Before it was time to eat in the evening, Wang Zhiyuan, Red Sleeves and others had already returned, and both of them were more concerned about Cao Yi's noon affairs, so as soon as they came back, they came to Cao Yi's study and wanted to ask about relevant matters at noon.

"In this way, Liu Defa hopes to compensate his son through the courtyard worth 60,000 taels of silver, so as to achieve reconciliation between the two parties?" Red Sleeves looked at the title deed of the house at the entrance of Chongya Lane in his hand and asked.

"Well, yes, in fact, this compensation is already good, I naturally agreed, it can save us 60,000 taels of silver, which can do a lot of things...... Cao Yi nodded and said.

"Sixty thousand taels of silver, how many soldiers' lives can be bought by this...... Wang Zhiyuan said with emotion, each soldier's pension is only sixty taels of silver, so calculated, this is a whole battalion of soldiers.

Although Wang Zhiyuan has withdrawn from the barracks, but for the border soldiers to work hard, they may not be able to earn a hundred taels of silver in their lifetime, and some may even be able to get it when they die, but this rich land in the south of the Yangtze River is just a conflict, and he gave 60,000 taels of silver as compensation, of course, he didn't say that Cao Yi was framed and beaten unworthy, he just felt a little unfair.

Cao Yi naturally knew what Wang Zhiyuan meant, so he patted the latter's shoulder and said with relief: "Uncle Wang, you are already this age, what else can't you figure out, their salt merchants are already making money, just one salt lead, you have to pay 100,000 taels of silver every year, this is a fixed cost paid without doing any business, plus other salt field costs, labor costs, transportation costs, up and down along the way, and various taxes, you know how much they cost to sell salt every year, relatively, They naturally earn more, and the 60,000 taels of silver may be just a drop in the bucket for them in a year, especially for the Liu family, the first salt merchant! ”

Wang Zhiyuan nodded, "I just sighed for a while, I didn't expect that just ordinary things in firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea could make so much money!" ”

Cao Yi smiled: "Uncle Wang, it's hard to say anything else, but as long as you can do salt and tea business, you will definitely make a lot of money, take the salt business run by the Liu family as an example, you say that this salt, he is very expensive, but after all, it is an indispensable thing in life, and whether it is rich or poor, it has to be bought, so the number of people who buy it is very large, and the number is also very large." The Liu family has its own salt factory in Lianghuai, and I don't know other places, the salt produced by Lianghuai will be sold for 12 taels of silver for just one tael. ”

"So expensive?" Red Sleeves and Wang Zhiyuan exclaimed at the same time. Although they manage all kinds of big and small matters, they really don't have an idea about such a small thing, and naturally there are people below to purchase and review, so they really don't know that salt is so expensive.

"Well, I also found out about it in the past few days, like the Liu family, every time the salt is sold, removing all kinds of taxes and costs, it can probably earn about three taels to four taels of silver, and the profit is as high as thirty percent, which can be called violence, so every year the big salt merchants can earn tens of millions of taels of silver, even if it is just a small business, as long as there is a salt lead, they can also earn millions of taels of silver."

Cao Yi then explained, he didn't realize that this salt merchant is really profitable, but think about it, no matter what extreme weather this salt field is, whether it is drought or flood, it is not like crops or crops that are affected by natural disasters, and the key is that it is rarely plagued by man-made disasters, no matter whether the world is divided for a long time, or it must be divided for a long time, this salt is a hard demand, so when other economies are slow and stagnant or even regressive because of war, salt merchants have never had this problem. Therefore, the accumulation of wealth has never stopped.

No matter which salt merchant family, as long as it is a few generations, it will directly become a super rich businessman on the rich side, not to mention a family like the Liu family that has lasted for hundreds of years, maybe in the first few hundred years, most of the money was given to the Liu family in Pei County, but since Liu Defa's father, he has already intercepted most of the wealth for his own use, like Liu Defa's generation, it is just to give the main family a meaning, more like a charity, and even he himself has the intention of turning his current side branch into the main branch. That's why I want to be on the list of more and bigger magnates.

