More than eighty percent of the salt production on Guangnan Road is in Guangzhou.) Starting from the Hainan and Jindou salt farms called Hong Kong and Macao in the future, it has been extended inward to Guangzhou, and more than a dozen salt farms of all sizes have been concentrated in this bay.

There are two factors.

The first is the way of making salt, boiling salt, the so-called boiling salt is not to intercept seawater and cook it with firewood, and no one can afford the cost. The real boiling salt is mostly like the way of the Qiantang River to boil salt, take the brine clay, water water, brine concentration is large, use less firewood and grass, the cost will automatically decrease. But in this way, there will not be many places where salt is really produced, most of them are in the bay estuary area, and the sea water has a long time to ebb tide, so that the salt can have time to precipitate, until one day, the high concentration of brine in these bays is getting less and less, and the ancients will focus on drying salt, which will take three or four hundred years.

The second is the well-developed Yushui Basin, which is enough for Guangzhou salt to be sent to all parts of Lingnan, even to the south of Fujian Road, Jiangnan West Road and Jinghu South Road, including Qianzhou.

Qianzhou salt originally used Jianghuai salt, the real transportation cost is not high, such as a pound of ten yuan of transportation, then a stone of salt will reach more than 3,000 Wen, floating salt will reach 1,000 Wen, a bucket of salt will reach more than 300 Wen, which is almost the cost of grain transportation to the northwest front.

In fact, it is impossible, and it is impossible for the developed Ganshui basin to make the freight equivalent to the freight in the northwest.

However, under the inefficiency of the government and layers of greed, the actual salt transportation in Qianzhou everywhere, often a pound of freight can reach dozens of yuan, and then coaxed by the harsh officials, which directly leads to the price of salt in Qianzhou perennial to remain at more than 40 yuan per catty, and the high and remote areas can often reach more than 100 yuan, the quality of salt is not good, inferior, and sometimes the amount is seriously insufficient, and private salt is produced.

The salt content of the brine clay in the major salt farms in Guangzhou is large, and the cost of salt production is lower than that of the Qiantang River. If there is a way, a pound of salt may be less than ten yuan, and then along Longchuan (Dongchuan) to transport salt to Xunzhou, through two hundred and dozens of miles of mountain roads. From the Anyuan water of Anyuan in Qianzhou, to all parts of Qianzhou. If the government seals it, you can enter Yingzhou from Shixingshui, get off the boat from Yingzhou and turn to Wengshui, enter the southeast of Shaozhou, enter Longnan in the southwest of Qianzhou through a mountain road of less than 200 miles, and then send salt to all parts of Qianzhou through Taoshui. Check again. Pick up a knife and hack you guys to death. Its transportation cost is less than 10 wen per catty, that is, a catty of salt is sold at a price of 40 wen, and its profit is more than 200 percent!

This is a tragic and majestic history of struggle, and the brick family often sings about it.

They ignore the most important point, even if these people oppressed by Gao Jia have the ability to transport salt to Qianzhou, how can they sell it?

Powerful! Officials!

The essence is that the magnates and local officials are fighting wits and law with the imperial court, and as for the poor people, they only play the role of cannon fodder in the middle process. That's the truth.

Zheng Lang and Pang Ji are not idiots. is a doer, and neither of them can talk nonsense, so they are very cautious about the salt reform in Qianzhou.

It has been used for nearly 100 years to make private salt in Qianzhou. There is a chain of interests with a huge local force, and there is a barbarian on the mountain road of 200 miles, so the problem becomes very complicated.

But Pang Ji was very smart and pushed Cai Xiang out.

I have to do something, but Cai Xiang is one of the protagonists of the Fan Lou Banquet, and you Zheng Lang doesn't care.

The two bigwigs are fighting wits across thousands of miles of sky, and the people and businessmen below can't see it.

I know that the problem is very complicated, but the profit margin is too large, and the normal cost of a pound of salt will not exceed 20 yuan, and it will be sold at 40 yuan. It will also produce huge profit margins, in fact, more than forty articles! And the quantity is sufficient and the quality is excellent.

The area of the Second Army in the three prefectures is vast and the population is also quite dense, with nearly 300,000 households in Jizhou alone, and more than 600,000 households in the household department. In fact, it is far more than that, almost the same as the entire population of Western Xia, and the real salt consumption is at least four or five hundred thousand stones a year, how much profit will it generate! …,

The water is deep, but there are many businessmen who buy money to go south, and there are businessmen in the Guangzhou area who also value this business opportunity and buy money to go north. Or some people buy banknotes and resell them to southern merchants.

