Chapter 92 Government Salt Fields
Yan Xuanyu has gradually become accustomed to the system's occasional twitching.
He and the system seemed to have reached some kind of tacit consensus. At the beginning, Yan Xuanyu obtained points by completing the tyrant mission, and at the same time, the system also gained a lot of energy.
It doesn't matter whether the system is going crazy or just pretending to be stupid in a very human way. In short, the current trend is in his favor.
There are always endless tasks to be handled, and they keep coming one after another.
This is Yan Xuanyu's feeling after coming to this world.
It's just because he is alone, and his thinking is limited. He can't think of many things immediately. It takes time for something to appear in front of him before Yan Xuanyu can think - oh, this can be done that way.
For example, at this moment, as soon as the court was dismissed, a memorial was received from outside the capital.
Yan Xuanyu returned to Chengtian Palace and took a quick look at it, and found that it was about "salt".
Yan Xuanyu had been in the capital, and in the imperial palace, the most central part of the capital. The salt supplied to the palace must have been of the best quality. For a moment, he actually forgot about the matter of "salt".
Salt is a good thing.
If people do not consume salt for a long time, they may experience weakness in the limbs, edema all over the body, etc.
The salt of the Great Zhou Dynasty has always been state-run, so salt transport envoys and salt inspectors were appointed in salt-producing areas.
Yan Xuanyu really didn't know until he understood, and was shocked when he found out.
At this time, the main method of making salt in the Great Zhou Dynasty was to boil seawater into salt.
It's not that the people of Da Zhou were stupid and didn't know how to make salt - the eastern coastal areas of Da Zhou had long been introducing seawater into salt fields and then exposing it to wind, sun, and other methods, and then obtaining table salt after simple processing. However, this process took a long time and was very restricted by the weather, making it inefficient.
The salt of the Great Zhou Dynasty was mainly made by boiling seawater, which is called "traditional salt making". To obtain refined salt, more complicated processes and more manpower are required.
The Zhou Dynasty prohibited the private sale of salt, but this "prohibited" is intriguing - the law does not clearly state the punishment for the private sale of salt.
Unable to withstand the high profits from salt trafficking, a large number of salt merchants emerged among the people, and local tyrants also made a fortune by taking advantage of the convenient geographical location.
This memorial was to report that the salt merchants were "becoming increasingly rampant."
It would be fine if they had a modicum of conscience, but they did everything they could to profit, driving up the price of salt. They made a fortune, but if they allowed this to continue, they would disrupt the market and, in the worst case, cause unrest in the local area and even throughout the Great Zhou.
Things like salt must be kept firmly in the hands of the government.
Yan Xuanyu was almost laughing with anger. In his impression, salt had always been a government-run business. How could it be allowed to be privately owned? The laws of the Great Zhou were too imperfect in this regard.
If it weren’t for this memorial from the new salt inspector, Yan Xuanyu would not have seen what happened!
What gave the new salt inspector a headache was that the previous salt inspector had colluded with private salt merchants and even had a large amount of high-quality fine salt in their hands. To this day, they were involved in many things, and relying on the complicated relationships, the local tyrants thought they could not deal with them at will.
Even the former salt inspector secretly sold several salt wells to salt merchants. The contract was written in black on a white background, and there was also the seal of the salt inspector on it. The salt inspector was a lucrative job, and in recent years, local tyrants had become fat like mice that fell into a rice jar.
The salt inspector had committed a serious crime and had been punished, and all his property had been confiscated.
Don't underestimate the Jinyiwei's ability now. Even if the treasure is hidden deep down, they will dig three feet into the ground to find it. For a while, the government was not short of money...
The next step is to target salt merchants and local tyrants.
The new salt inspector Cao Su took office a year ago, but the problem has not been fundamentally solved until now.
Yan Xuanyu frowned as he looked at the memorial. Why was salt so expensive? Did it give them so much room for maneuver?
The appeal of money is only the most obvious reason. The real reason is that salt is too rare! Of course, the law is also too imperfect.
The execution ability of officials in the Great Zhou Dynasty is still very good. Yan Xuanyu does not need to worry too much about the law. It can be regarded as finding something for the people in the Dali Temple to do, allowing them to gather a group of officials who are proficient in the law to improve it.
