Xiao Zishan instructed Sun Chang to prepare a mule cart and a sedan chair to pick up people at the dock. The others hurried to cook and clean, and the empty house suddenly became busy. Sun often said that mules and carts do not need to be labored, just find the dart bureau directly - because of the need to dart, the dart board is generally equipped with a "outer cabinet" (three productions) of the mule and horse cart shop, and everything is ready-made.

On the one hand, he arranged to pick up people, and on the other hand, he ordered to prepare a sedan chair to visit Gaoju. On the way, he asked Sun Chang about his movements in various aspects over the past year. Sun Chang said that since they left, Gao Ju often sent people to deliver something. Ask if there is any news of Australian maritime business. The neighborhood is also calm, except for Liu Laoxiang's great trouble in the Pearl River Estuary, and the market is a little disturbed. He didn't know much about the officialdom, but he knew that Beijing had fallen a big official in the palace, and the officialdom in Guangzhou City had also changed somewhat, and the rest was not clear.

Xiao Zishan knew that this so-called palace official was Wei Zhongxian, and history had not changed its trajectory in this time and space: the 9,000-year-old who had been in power had committed suicide in a hotel in Nanguan, Fucheng County, Hebei Province, on the sixth day of the eleventh lunar month last year. From December last year to the first half of this year, Emperor Chongzhen was exhaustively investigating the Wei rebel remnants, and it was not surprising that the officialdom was shaken. To a certain extent, the traverser should be grateful for the situation: people are panicked, and no one has the heart to deal with a pirate infestation on Hainan Island.

Xiao Zishan's sudden visit surprised and delighted Gao Ju. At the beginning, the matter of building Wei Zhongxian's ancestral hall, he had no other good plan, so he used the Wen shopkeeper to give the word "drag", and the shopkeeper also made it clear that there must be a big change that month, and sure enough: Eunuch Yang was originally sitting in Guangzhou, almost to the house day by day, and he did not dare to delay too much, but he was slow to prepare, and he suffered for almost 20 days. Suddenly, Xiao Yang's father-in-law came to say goodbye, ordered the preparation for the construction of the ancestral hall to be suspended, and hurriedly returned to Beijing with all kinds of Australian goods prepared. After more than ten days, he received a letter from Beijing, and only then did he learn that on May 18, the emperor suddenly fell ill and was in a very serious condition. This exaltation was not a surprise, but a goosebump on the back of the head.

"On May 18, there are changes in Beijing, and things can be delayed." This is what the shopkeeper said when he resigned. At the moment, this group of maritime merchants who were already a little mysterious made him feel even more unpredictable. He hurriedly inquired around and asked if anyone had ever seen a strange big ship in the ocean. But there was no news. He had no choice but to wait for the maritime merchants to come to him—after all, the payment for 200,000 taels of silver was still here. After waiting left and right for more than a year, there was still no news, and just when he felt hopeless, he heard some rumors in the past month: that an unprecedented huge ship had appeared in Qiongzhou. The sailors on the ship, all with short hair and clothes, were very fierce. I couldn't help muttering in my heart: Could it be that this is the ship of the Australian maritime merchants? I was wondering if I should send someone to the local area.

Holding it high while asking people to set up wine to catch the wind, while shouting the cold and asking for warmth. He also brought the sales list of the goods, and told him that he had 50,000 taels of silver to be withdrawn at present, and that the rest of the silver could be collected in more than ten days.

"The silver is not in a hurry, you can store it here first." There is no shortage of silver at the moment, but what is lacking is supplies. Xiao Zishan didn't have too much politeness, and told him that the purpose of this trip was to buy goods, because the types of goods were huge, and he had to ask the shopkeeper Gao to help. Holding up the porcelain, spices, and hardwoods that he thought were still in the past, he said yes, and when he opened the list, he was dumbfounded. The things listed above are completely unexpected: pig iron, graphite, fluorite, bile alum, alum, soap alum, saltpeter, miscanthus salt, alkali surface, sulfur, arsenic, realgar, orpiment, cinnabar, borax, gypsum, tin, lead, copper, mercury, ......

Most of these things are not recognized by Gao Ju, some of which he knows are to be used in the workshop, and some are simply medicinal herbs. Saltpeter and sulfur are things that belong to the government, and the pig iron will cost 10,000 stones, which is good to say, but it is necessary to run more iron yards, and this mercury will also cost 10 stones--the mercury in the whole city of Guangzhou has been collected, and I am afraid that there is not a single stone--what do they want to do? Could it be that there are some emperors and nobles in Australia who have died and want to embalm with mercury?

While thinking wildly, Xiao Zishan saw that his face was changing, and asked, "Are there any difficulties with these?" ”

"You can find everything." Hold it high and put down the list, "It's just that the number is a little more?" Let's just say that this bile, mercury, etc., it would be good to have one stone in the whole city, where there are so many. ”

"Then please ask Master Gao to bother, as much as you want." Xiao Zishan didn't know what these things were for, but since they were bought by name, it was very important to think about it.

