Chapter 62: Jining Qingyan

  Miss Na lowered her head, but felt a sense of quiet around her. She thought to herself that the person who had just spoken about porcelain was clearly a refined and cultured individual who understood porcelain, so why hadn't she answered when asked?

  She plucked up the courage to look up, only to find a tall young man staring at her blankly across from her. The young man was also dressed as a commoner, with a kind face and a bit of stubble on his chin. However, judging by his appearance, he didn't seem like someone who would be associated with the word "refined". As an unmarried official's daughter, it was already quite bold of her to ask a man questions.

  Seeing a young man of about the same age as herself staring at her so boldly, Li Meng was slightly stunned to see that the girl's neck and cheeks had turned bright red. Miss Yan let out a soft cry and hastily retreated into the inner courtyard.

  The owner of the porcelain shop next door had been twisting his neck until Miss left, then turned around to see Li Meng still staring straight at the gate of the inner courtyard. He sighed inwardly, "Inspector Li Erlang and Governor Zhou, I'm not someone you can afford to offend, so stop looking like that."

  When he heard someone coughing behind him, Li Meng finally reacted and his face felt a bit hot for a moment. His previous actions were indeed embarrassing, and it was awkward to stay any longer. He told the owner of the porcelain shop that he would come back in a month to pick up the goods, then turned around and left the store.

  Jining Prefecture is the last hub before the Grand Canal enters North Zhili, and it is also the largest city near the intersection of Henan, South Zhili, and Shandong provinces. Since the early Ming dynasty, this place has been the largest and most prosperous city in all of Shandong, even surpassing the city of Jinan Prefecture. The office of the river patrol governor was also located here.

  In Jinan City, there are numerous shops, warehouses, inns, brothels and wine houses. The cargo ships and merchants coming from the south and going to the north have brought endless business opportunities and wealth to this city.

  Many people's notes mention: Jinan is rich, no less than Jiangnan.

  Retired high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants from all over the country, and government offices such as the River Conservancy Bureau and the Shandong Salt Administration were all located in Jining City. These people were all rich and lived extravagantly, with every detail of their lives being meticulously refined. Just like modern-day wealthy individuals who emphasize originality and environmental protection, wanting to be a notch above ordinary people's standards. The wealthy during the Ming dynasty also demanded excellence.

  This is not only the habit of wealthy people in Jining, but also in Nanjing and Beijing, as well as in provincial capitals and large cities. People from Jiangnan, Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and other places have become accustomed to a modern consumption pattern due to the massive wealth brought about by the rapid growth of industry and commerce during the late Ming dynasty.

  For example, the salt used for cleaning teeth is particular about the refined salt from Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, which is called "Qing Yan". However, with Li Zicheng's eight battalions roaming around Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Sichuan, the imperial army was either besieging or closely following them, engaging in fierce battles. Under such circumstances, not to mention merchants, even travelers were scarce. The special products from Shaanxi and Western Regions could not enter the Central Plains.

  The logistics are cut off, and the prices of goods coming from that side have skyrocketed. For example, sheepskin, woolen blankets, and indigo salt.

  In Jining City, the price of green salt has risen to one or two silver coins per catty after entering the lunar month, and it can only be bought in familiar warehouses by people with power and influence. At the same time, refined salt from various places with similar effects is also on sale, but it cannot be sold at a high price.

  It is said that someone once said, the rich need a way to show off their wealth. Starting from September of Chongzhen 6th year, when wealthy people gathered together, there would always be someone who intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that they used Qingyan to rinse their mouth clean, and pretended to be knowledgeable by saying:

  "This green salt is indeed more refreshing and invigorating than Beluga caviar!"

  If you say this, you wouldn't dare open your mouth without using this salt to clean your mouth. Of course, the truly wealthy and powerful families would not stoop to such showiness, but the housekeeper keeps a close eye on the family members who go shopping, insisting that they buy green salt.

  Actually, it's easy to fake this stuff, but every household buys and sells, they're all watching each other, whoever fakes it will be exposed by others. At that time, the buyer will lose face, and the seller will have their signboard smashed. In fact, how much of the green salt is left on the market, who has it, everyone calculates clearly, anyway, there will be a day when it's used up.

  This is a perverse and evil trend, which has also affected the pharmacies and doctors in Jining City, where they all consider this green salt to be an essential medicine for refreshing and calming the mind. When prescribing medication, they would specifically instruct patients: "You must use green salt; if you use Huai salt or Lu salt, it won't work."

  After entering the twelfth lunar month, news came from Meng Zhanggui of Wen Ruhang's business firm in Jining City that Henan Governor Xuanmo and Shanxi Governor Dai Jun'en had ambushed and defeated a group of rebels. In September, they had seized a batch of stolen goods from the rebels, which were sold on the spot to a certain merchant who transported them to Shandong Province. Due to the unrest along the way, he switched to water transportation, proceeding slowly and stopping frequently, and was about to arrive at Jining Port. It is said that it was a batch of green salt.

  As soon as the news came out, the price of Qingyan in Jining City plummeted by 30%, and the owner of this shop was very credible. Although I don't know what the background is, it has never been difficult for the government to get many messages at the first time, and it must be backed by a lot of power.

  On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, the boat arrived at the dock. Early in the morning, the owners of various business firms and warehouses were waiting there to make purchases. Jinan was also a major commercial hub, where large merchants from Beijing and Nanjing had set up branches. At present, with the chaos in Central Plains, other places were also short of goods, and salt merchants were unwilling to put in extra effort to refine high-quality salt, thinking it too much trouble. Since there were not many substitutes, they might as well buy and sell these original Qingyan salt at a high price.

  So there are both local merchants from Jining and external merchants with branches.

  A dozen or so cargo ships slowly docked, seeing such a large fleet of ships, some shopkeepers had already asked their apprentices to go back to the store and lower the price of their green salt. With so much green salt on the market, the price was sure to drop.

  At the bow of the leading boat stood a tall man, wearing a thousand-layered battle armor, who saw Wen Ruhai, the boss of Meng's merchant ship. Before the boat had even come to a stop, he bowed his head and shouted loudly:

  "Manager Meng, this time we'll have to rely on you even more!"

  A northern Mandarin dialect, the shopkeeper has a discerning eye, and in his heart he believes it to be true, when suddenly a young salt vendor comes over, if it weren't for this Mr. Meng being a man of great virtue and prestige, with some weight to his words, these people would have thought it was an imposter, but looking at the military officer by the ship's bow, it turns out he is indeed a mysterious person.