However, before leaving Pubanjin, Cao Liang wrote two letters. One was an official document from the court. Cao Liang reported directly to Cao Shuang about the illicit salt case that occurred in Pubanjin. The other was a letter from home and was sent to Gaolinghou.

Of the government.

Cao Liang's letter at home stated that he had accepted a new official position and would go to Bingzhou to quell the Xiongnu rebellion. He could not go home for the time being. Cao Liang asked his family to transport some money and grain to Hedong County to facilitate his recruitment of troops.

Recruiting soldiers in this era is actually not difficult. As long as you have food and pay, naturally many strong men will flock to you.

Although Hedong County is an important place in the heart of Wei State and can be regarded as a peaceful zone, in order to cope with the ever-expanding war and palace construction and other expenses, the imperial court imposed exorbitant taxes and levies in an endless stream. In the good years, the common people may be able to make ends meet, but

If God is not kind to him, life will be difficult for the people. They will be hungry and cold, and sell their children and daughters. This kind of thing often happens.

Therefore, in this era, serving as a soldier was still a promising career. According to the regulations of the imperial court, as long as one male member of the family served as a soldier, the household would be exempted from corvee service and would also be given certain tax exemptions.

However, in the Three Kingdoms era, it was no longer like the melee between princes at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, where you could pull up an army at will. Most of the soldiers in this era were from military families. Ordinary civilians who wanted to be soldiers had no chance.

It's his turn.

This time Cao Liang went to Hedong to recruit troops, which would break the Wei army's precedent of recruiting troops only from military households. He planned to select the best among civilians and increase the army's food and salary by 20 to 30% to attract more able men to join the army.

.

Although Cao Shuang has promised to provide the five schools of the Northern Army with an establishment of 10,000 people and will provide 10,000 people with food and salary, this is only the most basic. The additional food and salary will need to be paid by Cao Liang out of his own pocket.

Of course, Cao Liang is not short of money now. The income of five stones alone is enough to support an army of tens of thousands of people, so Cao Liang specifically asked Gaoling Mansion to escort the money and grain to facilitate him as soon as possible.

The land began to recruit troops.

After all, although Cao Shuang has ordered the Ministry of War to allocate military supplies to Cao Liang, Cao Liang knows that the Wei State's bureaucratic system operates extremely slowly. By the time they transport food and salary supplies to Hedong County, the day lilies will probably be cold.

.

Therefore, you have to rely on yourself first for everything.

Now Cao Liang hurried to Anyi, but Han Jian, the governor of Hedong, was like an ant on a hot pot, restless and restless.

He had also just received the news of Han Zhang's accident. It was like a thunderbolt from the sky, leaving Han Jian almost stunned.

Selling illicit salt is a serious crime. As the governor of Hedong, how could Han Jian not know about it and break the law knowingly? It would be an even higher crime.

There are salt ponds in Hedong County, which has always been a major salt-producing county and is relatively close to Luoyang, so most of the salt used in Luoyang comes from Hedong.

Due to the imperial court's monopoly on salt, the Salt Pond was not under the jurisdiction of the Hedong prefect. Instead, the imperial court appointed the salt governor to manage it. All salt production, transportation, and sales were handled by the salt governor.

.

Han Jian had been the governor of Hedong for so many years, so he naturally coveted the salt pond in the county. After all, it was not an ordinary pond, and the water scooped out was worth a lot of copper coins.

But greedy, Han Jian did not dare to take risks easily to engage in private salt. In Hedong County, he could cover the sky with one hand, but outside Hedong County, others may not be able to buy his account, but salt is something that can only be sold.

Only when it goes to other counties or even Luoyang can it produce value, so for many years, Han Jian has been hesitant to take action.

It wasn't until the arrival of Yipinju's new manager Hou Cheng a few months ago that Han Jian changed his mind.

Hou Cheng was the chief steward of Yipinju appointed by Sima Yi himself, taking over the position of Mrs. Ru Bai Lingjun. After Hou Cheng took office, his first task was to reorganize Yipinju's business and restore Yipinju's efficiency.

Yipinju's main income previously came from Wushisan, but after Cao Liang's Xiaoyao Wushisan became popular, Yipinju's Wushisan sales plummeted, which directly led to Yipinju's collapse.

Of course, Hou Cheng can no longer follow the old path. If he wants to reorganize Yipinju's business, he must find another way and change Yipinju's business direction.

What business is the most profitable? Of course Hou Cheng knows that as long as it is prohibited by the imperial court, it is the most profitable business.

Others may consider the risks of doing this kind of business. After all, if they fail, they will lose their heads. Hou Cheng does not need to think too much. After all, with the powerful backing of the Sima family and the prohibitions and laws of the court, he is completely

Can be trampled into mud.

So Hou Cheng deliberately approached Han Jian and conspired with him to sell illegal salt.

At the beginning, Han Jian was still worried. He was worried that if the matter was leaked and the court held him accountable, it would not only result in dismissal from office, but may even lead to the death penalty.

Hou Cheng moved out of Sima Yi, claiming that with Sima Yi behind his back, who would dare to punish them?

Han Jian weighed it up. Sima Yi was the emperor of the dynasty and held a high position. As long as he had his support behind him, was he still afraid of any injustice?

So Han Jian quickly agreed to Hou Cheng's proposal. According to their division of labor, Han Jian was responsible for the cooking and refining of private salt, while the transportation was handed over to Han Jian's nephew Han Zhang. He happened to have a fleet that traveled the Yellow River all year round.

Shuidao and Yipinju are responsible for the safety of the fleet after entering Luoyang and the sale of private salt.

Although Han Jian could only get 20% of the profit, Han Zhang would get 10%, and the remaining 70% was exclusive to Yipinju, but Han Jian knew that the private salt sales relied on the big tree Sima Yi. After leaving Hedong County,

Han Zhang's fleet can still travel unimpeded, which is all the credit of the Sima family, so he is already satisfied if he gets 70% from others and 30,000 from himself.

What's more, this is 30% of the entire private salt sales profit, which is definitely a huge amount that he can't imagine.

In Hedong County, he is the leader among thousands of people, with one hand covering the sky. Even if the salt management captain is not under his control, he will look down upon him after meeting him, so Han Jian can confidently and boldly send people to cook salt privately.

Then it was transported to Heyin by land, and then loaded onto ships from Heyin. This batch of private salt was transported along the Yellow River waterway to Luoyang Ferry, Xiaopingjin and other places, where there was naturally a buyer to take over.

After doing this for several months, it was completely smooth sailing and the journey was safe. After all, in Hedong County, no one dared to check the Han family's ship. When they arrived in Luoyang, they were obviously taken care of all the way. In short,
Chapter completed!