40 Taking advantage of the leisure of the Spring Festival, Zhou Dao has been thinking about what to do next for several days. The expansion of the mill house and the chicken coop was just a matter of course, and he was thinking about the next step of development, because time waited for no one.

Bai Shoucheng is dead, and there is no further indication that anyone suspects him and comes to him to ask for his life, which makes him feel relieved. For him, Bai Ye's existence has always been pressed on his chest like a boulder, making him suffocated, and at the same time, there is great uncertainty, interfering and hindering him, making him at a loss, and feeling that everything is making wedding clothes for others. Under Bai Ye's uncertain nervousness and murderous heart, he has the feeling of being a companion like a tiger, and like a puppet being controlled by others, living in the shadow of his life at any time. All this because he has no strength, or his strength is far from good, and he can only be at the mercy of others. So he's going to change, and he's going to do it fast. Now that the clouds have dispersed, he is still confused looking at the sky, where should he go? How to go about it? That's a problem.

In a few days, it will be the Lantern Festival, and Zhou Dao took Feng Yi and Hanwa to the county seat to pay New Year's greetings to Mr. Xu. He asked Hanwa to carry four chickens, two males and two females. All three of them were carrying knives, especially Hanwa, who walked with their heads held high with chickens in their hands. Now Zhou Dao takes the two of them everywhere he goes, he let Feng Yi's whole family live in, eat and live all-inclusive, increase the monthly money for Mrs. Xu to three times a month, and officially give Hanwa an errand, follow him all day long, be his long-term follower, and the daily salary is the same as that of a miller, sixty yuan. Mrs. Xu thanked her again and again, full of joy, and told Hanwa to follow Zhou Gongzi to do things with her heart.

Hanwa is now almost sixteen, this kid looks at Chong'er, and in recent days, he has especially loved to learn Feng Jiaotou's dancing knife and stick. Hanwa's parents died early, his grandparents still had a small family, but later caused a lawsuit, the family fell into the middle of the road, even so he left his mother-in-law and grandson a courtyard house and a few acres of thin fields, Xu's mother-in-law Zhang Xu's literacy, I don't think it will be a poor tenant farmer, Hanwa knows a few words is she taught. Zhou Dao squinted at the demeanor of Hanwa walking with a knife, shaking his arms slightly, holding the chicken feet upside down in both hands, and walking in a figure of eight outside his legs, just like the boss of the big brother with a brick in his hand in the early nineties in that time and space.

When they arrived at Xu Bian's house, Xu Bian and Zhou Dao drank tea in the hall, and the old servant accompanied Feng Yi and Hanwa to the wing room to chat. "Come on, come on, and bring any gifts." Xu Wei smiled and blamed. "The home-raised ones are not valuables, or they are fresh. The male can kill one, and the female is laying eggs. Zhou Dao also smiled, he came too much, and he was not formal. If I hadn't been sick a few days ago, I would have come over early in the morning to pay my husband's New Year's greetings. "Well, I've heard, it's not a serious illness to see you like this. I see the three of you also have knives. Xu Wei looked at Zhou Dao with a smile. Zhou Dao hurriedly explained, "The county has announced that the table tennis order is understood, and now I let the millers also practice martial arts, after all, this world is not peaceful." On the way here, we also saw people starting to carry weapons. Rushing to visit Mr. is indeed a mistake in Zhou's thoughtfulness. Zhou Dao didn't bring a blade in Mr. Xu's house, so he handed the knife to Zhang Hanwa in the wing room to hold.

Xu Wei shook his hand to show that he didn't mind, "It's okay, you just have to take it with you later, and you have to be a little bit of a hindrance when you walk in troubled times, I understand." After that, the wind changed, "I heard that you recruited a golden man, a fierce man?" "Well, his whole family is here, so I picked it up." "Oh? Aren't you worried that his status as a golden man will bring disadvantage to you? "There are worries, but I still insist on weighing the pros and cons, regardless of background, meritocracy." "Huh? What a meritocracy, where is this like the words of the landlord? This is clearly Cao Mengde! Xu Wei stroked his hands and laughed.