After a few months of turmoil, batches of Guangzhou salt traveled north along Dongchuan and then from the area inhabited by She Man into Qianzhou.

……

Over a hill, the group stopped again.

The mountain roads were too difficult, and although the distance was not far, they were still marching on these rugged mountain roads, and many of the wheels were broken by the rugged mountain roads and had to be stopped for repairs, which seriously affected the speed of the march.

Lao Liu stood on a high slope, looking into the distance, at a glance could not see the boundless mountains and green mountains, marching here, what impressed him the most was not the sultry weather, March only began, although it was hot, he was still enduring it. The last thing he can bear is one word, green!

The green mountains and clear water are so lovely, without him, green.

But Lao Liu never thought that once the green reaches the limit, it is not only not cute, but terrifying.

The green of the green onions, almost all the mountain roads have become a green, and I can clearly hear the She people singing on the opposite mountain, but I can't see a single figure. The beautiful singing voice of a large area of birds is also very noisy and piercing in this infinite greenery.

He suddenly thought of Dingchuan Village.

There were hundreds of thousands of people participating in that battle, and there were fighting sounds within a range of dozens of miles, and there was a collision of iron armor everywhere, at that time, he suddenly thought of talking about the big battle of one million people, I don't know what the scene should be, the battle of Dingchuan Village was only about 200,000 people, and the battle of one million people was only about 200,000 people. But it was only blood, the blood of men, they could see and hear. But here, hearing but not seeing, seeing only green, green is still green, but he sees a kind of silence, a terrible killing machine!

And this road is more than 200 miles.

But Lao Liu couldn't think of more.

It's good to be here.

Because of the huge price difference between the two places and the huge profit of millions of dollars a year, a huge and incomparable chain of interests has been generated, which has made Qianzhou on Jiangnan West Road, Tingzhou and Zhangzhou on Fujian Road, Chaozhou, Xunzhou, Meizhou, Huizhou, and Guangzhou on Guangnan East Road, and eight states in total, become the forbidden area of the salt administration of the Song Dynasty. The government repeatedly banned it, not only the illegal salt flooded, but finally led to some salt bandits robbing people of grain and silk, plundering women, and every year there were fights with patrol officials, so that the officials were directly killed.

What he didn't expect was that because of the seriousness of the matter, if the government grasped it tightly, these smugglers would turn into robbers. Catch it tightly, incarnate as a people, and under the cover of local corrupt officials and corrupt officials, you can't catch it. Or hide in the place where she barbarians live, the government does not dare to touch it, continue to get away with it, catch it loosely, continue to be a smuggler of salt, or a robber, and when it comes to the Zhao Zhen Dynasty. Qianzhou salt politics has become a big problem for the imperial court.

He couldn't have imagined that Zheng Lang's subordinates in Taiping Prefecture would carry out a series of fine-tuning of the salt administration of Qianzhou after Cai Ting, a good friend of Fu Bi, served as the Jiangxi Prison in the same year, easing the suppression of illegal salt dealers, and prohibiting the people from hiding weapons privately. This series of appeasement policies, as well as increasing the quantity and quality of Huai salt, made the price of salt slightly fairer and more reasonable. The scale of the smuggler was gradually reduced.

He also couldn't imagine that whether it was Guangzhou or Jiangnan West Road, the importance attached to the salt policy reform led to the two waterways being heavily guarded, and the waterways in exchange for peace and quiet.

Lao Liu stood motionless on the rock, unable to see, but could hear with his ears.

Some people were repairing cars, and others looked at Lao Liu with adoring eyes. Although they are northerners, they participated in the Battle of Dingchuan Village. Kill six Tanguts before and after! It was only because he was cut off by the enemy that he retreated from the battlefield, otherwise he would have been promoted to a mid-level military general because of his merits. …,

How powerful the Tangut people were, they were a fierce race that repeatedly made the Khitans eat turtles, and the Tubo and Uighurs were terrified.

Lao Liu glanced back, and there were more than 200 cars in this trip. Four hundred people, fifty guards, of course, after successfully arriving in Qianzhou, the profits obtained were also huge, and only one trafficking could make a profit of more than 2,000 yuan.

But he looked at this boundless green, and his heart was always uneasy.

If it wasn't in the battle of Western Xia, there was also a pine forest, but that pine forest was different from the forest here, where it was only a pine forest, this was a forest, a gloomy forest!

