Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 24 Inside Story
"Greetings, Your Highness!" Gu Tingye and his grandson stepped forward and bowed.

"No need for formalities." Zhao Xing waved his hand.

"Your Highness, please come in!" Gu Tingye invited.

Zhao Xing nodded, walked in front, and the group entered the house.

Arriving at the main hall, Zhao Xing sat down at the main seat and said with a smile, "Mr. Bai, Zhong Huai, you all take a seat."

"Thank you, Your Highness." The two of them thanked him and sat down below.

Zhao Xing looked at the Cao brothers and said, "My two cousins, go guard outside."

"this…"

The two brothers were a little hesitant, but after thinking about it carefully, they realized that there were only Zhao Xing and Sanshui, as well as Gu Tingye and his grandson, in the hall, and there didn't seem to be any danger, so they bowed and left.

"Mr. Bai, I heard that the Bai family has many salt shops in Jiangnan. Is that true?" Zhao Xing asked.

Old Master Bai was stunned, not understanding why Zhao Xing asked such a question, but he did not dare to hesitate any longer and said, "Your Highness, the Bai family does run some salt shops."

"Illegal salt trafficking is rampant in Jiangnan. I wonder if Mr. Bai knows some of the inside story?" Zhao Xing didn't beat around the bush and directly asked what he wanted to know.

Old Master Bai's eyes flickered slightly. Although he was just a businessman, he was able to accumulate such a large fortune, so he must have unique wisdom.

Zhao Xing asked him about private salt, and it was obvious that the court wanted to take action against the salt business.

After a moment of silence, Old Master Bai bowed and said, "Before I answer your question, may I ask you a question?"

"Mr. Bai, please feel free to speak." Zhao Xing said.

"May I ask, Your Highness, do you know anything about the salt affairs of the Song Dynasty?" asked Old Master Bai.

"I have a general understanding of it. Salt households produce salt and then sell it to the imperial court, which then sells it uniformly," said Zhao Xing.

He didn't know much about the salt business at first. The reason he chose the salt business as his first target was because in the original drama, Zhao Zongquan thoroughly investigated the salt business after becoming emperor.

Secondly, he learned that the profits from the Song Dynasty’s salt administration once accounted for half of the court’s revenue.

During this period, he studied the court system and specifically learned about salt affairs.

Salt was not produced directly by the imperial court, but was produced by salt households and then purchased and sold uniformly by the imperial court.

The reason why salt accounted for half of the court's revenue in the Song Dynasty was that the court used salt as a means of collecting taxes.

When the imperial court was short of money, it would not directly impose various exorbitant taxes on the people, but would increase the price of salt.

Because salt was government-run, salt households could only sell it to the imperial court. Naturally, the price given by the imperial court would not be high. However, the pricing power of the sale was controlled by the imperial court, so the profit was naturally very high.

"Then Your Highness, do you know where the contraband salt comes from?" asked Old Master Bai.

Zhao Xing was stunned when he heard this. He previously thought that private salt was made secretly by someone, or was purchased secretly from salt farmers at a high price.

Now from what Old Master Bai said, it seems that there is some other hidden story.

"Your Highness, I am already very old and I won't live long. I can tell you anything you want to know. I only ask that you agree to one of my conditions." said Old Master Bai.

"Grandfather, you..."

Gu Tingye, who was sitting nearby, felt a little worried when he heard his grandfather actually put forward conditions to Zhao Xing.

"Zhong Huai!"

Zhao Xing waved his hand to stop Gu Tingye and said, "Mr. Bai, I agree to your terms."

"Your Highness, why don't you ask me what the conditions are?" asked Old Master Bai.

"No matter what the conditions are, I will agree to them." Zhao Xing said calmly.

Old Master Bai first said that he would not live long, and then asked Zhao Xing to agree to one of his conditions.

Obviously, he was telling Zhao Xing that he was childless and old. If Zhao Xing didn't agree to his conditions, he wouldn't tell him. And Zhao Xing was also sure that Old Master Bai wouldn't put forward any outrageous conditions. After all, his daughter was dead, but his grandson was still there.

"Your Highness is wise!"

Old Master Bai showed admiration, looked at Gu Tingye and said, "Brother Ye, you go out first."

"Grandfather, I..."

Gu Tingye looked at his grandfather and then at Zhao Xing.

"Zhong Huai, you go out first. I want to talk to Mr. Bai alone." Zhao Xing said.

"Yes!" Gu Tingye bowed and walked out with some worry.

"Mr. Bai, tell me, what are your conditions?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Your Highness, there is no rush for this matter. I will first tell Your Highness about the smuggled salt." said Old Master Bai.

"Aren't you afraid that I will not agree to your conditions after I know what you want to know?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.

"Your Highness, your words are as good as gold. Now that you have promised, you will certainly not go back on your word." Old Master Bai said.

Zhao Xing did not comment, but nodded slightly and let Old Master Bai start talking about the smuggled salt.

"Private salt is actually official salt. The officials who purchase salt will shortchange the salt when they receive it from salt households. Gravel is also added to the salt sold to salt merchants to increase the weight." said Old Master Bai.

"This is impossible!" Zhao Xing said in disbelief: "If so, why did those salt merchants buy it? And no one has ever reported it?"

If what Old Master Bai said is true, then the problem with the salt business will be very serious.

This shows that there are problems with almost all the officials in charge of the salt system.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to keep it a secret for so long without his father noticing anything.

"Salt is government-run. Salt merchants must first purchase salt permits from the imperial court before they can get salt. Only with salt permits can they open salt shops to sell salt. Who dares to report it? Moreover, salt merchants who buy salt permits can buy the same amount of good salt at a lower price, so no one will report it." said Old Master Bai.

After hearing this, Zhao Xing's face darkened and he basically believed what Old Master Bai said.

No wonder that despite the rapid population growth and economic prosperity in the Song Dynasty in recent years, the income from the salt administration has decreased instead of increased.

The officials in charge of salt affairs could get a batch of salt for free from the salt households by shortchanging the salt by a few grams when collecting it.

By adding impurities to the salt they could get another batch of salt.

The salt that the salt merchants bought from the imperial court contained many impurities. Even if they went back and removed the impurities through a sieve, the weight would still be much less, so they were naturally unhappy.

Even if the salt merchants wanted to make this money, they had to endure it and not report it. As time went on, some rumors were bound to spread.

However, salt merchants who obtained salt permits could buy the same amount of good salt at a price lower than that of the imperial court.

In this way, their cost of obtaining salt did not increase, but on the contrary they got more salt than before.

This formed a complete chain of interests. No matter whether it was the salt officials or the salt merchants, they would keep their mouths shut about the matter and make a fortune in silence.

After a long while, Zhao Xing came back to his senses and said, "Thank you Mr. Bai for telling me. I wonder what Mr. Bai's conditions are?"

……

After leaving Bai's house, Zhao Xing had no intention of playing anymore and took a carriage directly back to the palace.

There are problems among officials throughout the salt administration, which is truly shocking.

On the way back to the palace, Zhao Xing was wondering why the salt business had become so corrupt.

The final conclusion was that there was a lack of effective supervision and the court was too lenient towards civil servants, which lacked deterrent power.

Thanks for the monthly ticket support of Ruxirensheng.

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(End of this chapter)