[I was on a business trip last week, I'm sorry, this is a new chapter]

The summer river breeze brought the heat to the extreme under the weight of heavy clouds, which made the people on the docks lazy, and completely lost the atmosphere of the festival.

I heard Ye Lao Ye say that when he was in Beijing, the seventh day of the seventh month of July every year, it can be said that there are many patterns, just the big families go to buy the Moheluo doll [Note: a kind of Buddhist statue, each family buys it during the Chinese Valentine's Day, and often uses vulgar clothes and pearl jade decoration as a kind of begging ornament] and a carriage and horse that should be Cailou utensils can block a street until night.

Inside and outside the capital on the day of Qixi Festival, in addition to the general female relatives to play together, the daughters of the people should also put the water basin under the sun at noon, cast the embroidery needle on the water and watch the needle shadow at the bottom of the basin, with flowers, birds, insects and beasts and moire eggplant pattern scissors pattern for the skillful, if the projection is too thick and too thin or too straight and lack of change will be considered a clumsy sign of the daughter's family, and there are those who cry on the spot with a high heart. It's a pity that the sun in Chongqing City is scorching, but there are few bright days, and the trick of throwing needles at noon is estimated to be impossible to do, and I am afraid that no daughter is willing to come to the door to play in this temperature.

Wang Xingping knew that the so-called Qixi begging had nothing to do with the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and it was all used by folk women to find some fun and try needlework by the way, but last night I accompanied my sister's family to a night banquet upstairs in the backyard to admire the moon, but I did hear Wang Ruoxi tell the story of the Weaver Girl crossing the river, and the two maidservants below also intended to look for it in the clouds. After using up the melons and fruits, the subordinates of the Jian family went to bring a few clay pots, and caught spiders in the backyard to put them into the pots, saying that they wanted to see which one had the most cobwebs this morning, which was ingenious, and it was really strange.

Of course, for Wang Xingping, these are just pastimes to accompany his sister, and he can be regarded as doing his younger brother's best work, and he doesn't care about it, and now that he has gone out, he won't care about the cobwebs in the clay pot.

The day before yesterday, the beginning of autumn, yesterday's Qixi Festival, and today is already the end of the sun, and the solar terms are one after another, but Wang Xingping's mood does not have many waves.

Ever since I sold all the salt in my hand a few days ago and made a good profit, I have been thinking about what to do next. It seems that there is a lot of business that can be done at the moment, and Chongqing, one of the largest prefectures in the southwest, is also a thriving place for business and trade, but there is little preparation for how to deal with such a situation through those memories before going through the past.

If you want to talk about the business that can be done by crossing the grain, from glass to muskets, even ordinary daily commodities such as refined salt and white sugar can be profitable. But now he has neither materials nor technology, and there is no one in his hands, and in this southwest place, even less than half of the missionaries who can pass through Western science and technology, even if they make some money by making salt now, they are still a small hoarder who does not know how many hands they have turned, and they have not even mastered the core technology of salt making, and the salt well is also in the hands of the government, not to mention that selling illicit salt is still a felony at this time.

This is also Wang Xingping's anxiety all along, now even if the arrears and loans are repaid together, the remaining silver is also available to make a living, but investment is restricted everywhere, it seems that this businessman is really not happy in Daming. Otherwise, when the news of Yangzhou came, he would not have decided to sell all the salt sources immediately. In Wang Xingping's opinion, because the Huaiyan restructuring brought a short-term market to the salt market in Sichuan, what price should be or what price once the market passed, so when the news just got up, there was a noise in the market, so he exchanged the salt for cash as soon as possible. I believe that it won't be long before those merchants who raise prices and hoard will regret it, after all, in his memory, the reform of the salt administration failed to benefit Sichuan until the end of the Ming Dynasty, and not only is he confident in his memory, but what makes him more sure is the good appetite of the emperor's relatives and nobles.

…………

'Jiangbei is indeed not comparable to the city of Fu. ’

Looking at the dilapidated houses on the pier, Wang Xingping thought this at the first sight of stepping on the riverbank.

Chongqing city overlook like a leaf, just before the Yangtze River arrives at Shidong Gorge, 'Ye Ya' divides the river into two outside the Chaotian Gate, the wharf on the Yangtze River in the south of the city is now the place where the merchant ships of shipping traffic gather, and the local popularity along the Jialing River - locally called the small river - is much lower in the north of the city, although the outline of the residential houses has still been built to the side of the city wall, but compared to the wharf on the side of the Yangtze River, it is indeed much thinner.

