In winter, the sky gets dark early, and it is already time for the night to fall and the Qinhuai River is brightly lit. Zhen Feng stepped out of the night, the cold wind outside made him shiver, he held a small jar in his arms, his head shrunk into the collar, and hurriedly disappeared into the night.

In the night, a majestic mansion exudes a cold majesty under the illumination of lanterns, and the plaque of "Xu Gongfu" on the gate can be seen through the faint light. There are also guards guarding the door.

As soon as Zhen Feng stepped forward, before he could hand over the post, a guard shouted: "Who is it, what are you doing in the middle of the night?" Don't leave quickly. "The clothes Zhen Feng wears are still coarse linen, and he doesn't look like a dignitary.

This is to be stronger than strong, and whoever is weak suffers. Zhen Feng puffed up his chest, snorted coldly, and said, "You deserve to talk to me like this?" I went to ask the housekeeper to come out to greet me, and I said that Xu Gong's friend had brought him something good. ”

"Hmph, every day, there are ten or eight people who claim to be relatives and friends of my grandfather, how old are you? Come on! ”

Although the other party has a bad attitude, it is estimated that they have encountered too many autumn winds in this situation, forget it, this is the responsibility of others, there is no need to continue to fight. He took out a prayer slip with a wooden plaque on it and handed it to the guard.

"At that time, Xu Gong gave me this wooden card, I don't know how old it is?"

As soon as the guard heard the "wooden card", he turned sideways to let the light at the gate shine over, and indeed the other party had a Xu family hand card in his hand. He took it and took a closer look, and immediately distinguished the authenticity from the wood, graphics, etc., and immediately made a salute: "The villain has no eyes, please go to the concierge for a while, and the villain will go in and pass it on." ”

Zhen Feng was taken to the side hall, where charcoal was burning, and it was already as warm as spring. Xu You was dressed in casual clothes, and when he saw Zhen Feng, he quipped: "Boy, you really hid a big fart, there is no 'drunk life and dream death', which has made the old man hungry for more than 20 days, quickly bring it to the old man to see, what good things did you bring?" ”

Zhen Feng put the jar on the table, made a gesture, and said: "Sir, these days, students are all shouting rats on the street, how dare they blatantly come here, let alone send someone to send wine that is claimed to be a 'plagiarism' secret recipe, wouldn't that harm you." However, recently, Wangjiang Tower has a new one, and I sent it to Mr. to try......"

Xu You had already picked up the jar, and before Zhen Feng finished speaking, Xu You took off the seal on it, picked up the jar and drank it directly. Zhen Feng hurriedly said: "Sir, wait, that's not a wine ......"

It was too late, Xu You just squirted out after a sip, only to see that the liquid was black. Fortunately, Zhen Feng was prepared and avoided it. Xu You coughed again and again, put down the jar, grabbed the water on the table, and rinsed his mouth for a long time, before he said, "Boy, you want to kill the old man, what is this?" ”

"Sir, this, this is soy sauce, do you feel the mellow and salty taste."

"The old man felt salty, but after rinsing his mouth, he felt a little like this."

"I didn't expect you to be so vigorous, comparable to Prime Minister Fang Xuanling's wife, who was jealous, and actually drank soy sauce directly."

"You haven't told me what soy sauce is. The old man has heard of sauce and oil, can you make this jar of soy sauce by combining these two things? ”

"Sir, you first ask someone to fetch a plate of tofu boiled in water, and the student will show you." Waiting for Xu You's instructions, Zhen Feng continued: "Soy sauce is not oil, it's just a saying. In fact, it is a sauce that evolved from soybean paste, but the process is more complicated, and a lot of salt is needed to soak and extract, these are the first products, and they are not enough to taste, but they are sent to Mr. to taste first. ”

"I tasted it, and I almost didn't die from you."

"It's a condiment, it's like vinegar, it's not for drinking."

"You didn't say it sooner!" Xu You looked at Zhen Feng and said meaningfully: "Your 'drunken dream and death' costs a pound, what kind of soy sauce is this, and what price do you plan to sell it for?" ”

"I can't hide anything from Mr., but Mr. is wrong, wait for the opening of Wangjiang Building in a few days, 'drunk life and dream death' is four pounds of money, soy sauce is not on the market, the earliest also get the moon, a pound also has four dollars."

Xu You was speechless: "Boy, why don't you go and grab money?" ”

"Sir, in fact, the secret recipe for brewing stolen from Huajian Lou is fake, and the students have long been on guard, and now Martin has turned back and become an undercover agent I planted in Huajian Lou. Now I asked Martin to take the 'drunken life and dream death' in the flower house, and they mixed it with water and sold it, but said that the time was limited and the amount of wine brewed was too small. After surviving this month, students will say that Wangjianglou's brewing secret recipe has been improved and upgraded in the past month, and it is unique, so if you want to drink it, you have to buy it obediently. ”

"Hahahaha, you kid is too thief. So what about this soy sauce, isn't it made of soybeans, how can it be so expensive? A piece of cloth is only two or three hundred yuan, and even if it is tea, it is only sixty or seventy yuan per catty. ”

Zhen Feng shrugged his shoulders, with a helpless expression on his face, and said: "The student originally expected that it would be four or five hundred yuan a catty, but he couldn't stop the price of salt from soaring now, and it has risen four times in just over half a month, and it is estimated that it will have to double again, so the student estimated that the price of soy sauce will be four yuan a catty." ”

"You're referring to the rumors and reactions in the salt price market recently, this matter is indeed a headache for the imperial court, but when another 300,000 stone salt is shipped next year, such ridiculous speculations will be self-defeating, don't pay attention to it."

"I hope so, it is naturally best to have the imperial court come forward. It's just that, have you ever heard of the 'Wei Nguyen'? ”

"Wei Ruan? Haven't heard of it. The old man has never paid too much attention to commercial affairs, and such things are generally handled by the salt and iron transfer envoys, or the people under the household department. ”

"Literally, Wei Ruan, that is, such a business that uses my obscenity to make you soft and soft."

Zhen Feng knows that Xu You is actually not a good politician, and he is in a high position on the one hand because of his background, and on the other hand, because he is the biggest contributor to Li Yu's ascension to the throne. Trust is often more important than competence.

Therefore, Zhen Feng's trip was to use soy sauce and its price to talk about the price of salt, and then draw out the "Wei Ruan" behind the scenes. He took advantage of this topic to start with a joking tone, and relayed the black market information he knew to Xu You, and then emphasized: "There are still several months before the next official salt is transported from Jiangbei, and Wei Ruan just came to Jiangning at this time, and it can quickly monopolize the private salt market, which shows that it was premeditated and should not be underestimated." The students thought that the actual intention of the Wei Nguyen must not be in the salt, but in something else. ”

"Oh, in that case, this Wei Ruan is indeed quite strange, you can analyze it and listen to it." Since the end of September, after the battle in Hezhou, Xu You still has some trust in Zhen Feng's control and comprehensive analysis of the current situation, if it is replaced by someone else, it is not just a smuggler and salt seller, why do you need him to bother.

However, after listening to Zhen Feng's analysis from the perspective of combining politics and business, Xu You keenly captured the unusual place, and he felt that a war without gunpowder had begun.