Chapter 308: Silver can be exchanged for salt? This is simply a fantasy!

After the Song Dynasty, the urban area of ​​Nanjing was mainly composed of two county towns.

They are Shangyuan County and Jiangning County, separated by Shengzhou Road and Zhonghua Road.

The northeastern part of the urban area belongs to Shangyuan County, and the southwestern part of the urban area belongs to Jiangning County.

The people of Jiangning County had also heard the news that Liang Jing had flown to Shangyuan County in a hot air balloon.

Although this incident happened some time ago, people still often mention it because the shock it brought to people was so strong.

"Manager Li, I heard that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin is planning to distribute lottery tickets from a hot air balloon during his wedding celebration today.

Many people are spreading this news, but I don’t know if it’s true or not?”

Zhao Hu, deputy commander of the Hidden Dragon Guard, who was dining with his assassins, turned to look at the blue-clothed constable standing by the counter.

This is the lowest-ranking constable in the Ming Dynasty. Usually he is only responsible for performing basic security tasks such as patrolling and arresting petty criminals.

Although the status of constables was very low in every dynasty, since this group of people often found ways to exploit the merchants under their jurisdiction, Manager Li did not dare to offend them.

“I heard from a distant relative who is preparing for the imperial examination in Shangyuan County that the court has already posted a notice.

From today on, the rule that if someone in a family is a constable, three generations of descendants cannot take part in the imperial examinations will be completely abolished.

Your father was a deputy inspector in Jiangning County for a period of time, which was at least a ninth-rank official.

If you can take the imperial examination and gain fame, you can at least inherit your father's career and become a minor official, which is much better than being a low-ranking constable without a job title now."

The blue-robed constable shook his head and said, "Manager Li, all along those scholars have been shouting, 'If a prince breaks the law, he is guilty of the same crime as the common people.'

However, even a fool knows that this is just a slogan.

Not to mention an official of the ninth rank, even a prefect of the fourth rank would not dare to do anything to a vassal king.

Moreover, ever since Fang became a constable, he has severed ties with his family.

Even his own name had been removed from the family tree.

What's the point of being a high-ranking official?"

After making sure that no important information could be obtained, Zhao Hu lowered his head and continued to eat the bowl of tung bark noodles.

It was not until all the people he brought had almost finished eating that Zhao Hu took out a piece of silver from his arms.

"Sir, our shop is small and we can't make a change for such a large amount of money. Please pay with copper coins."

As soon as the waiter finished speaking, Shopkeeper Li quickly walked out from behind the counter.

“In addition to paying with copper coins, you can also exchange your silver for 100-wen notes at the store.

One tael of silver can currently be exchanged for ten notes with a face value of one hundred wen.

In addition, our hotel can also give you a full day's room stay as a gift, until you check out at noon tomorrow."

Zhao Hu asked with a vigilant look on his face, "Does the shopkeeper only treat us so well, or can all customers who come to the store enjoy such a discount?"

Before Shopkeeper Li could even open his mouth to say anything, the blue-clothed constable named Fang standing in front of the counter spoke up first: "As the saying goes, there is no gain without pain. If there were no sufficient benefits, how could Shopkeeper Li be so generous to others?"

Shopkeeper Li, who was exposed in public, did not dare to get angry at the blue-clothed constable.

He could only vent all his anger on the new waiter.

"Zhou Bajin, I have told you before, 'For guests who want to pay with silver, just exchange it for 100-wen notes.'

If you can't even remember this, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to be competent for this job in the future, so don't come to the store again." Zhao Hu didn't expect that his words would cause an innocent person to lose his job.

Looking at Zhou Bajin's miserable face, he frowned and said, "As the saying goes, you should forgive others when you can. Why is the shopkeeper so aggressive?"

The blue-clothed constable surnamed Fang curled his lips and said, "This brother doesn't sound like a foreigner, so I guess he hasn't responded to the sky for a while, right?
You may not know that what Zhou Bajin said just now almost caused Manager Li to lose 20 kilograms of Guangdong salt and 10 kilograms of Lianghuai salt.

Just letting him lose his job is already extremely kind of Manager Li."

After these words were spoken, Zhao Hu and the assassins beside him all widened their eyes at the same time.

Eating salt and buying salt are the simplest things for modern people living in later generations.

However, it was very troublesome for ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty to buy and eat salt.

In the Ming Dynasty, which was controlled by the salt monopoly system, the production and consumption of salt were already controlled by the imperial court.

Among them, salt was not only limited to specific supply channels, Zhu Yuanzhang also required it to be sold at designated locations and prices.

What really worries the people is not just that they have money but nowhere to buy salt, but also that salt is too expensive to afford.

Now, the blue-clothed constable named Fang told Zhao Hu and others that one tael of silver could be exchanged for 20 jin of Guangdong salt and 10 jin of Lianghuai salt in Yingtian Prefecture.

This news, which sounded like a fantasy, was soon confirmed by Shopkeeper Li.

"Anyway, this policy will soon be fully implemented in the 14 prefectures of Nanzhili, so it doesn't matter if I tell you a little in advance.

Since the issuance of Baochao, one string of Baochao can be exchanged for one stone of rice.

However, considering that the four prefectures in Jiangnan suffered natural disasters last year, there was not enough food in a short period of time to exchange for the treasure notes issued by the court.

Therefore, the newly appointed Governor-General of Southern Zhili, Li Zhitai, specially allowed the people in the jurisdiction to exchange treasure notes for silver.

Then we used the silver in our hands to exchange for salt at the local Ming Dynasty Money House.

This policy is currently being piloted in Yingtian Prefecture. The current exchange rate given by the Daming Money House is that one tael of silver can be exchanged for 20 catties of Guangdong salt and 10 catties of Lianghuai salt. "

Before the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the people had to pay taxes to the government according to the total number of people in their family in order to obtain a corresponding proportion of salt.

In other words, there was no legal channel to freely purchase salt during the Hongwu period.

Of course, the private salt market still exists, after all, the cost of salt is low and the price is high.

You can also make high profits by selling salt privately.

There are often many people in the society who are willing to take risks for this.

However, once caught for selling contraband salt, both the buyer and the seller would be punished by the government.

To this end, Zhu Yuanzhang also established a strict salt industry anti-smuggling system, and officials at all levels were responsible for anti-smuggling.

Anyone who secretly colludes with the enemy to escape will be punished with the same crime as those who smuggle salt.

Now there is a reasonable and legal way to freely purchase large quantities of salt, which is undoubtedly a huge fortune.

Zhao Hu clearly felt that the eyes of those assassins sent by the Jiangnan Aristocratic Family Alliance to carry out the assassination mission now had a hint of heat.

In order to ensure that the plan formulated by His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin and Yao Guangxiao could be implemented smoothly, Zhao Hu pretended to be puzzled and said: "Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the distribution of household salt has always been implemented by local county officials through the village head.

Even if you get a lot of salt, you can't sell it privately without the permission of the court!"

(End of this chapter)