In addition to transporting manure and vegetables, chickens and ducks in and out of the city gate every day, there is not much bulk trading, which can be understood by just looking at the fact that nine of the seventeen city gates in Chongqing are only open on the Jialing River side.

Of course, the Jialing River bank is so so also because of the terrain, after the Linjiang Gate and then upstream there are cliffs all the way, and another Qianguo Gate, the name is taken from the "Book of Poetry • Xiaoya" in the "Seeking Qianwu Cang, Wan Si Cang, Millet Rice Liang, the Farmer's Celebration." Repay the blessing and live a long life. In a word, at least since the Song Dynasty, it is where the grain hoards in the city are located, and it can be seen that its terrain is dangerous.

And the Hongya Gate between the two doors is a place where the mountain is high and the road is dangerous, since the Yuan Ji has been closed all the year round, the Hongya Cave under the pheasant moat outside the door is a local scenic spot, Wang Xingping also went there with several protégés of Ye Lianfang in his spare time, because there is a waterfall when the boulder is covered, so the local is also called the dripping cliff, the inscription of Su Shi and Huang Tingjian on the cliff is vaguely recognizable, and Wang Xingping looked back at the south bank when he was on the ferry, but it has a different meaning.

In contrast, this land in Jiangbei is indeed worthy of Wang Xingping's emotion, in his concept, although the city wall is more significant in military existence, but for the intuitive feeling, whether there is a city wall or not is indeed a completely different perception, the location of Jiangbei Town is precisely because the city wall has not yet been built The momentum is much weaker. Unlike the relatively gentle terrain in the south bank, Jiangbei is a sloping land here, and only a wharf near the middle is slightly smoother.

"If a city wall is built here, it will be able to become a horn with the city of the palace."

"What Xiaoping said is slightly the same as what the old men in the yamen see, I heard that the original mansion wanted to build a new city wall in the north of the river, otherwise the yamen and the Zhaomo Department would not have built it here." Jian Shouzhi, who accompanied Wang Xingping, said beside him, and shook his head after speaking. "It's a pity that there is a lack of money."

Wang Xingping said: "Chongqing City is built with brick walls. ”

Chongqing Mansion City is a brick wall since the end of the Song Dynasty, that is because this place is a military fortress, in order to resist the attack of the Mongols, the chief officer of this place has made a lot of blood, you must know that even Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, is still a rammed earth city wall, only the cost of bricks. Recently, at the beginning of the city of Beijing, only bricks were used to wrap the exterior walls, and the interior walls were wrapped with bricks after Chenghua. At the scale of Chongqing City, if the wall is paved with burning bricks, it will be calculated at least tens of millions, even if there is a method of piling up stones mined on the spot, but the cost is considerable.

Of course, that was already a matter of the Song Dynasty, the current dynasty has been peaceful for a long time, and the southwest has also been pacified, and now there is no spare money to decorate this already impregnable city with a fortress across the river.

Wang Xingping came to Jiangbei today to visit Jian Shouzhi's old father Jian Xiaowu, naturally accompanied by his brother-in-law, in addition to Xiaoliu and several servants of the Jian family.

It was past noon when the group reached the shore, and although the afternoon weather was still hot, it was always better to have mountains and clouds to avoid direct sunlight. The boatmen on the wharf gathered in twos and threes, and there were all kinds of juggling in the rivers and lakes, and even the monks and Taoists were mixed in, which was much stronger than the market atmosphere in the city.

In the teahouses in Fucheng, I have heard that the boatmen here have a lot of gangs according to the guild and the township, and the nuns in the nunnery behind the Jiangbei Wharf are simply still doing the skin and meat business, which is no different from a private house. Wang Xing said calmly, if it weren't for the fact that Liao Si and the brothers had already returned to Guizhou first, this would be a good place to spend time.

At this time, Jian Shouzhi pointed to a mess of rocks on the east side of the pier and said: "Isn't Xiaoping curious about the fire well in the north of the river, and he turned over the beach that is facing the partridge stone in the river, but he can only see it when the water is dry." ”

There is a riverbed shallow beach on the bank of the north of the river, the well is dug and there is gas out, the fire is spontaneously combusted, the so-called 'Jinsha fire well' is a great wonder here, in fact it is an open-pit natural gas seedling.

"The little brother is just curious, although this fire is also a good thing, it is not easy to use if it can't be carried."

"Brother is saying that this fire gas can also be mined like coal and used as fuel?"

"Naturally, not only carboniferous, but also oil, there are many underground deposits, but there are too few people who can be familiar with its reasoning nowadays, and it would be a good thing if they could understand it or be able to use it for others."

