As a businessman, Lu Fang's mind is not stupid, just now the incident suddenly did not turn a corner. Hearing Guo Sheng say this, he was overjoyed and said to Wu Song: "But with the general's guidance!" ”

Wu Song looked at Lu Fang, pondered for a moment, and said with a smile: "You can take the initiative to think of coming to repay the principal and interest, and you are angry with your brother, so I am also willing to help you." In this way, not only will I not take back the principal and interest you borrowed from me, but I can also give you and Guo Sheng another sum of money, so that you can purchase medicinal materials and sell them to Shandong. In order to ensure safety, I can also transfer some brothers from the new forbidden army to serve as escorts for you, what do you two think? ”

Lu Fang and Guo Sheng were not happy for a while, but they couldn't believe that there would be such a good thing. They glanced at each other, fell to the ground, and said, "Why does the general treat the villains so seriously?" ”

Wu Song said with a smile: "It's really important to say that the instrument is important, but the main thing is mutual benefit and win-win." I will not only give you the capital, but also send you an army to escort you, and if you make money, you will naturally give me dividends! ”

Lu Fang said: "That's nature! General, please set a ratio! ”

Wu Song said: "I want fifty percent of your profits!" ”

Lu Fang did not hesitate and said: "As long as the general has fifty percent of the profits, he is still taking care of the villain and the Guo Sheng brothers, and the villain thanks the general for his success!" ”

Guo Sheng was also overjoyed and hurriedly expressed his gratitude to Wu Song.

Wu Song wanted to vigorously support Lu Fang and Guo Sheng in selling medicinal materials, and Lu Fang and Guo Sheng were very happy when they were drawn fifty percent of their profits, and there was a reason for this.

As far as Wu Song is concerned, meeting Lu Fang today was somewhat of an accident. However, he wanted to support Lu Fang to expand the trade of medicinal materials, which seemed to be a temporary idea, but in fact, he had been planning for a long time.

Since these days, Wu Song has not been busy looking for Pan Jinlian, rescuing Lin Chong's wife and military affairs, and has not put down the cultivation of "Dharma Heart Sutra" and "Situ Testament". Especially now that he is the commander of the new forbidden army, he will inevitably be involved in the political disputes of the Great Song Dynasty, and he must not only have the courage of a horseman, but must pay close attention to learning Tao strategy and strategy, so the "Situ Testament" is more and more familiar with it.

As a result of his learning, he has a clearer understanding of his situation.

He wants to command the new forbidden army, to build the most powerful army in the Great Song Dynasty and even in this era, and to change history, it takes many things, and one of them is the most indispensable.

Money, or gold and silver.

Personally, having captured the wealth and property left by Ma Kui, he is already considered a rich man. However, he wants to raise the army and do great things, and money is a very scarce thing.

Although the new forbidden army was formed by the order of Emperor Song Huizong, Song Huizong himself was impetuous, and it was not possible to grasp the implementation. Under the deception of Gao Yu, Cai Jing, Tong Guan and other traitors, whether the military funds allocated to the new forbidden army can always be implemented will be a big problem, which can be seen from the fact that Zhao Ji of Song Huizong actually asked Tong Guan, who obviously had prejudices against Wu Song, to be responsible for the logistics and material support of the Liangshan bandits.

What's more, even if the military funds given by the imperial court to the new forbidden army can be put in place, it will be far from enough. On the one hand, the imperial court allocated funds according to the military expenditure standards of the old forbidden army, which was naturally not enough for the new forbidden army, which far exceeded the training intensity and equipment requirements of the forbidden army.

On the other hand, and more importantly, Song Huizong himself was arrogant and lascivious, and at this time he was building large buildings, halls, and halls, collecting flowers and stones from the people, and his finances had long been unable to make ends meet, and in the absence of large-scale invasion by foreign enemies for the time being, it had become the norm to deduct military funds, especially soldiers' food and salaries.

Wu Song could not pin all his hopes on the imperial court, and he himself had to open up a wide range of financial avenues for the new forbidden army.

The use of Lu Fang and others to sell medicinal materials is an effective way to open up a wide range of financial routes.

This has to be made up a little, why in the story of the Water Margin in his previous life, Lu Fang was forced to go up the mountain and fall into the grass because of the loss of selling medicinal materials, and became a hero in Liangshan.

Things have to start with Wang Anshi's change of law back then. In the first year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (1068), Zhao Ji of Song Shenzong succeeded to the throne and appointed Wang Anshi to change the law.

The law stipulates that the drug trade is controlled by the government, and the operation of drugs is a government patent, and private self-management is not allowed, aiming to stabilize prices, prosper the market, increase taxes, etc. After the success of this method in the capital city of Bianliang, it was promoted from north to south to Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other places.

It is said that the Northern Song Dynasty court engaged in the monopoly of this kind of medicine, first, to prevent pharmaceutical merchants from speculating and controlling the pharmaceutical market; The second is to benefit the people and prevent the epidemic, which in layman's terms means to make medicine affordable for the poor and cure diseases, just as the government today sets many minimum drug prices. However, once any commodity is monopolized by the government, it will inevitably become a profiteering industry.

As a result, "Xining, the Familiar Medicine Institute of the Taiyi Medical Bureau, started in June of the ninth year, and collected more than 25,000 yuan in interest in June of the tenth year, with double interest. "Multiplying interest" means that the profit is equal to the investment. In other words, the profit obtained by the imperial court's drug monopoly system is 100 percent!

Marx said in Capital that capital "has a 10% profit, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; With a 20% profit, it becomes active; With a 50% profit, it takes risks; For the sake of 100% profit, it dares to trample on all human laws; With a 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even the danger of hanging. ”

The fact that the pharmaceutical monopoly is so profitable has further stimulated the expansion of the business of the official pharmacy. Many of the reform measures implemented by Wang Anshi's reform have not really been adhered to, and only this drug monopoly law has been inherited and expanded.

In the Chongning period of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, "the Huimin Bureau of the capital increased to 5, and the people of the Quartet benefited from selling medicines", and set up a new "Xiuhe Pharmaceutical Institute" specializing in the production of finished medicines, which was responsible for the Taifu Temple. ”

The official monopoly on the drug trade has made this industry a profiteering industry, and at the same time, it has also given the private sector room to smuggle and sell medicinal materials for profiteering.

Lu Fang is essentially a drug dealer engaged in the smuggling of medicinal materials. In other words, he sold medicinal materials, but in fact, he could not withstand the investigation of the government. Therefore, he was engaged in the business of disobeying the ban of the government from the beginning, which is why in the story of the Water Margin in his previous life, he could only go up the mountain and fall into the grass after selling medicinal materials at a loss. Because you are a smuggler, if you lose money, you can only consider yourself unlucky, and you have to escape the blow of the government.

As for Lu Fang, knowing that his sale of medicinal materials was illegal smuggling, he dared to borrow money from Wu Song, who was an officer of the imperial court, because the Great Song Dynasty had become corrupt at this time, and it was actually an open secret that officials participated in this kind of smuggling for profit.

And Wu Song, who traveled to this era, gradually learned many secrets of this era, and also saw the huge profit margin of smuggling medicinal materials. Therefore, he wanted to support Lü Fang and Guo Sheng in selling medicinal materials and opening up a wide range of funding sources for his army.

At the same time, this is also a step to recruit Lu Fang and Guo Sheng, the two heroes of Liangshan in the story of the Water Margin in their previous lives, to Wu Song's command and use them for Wu Song's own use.