"The first official position up for auction today is the deputy county magistrate, and the starting price is one thousand taels of silver." As Song Quan finished speaking, an officer from the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel brought over a rack with the official uniform of a seventh-rank county magistrate.

Although bought officials have no real power, they are still registered officials. In order to save the court's reputation, the words "bought official" and "donated official" cannot appear, and they are all called alternate officials.

The main focus is on a flexible interpretation.

Everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the seventh-rank civil servant uniform on the shelf.

In the Ming Dynasty, civil officials of the first to fourth ranks wore red official uniforms.

The first-grade one is embroidered with cranes; the second-grade one is embroidered with pheasants; the third-grade one is embroidered with peacocks; and the fourth-grade one is embroidered with cloud geese.

Ranks 5 to 7 wear blue robes (blue official uniforms)

The fifth rank is embroidered with a white pheasant; the sixth rank is embroidered with a egret; the seventh rank is embroidered with a Xi Chi.

"Is there anyone bidding?" Song Quan personally presided over the auction and shouted loudly.

The scene was silent, no one raised their hand and no one spoke.

The small salt merchants all looked at the head merchants, observing their words and actions.

After all, the General Merchants are rich and powerful, and competing with them is simply courting death.

The four general merchants were not in a hurry at all.

They were not afraid of the small salt merchants bidding first. They would follow suit if anyone dared to bid. After all, the rule of the auction was that the highest bidder won.

Seeing that no one responded to him, Song Quan's face began to become stiff.

It's so embarrassing.

"Is there anyone who wants to bid? If no one bids, I will cancel this position." Song Quan glanced at the salt merchant Wang Li while looking around.

He had two shills, Li Ji and Wang Li.

Li Ji is the chief businessman, and he will only take action at the critical moment.

He is not needed for such trivial matters as breaking the deadlock.

Salt merchant Wang Li looked around and saw that no one else responded, so he pretended to be timid and whispered, "I'll give you one thousand and ten taels."

In ancient times, people did not read the number 1010 as one thousand and ten, but directly read it as one thousand and ten.

Similarly, 101 is not read as one hundred and one, but as one hundred and one.

Song Quan nodded and said loudly: "The seventh-rank candidate for county magistrate has been offered 1,100 taels."

Seeing no one responded, Song Quan immediately started the countdown.

"ten......"

He counted down very slowly, so slowly that he gave the salt merchants participating in the auction enough time to discuss.

The salt merchants present first looked at each other, and finally focused their attention on the four chief salt merchants again.

They knew they could not compete with the general merchant and would have to rely on the other party in the future, so they first observed whether the general merchant would make an offer.

If the general merchant bids, they will give up the bid.

If they don't bid, they can bid with confidence.

"Will the four general merchants make an offer? If they don't, I will."

"Yeah, it will be too late if you don't bid now."

"Never mind. If they still don't make an offer when the count reaches three, I'll make an offer."

Since the four general merchants did not make any bids, other merchants did not dare to bid either.

The countdown for Song Quan continues.

"Nine....."

"eight...."

Qian Lu, one of the chief salt merchants, asked the other three with a smile, "I say... the first official position is the seventh-rank deputy county magistrate. Someone has already made an offer. Are you going to take it or not?"

Chief Merchant Li Ji shook his head: "It's just a seventh-rank official. Our Li family doesn't even look down on him. If you want to buy him, buy a sixth-rank official."

"What a coincidence," said Zhang Xian, the general merchant, "We don't like the seventh rank either."

"Me too." General Merchant Xu Tai said carelessly.

"Haha," Qian Lu's smile turned into a sneer. "As the saying goes, the smartest people are businessmen. We are all in the same business. How could I not know what you are thinking? You three are swearing that you can't make a bid now, just in case you suddenly make a bid when the countdown reaches three."

"No need, really no need!" Li Ji replied with a smile: "If I say I won't buy it, then I won't buy it."

"Yes, firstly, the official position is too low, and secondly, the price is too expensive, so we can't buy it!" Zhang Xian shook his head.

"That's right, you are absolutely right." Xu Tai said casually.

"Since that's what you said, none of us four should make an offer." Li Ji said coldly.

"no problem."

"agree."

The four salt merchants reached a consensus at the fastest speed.

On the surface, the four people seemed to have reached a verbal agreement, but in fact, each of them had their own ulterior motives.

Businessmen are always deceitful to each other, and no one will take such a verbal agreement seriously at this time.

"seven..."

The countdown for Song Quan continues.

"Six...five...four..."

The four chief salt merchants were slow to express their opinions, and other salt merchants did not dare to challenge the price.

Time passed quickly while I hesitated.

"Three, two, one!"

When counting to four, Song Quan suddenly changed his previous slow pace and finished the countdown as quickly as possible.

The sudden change confused the salt merchants participating in the auction.

"Hey? Why did the acceleration end suddenly?"

"Yeah, I wanted to bid on the count of three, but I didn't expect it to be counted straight away."

“Isn’t this too outrageous?”

The salt merchants began to discuss the matter.

The four chief salt merchants were also caught off guard by Song Quan.

"This..." Qian Lu stared in disbelief, "What... is going on?"

"What else could it be... Lord Song is angry." Li Ji sighed, "Lord Song is counting on us to buy positions to make up for the deficit, but we won't make any bids."

"What do you mean by not bidding? I just want to observe for a while before bidding."

"It's over. I didn't get the first spot."

The salt merchants first regretted it, and then looked at the officials from the six ministries of Nanjing, as well as the Jinyiwei and the factory guards next to them.

"Sir, isn't this against the rules?" someone raised an objection.

The officials of the six ministries, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Factory Guard had a brief discussion and felt that Song Quan's approach was fine.

Song Quan had given them enough time to make their bids, but the salt merchants deliberately waited until the end.

It's a case of reaping what one has sown.

Song Quan first sneered and looked around, then pointed at the successful salt merchant Wang Li and said, "Congratulations to this salt merchant for winning the position of alternate county magistrate. Quickly take your people to the Ministry of Personnel to fill out the information and receive the official uniform."

Wang Li was even more confused than the other salt merchants.

He just casually mentioned a price to break the deadlock, but he didn't expect to win the bid.

"Yes... yes." Wang Li took a step forward excitedly, and amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the crowd, he took his son to the officials of the Ministry of Personnel to go through the formalities.

"The second official position up for auction today is the sixth-rank deputy prefect, and the starting price is one thousand five hundred taels of silver." As Song Quan finished speaking, a rack with the sixth-rank official uniform hanging on it was brought over.