Then he restrained his smile and said carefully, "I also heard that Bai Shoucheng is in Zhuxi Town, it's gone." "Oh, I've heard about it, and it's a bit weird." Zhou Dao nodded in response. Xu Wei said with emotion: "People walk in the rivers and lakes, how can there be no one who will not be stabbed." But it's okay, it's a good thing for you after all, don't worry about him anymore. Zhou Dao was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to respond, so he had to smile and take a sip of tea.

"Actually, I have another matter today, and I would like to ask my husband to help me refer to it." "Well, let's hear about it." "What does the gentleman think of this grain business, can it be done?" "What do you want to do?" "Hmm." Zhou Dao nodded. Xu Fan patted his leg with his hand and groaned, "It's not difficult to say, it's not easy to say, overall, it's not easy." "He was kind of like he was playing tricks." Let me ask you, you first have a mill, then a chicken coop, and I heard that it will be expanded, and this business is going well. Are you stuck or what's wrong? Why did you hit the idea of food again, and you didn't stop breathing? Some time ago, you didn't have enough money to collect food, why, do you have money? Want to bet them all? Let's start by listening, what do you think, what do you want? ＂

Zhou Dao saw him ask himself in turn, he thought about it, is Xu Wei an ordinary person? Who is Xu Wei? It's useless to play with people like Xu Wei, and they can only bring humiliation on themselves and live up to the other party's honesty.

"Time and strength" Zhou Dao is very cautious and direct, "I want to have strength in a short period of time." There was no more explanation, Zhou Dao looked at Xu Bian, and Xu Bian also looked at him, "Why?" "Because I think the Mongols might come over." "Why?" Xu Wei had no expression. "Because everything is possible, the Mongols and the Song are fighting, and there is a great possibility that the Mongols will fight." At this time, there was no such thing as possibility blurted out by Zhou Dao in the world, but Xu Wei understood. "And then?" Xu asked. "If you have strength, you can have it." "So you can't stop." Zhou Dao nodded. There was silence in the room.

"A gentleman doesn't build a dangerous wall, of course, he should plan early, and you did the right thing." Xu Wei paused, and then said, "Actually, I also thought of this possibility a long time ago. "Then why don't you see Mr. Planning?" Zhou Dao was a little curious. Xu Wei smiled, "If you don't plan to fight, you may not know." Some things are long, and if there is a chance in the future, it is not too late to talk about it. ”

It's easy to talk to smart people, and you don't have to bother to explain a lot of things, you know. "Grain is the world's first-class business, and the people take food as their sky, and they can do without anything, but they can't do without food. There are many people in the grain business, big and small, but anyone who can do something big will have some background. There are basically guilds in the grain numbers everywhere, and the more convenient the land, the more so, and it is impossible to squeeze in without being excluded and blamed. Do you have any plans for this? Don't say you haven't thought about it. ＂

"Hehe, I did think about it." Zhou Dao smiled and said, "Three words, power, money, and knife." "Oh? May it be auspicious. Xu Wei picked up the tea bowl and took a sip gently.

"Let's talk about it first. Wherever this kind of grain trade can be made big, it must rely on power behind it. When the county collects grain, whose family should it use when the price is not too much? Whoever is behind the grain merchant is the official who uses whom's family, and whoever is directly in charge will use whom's family, as for how much of each share, it depends on the specific situation. Second, once there is any natural disaster or military disaster, the court cannot come up with or is unwilling to come up with so much cash, so it will write down an official document and buy it. Exchange paper for your food, and you must not disobey. Let's just say that now, the consistent payment of money is worth about 200 wen on the market, and he forcibly collects your grain, but it is worth 900 wen according to the consistent payment of money, which is nearly four times worse, what is the difference between this and robbery? Do you see that the common people are willing to accept money and meet people? Backed by the government to do business, this and the size of the number of purchases have a lot to do. Therefore, if you want to continue to do business and make it big, you can't run away from the collusion between officials and businessmen. ”

