Chapter 355: Salt Merchant Head Office

Xiao Yingzhou was beautiful at sunset, with the sun hanging just beneath the eaves of Yiliang Pavilion, like a dazzling red lantern.

Chen Ji walked along the gravel path in Xiao Yingzhou, with Chen Yu chattering behind him, "My Chen family's salt business is a tricky one, just as difficult as the grain business."

Chen Ji calmly asked, "You know a lot about the salt and grain businesses?"

Chen Yu hummed in response, "It's like the deep-rooted complexities within the imperial court. Even though everyone is from the Ning Dynasty, the Chen family has its own agenda, and the Qi family has theirs. The salt business has one head manager, Chen Yue, who is from a collateral branch of my family. Beneath him are seven assistant managers: one for accounts, one for personnel, one for salt permits, one for official salt transport, one for salt producers, one for shops... and even one for illegal salt. Each one is a handful. You must be careful not to be led astray by these old foxes. If you get entangled in unforeseen troubles, you might even be removed from the family register."

Puzzled, Chen Ji asked, "You and I are rivals now; why are you telling me all this?"

Chen Yu idly snapped off a willow branch and twirled it in his hand. "While you won't be able to defeat me, if you can secure the salt business, it won't be a wasted effort. It's a venture worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Besides the annual profits due to the clan, you could keep several thousand taels for yourself—enough to guarantee you a life of prosperity."

Chen Ji remarked, "You're surprisingly kind."

Chen Yu laughed heartily. "It will take you three years just to untangle these complex relationships. By then, I'll have the grain business firmly in my grasp, and the winner will be obvious. So, I don't really need to view you as a competitor."

Chen Ji was momentarily speechless. He bid farewell to Chen Yu, "Well then, let's each rely on our own abilities. Goodbye..."

Just as he turned to leave, Chen Yu stuck close again. "What's the rush? I was planning to have dinner at your Ginkgo Garden."

Chen Ji was taken aback. This person had no sense of boundaries. Even after being dismissed, he refused to give up.

Chen Yu followed Chen Ji all the way into Ginkgo Garden and, smiling, greeted Xiaoman, "My, Xiaoman, you've grown so big!"

Xiaoman's eyes lit up the moment she saw Chen Yu. "Oh, you're here?"

Chen Yu casually tossed Xiaoman a silver ingot. "I rushed back to the capital this time and didn't bring any proper gifts. Go buy some rouge and cosmetics for yourself."

Xiaoman gleefully tucked the silver ingot into her sleeve. "Young Master Chen Yu is handsome and kind-hearted!"

Chen Yu chuckled, "I'm peeling from sunburn; what's handsome about that?"

Xiaoman smiled, revealing her small canine teeth. "You're handsome even with sunburned skin!"

Chen Yu's face lit up with delight, and he surprisingly pulled out another ten-tael silver ingot and handed it to Xiaoman.

Chen Ji looked at Chen Yu, speechless. Why did this person hand out silver to everyone? No wonder Xiaoman had previously said Chen Yu was exceptionally handsome, a rare sight in the capital.

So, Xiaoman was essentially looking at Chen Yu through the lens of silver... Xiaoman's eyes always sparkled when she saw money.

Chen Ji looked at the two silver ingots in Xiaoman's hand, paused for a moment, then turned to Chen Yu and said, "Young Master Chen Yu is handsome and kind-hearted."

Chen Yu was speechless.

Xiaoman was speechless.

Chen Yu remarked to Xiaoman, "After three years, your young master has become quite playful."

He pulled out a silver ingot and tossed it to Chen Ji, then casually lifted the hem of his official robe and settled onto a stone stool, waving unceremoniously. "Xiaoman, get me some tea; I'm parched."

Xiaoman, beaming, replied, "Coming right up!"

Chen Ji couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't Chen Yu who had come to his courtyard today, but rather he who had stepped into Chen Yu's... Could Xiaoman have secretly sold his information to Chen Yu?