Local tyrants? Yan Xuanyu no longer needed to adopt any conciliatory policies. Cao Su was a cautious person, and he was only a salt inspector, so his power was not that great. He submitted the memorial to see what Yan Xuanyu thought.
Yan Xuanyu didn't mean anything. He just wanted to catch all the salt merchants and local tyrants in one fell swoop.
Do they really take advantage of the fact that the emperor is far away and they have complicated relationships in the local area, so they think that even if the government wants to settle accounts, it cannot arrest all of them and they have no idea where to start?
Their ideas are as naive as those people in the capital back then.
At this moment, Yan Xuanyu sounded like a bad boss: "If you don't do it, there are plenty of people who want to do it. Don't think you are special!"
As for salt? Yan Xuanyu knows how to do it!
He picked up a pen and began to think. He knew a traditional method of salt drying, which seemed to challenge the salt drying method?
First, dig a reservoir, then let the sea water at high tide flood it to soak the mud and sand. After the tide recedes, the mud and sand are exposed to the sun. After they are dry, they are covered with dry thatch and rammed into the salt mud pool.
Pour seawater into the salt mud pool to bury the mud and sand. The seawater slowly seeps to the bottom of the salt mud pool and flows through the cracks in the rocks into the brine pool next to it.
According to these steps, salt can be crystallized in the afternoon of the next day.
After Yan Xuanyu finished writing, he stopped and read it twice with satisfaction.
He has written down everything he could think of from the popular science he read in his previous life. As for other omissions, he will leave it to professionals to look at.
He looked down, suddenly remembering something. When the pain in his wrist subsided a little, he continued writing: "Smoothing out many shallow ponds in a grid pattern on the ground to form salt fields, and covering the bottoms with broken porcelain shards, can improve the purity and yield of the salt..."
Yan Xuanyu curled his lips and smiled. Didn’t you think that the emperor’s hand couldn’t be stretched so long?
Then let them see how far they can stretch their hands.
Li Zhongxian took the secret memorial from His Majesty's hand calmly. Alas, His Majesty showed that kind of smile that was three parts mysterious, three parts disdainful, and three parts in control!
...
"Hurry up! We have to finish this salt pan today, or no one will get paid!"
"Okay..." The salt farmers bowed hesitantly.
They are the common people living in this area, and they are also the salt miners who get salt for their masters.
Because they have been dealing with sea water for a long time and their hands are soaked in sea water every day, the hands of most of them are almost unsightly.
The salt fields and salt wells in this area are all controlled by the powerful and then sold to various places by salt merchants.
The salt farmers living along the coast of Da Zhou lived on very little wages.
The reason why Salt Inspector Cao Su was hesitant about how to deal with the powerful was also related to the local situation.
It has been a habit for the coastal people to make a living under the powerful since their ancestors. If Cao Su acted rashly, the powerful people would not have to react, as these salt farmers would be the first to be unhappy.
This is going to destroy their jobs!
If they didn't make salt, where would they make a living?
Although making salt is hard work and they earn very little money, at least... it allows them to eat.
Once this habit is formed, it is difficult to change, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with the powerful people doing this.
They are numerous and stubborn, and I'm really afraid that innocent people will get hurt if they start fighting.
Cao Su discussed the matter with the local prefect Fang Liqun, who naturally agreed.
The salt inspector was transferred from the capital, and he was someone who faced the emperor directly. Although Cao Su's official position was lower than his, he didn't dare to use his status to suppress Cao Su!
Not only did he not dare to make things difficult for him, he also fully supported everything Cao Su did.
With the support of the prefect, he can command the government officials at his disposal.
A storm surrounding the powerful is brewing...
It’s a pity that the parties involved were not aware of this. Not only were they unaware of it, they were also feeling complacent because the new salt inspector did not dare to touch them.
...
Liu Mansion.
"This tea is good, but it's the new tea of the season?" Cheng Hongye squinted his eyes and drank a sip of tea happily.
Liu Gu stroked his beard and chuckled, "Brother Cheng is really good at tasting tea. Yesterday, that Li came to my house and drank the fine tea like a cow."
The "Mr. Li" they mentioned was one of the salt merchants. They had been dealing with them for a long time and came yesterday to sell salt.
"If the government wants salt, can he take it away?" Cheng Hongye put down the teacup.
