How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

As soon as the emperor's order was issued, the postmen in the capital immediately delivered letters to various places along the way to ensure that the official road to Liaozhou was unobstructed before the New Year's Day.

After receiving the notice, the provincial governments hurriedly began to make arrangements. Due to the tight time and heavy workload, the government could only choose to purchase crude salt from salt merchants first. The salt merchants then went to the Salt Yamen to obtain salt permits, purchased the crude salt at the place of production, and then transported it back to their local areas.

The previous Jian'an Dynasty was keen on developing salt fields for profit, so there were many salt fields. When the emperor went out, it was not too extravagant to use melted snow to assist the road. However, there was enough crude salt, but there were not many salt transport teams. The official road was so long that if they wanted to take care of everything, they would have to transport more crude salt.

The opening of the salt permit made many ordinary merchants jealous. They heard that as long as they paid more than ten taels of silver in taxes last year, they could go to the Salt Yamen to buy salt permits, but the number was limited and first come first served. Merchants who had long coveted the profits of salt merchants rushed in one after another.

Merchants from all over the country drove horse-drawn carriages on the official road in the cold and snowy weather to the nearest salt government office to collect their salt permits, but unexpectedly, they were met with a cold shoulder.

"Go away, all the salt permits have been collected. You are late!" At the door, the salt official waved his hands and said impatiently.

"How could this be?" The merchants who had finally arrived here were all stunned. They were the closest to this place and should be the first group to arrive, so how could they not have salt permits?

However, the yamen runner had no intention of answering their questions, but just drove them away impatiently. At this time, a man came out of the convoy. The man was young and handsome. He whispered something to the yamen runner, and the yamen runner hurriedly bowed and invited the man in.

"Sir, why was he allowed in?" a merchant asked immediately, but the bailiff looked at the questioner with contempt, "He came here for other things, so don't block the door! Hurry up and leave!"

The merchants had no choice but to leave unwillingly, but some were smart enough to park their carriages far away and send people back to keep a close eye on the Salt Government Office.

And inside the Salt Yamen.

The handsome young businessman slowly followed the yamen runner and when they arrived at the yamen hall where salt permits were issued, they saw the salt administrator sitting there with the salt permit placed on the table.

"Sir." The bailiff stepped forward and whispered something, and the salt official looked at the young businessman.

"Where?" The salt official spoke concisely, his sharp eyes fell on the other person.

The young businessman smiled slightly, his peach blossom eyes were very bright, "The capital city."

"who?"

"The one who returns home."

"Which sect?"

The young businessman stepped forward and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "The Beggars' Sect."

The salt official's pupils shrank slightly, and then his eyes fell on the young businessman and looked him over. "New here?"

The young businessman smiled but said nothing.

The salt official looked him up and down, memorized his appearance, and then took out six short salt certificates from the two stacks on the desk and placed them on a corner of the desk, "Go over there to pay the tax."

After saying this, he closed his eyes and rested.

"Please wait a moment, sir." The young man took out a letter from his chest and handed it to the salt official, "Take a look at this."

The salt official looked at him suspiciously, then opened the letter. There was no words in the letter, only a complete red pattern. However, the salt official was shocked and stood up and bowed. "Forgive me for not recognizing the great man. How many salt permits do you want? Please take them yourself."

"No need to be so polite." The young businessman said calmly, and calmly picked up the stack of long-term invoices on the desk that were guaranteed to be valid for one year.

Under the slightly panicked gaze of the salt official, the young businessman put down the stack of salt permits and looked at him jokingly with a smile, "Don't panic, I'm just considering it."

After saying that, he took out twenty salt permits and pulled out two silver ingots from his sleeve, "This is the tax silver."

"Oh, sir, why do you have to torture me like this!" The salt official waved his hands and said with a flattering smile, "Take it back quickly, take it back quickly."

It was the first time he had seen someone with a full flower seal. The other party must be very powerful and was not someone a small salt official like him could afford to offend.

"No problem. It's the rule after all." The young businessman put the silver on the desk instead of the tax collection place, and turned and left.

If the other party does not accept the bribe, he will feel guilty about it. After all~

He is not a so-called beggar-free sect, nor is he a so-called merchant or a great man.

After getting on the carriage, the coachman drove the horses to the salt field. Unexpectedly, they were stopped not long after they went. They were stopped by the merchants from all over the country who were lingering in the distance and watching them.

"I guess this brother has got the salt permit. I wonder what channels you used?" A merchant standing beside the carriage curtain raised his hand to salute the young businessman in the carriage and asked loudly.

Most of these merchants are middle-aged. After all, those who can afford to pay the ten taels of silver tax and have the ability to transport salt are naturally people who have been doing business for more than ten years. The sudden appearance of a strange young man is hard not to be suspicious. He might have some other connections.

The carriage was silent for a while. Just as the merchant was about to ask, the carriage curtain was lifted, and the owner of the pair of peach blossom eyes showed his face, smiling casually and freely, "I didn't use any connections, I just got lucky and learned from others how to get the salt permit."

When the merchants heard this, they immediately said excitedly, "Little brother, can you share some? We will never treat you unfairly!"

After saying that, they all took out their business seals from their sleeves and said, "I guess this is your first time doing business, little brother? It's not easy to do business these days. If you want to last long, you need connections. Do you want money or connections?"

Selling salt could not bring as much profit as selling anything else. If ordinary merchants like them could get salt permits, they would naturally be grateful to this young businessman and be willing to provide him with some conveniences in his future business.

"Hmm..." The young businessman hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well, after all, there are still a lot of salt permits left in the Salt Office, and it has nothing to do with me anymore. I might as well make friends with you seniors."

He got off the car, motioned everyone to come closer, and slowly said, "If you want a salt permit, you need to know a few codes. To ensure your safety, we need to measure your wealth and confirm how many codes you need to listen to. If your wealth is less than 1,000 taels, you can listen to the first code and get two short permits; if your wealth is less than 3,000 taels, you can listen to the second code and get four short permits; if your wealth is more than 3,000 taels, you can listen to three codes."

"Everyone, I am thinking about you. Although the other party does not know how many people know the code, if you all say the three codes, the Salt Office will be suspicious and will definitely check your tickets and tooth stickers. If they find anything unusual, I am afraid everyone will lose their heads!"

The young businessman spoke in a deep voice, his words and expression showing consideration for everyone.

The merchants looked at each other, obviously aware of the risks.