Chapter 94: Twenty Coins
The powerful people had been bullying the local people for many years, but they didn't expect that they had no way to deal with Cao Su, a minor official whom they had looked down upon before.
They secretly hired people to destroy the salt fields - there were people on duty day and night, so it was difficult to find a good time to attack.
Using contracts to force the salt farmers to return - a "public carriage" inexplicably appeared in the city, escorting the salt farmers to work every day. Cao Su said that if one person was missing, he would definitely punish him severely according to the law.
As for the contract signed between the powerful and the salt farmers, he said that "a contract that goes against the wishes of the salt farmers is invalid."
Originally, if the prefect and the powerful people were in the same place, Cao Su would not be able to cause any trouble. However, what made the powerful people angry was that Fang Liqun hid in the prefect's mansion and pretended to be dead, making all the gifts they sent go to waste and their good words become a joke.
How to not feel depressed and angry.
The powerful are not pushovers either. They have accumulated a lot of experience and have decided to challenge Guantian this time, joining forces with several big salt merchants to lower the price of salt.
Soon, Guantian told Cao Su about the current situation - they could not sell their salt.
There was no trace of panic on Cao Su's face.
Because after Yan Xuanyu learned about this, he only said one sentence: "You're still trying to monopolize it. You really think you're some unshakable local tyrant."
The salt they produced was of better quality than that produced in ordinary salt fields, and the production time was also shortened. Since the salt merchants united and did not want it, Cao Su transported the salt directly to the capital.
Let the imperial court directly control the salt fields.
Not all salt merchants were on the same side as the powerful. They had a friendship for many years, but that was based on cooperation. Now that they had better quality salt, they were forced to stop buying and selling due to pressure from the powerful, and the original friendship had become almost gone.
Don’t the powerful really know?
On the contrary, they had already known what was going on and wanted to rely on their numbers and strength to be sure that the government would not dare to do anything to them.
The powerful people who originally wanted to use the government-owned land to force Cao Su to give in saw that as time went by, the salt merchants were forced to stop doing business with the government-owned land, but Cao Su still did not come to bow to them.
Upon further inquiry, I found out that the salt from the official fields had already been transported to the capital in truckloads!
...
No matter how resentful the salt merchants were, they had no choice. If they offended the powerful, they would have no place to stay here.
"Now, privately, they all call the salt fields 'official fields'. Because it has the word 'official' in it, only these people dare to go against it. They don't think about the fact that it was just that person who didn't extend his hand before..."
A salt merchant sighed that they had traveled far and wide and had seen much more than the powerful people. Even if they had not seen it, they had heard about it.
"The whole world belongs to him, let alone a few salt pans." Another person echoed, "Why do we have to deal with such a clueless person?"
This is what the salt merchants said.
They watched batches of good salt being transported to the capital under government escort, and their eyes were filled with jealousy - if this was in their hands, how much money would they make!
It's really like the gods fighting and the little devils suffer.
However, calling the powerful people "gods" who could compete with Cao Su was really flattering them - a few days later they suddenly received a jaw-dropping piece of news.
All the powerful people were arrested.
"Puff——" A salt merchant spat out a mouthful of water, looking extremely embarrassed.
Everyone who heard the news couldn't believe their ears. Were all the people arrested?
What's the rule here?
...
The person involved was also confused. A group of officers and soldiers rushed in like a gust of wind, waving open the gatehouse. When he came to his senses, he had been squeezed on the left and right and walked two miles away!
Several mansions were suddenly thrown into chaos.
"You are arresting people in public. Do you have any law in your hands?!" Liu Gu roared.
The leading officer smiled and said, "We arrested you because of the law!"
The laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty regarding salt have been written into the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, including the rule that "monopolizing salt is a serious crime"!
The law is perfect and does not harm the innocent. The government will certainly not confiscate salt fields obtained through legitimate transactions and will allow them to recruit workers and operate normally. However, the owners of the salt fields must pay attention that the price of selling salt must be consistent with the price required by the government, otherwise there will be severe penalties.
"All the land under heaven belongs to the king. You know how you got those salt fields!" the officers and soldiers said sternly.
Even if some powerful families had their own soldiers, they would all be captured after a period of chaos.
Almost no officers and soldiers sent by the government were injured, because their treatment now was very different from before. As long as they worked actively or performed well, they would be rewarded!
If the officers and soldiers had encountered such strong and powerful soldiers before, they would at least feel timid, but now...
Several people worked together to subdue a palace soldier, and they still regretted that they didn't run fast enough!
The palace soldiers were finally tied up and thrown together in a daze.
An operation against the powerful ended perfectly - no one was left out and all of them were arrested.
For a while, there was almost not enough space in the prison, and people were crying outside the prison.
Almost as soon as the new regulations on salt were introduced into the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty and spread to other parts of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the government took action.
What's there to be confused about now? The governor has been in league with Cao Su for a long time.
Cao Su had also been prepared for a long time, just waiting for the law to come out so that he could take down the powerful people.
