The price of salt in different periods and regions of the Ming Dynasty was different, and the fluctuations were relatively large.
Within Zhu Rong's fief, the prices varied according to the region.
In the past, when salt was at its most expensive, a catty of salt was equivalent to about 200 yuan. When it was cheap, it was equivalent to about 50 yuan.
From this price, it could be seen how scarce salt was at that time. For ordinary people, it was not an exaggeration to call it a luxury. Even at the cheapest time, it was equivalent to 50 yuan per catty.
The current price wasn't cheap either. It was about 150 yuan per catty.
At this moment, Zhu Xiong's subordinates began to bring refined salt, fine salt, and ordinary salt to sell to the various provinces and counties in the fief.
Refined salt was the highest grade, followed by fine salt. They were all exchanged from the system. Salt was a common salt on the market.
The first wave was refined salt and ordinary salt.
The price of refined salt was about 1000 yuan per catty. The price of ordinary salt followed the market price of 100 yuan per catty.
Soon, the refined salt that appeared on the market attracted everyone's attention.
Those who could afford this kind of refined salt were all rich and powerful people. How could ordinary people be willing to spend money to buy such expensive refined salt?
With the circulation of the refined salt, the news that the Seventh Prince had sealed the land spread throughout the entire fief.
As the salt merchants became more active in the fief, the news that King Qi was going to plant two new crops, sweet potatoes and potatoes, spread to many landowners.
The yield of these two new crops was extremely high. According to the salt seller, it could reach 100 stones per mu.
Whether it was the refined salt or the two new crops, they caused a huge sensation in the entire fief.
The potato was only introduced into the country at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Although it was carefully cultivated, because the quantity was too small, the expansion time was very slow. The potato did not save the fate of the Ming Dynasty. It was only during the Qianlong period that it was widely planted.
Sweet potatoes were introduced into China during the Wanli and Tianqi years of the Ming Dynasty, along with corn and other crops. They were commonly planted in Guangxi, Yunnan, and other provinces.
Because of its high yield, it was especially popular among the people.
But because of many external and internal reasons, sweet potatoes and corn couldn't be widely promoted in the end, and they couldn't save the Darming Dynasty.
The kind of sweet potato that Zhu Xi popularized was the sweet potato. The potatoes were also directly exchanged by the system and did not carry poison. He could directly plant them on a large scale. The number of potatoes and sweet potatoes he could exchange from the system was relatively limited.
It would be too wasteful to use it as food. It was most suitable to use it as a seed.
When the drought broke out in the land of the Three Jin this year, a large number of refugees came to Qi Land. Qi Land had already obtained a huge harvest, which was enough to deal with this natural disaster.
Then, the news would definitely reach the imperial court. At that time, these two crops would definitely attract the attention of the imperial court. No matter what kind of pressure he encountered, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was originally a farmer, would definitely spare no effort to promote them.
This was Zhu Xiong's initial plan!
It caused a huge commotion in Qi Land.
At first, everyone's attention was only on the refined salt because it was too fine. Compared to the coarse and yellowish salt, this refined salt was even more exquisite than the fine salt used in the palace.
The grains were fine and uniform, crystal clear, like a piece of art!
Compared to regular fine salt, its precision was completely different. It was on a completely different level!
One had to know that Qi Land was also one of the important places of production of salt.
A portion of the fine salt of the imperial court was paid as tribute from Qi.
The salt merchants of Qi had never seen such fine and beautiful salt.
The people in charge of selling were the servants of King Qi. According to them, this was the best salt in the world after King Qi had used special methods to grind it and make it a supply for high officials and nobles.
Although the price was 10 times more expensive than regular salt, it was definitely worth it.
This salt was indeed very popular. Although it was expensive, no matter which dynasty it was, there would always be people who could afford to consume it.
Compared to ordinary salt, the quantity of refined salt was relatively limited. Therefore, it quickly attracted the attention of dignitaries and rich merchants.
A small amount of refined salt wouldn't be able to hit the market price, but King Qi's fine salt soon began to be sold.
The moment the fine salt was released, the salt merchants could not sit still. This was because the quality of the fine salt was also very high, even much better than the ones in the palace. However, the price was only slightly higher than ordinary salt!
Once this fine salt was released, it immediately seized a large market share.
The price was about the same, but the quality of the fine salt was obviously much better. There were many impurities in the salt, and the grains were large. It was far less convenient to use than the fine salt.
Moreover, fine salt was a luxury that ordinary people did not dare to think about before. Now, it was about the same price as ordinary salt. Moreover, this was King Qi's business, so there was no risk in doing so!
It could be said that it was worth it to use this fine salt for weddings, funerals, gifts, and so on!
Although fine salt didn't replace salt, and the truly poor people still used salt most of the time, it had a huge impact on the profits of the salt merchants.
They were already in Qi Land and could not raise the price at will to make a huge profit.
In order to stabilize the market, they had to lower the price of salt to differentiate it from fine salt.
Since this was King Qi's source of income, the salt merchants naturally couldn't say anything. They could only allow him to plunder their market share. In King Qi's territory, no matter what background a mere salt merchant had, who would dare oppose King Qi?
At the same time that the fine salt became widespread, King Qi's second caravan also brought a second piece of news.
As long as it was a landlord in Qi Land, they would purchase high-yield sweet potatoes and potato seeds from King Qi!
Furthermore, they did not need to pay any silver for the first year's purchases. They only needed to sign a contract, and the Qi King Manor would get 30% of the harvest!
This was a huge temptation for every landlord!
He didn't need to pay any silver to get high-yield crops. There was no loss. All he needed to do was provide the land for the tenants to take care of, and then give King Qi thirty percent of the harvest.
It was a profitable business!
Although everyone was skeptical of the rumor that a hundred dans per mu was produced, the news had come from King Qi. What if it was true?!
This was especially true when King Qi had brought out refined and fine salt that no one had ever seen before. It was even better than the common salt that was being offered as tribute. Everyone was shocked by King Qi's methods.
Perhaps these two crops that could produce 100 dan per mu were real.
One by one, the landowners were tempted, and they reported their names and the amount of land they could provide to King Qi's caravan.
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