"Brother entrusts me to do things, do my best," Gao Ju suddenly changed his title, and said in a low voice, "But there are a lot of forbidden things in it, and it's not that my brother can't do it, but I have to ask about everything, and it's easy to grasp the balance when I do things." ”

Xiao Zishan was stunned for a moment, he knew that saltpeter, sulfur and the like might be things controlled by the government, but he didn't think about anything else: "I don't know which goods are prohibited?" ”

"Iron, this thing is not allowed to be exported. But it's easy. But copper, arsenic, saltpeter, and sulfur are a little difficult, especially since the amount of my brother is very large-"

"These are the raw materials for Australian goods." Xiao Zishan already knew from Sun Chang that he had made a fortune on Australian goods and became a "wealth myth" in Guangzhou. Using the raw materials used to make Australian goods as a reason, he must do his best. But here's the big truth: the Ministry of Industry urgently needs these things to start modern manufacturing

Sure enough, Gao Ju immediately fell silent, as if considering something, and after a while, he said as if he had made up his mind: "Since my brother wants it, my brother will definitely help." It's just that it takes time to stock up, how long can the brother wait? ”

"Fifteen days."

"It's a little tight, so I told my shopkeeper to go out separately to procure. Do your best to arrange! Don't know where the goods are going? Is it still—"

"I have to ask my brother about this." Another purpose of Xiao Zishan's trip is to establish a communication line from Guangzhou to Hainan, and large-scale purchases will be made in Guangzhou in the future, and a suitable transshipment point is urgently needed. There are many people in the city, and it is very inconvenient to enter and exit a large number of goods, so it is necessary to find a warehouse outside the city as a place for goods to be transferred.

He told him what he wanted and exalted, and he said that it was easy, and that he had set up his own warehouse wharf on Youyuzhou at the mouth of the Pearl River, which was the territory of fishermen who specialized in smuggling, and they were all half-people and half-bandits. The public in the city is so idle that he doesn't dare to go in, which is almost equivalent to an extralegal shijie. The traverser's boat can dock here. He is setting aside a separate stack for the turnover of goods.

"That's all right." Xiao Zishan was quite satisfied with this arrangement, and then told Gao Ju that they would purchase these goods for a long time, and as long as they could buy them, they would have as many as they wanted.

The plan stopped, and Gao Ju asked them if there were any new Australian goods arrived in Guangzhou this time. Xiao Zishan just smiled slightly, "It's just a little bit of a fight, and in a few months, my brother will naturally find out." ”

These words gave him room for imagination, but they also left him with a little fear. From a personal point of view, he was not afraid of the short hair in front of him, but the faintly powerful Liliang behind the other party made him uneasy. This group of Australian maritime merchants is by no means as simple as a businessman.

Xiao Zishan's next visit to the Qiwei Dart Bureau Sun Kecheng Sun shopkeeper, the Dart Bureau has the ability to transport bulk materials over long distances, is a good assistant to establish land communication lines.

Along the way, Sun Wei had already told the owner the details of the dart game. This is a dart game that combines the relationship between the family, the townsman and the teacher, up to the head of the dart Sun Kecheng, down to the little guy and groom on the counter, either the same clan, the same township or the same master and apprentice brother. The regional, blood, and patriarchal relationship between each other is extremely close. They took the route from Guangzhou to Nanchang, Jiangxi, and also made a short distance in the province. There are a number of external cabinet branches along the way, and it is also considered medium-sized in Guangdong Province, and there are some contacts in all aspects. Xiao Zishan calculated that if he mastered this dart game, it would be of great benefit to the trade and intelligence activities here in Guangdong.

Shopkeeper Sun was quite pleased with his visit - the Australian maritime merchant is really a person who talks about friendship. Xiao Zishan gave some more gifts, and the two sides talked happily, and Xiao Zishan took the opportunity to ask about the business of the dart board.

Sun Kecheng sighed again and again, and his face was a lot gloomy.

The business of darts is not bad. It's just that it's getting more and more uneven along the way. In the past, there were a lot of bandits on the road, but they were still characters with names in the rivers and lakes, and how many of them abided by the rules of the rivers and lakes. In the past, the bandits only needed soft gold and silver, but now the rogues they encounter simply want everything with things and cars.

Bandits are rampant, the villages and towns along the way are all set up in groups, set up villages everywhere, go to the villages and towns everywhere to interrogate and guard, like them foreign dart bureaus, if it is not for the master and apprentice brothers are basically from Jiangxi, some people have a relationship, it is really difficult to find a place to settle down. He barely walked a few times, but although he did not lose a dart, he killed and wounded a dozen brothers. Up and down the dart game, there is a feeling that the future is uncertain.

When Xiao Zishan proposed to use the method of buying shares to fund them, and at the same time the proposal to open a new dart road, Sun Kecheng's mouth opened wide - since the beginning of the business of the dart shop, the dart game is not a profitable business, and the brothers can start a business with a few partners, and they can make money with their strength, and they can be well-off all year round, and it is impossible to say that they can pay a large amount of dividends, so no one has ever used money to buy shares in the dart game.

"Don't pay dividends." Xiao Zishan put forward the idea, "Now we have to do business and open a business in Daming, and the matter of transporting goods in a store is indispensable, and there is no one more familiar with this business than yours." This money, we don't want the dart bureau to dividends, and the second is not to interfere in the internal affairs of the dart board, but where our trading size is done in the future, the dart road of the dart board will also be opened! ”