Good guy!
What a great guy!
All the big guys were a little confused and looked at Zhu Gaoxu with unkind eyes.
It’s okay if you let us taste it, but if you let His Highness the Crown Prince taste it himself, that’s a bit too much!
After all, His Royal Highness is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. After tasting this first test product, if something goes wrong, who can bear the responsibility？
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Big Fatty laughed and cursed angrily, ‘Second Brother, Second Brother, your temper is so… why are you teasing them when you have nothing to do？’
‘This new salt has a pure taste. Even the best tribute salt in the palace cannot compare with it. How can there be any problem？ Do you feel any difference in your body after eating it？’
After hearing the prince’s reasonable explanation, everyone felt relieved.
Xia Yuanji’s face straightened and he said in a deep voice, ‘Your Highness, King of Han, what is the cost of this new salt？’
He is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and he is more concerned about whether the new salt turned into poisonous salt can really bring profits to the court.
After all, turning poisonous salt into new salt and going through processes that are completely incomprehensible, such as crushing, dissolving, filtering, etc., seems to be quite costly!
The price of new salt is the key. If the cost is too high, the price of the salt cannot be low, and the profit margin behind it will be greatly reduced.
When talking about business, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly smiled and said, ‘Old Xia Tou, you don’t have to worry. The process of turning poisonous salt from salt mountains into new salt is actually very simple. You just need to follow the correct method, use special tools and materials, and purify and filter step by step.’ .”
Purification and filtration？
This again involves everyone’s knowledge blind spots.
Xia Yuanji smiled awkwardly and asked with a shy face, ‘May I ask His Highness the King of Han, what does purification and filtration mean？’
After Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he was stunned and looked at these big guys with some confusion.
After all, you are also virtuous ministers and officials who will go down in history. You are all talented people who have read poetry and learned a lot. Are you so uneducated？
Everyone was blushing at his look, but they didn’t dare to get angry.
When the prince saw this, he punched Zhu Gaoxu and urged, ‘Stop being so pretentious and say it quickly!’
‘Purification is to extract table salt from poisonous salt, and filtration is to remove the poison from poisonous salt…’
Everyone ‘？？？’
What？
What did you say？
Saying it was co-authoring is the same as not saying it!
Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to curl his lips and said, ‘Forget it, you don’t understand the principle. You just need to operate it step by step. Compared with other salt preparations, there are only a few more steps, but the cost is not too high.’ The difference is that after mass production, a pound of salt will only cost three or four cents!’
After hearing this, everyone was shocked again.
The cost is three or four cents!
This is so scary!
The quality and appearance of the new salt product in front of me are much better than the tribute salt in the palace!
You must know that those tribute salts are the top salt on the market. The price of a pound is as high as more than 100 yuan, and it is the kind that even if you have money, you can’t buy it.
Zhu Gaochi blinked in confusion, looked at Xia Yuanji and said, ‘Is the cost of salt so low？’
Xia Yuanji nodded, ‘That’s right. Salt production does not require any skills, it just consumes manpower. In addition to the stoves, there are also military prisoners, etc…’
When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he sighed inwardly.
In this Ming Dynasty, there was never a shortage of cheap labor.
These kitchen households cook and cook salt all year round. Not only will their bodies be greatly damaged, but the remuneration they receive is not even enough to support their families.
Zao households were basically like serfs, performing serf-like labor all year round. Not only were they ravaged by salt officials, but they were also bullied and extorted by local tyrants and salt merchants.
The saddest thing is that because of the strict household registration system, they have to work for generations, and their children and grandchildren have to live such a miserable life, with no hope of changing careers.
What Zhu Gaoxu can do now is to reduce their burden as much as possible.
‘However, although the cost of salt is low, the cost of salt has increased due to the introduction of salt tax, so the selling price is not cheap.’
Xia Yuanji added another sentence, with a shrewd light shining in his eyes.
As long as the new salt begins mass production, he is confident that the price of other salts will be driven down.
After all, the quality and appearance are right in front of you, and the sales market for new salt is definitely broad.
After successfully introducing this new salt to the world, the prices of coarse and inferior salts naturally plummeted.
In this way, it will not only improve the Ming Dynasty’s finances, but also allow more poor people to eat salt. It can be called the best of both worlds.
However, just when he rolled up his sleeves and prepared to fight, Prince Han suddenly poured cold water on him.
‘Old Xia Tou, if I hand over this salt-making process to your household department, what are you going to do？ Or will you use the stupid method of ‘opening the middle’？’
As soon as these words came out, everyone was stunned.
Is opening the middle method a stupid idea？
How dare you say that!
This opening up of China and France was the national policy of Emperor Taizu Gao to promote the world. He praised it as ‘beneficial to the country, convenient for the people and business’. It once solved the food and salary supply for millions of troops stationed on the border!
How come you, the King of Han, call it a ‘stupid method’？
Gu Zuo, the big troll, suddenly became anxious and spat out, ‘King of Han, you are so presumptuous. This is what Emperor Taizu Gao ordered…’
‘Okay, okay, that’s my grandpa, what’s wrong if I say a few words about him？’
Zhu Gaoxu had never been used to such trolls, and mocked angrily, ‘In the final analysis, this method is also to increase fiscal revenue and ease the expenditure pressure on the border troops.’
“But have you ever thought about it, this salt quotation was originally a patent certificate for China and Namibia to exchange physical goods for the right to sell salt, but it has become a tool for high-ranking officials and even the royal family to make profits. They have sued the salt quotation and resold it to salt merchants to make profits. Tell me you don’t know!”
Everyone’s expressions changed slightly when they heard this, even Zhu Gaochi was no exception.
Naturally, they know that salt bait is rampant.
However, opening up China is beneficial to the country and the people, and this kind of corruption is only a minority and is within a controllable range, so they don’t take it to heart.
But now that Zhu Gaoxu is on the table, everyone feels a little embarrassed.
Xia Yuanji frowned. He didn’t understand Zhu Gaoxu’s purpose until now.
This prince of Han actually wanted to innovate the salt law!
Huang Huai was a little dissatisfied and deliberately asked, ‘Does His Highness the King of Han mean that there is a better salt method than the Kaizhong method？ I would like to hear His Highness’s opinion!’
Yang Rong and other giants also reacted at this moment and looked at him with some surprise.
This Han King Zhu Gaoxu is so brave, he actually wants to innovate the salt method!
Throughout the dynasties, salt and iron have been a source of financial importance that emperors of all dynasties attached great importance to.
To build a country, you must have salt. Without salt, you cannot build a country.
Whoever controls the salt has wealth and power to rule.
Salt tax has a unique status, which is different from land tax, and even different from customs duties and commercial taxes.
Salt is an indispensable daily necessities for ordinary people. It is related to people’s livelihood all over the world and affects the whole body.
If it is not handled properly, it can easily lead to chaos in the country and instability in the court!
Unless he can really come up with a better salt law, giants like them will never agree to it.
But is this possible？
Is there any better law than ‘opening up China’, which is a great plan for the country？
The prince rubbed his hands nervously, ‘Second brother, you see this is a big deal. I can’t handle it alone! Why don’t you call the emperor over first？’
Zhu Gaochi was a little panicked, and he was very panicked in his heart.
This second child is so stubborn that he actually wants to revolutionize the salt law!
Zhu Gaoxu ‘？？？’
Your uncle!
Do you want to bother the old man with anything？
Then why do we need you as a prince？ What do we need you for？