Zhu Yuanzhang also understood the people's livelihood and economy.
Not to mention his early years as a monk, even after he became the emperor, he often visited in disguise to understand the people's lives.
Therefore, when he heard that he could earn 50,000 taels of silver a year by selling salted vegetables, he was shocked.
Even though he was the emperor, he felt that it was too exaggerated.
Qin Mu didn't answer Zhu Yuanzhang's question. Instead, he brought him around the kitchen and went out through the back door of the restaurant.
Zhu Yuanzhang came out from the back door and was shocked by the scene in front of him.
Compared to the bustling customers in front, the backyard was simply overcrowded.
Moreover, most of them were commoners dressed in simple clothes, and few wore silk.
These people were all queuing up obediently, waiting to buy pickles.
The salted vegetables were placed in large vats, weighed, collected, packaged, and sold by more than ten women.
"So many people are buying pickles?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbstruck, while Qin Mu remained calm.
"Because buying salted vegetables is cheaper than buying salt!”
"Besides, I don't only sell salted vegetables, I also sell soy sauce.”
"The cheapest salt in the Imperial Court costs three hundred wen per catty. High-grade green salt costs more than one tael of silver.”
"The salted vegetables here are only thirty wen per catty.”
"The sauce is a little more expensive. It costs fifty wen per catty.”
"As long as the common people are not stupid, of course they know what is worth buying!”
"Uhh…"
Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless.
If he were a commoner, he would rather buy salted vegetables than the official salt of the imperial court.
However, another question surfaced in his mind.
Did this kid not use salt to make pickles?
Where did he get so much salt?
"Big Sun, don't you need to spend money on salt?”
When Qin Mu heard that, he shushed again.
"Shh!"
"Lower your voice!"
"To tell you the truth, we have a workshop outside that can produce salt ourselves!”
Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.
Salt tax was one of the country's important tax sources. This kid actually sold salt privately. This was a serious crime that could be beheaded!
Even though he was his eldest grandson who had been lost for many years, Zhu Yuanzhang was still somewhat unhappy.
"Eldest Sun!"
"You're breaking the law!"
Qin Mu smiled indifferently.
"Grandpa Huang, the dynasty only said that it is not allowed to sell illegal salt. It did not say that it is illegal to boil salt!”
"Besides, which eye of yours saw me selling illegal salt?”
"I'm just selling pickles. It's not illegal to sell pickles!”
As a law student, the first thing Qin Mu did when he came to Great Ming was to study the law of Great Ming.
In his view, the Great Ming Law was like a sieve, full of loopholes.
It was simply too easy to earn money legally.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and realized that it was true!
This kid dared to blatantly sell salted vegetables. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, there was really nothing they could do to him!
However, when I go back, I'll change the law. Even selling salted vegetables has to pay taxes. Let's see how you play, hmph!
Zhu Yuanzhang understood the crux of the matter and no longer bothered about selling pickles. Instead, he took out a memorial from his sleeve.
"Kid, look at this thing. If you were the emperor, what do you think you should do?”
"What is this?"
Qin Mu took the memorial and opened it to take a look. He was so frightened that he closed it with a smack.
Seeing that no one noticed him and Old Yellow, he pulled Old Yellow out of the backyard and came to a quiet courtyard beside the restaurant.
This small courtyard was one of Qin Mu's properties. Because he had to take part in the capital and academy examinations some time ago, he had specially renovated it, and it was fully furnished.
Qin Mu pulled Zhu Yuanzhang to the small courtyard and said with a face full of lingering fear.
"Old Master, do you want to die?!"
"This is a memorial, a document given to the emperor by an official. Only the emperor and the officials in court can read it!”
"Who are we to look at this?”
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw Qin Mu being so careful.
This child usually looked quite bold. Why had he become so timid now?
"It doesn't matter, I have an errand in the palace, so taking this thing isn't taboo!”
When Qin Mu heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, his hanging heart relaxed a little.
"Yo!"
"I couldn't tell that you're a scholar!”
"If that's the case, I'll help you take a look.”
Qin Mu opened the memorial and casually read through it. The content was very simple, it was just a memorial asking for tax reduction when encountering hail. He then passed it to Zhu Yuanzhang with ease.
"There's too little information. There's no way to determine if there's a disaster.”
"It would be best if we have the official documents of the other prefectures and counties in Bei Zhi Li to verify each other. If we can send people to investigate, that would be even better.”
"Otherwise, with just this document, we can reduce the taxes here.”
"Then the other prefectures and counties will follow suit. Wouldn't our 13 provinces suffer disasters every year and suffer droughts everywhere?”
Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and clapped excitedly.
"Eldest Sun is absolutely right!"
"As an emperor, you have to be observant. You can't be deceived by those corrupt officials!”
"I still have a memorial here. Take a look and see if there's any problem!”
Qin Mu took it and saw that it was still a memorial from Northern Zhili. However, Hejian Prefecture said that there was a locust plague and requested for tax reduction.
With this memorial, Qin Mu could basically determine that at least one of Hejian Prefecture and Baoding Prefecture was lying.
"Grandpa Huang, at least one of these two memorials is lying.”
"Because no natural disaster exists in isolation!”
"For example, it is almost impossible for a locust plague to only exist in a county or prefecture.”
"Once it appears, it will often be a major disaster that affects several provinces.”
"Relatively speaking, hailstones are more random.”
"But if there is hail in Baoding Prefecture, then the frost in Liaodong will definitely come early this year, which may cause a large area of production to decrease.”
" Hail is a natural disaster that occurs when the water vapor in the air reaches a certain level and is suddenly affected by cold temperatures…"
"These natural disasters mostly occur in mountainous areas. The more complex the terrain, the easier it is to occur.”
"Within the territory of the Baoding Prefecture, there is a Langya Mountain, which has the natural conditions to form hailstones.”
"However, the range of the hail disaster is small. It's usually about a few thousand feet in diameter. It's impossible for the entire residence to be affected.”
"Therefore, you suggest that the Emperor personally send someone to investigate.”
"In my opinion, even if there is hail in Baoding Prefecture, it will only affect one county of Baoding Prefecture at most. It won't be as exaggerated as the disaster that the memorial said…"
Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Qin Mu's eloquence, and the more he listened, the brighter his eyes became.
There were many things that even he, the emperor, was stunned to hear.
Although he did not understand the terms such as water vapor saturation and low temperature.
However, he understood the child's conclusion very well!
This child was actually able to see so many things through just two memorials. He was much, much stronger than his other grandson who was raised in the palace and studied under various great teachers.
"Our good eldest grandson, you're too accurate!”
"Hahaha!"
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]