Although the pig could not fight the pig killer, it was not killed by the pig killer after all.

In any case, the salt diversion was saved, and the Sichuan salt merchants celebrated as if they had won the battle.

But the Sichuan salt merchants didn't take it easy for long, and soon they met a new rival―――――― jīng salt.

This opponent is much more difficult to deal with than the Huaiyang salt merchants, because they are foreigners.

The best taste of traditional Chinese salt is Huai salt, followed by Sichuan salt, but in appearance Huai salt is not as good as Sichuan salt, Huai salt contains more impurities, sè Ze is not pure white, yellowish, the reason why Sichuan salt can defeat Huai salt in the western Hubei bank, in addition to the price advantage, is that sè Ze is pure white, and the taste is good. However, with the import of foreign jīng salt, Sichuan salt in the sè Ze advantage has been lost, under the blow of jīng salt, in recent years, Sichuan salt sales have not been smooth, there is a backlog of warehouses, if it is not for the outbreak of the "Xushen Revolution", foreign countries stop exporting salt to Hubei and other places, it will not take a few years for Sichuan salt to completely lose the provincial market.

Therefore, the Sichuan salt merchants hated the Huaiyang salt merchants and foreign salt merchants, who could help them recapture the shore, who was their savior, Zuo Zongtang, who supported the Sichuan salt merchants in the west, went west to conquer Agubai, and almost 20% of the military expenses used were reported by the Sichuan salt merchants, which shows that they attach importance to the battle for the shore.

Now, the republican army is in charge of Sichuan and Hu provinces, and not long ago there was news that the Hubei army used the excuse of cracking down on illegal salt and vigorously suppressed Huai salt, although this move was to maintain the Hubei salt tax revenue, but it also objectively helped the Sichuan salt merchants, to a certain extent, the Sichuan salt merchants had a natural good impression of Zhaobei.

"If the commander-in-chief becomes the president, it would be good to be able to sell Sichuan salt all over the country."

More than one person is doing this, and all Sichuan salt merchants are dreaming the same dream, and now Sichuan salt is purchased by the Republican Army, and the territory of the Republican Army is actually the territory of Sichuan Salt.

But there is always a day to wake up, when the news that Zhao Bei plans to rectify the salt politics comes out, the salt merchants of all sizes are trembling, who knows what the commander-in-chief with the nickname of "Zhao Tu" intends to do, anyway, with the historical experience of the salt merchants, whenever the wind is released from the top to say that the salt affairs will be rectified, it is usually the time when the salt merchants send a lot of money to the government, everyone knows the benefits of being a salt merchant, and they are looking forward to continuing to be, and the rich who did not become a salt merchant also sharpened their heads and wanted to drill into this group. As for who is in charge and who is wrong, it depends on the words of the government.

Specifically, it depends on the words of the commander-in-chief. In order to keep the location of the salt merchant land. Many salt merchants who came to the meeting place had silver tickets and checks in their pockets, as long as Zhao Bei opened his mouth. How much military spending. The total of the people. It is also possible to get together. If you want more, of course not. But at least it is enough for the commander-in-chief to raise tens of thousands of troops.

For the salt merchants, the mind of the north is naturally clear. In fact, it was yesterday when he returned to the gunboat after his inspection. Lan Tianwei reported to him the movements of the salt merchants, according to Lan Tianwei's estimates. If Zhao Beiken opened his mouth, Fushun would be able to scrape together three million taels of silver from the salt merchants. It is almost equivalent to half a year's salt tax revenue in Sichuan. Converted into silver rounds. That's more than 4 million yuan. Enough for two A divisions for a year.

It's certainly exciting. But it was not enough to impress Zhao Bei. He wants the land not to be the salt tax revenue of Sichuan for half a year. What he wants is a huge profit for the entire Sichuan salt industry! The old set of rules in the Manchu officialdom was full of loopholes. At least half of the annual salt tax goes into private pockets. Even according to the most conservative estimates. If this salt policy reform is successful. So. Sichuan's salt tax revenue alone can be at least doubled. More than 10,000,000 taels of silver!

