The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

"Your Highness, does General Jia mean something about the sea salt matter?"

The chief secretary of the Prince's mansion frowned and pondered deeply. Suddenly, he spoke up: "By using the salt-making method, we can produce sea salt in a continuous stream. Once we can enter the Great Qian Dynasty, the impact on the salt merchants of Yangzhou will be unimaginable!"

"That makes sense, but that alone is definitely not enough!"

Prince Zhongshun said with a wry smile, "Besides, it's uncertain whether the imperial court is even willing to let us pass!"

"Your Highness, we must give it a try!"

The chief secretary of the Prince's residence said slowly, "Otherwise, General Jia might not be willing to cooperate next time!"

Prince Zhongshun was startled and silently nodded to indicate that he understood.

With access to offshore territories, there would naturally be no shortage of essential supplies like salt.

With the resources of the Prince Zhongshun's mansion, acquiring the technology to boil salt would not have been difficult.

It can be used to boil salt, but it's not suitable for all places because it consumes too much fuel.

At this moment, Jia Huan's men provided the method for salt production!

When Prince Zhongshun learned of this, he was overjoyed and immediately wanted to sell salt within the territory of Daqian, as it was an inexhaustible gold mine.

Unfortunately, he was dissuaded by his subordinates and the trip did not take place.

Why would Jia Huan so easily take out such a good thing without exchanging it for corresponding benefits from the Prince's Mansion? Isn't it because the trap inside is too big?

If Prince Zhongshun dares to use his salt-making technology and sell massive amounts of salt within the Great Qian territory, even if the current emperor is concerned about his reputation, he will have Prince Zhongshun killed.

What is this called? This is called making an example of others!

Salt and iron are of vital national importance; this is not just a saying, but an undeniable fact.

Jia Huan must have seen through the problem, which is why he was so generous.

Later, through correspondence, Jia Huan openly admitted to this.

Furthermore, it was stated that the method of salt production has existed since ancient times and is not a significant secret for the coastal forces that make a living by salt production and trade.

Those salt workers, in the process of boiling and making salt, must have discovered the secret of sun-drying salt.

However, salt production is difficult to control, and the pursuit of profit has prevented it from developing further.

Of course, salt production doesn't work within Daqian territory, but it's a different story in the outer seas.

Anyway, the Great Qian Dynasty has no jurisdiction over this area!

At least, being able to ensure self-sufficiency in salt is already quite good; what more could we ask for?

In addition, the surplus sea salt can be sold to Korea and some surrounding countries.

In short, the technology of salt production by the sea is simple and easy to spread, which is a devastating blow to the current salt market in Daqian.

Once sea salt appears on a large scale within the territory of Daqian, the salt merchants of Lianghuai will be the first to be impacted.

Among the salt merchants of Lianghuai, the most powerful were the Yangzhou salt merchants, who would naturally suffer the same fate as them. This was a foregone conclusion and required no further thought.

One method involves boiling salt, while the other involves sun-drying it. The composition of these salts differs greatly, and the greater the production volume, the greater the difference becomes!

It is no exaggeration to say that once Yangzhou salt merchants were hit by the impact of salt production, their previous glory would quickly fade away, and they might even be ruined and killed.

How many powerful and influential figures are currently benefiting from the Yangzhou salt merchants' wealth?

The bulk of their annual income goes to these profit-sharing entities, leaving them with only a small share.

Even a small portion of their income was enough to make them millions, turning them into incredibly wealthy businessmen!

Prince Zhongshun and his chief secretary believed that Jia Huan's idea was to use the salt-making method to threaten the Yangzhou salt merchants and make them become his own people.

Unfortunately, they were wrong. How could Jia Huan's thoughts be so simple?

Fortunately, to be on the safe side, the chief secretary of the Prince's mansion informed Jia Huan of his thoughts in the form of a letter.

When Jia Huan read the contents of the letter, he felt a mix of amusement and exasperation.

He asked Xue Pan to deliver a message to the chief secretary of the Prince's mansion, and then met with the chief secretary at the Ningrong Street office.

"Your idea will only lead to the complete and utter destruction of the Yangzhou salt merchants. The Chief Secretary should be well aware of this, shouldn't he?"

Upon meeting, Jia Huan was very impolite, speaking without any reservations.

"Yes, I do have that concern!"

The chief secretary of the Prince's residence didn't feel embarrassed at all; he simply nodded and admitted it without any shame.

Sometimes, admitting that you're not as smart as others isn't such a hard thing to accept.