Red Sleeves and Wang Zhiyuan were stunned when they heard Cao Yi's words, but then they thought of something, and Red Sleeves said with a smile: "Childe, you don't have to be discouraged, if you talk about profiteering, whether Childe is too white drunk or Qinglian wine, it is several times more than ten times the profit, even if it is a little less like Huayu soap, there are four or five times the profit, and the least rich egg also has two or three times the profit, so when it comes to making money, Childe is also the most powerful, if you give Childe a few years, Childe will soon be able to replace Jiangning's Shen family, Become the richest man in Jiangning! ”

Hearing Red Sleeves say this, Cao Yi and Wang Zhiyuan also reacted, they didn't realize it before, but now that they think about it, it seems to be true.

Wang Zhiyuan also showed a knowing smile on his face, and then his expression moved, he thought of something in his heart, and said: "By the way, Cao Yi, speaking of these four goods, in addition to Huayu soap and rich eggs are made locally in Yangzhou, Taibai drunk and Qinglian wine are all to be transported from Jiangning, whether we rent this transport merchant ship or say that we will buy one down, this should also be planned as soon as possible!" Next month, we will start shipping wine from Jiangning again. ”

Cao Yi had a smile on his face and said to Wang Zhiyuan: "Uncle Wang, we already have our own merchant ship now?" ”

"We have?" Wang Zhiyuan turned his head to look at Red Sleeves and asked, "Red Sleeves, have you already bought a merchant ship here?" ”

"Nope...... Childe hasn't asked me to buy it yet......" Red Sleeves also had a puzzled expression.

"We didn't buy it ourselves, it was the ......Liu family who compensated for it," Cao Yi explained.

"Cao Yi, didn't you say that the Liu family just lost a yard, why did you have another merchant ship?" Wang Zhiyuan asked puzzled.

"Hehe, the Liu family did just pay me a yard, but they also paid Youwei a merchant ship." Cao Yi immediately repeated what he and Liu Defa said at noon, and also said his inner guess, Lu Gong used to be definitely a big official, otherwise the Liu family would not have asked for compensation as soon as they heard that Yu Youwei was Lu Gong's righteous daughter.

Wang Zhiyuan looked at Cao Yi with a strange expression, and looked at the latter in surprise, "Uncle Wang, why do you look at me like this, do you have anything to say?" ”

"Cao Yi, you don't know the identity of Duke Lu?" Wang Zhiyuan still had a strange expression.

"I don't know, I don't know anything except that he is the direct speaker and supervisor of Jiangning Fuxue......" Cao Yi shook his head, and then said: "But I guess he should be a big official before." ”

"I thought that you worshipped him as a teacher, and you already knew his identity...... Wang Zhiyuan said with emotion.

"This ...... I really don't know, I'm all confused, as if I've become his closed disciple, I haven't even done the apprenticeship yet......" Cao Yi wiped his nose, and even he was puzzled.

"Have you ever heard of such a saying?" Wang Zhiyuan opened his mouth and said: "I don't need to be a marquis of ten thousand households, but I hope to know Lu sacrifice wine!" ”

"You don't need to be born with ten thousand households, but I hope to know Lu sacrificial wine? Are you talking about Lu Gong? In that case, Lu Gong used to be the prince of the country to oversee the sacrificial wine? Cao Yi muttered.

"That's right, Lu Gong has not only been the prince of the country, but also twice as a minister, although there are very few disciples and protégés who admit, but it is true that the peach and plum are all over the world, and in the Manchu Dynasty, those who have received his favor, teachings and support can almost be said to be more than half of the ......"

"It turns out that Lu Gong is so awesome!" Cao Yi said unconsciously with emotion.

"What?"

"It's okay, I just feel that Lu Gong is so powerful......"

"Well, if it weren't for the fact that Lu Zheng's wife and clan disobeyed the will of the official family the year before last, he would not have been deposed...... Wang Zhiyuan sighed in a low voice, and then asked: "Cao Yi, this merchant ship sent by the Liu family?" ”

"It's the one we came over from Jiangning, Wang Fu, do you still have an impression? That's it. Cao Yi explained.

"Of course I have an impression, it's only been a few days, how can I forget this drinking friend!" Wang Zhiyuan said heartily, and then felt a little weak, and glanced at the red sleeves.

"Well, but it is estimated that Wang Fu now knows that this ship was given away by the Liu family, but he doesn't know who to give it to, I said last time, if there is anything wrong with the original owner, he will come over to us, saying that it is to give him a fleet that he really manages, at that time he just said a drunken immortal building, it is estimated that he will come to the drunken immortal building to find us in the next few days, Uncle Wang, you have been in the drunken immortal building for the past few days, you should also pay attention to it." Cao Yi reminded.

**************