The so-called salt merchants in Yangzhou refer to businessmen who live in Yangzhou or who manage the salt industry in Huaibei, but in fact the vast majority of salt merchants in Yangzhou are not from Yangzhou. So why did the salt merchants in Huaibei choose Yangzhou as a gathering place? This is related to Yangzhou's unique location advantage. Yangzhou is located in the north of the Yangtze River, south of the Huaihe River, bordering the canal in the west and the sea in the east, hundreds of miles away from Fiona Fang, with criss-crossing rivers and convenient land and water transportation. Since the Sui Dynasty dug the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it has been the only throat for ships to transport from south to north.
In addition, near Yangzhou, there were the largest sea salt producing areas in China at that time, namely, the two major salt producing areas south of Huaihe River and north of Huaihe River in Jiangsu Province. Historically, there has been a folk saying that "salt is salty in the world". The management center of salt industry in Huaibei is in Yangzhou, which naturally becomes the gathering place of salt merchants in Huaibei. For salt merchants in Yangzhou, the market is their life, and monopolizing the market with low prices and high prices is their way to create wealth.
Since Huaiyang has been a place with heavy taxes since ancient times, they gained huge markets in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other six provinces with the most developed economy and the most densely populated population in China at that time, thus achieving the prosperity of Yangzhou salt merchants and Yangzhou. Especially during the reign of Kang Yong in Qing Dynasty, the wealth and influence of Yangzhou salt merchants reached the extreme.
For example, in the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772), Yangzhou salt merchants earned silver150,000 yuan and paid more than 6 million yuan in salt taxes, accounting for about 60% of the national salt courses. This year, China's total economic output was 32% of the world's, and the salt tax provided by Yangzhou salt merchants accounted for 8% of the world's total economic output. Yangzhou salt merchants are rich in the world, and the word "Yangzhou salt merchants" has almost become synonymous with salt merchants.
In feudal society, salt is an important fiscal revenue of the government after land tax, and the fundamental motive of national salt policy is to obtain tax sources. The ancient salt industry system in China is complicated, but in a nutshell, its essence is nothing more than monopoly system and tax system. The former is operated by the state, and the price includes tax; The latter is operated by businessmen, who pay taxes.
But all production, transportation and sales activities are strictly controlled by the government, and this is no exception. Under this strict control, the living environment of salt merchants is relatively difficult, and it can be said that policy is the life of salt merchants. The rise and fall of Yangzhou salt merchants and Zigong salt merchants are undoubtedly fundamentally influenced by the national salt policy.