171: 124: Return fully loaded!
Surround and kill Gui Qinshao!
171: 124: Return fully loaded!
Surround and kill Gui Qinshao!
Duke Zhi Ting initially revealed a look of shock, then angrily exclaimed, “Count Suo Lun, are you making a mockery of me?”
Over a million Gold Coins?
Exceeding the kingdom’s annual tax revenue?
Where in this world is there such a business?
Well, such a business does exist in this world, like Zhi Li’s royal capital Jin number, which has the right to issue gold notes, so it can indeed be said to be wealthy enough to rival a nation, and the gold coins it controls even exceed the state treasury.
But the money in the royal capital Jin number isn’t solely Zhi Li’s; it belongs to all the nobles and lords under heaven, with Zhi Li and Zhi Ning merely being the administrators and the largest shareholders.
He, Duke Zhi Ting, could be said to be wealthy enough to rival a nation as well, but earning twenty to thirty thousand Gold Coins in a year was already quite impressive.
In this world, a business earning over fifty thousand Gold Coins a year simply does not exist.
Therefore, it’s no wonder Duke Zhi Ting felt angry and mocked.
Suo Lun pulled out a pouch from his bosom and slowly poured the salt inside onto the table, saying, “Duke, this is the business we are about to engage in.”
“Isn’t that just salt?” Duke Zhi Ting disdainfully said, “I know, the Chaos Stone Island you are on seemed to originally be Gui Xingfu’s secret salt field, where he captured several thousand slaves to boil salt.
However, a mere salt field, a few thousand salt slaves can boil so much salt in a year, at most a bit over a million catties.
Salt indeed is a lucrative trade, as anyone in the world needs salt, yet only three countries can produce it: Rage Wave Kingdom, Flame Empire, and East Li Kingdom.
Just because these three countries have coastlines.
In this world, there is no well salt, no rock salt, one can only boil for salt.
Thus, only coastal countries can boil salt.
Speaking of the Rage Wave Kingdom alone, there are hundreds of salt fields, big and small, producing about two to three hundred million catties of salt a year.
This salt not only supplies the tens of millions of people in Rage Wave Kingdom but also is sold to Xiliang Kingdom and over a dozen other kingdoms, even reaching the Southern Barbarians.
Indeed, the Southern Barbarians also need to eat salt.
Even though they boil their own salt, being Barbarian Tribes, their production efficiency is far behind that of the Human Kingdoms.
And while they are sworn enemies, as long as there’s profit to be made, any trade can be conducted in this world.
Moreover, there are many valuable minerals in the Southern Barbarians that humans do not possess, perfect for trade.
So, the salt boiling trade is engaged in by coastal counties, nobles, and lords.
Moreover, in this world, the salt and iron monopoly system has not yet been established.
Anyone with a bit of strength can boil salt, including him, Duke Zhi Ting, who owns two salt fields and, like Gui Xingfu, uses slave labor for boiling salt.
After all, using slaves to boil salt is the only way to secure sufficient profit; if one were to hire commoners for this task, the costs would skyrocket.
However, some nobles who care about their reputation, as well as the official salt fields of the kingdom, are forced to employ professional salt workers.
So, boiling salt is a good business, but even a large salt field would be at the peak if it earned tens of thousands of Gold Coins a year.
The largest salt field in the entire Rage Wave Kingdom is in the Southeast Province, directly under the governor’s office.
It spans tens of thousands of acres with tens of thousands of salt workers, and yet, the annual yield of salt is only about ten million catties, which cannot compare to the ancient well salt fields in China.
Duke Zhi Ting asked, “How large is your salt field?”
Suo Lun said, “For the time being, only ten thousand acres, but with enough people, I can open up thirty, fifty, a hundred thousand acres of salt fields at any moment.”
Duke Zhi Ting sneered, “That desolate island of yours, not a blade of grass grows, and the trees on the mountains have long been cleared by Gui Xingfu.
Where will you find the wood to boil salt?”
This was the greatest challenge of the era: any salt field had to meet two conditions, abundant woodlands and proximity to the sea, hence the limitations on the scale of salt fields.
Duke Zhi Ting said, “Even if you have enough trees, even if you open up a hundred thousand acres of salt fields, that would require tens of thousands of slaves.
Where will you find so many slaves?
And even with that many slaves, how much salt could a hundred thousand acres produce in a year?
At most a bit more than ten million catties, at most earning ten thousand Gold Coins.”
Suo Lun looked at Duke Zhi Ting and said, “My salt field, one hundred thousand acres, needs only five thousand salt workers.
And the yield, it’s not ten million catties.”
“Not ten million catties, then how much?” asked Duke Zhi Ting.
“More than a hundred million catties,” Suo Lun replied.
Upon hearing this, Duke Zhi Ting was choked by his own saliva, he fumbled with his ears and exclaimed, “How much?”
“More than a hundred million catties,” Suo Lun reiterated.
“Impossible!” Duke Zhi Ting said with a scoff, “Don’t think I’m ignorant.
I have two salt fields of my own.
A ten-thousand-acre salt field at its peak yields only about a million catties, and that requires at least three thousand salt slaves.
Your hundred thousand acres needing only five thousand salt workers to produce over a hundred million catties of salt?
That’s utterly ludicrous.
And how much salt can you possibly boil with the few trees on your Chaos Stone Island?”
Suo Lun said, “I know Your Grace doesn’t believe me, which is why I invite you to send someone you trust to my Chaos Stone Island to see for themselves, then everything will become clear.”
Seeing Suo Lun’s earnest expression, Duke Zhi Ting was taken aback.
This Suo Lun had created miracles in the royal city that made both Zhi Ning and Zhi Li suffer losses; could it be that he truly had some miraculous technique?
However, a salt field producing hundreds of millions of catties of salt annually seemed too astonishing.
“Everything you’ve said is true?” Duke Zhi Ting asked.