Wynn is in the south of the city of Bingzhou, not far from the bank of the Fen River. When Du Zhongxiao arrived here, it was noon. Governor Fu Rui took the officials to greet him outside the door, and when he saw Du Zhongxiao and his party coming, he stepped forward to salute and welcome him into the prison.

As soon as he entered the Yongli Prison, Du Zhongxiao saw a large pile of soil and salt piled up in the open space, which was only covered with a straw curtain and covered with dust. Due to the rain, there are white flowers under my feet, as if I am walking on snow.

When they arrived at the official hall and sat down, Fu Rui ordered tea to be served, and said flatteringly: "Sign the judgment, the well water here is alkaline and cannot be drunk." The water for ordering tea is taken from the mountains by a small special person, and it is for sweet water. ”

Du Zhongxiao took a sip of tea, with no expression on his face, and asked casually: "Governor, why has there been so much backlog of soil salt in the past few years?" ”

Fu Rui said: "A few years ago, the war with the party was tight, and there was a shortage of money and food, so there was more salt bought from the people to supplement military expenses. Since last year's peace agreement with the party, this salt has nowhere to go, and it has been backlogged. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, and asked again: "Where is the salt collected a few years ago sold?" ”

"Where else can it be sold? It is nothing more than the state army. In the war, they had to buy horses, grain and grass, and money everywhere. Where is there a lot of money in the imperial court? When the salt was collected, the price was made one by one, and it was distributed to the merchants and the people as money. ”

Du Zhongxiao listened and was speechless for a while. To put it bluntly, it is to cope with the war expenses of the previous years, collect salt, and use it as money. As for whether these salts are forcibly matched and whether the people are useful or not, it is not a matter for the officials to consider. Now that the war is over and there is less money, the salt is stored here, and no one knows what to do. If it is not disposed of, it will be stacked outside for a long time, and there will not be much left in a few years. However, there is no salt in the salt farm, and the government has it in its accounts, so it will have to find a way to write off the accounts.

Seeing that the governor Fu Rui and several officials were listless, their clothes were shabby, and some of them were about to become beggars, and Du Zhongxiao couldn't say a lot of things in his heart. There is a backlog of soil and salt, and there is not much money allocated from above, and these people are not having a good time.

After drinking tea for a while, Du Zhongxiao tried to ask: "Governor, you have been here for many years, do you have a way to sell the backlog of salt?" It's piled up in the open outside, exposed to the sun and rain, and it's not always a solution. When the salt is sold, life will be better. ”

Fu Rui shook his head again and again: "There is a lot of salt and sand here, and the taste is bitter, who will you sell it to?" If it weren't for the government's forcible suppression, even the newly collected salt would not have been sold, let alone the backlog. To tell you the truth, this salt is not much different from the soil. We, who are in charge of salt, because we have accumulated a lot of salt, the state uses salt to pay our money, but if there is a way, will it be like this? ”

After speaking, he pointed to the shabby official uniform on his body, and just shook his head.

Looking at Fu Rui, and then at the few officials standing on the side, Du Zhongxiao could only shake his head. Because there was too much salt backlog, the officials of Wynn Prison were all paid with salt, but fortunately they were also given a little rice, otherwise it would have been a problem to eat. What is the use of giving them salt? There are mountains piled up outside, if you can sell it, you can make a fortune by scraping a little bit, and you can use the state to make it.

After being silent for a while, Du Zhongxiao stood up and said to Fu Rui: "Let's go out and take a look, how the salt collected is and how it is stored." The governor sent me here to sell this salt, not to be careless. ”

Fu Rui and the others didn't believe that this salt could be sold at all, and everyone was lazy, leading Du Zhongxiao to the place where the salt was piled outside.

casually lifted the grass curtain and looked at it, Du Zhongxiao saw that the color of the soil salt was yellow, and the pimples were lumpy, and the appearance was extremely ugly. I touched a lump of salt with my hand and put it in my mouth, but I felt that it was bitter and astringent, and the saltiness was not significant. Obviously, this salt is of inferior quality, no wonder it can't be sold. There is the party's green and white salt in the north and the Jiezhou pond salt in the south, all of which are the best salt in the world.

After walking for a while, looking at the salt mountains piled up around him, Du Zhongxiao could only sigh. blamed myself for not noticing for a while, speaking quickly, and falling for this one. It's hard to ride a tiger now, it's really hard to do. This cannot be blamed on the state officials for cheating themselves, because they do not understand the situation.

On one side of this salt mountain is the wharf of the Fen River. In the past, when salt was sold well, it was directly distributed at the wharf and transported along the Fen River to other states and counties. The pier was once a bustling place, and there are still many old houses.

All the way to the Fen River, I saw that the river was rapid, and there was not a single boat, which was very desolate. In the summer and autumn, the river swells sharply, making it unnavigable. Now the rainy season has just passed, and there are only occasional boat trips.

Standing by the river for a while, Du Zhongxiao was irritable and said to Tao Seventeen: "You and the people in the salt field go to the town to buy a sheep, slaughter the boiled meat, and let's drink a few glasses of wine." It seems that we have to find a way to do this slowly, and I won't be able to return to the state city in a day or two. ”

Tao Seventeen forked his hand and promised, beckoned the two officials, and went to the town together. Those officials were listless, but when they heard that they were buying sheep to eat meat, they immediately became energetic and volunteered to follow Tao Seventeen to the town.

