Qing Yao

Chapter 147 Even the God of Wealth is Stingy

Salt certificates were the greatest hard currency of the era, comparable to gold and silver.

Salt permits were money.

To be more precise, each salt certificate is like a check, the kind that can be cashed immediately.

Therefore, some salt merchants, after obtaining salt permits, did not directly sell salt, but instead resold the permits to others, thus making a fortune without any investment.

The salt permits were approved and issued by the Salt Administration Office. Although the Qing government stipulated that the number of salt permits issued to salt fields in various regions was "fixed," meaning that more or less permits could not be issued, corruption and fraud caused by salt permits were rampant and could not be eradicated.

There's no way around it, the profits are just too high.

The most recent example is the "Lianghuai Salt Certificate Case" in the thirty-third year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. In this case, the salt administration colluded to "over-issue" salt certificates, embezzling and retaining more than 16 million taels of "certificate silver".

This is equivalent to more than one-third of the Qing Dynasty's national treasury.

More than ten million taels of silver were divided up by the officials and clerks below, and the old master didn't even get a single copper coin in his pocket. How could he not be furious!
The result was that a large number of officials were arrested and questioned, including Ji Xiaolan, who was later known for his sharp tongue and eloquence.

Even so, issuing extra salt permits outside of the plan remains a classic practice that local salt administration offices have maintained.

The problem has shifted from blatant over-issuance in the past to low-key over-issuance now, and the scale is certainly not as astonishing as before.

Moreover, they also created several pretexts to "package" the over-issued salt permits. For example, the Changlu Salt Administration created a subsidy for "disabled" salt permits two years ago.

What does this mean? It means that a salt merchant unfortunately broke his leg while riding a horse. This salt merchant usually gave a lot of tribute to the salt administration, so the officials discussed it and decided to issue him an extra 5,000 salt permits on the grounds that the salt merchant was injured on duty.

This salt merchant was sensible; he immediately gave half of his profits back to the adults who cared about him.

Zhao An wanted to smuggle salt before because he couldn't become a smuggler, a transporter, or a market merchant, let alone a head merchant.

Thus, they had no choice but to take the risk and emulate their predecessors, such as Huang Chao and Zhang Shicheng, to snatch food from the mouths of officials and merchants.

But now, Zhao An looks down on people like Huang and Zhang. He feels he can definitely be formally employed because the person standing in front of him is the head of the Lianghuai Salt Industry.

I am truly grateful to Quan Dequan Zuoling for this opportunity.

If the whole family wasn't planning to harm someone else's son, how could Committee Member Zhao possibly have climbed up to the top official in charge of the salt administration?

This is what is meant by "the old man lost his horse, but who knows if it will bring good or bad fortune?"

With a legal salt permit, one could buy salt directly from salt producers in the salt-producing areas and then resell it to designated salt-trading regions without having to worry about government inspections or arrests.

Zhao An had learned about the price of salt while proctoring the exam in Dongtai. Salt merchants bought salt from local salt producers for two wen per jin, but once the salt was transported out, it could be sold for ten times the profit, even in Jiangsu. The main sales area for Huai salt was not the Liangjiang region, but Hubei and Hunan.

In these two provinces, the price of Huai salt could skyrocket to over sixty wen per jin, with profits more than thirty times the initial investment.

Regarding salt permits, one permit in the Lianghuai salt region is worth 344 jin, and in the Changlu salt region it is worth 300 jin.

In other words, if you have 100 silver certificates, you can buy 34,000 catties of salt from the salt-producing area. If you sell it in the Jianghuai region, you can earn at least 600 taels of silver. If you take it to other places, you can earn about 1,800 taels of silver.

The cost of salt is less than seventy taels, and even with transportation and labor costs, it is at most two hundred taels.

Nearly ten times the profit. The level of profiteering is comparable to that of opium, and even more so.

Because people can abstain from opium, but they must eat salt!

To put it simply, the more salt permits you have, the more salt you can get, and thus the greater your profits.

Now it depends on whether Lord A is willing to grant some salt permits outside of the plan to Committee Member Zhao's relatives.

Issuing some salt permits would certainly be a small matter for Lord A, but Lord A looked troubled and then summoned Wu Desong, the head of the transportation department in charge of salt permit allocation.

Manager Wu was around forty years old. He looked quite shrewd, but overall he gave off a very approachable vibe.

He's the kind of person who can become sworn brothers with everyone wherever he goes, and sit down and chat about anything and everything.

After exchanging greetings, Wu, the steward, asked why the Lord had addressed him as "this humble servant."

Lord A casually picked up the snuff bottle on the table, sniffed it, and then asked Steward Wu, "Is there any surplus in this year's tax revenue?"

Wu, the steward, hurriedly replied, "Reporting to Your Excellency, this year's quota was already distributed to the various merchants back in September. At that time, the department informed Your Excellency of the purpose, and the imperial court and the Imperial Household Department also submitted reports on it."

The implication is that this year's plans are off, and everything has already been reported to higher authorities. You know this, sir, so why are you asking about it now?
Looking at Zhao An across from him, Lord A put down his snuff bottle and said with some difficulty, "If it were at the beginning of the year, I would have done it without hesitation. But now it is the end of the year, and the budget and surplus have long been gone. So what you asked of me is really a bit difficult."

Committee Member Zhao?
Wu, the steward, looked at Zhao An with curiosity, wondering if he was the professor Zhao from the academy who had been imprisoned by the old master and then suddenly released.
"It is indeed difficult to handle, which is why I dare to ask you, sir, to make an exception."

As Zhao An spoke, he leaned forward slightly, his face conveying a plea for help from his superior, but inwardly he thought, "Old man, you're being a bit unfair. Do you really want your son to miss out on becoming the first Manchu to achieve the highest honors in the world?"

Akdang'a nodded and looked at his subordinate Wu Desong, instructing him: "Commissioner Zhao is a distinguished scholar, and it is rare for him to come to my Salt Administration Office. For both public and private reasons, and for both reason and emotion, I, as the Salt Administration, cannot let Commissioner Zhao go back empty-handed. Here's what you do: take Commissioner Zhao to the office and see if you can find a way to issue him a thousand salt permits."

After a slight pause, he added, "If that really doesn't work, then we'll pre-allocate one thousand copies from next year's outline and give them to Committee Member Zhao."

"A thousand?"

Wu, the manager, was taken aback for a moment, and Zhao An was also taken aback.

The former was stunned because the Salt Commissioner said that, so Committee Member Zhao must be a relative of the Salt Commissioner, but it seems stingy to only give a thousand salt permits to someone with such a relationship.

The latter directly complained that there were too few; only a thousand sheets, how could that possibly fill anyone's teeth?
Even if you sell it at the absolute peak, you'd only make a little over ten thousand taels.

Just as I was about to ask Lord Ah for more money, the other party picked up the teacup on the table.

It means to see guests off.

Zhao An was speechless, feeling that Akdang'a was looking down on him. Sending him away for just over ten thousand taels was too cheap.

Do they really think that Committee Member Zhao is here to beg for food?

Helpless, they had no choice but to go to the transport office with Manager Wu and, after a lot of work, obtained a thousand salt permits.

Just as they were about to take these salt certificates back to make a quick buck, Steward Wu looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "If Lord Zhao thinks a thousand certificates are not enough, I can think of another way for you."

(End of this chapter)