Chapter Seventy: Inviting People to Take Refuge in Righteousness

  The activity of transporting wooden stakes to Li Meng for two taels of silver each lasted for three days, and nearly eight hundred taels of silver were spent. This matter became the hottest topic in Jiaozhou's four villages and eight towns this year, with everyone thinking that Li Meng had gone mad - wasn't he just recklessly showing off his wealth?

  On the first day of February, all those who had moved the wooden stakes gathered at Xiangmeng Town, outside Li Meng's mansion. These young people were excited and flushed with excitement, none of them had expected that just by moving a few wooden stakes in a moment of enthusiasm, they would not only earn two taels of silver but also be recruited as guards at the Li family's mansion.

  Although it was already agreed that the treatment of doing housework would be half of those salt workers, this also had five taels of silver and five bags of rice, which was a pretty good reward.

  Moreover, the person who was recruited also took into account the so-called "hometown" relationship and told a "small secret message", saying that if the family servant did well, they were preparing to become a salt servant.

  Wow, now that you mention it, being a salt merchant is indeed the most attractive profession among young people in Jiaozhou City and even Laiyang Prefecture. Young people all like to show off their martial arts skills, but if they want to become a government official or a soldier, they need to have connections and social relationships. As for joining the army, the performance of those officials and soldiers stationed in various places is being watched by civilians, who are extremely undisciplined and have poor military discipline, even more so than bandits and robbers.

  Only salt dings, those who are of the same age as themselves have a solemn and murderous aura in their every move, although they are salt dings, but looking at them, people feel that this is the real deal, occasionally there are people around who are salt dings, parents mention this with pride, plus the substantial treatment, it's better than the personal soldiers of the general officers, in such a bad year, having such a place to settle down isn't it a good thing.

  After several salt merchants in Qingzhou learned about this, they were all stunned and knew that Li Meng's power had increased again. However, not a single handle was left behind, my family is large and prosperous, I can hire more servants, who can say anything?

  Li Meng withdrew all the salt troops under his command and those stationed at the salt fields and salt ponds, sending them to various places to expand and set up checkpoints. The 400 "household troops" he recruited were placed in the hands of himself and two others who guarded the salt fields and salt ponds for rigorous training.

  With sufficient capital in hand, and with the help of local gangs from Qingzhou Prefecture and Dengzhou Prefecture, the private salt merchants from Laizhou quickly occupied these two markets. With a large territory, they naturally sold more salt, and their silver income was also immediately visible.

  Li Meng started in late February, and almost every month he can have an income of nearly 6,000 taels, which is still the number after deducting all expenses. The Ling Mountain Salt Field and Xue Family Island's private salt fields are all working at full capacity.

  There are more people who can be used. There is also more money, all of which are real benefits. After this incident, Kouzhou City and Lingshan Wei gradually knew that Li Erlang never joked when speaking, plus the previous few battles, everyone had a sense of obedience to Li Meng. If these feelings and understandings are summarized in one word, it is prestige.

  There are over 5,000 military households in Ling Shan Wei's current garrison. Almost all of them have three ways out: one is to let their children serve as salt workers for Li Meng; the second is to work in Li Meng's salt fields; and the third is to honestly cultivate military land for the garrison. If calculated carefully, it is likely that there are many more military households who take orders from Li Meng than those who take orders from the garrison.

  In the Silver Beach of Xuejia Island, a piece of salt pan was specially opened. It is hosted by the original salt field experienced kiln households. The salt produced here has undergone many processing procedures to produce refined salt, which is sealed in large vats and wooden boxes and sent to Lijiazhuang Garden in Oumeng Town.

  The Li family's manor opened a workshop at the end of the first month, and the workers in the workshop were all dependents of the Liaodong military households. The work they did was to seal these refined salts in small ceramic jars and then transport them to Jining City by waterway.

  Just after the New Year, a fragrant salt warehouse appeared in Jining City. The shop sells refined salt, which is sold by the catty or smaller units of measurement. At this time, the trend of green salt has almost passed.

  A batch of Qingyan from Shaanxi was transported over through waterways intermittently.

  However, due to the craze before New Year's, the demand for Qingyan suddenly increased, but the supply actually decreased. The wealthy people in Beijing and southern Jiangsu province all wanted to use authentic Qingyan, and the price of Qingyan was even higher than before New Year's. These aristocratic families used the good stuff.

  Even a second-rate rich person has to brush their teeth and rinse their mouth, but going to the grocery store to weigh those loose salt is really too humiliating.

  It's unclear who spread the news first, but soon this shop was discovered and the news spread quickly. Before long, all the wealthy people in Jining Prefecture knew about this store called Xiang Yan (Fragrant Salt), which sold salt with various fragrances, such as floral scents and refreshing scents.