The thought of having so much military spending on it is his own. Zhao Bei couldn't wait to immediately turn the entire Furong Field upside down. The salt merchants' cellars were copied from the silver deposits for military expenses. But reason told him it wasn't going to work. So in the end, I suppressed this thought. After all. Salt merchants have enormous financial resources and extensive connections. For the time being, it is still necessary to unite them. To keep Sichuan firmly in the hands of the Republican Army. It is necessary to turn these people into a community of republican military and local interests! Let alone. China's plan to become a strong country in real estate is also inseparable from these big businessmen with thousands of pockets. And it's not ancient anymore. Businessmen also understood the advantages of foreign banks. Excavation of cellar plots is no longer feasible.

So there was this "Salt Politics Aftermath Conference". This is not only the stage for Zhao Bei to show his salt policy plan. At the same time, it is also a gesture of benefit distribution and compromise. Now it's a republic. Some things also need to be done superficially. After all. The days of the world have passed. Even a military strongman. We must also bow to the will of the people.

Zhao Bei raised his hand. Signal everyone to be quiet. Wait for the salt merchants to calm down. He continued: "The old times are over. A new era is dawning. Gentlemen and seniors. Don't miss this new era of prosperity and strength! Now the republic was formed. In the future, the constitution will be promulgated. All citizens are equal. The law protects the lawful property of all merchants. In the future, there will be no more government pretexts to squeeze industrialists. As the official appointment place of the republic, it was the 'Salt Administration Office of the Six Southwest Provinces'. Stand here today. I can assure you. In the future, Sichuan Salt Administration will no longer have to rely on people. 'Sichuan people rule Sichuan' is by no means an empty phrase! Protected by the IRA. No one can take away your lawful property! ”

"Well said the Commander-in-Chief! I want it! Long live the IRA! ”

A few guards in the crowd shouted a few words, using Sichuan dialect, for these few words, they followed Qin Sihu to practice almost all night, but it was also a little successful, full of Sichuan flavor, plus the long cedar, a group of small Sichuan businessmen.

In this gang of imposters

Under the lead, people quickly woke up, applauded and cheered, some people, some people really supported, in short, the atmosphere was much warmer, and it was quiet again after a while.

Zhao Bei was very satisfied with everyone's performance and continued: "This 'Salt Administration and Aftermath Conference' is a key meeting to determine the salt industry and salt administration in Sichuan. The times are advancing, some things in the past have long been backward, and if they are not changed, I am afraid that even the people of Sichuan will have to eat foreign salt in the future! Why did Sichuan salt lose to foreign salt? In my opinion, there are only two reasons: although there are large salt merchants in Sichuan who have several or even more than a dozen salt wells, they are still far from foreign salt merchants, even Huaiyang salt merchants cannot compare; Second, although there are fire wells in Sichuan, but the fire wells are prosperous and lacking, some salt farms have no fire wells available, boiling salt depends on fire, one is time-consuming and laborious, the other is indiscriminate mining of forests, rotten local merchants are using machines to make salt, what is needed is only coal, electricity, the cost of boiling salt is naturally much lower, so it can invade China's salt bank on a large scale to say Sichuan salt, that is, Huai salt can not fight foreign salt! ”

Hearing the words of the commander-in-chief, the salt merchants in the field deeply agreed, although Sichuan is not as civilized as the coast, but the salt merchants are not lacking in knowledge, the foreigners machine salt production theory has also heard a little, and some people have tried to imitate it, but the lack of technical strength has been dismantled by peers, as a result, the foreign salt production can only stay on paper As for the "scale", the salt price of some fresh salt farms is lower than the salt price of small salt farms, which is also a fact, and everyone is not convinced.

But how? I am afraid that we can only rely on official forces for this matter.

