Chapter 40: The Warehouse Manager

  The fellow at the gate scratched his head, thinking that Li Meng and the other two were just ordinary people, why was their boss so respectful. After entering the inner courtyard, Chen Liu, who was called "Old Master Chen", felt a bit uneasy and smiled awkwardly:

  "Mr. Li, this is our elder brother Li Meng. Normally, I'm the one who comes here to settle accounts, so there's been a lot of concealment, don't blame me, don't blame me."

  Li Zhuang quickly reacted, he also knew that the private salt in Jiaozhou City was now monopolized by the so-called "salt sticks". Since Chen Liu called him "big brother", it must be the legendary big head. He immediately used a more respectful attitude to hold his fist and said:

  "So this is Li Erlang. It turns out we are from the same family, I have long admired you. This is our first meeting, if there's anything impolite, please forgive me."

  Apologizing with words, smiling on his face, and inviting with his hands, he had already led the person into the inner hall of the backyard. Li Meng smiled and indicated that it was nothing, while also feeling quite close in his heart. The late Ming dynasty was a chaotic era plagued by disasters and famines, but it was also an era when commerce flourished extremely.

  The shopkeeper of this state city store has a service attitude that is no different from modern merchants with good service attitudes. Li Meng thought so, but he didn't think that the shopkeeper of this warehouse was also secretly surprised. The legend of this Li Erlang had been circulating widely in the streets of Jiaozhou City, and the warehouse, as a place where news spreads quickly, naturally knew about it too. However, not many people have seen Li Meng, and everyone imagined him to be a sturdy man with a height of nine feet and a waist circumference of also nine feet.

  Who would have thought that upon meeting, Li Meng, although tall and imposing in stature, was actually a very gentle soul, unlike the rough military men he had encountered before. More accurately, he had an unusual air about him, a mix of the scholar and merchant, and his demeanor was polite and courteous.

  With this feeling, Li Zhuanggui became even more polite and respectful, inviting Li Meng to take the upper seat, then offering him good tea. Seeing that Chen Liu and Wang Hai, who were usually fearless, were standing respectfully behind Li Meng, he felt that Li Meng was extraordinary. Without waiting for Yan Gunzi and others to speak, Li Zhuanggui himself spoke up:

  "The goods worth 120 taels of silver from the twelfth month to the first month have been prepared and are ready on the counter..."

  Just as he was speaking, a shop assistant walked in with a small silver package and placed it on the tea table before retreating. Li Zhu also stopped talking and smiled as he pushed the package towards Li Meng.

  Tomorrow's salt official sells, Jinzhou warehouse is not an official salt merchant, and the purchased salt is also Li Meng's salt, which is naturally a private salt transaction. The official salt is sold in Jiaozhou City for two silver coins per ton, with a lot of impurities such as mud and sand inside, and the people are not willing to buy it, and the salt merchants are also pretending to do business.

  In Jiaozhou City, all the warehouses with some scale are also engaged in private salt sales. The common people are also willing to buy them. They sell and buy edible salt in small packages, and the retail profit is higher. These people usually collect private salt from Lingshan Salt Field. Since Li Meng's salt stick rose, they have been receiving goods from this source.

  What made the salt merchants puzzled was that Li Meng sold to these businessmen in Jiaozhou City at a price of nine silver coins per dan, which was very favorable to the other party.

  Li Meng opened his silver package and casually divided out a small pile, pushing it in front of Li Zhuang, saying with a smile:

  "My family's business is also a hard-won one, so I'll have you take these for now."

  Seeing the silver being sent in front of him, Li Zhuang was surprised, but he still involuntarily put the money in his sleeve and smiled:

  "How does this make."

  "From now on, every time your honorable shop sells a catty of salt, there will be an extra share of silver for the shopkeeper. This is just the first one, don't be polite."

  The more they sell, the more benefits they get, and are they afraid that others won't work hard to sell these salts for themselves? People are all profit-driven. This Jinzhou Inn is not Li Zhuang's own property, but rather a place he manages. If there are benefits for him, it's only natural that he would be willing to accept them. The concept of commissions and kickbacks in modern times was also useful in ancient times.

  After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Li Meng took a sip of tea and asked contemplatively:

  "How is the salt merchant's business in this city?"

  "Li Erlang was talking about Zhang's family who sold official salt, but Zhang En had already given up and opened a restaurant in the city to make ends meet..."

  Salt tea is a government monopoly, and salt merchants are also hereditary. However, private salt is rampant, and official salt has no sales channels, so this identity has become a burden. Li Meng heard this, but before he could speak, Li Zhuang again smiled and said:

  "Not to mention this salt merchant, even the patrol officer is not welcome."

  Li Meng let out a surprised "oh" and Li Zhuang looked at him with interest, adding that he had just received the silver and was in high spirits, so he hurriedly started speaking.

  The salt policy inspector is only a ninth-grade official, but countless people flock to it. It's not that this position can investigate and punish private salt production, but rather that this position can openly transport private salt. Transporting private salt is a nerve-wracking business, and simply protecting the salt team and smoothing out connections requires a lot of extra expenses and effort.

  It's just as if the government officials are smuggling salt, and it's done openly. They can even sell private salt at a higher price, making a bigger profit.

  The Mou Xun Jian Suo in the city of Naju is responsible for the area of Laizhou and southern Dengzhou. Recently, due to the military disaster in Dengzhou, they can only focus on Laizhou Prefecture. The money from Laizhou Prefecture alone can be embezzled into the sky. They make a profit by banning private salt sales, another profit by smuggling private salt themselves, and yet another profit from the tribute of out-of-town salt merchants.

  After Mou Xun's death, many people took out silver and used their connections to fight for this position. However, things often change with the passage of time. Now, the Qingzhou and Yanzhou areas are in a state of civil unrest, and although the war in Dengzhou is said to be ending, the aftermath will not last for a short period of time.

  The chaos in these places is equivalent to the tribute of foreign salt merchants, and it's useless to expect anything for a while. However, the ban on private salt sales and transportation is still profitable, and many people are still vying for control. As time passed, the Lingshan Salt Field and surrounding areas were gradually controlled by one family of salt barons.

  The yándīngs are unable to gather the strength to stop anything, and the government doesn't care either. This shows that both the smuggling of private salt and the transportation of private salt have been cut off, or at least it would take a lot of effort to restore them. Without any money to be made, what's the point of this position? This situation has chilled the hearts of many people who were eager to compete for this inspector position.

  So a very strange thing happened. The position of Salt Inspector in Zhuozhou was vacant, but no one asked about it, and it just hung there.

  Li Zhuang looked at Li Meng and listened intently, also wanting to show off his knowledge, and said with a smile:

  "The position of inspector, which was once a hot and coveted spot, has now become a cold and unappetizing leftover. The Ministry of Revenue doesn't care about it, the Salt Administration doesn't care about it either, and it's said that it's been pushed onto this Magistrate, but no one dares to take it on, so it just hangs there."