Alright, actually, there’s one very obvious downside to refining white salt.
And that is: the national treasury will earn less money.
Why?
Because salt is a government monopoly. Once toxic salt is refined and tastes better than green salt or five-colored salt—and it’s cheaper—who among the nobles and officials, even if just to save money, would refuse that?
No one complains about having too much money.
Maybe five-colored salt will still serve as a status symbol for the imperial family and nobility. When entertaining guests publicly, they’ll still use five-colored salt, but in private—who would know they’re using white salt?
One source of revenue goes down, so naturally, another needs to be added to the treasury.
Coincidentally, there’s a luxury item very similar to white salt—white sugar. Would Wei Yu pass that up?
Of course not!
When Wei Yu entered Jiaozhou, he already asked along the way about sugarcane cultivation.In Jiaozhou, normally, sugarcane planted in spring matures between May and July, and sugarcane planted in autumn matures by December.
Wei Yu arrived in Jiaozhou in March. Now it’s almost July—right when sugarcane is ripening. If he doesn’t start collecting sugarcane from farmers now to press into sugar, then when?
Of course, that’s how it sounds, but in reality, it’s not that simple.
He’s broke. He not only can’t afford to buy sugarcane from farmers in bulk, but refining white sugar is also not as simple as purifying white salt. The process is more complicated and requires more equipment, which he can’t afford either.
He has to wait until the first batch of white salt sells and earns some money.
Don’t ask where the money for the white salt came from. If you must know, the money for buying toxic salt and equipment came from Guo Yajun, who fished it out of Hu Yong’s private stash…
Wei Yu admits—it’s shameful for a prince to be like this.
But who told the old man (the emperor) to only give him two thousand taels?!
Like throwing a bone to a beggar.
Besides, Wei Yu never intended to spend that two thousand taels anyway. He traveled all this way and worked so hard—shouldn’t that money be his hard-earned wage??
Oh, right—there’s also the 1,200 taels from selling glass. That money can be used, at least to temporarily buy some sugarcane to let the workers test the process.
Across different regions, the price of white sugar is about 14 to 16 times the price of rice. In Jiaozhou, rice is around 6 wen per jin, and sugar sells for 87 wen per jin.
Since this is a sugar-producing region, sugar here is still cheaper than in other places.
Because his Second Brother also has the mission of driving sugar prices down, Wei Yu naturally won’t cause any disruption.
On the contrary, he thinks his sugar sales are actually helping his Second Brother.
By the time Wei Yu starts selling sugar, he will have already been selling bottled white salt for a while.
White sugar and white salt look very similar. If they’re in glass bottles, and you don’t look closely, who would know it’s sugar?
Plus, since he sold white salt first, after a while people will automatically assume what’s in the bottles is still salt. Who would guess it’s sugar?
And during that time, it’s easy to tell who has money and who doesn’t from the purchase registry.
Wei Yu plans to sell sugar to wealthy merchants first—and discreetly sell them the sugar-making method in the name of the court.
As long as those people aren’t fools and want to make money, they definitely won’t offend the court by openly spreading news about the sugar, even if they know buying the sugar-making method will offend the Yizhou noble clans. Who cares about them?
One is in Jiaozhou, the other in Yizhou—they’re far apart, with the court in between. Even a fool can see the court is secretly selling sugar-making rights to strike at the Yizhou nobles!
What kind of idiot would choose to go against the court?
They should be thrilled the court is selling them the sugar-making method. Why waste time doing anything other than making a fortune in silence?
And once the merchants in Jiaozhou get hold of the sugar-making method, with aligned interests, the flow of white sugar can be effectively controlled.
As long as the court stays quiet, these merchants definitely won’t sell sugar in Jiaozhou. They’ll choose other regions.
And because Wei Yu had already set a fixed sugar price, merchants, afraid to offend the court but eager to profit, will only sell the sugar they make using the recipe elsewhere—not in Jiaozhou.
The prices they set will definitely not exceed the price set by Yizhou’s noble clans.
So, the sugar price set by Wei Yu as the court’s representative becomes the floor, while the Yizhou nobles’ price becomes the ceiling. The actual prices at which merchants sell sugar will fluctuate between the two.
Why is trade profitable? It’s all about reselling goods.
In ancient times, with poor transportation and slow information flow, the fact that sugar from Jiaozhou is cheaper is undeniable, even if other regions don’t hear about it right away.
With identical goods, people always compare prices. Everyone wants a bargain.
Sugar coming from Jiaozhou will only sell better and better. Meanwhile, the sugar produced by Yizhou nobles, being expensive, will have no buyers.
Will the Yizhou nobles notice something’s wrong when they inexplicably start losing profits? Will they trace it back to Jiaozhou? Wei Yu doesn’t care how they feel.
Even if he did care, it’d probably be a few months down the line.
All he needs to know is: sugar prices will fall because of this. That’s enough.
What he needs to do now is post a notice to recruit talent!
—
Ziyang County, public notice board.
A new notice had just been posted by the authorities. The townsfolk were about to do as they usually did—wait until the officers left and then go check it out. But unexpectedly, the officers didn’t leave. One of them stood aside and started shouting.
“The official has posted a notice—seeking people who can read, do arithmetic, are meticulous and calm. Regardless of age or gender, if you meet the criteria, you can apply at the yamen—”
The young officer called out loudly, back straight, without flushing or panting. His demeanor was quite unlike that of an ordinary clerk at the county office.
That’s because he was one of the guards Wei Yu had left behind for Guo Yajun.
Once he finished announcing the notice, he heard the people whispering in surprise and tried to slip away.
But he was too late—someone unafraid of the minor officials shouted a question after him.
“Sir, what does ‘apply’ mean?!”
The guard: “…It means they’re hiring. If you think you meet the notice’s requirements, you can go to the county office.”
This time, the meaning was more or less understood. Taking advantage of the fact that no one stopped them, the guard slipped away.
Once he left, the townsfolk’s chatter grew louder, and some rushed up to see the notice.
“What does it say?”
“The government’s hiring for something? I hope it’s not conscription. I’m meticulous, but I can’t read! And what’s this about arithmetic?”
“Hey, anyone of any age or gender who qualifies is fine? It doesn’t say what the job is—feels a little fishy…”