Liu Gu put away the smile on his face and sat up straight: "What does Cao Su want to do now?"
Ever since the salt inspector was arrested, they have been keeping a close eye on the government's movements, but it seems that they only dealt with the salt inspector and confiscated his property, and there have been no further actions.
It doesn't look anything more than that.
"It will never amount to anything." Cheng Hongye said disdainfully.
Who among those who made their fortune from salt was simple? How could a mere salt inspector like him do anything he wanted?
Not to mention that some of them have connections with officials in the capital, and they would send gifts during festivals. If something really happens, the gifts they send would come in handy.
The powerful here remain motionless, unaware that times have long since changed...
The current emperor doesn't care about anything. You want to protect him? Okay, arrest them all.
That’s a story for later. These people are feeling proud right now.
For example, Cheng Hongye and Liu Gu were having a great time sipping the new tea of the season, listening to music and enjoying the scenery.
The last time Lu Su brought people to the salt fields, the dignified salt inspector was escorted out by the guards. The salt farmers took all kinds of things, but they all had one thing in mind - to drive him out!
Yes, they have been entrenched here for many years. If you want to move against them, you don’t even need them to take action. You have to see whether the salt farmers agree first!
...
However, the proud tyrants forgot that even though they had oppressed the salt farmers in every possible way, why did they still protect them so much?
After a few days, the proud powerful people were dumbfounded.
"What? Why are there so few people coming to work today? Don't they want to work anymore?" Veins bulged on Liu Gu's head.
The consul of the salt field touched his sweaty head and said, "Master, please calm down. I don't know what's going on these days, but the number of salt farmers coming here is getting more and more out of place..."
Before he could finish, an old salt farmer who had worked here for more than ten years stopped coming.
"Let's go and see what's going on! They've all signed the contract!" Liu Gu calmed down his anger and said, "Let's see what's going on. If you don't come, you won't get paid in the future."
"Yes, yes." Consul Yantian was also wondering in his heart.
This investigation brought them a "big surprise" - the salt farmers who were originally in their salt fields had all gone elsewhere!
"Oh? The new law of the Great Zhou prohibits private salt smuggling among the people. Master Liu probably doesn't know about it yet." Cao Su said with a smile.
He was usually cautious, but even honest people have tempers! He still remembered being driven out by Liu Gu and his fellow salt farmers.
"Since the emperor has banned private salt production, your salt fields are naturally invalid, not to mention the contract signed with the salt farmers." Cao Su was very calm at this time.
No matter how those powerful people raged and glared at him, they could not do anything to him.
"You raise the salt workers' wages to ten cents, let's see how long you can hold on!" Cheng Hongye was also very angry.
However, they did not dare to say anything too extreme. After all, no matter how low Cao Su's official rank was, he was still an official of the Great Zhou.
Originally, they had tried to show goodwill when Cao Su took office, but the other party didn't buy it at all. The powerful people who were offended wanted to teach Cao Su a lesson.
Who would have thought that after suffering a loss, the salt inspector not only did not behave himself, but also started doing other things.
The laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty regarding salt have not been revised yet, so Cao Su thought to himself, let you guys continue to act recklessly for now.
Grasshoppers can only jump for a few days after autumn.
After that, he concentrated on leading people to dig salt fields and recruit salt farmers.
The powerful people relied on their experience, many salt fields and abundant salt production.
When the government's salt fields were dug up, they didn't feel any sense of crisis. They thought it was just a mess, and they were paying such high wages to recruit salt workers, so in the end they would be left with nothing.
The salt farmers clearly chose the higher wages, but some were hesitant to stay because of the contract. So was what the officials said true? Were they lying?
Officials are not good people either!
This is the consensus among the salt workers.
Weren't the previous salt inspectors still colluding with the powerful? How much could the salt they produced be sold for, yet their wages were constantly lowered.
...
When the powerful people heard that the salt fields had been dug, they had no reaction and expressed disdain. But the following news made them unable to sit still.
The salt produced in the government-run salt fields is good!
It's only been three days! You know, it takes quite a while for them to boil and make salt in the salt wells and salt fields!
If the salt is so good, what would happen? What method did Cao Su use?
The powerful people who heard the news were all shocked.
This must be fake news released by Cao Su to save face, right?
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