Chapter 427: Getting Deeper
After a while, the wine and food came up. Lu Miao was the youngest, so he grabbed the wine pot and poured wine for the three people.

Lu Miao was a little worried and said, “Today’s exam questions are too simple. Any scholar who has studied in a primary school can answer them. Why do you set questions like this? How can you select the best ones?”

Xiao Ning picked up his wine glass and said with a smile: “Brother, do you know who the real examiner is?”

“Who?” they asked in unison.

Xiao Ning said somewhat proudly: “Prime Minister Gao Jiong!”

“what!”

Lu Miao and Xie Jun looked at each other, both stunned.

“You never thought that Prime Minister Gao would be our chief examiner. Do you think he would make such a mistake? He gave us questions from a primary school.”

“What’s the test?”

“Calligraphy test!”

Xiao Ning said slowly: “As the saying goes, you can tell a person’s character and ability from his handwriting. If a person’s handwriting is messy, the length is not neat, and there are corrections everywhere, then this person has a confused mind, acts rashly, and is unwilling to work hard to practice calligraphy. Such a person will definitely not be admitted!”

Lu Miao nodded, “Brother Xiao is right, I offer a toast to you!”

“Let’s drink together and hope we can all be admitted!”

“cheers!”

The three of them clinked their glasses and drank them all.

Liu Wenjing hurried to Gao Jiong’s official residence. Although Liu Wenjing was Xiao Xia’s chief of staff, in front of Gao Jiong, Liu Wenjing always regarded himself as a student and a junior. He learned Gao Jiong’s ideas in handling government affairs and his principles and methods of doing things. After just over 20 days of getting along, Liu Wenjing felt that he had benefited a lot.

“Mr. Gao, take a look at these papers!”

Gao Ying put down his pen and asked with a smile, “Is the selection over?”

Liu Wenjing nodded. “Your Highness means that the worst ones should be removed and the others can be kept. The extra ones can be used as reserve clerks and will be used next year.”

Gao Ying took the two stacks of test papers and looked at the smaller stack. “Are these the eliminated ones?”

“Exactly. The calligraphy is terrible, the arrangement is illogical, and some of the writing is completely scribbled over.”

Gao Ying flipped through it and threw it aside. It was indeed very bad. He flipped through the others and found that they were generally very neat, with good handwriting and clean papers. Not to mention whether the dictation was correct, the papers alone were pleasing to the eye.

“How many people are ready to be admitted?”

“Two hundred and fifty-four!”

Gao Ying thought for a moment and asked, “Do we have so many dormitories to accommodate them?”

“Yes, the county government has agreed to donate the Jiangdu County Warrior Academy to us. There are more than 400 dormitories, which is enough for everyone.”

Gao Jiong nodded, “Since Your Highness wants to reserve them, let’s accept all 254 of them! They will all be designated as third-level clerks, and then assigned to the Personnel Office. Your Highness’s Secretariat will be given priority.”

“Mr. Gao isn’t going to choose?” Liu Wenjing asked with a smile.

Gao Jiong sighed, “The construction of the canal has already begun, and there are leaks everywhere. I need to fix the leaks, but I really don’t have time. Please choose for me! I don’t have high requirements. I just want someone with good character and a clean family background. As for ability, I can cultivate it.”

“I understand!” Liu Wenjing turned and left. Gao Jiong continued to pick up his pen and think. He was now considering how to improve the dredging plan for the canal.

Liu Wenjing came to the official room of the Prince of Jin again and met Du Ruhui. Du Ruhui smiled and said, “I was just about to go find the envoy. His Highness is receiving guests. Please join us.”

“Who are you meeting?”

“Xiao Gui, the head of the Xiao family!”

Liu Wenjing nodded and quickly walked into Prince Jin’s official room.

Xiao Xia was meeting Xiao Gui. When he saw Liu Wenjing coming in, he waved his hand and said, “Zhao Ren is here just in time. Let’s sit down together!”

Liu Wenjing and Xiao Gui greeted him and sat aside.

Xiao Xia then smiled and said to Xiao Gui: “I asked the master to come here today mainly because I want to learn about the salt industry in Jiangdu. Please introduce it to me!”

From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangdu was the transshipment and distribution center of the world’s sea salt. In the Tang Dynasty, it was the headquarters of the Salt and Iron Administration. Xiao Xia was concerned about the salt industry, so how could he exclude Jiangdu County?
Xiao Gui smiled and said, “Your Highness, you lived in Jiangdu for so many years. Did you feel that Jiangdu had something to do with salt?”

