Chapter 2: Smuggling Private Salt Improves Life

  "Li Meng, this time we can really make some money?"

  On the small road in Jiaodong, Zhao Nai pushed a wheelbarrow while asking Li Meng, who was walking in the middle. Li Meng's entire body was focused on pushing the wheelbarrow and didn't bother to respond. The expressions of the dozen or so people around them seemed somewhat relaxed, but they were also looking around nervously, appearing very tense.

  There were four or five wheelbarrows in this row of people, the rest were carrying shoulder poles. Whether on the wheelbarrow or on the shoulder pole, they all used bulging grass bags.

  In the summer of Chongzhen 5, Donglai was particularly deserted. Kong Youde rioted in Dengzhou, plundering officials and civilians, committing all sorts of evil deeds, even resorting to beastly acts such as stealing military rations. The lax defense of Donglai was defeated by these Liaodong border troops, leaving the imperial court no choice but to assemble troops from various places to quell the uprising. For a time, large armies were mobilized in various parts of Shandong, causing widespread panic.

  However, this tense situation also has a good side. There are very few pedestrians on the official road, and soldiers have been dispatched to quell the rebellion, so there is no one patrolling around. Li Meng and his dozen or so people walking on the small path don't have to worry about being caught. As for why it's so tense...

  It's simple, what these military dependents are doing now is smuggling private salt, which is against the law.

  Li Meng was beaten unconscious, and when he came to, he still had a pot in his hand, which was used for boiling salt. Living by the mountain, eating from the mountain; living by the sea, eating from the sea. Being so close to the seaside, he had to rely on it to earn some warm and filling money.

  Throughout the ages, salt, iron and tea were monopolized by the government. Anyone who privately traded these goods was guilty of a serious crime, punishable by beheading or hanging, all to ensure the government's monopoly on profits. However, where there is profit to be made, someone will inevitably take risks, such as smuggling salt.

  The good fields of the Xue family's military households were all occupied by various military officers, but they were all one big family. Looking at those few pieces of barren land, they couldn't do anything about it and thought of other ways out. Boiling seawater to make salt was the simplest and most feasible method.

  In Xue's family, a thousand households marched south for ten miles, and there was a Ling Shan salt field. As long as you boiled out the salt, the salt field would buy it. A basket of salt, about 120 kilograms, could be sold for three silver coins.

  The sea water is inexhaustible, and firewood is not lacking either. With three coins of silver to supplement the family expenses, it's not a small amount. Therefore, all the military households that do not farm are boiling seawater to make salt on the coast. Li Meng was also caught by Zhao Neng to boil salt, and the money earned from boiling salt can be used to supplement some living expenses.

  It's just that selling this salt to the salt yard also comes with some risk, as nearby Jiaozhou is home to a patrol officer named Mu Laozhong who specializes in cracking down on private salt sales. In these times, those who crack down on private salt sales are usually the biggest private salt smugglers themselves, gathering hundreds of local thugs and roaming across several counties.

  This patrol sells private salt itself, but does not allow others to sell it. It searches and arrests people everywhere, and after arresting them, it can fine and extort money from them, and the salt goods also fall into its own pocket, which is the most profitable.

  Among them, the Xue family's civilian households were inferior to the military households, especially those who boiled sea salt, which was exactly where Mu Xun's inspection team would take action.

  In Li Meng's nearly blank memory, "Mu Yan Wang" was one of the words he feared. It could scare a fool like him so much that it was impressive. The Xue family had several hundred households, and every year they boiled salt, but most of the silver coins ended up in Mu Yan Wang's pocket.

  Moreover, the troubles that befell the military households were not limited to this one incident. The neighbor's daughter was also ravished by the patrol officer and subsequently took her own life by embracing a stone and jumping into the sea. Then there was Chen Liu-zi, who had been pushing a cart behind him, and last year he had earned one or two silver coins from boiling salt, which he wanted to use to buy medicine for his ailing father.

  The result was caught by the patrol inspector's men halfway through selling salt, saying that they were smuggling salt and embezzling funds. After being beaten violently, they robbed him of his money and Chen Liu's father had no money to see a doctor, so he passed away in just a few days.