Zhou Dao took a sip of water, "Let's talk about money." As the saying goes, money can make the devil grind, and here we don't talk about the role of money behind it, but only the direct impact of money itself on business. Generally speaking, the same business, the more money you have, the bigger the business, that is, the larger the scale, the greater the impact on the market. For example, grain merchants, large grain merchants will increase grain prices, and grain will be cheap. In addition to the daily sale of grain stores to earn the normal price difference, the real way for grain merchants and large households to make huge profits is nothing more than autumn harvest and summer sales. The autumn harvest grain is cheap, the price is hoarded, and the new grain in the spring and summer is not harvested, and it is sold at a high price. In terms of cost, I can't compare with those big merchants, but I plan to make up for it with the number of turnovers. For example, if a grain store buys and sells two yuan a hundred times a month, then he does two hundred dollars a month. If there is a profit, he will have 20 percent of his income every month. That's the number of times he turns around per month. Zhou Dao said seriously, Xu Wei listened carefully, and nodded from time to time, as if he already understood Zhou Dao's intentions. If I come to do it, this is small, I can only do consistent money trading at a time, if I can do 300 times a month, that is, more turnover, then I can do 300 transactions in a month, and my profit is only 7 points, and there are 20 consistent inputs per month, which is basically the same as their large households. This is to make up for the lack of base numbers by numbers. "Plus! Zhou Dao accentuated his tone, "As long as I do it, because giving profits to customers, as the scale and prestige increase, more customers will be attracted, a virtuous circle." "A virtuous circle? Mr. Xu smiled, did not say anything, and looked at Zhou Dao.

Zhou Dao went on to say, "Especially the big landlords, they mainly harvest in autumn and sell in summer, and make double the huge profits by buying and selling with a hammer, but the number of times he turns around is only once or twice a year." If the price of food has risen in the summer, but it has not doubled as expected, then what about his income? But that's all there is to it. That's because they're a little more rigid in their approach. ＂

"Finally, the knife. There is a saying: Touching the interests of others is more uncomfortable than asking for his life. I want to do grain trading, if I can still do it, it will inevitably touch the interests of others, do you think he is uncomfortable? When I opened a mill, someone came to set it on fire, and someone bought my head for a hundred yuan, not to mention the grain, which caused a lot of money. When they feel troubled and think I'm a threat, then the bright and dark will come. What is the most effective way to deal with the next three indiscriminately? Knife! ”

"So now you have the mills and chicken officials practice martial arts, and they all carry knives when they walk. Ha ha. Mr. Xu smiled very happily. Precisely. Zhou Dao replied with a smile: "Actually, I still have a layer of thoughts about grain trading: this is a chaotic army, and if you can't grasp the grain, everything is empty talk." In the matter of food, I am not subject to control. ＂

"Good! Xu Wei nodded, "I think you've convinced me." More importantly, you convinced yourself. There is nothing wrong with your plan, and you have to think more about the details. For example, if the power you are talking about is not related or the relationship is not hard, there will be a lot of tricks and tricks in the determination of taxes. Have you forgotten about the last time you were asked for food? Also, even if the government collects your grain, what percentage is it for cash or money? If someone harms you, it means that the food payment is settled in cash, when will it be paid? Drag you to death. Speaking of knives, do you think you're the only one who has them? If you have a sword, you have no fear? As long as you find a reason, the county lieutenant of Guangfang can pinch you to death. There's a lot of Taoism in this. It's just that you don't have a lot of money, but in my opinion, this is what makes you different from others, and it requires you to work harder. ＂

"I have to rely on Mr. for teaching me a lot of things," Zhou Dao said, got up and saluted, sat down and continued, "Speaking of this, Bai Shoucheng told me before that it was the county lieutenant Fang who mentioned it to him. "Oh? Can County Lieutenant Fang know that you know about this? Now that Bai Shoucheng is not here, Fang Xu has looked for you? "I don't know if County Lieutenant Fang knows that Bai Shoucheng told me about this, and he didn't come to look for me." Zhou Dao hesitated for a moment and asked, "Sir, do you want to pull the county lieutenant into this grain business?" Xu Wei groaned and shook his head for a while, "It's not appropriate." Fang Xu has some background, he is the nephew of Fang Qizhou, the general judge of the state capital, and he came to Ziyang County just to have some qualifications, and he has been active for transferring back to the state city. What's more, according to my observation, this person is generous on the face, but greedy and greedy, if you get closer, you are afraid that you can't help it. Also, you don't have enough money now, pull him in, what benefits are you going to give him? It's heavy, what are you doing? I can't stand it either. If you give it lightly, I'm afraid it will be suspicious. He doesn't look for you now, so you don't have to cause trouble. Maybe in the future, when the business is done, the state city can still find him. Zhou Dao listened to Xu Wei's analysis and thought secretly, "If this is the case, wouldn't it be another Bai Ye to find Fang Xu to join the gang?" "Hurry up and thank you again." Sir, Mr. Zhou has a reluctant invitation to ask Mr. to do this business with me, I don't know what Mr. wants? ”