Xiao Xia shook his head. “I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t even smell the scent of salt in the air!”

“That’s right. Jiangdu is just like other counties. Ordinary people need salt for cooking, pickling vegetables and making sauces. Other than that, they don’t need salt. So ordinary people, like Your Highness, don’t feel the existence of salt. But it’s different for merchants. In the eyes of merchants, Jiangdu is the world of salt and rice. Salt and rice are everywhere, but these salt and rice are stored in warehouses outside the city and don’t enter the city. It can be said that Jiangdu is the world’s largest salt and rice distribution center. It is still the same now. There are more than a hundred small businesses in Jiangdu, 70% of which are engaged in salt and rice business.”

Xiao Xia waved his hands and said, “I don’t care about rice, I only want to know about salt. I want to know what the process of selling salt is? And how does Guanlong control the salt business in Jiangnan? Does the head of the family know?”

“Of course I know that salt has to be dried on the seashore, so first of all, the salt owner, that is, the person who dries the salt, sells it to the big salt merchants at a price of a few coins per dou of salt. This is called the first-level salt merchant. The big salt merchants then increase the price and sell it to small and medium-sized salt merchants at twenty times the price. This is called the second-level salt merchant. The small and medium-sized salt merchants then transport it to the counties and sell it to the county salt merchants. This is called the third-level salt merchant. The county salt merchants then sell it to the retailers. This is called the fourth-level salt merchant. The retailers finally sell it to ordinary families. In the end, each dou of salt costs about 120 coins, which is equivalent to 10 coins per jin.”

“But I heard from Xiao Lin that a pound of salt costs fifty cents.”

Xiao Gui shook his head. “That’s the price of refined salt. Ten cents per pound refers to coarse salt. Coarse salt tastes very light and is not good for the body. Eating it will make you sick. But it’s mainly because it’s cheap. A family uses about a dou of salt a month. People with better conditions eat refined salt, which is five times more expensive. But even if it’s fifty cents per pound, what’s that to a wealthy family?”

“Does the Xiao family in Jiangdu also do the salt business?”

Xiao Gui sighed and said, “More than a decade ago, among the four major salt merchants in Jiangnan, the Xiao family ranked second. This Xiao family refers to the sum of the three families of Jiangdu Xiao family, Jinling Xiao family and Jiangning Xiao family. Behind us is the former King of Jin, who is the current emperor. But since the outbreak of the Double Kings case, the Xiao family’s salt business has been shrinking. When you were in Jiangdu, Xiao Xia had already retreated to the bottom of the top ten.”

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and asked, “Master, do you mean that the so-called four major salt merchants in Jiangnan are actually second-tier salt merchants?”

“Of course. We have never dealt with salt owners. We buy our salt from big salt merchants and then sell it to county salt merchants along the canal and the Yangtze River.”

Xiao Xia thought for a moment and asked again, “Then why did the Xiao family’s ranking drop to the bottom ten after the Two Kings Case?”

“Your Highness has asked the key point. What is the basis for ranking high? In fact, it depends on how much salt you can get and how much salt you can sell. Who are the top salt merchants? Your Highness should know! In the past, they were several major families in Jiangnan, and later they became Guanlong nobles. Who are the county salt merchants? On the surface, they are wealthy families in the counties, but in fact they are closely related to the high-ranking officials of the counties. When the King of Jin was demoted, we couldn’t get salt, and the county salt merchants didn’t want us, so of course our ranking dropped sharply.”

Xiao Xia then understood what Xiao Lin meant by the depth of the water. It not only involved the Guanlong nobles, but also the wealthy families in various counties. No wonder, since the imperial court did not want the big piece of fat meat called salt, it was naturally shared by the powerful at all levels.

“I also heard that the salt merchants have an army. What does that mean?”

Xiao Gui stared at Xiao Xia for a long while with his eyes wide open. “Do you still need to ask this question? Your Highness knows it better than anyone else!”

“The head of the family is a samurai?”

“Of course. What do families need warriors for? Isn’t it to protect the salt? At the peak of the Xiao family’s history, there were a thousand warriors. By the time you were there, the family had already declined and only had three hundred left.”

Xiao Xia was confused before, but now he understands many things.

(End of this chapter)