What they fear is that officials will collude with each other and cheat them.
The good news is that if what Song Quan said was true, then there would not be any tricks at the official donation ceremony today.
"Does anyone have any questions? If not, let's start now." Song Quan glanced at the crowd.
"Sir Song," a salt merchant asked solemnly, "Is there a starting price for donating an official position?"
"Of course there is. The starting price for a seventh-rank official is one thousand taels of silver, and the starting price for a sixth-rank official is one thousand five hundred taels of silver." Song Quan replied.
After hearing the starting price, the salt merchants burst into noise again.
"Isn't it too expensive? I can't afford it!"
"Yes, one thousand taels of silver can buy ten houses in Nanjing."
"One thousand taels is too much? This is already a gift from the court. If it were me, I would just change the starting price to two thousand taels, and then no one would compete with me."
"The four general merchants of Lianghuai haven't spoken yet, who do you think you are?"
"Stop arguing. It's up to you whether you want to buy it or not. What are you arguing about?"
Most salt merchants felt that the starting price was too high and beyond their affordability.
Some salt merchants also felt that the starting price was too low, resulting in too many participants in the early stages.
"The bidding will start in a moment!" Seeing that no one asked again, Song Quan left the cabin to make final preparations.
After he left, the salt merchants gathered in groups of three or five for final discussions.
"How much do you think a seventh-rank official can get?"
"It's hard to say. Lord Song is very familiar with business. In order to raise the selling price, he must have found someone to raise the price in advance. Only when the price reaches Lord Song's desired level will those people stop raising the price."
"What is Mr. Song's desired price?"
"I don't know. It may be related to the deficit of the imperial court."
"Then how much is the deficit of the court?"
"I don't know the exact amount, but I heard it was several hundred thousand taels of silver."
"How many hundreds of thousands is it? Two hundred thousand is several hundreds of thousands, nine hundred thousand is also several hundreds of thousands... but there is a difference of seven hundred thousand between the two!"
"I really don't know..."
A moment passed quickly, and Song Quan returned to the cabin and said to everyone, "Everyone, the auction begins."
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