There are many literary works about salt merchants in Yangzhou. Where did their salt come from? Yangzhou seems not to be near the sea.

Yangzhou salt merchants sell sea salt.

Yangzhou, called Guangling in ancient times, is one of Kyushu in Gong Yu. The canal and the Yangtze River meet in Yangzhou, which became a transportation hub before the prosperity of shipping and railways. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Yangzhou has been one of the economic and cultural centers in China, enjoying the reputation of "moonlight under the sun, rogue Yangzhou". The prosperity of Yangzhou mainly benefits from the prosperity of salt transportation and water transportation. Yangzhou, which borders the East China Sea and Huaihe River, has always been an important salt producing area in China. Since the early Qing Dynasty, with the growth of the national population, the salt production in Huaibei has been increasing day by day. Yangzhou has become a salt transportation center with huge throughput. Every year, more than one billion Jin of sea salt is transported to Anhui, Henan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other places through Yangzhou, and the official office of the salt envoys in the Huaihe River region is also located in Yangzhou, which undoubtedly brings unprecedented prosperity to Yangzhou's economy. Wang Zhong, a famous scholar in Qing Dynasty, pointed out in Guangling Dui: "Where Guangling is a city and there is nothing in the world, the sea is salt, which makes everyone eat it. Lost to Shaozheng, it has the power to expand agriculture and mu, and it has the turn of rivers and canals. The department store has a wide network of contacts and benefits the world.