Xu Wei didn't reply immediately, he put one hand on the table and tapped gently, "Me? Square peg. He shook his head, "If you don't invite the ready-made Buddha, what do you ask me to do?" "Ready-made Buddha?" "The magistrate is my lord. Isn't it how strong it is to that Fang Xu? "Lord Yu? Why should I please move, the temple is too small, right? Xu Wei shook his head and smiled, "It's not for you to invite, there are some things you don't understand." Then he said, "I have received the intention, but it is useless, and the so-called officialdom background, what I rely on is nothing more than an adult." I have a share, how much should I take in adults? You and I are friends, and I don't want you to regret this in the future. "I think this matter can be discussed." Zhou Dao said. They all know that the so-called shareholding refers to dry shares that do not need to be invested.

Zhou Dao then said, "What do you think of this: Mr. Yu is two percent of the shares, and Mr. is one percent, I don't know if it's feasible?" Zhou Dao looked at Xu Wei, Xu Wei frowned and said, "Lord Yu and I have been here in Zhuxi County for nearly three years, and it is said that it has been changed soon, but the cardinal government has written a year ago, and the Zhizhou County of Sichuan Fourth Road is in the war, except for those who are specially promoted, they will not be promoted and transferred. During the period, the preparation of reserve matters such as grain and grass errands cannot be shirked or mistaken. It seems that Lord Yu is going to work in this county for another term. ＂

Zhou Dao has been here for a long time and knows that guarding the gate means that the official has no real job to do, and he has no salary at home, and he knows the words of his re-election during the war. Xu Wei took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and said, "Actually, there is already a grain merchant in this county who relies on the adult, and it is precisely because he is not big and the foundation is unstable that he relies on the adult. But he didn't do a good job, just trying to survive in the cracks. This is also your chance, I try to convince the adults that helping one family is helping, two families are still helping, and secretly supporting you. You have just stepped into this industry, and your 20% of the dry stocks are only afraid that adults will not look down on them, and if there are too many, what do you do with the risk, it is all a reckoning, and you have to think about it. It's not as good as this, I know that the family is divided into more than 300 adults every year, and you can give as much as he wants. You just start to do it, you don't need to pay dividends in the first year, but you have to guarantee the bottom, regardless of profit or loss, at least 300 points per year and adults. In addition, if the government collects grain from you, and the proceeds are divided separately with the adults, are you willing? ”

Zhou Dao thought for a while and said, "Yes, Mr. is very safe to think." I only add slightly: according to what Mr. Yu said, Mr. Yu holds 20% of the shares, and the minimum is 300 yuan per year. In addition, the gentleman must get a share, and there are many things that the gentleman still needs to mediate. Also, there will be no dividends within a year, but no matter who you are, as long as you hold the shares, you will have a corresponding guarantee, and you can't let people wait for a year without thinking, every 150 yuan, 30% up to 450 yuan. If I can't even make this guarantee money, I can't do this grain trade. Xu Wei no longer shirked, "It's okay, I'll take half of it, and you give the other half to Pan Hu." The matter of the knife is very different whether there is Pan Hu or not. "No need, two percent for adults, one percent for Mr., and half percent for Pan Ye, so it's decided." Zhou Dao had a heartfelt joy, and he habitually stretched out his hand.

Mr. Xu looked at the hand stretched out in front of him and then looked at Zhou Dao. "This is the etiquette of your hometown?" Zhou Dao smiled and nodded, and his two hands were clasped together. "The Mongols have attacked Dali, and it is not the main force that confronts the Song army, they will not be able to fight so quickly, you still have time." Xu Wei continued, as if saying to himself, "If the day really comes, if we want to leave, I hope we can go together." "It's my honor to have my husband to help." Zhou Dao replied solemnly.