Such a simple and crude method caught everyone off guard.
However, there was no local chaos afterwards. Cao Su quickly cut the Gordian knot and took control of the salt fields. The panicked salt farmers in the powerful salt fields were also calmed down. Everyone then realized that Cao Su had secretly made sufficient preparations long ago.
The content added to the law this time also greatly restricted the actions of salt merchants.
With the powerful people in front of them, the salt merchants were all silent. They didn't want to be thrown into jail, and in serious cases they might even be sentenced to exile.
I heard that the prison is not big enough now, and the number of people in a cell has been reduced from four to six.
Matters as important as salt will never be easily covered up. The powerful people in Jishui City are only part of the people who provide salt. There are also other coastal cities in Dazhou and salt merchants who buy and sell salt throughout Dazhou.
Now that the decree has been issued, local government officials, soldiers and the Embroidered Uniform Guard will be very busy again.
The Great Zhou re-established the Salt Administration, splitting off from the previous salt inspectors and appointing salt officials. Salt officials were no longer just nominal positions, but enjoyed real power, including the power to deal with private or monopolistic activities according to the law.
The salt fields with legitimate sources will be purchased by the Great Zhou government - upon investigation, the salt fields with illegal sources will be directly reclaimed and the person who owns them will be imprisoned.
Yan Xuanyu was determined to collect the salt this time. Everyone in the Great Zhou knew that the emperor had been decisive and resolute in the past few years.
The salt merchants of Jishui City were the most bittersweet. After waiting so long for the production of better quality salt, they were forced to watch their profits disappear due to the oppressive influence of powerful officials. After Cao Su finally apprehended the powerful officials under the pretext of law, news spread that the salt fields would now belong to the government.
What’s worse is that all their food was taken away, no, even their pots were taken away!
There have been many changes in the Great Zhou Dynasty recently, almost changing every day. The people of the Great Zhou Dynasty now have a new channel to obtain news. The newspaper business that has expanded outward from the Capital Daily has also become more formal and comprehensive, and was finally renamed the Great Zhou Daily.
In May of this year, the salt produced by the salt fields taken over by the government will be officially transported to various parts of Da Zhou and put on sale.
As for the price…
"What? How much did you say?!"
The people who were originally listening with great interest to the literate person reading the weekly newspaper were stunned.
Did they hear it right?
People looked at each other in confusion.
A dou of salt only costs twenty cents?
That’s a bucket of salt!
With regard to these "new" things happening in the Great Zhou Dynasty, apart from things that were directly related to their lives, such as the opening of shopping malls and the government encouraging farmers to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, the people actually knew everything and they just listened to the excitement on major events.
Like the previous peace talks with the Turks and the imperial examinations, what do they have to do with them?
To be honest, there are people like Tang Xing who are farmers but are dedicated to learning and have never stopped studying. However, compared with the vast population of the people, there are very few of them.
For most people, it has only been in the past two years that they have been able to fill their stomachs. How could they possibly afford to cultivate a scholar?
Even if you enroll now in the Shanxue School funded by the Great Zhou government, it will take several years to graduate.
Therefore, although the people can learn about the major events that have occurred in the Great Zhou in recent years from newspapers, they all like to read and listen to them - this way they feel that they are being treated as human beings!
Most people just listen to new things, and many things are still too far away from them.
But this time…
A dou of salt costs twenty cents.
At the same time, countless people in the Great Zhou were extremely excited by this news.
If this figure alone doesn't seem significant, compare it with the salt price of the previous Zhou Dynasty.
The price of salt is eight times lower than what salt merchants used to sell...
Those who hated Yan Xuanyu for using the law to force them to hand over the salt fields were also confused, and for a while they were filled with anger.
"Is the Emperor crazy?"
Some people were so shocked that they said disrespectful words.
If you sell a dou of salt for twenty cents, how can you make any money?
They saw that person... he was out of his mind.
People who live near salt-producing areas know that the reason why salt is expensive is that the utensils used to boil salt deteriorate quickly. Based on the price of twenty cents for a dou of salt, and the good treatment that salt farmers receive from salt fields today, how much money can they make in the end?
If Yan Xuanyu heard these ideas, he would probably shake his head. After the salt-making method was improved, the boiling method was replaced, and the loss of equipment was no longer a problem. As for the treatment of salt workers, salt production can be better only if the salt workers are motivated. You can't just let the horse run without giving it grass to eat.
Moreover, in his opinion, the treatment he gave to the salt farmers was not as unreasonably good as they said, and it had always been based on the actual situation.
Because of the twenty coins for a dou of salt, court officials were worried that some people would buy salt without restraint. If salt became cheap, it would no longer be precious, and many things that they could not predict would happen. If it really came to that, lowering the price of salt would have lost its original purpose.
Yan Xuanyu already had a plan for this matter.
Buying and selling can be restricted and purchased on a per-person basis.
Secondly, salt tickets were issued by the government.
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