He was about to call out to Xiaoman and tell her not to obey Chen Yu, but then he saw Xiaoman discreetly make two hand gestures: an eight and a two.

An eighty-twenty split.

While Xiaoman was boiling water for tea, Chen Yu gestured to another stone stool beside him. "Sit, don't be a stranger."

Chen Ji sat down, irritated. "Do you have something else to say?"

Chen Yu leaned in conspiratorially. "Do you know why the family head was so cautious in choosing us?"

Chen Ji shook his head. "I can't guess."

Chen Yu whispered, "Because he doesn't plan to pass the head position to our elder uncle. Instead, he intends to pass it to us, skipping a generation."

Chen Ji was startled. "Our elder uncle holds the position of Assistant Minister of Revenue and is a renowned scholar and literary figure in the imperial court. Why wouldn't he pass it to him?"

Chen Yu seemed to know something but remained cryptic. "Let's not discuss that now. Let me brief you on the salt business, so you don't blunder about like a headless chicken."

Just then, Xiaoman came out with a tray and sat beside them, pouring tea for both men.

Chen Yu picked up a teacup, blew on it, and brought it to his lips. "Do you know the systemic problems with our Ning Dynasty's salt tax?"

Chen Ji rolled his eyes. "If you want to show off, just get to the point. Stop being so enigmatic."

Chen Yu set down the teacup, dipped his finger in water, and drew a circle on the edge of the stone table. "This represents the border army."

He then drew another circle slightly further in on the table. "And this is the border salt merchants."

Then, Chen Yu drew a line between the border army and the border households. "Our dynasty initially enacted the 'Kai Zhong Law,' which allowed merchants to exchange five *shi* of grain delivered to the frontier for one salt permit. One permit, in turn, could be exchanged for two hundred *jin* of salt, with no further taxes. Over time, the price of five *shi* of grain at that period became the established price for a salt permit: four *qian* of silver."

Chen Ji understood at once. So that was the origin of the salt permits' anchor price.

Chen Yu pointed to the line between 'border army' and 'border households.' "However, transporting grain to the frontier resulted in extremely high losses. So, some shrewd merchants, leveraging their influence, stopped delivering grain to the border army. Instead, they paid four *qian* of silver directly to the Ministry of Revenue in exchange for a salt permit. Initially, everyone was content: the court received silver, the salt merchants got their permits, and no one suffered a loss."

Chen Ji gazed at the stone table. "If no one was losing, then where did the systemic problems arise?"

Chen Yu smiled. "Later, with continuous silver mining within our dynasty and a steady influx of silver from overseas, silver became less and less 'valuable.' Back then, one salt permit cost four *qian* of silver. Years have passed, and a salt permit still costs four *qian*... Do you understand what I mean?"

Chen Ji understood. Four *qian* of silver, which once bought five *shi* of grain, could now only buy half a *shi*. The court should have raised the price of a salt permit to four taels of silver long ago, but for years, it had continued to sell permits at the original four *qian*.

He frowned. "Doesn't the court do anything about it?"

Chen Yu smiled. "The court did want to manage it, which led to disputes and even significant turmoil between the imperial family and the officials. Eventually, both sides compromised. The major salt merchants paid a one-time sum of five hundred thousand taels of silver to compensate the court for its losses. In doing so, the court received its silver, and the salt merchants and nobility gained hereditary rights to their profits. This is the origin of the forty-six hereditary great salt merchant families listed in the 'Gang Ce.'"

Chen Ji tapped the table. "But over time, the court still ends up losing."

Chen Yu spread his hands. "If it weren't a loss, would it still be called a 'systemic problem'?"

Chen Ji pondered silently. The court's primary challenge with the salt tax, then, was how to restore salt permits to their true market value and allow their prices to fluctuate with the market.

At its root, the problem stemmed from silver, the "currency," gradually slipping beyond the court's control. Even the court itself likely didn't know how much silver was currently circulating among the populace.

