 30% green salt, and 50% refined salt, specializing in the high-end market, which fully meets the needs of the son!" ”

"If this refined salt is put on the market, the price will increase at least tenfold! If you go to the mainland, it is not impossible to sell it for 30 or 40 times. ”

Zhu Cihong frowned slightly: "The profits of this salt industry are so huge, and they are terrifying. ”

Salt is a necessity of life, and it has been monopolized by the state for generations, and the salt merchants who have obtained salt to operate the salt industry are all extremely rich! But why is this salt tax getting smaller and smaller? Zhu Cihong decided to ask the salt envoy in Yangzhou to ask about it.

He knew very well that in the Qing Dynasty in history, the salt merchant was almost the emperor's personal money bag, and every time the imperial court encountered a major military supply, celebration, relief, project, etc., it would let the salt merchant undertake the bill and donate it in the name of the name.

When Qianlong's son went to the south of the Yangtze River to pick up girls, most of the six trips were paid for by salt merchants in Changlu, Lianghuai and other places, providing hundreds of millions of dollars to Bo Qianlong's favor.

During the period of Qianlong and Jiaqing, salt merchants from all over the country donated 30 million taels of silver to military supplies, and during the four years of Jiaqing's suppression of the White Lotus Rebellion, the two Huai salt merchants enthusiastically donated as many as six times and donated 5.5 million taels of silver.

The Manchu court also responded to the salt merchants' dog-licking donations, awarding them political titles and bureaucratizing the salt merchants.

The wool comes from the sheep, and after the salt merchants donate the money, they will naturally not pay for it themselves, but pass it on to the consumers and salt workers, and they have the final say on the purchase price and the sales price.

In order to protect the good licking dogs of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government gave preferential treatment economically, allowing the licking dogs to increase the price of salt set by the government, and also allowed salt merchants to increase the number of catties of salt per bundle, and even exempted the arrears of salt tax.

Although they got their beards, the emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty went out on patrols too often, and although the salt merchants had rich families, it was difficult to withstand such a toss all day, but they were dumb and ate Coptis chinensis, and they couldn't say what they were suffering from.

At this time, the emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty naturally did not abandon the loyal licking dogs, and specially lent money to the capital turnover, which was called "the capital";

In fact, just like opening a bank to lend money, salt merchants pay interest and silver every year, which is called "profit", which is a typical collusion between officials and businessmen.

The salt merchants who made money began to purchase land, and converted this profit into feudal land ownership, making it itself a feudal landlord, with frequent land sales and acquisitions, and finally their emperor was not guaranteed, perhaps this is the so-called curve to save the country, high-end route.......

In all dynasties, this is a problem that cannot be eradicated, and the Ming Dynasty has done a slightly better job in this regard, but it is not much better.

The salt merchants who have obtained the hereditary salt under the salt law system are also desperately trying to suppress the bottom price, and on the other hand, they try their best to increase the selling price.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cihong's hands itched again, and he was thinking about the small goal in his heart, how many people would be killed in this batch, and how much silver would be copied......

He looked around and found that all he saw was the production method of boiling salt, so he asked Han Fatzi: "Han Tuantou, don't you use the salt drying method?" ”

In the first year of Jiajing (1522), Haifeng Field was the first to be fried for drying, and after more than 100 years of development, it should be popularized in the south.

The so-called salt drying method, in the manufacture of brine sand and brine, the process is basically similar to the boiling salt method, the difference is that the salt production process is to pour the brine into a special salt trough to expose to the sun.

When the sun has not yet risen, the brine should be poured into the salt trough, and after a day of exposure, the salt can be scraped into the bamboo basket with a board when the sun sets.

In the hot summer, a salt bath with two or three brines can evaporate and dry, and the efficiency is very good.

The production of boiled salt is backward, the output is small, the labor productivity is low, the cost is high, especially the consumption of firewood is large, and the cooking into a load of salt consumes about 400 catties of firewood, and then it is gradually replaced by the salt drying method.

Han Fatzi smiled and replied: "Childe knows a lot, we Yanghe Tuan and even the entire Huainan salt field use the salt drying method, but we must wait until the middle of summer, the weather is hot and there is no rain to use, now it has just entered spring, and it has been cloudy recently, and a tank of brine can't produce salt for three or five days, so you can only use boiled salt." ”

"After the summer rains, we will have three or four months of salt drying time, and the salt production at that time will definitely satisfy Childe!"

Zhu Cihong looked at the gloomy weather, slightly embarrassed, there is a specialization in the art industry, the ancients are honest and do not deceive me......

However, whether it is boiling salt or drying salt, it is a labor-intensive industry, and the salt drying method with a large output has to work under the hot summer sun, which is a very hard thing to think about, and these salts are the fruits of hard work of the working people.

After a detailed understanding, Zhu Cihong gave a deposit and took people out of Yanghe Group.

A few days later, Zhu Cihong appeared in the prince's guard of honor on his way to Yangzhou Prefecture, and several inspection teams scattered around the salt works to investigate the situation also rushed back.

Zhu Cihong asked Zhu Chenggong: "How is the situation of the other salt balls over there?" ”

Zhu Chenggong also dressed as a rich son, and replied: "Your Highness, the situation is not optimistic, there are a total of fifteen salt regiments in the salt field in Yancheng, and twelve of them have been contracted by salt merchants, and the price of one quotation is between one or two to one or two and a half yuan, and three are contracted by the ambassador of the salt farm, and the price of one quotation is only one or two silver." ”

Zhu Cihong's face was slightly gloomy, these people who kill a thousand knives simply eat people without spitting out bones, and even pay the salt class at the purchase price of each salt introduction to the salt stove, one or two silver is purchased and introduced, and it is sold for dozens of taels of silver, or even hundreds of taels of silver, which is faster than robbing money!

Seeing that the crown prince's face was unhappy, everyone immediately shut up, not daring to make noise, it seemed that someone was about to lose his head again.

After a long time, Zhu Cihong waved his hand and said: "Let's go, Yangzhou Mansion City, inform Yangzhou Town Guard Eunuch, Lianghuai Salt Transport Envoy, Salt Imperial History, and all salt merchants to wait in the city!" ”