  It's said that this side is the Wei Suo, and the other side is just a small nine-grade inspector. One military and one civilian, in theory, shouldn't be afraid, but over the past few decades, those who have been fighting outside are all recruited soldiers, while those in the Wei Suo are all farmers who have been forced to join the army, unable to escape their military registration, in other words, they have a half-slave identity. The inspectors who crack down on private salt, holding the largest salt administration, are flattered by all sides, with money and power in hand, naturally they are domineering.

  The hundred and thousand households of the Xue family were all polite to Mu Yan Wang, afraid that their own private salt trading routes would be cut off by each other. It was like this above, let alone these military household children below.

  Li Meng thought of something at night, when Zhao Neng was chatting with others while boiling salt, he said that after the salt farm collected the salt, some of it was mixed with sand and sold as official salt, and some of the salt was unknown where to go. Li Meng's eyes grew longer when he remembered this.

  Next time when selling salt at the salt yard, I asked around and found out that the salt makers and salt workers were also poor people who didn't have any intention of keeping secrets, and for a few dozen coins, they would tell me everything. It turned out that the private salt from the salt yard was also divided into two parts to be sold, one part was bought by Mu Xun, the patrol inspector, and another part was sold to the private salt merchants in Fengmeng Town.

  Government salt and Mu Xun's inspection team came to buy salt, one load of salt for two silver coins, one load of salt was 120 catties, while the private salt merchants in Mengmeng Town were selling it for one silver coin and five copper coins per load.

  At that time, when Li Meng heard the price, he took a cold breath. On his side, one load of salt was worth three taels of silver, and selling it to the salt yard for resale would yield a profit of one or two taels of silver, without having to do anything, just collecting the difference in price.

  Li Meng, a thorough modern man who has been deeply influenced by the market economy, thinks that with such a big price difference, he should make the money himself. He really doesn't know why his neighbors and friends don't do it.

  Li Meng naturally went to ask, fortunately everyone thought he was recovering from being an idiot to a normal person, what he said was seriously considered. It turned out that the people of Xue Jiaqianhu were unwilling to directly transport private salt to Mang Town because they were afraid of being caught by Mu Yanwang halfway.

  More people's reasons are even more ridiculous, the vast majority of people don't know that the salt farm sells salt to the salt merchants in Xiangmeng Town. Li Meng thought it would be troublesome to persuade everyone, but who knew that as soon as he mentioned this situation, just by sending the salt to Xiangmeng Town over 20 miles away, one load of salt could earn at least an extra two silver coins, everyone's heart was moved, and everyone wanted to make this fortune.

  Now that everyone has the same idea, it's much easier. When Li Meng went to Ling Mountain Salt Field to deliver salt again, he heard something: Lai State Salt Government Mu Xun will collect salt at the salt field on June 13th and 14th for two days. He himself is a big private salt merchant, and every time he buys salt, it's a large transaction, so he can't get away from it and won't leave until two days later.

  These two days of vacancy are exactly the good opportunity for Xue Jiaqian to sell private salt, everyone is thinking about it, this fool has indeed become smarter, things are considered so thoroughly.

  Since Mu Yanwang is not around, everyone knows how to walk the small road, and there's a big profit - for poor military dependents, a bundle of salt with a two-silver coin profit is a lot of money.

  On June 12th, Zhao Neng and Chen Liu took the lead, calling up over a dozen familiar soldiers who were usually engaged in boiling seawater to produce salt. Each of their families had stored one or two hundred catties of salt, and upon hearing that they could earn an extra seven or eight cents per catty, they all became enthusiastic. They also borrowed a wheelbarrow from the neighbors and directly carried the salt on shoulder poles.

  On the thirteenth of June, eleven people got up early and pushed their carts and carried their poles out of the door. As soon as they left the house, everyone was still a little frightened. After walking for half an hour, they could no longer see the houses of Xuejia Village in front of and behind them, and gradually walked into the forest.

  －－－－

  New book uploaded, please collect, recommend and click