Chen Yu changed the subject. "The second major systemic problem with the salt tax is illegal salt. The current production of official salt is limited and has long been insufficient for daily public consumption, causing salt prices to rise year after year. Salt merchants initially mixed ten percent illegal salt into official salt; now they brazenly mix in sixty percent. They collude at all levels. Since illegal and official salt look identical, they are almost impossible to investigate."

Chen Ji asked, "Where does this illegal salt come from?"

Chen Yu replied, "Our dynasty's official salt is produced by salt households. The court mandates that each salt household must produce three thousand *jin* of salt annually. In earlier years, it was already a struggle for them to produce that much. Now, some salt households can produce five thousand *jin* a year, and the surplus two thousand *jin* becomes illegal salt, flowing into the hands of salt merchants. This is an extremely lucrative business. In the South, some major illegal salt dealers can even muster private armies of tens of thousands of bandits, against whom the authorities are helpless."

Chen Ji frowned. Since both official and illegal salt were produced by the same salt households, it was no wonder they were impossible to trace.

Chen Yu glanced at Chen Ji. "You attended the Qi family's literary gathering a few days ago, didn't you? There was a Huang Que among the attendees; his family commands a salt 'team.' It's called a salt team, but in reality, it's a bandit group dealing in illegal salt."

Chen Ji stared at him in astonishment. "You're not a eunuch faction spy, are you? How do you even know such things?"

Chen Yu laughed heartily. "This young master knows everything from the stars to the earth. How else could I have become a sixth-grade principal of the Ministry of Justice at twenty-two? And how else could I have emerged unscathed from the Changlu Salt Fields this time?"

Chen Ji had heard enough. He waved his hand. "Xiaoman, show him out."

Chen Yu stood up and brushed dust from his clothes. "No need to usher me out, I'll leave on my own. Chen Ji, you won't win against me this time. You should focus instead on securing the Chen family's salt business for yourself—that's where the real advantage lies. But don't rush; you'll need to proceed cautiously with those old foxes in the salt business."

Chen Yu turned and walked out the door.

As Xiaoman collected the tea things, she offered some advice. "Young Master Chen Yu always loves to show off and can be quite arrogant, but he's not malicious. He told you all this likely because he fears you'll be taken advantage of by those people in the salt business."

Chen Ji was pensive. He always found Chen Yu a bit odd. How could a concubine's son develop such a personality? And how could he be so incredibly well-informed, even knowing who attended the Qi family's literary gathering?

It made no sense, neither emotionally nor logically.

Just then, Xiaoman cautiously reminded him, "Young Master, those old foxes at the salt business might not obey you, especially the head manager, Chen Yue. I've heard that within the Chen family, he's only polite to a few of the elder masters and doesn't listen to anyone else."

Chen Ji simply hummed in acknowledgment, saying nothing.

The next morning, before dawn, Chen Ji dressed and quietly left the Ginkgo Garden.

Today, he didn't fetch water. Instead, he walked along the bluestone path, treading lightly on the thin layer of dew, heading towards the outer city.

Stepping out of Xuanwu Gate, Chen Ji looked left and right along Xuanwu Gate Street, muttering to himself, "Beyond Xuanwu Gate, after three alleys, is Mule and Horse Market Street..."

Mule and Horse Market Street was already bustling, with oxcarts and mule carts coming and going continuously. The packed earth road was littered with cow dung, and the air carried the faint scent of grass.

Along the street, shop assistants were taking down their wooden storefront panels.

From the bun shop, white steam billowed upwards as steamer baskets were lifted.

Not far off, a large pot of boiling tripe was already bubbling, and burly laborers squatted beside it, eating steamed buns alongside the tripe.

For a moment, Chen Ji felt a pang of nostalgia, as if he were back on Anxi Street in Luocheng.

He scanned the various shop signs, finally locating the "Chen Ji Salt Merchant General Office" plaque.

