Chapter 38: Zigong Salt Merchants
After Li Daoxuan and the other two left, he jumped onto the eaves and quietly returned to the house through the window. After taking off his clothes, he climbed back into bed. He couldn't sleep. He looked at the bronze token in the moonlight, but he didn't see anything unusual, so he felt bored.

I will put it aside for now, and wait until I return to the mountain gate in the future to ask the old Taoist priest to see if he knows what this Xinglong Order is.

He fell into a deep sleep and soon fell into a dream. But Li Daoxuan didn't know that when he fell into a dream, the words on the copper plate beside his pillow changed slightly, sometimes like a walking dragon falling to the ground, sometimes like a flying dragon in the sky. And the dragon head was even more surprising, it actually swam along the copper plate and pointed in a certain direction.

It was not until the moonlight faded away for a long time that the bronze plate returned to normal. It still turned into the three words "Xinglong Ling" and was firmly engraved on the bronze plate.

The next day, Li Daoxuan felt refreshed. He jumped up and performed a set of boxing techniques, and then put on his clothes with the help of his maid Huancui.

Walking in the hall, the eldest brother Li Mingda's face became more and more ugly. Li Daoxuan always felt that it would not be long before the eldest brother and his father would have a falling out, and in the end the father and son would become enemies.

But the hexagram clearly showed auspiciousness, so there should be no problem with my brother's marriage. He also thought that since ancient times, fortune tellers did not know everything, the destiny of the sky is changeable, and the hexagram is difficult to predict. Everything is not fixed, there is always a variable side. Besides, he is not well-trained, and the hexagram may not be true.

In any case, let's just take it one step at a time. Li Daoxuan could only comfort himself in this way.

At noon, a visitor came to the house. Mr. Li went out to greet him. A young man came to congratulate him. He was dressed in a bright outfit, wearing a small hat, and his long braid was well-groomed and sleek. When he walked, it swung at both ends, which was quite funny.

Master Li warmly welcomed him in, calling him "nephew". Seeing Master Li's enthusiasm for this man, Li Daoxuan quietly asked his elder brother who this man was. His elder brother looked up and smiled, "It's the visitor from Li Siyoutang."

"Li Si has a hall?" Li Daoxuan was confused.

"Li Siyoutang is one of the four major salt merchants in Zigong. A few years ago, the general manager of Siyoutang, Li Xiang'an, passed away, and now the successor of Siyoutang is his uncle Li Deshan. Siyoutang has business dealings with our family in Jinling, so they often ask people to come and take care of things. It is said that we are still relatives if we count the generations up. We are all rich people who give money, so Dad is naturally enthusiastic." The eldest brother said it lightly, but Li Daoxuan did hear the meaning. Most likely, Siyoutang wanted to open up a trade route in the Jiangning Prefecture area, so they approached the old man to establish friendship.

After all, doing business these days is not that simple. If you don't take care of the local bosses, and you don't have any strong background and connections, then even if you are rich enough to rival a country, it's just a castle in the air. If you step out of your comfort zone, outsiders can't easily step into it. This kind of localism is everywhere, and there are various names such as Shanxi merchants, Qin merchants, and Hui merchants.

So although Mr. Li was not a big businessman in Jinling, he was also a well-known philanthropic businessman. Jinling had many connections, so he could naturally go to Jiangning Prefecture and do business in various parts of Jiangsu.

Mr. Li first invited the man to have tea, and then called Li Daoxuan over to let him introduce himself. The visitor from the Zigong Li family naturally had to bring a gift, which was a gold bracelet. He put it on his wrist and told him not to take it off. Seeing this situation, Mr. Li was even more happy, and the nephew called him more enthusiastically.

Seeing that neither of them had any intention of asking him to leave, Li Daoxuan could only sit beside them for the time being and listen to the conversation between Master Li and the young man.

It turned out that the young man came to discuss cooperation with Mr. Li. He said that after Zeng Guofan, the governor of Liangjiang, took office, he resumed the sale of Huai salt to Chu, and suppressed Sichuan salt. Now, Ding Baozhen, the governor of Sichuan, wanted to establish a government-run salt company on the grounds of selling salt. This was a major blow to the four great families in Ziliujing, so that Li Siyoutang had to find a new way out.

