Chapter 2985 Stay
Censor Ning looked at his expression and thought that he was just a fool with good fortune. However, he had been living and eating next door to Zhou Liwei during this period, and he knew how hard it was for him to be the manager of the salt field. It seemed that it was only natural for him to have such a future.
But not everyone has such an opportunity. He reached out and patted his shoulder, "You have a good aunt and a good uncle."
After saying that, he turned around and left laughing.
Zhou Liwei scratched his head, thinking that these scholars always liked to leave things half-hearted when speaking. He shook his head, watched the carriage go away, and turned back to continue keeping his account book.
Censor Ning returned to Beihai County Office with the salt first. Bai Shan met him in the office and treated him to a working lunch. “The prince went to Dengzhou.”
That's quite a long way to go. Laizhou is further east and is considered the easternmost place in the Jin Dynasty.
Censor Ning thought about it and decided not to leave in a hurry. "Then I will stay here and wait for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Bai Shan: ...Although he is not afraid of the censor, Censor Ning still feels somewhat uncomfortable here. For example, if he finishes his official duties early every day, should he leave early and go home, or continue to spend time in the county government office?
However, he didn't show it on his face, still smiled and agreed, saying: "I will take Lord Ning to the post station."
The post station in Beihai County is not far from the county government office, but it is not on the main street, but on a smaller street inside the main street.
It was also very small, with two floors and two courtyards in front and back. The postmaster and his family lived in the back.
The cooks and waiters at the post station were all his family members.
Officials traveling on official business could stay at the post station for free, but Beihai County was too poor. Except for the occasional officials from Qingzhou City who came to deliver official documents and stayed overnight, the post station was unable to accommodate officials most of the time.
So they would welcome outsiders, and in order to compete with the better-equipped inns on the main street, they would keep their prices very low.
It attracts people who come to Beihai County to visit relatives or less wealthy businessmen.
When Bai Shan escorted Censor Ning to the post station, a group of people came out cursing and looking furious. "This is a rip-off! When we came here last year, it was five cents a pound, and this year it's six cents? We're buying it for six cents, so we have to sell it for at least twelve cents. If they're willing to pay twelve cents, why don't they buy fresh fish instead of this stinky salted fish?"
"That's right, with twelve cents, you can buy pork and chicken, so why eat fish?
"Let it air out for a while. There isn't much else here, just a lot of sea fish. In two months, if their fish can't be sold, they'll know how to lower the price."
Bai Shan frowned and glanced at the faces of those people. Censor Ning also looked up at him and passed by these people when he entered the door.
The postmaster was holding a pen and carefully recording the accounts on the counter. He didn't dare to make any mistakes, otherwise it would be waste paper, and paper was very expensive.
A yamen runner stepped forward and knocked on the table. The postmaster said without even looking up, "This inn only accepts guests staying overnight. If you don't want to stay, just turn left and go to the main street."
Yamen runner: "...Postmaster, the master has arrived."
The postmaster raised his eyelids and saw Bai Shan in casual clothes. He immediately put down his pen and said, "It's the county magistrate. Please come in, please come in."
Bai Shan asked Censor Ning to go ahead, looked up at his building and said, "This is Censor Ning, an official from the capital. Please arrange a quiet, spacious and well-ventilated room for Censor Ning."
"Yes, yes, yes. Censor Ning, please come upstairs."
Although the post station accepted outside guests, he would reserve two good rooms to avoid officials who came to stay in and had no good rooms available.
He took his people up to the second floor, walked to the innermost room, opened the door, and invited several people to go in and take a look at the room.
The room was very spacious, with a bed and a round table taking up most of the space. There was also a wooden couch by the window. On the other side was a bathroom separated by a screen, which contained wooden barrels and shelves, with wooden basins on the shelves. The space was also not small.
The window was open, facing an alley. It seemed that few people walked there, but looking into the distance, the main street was across the alley, and it was indeed quiet.
It’s better to find peace in the midst of noise.
Bai Shan turned to look at Censor Ning and asked with a smile, "What do you think, sir?"
Censor Ning was very satisfied and booked the room. Censor Ning's attendant carried his luggage in, and the guards turned around to choose their own rooms. The inn, which was originally small, was quickly filled with empty rooms.
The postmaster quickly hung up a sign saying the place was fully booked.
Censor Ning watched him busy, turned around and asked Bai Shan, "Is salted fish so cheap?"
He had been in the salt field during this time, and occasionally chatted with the farmhands there. He knew that they were fishermen and would often send the good fish they caught to Beihai County and Qingzhou City to sell at varying prices.
Some sea fish are cheap, costing around ten coins per pound, while others are very expensive, costing over a hundred coins per pound.
What the farmhands talked about most was that one of their families caught a particularly rare fish while going out to sea, and then soaked it in sea water and sent it to the outskirts of Qingzhou City overnight, and then brought it into the city at dawn the next day. One catty could be sold for two hundred coins. The fish was not big, just over two catties, and could be sold for nearly five hundred coins, which was equivalent to a hundred catties of salted fish they dried in the sun.
He thought it was just an exaggeration to highlight the preciousness of the fish, but it turned out that it was not the fish that was too precious, but the salted fish that was too cheap?
Now is the beginning of the fishing season, and Bai Shan is also having a headache. Even if Qingzhou City is included, the consumption of fish is actually limited, so most fishermen still dry the fish into dried fish and sell them to merchants who come to buy them.
But they pushed the price too low.
Fishermen not only have to catch fish, but also have to dry them in the sun...
After all the hard work, a pound of fish only earns a few cents.
"Right now, the roads are difficult to navigate and the transportation costs are very high. Merchants have to at least double the price to make a profit after accepting the goods." Bai Shan was no stranger to worldly affairs and naturally understood that merchants also had their own difficulties. Therefore, he said, "So I think we should just wait until the Longchi Ferry is built. By then, the official road leading to Beihai County will also be repaired. The price of salted fish should be able to go up."
Censor Ning sat down at the table and asked, "Anything else?"
Bai Shan smiled and sat down across from him. "As expected of Censor Ning, I do have other plans. I've always wondered why salted fish can't be more valuable than other fish. It's not just meat; it also has salt in it."
"There's a dish called salted fish, which doesn't even require salt, so isn't it natural that it's more expensive?"
Ning Yushi: "Poor families don't have the opportunity to eat salted fish. I can't think of this method for the time being. Those who would take the risk to buy salted fish and want to taste the fish in the sea are not very short of money and don't need that little salt."
"So who you sell salted fish to and where you send it to are very particular," Bai Shan said. "I'm looking for such a merchant right now."
Censor Ning smiled and said, "Don't you have an uncle who often travels to the grasslands of the Western Regions? Perhaps he can help you."
See you at 7pm
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
