Saying goodbye to Qin Bai, Xia Jinhong glanced at the long queue lined up at the door of the match shop, and couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. This has become a scene in Jingjiazhuang after the New Year, selling ten boxes at noon every day, only receiving Jingjiazhuang locals, and each household is limited to one copy.

Since it is not sold to the outside world at all, many traders find business opportunities and send people to walk the streets and alleys, buy them with each money, and then transport them to other places for sale. This made the residents of Jingjiazhuang discover a lot of extra money. There are more than 1,000 households here, and on average, they sell every month. The family's income can be more than two to two taels.

Qin Bai completely turned a blind eye to such an open act of robbing money. It's just that there are two rules to disclose: one is to buy in turns, so that every villager can guarantee it. Absolute average certainly can't be done, but at least more or less can be had; The other is that you can't bully the market, and the acquisition must be voluntary. After all, this is the welfare for the villagers. Of course, there are also those who do not believe in evil, but those who do not believe in evil should have gone to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish.

Therefore, in these days, Qin Bai's reputation in Jingjiazhuang is very good. In addition, in the three days when the mountain gate was opened, more than 1,000 "waste people" such as old and young, women and children were accepted before and after, and they were really all raised, and they were well fed and clothed without ambiguity, although most people were secretly laughing at Qin Bai for being stupid, but at the same time, they also deeply admired it. How many people can really do the word "faithfulness" on the rivers and lakes?

……

Returning to his Xia Ji, Shopkeeper Wu stepped forward quickly and asked with concern: "Young Master Jinhong, how much is that Bai Er willing to give?" ”

"In addition to the 1,000 boxes that I promised to exchange for 50,000 stones of sulfur for a boat, I will give 800 boxes for five taels and five dollars a month." Speaking of this, Xia Jinhong laughed angrily, "Silly girl! Those people in Nanjing are all pigs! When I asked them to ask for someone, they said no, and now they don't need it and are in a hurry to send it? I don't know what I need most now is not a knife, but a skinny horse that can give gifts! ”

The main business of the Xia family is to run the sea, so there are not many businesses located in various places, basically none in the north, and the head office in the south is located in Nanjing. In addition to selling some sea goods, the Nanjing General Account mainly wanted to run the officialdom relationship, especially to listen to the news of the Ministry of War.

The Ming Dynasty court was divided into two sets of teams in the north and south, and the six departments located in Nanjing, although most of them were yamen for the elderly, and they could not hold much power, but the military department could directly order the southern provinces, after all, it was too far to go to Beijing. Therefore, among the civil officials in Nanjing, the Nanjing Military Department Shangshu ranked first.

In Xia Ji's Nanjing General Account, there is also a child of the Xia family like Xia Jinhong who presides over it, and his ranking in the family is even higher than Xia Jinhong. Therefore, the relationship between the two is more delicate.

Therefore, Xia Jinhong was on the canal at that time and sent someone to Nanjing to deliver the letter, but he was not in a hurry to return to Jingjiazhuang, and wanted to wait until the good hands sent by Nanjing converged together, and then suddenly gave Qin Bai a "surprise".

However, in the end, what I waited for was rejection. and also said some trash words such as "lack of manpower" and "fuss", and in desperation, Xia Jinhong could only return in vain and returned to Jingjiazhuang before the Chinese New Year.

However, after returning to Jingjiazhuang, Xia Jinhong heard a lot of news about Qin Bai. Not only was it dark when he was killed that night, but later it was rumored that he was killed to Pingdu? Kill the ringing horse? Scare away the Shen family? ……

In this way, Xia Jinhong felt a little lucky, as if he had escaped this catastrophe. But at this moment, a quick message suddenly came from the Nanjing General Dispatch - more than 50 people have been sent, and they must grab this match!

Xia Jinhong didn't know that after the Nanjing General Number got the matches sent, it didn't send them to Zhangzhou at all, and arranged for the sea ships to go to sea, but they were just sold and half sent in Nanjing at will. After all, the number of matches is not much, and the amount is not very large, so it is basically used as a fresh gift.

However, what happened later was exactly the same as in Beijing, and it immediately became a stir in the homes of the top elites. The only good thing is that they still think that this match is from overseas, after all, Xia Ji has been selling overseas goods. Therefore, he was not in such a hurry, waiting for the next boat of the Xia family. And the Nanjing General Number immediately dispatched people to Jingjiazhuang.

At this time, Xia Jinhong already knew that doing it was wishful thinking. Even if there are several times more manpower, they can't help the current Qin Bai. Unless a couple of ships of pirates are really sent, there is not the slightest chance of success.

Therefore, Xia Jinhong was ready to talk about it as an ordinary business, and ignored the order of the Nanjing General Commander at all. However, the embarrassing thing happened again, and Qin Bai didn't sell it at all. Still looking at the previous agreement on the exchange of sulfur for matches, I finally reluctantly agreed to 800 boxes per month.

Listening to Xia Jinhong's complaints, Shopkeeper Wu could only smile and comfort: "It's good to have 800 boxes, but people outside can't get them." ”

Xia Jinhong sighed: "Hey! Uncle Wu, that's all there is to it! ”

……

Seeing Xia Jinhong away, Qin Bai turned around and returned to his courtyard. At this time, the East Second Square and the South Third Square were already full of people, and a large part of them were diverted to Shanglin Village and Xiaohongling.

In fact, three days later, the total number of people worshipping the mountain gate was as high as more than 3,100, which far exceeded the outside world's estimates and Jing Jian's original expectations. He didn't expect that so many people would come, especially those displaced people who worked for relief could still have food to eat in Laizhou City, but they couldn't survive without strong labor at home, so many people also took advantage of this to come.

So the ratio of the elderly, women and children is particularly high, and these people actually account for almost three-quarters of the total number of people. The remaining 800 people, as well as all the children and women who can work, have been sent to Shanglin Village. In the future, it will be selected and added to the Xiaohongling Village.

Therefore, Qin Bai's finances became tense again, and he did not dare to sell matches openly. Now the quota he sells every month, in addition to the 300 boxes in Jingjiazhuang, the 250 boxes in Laizhou City, and the 150 boxes from the Pingdu Li scribe who came to congratulate him on the day the mountain gate was opened, the rest is the 1,500 boxes from the source number and the 1,000 boxes from Cui Xinxiao.

Of course, Qin Bai still has the balance of 3 or 500 boxes in his hands, like Jingjiazhuang, who has a face here, will not come over to line up, right? There must be other favors out there. So these 3, 500 boxes are used here.

As for other merchants, Qin Bai refused them all. Claim to the outside world: "You can only build so much!" And it still maintains a "low price" of more than five taels per box, just to not be noticeable.

But now you are short of money? If you don't want to be eye-catching, you can only choose to take it out. It just so happened that Xia Jinhong begged to come to the door, and Qin Bai felt that it was quite suitable. Whether it can solve the supply of sulfur or sell it overseas will never arouse the suspicion of others.