After hearing Fang Yuegong’s response, Zhu Cilang pondered for a moment before saying, "Mr. Fang, you once said that the interests of merchants come from the common people, and to plunder merchants is, in essence, to plunder the people. If the Imperial Court plunders the merchants now, they will surely pass those costs on to the common people, and in the end, it is the people who will suffer. As the Crown Prince of the Great Ming Dynasty, I should think of the people."
"Your Highness, have you forgotten that before the salt patrols were instituted, the Imperial Court had already lifted regional restrictions on salt merchants?" Fang Yuegong smiled. "Without those regional barriers, competition will be fierce. To convert their salt into cash, merchants will only drive prices down, not up."
"Is that so?" Zhu Cilang frowned. "As I understand it, salt dissolves in water and can be ruined by the wind, but other than that, it has no weaknesses. As long as it is stored properly, it can be kept for a long time. The salt merchants could easily hoard it to drive up the price."
Chapter 907