Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 254 It's all a misunderstanding
Seeing the crowd below, led by the Prince of Jin, making humiliating offers, Cao Sanxi was not angry at all. Instead, he asked his entourage to listen carefully to the offers from all parties and then record them one by one.
After the staff had finished their work, Cao Sanxi picked up the record sheet and said, "Hey, I have been with Your Highness since I left Shanxi eleven years ago. I never expected that my hometown has become so poor! You are all well-known figures in Shanxi, but you can only lend out 7,300 taels of silver ."
"President Cao, we in Shanxi are all good citizens of the Ming Dynasty. Why should we borrow? As long as the imperial court wants to do something, we will support it even if it means losing everything. We will donate this money!"
“Yes, I donated it!”
"Hahaha, I appreciate your kindness. But we Shanxi people are very firm in our words and deeds. Today I said it's a donation, and it's a donation worth bankrupting my family. I can't regret it in the future."
"President Cao, how can we Shanxi people go back on our word? Never, never."
"good!"
After putting away the donation record, Cao Sanxi stood up, straightened his official uniform, and said in a clear voice: "There is an imperial decree, everyone please accept it."
"Ah?" After a moment of astonishment, they finally came out of the prince's palace. The two chief secretaries quickly stood up and bowed: "Your Highness, we respectfully wish you a peaceful day."
"May your Majesty be at peace." After saying this, Cao Sanxi took a silk book from the attendant beside him and opened it with a bang: "I have heard that since Taizu founded the country, he has set up stoves to boil salt for the people to eat. During the Hongwu and Yongle periods, the imperial court levied a tax of 20 wen per catty of salt, and the market price ranged from 30 to 40 wen. Since the Jiajing period, the imperial court has a new method of 'enclosing the sea to dry salt', and local well salt places also have a method of extracting brine with overhead cranes. The salt production of major salt fields has greatly increased... However, I have recently received reports that the price of salt in our Ming Dynasty has exceeded 300 wen per catty... I feel deeply that the people have no taste for it, so I followed the advice of the Crown Prince and changed the salt policy... This matter is under the overall charge of Bi Maokang, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, and assisted by Cao Sanxi, the President of the Royal Bank..."
The imperial edict was read, but none of the people kneeling moved.
"Everyone, the decree has been read. Please stand up."
What the hell are you doing? You, Cao Sanxi, are such a bad guy!
The salt fields of the Ming Dynasty had an output far exceeding that of any previous dynasty, but the people of the Ming Dynasty ate the most expensive salt in history, and the Ming government collected the lowest salt tax since Emperor Wu of Han... Such ridiculous salt policy should have been changed long ago.
But the changes in the imperial edict just now are really surprising.
First of all, the imperial edict on reforming the salt policy, the first item is to allow private ownership of salt fields. The state reserves one salt field with the largest output in each province, and all other salt fields can be sold. And this sale is auctioned, and it is publicly stated that cross-provincial auctions are allowed. In other words, as long as you are strong enough, you can buy multiple salt fields in your province or even in other provinces without any problem.
Secondly, after you buy the salt field, you must first count: the state-owned salt fields of the Ming Dynasty owed a lot of salt permits to ordinary merchants who honestly transported grain for the border troops. Therefore, after you take over the salt field, the first thing you have to do is to repay the salt permits owed by the salt field. However, this is caused by the poor management of the state in the past, so the state and you take over together. To give a common example: your salt field owes others 100 kilograms of salt, you either give them so much salt or give them 30,000 new copper coins. After that, the state returns you 15,000 copper coins.
Third, when the state sells the salt field to you, it also directly sets the tax amount. This tax amount is set based on the current output of the major salt fields, and is basically 40 coins per catty. In other words, if the output of the salt field you bought is 10,000 catties in the 43rd year of the Wanli reign, then you only need to pay 400,000 copper coins or equivalent silver dollars to the state every year.
Fourth, the state sells the salt field to you, and you pay a fixed amount of tax every year. The state does not care about other production and sales. The only point is that the state has a guide price . The imperial edict clearly states that the guide price in the 44th and 45th years of the Wanli reign was 70 wen per catty, and it could not exceed 85 wen at most. Otherwise, the state has the right to take back the salt field!
Those are the four.
God have mercy on us! We have accumulated countless wealth through trade with Mongolia over the past two hundred years. However, the resources such as salt, iron and coal are all under state control and we cannot intervene at all. This large amount of money is stored in the cellar, and is constantly oxidizing and turning black! Now that the country allows private capital to enter the salt industry, isn’t it a perfect opportunity for us? As long as we form a merchant group to join the game, not to mention the local salt mines in Shanxi, we can also take pictures of the salt mines in Shaanxi, Hebei, and even in Sichuan in the south!
As for whether it is profitable after acquiring the salt field? Hi! Judging from the four new salt policies just mentioned, if you can buy a salt field, it is impossible not to make a profit!
Why? Because there are several salt mines in Shanxi, and as the leading figures of this province, you know everything about the contents inside!
First of all, since all the salt mines in Daming were state-owned, the internal corruption problem was extremely serious. In order to embezzle money, salt officials desperately reported false production: not reporting it high, on the contrary, they reported it low! The old people knew very well that the current production of various salt fields in Daming was only about one-fifth of the actual production or even less! Therefore, the state collected taxes based on the existing production. Although the tax per kilogram is twice as much as it is now, you can't help but increase the production by at least five times!
So, getting the salt mine is a big profit!
Secondly, the reason why the salt fields cannot redeem the salt permits is that the dignitaries are asking for too much. In order not to offend the dignitaries, the officials of the salt fields have to let the ordinary merchants wait indefinitely. But if the salt fields are in our hands, who dares to ask for salt permits for free? I will beat you to death!
Finally, at least a considerable portion of the salt fields in each province will be taken over by the local tyrants in the province. In this way, private salt production will basically be eradicated!
In short, as long as you take over a salt field with an output of no less than 10,000 jin, the annual net profit will be at least 70 to 80 percent!
God has mercy on us. Our caravan has gone through Mongolia with great difficulty. It takes a long time, and people may die if things go wrong. Even so, the profit is only 50% to 60%. Moreover, the business method of buying low and selling high is nothing compared to the business of owning a salt mine, which is equivalent to holding a golden rice bowl!
Therefore, this salt mine must be purchased. Later, we will get together to discuss how to form the Shanxi Merchants Group, and then rush out together to seize the salt field!
Eh? That's not right. Just now, it seemed that we all said that we had gone bankrupt.
"Hehe, President Cao, I still feel that the donation I made just now is a little insufficient. This is too disrespectful to His Royal Highness the Regent."
"Yes, yes, the emperor has such good governance, which has solved the suffering of the people of the Ming Dynasty who have had a bland taste for more than 200 years. No matter what, we have to, hehehe..."
"Twenty million taels of silver." Cao Sanxi sat down leisurely. "All of you present here must lend me a total of twenty million taels of silver. Within two months, the Taiyuan branch will open for business, and the new currency will be introduced throughout Shanxi Province. You must take the lead in supporting the issuance of the new currency. Within five months, I will return you 21 million silver dollars. In October this year, Minister Bi Maokang will hold a national salt auction in Nanjing. At that time, I will personally issue you admission permits."
"Ahahahaha, President Cao is indeed from our hometown! He has nothing to say to us!"
"That's right, that's right. We Shanxi people value our hometown the most. Everything that happened just now was just a misunderstanding!"