Du Zhongxiao pointed to an empty room next to him and said, "I'm tired of walking, let's go there and rest." ”

When I arrived at the vacant house, I saw that this was originally a shop, selling some food, and a few tables and stools were placed under the shed. A few people sat down in the shed, and Thirteen Lang and a few people went around inside, and came out and said, "It's really good, there are pots and pans inside, just to cook meat." ”

Du Zhongxiao didn't bother to ask why he didn't go to the official's residence, and let a few people fetch water from the Fen River to scrub the pots and pans.

After looking at the scenery for a while, Du Zhongxiao asked Fu Rui beside him: "I see that the salt collected is extremely inferior, there is a lot of sediment, and the color is yellow, no wonder it can't be sold." Governor, if we re-cook it and turn it into snowflakes and fine salt, I don't know if it will be good to sell? ”

Fu Rui shook his head again and again: "It's useless to sign the judgment." There are many households in the vicinity to cook salt, there is no shortage of them, and the previous ones bought grain and grass for the war, and they were also very much. Every family doesn't know how much soil salt they have piled up, and no matter how good the salt is, it is difficult to sell. ”

Du Zhongxiao listened to it and was quite helpless. Originally, the quality of salt was not good, and there was no market, so this matter was difficult to do.

Yongli Jian is the county level, and not far from the salt farm, it is the town. It didn't take long for Tao Seventeen to buy sheep, and together with Thirteen Lang and the officials, they were slaughtered by the Fen River, and the meat and bones were thrown into the cauldron and boiled.

Seeing that it was almost cooked, Fu Rui said in a loud voice: "Go to the salt pile over there and get some salt and put it in the pot." Although the local salt is astringent, the meat is excellent. The mutton boiled in earth salt does not have a trace of smell, but it is not available elsewhere. ”

The two servants agreed, ran quickly to the salt field, took two large handfuls of soil salt, and sprinkled them into the pot. Another person went to the river to find some seasonings such as wild onions and garlic, put them in the pot together, and added two handfuls of firewood.

After a while, the aroma is overflowing. Tao Qiqi took a large piece of boiled meat, put it in a clean basin, and served it to Du Zhongxiao.

Du Zhongxiao was stimulated by the desperate situation of the salt farm, and even asked Tao Seventeen to bring the spirits he brought and distribute them to everyone.

After drinking a bowl of wine, he felt hot all over, Du Zhongxiao exhaled, and only then did he recover a little.

At this moment, a small boat came down from the upper reaches of the boat, and a man standing in the bow of the boat said, "What a fragrant smell!" We are guests from afar, and we are hungry, and the officials are willing to share some of the meat to make it difficult for us? ”

Du Zhongxiao was a little bored with drinking, and was thinking that someone would accompany him to drink, so he said: "If you want to eat meat and drink wine, just go ashore!" ”

The man thanked him, turned the boat over, tied it at the dock, and the three big men went ashore.

stepped forward to sing the promise, and Du Zhongxiao saw that the three of them were wearing Fan Yang hats and wrapped in leather robes, not like ordinary businessmen. They sat down and asked, "I see that you are not in business, and you don't know where you came from?" ”

A man in front of him said: "The official guessed badly, we are in business." In Xia Fengyuan, this one is Wei Balang, and that one is Lu Xingyuan, doing some fur business. We bought Khitan furs from the northern Yanchang and were on our way to Luoyang, Xijing. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at the ship, and then saw that the cabin was full of fine furs. The Song and Khitan had a field in the border area and could trade. Fur is not liked by the people of the Central Plains, and it accounts for a small proportion of the trade between the two sides, and most of them are operated by these small merchants.

A few people sat down, the official poured wine for them, served the meat, Du Zhongxiao raised the bowl and said, "The guests are coming from afar, and have a drink." ”

Feng Yuan and the three of them raised their bowls and drank them all, and their faces were red together. Putting the bowl down, Feng Yuan exhaled and said loudly: "Good wine, I have never seen such strength!" Again! ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled. The market for spirits in the Central Plains is not large, and after so many years, the bad liquor is enough to supply the market, and there is no motivation to specialize in making liquor. But for northerners, the feeling is different due to the harsh climate. The further north you go, the more you like spirits.

A few people drank wine and ate meat, and Feng Yuan talked about what he saw and heard about the Khitan, which was also very lively.

After drinking for a while, Feng Yuan said to Wei Balang: "How can we use other people's wine and meat for nothing? Hachiro, go to the boat and get some furs as a thank you gift. ”

Du Zhongxiao was about to refuse, but at a glance he saw Fu Rui beside him with a happy face, and then looked at the shabby official robe on his body, but he didn't make a sound. You may not care about these things, but the officials of the salt works are different. They were so poor that they spared nothing of their possessions.

Wei Balang took a few furs and came over to give them to Du Zhongxiao: "A few gifts, I hope the officials will not dislike them." ”

Du Zhongxiao asked Tao Seventeen to take it, touched it casually, and said: "It's really a good thing, it's a pity that it hasn't been tanned, it's a little troublesome." ”

Hearing this, Feng Yuan sighed: "Don't hide it from the officials, there are a lot of this kind of fur in the Northland, and the price is cheap. It's just that they are clumsy, and there are very few craftsmen who tanned furs, so they can only buy them back in this way, and they are not easy to sell in the Central Plains. Alas, not to mention the Central Plains, even in the North, the price of tanned leather is several times higher. It's a pity that there are no craftsmen there, and there is no medicine, so this money cannot be earned. ”

Du Zhongxiao's heart moved: "If you talk about tanning fur, there should be no shortage of craftsmen in Hedong." It's just that the Han people don't like this thing, and it can't become an industry. As for the medicine for tanning skins, that's not all-"

As he spoke, he pointed to the salt pan behind him.

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