I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 333 What do you want?
“Your Excellency, I dare not agree to such a statement,” Min Zhuang said respectfully. “If Your Excellency had not been so eager to sell sea salt to the people for quick profits, how could I have resorted to such a drastic measure and embarrassed Your Excellency in public?”

"Embarrassing?" Tang Zhao chuckled. "Lord Min really thinks too highly of himself."

"Who do you think you are? How dare you embarrass me?"

Min Zhuang pursed his lips and sneered, "Instead of wasting time putting on airs and making threats, you should think about how to resolve the current crisis."

"I will only give you one day, sir. If you cannot appease the people, do not blame me for submitting a memorial to impeach you!"

"That would be a disappointment for Lord Min."

Tang Zhao waved his hand, and Wu Yier lifted a table and placed it on the street in front of the shop. Wu Bingsan then struck the gong and drum heavily, attracting the attention of the people present.

Tang Zhao stepped onto the table and said loudly, "Fellow villagers, please listen to me."

The crowd fell silent.

Tang Zhao raised her hand to remove the mole from her face and wiped away the birthmark. "I am Tang Zhao, the Salt Commissioner dispatched by the imperial court to reform the salt administration in Jiangnan."

Min Zhuang's hands tightened.

"Last year, I presided over the reform of the salt administration in Gansu and Ningxia prefectures. Under my reform, the price of fine salt produced by the Gaotai Salt Lake in Zhangye Prefecture dropped from 200 wen per jin to 10 wen per jin, making salt affordable for everyone in the Northwest!"

Tang Zhao's gaze swept across the crowd. "Have you, my fellow villagers, heard of this before?"

The village head, supported by the villagers, calmed down temporarily upon learning Tang Zhao's identity. "I know that my son went to Ganzhou with a caravan last year to sell goods. When he returned home, he specially bought lake salt produced in Zhangye Prefecture and excitedly told me about the quality and price of salt in the Northwest."

"I have tasted the lake salt produced in Zhangye Prefecture. It has a pure salty taste and is of excellent quality, even better than the fine salt produced in the salt mines of Jiangnan."

So when he heard that the imperial court had sent a new salt commissioner to reform the salt administration in Jiangnan, he was both hopeful and worried. He hoped that he could eat cheap and delicious fine salt like the people in the Northwest, but he was worried that the new salt commissioner would just be there to go through the motions, just like the previous salt commissioners.

Therefore, when the village head learned that the Gao family's salt shop sold salt, and that it was the same as the Northwest, at ten coins per catty, he was overjoyed. He was convinced that the Gao family's shop was selling fine salt produced in Zhangye Prefecture.

But to everyone's surprise, it was sea salt produced by sun-drying seawater.

It is common knowledge among coastal residents that sea salt is poisonous. They would rather not eat any salt at all than eat poisonous sea salt!

The village head was greatly disappointed, which is why he was so emotional. He was an honest and upright man who had lived his whole life, yet he dared to say something like "appeal to the emperor."

But now that they know the identity of the new Salt Commissioner is Princess Zhaoshan, who presided over the reform of the Northwest Salt Administration, the village head has put away all his thorns and is now kind and respectful, answering all questions.

Tang Zhaochong, the village head, nodded. "Rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea are necessities of life. People will lose their strength and get sick if they don't eat salt for a long time. Therefore, even though salt is so expensive, everyone will cut back on their food and clothing to buy it."

"As a result, the national treasury is filled, and powerful families and officials become extremely wealthy. But is this right?"

Unable to contain himself, Min Zhuang shouted, "Please, sir, watch your words!"

Tang Zhao ignored him, "Everyone, do you agree?"

Some shook their heads, while others whispered, "That's not right."

"louder!"

"wrong!"

Louder!

The people shouted at the top of their lungs, "That's not right!" "His Majesty also feels that something is wrong, so I've come."

"Why is it so difficult to reform the salt administration in Jiangnan? Why are the deep-rooted problems of the salt administration so hard to eliminate? Ultimately, it's because the salt mines are controlled by powerful and wealthy families!"

Min Zhuang's eyes widened, and his arms trembled uncontrollably.

"Salt mines are the ancestral property of powerful families. The imperial court cannot seize or rob them. Therefore, the primary task of reforming the salt administration is to find a way to refine salt from other places, so that the salt mines in the hands of powerful families will remain in their hands and rot!"

Tang Zhao pointed to the east, "In the place where you have lived for generations, there is a vast and boundless sea, with fish, shrimp, and salt! It produces far more salt than any salt mine in the world!"

The village head's voice was hoarse, "But, but the sea salt is poisonous."

“No, sea salt isn’t poisonous,” Tang Zhao shook his head. “What’s poisonous are the chemicals in it.”

What substance? The common people didn't understand.

Tang Zhao didn't care whether they understood or not, and continued, "As long as the toxic substances in the sea salt are removed, the sea salt is edible!"

The village headman opened his eyes wide, a startling light flashing in his cloudy eyes. "Sir, are you... are you telling the truth?"

Tang Zhao clapped his hands, and Wu Yi'er, carrying a large sack, squeezed through the crowd and threw it in front of everyone.

Tang Zhao drew his short sword from his waist, bent down and slit the sack, and fine salt gushed out from the crack.

"Look, everyone, is the sea salt I'm making the same as the poisonous sea salt you all talk about?"

All eyes fell on the sea salt scattered on the ground, and many people frowned with heartache.

The village head stared blankly at the sea salt, which was whiter than snow and finer than sand. How could it compare to the coarse, yellow sea salt?
If anyone claims this salt is sea salt, he could spit him out!

"I use wood ash to remove the toxic substances from the coarse salt, add seaweed to add iodine, and then recrystallize it to refine it."

Tang Zhao untied the cloth bag from his waist, poured out the lake salt from the bag onto the ground, and clearly compared it, saying, "This sea salt is even better than the lake salt from Zhangye Prefecture."

"Eating this sea salt can also prevent goiter, an effect that lake salt does not have."

Tang Zhao declared loudly, "I, Tang Zhao, in the name of Princess Zhaoshan, promise all the villagers that if anyone is poisoned by the sea salt I have refined, I, Tang Zhao, will petition His Majesty to have the imperial physicians personally come to treat the poisoned patient until the patient recovers!"

"Please trust me this once, fellow villagers," Tang Zhao bowed deeply, "Tang Zhao thanks you all in advance."

"My lord," the village head said, his face turning red, waving his hands repeatedly, "You absolutely mustn't do that!"

"Our lord has gone to great lengths for us lowly people, yet we still misunderstand him. We are too ashamed to face anyone now."

The village headman, after speaking, took the lead in kneeling on the ground, saying, "Please punish me, Your Honor."

The villagers behind the village head knelt down one after another.

"Don't say that, sir. It was my oversight," Tang Zhao jumped off the table and quickly stepped forward to help the village head up. "I originally wanted to wait until everyone had eaten sea salt for a few months before telling them the truth, so that the rumors would fall apart on their own. I didn't expect this." Tang Zhao shook his head.

The village head's eyes were red-rimmed. "We have trampled on your good intentions, sir."

"What does this have to do with you? It's clearly someone taking this opportunity to incite everyone," Tang Zhao turned to look at Min Zhuang, "Lord Min, what is your intention in inciting the people?"