  Moreover, they are all packaged in exquisite porcelain jars, which look like good things at first glance. When you walk out of the shop and hold it in your hand, others will also admire it, but the price is a bit high, one or two silver coins per jar of salt.

  It's a bit expensive, but compared to the authentic Qingyan salt, it's much cheaper. This porcelain jar looks more elegant than the old one, and the salt has a fragrant smell. After rinsing your mouth with it, not only does it clean your teeth and oral cavity, but it also leaves a fragrance, so you don't need to buy those ridiculously expensive medicinal herbs.

  This salt shop has learned some lessons from the previous green salt craze, for example, to identify authenticity, there is a mysterious symbol on the jar of this house, which is posted outside the store every day, and the genuine and fake goods can be identified at a glance.

  However, the businessmen in Jining City finally figured out what the ghostly pattern was. It turned out to be a talisman drawn by Taoist priests, which are generally complex and difficult to imitate without grasping their underlying rules.

  By the time the merchants of Jining had learned this set of things, the salt warehouse had already begun to sell goods to cargo ships coming and going on the canal.

  This salt shop was also Li Meng's business, and this one item alone had a net income of 1,000 taels per month.

  The transportation of goods relies on the waterways within Shandong Province, which is somewhat laughable. Li Meng, who works in finance and escorting cash in modern times, has followed armored cars to many places, but has never seen any large rivers within Shandong Province. The so-called Yellow River in Dongying City is just a ditch filled with plants.

  It was possible in Shandong Province during the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago to reach various places by water transportation, really different from now.

  Li Meng now has several ships of his own, departing from Gangkou Town and heading to Jining for transportation. On the return trip, he also brings some goods from Jining, some of which are delivered to merchants in Jiaozhou and Jimiao County, while others are tools and materials needed by salt farms and iron foundries.

  It's only early March, and the salt production and sales are not yet in peak season. Although Wangjia and Kongjia salt warehouses can get goods at a price of nine coins per ton at Lingshan Salt Field for some reason, they need to be escorted by salt dings to the destination before they can be sold, and cannot be sold on the turf of Qing, Deng, and Lai three prefectures. However, this cheaper price does not mean an increase in demand, so this small river transportation dock is still quiet and deserted.

  Today, however, there were two horse-drawn carriages waiting here, watching the boats with the large "Li" flag hanging from the river surface slowly approaching. The young man on the carriage hurriedly jumped down, and a small leader said seriously:

  "This is an errand entrusted by Lord Li, let's get spirited and do it."

  Several people responded in unison, and as the boat docked, they lowered the gangway and carefully carried a wooden box off the boat. The people waiting on shore received it with equal care, placing it on the carriage's deck, where a layer of prepared cotton and straw had been laid out. Then, with a gentle pat on the rump of the horse pulling the carriage, they set off towards Gaozhou City.

  The days of Yan Zhi in Jiao State were very leisurely, and since taking office for a year, the state city under his jurisdiction and its surroundings could not be said to be peaceful and prosperous, but they were also extremely peaceful.

  Common people have food to eat and work to do, so they don't think about making trouble. Don't mention Dengzhou which suffered from war disasters, Qingzhou and Yanzhou have been plagued by bandits, even Changyi and Pingdu in the north of Laizhou Prefecture are not peaceful, compared with them, Jiaozhou City can be said to be prosperous.

  Because half of Shandong's salt merchants sell salt in Angang Town, it has also driven the local prosperity. The number of shops and stalls has increased significantly compared to last year, and the taxes that need to be paid can be completed in full. This year, the Ministry of Revenue's assessment should get an "excellent" rating without any problem.

  At the age of forty, he was promoted to be a provincial governor in Shandong Province, which is neither rich nor poor. This governor Yan was also content with his life. Every day, he would go to the government office to handle official duties for half a day, and spend the rest of the time writing and reading books in his own mansion, living a leisurely and carefree life.

  He was comfortable here, but the others in the yamen were very uncomfortable. The Zhiyuan Yamen should be the most powerful and authoritative in Jiaozhou, but now the one who speaks with the most authority is Li Meng, the salt control inspector. He acts lawlessly in the countryside, but also does so in the city. Li Meng sends exactly the amount of silver he should, not a single penny more or less. When people think about this, they become angry and resentful. In the past, Mu Yanwang only made a small profit, but Li Meng makes much more, so why does he give such a small amount? As a ninth-rank official, Li Meng is barely considered a member of the bureaucracy. The officials in the Zhiyuan Yamen who have rank and position can't help but think of the day Li Meng arrived in the city to take up his post, and the dozens of corpses outside the city, and the bloodstains on the bamboo poles. They feel a chill run down their backs, and suddenly they are at a loss for what to do.

  The question is, Li Meng paid the money as usual, why did he also intercept the yamen and others to ask for more money, such as the runners can no longer go to Shaohai Building to eat for free, and several grocery stores can no longer extort money.