Datang: Showdown, your father and I are Li Shimin

Chapter 61 Unit Price: Fifty Wen

"This humble minister will live up to His Majesty's trust!" Wei Zheng saluted Li Er and was about to leave the imperial study.

Li Er hurriedly helped Wei Zheng up: "Wei Xiang has done a lot of hard work this time. After this is done, I will reward you well!"

After saying that, he patted Wei Zheng's shoulder very affectionately.

In the past, Li Er would not have dared to do this. Whenever Li Er behaved a little bit beyond the etiquette of monarchs and ministers, Wei Zheng would immediately move out the etiquette and laws of the past dynasties, and give Li Er a private lesson on "How the Emperor Was Made" class.

Now that Wei Zheng has been in contact with Li Ze so many times, it seems that he has begun to ignore these red tapes.

Wei Zheng immediately turned around and left the imperial study. After Li Er and other ministers explained some other matters, the small meeting in the imperial study dispersed.

Wei Zheng took more than a dozen retainers, pulled a cart with several large boxes of copper coins, gold pancakes and several carts of silk, and walked towards a certain black market.

As soon as they reached the entrance of the market, the salt dealers saw Wei Zheng and a few ordinary-dressed attendants following him from a distance.

The donkey carts creaked into the market, and no vendor dared to speak to them.

After all, it was rumored from house to house that Wei Zheng was not a man to be provoked, who would dare to offend someone who even dared to scold His Majesty?
The hawkers stood aside blankly, like children seeing adults, not daring to show their breath.

It wasn't until Wei Zheng parked the cart in the center of the market that he looked around.

The eyeliner who used to work on behalf of Fang Xuanling had already made it clear what the origin of this group of traders was, and who belonged to which family and who were ordinary traders was basically clear.

Wei Zheng walked towards a vendor with a straight face.

Seeing that it was Wei Zheng, the merchant felt scared and nervous, but he had no choice but to go up to him.

"Doctor Wei, why are you here in this small market?" The peddler greeted Wei Zheng with a nervous expression and a smile, and walked over.

"Because you drove up the salt price, the salt price in Chang'an City and even the surrounding state capitals skyrocketed. Your Majesty now has the refined salt production method, and decided to adjust the salt price and bring the salt market back to the imperial court. Now let the old man come to collect your coarse salt. , hand it over to the court." Wei Zheng had a stern face, looking like he was going to eat people.

After hearing this, the hawker suddenly became happy and bowed his waist and said thanks: "Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Doctor Wei. Your Majesty is wise. Now I am worried that no one cares about this coarse salt, and I am worried that it will be ruined by my own hands." Since His Majesty wants to collect the salt market, the common people must do their best."

The peddler almost jumped up for joy.

Since a son gave the price of three hundred Wen the day before yesterday, almost no one has ever asked the price. Now His Majesty is willing to accept salt, even if it is two hundred Wen a bucket, they are willing to pay!
Wei Zheng's stern face softened slightly, and he said, "No matter how much coarse salt you have on hand, the old man will take all the coarse salt in your hands back to the imperial court at the price of fifty cents a bucket."

"Ah! Fifty cents per dou?" The vendor was stunned for a moment and stood there blankly, as if his legs were filled with lead.

The complexions of the rest of the people also changed suddenly, revealing expressions of heartache.

After many traders recruited their servants and whispered a few times, the servants left the market quickly all the way, presumably to join their family.

Wei Zheng's face suddenly turned darker when he saw everyone's unwillingness, and he looked around at all the vendors in the market like a fierce god.

Even those who weren't selling salt were terrified by Wei Zheng's look.

"Why? Do you think the price is too low?" Wei Zheng turned to look at these vendors with a playful face: "I think you have hundreds of stones of salt hoarded on hand, and it has been nearly five days now. There are very few people who come to bargain, why?"

"The refined salt from the Royal Salt Store is much better in quality and price than these coarse salts, and it is distributed to the common people for free every day. Naturally, no one will come to you to buy these inferior coarse salts."

"Now, if His Majesty hadn't shown great kindness, no one would have taken the batch of coarse salt you have on hand. If the coarse salt gets damp and moldy after a long time, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult to sell it at that time."

Speaking of this, Wei Zheng paused for a moment, and his face became gloomy again: "You have to know, what does His Majesty mean by bringing the salt market back to the court?"

"If His Majesty takes action to rectify it, the batch of coarse salt in your hands may be completely turned over as stolen goods. At that time, not only will you not be able to win profits, but you will be imprisoned for your crimes. The gains outweigh the losses!"

"Fifty coins a bucket is the most suitable price now, otherwise, you will wait for this batch of salt to be turned in as stolen goods, or it will rot in your own warehouse!"

Wei Zheng made a final threat, and turned to leave.

The peddler hurriedly stepped forward and bowed deeply to Wei Zheng's back: "Doctor Wei, Doctor Wei! The grassroots are willing to cooperate! Willing to cooperate with His Majesty in collecting the salt market."

While talking, he quickly ordered the boy to pull the donkey cart from a distance.

With the beginning of this peddler, many people around walked towards Wei Zheng and took out their account books.

Wei Zheng waved to the crowd behind him, one of them was holding a counting board, the other was holding the ledger, and walked towards Wei Zheng.

"Doctor Wei, Caomin only has 54 shi on hand, so if it is 27 ren a dou, it is [-] guan." The hawker panicked and asked someone to pull a long string of donkey carts to the entrance of the market.

"Doctor Wei, the villain's leftover coarse salt is still at home, I will send someone to bring it here."

Wei Zheng nodded slightly, and then the people standing around Wei Zheng began to send people to deliver the coarse salt hoarded at home, and these were basically people ranging from tens to hundreds of shi.

The really big fish haven't taken the bait yet, or in other words, some are still unwilling to take the bait.

Among the first group of people to leave in the black market, they were basically the eyeliners of the major families and the Pei family.

These little servants trotted all the way towards their master's mansion, not daring to delay for a moment.

In Pei's study room, the servant stood panting by the door and cupped his hands towards Pei Ji and Pei Xiu who were inside the room: "Pei Xiang, son, Wei Zheng sent someone to collect the salt!"

Pei Ji and Pei Xiu's father and son were shocked almost at the same time. When their eyes collided, they almost saw the horror in each other's eyes.

"Wei Zheng? He's going to collect salt? What's the price?" Pei Ji asked three questions in a row, and the two men's sharp eyes were fixed on the boy.

The boy gasped for a long time, before he calmed down and said: "Doctor Wei bid fifty cents a bucket, saying that the imperial court wants to charge the salt market, and now many people are changing hands."

The servant repeated Wei Zheng's words verbatim to Pei Ji and his son, and immediately asked, "Mr. Pei, shall we also hand over all the coarse salt to Wei Zheng?"

After finishing speaking, the boy looked up at Pei Ji, only to see that Pei Ji's face turned blue, purple, and pale, and his face was very ugly.

Pei Ji clutched the corner of the table, his nails digging into the wood. He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words from his mouth: "This farmer! This little beast!"

"Fuck you! Even if the old man really let this batch of coarse salt rot in his hands, he wouldn't give it to that old thief Wei Zheng at the price of fifty cents a bucket!"

(End of this chapter)