The fifty guards are uneven, their combat effectiveness is very poor, and it is okay to scare people by making a appearance, but if they really encounter something bad, they may not be able to play much role.

At that moment, he heard a trivial voice.

Living in the northwest all the year round, the intuition developed by participating in battles many times made him feel uneasy. So he asked the guide: "How far is it from Anyuan Water here?" ”

"Liu Guanren, there are more than one hundred and twenty miles?"

"More than a hundred and twenty miles?" Lao Liu frowned and muttered to himself. Then I calculated in my mind that it was a very unsafe distance, because there was no area where the barbarians lived. Barbarians are not so smart, but under the seduce of some people with ulterior motives, they have become a big fang, ready to eat people at any time.

Pricked up your ears and listened, and the voice got closer and closer.

Lao Liu suddenly said: "Prepare to fight." ”

When the guards heard this, they all got up, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, picked up the swords and arrows in their hands, and surrounded the side of the convoy, nervously watching the surroundings. There are mountains on both sides, and I stay in the col, the mountain is not very tall, but the trees that cover the sky make the mountain a unique place, and no one knows what will come out of it.

Lao Liu was still listening, no one spoke, only the noisy chirping of countless birds, the sound of the waves set off by the wind blowing through the green sea, those trivial rustling sounds mixed with the sound of the waves were almost inaudible, if it weren't for the fact that he had been on the battlefield for several years and had been a scout at one time, he would not have noticed the existence of this sound. But now that I feel it, it's getting closer.

The sound of the broken sound was not harmonious at all, and Lao Liu was terrified, and suddenly shouted: "Retreat." ”

Staying in this col, the terrain is very unfavorable to you, but the sound comes from the front, and you can only retreat.

Hearing Lao Liu's order, a group of people hurriedly pushed the salt cart back, causing chaos.

Seeing that the convoy was retreating, the rustling sound stopped, and finally nearly a hundred big men rushed out of the woods, knowing that they were exposed, they directly held earthen bows and arrows and hunting knives, jumped onto the avenue, and pounced condescendingly.

"Retreat, retreat." Lao Liu shouted again and again.

The enemy will not be afraid when he sees it, but the most afraid thing is that the enemy will not see it, and if he does not come here, he will not understand why the imperial court is weak to the barbarians, the woods are too dense, there are too many mountains, even if there are hundreds of people hidden, it is difficult to find them. If you can't even find people, how can you exterminate them?

The convoy continued to retreat, and Lao Liu kept using what he saw in the army to command this chariot formation, and stared at the enemy in front of him. One by one, they were wearing the unique blue-black linen clothes of the barbarians, and their faces were ochre with ochre, which was very hideous and terrifying.

Some shouted in fear: "The barbarians are coming." ”

The fear of these barbarians in the depths of Wuling is not only the people of the Central Plains, but also the Han people in Guangzhou.

Lao Liu shouted: "Don't be afraid, Min Man (referring to Sheman) never ochre." These people are hypocrites. ”

Everyone still believes in Lao Liu, and finally when these people pounced in front of them, the convoy withdrew from the low-lying mountain pass, which was not very good. But it occupies a little bit of the terrain. Lao Liu settled down and said, "Archer, prepare." ”

At this time, he seemed to have returned to the northwest battlefield.

The enemy is getting closer and closer, but he also reached the mountain, and seeing the enemy's ignorance, Lao Liu's mind is more stable. Visually measuring the distance, one hundred steps, fifty steps, seeing the approach, Lao Liu shouted: "Shoot." ”…,

Dozens of arrow feathers flew out, and nearly ten people fell down when they heard the strings, and Lao Liu shouted again: "Keep shooting." ”

Two waves of arrows flew out, and a dozen people fell. Lao Liu regretted in his heart that his escort army was a miscellaneous army, if it was a regular army. Just two waves of arrows rained down, and at least thirty or forty people were killed. With one arm, he drew a big knife and shouted, "Kill." ”

Rushing down the hill, with a swing of the sword, one enemy fell.

The enemy saw Lao Liu's fierceness, and the formation stagnated, which also gave the guards more courage, and rushed down the hill one by one, Lao Liu cut out a second knife, and another enemy fell, and saw that nearly twenty people had fallen in the same position. This group of enemies is afraid. Scattered with a bang and fled into the mountains and forests.