After a moment of thought, he lifted the hem of his robe and stepped over the threshold.

Inside, a shop assistant was sweeping the floor. Hearing footsteps, he didn't look up, saying, "Are you here to buy salt, sir?"

Chen Ji didn't respond. He simply walked over to a salt bin and scooped up a handful.

It was coarse salt—yellowish-brown crystals containing bits of mud, sand, and minerals. Chen Ji knew without tasting that it would carry the bitter flavor of magnesium sulfate and the astringency of magnesium chloride.

When common folk used it, they first had to dissolve the coarse salt in water, allow the impurities to settle, and then use the clear liquid for cooking. Of course, cleaner brine salt was available, but it was sold to the elite at more than three times the price of coarse salt.

Chen Ji had considered getting into the fine salt business but had dismissed the idea. For one, the fine salt market was already established, and for another, it wouldn't generate profits quickly enough.

Seeing Chen Ji remain silent, the shop assistant looked up in surprise. "Sir, if you're not buying, please don't touch things. You must purchase what's in your hand now."

Chen Ji tossed the coarse salt back into the bin, then clapped his hands together, letting the salt dust fall to the floor.

The assistant became agitated. "Didn't you hear me talking to you? What kind of behavior is this, clapping salt onto the floor? Pay for it!"

Chen Ji glanced at him. "How much do I owe?"

The assistant leaned on his bamboo broom, deliberating. "One hundred *wen*... no, two hundred *wen*!"

Chen Ji hummed in acknowledgment and turned to examine the other salt bins. There was more than one type of coarse salt in the shop: the yellowish-brown was sea salt, while the purplish one was pond salt from Xiezhou, also known as peach blossom salt, which contained fewer impurities.

Seeing Chen Ji's dismissive demeanor, the assistant reached out to grab him. "What's wrong with you? Are you deaf? Someone! We have trouble here!"

As he spoke, several assistants rushed out from the salt business, each holding an iron ruler.

The assistant sneered, "Where did this ruffian come from, daring to disrupt my Chen family's business?"

Chen Ji finally looked at them. "My name is Chen Ji. You should have heard of me. The Chen family has sent me to take over the salt business. Call your head manager, Chen Yue, out to see me."

The assistants' expressions shifted. After a moment of silence, they exchanged glances, and one stepped forward, bowing. "We apologize for offending the master. We will certainly report to the manager for punishment and give you a proper account. However, the head manager isn't at the salt business today; he went out on business."

"The head manager isn't here?" Chen Ji asked nonchalantly. "Are the assistant managers here?"

The assistant shook his head. "None of the assistant managers are here either."

"All seven assistant managers are absent?"

"None of them," the assistant stated firmly. "However, the head manager and assistant managers instructed us before they left: if you arrive and wish to audit the accounts or inspect the salt permits and warehouse, we are to cooperate fully, without a word of protest."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Chen Ji casually asked, "What else did the head manager instruct?"

The assistant replied, "The head manager also said that the salt business is extremely intricate, and since you haven't dealt with it before, you should make sure to understand it thoroughly. First, review all the ledgers to understand where the salt comes from, where it's sold, and to whom the expedited permit fees and official transport fees are paid. It won't be too late to discuss important matters after you've finished... Chen Er Tong, lead some men to bring out all the account books."

Chen Ji raised a hand to stop him. "No need. Tell the head manager that I have important matters to discuss with him. I will return tonight after the Imperial Guards' shift ends. Tell him to wait for me here at the salt business."

With that, Chen Ji turned and walked away.

Once he was sure Chen Ji was out of earshot, the assistant turned and called into the back courtyard, "Manager, he's gone."

A plump, fair-skinned middle-aged man lifted the door curtain and entered the main hall, squinting at Chen Ji's retreating figure. "A clueless greenhorn has arrived."

The assistant looked at the manager. "Manager, he said he's coming back tonight. What should we do?"

The manager stroked his chin, his face expressionless. "Still say I'm not here."