After alighting from his carriage, Zhao Liang looked around and found many familiar faces. They were gathered in groups of three to five, but they had no intention of going in. Obviously, these people were not confident and wanted to form a group outside.
Zhao Liang was noncommittal about this. Sometimes, it was useful, but sometimes, it was really useless.
"Brother Zhao!"
Just as Zhao Liang was contemplating whether to go in, a voice interrupted his thoughts. Zhao Liang turned his head and saw that it was Lu Qian, the head of the Lu family, one of the three major families of Huizhou merchants along with his and the Qi family.
Lu Qian was much older than Zhao Liang, in his fifties. He was fair and plump, very stout, and had an amiable smile. He looked like a monk in a temple.
But Zhao Liang knew that this guy was an old fox.
He had to be very careful when dealing with him. If he was not careful, he would be tricked by him.
"Brother Lu!"
Zhao Liang also cupped his fists at Lu Qian and greeted him with a smile. "Long time no see. Brother Lu, you are indeed more elegant than before!"
Lu Qian looked at Zhao Liang and cursed in his heart, "Little fox!"
Although the two of them seemed to be chatting happily, they each had their own plans in mind.
There were many people in this place. Who didn't know Lu Qian from the Lu family and Zhao Liang from the Zhao family? Seeing the two of them chatting, many people immediately looked over. Some people wanted to come over and talk to them, but they didn't dare to do so in front of these two people.
Lu Qian and Zhao Liang naturally didn't have the mood to talk to others. The two of them chatted for a while, then changed the topic back to this time's invitation.
"Brother Zhao, what do you think of this?" Lu Qian looked back at Lovely Spring Courtyard and asked in a low voice.
"What do I think?"
Zhao Liang was stunned, then said hesitantly, "We haven't gone in yet, so we don't know what's going on. Maybe they're just treating us to a meal!" Speaking of this, Zhao Liang had a strange expression. "Brother Lu, do you have any news?"
Lu Qian looked at Zhao Liang and the smile on his face disappeared. "Brother Zhao, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to do this at this time, right?"
Glancing at Lu Qian, the smile on Zhao Liang's face disappeared. "Brother Lu, tell me. What do you want to say? Let me hear it."
Seeing that Zhao Liang still had the same attitude, Lu Qian didn't say anything else and turned to leave.
Looking at Lu Qian's back, Zhao Liang sneered in his heart. Old fox, he's still thinking of some messy ideas at this time.
However, seeing that Lu Qian was walking towards the Lovely Spring Courtyard and was about to enter, Zhao Liang also strode forward to follow. He couldn't let this sly old fox take the initiative.
When the two of them entered the Lovely Spring Courtyard, they discovered that the layout here was completely different.
The original fancy things were all gone, replaced by round tables and simple chairs.
On the other hand, the dancing platform was still preserved, and the decorations around it had been removed.
Lu Qian and Zhao Liang sat down at the table in front of them. Soon, a plainly dressed maid came over to serve them tea.
Lu Qian and Zhao Liang were stunned when they saw this woman. Wasn't this Lovely Spring Brothel's top courtesan, Miss Qian 'er? Why was she here serving tea?
The two of them didn't know what to say.
After Lu Qian and Zhao Liang came in, the merchants at the entrance also followed them in.
When the table was full, a person walked down from the second floor with a smile. As he walked, he cupped his fists at everyone present. "Everyone, long time no see. How have you been?
Nice to meet you! "
The person who came was none other than Li Zhonghang, and the smile on his face was radiant.
Li Zhonghang's smile looked very sincere, but his words didn't seem that sincere.
Don't you know what kind of life we've been living these days?
Don't you feel guilty for saying this?
Even if they were unhappy in their hearts, they couldn't show it on their faces.
Everyone present smiled and responded, saying, "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."
Li Zhonghang walked up to the stage and swept his gaze across everyone's faces. Then, he said with a smile, "I invited everyone here today for the sake of our salt. I'm sure everyone is clear about this, right?"
"Recently, our Yangzhou's salt has caused quite a ruckus."
Although Li Zhonghang spoke casually and his expression was relaxed and full of smiles, the people below weren't relaxed at all.
They knew very well what kind of life they'd been living recently.
The salt merchants' lives were especially tough. More than 30 salt merchants had their properties confiscated and their people arrested. How could they be having a good time?
"Before I left the capital, the Emperor assigned salt to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In other words, from today onwards, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will have the final say in the salt affairs of the two Huai provinces." Li Zhonghang's words were powerful and full of confidence.
"From today onwards, the salt works in the two Huai provinces will no longer issue salt permits. All salt permits will be abolished."
The moment he said this, the salt merchants' expressions immediately turned ugly.
Salt permits used to be a good thing. Everyone had spent a lot of money and effort to obtain them.