Li Daoxuan was completely clueless about these things, so Master Li explained a little when he saw him like this. The imperial court's salt distribution system has always been limited to certain areas, and Chu has a large population and a vast land area, and it has never produced salt, so it has always been sold by Huai Salt.

However, the Taiping Rebellion blocked the way for Huai salt, causing a serious shortage of salt in Chu. In addition, due to the foreigners' incident, the imperial court had no choice but to allow Sichuan to transport salt to Chu. Now that the governor of Sichuan wanted to start an official transport, the private salt merchants would naturally suffer.

It was difficult for the people to fight against the officials. Li Siyoutang could not defeat Ding Baozhen, so he had to look for other ways. So he went to the Li family in Jinling and took advantage of the good day of New Year's greetings to talk about things.

"What's the reaction from Da'an Village? Could they have also accepted it?" Mr. Li asked. "Da'an Village, people from Da'an Village have also come to look for the Wang family. They said they want to appeal to the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate. But my nephew thinks this is not right. Even if the Wang family has some connections in Beijing, it will be difficult to deal with Ding Baozhen." The young man sighed. He really didn't have much confidence in the situation in Sichuan. After all, the county magistrate is not as good as the current one, and the officials in Beijing can hardly control the local governor.

The two talked for a while before Mr. Li let Li Daoxuan leave.

Although he was not very clear about the Zigong salt merchants, Li Daoxuan understood some things. It was nothing more than that these Zigong salt merchants took advantage of the Taiping Rebellion to make money in Chu. This time, the governor of Sichuan could not stand it and wanted to get involved. The interests of the salt merchants were encroached upon and they could not fight against the governor Ding Baozhen, so they could only find another way to alleviate their own situation.

Li Daoxuan ran to his elder brother and told him about this. After hearing this, his elder brother patted his head and smiled, "Don't worry about the family's affairs. Our family doesn't do any business selling salt. We mainly deal in tea, silk, teahouses and restaurants. This year we also came into contact with some Western things, and father is planning to discuss something with the foreigners."

"What are you discussing with the foreigners?" Li Daoxuan asked curiously.

"Father wanted to get some foreign horses in and sell them to the wealthy families in Jinling. But these foreign horses were too immoral, so father was thinking about whether he could add some cover-up."

Listening to his elder brother's words, Li Daoxuan couldn't help but admire Mr. Li's business vision. This foreign horse is a bicycle, which will be extremely popular in the next many years. If he could import a batch of them in advance and sell them, maybe he could really seize the business opportunity for the old man.

However, when thinking of this bicycle, Li Daoxuan was interested in something else.

"Brother, have you ever heard of matches?"

"Matches?"

"Yes, it's just a scratch, and a small wooden stick can light a fire." Li Daoxuan gave his eldest brother a description, and the eldest brother finally understood what that thing was.

"I have heard of it. Why are you interested in these things and where did you hear them from?" the eldest brother asked with interest.

"I just read it in a book. Don't you think this thing should be very popular? I think it's much more reliable than my father's foreign horse." Li Daoxuan said seriously. But as he said, this foreign match is indeed very popular among the public. As long as the price comes down, it will be something that will have no worries about sales.

Seeing his elder brother's enlightened look, Li Daoxuan added fuel to the fire: "Brother, think about it, if the price of this thing can be lowered, there will definitely be a lot of people buying it. And I heard that this thing is not difficult to make, and it is not a secret for foreigners. Why don't you persuade Dad to set up a workshop and try it out, maybe there will be some unexpected surprises?"

The eldest brother was somewhat tempted, but he was not completely convinced by Li Daoxuan. He laughed at Li Daoxuan for having thrown away his nature as a monk only a few days after returning. He also comforted him and said that he would talk to Master Li about this matter.

Seeing his elder brother's look, Li Daoxuan thought that he should talk to Master Li later.

Then he asked his elder brother if he had any magic tools or treasures at home. His elder brother told him that he didn't have any valuable magic tools. If he had to say there was one, it would be the statue of the god that he had brought back from the Jiuxiao Wanfu Palace in Maoshan.

Hearing that there were no valuable Xuanmen instruments in the house, Li Daoxuan gave up the idea of ​​pursuing the matter. He just put the matter of the two people entering the house that day in his heart for the time being and look at it again when he has the chance.

(End of this chapter)