Chapter 3168 Promotion
Zhou Silang couldn't believe that with so many salt fields in the whole of Jiangnan, could the gap be filled by just one salt field in Beihai County?
Seeing his look of shock and suspicion, Bai Shan explained, "Not only our Beihai County, but also Shouguang County, Laizhou, Dengzhou, and several other coastal counties are now drying salt."
Bai Shan used the salt-drying method to exchange for many things, such as ships from Laizhou, merchant resources from Dengzhou, population from Cangzhou, etc.
He exchanged for everything that Beihai County lacked, not to mention that he needed a large amount of timber to build Longchi Wharf. Most of it was bought by him, and a small part was sent by the governor of Cangzhou.
There's a lot of good wood there.
Zhou Silang was stunned when he heard this, then he covered his chest and exclaimed: "How much does this cost?"
The docks and salt fields, the two richest things, are both in Beihai County.
Zhou Man said, "That's the court's money. Even His Majesty and the Crown Prince can't touch it. But this year's money should be enough to build the wharf. Next year, our Beihai County will be very wealthy, right?"
She felt very happy just thinking about it.
Bai Shan turned his head to look at her, "I haven't had time to tell you yet, the court has decided to monopolize salt and iron. From now on, the court will no longer collect salt taxes. All official salt will be sold by the county governments in cooperation with the Salt Transport Bureau."
He said, "Although prices vary from place to place due to different transportation costs, the difference will not be very large. All salt can be distributed to grocery stores after it arrives at the local area. The price will be determined by the Salt Transport Bureau and the county government. The price cannot be higher than 5% of the cost."
Zhou Man: "Ah, then salt will be much cheaper for us in the future."
Zhou Silang didn't understand what he said and asked, "How much is that?"
Bai Shan said, "If all costs from production to transportation are included, and the price of a bushel of salt is fifty wen per bushel when it arrives at the destination, then the selling price cannot be higher than fifty-two and a half wen."
Zhou Silang was stunned: "Isn't the current price of salt 110 wen a dou?"
Bai Shan smiled slightly and said, "It will come down."
Bai Shan was right, the price would indeed come down. Now the Salt Transport Bureau had not yet taken over the salt administration, and it was still under the management of the provincial governors and county governments. The price had already dropped at this time.
Perhaps because he was afraid that the accident of the previous quarter would happen again, Ming Ming Shancai had people send out salt for two months. Before the time for purchasing the next quarter came, purchasing officials from all over the country had already come to him.
The renovated and expanded post station welcomed a wave of guests, and the postmaster warmly entertained them.
Although their accommodation is free, the county government pays for it.
Bai Shan also welcomed them. Although their food and lodging in the post station were free, the escorts and workers they brought with them to transport the official salt were not free. Besides, who would come on official business, especially friendly envoys, and stay in the post station for food and lodging?
Their arrival made Beihai County look more prosperous.
Bai Shan took them directly to visit the county's weaving workshop. Now the female workers are very good at weaving, tailoring, and embroidery, and the clothes and fabrics they make are very good.
The purchasing officials followed Bai Shan around with bewildered expressions, and were even taken to the farm to see the pigs, chickens, ducks, fruits, vegetables, rice, and beans they raised...
Who doesn’t have these things?
The most important thing is that they came to buy salt, not real merchants.
Bai Shan smiled and said, "The pigs here are all castrated. Not only do they taste better, they also grow faster. See this one? It's the first batch of castrated pigs. It's only been raised for less than seven months, and it's ready to be slaughtered now. So I'll have someone kill one, and I'll treat you all to a whole pig feast tonight."
Officials: ...I don’t want to eat.
They all prefer to eat lamb and chicken, or fish at worst, and basically rarely eat pork.
Bai Shan had already dragged them to see the chickens in the orchard. "We have a lot of chickens, too. Recently, our veterinarian in Beihai County discovered that roosters can be castrated. Not only do they grow more meat after castration, but the meat also tastes better..."
He observed their expressions and immediately changed his tone, saying, "But we have a lot of hens, and many of them have already started laying eggs. So we can produce a lot of eggs every day, and they are very fresh."
After saying this, Bai Shan finally revealed his purpose. "If your counties need to purchase these things in the future, you can consider our Beihai County. Whether it's pork, chicken, or fruits and vegetables, they are all tastier than those sold outside."
Everyone: ...They are just officials who purchase salt, they don’t purchase agricultural and sideline products.
However, Bai Shan was the county magistrate. Not only was his official rank higher than theirs, but they also needed to rely on Bai Shan to get the official salt. So they didn't show it, but just smiled and said "sure, sure."
Bai Shan didn't care whether they were sincere or not. With a smile on his face, he asked the farmhand to kill a pig and send it to the post station. Then he took them back to the county town. "After dinner tomorrow, we will go to Dajiawa to buy salt. Everyone, please bring your own people and money."
He smiled and said, "Beihai County has limited manpower and cannot transport the official salt to the county town for trading for the time being, so you still need to go to the salt field to trade in person."
Everyone's eyes lit up. They didn't expect to get a definite answer the next day. They didn't mind walking a little further to the salt field. They were only worried that they wouldn't be able to buy salt.
The buyers became more enthusiastic and said that this was not a problem. They were willing to go no matter how far. You don’t have enough manpower, but they do.
The next morning, Bai Shan personally led them to Dadawa.
Dajiawa still looks gray now. Zhou Liwei has opened up all the places that can be used as salt fields. Now it can no longer be opened, but the daily salt production is huge.
During this period, countless farmhands were transferred here from various villages. Because of the large number of workers, the open space surrounding Xiaojiawa was built into rows of houses, and there was also a market. People who didn’t know about it would definitely think that this was a big town, not just a small village.
Zhou Liwei is the general manager here now. He has too much to do and basically has no time to go to the fields to dry and shovel salt. But he hasn't gotten much whiter. After half a summer of being exposed to the scorching sun, he looks even darker now.
He trotted over to meet Bai Shan and the many people behind him, and ran forward and said, "Sir, the salt is in the warehouse. Shall we go to the warehouse?"
Bai Shan nodded and led everyone to buy salt.
The buyers thought they could rest for a night and discuss the deal the next day, but they didn't expect the manager of the salt field to be so decisive.
They hurried to catch up and walked past some salt fields. They felt that the light reflected from the sunlight on the salt fields made their eyes sore, and the group walked to the warehouse in a daze.
Zhou Liwei had the storehouse opened and the salt carried out bag by bag. "Come on, bring out the official voucher for comparison."
(End of this chapter)
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