Fleeing into the mountains and forests, Lao Liu had no choice. In the cheers of his subordinates, Lao Liu shouted: "Go." ”

Faintly, he felt even more uneasy.

The convoy continued on its way, passing through this ambush battle. Everyone realized the danger, and the speed finally increased. But the mountain road was too bumpy, and from time to time some cars broke down, and had to be stopped for repairs, but the speed still did not get faster.

The sun is gradually about to set, Lao Liu is calculating the distance, there is a river valley in front, the terrain is open, it is very beneficial to the defense of his line, this is the location of the camp tonight, it is the open space left by the repeated slash-and-burn burning. After this river valley, it is still the territory of the barbarians, but it is gradually familiar with the barbarians, and it is safe. Then he shouted, "Quick, quick." ”

The speed of the team increased again, the afterglow of the sun became lovely, and with the softness of the light, the weather was not as hot as at noon, Lao Liu wiped the sweat on his forehead. From time to time in the distance, the voice of the barbarian sounded, although I couldn't understand what they were singing, but the voice was beautiful and moving, but I could hear the voice, but I couldn't see where the figure was.

Seeing that the river valley was getting closer and closer, suddenly countless screams came from the trees.

A figure flashed out of the woods, like an ape, jumping in the dense woods and bushes with great agility, and the figures became more and more numerous, arguing around the convoy. Lao Liu's face turned gloomy, and he finally knew what he was worried about.

If the smuggler wants to sell salt from Guangzhou to Qianzhou, how can he not deal with these barbarians. These brutes do not know what to do, and they are often bought with a bow, an arrow, and an iron pot. Over the years, there have always been a few tribes that have close contacts with these smugglers.

On this mountain road, it is the paradise and paradise of the barbarians, but it is the nightmare of his own group.

His eyes swept over, and there were more and more of them, whether they were a hundred or two hundred, and he couldn't count them.

As the people gathered more and more, some barbarians drew small bows from their backs. It's a funny little bow, it's actually a bamboo bow and arrow, but it still kills people.

The beads of sweat on Lao Liu's forehead became more and more, he was making judgments, and finally said: "Drop the salt cart and rush." ”

Can't go back, go back and die faster.

Hundreds of people fled forward without their lives.

The bamboo arrow fell, and from time to time there were screams of his companions from behind him, and Lao Liu fled forward, thinking gloomily in his heart that his reputation would be lost from now on.

The valley was getting closer, the sun was setting, and the barbarians finally stopped the siege. Lao Liu counted his companions, 400 people, plus his own 51 guards, escaped here safely, only 26 guards, 251 people, some were wounded by arrows. Nearly two hundred people had just been killed by the barbarians. said, "Go." ”

Even the valley was not stayed, there was no baggage, no luggage, and most of the guards who survived lost their weapons in order to flee for their lives, and it was not safe to stay in the valley. The group fled for their lives.

After a long night, I saw a building in front of me, which was a sentry post, and the people inside saw this group of people fleeing in a hurry, and greeted them from the outpost, it was a few soldiers, and the group fled all night, looking at these Song soldiers, they collapsed to the ground together, and said: "Brother soldier, save us ......"

The news was quickly transmitted everywhere and to the imperial court.

In fact, life is not terrible, and some unfilial Han people are not terrible, what is terrible is that the two join forces.

Such a large-scale attack, which happened after the Nong Zhigao incident, will make people have all kinds of bad associations. It is unknown how many barbarians live between Fujian, Guangzhou, and Jiangxi, but once there is turmoil, it will directly endanger the safety of Jiangnan West Road, Liangguang and Fujian Road. The most terrifying thing is that Di Qing led the main army in the south to Temo Road, and the whip was beyond his reach.

The matter also spread to Guizhou, at this time it was the Shangsi Festival, Zheng Lang held a meeting in Guizhou, and like the previous time, Zheng Lang still focused on caressing, and even promised to transfer some farmers from the mainland again to give them technical guidance. The information arrived first in Yu Jing's hands, and Yu Jing was shocked when he saw it, and hurriedly handed it over to Zheng Lang.

After Zheng Lang saw it, his hands trembled slightly, although he couldn't compare with Nong Zhigao, but this was a living two hundred and sixty-four lives!

After pacing a few steps, his face became gloomy, he looked at the barbarian chiefs in front of him, and said gloomily: "This is the favor given to you by the imperial court, of course, if you still don't accept it, you have to resist the imperial court, sometimes, killing people is saving people!" "To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. m