Chapter Fifty-one Pricing Standards

  At noon, Lin Zhanggui, who was calling out to his apprentices to serve tea, heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs behind him. He quickly turned around to greet the newcomer, but instead saw a young man in a half-new short jacket walking up. The young man was tall and imposing, with a smile on his face. Lin Zhanggui said irritably:

  "The second floor has been booked, no seats..."

  The words had not been spoken yet, and he closed his mouth. He saw Ning Shifu smiling and walking behind the young man. Lin Zhanggui's whole body was icy cold, and he immediately knew who this person was. He forced a smile on his face and quickly walked forward, greeting him in a loud voice:

  "Lord Li, this way, please, this way, please."

  As soon as Mr. Li spoke, the noisy second floor of the wine tower, which was like a market, immediately fell silent. Even the rough and unreasonable men who were shouting loudly just now became quiet and obedient, like good students in a private school.

  Li Meng looked at the salt merchants sitting in their seats, shivering like cicadas, and smiled slightly, apologizing with a bow, saying:

  "Li Meng arrived late, please forgive him."

  He made a fist, and the crowd that had been sitting still suddenly stood up like an explosion, with tables, chairs, and stools making a loud noise. These people bowed their heads to return the courtesy, saying in unison:

  "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, Lord Li ( Erlang ) is too polite..."

  It's no wonder they're so terrified, now the people present are not qualified and don't have the courage, Li Meng has already received the courtesy, Li Meng pinched the salt road, and had the Thunderbolt technique in his hand, no one dared to underestimate him, whoever underestimated him is no longer in this seat.

  Seeing that Li Meng did not mean to make things difficult for him, Lin Zhuang finally breathed a sigh of relief and repeatedly urged the apprentices below to start serving wine and dishes.

  Jiaozhou City is not far from the sea, so there are many seafood delicacies on this table. However, the people present have no appetite for these delicious dishes. This is the first time Li Meng has gathered everyone since taking office. Everyone has seen Erlang Zhenjun's various methods, but who knows what other powerful techniques he has up his sleeve this time?

  Ke Li Meng said something, these people could only do nothing, it was really not worth offending them. The bodies of the eighty or so salt workers on the official road were left there for half a month. Although the weather was cold and did not rot, the road was blocked for a whole month. It wasn't until the salt stick sent someone to gather the bodies and burn them that they were finally cleared away.

  Everyone was stunned by the solid and unyielding knife handle, and the money bag was also tightly grasped. The salt vendors discovered that they could only buy salt from the Saltpole family, and surprisingly, there was no second household in the southern part of Lai State. This Li Erlang not only had feelings and righteousness, but also bravery and strategy, and was a formidable figure who didn't let even water leak out of his hands.

  According to the rules of the banquet, Li Meng raised his cup twice and drank it dry. Everyone else also responded in kind, and this banquet had a sense of joy for both host and guest. After putting down his wine cup, Li Meng should have picked up his chopsticks to eat, but no one at the table was eager to take a bite. They were all staring at Li Meng, and the purpose of this banquet was definitely not just about eating. Li Erlang, hurry up and get to the point! Everyone's hearts are hanging in suspense!

  As expected, Li Meng stood up again and said loudly:

  "Today we have many distinguished guests. Everyone is a salt merchant from somewhere. Please report your place of origin, starting with the brothers at this table."

  "Get down!"

  "Long live Chairman Mao!"

  "The little one is An Chou's."

  "We are from Zhucheng."

  Everyone was chattering about their own places, some were county towns, and others were just small villages below. It wasn't until the end that it was Wang and Kong's turn, the two salt merchants. These two people were proud of their status and thought they didn't need to stand up to report their place names. But seeing Li Meng's gaze sweep over them, they involuntarily stood up, fawning and bowing with a smile:

  "My brother is from Qufu, nice to meet you all today, and I hope we can take care of each other in the future."

  Everyone present is a rough and bold man. Seeing the two salt merchants pretending to be refined gentlemen, they didn't have much good feelings about it. On the contrary, someone whispered:

  "Qufu is next to Yanzhou Prefecture and Jining, they eat Huai salt!"

  "These two people have almost eaten up half of the salt goods from Lingshan in six or seven years, and they all took ships to transport them south, but I don't know who they sold them to?"

  Although these words were spoken in a low voice, Li Meng and Wang He, the two salt merchants standing at the front, heard them clearly. Li Meng raised an eyebrow without making a sound. The expressions of the two salt merchants didn't look good, alternating between pale and flushed. After a brief silence, Li Meng raised his hand and pressed it down in mid-air, and suddenly no one inside the house spoke. Li Meng opened his mouth again to say:

  "It seems that it's just the brothers from the south of Laizhou Prefecture and the east of Qingzhou Prefecture, but those from Pingdu Prefecture don't seem to have arrived. Come to think of it, they haven't come to my saltworks to buy salt for over half a month now?"

  Listening to Li Meng's self-asking and self-answering words, someone below responded:

  "Mr. Li, I know about this matter, Old Qiu from Pingdu Prefecture has gone to Yuer Town to sell salt."

  "Who is this brother?"

  At Li Meng's inquiry, the man who had spoken out stood up with a look of surprise and delight, and replied with clasped hands:

  "In response to Mr. Li's words, I am Wang Zhuzi from Gutting Town and also run a small business in Pingdu."

  Li Meng smiled and asked him to sit down, looked around and said loudly:

  "Gather everyone here today is to tell you one thing, from now on, Ling Shan salt will be sold at 1.2 yuan for every 50 kilograms!"

  As soon as the words were spoken, the second floor of the wine building first fell silent, and after a while, it suddenly became noisy. The salt merchants of Wang's family and Kong's family looked at each other, both smiling wryly and lowering their heads. The rest of the salt sellers and small salt tycoons didn't dare to make a fuss about Li Meng, they all talked about their own difficulties with each other.

  In Wangjia and Kongjia villages, the price that Li Meng originally gave them was already one mace and five cents per dan. Although they said they could accept it, they also came up with some small tricks, such as adding a portion of silver to collect salt from these salt merchants, which is actually copying Li Meng's old trick.

  As for other salt merchants, they all take one or two liang of salt goods from the Ling Mountain Salt Field, and after deducting the risk and transportation costs for private salt smuggling, if they add this three qian silver cost, the profit will be even less. Some places may even lose money, but no one dares to argue with Li Meng.

  They had been complaining to each other for a while, and when they saw Li Meng still smiling and looking around, Wang Zhu Zi suddenly felt that he was still somewhat restrained earlier, but after being instigated by his companions for a few sentences, he got excited and stood up. As soon as he stood up, the room fell silent, with all eyes focused on him.

  Wang Zhuzi suddenly felt that the cold sweat all over his body was coming out, wanting to sit down, but seeing Li Meng's eyes had already looked over, he could only stiffen his scalp and first respectfully salute, then tremble with fear and say:

  "Director Li, if we buy salt from you and sell it in Guting Town, the most we can get is one or two liang for six coins of silver. Often times, we can't even get that price. It's not just our family selling it, everyone is competing fiercely to lower prices. Can you...?"