The chief secretary of the Prince's mansion felt that he was indeed inferior to Jia Huan in some aspects, but in other aspects, Jia Huan was far inferior to him. This was the reality.

"The salt-making technique on the beach can only be used as a last resort!"

Jia Huan didn't waste any words and said directly, "This is the last resort we'll use when we can't reach an agreement, or when there's even a possibility that the negotiations will break down. It's a fight to the death!"

"What I mean is, bribe the Yangzhou salt merchants through other means!"

How to bribe them?

The chief secretary of the Prince's mansion retorted, "These guys are very rich; they lack almost nothing!"

"Don't you need it?"

Jia Huan chuckled and said, "I don't think they're lacking anything!"

"what?"

The chief secretary of the Prince's residence had a vague idea in his mind, but it wasn't quite clear.

"The constraints of status, but also the opportunities to become an official or even be promoted!"

Jia Huan, never one to shy away from a shocking statement, said: "If Your Highness gives them a chance to escape their current status and join the ranks of the powerful and wealthy, they would be irresistible!"

"impossible!"

The chief secretary of the Prince's residence flatly rejected the idea: "Since ancient times, scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants have always been merchants..."

"The 'since ancient times' that the Chief Secretary refers to is the 'since ancient times' of the Central Plains of China, not the 'since ancient times' of the overseas territories. Is that correct?"

Jia Huan interrupted the man without any politeness, and said with a smile, "Prince Zhongshun's pioneering work of exploring the outer seas is an unprecedented and novel thing!"

"Let's not use the rules of the Central Plains of China to make these agreements; that's simply inappropriate!"

Seeing that the other party wanted to say something, Jia Huan chuckled and said, "Civil Secretary, think about it. If even one Yangzhou salt merchant were willing to pledge allegiance, how much silver and manpower support could they receive?"

Chapter 389 A Good Corner Digging (Please Subscribe)

No one expected that winning over the Yangzhou salt merchants would go so smoothly.

Of course, this only involved winning over two major salt merchants, not all of them.

The eight major salt merchants of Yangzhou were renowned, and each of them was a force to be reckoned with.

That represents assets exceeding ten million, numerous businesses under one's control, and tens or even hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly controlled.

The key point is that the big salt merchants controlled a considerable number of high-quality people.

There are many skilled salt workers among the salt workers, including members managing the salt fields, shopkeepers and employees, hotel staff, and other talents from various industries.

If we can get these high-quality people to the outer sea territories, the development speed and development potential of the territories will be greatly improved!

When Prince Chungshun heard the news, he was overjoyed but also felt it was unbelievable.

How is this going?

Why are those two wealthy salt merchants who are planning to seek refuge with so easy to talk to? Could there be something wrong with them?

"Your Highness need not worry, I have already investigated everything!"

For this matter, he secretly made a trip to the Prince's residence in Yangzhou. At this moment, he was radiant and full of energy, smiling as he explained the reason to Prince Zhongshun.

In reality, the lives of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou at this time were not as good as they appeared.

Before Jia Huan and Jia Cong participated in the military examination, the imperial court had already caused a lot of trouble over the salt tax, and even several censors died.

At that time, the salt tax paid by the Yangzhou Salt Commissioner's Office was much less than during Lin Ruhai's time, which naturally aroused the current emperor's anger, and he immediately dispatched an imperial censor to investigate the details.

As a result, the investigation got bogged down and couldn't proceed at all.

The first batch of censors encountered various misfortunes and died mysteriously, which was one of the main reasons why Jia Cong was later ordered to suppress local bandits.

Local government offices denied that the deaths of these censors were caused by bandits.

No one, not even a fool, would believe that!

In the following years, the imperial court continued to send censors to the Lianghuai region to investigate salt taxes!

At that time, Jia Cong had already made his debut and embarked on a path of suppressing bandits and making a name for himself.

His achievements were truly remarkable, and some people were worried that he had gone too far and that the current emperor might recruit Jia Cong and his troops to the Lianghuai region, which would be disastrous.

As a result, the salt tax revenue for those two years exceeded six million taels!

We can only say that we are somewhat satisfied with the current figures. These figures are naturally incomparable to the more than nine million taels of salt tax paid by Lin Ruhai at his peak, but they are still acceptable.

However, the previous attempts by local authorities to persecute and kill the dispatched censors will not be easily forgotten; this is inevitable.

Just kidding. If a high-ranking official of the imperial court dies under mysterious circumstances, how can the prestige of the court and the current emperor be established if there is no result that satisfies everyone?