Zhao Bei said eloquently: "In fact, Zhao's meaning is also in these two aspects to make Sichuan salt marketing all over the world, it is necessary to change the salt boiling method of relying on the sky to eat, while purchasing machines, making salt by machines, while rectifying the salt industry, integrating resources, turning small salt merchants into large salt merchants, expanding the scale of salt farms, only by merging all salt wells and fire wells together, can we make the most effective use of Sichuan's salt industry resources and reduce the cost of salt production." ”

Hearing this, everyone shook at once, and the auditorium suddenly screamed loudly.

"Commander-in-chief, do you mean that our little salt merchant will not live in the future?"

"Commander-in-Chief, what is a 'salt merchant'? What is a 'small salt merchant'? How can you tell the difference between the two? On financial potential, or on the number of wells? ”

"The salt wells and the fire wells are scattered all over the place, if they can be merged together?"

"The salt is combined and the salt is made by machine, so it doesn't take too many salt workers, and many salt workers will inevitably lose their jobs, and who will give them jobs?"

……

The salt merchants at the scene asked questions, and some gentlemen who thought they were small salt merchants were even more snot and tears, and they almost cried, trembling to touch the handkerchief to wipe their tears, and when they came out, they were silver tickets and checks, and they were even more sad, obviously they came to talk to the commander-in-chief, but they didn't wait for the money to repay the effect, but they had already dug a pit for themselves, and they were waiting for themselves to jump in.

In the former Qing Dynasty, the government paid attention to "killing fat pigs", and the salt people couldn't fight, so they endured it, but now, looking at the commander-in-chief's meaning, it seems that he intends to dismantle the "pigsty" entirely, can everyone not worry?

The local military and political figures who came to the meeting gloated on the sidelines, and some people who were active but at the same time lacked brains had even begun to ponder how to unite with the salt merchants to overthrow Zhao.

Of course, there are still calm people, and just when everyone was making a fuss, they heard the next person shouting:

"Enough! Everyone, stop making trouble! Listen to what the commander-in-chief has to say. The previous swore to protect the merchants, and they couldn't swallow back what they had just said? ”

Zhao Bei looked up and saw a middle-aged man squeezing out of the crowd, walking under the podium, and looking up at him.

"Commander-in-chief, contemptible Li Tongyuan, is now the president of the Fushun Chamber of Commerce." The man hugged his fist at Zhao Bei.

"It turned out to be Chairman Lee, disrespectful, disrespectful. I can't catch up with the previous rì reception banquet, I'm really sorry. Zhao Bei also hugged his fists and listened to the accent, it was this person who made the salt merchants quiet just now.

Li Tongyuan said: "The commander-in-chief understands that the Furong salt merchants are not all rich and powerful, and some families of dozens of people are counting on a salt well to eat and dress, and they have gone out of the city to look for firewood before they come out, and they have not rested at night, and they are busy competing, and they only have to eat a few meals. ”

"You're talking about stove households, of course I know that their lives are hard, these few rì inspections, I have also gone to see their well stoves, in my opinion, they are not considered salt merchants, they are actually salt workers."

Zhao Bei nodded, glanced at everyone, and said: "However, please rest assured, this kind of stove households are not within the scope of the reform of the salt administration, as long as they pay taxes according to the regulations, they are allowed to continue to operate." ”

"What does the commander-in-chief mean?" Li Tongyuan was a little confused, and couldn't figure out what Zhao Bei wanted to do.

"My meaning is very simple, that is, all the salt merchants who employ salt workers and workers are brought together to form a large salt company, issue shares, implement share management, collect dividends and profits according to shares, and once the formation is completed, the army will be taxed on the spot, and only one tax will be levied, and after the customs are out, no matter where you sell the salt, it will no longer be taxed! As for those stove households that operate alone, they can also apply for shares and become shareholders of the company. ”

Formation of a salt industry joint-stock company? It turns out that this is the purpose of the commander-in-chief.

But is this a new pigsty?

It's a lot to think about.

To be continued,)