MTL - Feng Xing-Chapter 55
When they first heard the news, everyone took it as a joke.
Is there no need to introduce nests to transport and sell salt? So what do you want these salt merchants to do? But gradually some people couldn't laugh anymore, because there were really some people who didn't believe in evil and went to Haizhou.
He was a cotton merchant. Last year's poor cotton harvest made him useless for a year. Insufficient capital, and always relying on the sky to eat, filled his heart with anxiety. He wanted to see if he could find a way in the dental office, but he couldn't still point to that season this year. Who knew the news of the Huaibei New Deal.
Thinking that he was going to collect cotton, when others were just talking about it, he went to Haizhou with not much silver, but he actually got a batch of salt.
The current batch of salt is on the canal outside the city. This person is a cotton merchant. He has never made salt before, and he still follows the idea of making cotton in the past-when a batch of goods cannot be eaten by himself, he will find someone to share.
So he came to the dental shop where he had heard the news at the time. He often hangs out here and knows many people there. Some small businessmen who had chances in the dental shop even asked him where he had been, and why he hadn’t seen him for a while. He said that he got a batch of salt and wanted to find someone to eat or partner, which surprised everyone.
The tooth shop is in charge of the sale of goods, so there are a lot of small businessmen staying here, because maybe at any time, a batch of goods will flow out, and they can make a lot of money from it. So the news spread quickly, and it took only a cup of tea for some small businessmen to receive the news.
Everyone didn't believe that he could get the salt, so they asked the cotton merchant to show them something. The cotton merchant surnamed Meng took everyone, and two officials from the Yaxing Bank, to the wharf outside the city.
When I got on the boat and entered the warehouse, there were indeed many bag-shaped items piled up inside.
From the outside, it looks like a light brown paper bag, with a big salt character printed on it, with the words of Haizhou branch, and the name and seal of the salt factory.
This kind of salt bag has never been seen before. It should be noted that when the salt is transported from the salt field, it will be converted from a large bag to a small bag when it passes through the prison office.
Someone reached up and touched it. It was a brown paper bag.
"Is this salt?"
"Could it be sand? It's not like we haven't seen a fairy dance before." Someone said.
The Meng merchant was a little annoyed, and stepped forward to take out a bag of salt. He tore it a few times with his bare hands, but the person next to him handed him a pair of scissors, and he opened the salt bag smoothly.
What was inside was exposed, and it turned out to be white salt.
Huh! This opened everyone's horizons. Could it be that we can really get salt? !
"This salt bag was just launched by the Haizhou Salt Office. With this salt bag, all the cards along the road are not allowed to open the bag. I paid money from the Salt Office and shipped it out along the way. Let’s stop talking nonsense, does anyone want this batch of salt? If it weren’t for several diversions that allow transportation and sales, I have no way out, and I wouldn’t put this thing outside.”
"This—" The small businessmen looked at each other in blank dismay.
At this time, a shout came from behind: "I want everything, I want everything!"
Hey, who is this talking so loudly?
Everyone turned their heads to look, but it was a small businessman named Liu Jinya.
This person got this nickname because he had two gold teeth inlaid. He was known to be cunning in the tooth shop, and he was commonly known as Wulibubuqian. But this person really knows how to do business, he is bold, careful, daring, and has a keen eye. He doesn't do anything in a specific line of business, and he does what he gets for money. His life is much more nourishing than these miserable small businessmen.
"Liu Jinya, stop blowing your hair out."
"It doesn't matter whether it's shipped or not, I want this batch of goods. Let's go, let's stop talking nonsense with this group of people who talk nonsense. Are you talking about smuggling or buying through dental shops?" Liu Jinya sucked his teeth and came to the Meng merchant. In front of him, ignoring the two toothmen standing next to him, because of his words 'smuggling and buying and selling', their faces were ugly.
In fact, if Liu Jinya and the others really smuggled and traded, the two Ya people really had nothing to do with them, because the Meng merchants didn't go to the Ya shop to sell their goods, and they couldn't get a commission.
Merchant Meng hesitated for a while: "Let's walk the walk."
Although you have to pay the dental dealer a commission, the transactions that go through their hands are reassuring.
After hearing this, the two dentists immediately beamed with joy, and walked up to remind them what procedures they need to go through if they go to the dentist.