Now that the Imperial Court abolished them just like that, it was a huge loss.
Zhao Liang and Lu Qian's expressions also changed. Neither of them expected the Imperial Court to abolish the salt permits.
"Someone is going to ask, how will we sell salt without the salt permits?"
"It's very simple. The Emperor has decided to adopt the policy of contracting salt works. What does that mean? It's very simple. The merchants present can spend money to contract the salt works.
During the contract period, all the salt produced will belong to you. Even if the Imperial Court needs salt, they will have to buy it from you. "
The moment these words came out, the crowd immediately went into a frenzy. Was the Emperor going to lift the salt ban?
The Imperial Court was no longer in charge of the salt business.
The salt and iron business had always belonged to the officials of the Imperial Court throughout the dynasties. It was the Imperial Court's main source of revenue.
The Imperial Court had lifted the salt business just like that?
Many people looked at Li Zhonghang in disbelief. Did they hear wrong?
"There are a total of 46 salt works in the two Huai provinces. Each salt works can be auctioned for at most three.
I won't say much about how profitable the salt works are, but there is one thing I have to say first. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will take 60% of the shares in each salt works.
The remaining 40% will be yours. "
Everyone was stunned. Indeed, the Ministry of Internal Affairs would take 60%, which meant that the Imperial Court would take 60%.
Zhao Liang listened to Li Zhonghang's words, his brain turning over and over as he pondered the entire situation.
Abolishing the salt permits and selling 40% of the salt works according to the Imperial Court's law. Was there any profit in that?
After some thought, Zhao Liang could answer himself, "Yes!"
"Sir Li, I have a question!"
While Zhao Liang was pondering, Lu Qian stood up and cupped his fists at Li Zhonghang.
Li Zhonghang smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, please speak your mind!"
"If I buy 40% of the shares, who will manage the salt works?
The Imperial Court will send people, or we will send people?
Will the annual profits be split 60% to 40%? "Lu Qian asked the question that everyone was most concerned about.
Li Zhonghang smiled and said, "That's a good question, Mr. Lu.
"I have a document here regarding the sale of the salt works. Everyone can take it back and take a look."
Li Zhonghang nodded to the people beside him and said with a smile, "That's all for the salt works. Next, I will talk about the Daming Shipping."
Everyone was stunned again. What the hell was this Daming Shipping?
That's all for the salt works?
"The Daming Shipping, as the name suggests, is a shipping company. This shipping company is led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and each prefecture will only accept one company. For now, they are only looking for people in the Lianghuai and Huai provinces.
The first product of the newly established Great Ming Shipping Company was salt. "
"All the salt produced in the Lianghuai salt area will be shipped by the Daming Shipping."
In fact, this was a specialized transportation team, or rather, a transportation department established by the Imperial Court.
In this era, transportation was always a hurdle that could not be avoided. The huge costs in the transportation process were really unbearable.
With the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the main force and the alliance as the support, the salt transportation team would be the vanguard, forming a specialized transportation team.
Separating the production, transportation, and sale of salt to prevent people from causing trouble was also one of the goals.
Creating a one-stop production, transportation, and sale of Daming salt.
Completely holding the profits of salt in their hands would also help increase the production of salt.
No one spoke. They were all thinking about the benefits.
"This is a description of the Daming Shipping. Everyone can take it back and read it!"
Li Zhonghang got someone to distribute another booklet to everyone, then continued, "Next, let's talk about the establishment of the Daming Salt Company."
Daming Salt Company?
What the hell was this?
"Like the Daming Shipping, the Daming Salt Company will also recruit three companies in each prefecture. The purpose is also very simple, to sell salt.
The salt will be shipped from the salt works, transported by the Daming Shipping, and finally delivered to the Daming Salt Company's stores. "
"All the stores that join the Daming Salt Company can sell salt in the prefecture."
This time, everyone finally understood. Although it was said that it was not the government camp, it was no different from the government camp.
With stricter control, there were fewer places to cheat. If they wanted to cheat, they could only sell salt illegally.
"Here is a copy of the regulations for the Daming Salt Company. Everyone can take it back and read it."
Although Li Zhonghang said it happily, he understood that this matter was limited to the Lianhuai Salt Area and not the entire Daming Salt Company.
In the words of the Emperor, this was a pilot. If the effect was good, then it would be pushed out in the future.
The Lianhuai Salt Area was the largest salt area in Daming. If it worked here, then it would also work in other places.
Among the three jobs, the most difficult was the Daming Shipping. There would definitely be many people selling salt and robbing salt works. There probably weren't many people who wanted to do the salt transportation. Transportation was a hard job, and it was easy to have problems.
But Li Zhonghang knew that among the three jobs, the Emperor valued the salt transportation the most.