Iron ores were also divided into grades, and the ones that the Wei Clan had were the best.
From the amount, Zhao Feng could easily tell that the Wei Family's refined iron ore could smelt even more iron.
Ever since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, salt and iron had been nationalized by the imperial court.
In order to deal with the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had thought of many ways to accumulate wealth. The nationalization of salt and iron was the most important way to accumulate wealth.
For example, salt was not allowed to be sold privately. If one wanted to buy it, they could only go to the place designated by the government.
Private individuals were also not allowed to make salt.
In the worst case scenario, the entire family would be affected.
Not to mention iron, all the iron mines were owned by the state.
Privately mining was death.
……
If one only looked at taxes, be it the Western Han or the Eastern Han, they were not considered high.
One thirtieth of the tax could be said to be very low.
However, other than taxes, you still had to spend a lot of money to buy salt and farming tools.
Taxes became secondary, while salt and iron became the bulk.
In fact, it was the same as modern tobacco.
The cost was not high, but it was expensive. What could you say?
Other than pinching his nose and admitting it, what else could he do?
The quality of life of the common people was poor, and there was always no food to eat. Why?
It wasn't just because of taxes, there were many other factors.
Just like the Yellow Turban Uprising, was it because of taxes? It wasn't.
This was because as long as the people did not starve to death, many people would choose to make do with it instead of risking their lives to rebel.
However, the problem was that the Luoyang regime had done nothing.
A huge drought broke out in Jizhou, and all the officials were deceived from top to bottom.
How many local officials would take the people seriously? They were all thinking about how to make money, and there were no officials to go to the disaster relief.
For the commoners, there were only two paths left.
They would either starve to death or rebel. There was still a chance of survival.
Many commoners were also forced to rebel for food.
Where were the so-called aristocrats and wealthy families?
They had enough land and water resources, so they were very fertile.
He could also go through merchant groups and earn more by smuggling.
But did ordinary people have such means?
Ordinary people relied on those few acres of land to survive.
……
The high price of salt and iron also caused many people to take risks for high profits.
There was a saying.
With a 50% profit, they would take risks. For a 100% profit, they would dare to trample on all human laws. With a 300% profit, they would dare to commit any crime and even risk being hanged.
And salt and iron would have a profit of more than 300%.
Zhao Feng also understood why the Wei Family's caravan would leave the city at night.
This was even with Wei Bao as the main registrar and someone protecting him.
However, even the biggest aristocratic family in Hedong County, the Wei family, did not dare to openly transport iron ore.
Because if they were caught, with so many iron ores, there was a high chance that the entire family would suffer.
……
Zhao Feng checked the rest of the carriages.
Among them, there were thirty cars that were all pulling iron ore.
The twenty carts were all carrying refined salt.
Salt is also divided into coarse salt and fine salt.
For example, ordinary people ate coarse salt, even poisonous coarse salt. If they ate too much, they would feel dizzy and nauseous. However, there was no other way. Who asked the people to be poor? They could only afford coarse salt.
As for fine salt, the price of refined salt was naturally higher. The common people could not afford it at all.
"Chief, these goods must be worth a lot, right? I've never seen such fine salt in my life.”Xu Huang said emotionally.
"Old Xu, we've really struck it rich this time. It's not an exaggeration to say that the goods in these fifty carriages can be exchanged for at least five hundred carriages of food.”
"It's indeed very valuable. It seems that the Wei family has a good relationship with the Xiongnu. Moreover, it must be a large tribe. Small tribes can't afford these goods at all..."
"But for us, this iron ore…"
Zhao Feng wanted to say that the iron ore was useless to them.
This was because these people did not know how to smelt iron, and this thing could not be sold because no one dared to accept it in the east of the river.
At this moment, the system's message came.
Ding!" Congratulations to the host for obtaining 2,000 kilograms of iron ore. System reward: Iron Smelting Technique.”
Zhao Feng immediately knew how to smelt iron.
From the simplest method of smelting iron using firewood to the more complicated method of smelting iron using water irrigation, there were even modern methods of smelting iron.
"Old Xu, are these ores really useful?" Zhao Feng asked excitedly.”
"These 8,000 catties of iron ore can be refined into at least 4,000 catties of iron. If it is made into weapons and armor, it can probably be used to equip 1,000 people.”
"My lord, but we don't know how to smelt iron.”
"So what? Did you forget my nickname? The mobile encyclopedia was not made up by bragging.”
"When Yang Feng comes back, bring the iron ore back to the mountain. I'll teach you how to smelt iron.”
Xu Huang was full of admiration for Zhao Feng.
This was also the reason why Xu Huang was so focused on Zhao Feng.
"By the way, Old Xu, where do you think the Wei family got the iron ore from? Moreover, you're doing so many at once."
"I don't know. Maybe they traded it from other places and then traded it with the Xiongnu to earn more profits.”
"Do you think that the Wei family discovered an iron mine and found someone to mine it before selling it to the Xiongnu?”
"What? No way! I've never heard of an iron mine in Hedong County."
"It's hard to say. When there's a chance, we'll capture a higher-up of the Wei family and ask him.”
As the two of them were chatting, Yang Feng returned.
Other than the hundred or so young men he brought, there were another hundred or so people, all of whom were old, weak, women, and children.
? Zhao Feng had nothing to say to these refugees.
All of them returned to Mount Whitewave together.
A group of more than three hundred people, along with fifty carriages of goods, returned to Mount Whitewave.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。