This procedure is not easy, at least the dental firm does not take money for nothing. They first helped to inspect the goods, and then asked the Meng merchants to issue salt tickets, passports and other documents to prove that the salt came from a legitimate source. Then I went to Liu Jinya to collect the payment. Because the goods were not easy to inspect, the dental shop specially stamped the seal on the salt package and withheld half of the payment. If Liu Jinya did not come to the dental shop within three months to respond to the goods If there is a problem, the Meng merchant can withdraw the payment for the goods.
All the best!
When the money finally came to him, even if it was only half, it was more than the capital he invested. The cotton merchant surnamed Meng finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he hurried to Haizhou with his banknotes in his pocket.
This is obviously a taste of sweetness!
All of a sudden, the small merchants who witnessed the transaction that day all rushed to Haizhou. Some other businessmen who received the news also came one after another.
"Old man, forget it, this salt is so easy to get."
On the street diagonally opposite to the Haizhou Subsidiary Yamen, stood two people, one old and one young.
The old one is this old Zhangtou, in fact he is not old, but in his forties, and this one is in his twenties. Both of them were dressed in short brown, with big knives pinned to their waists. Judging from their dusty faces and shabby clothes, they seemed to be members of an **** agency.
"Those officials didn't advertise it like this. As long as you have silver, you can come here to buy salt tickets, as long as the transportation and sales ports comply with the imperial court regulations."
"Listen to those officials, the officials also said that the day is clear, do you believe it?"
The old man was a little hesitant, and for some reason he gritted his teeth and said, "It doesn't matter if the day is clear or not, how can we know if we haven't asked? The place we're going to coincides with the port, so I'll take some with me. Ten catties or a hundred catties, you can always earn a little."
The young man sighed and didn't stop him anymore, but entered the yamen together with the old Zhangtou.
In fact, he knew why Zhangtou worked so hard. He had a sick wife at home, and he was heavily in debt due to years of soup and medicine money. The hard work of walking the darts actually doesn't make much money, so usually the escorts will carry some goods and sell them around the place. We all know that there is a lot of oil in the salt, but no one who is serious dares to touch private salt. If you are caught, you will be beheaded. end.
So when Lao Zhangtou heard that the yamen released salt tickets to allow personal distribution, he was tempted.
The two entered the Yamen.
In fact, for ordinary people, they are unwilling to enter the yamen, because there is a saying that the yamen gate opens to the south, so don't come in if you have a reason and no money. In the hearts of the common people, entering the yamen is a big deal, especially since the yamen is not very friendly to the people.
The threshold is half a meter high, and the building is tall and deep, and it is infiltrating from the outside. If there is no one to guide the way in, it will be even more timid, for fear of going the wrong way and being reprimanded.
Unexpectedly, when they went in this time, just after passing the screen wall, they saw a very lively hall on the slope.
This excitement is naturally to compare with other places. There are many people standing outside the door, and they don't know what they are doing.
The two old Zhangtou and Zhang went over to ask, only to realize that these people had heard about the New Deal and came here specifically to inquire about it. Most of these people are similar to Lao Zhangtou, because they usually travel around, or they are merchants, cloth merchants, and tea merchants. Because they are all small businessmen, I wondered if I could bring some sales along the way, and if possible, it would also add a way to make money.
"Don't panic, you just line up at the back. I stood here and watched for a while. I'm afraid it will be possible. I saw that the people who left were all smiling. If you make up ten people, you will be led down to the saltworks." It's time to do business." A person in front of Lao Zhang said.
Hearing this, the old Zhangtou breathed a sigh of relief, and stood in line at the back, waiting for his turn, while not forgetting to observe what kind of regulations were going on in the hall.
…
In a corner outside the hall, there were two people standing, they were Fang Fengsheng and Zou Yunpan.
Because Zou Yunpan didn't wear official robes, the people in the queue also paid attention to this old man, but looked at Feng Sheng from time to time, and sighed that this man had a good temperament.
"Uncle Zou, I observed outside the gate today. There are only a few people who dare to enter this yamen. Most of them just waited and watched for a while before leaving. Why don't we set up a shed outside the gate and issue salt tickets for verification, etc. I don’t think the shed is enough for business affairs, and I don’t know what it will be like in the future, so it’s better to set up a shed first, and build a house on the side.”
"You have a good idea."
"Then let's split up? At the three saltworks, you should also beat one or two. I will let the people below handle the building of the house."
"That's fine."