Jian Shouzhi smiled when he heard this: "Ruoxi often says Xiaoping when he comes back, you like to be whimsical, but for my brother, I think it's rare to have this idea, even if it's just a fantasy, it's good, I don't know where my brother's idea came from, is it your knowledge of things?" ”

Speaking of coming to Jiangbei, Wang Xingping actually knew that there was a fire well here, and thought it was the curiosity of the children's family, but he didn't expect that his brother-in-law could deduce the benefits of the national economy and people's livelihood from this. And obviously did a lot of homework, when he went to Guiyang, he knew that his younger brother was recommended to go to Yangming Academy, that Yangming Academy is a department of psychology, Mr. Yangming also paid attention to the knowledge of things before his death, but Mr. Yangming said that the things that he said seemed to be different from the things in his brother's mouth.

Let's not talk about academic things, let's just say that this time Wang Xingping made salt, because the salt reform made a lot of money, which is said to be analyzed by him from the official mansion on weekdays, and it can be seen that his brother-in-law is indeed very talented in learning and business, and he is very talented in doing things, and he is very straightforward in doing things, and he can't find fault with people.

Originally, because his parents were partial to his younger brother and didn't want to see Ruoxi, his daughter-in-law, he didn't plan to tell his family about Wang Xingping's arrival in Chongqing, but today it was Wang Xingping who took the initiative to come and ask his uncle and aunt. said that he also had some reputation in Chongqing recently, and he was afraid that his brother-in-law and sister would be scolded by the family for not knowing the etiquette after entering the old house of the Jian family, and the money borrowed by the father-in-law still had to be repaid.

"Brother-in-law, have you seen "Dream Creek Writings"?" Wang Xingping interrupted Jian Shouzhi's thoughts.

"Dream Creek Pen Talk"? What does this anger look like in this book? "Literati like notes, especially Ming people, so when Wang Xingping said the name of the pen talk, he has already determined which miscellaneous book it is.

This is the Northern Song Dynasty Shen Kuo general Pingsu for the official to write a note, in the middle of the said that there is oil in Shaanxi Yanhe, the local people call it fat water, can be burned in the fire, but it is the same as this fire is buried in the underground veins, and the local people use it to treat all kinds of human and animal ringworm diseases. Whether it is coal or this oil, it is the turbidity of the gas of heaven and earth, and the purifier is the gas of this fire well. ”

I can't remember the description of natural gas in ancient books, so Wang Xingping simply made it up casually, anyway, he pulled out Shen Kuo's name, which is always false and real, and his brother-in-law will not exhaustively investigate the source.

Sure enough, I heard Jian Shouzhi say as he walked: "How can I know about Shaanxi, but when it comes to this oil, there are similar things in Sichuan." ”

Seeing Wang Xingping's curiosity, Jian Shouzhi said again: "I heard that during the Zhengde period, Jiazhou [Note: Now Leshan] excavated a salt well, and the result was also dug out oil and water, which must be the oil mentioned in your book." ”

In fact, after making salt, Wang Xingping has always been apprehensive in his heart, holding cash in his hand but not daring to invest again. In the past few days, I have heard a lot of rumors from all over the world asking for help, but fortunately, Wang Xingping only walks around the city every day, and returns to his sister's house before closing, but there is nothing wrong with it.

A few days ago, he said that he was going to come to Jiangbei to meet Jian Xiaowu, and he just remembered the fire well that he heard in the market, which inspired him. Since most of the business has been monopolized by wealthy merchant families, why don't you find another way to think about unpopular trading? Although the development of industry is costly, it is a thing that can lay a solid foundation, to gain a foothold in this world, it is not difficult to rely on the family background to mix a peace, but the premise is that it is really necessary to be peaceful in order to mix, but unfortunately the process of history may still be unstoppable, their own skin is not yet the age of the weak crown, and then there are twenty or thirty years, if you really want to encounter the chaos in the world in the prime of life, the wealth of the small family will become the cream in the eyes of others, and there is no ability to protect yourself.

And Wang Xingping thinks of nature or industry, today's industry is nothing more than manual and smelting, and Wang Xingping has always been concerned about smelting, and the most important of which is naturally mining, hoping to learn more about the mines and furnaces in the southwest without attracting too much attention, through the fire well such an interesting story can be used as a cover-up.

While thinking about things, go up the stone steps, and go east after the archway of Shengpingfang not far away, you can see a big well, behind the big well, sandwiched between the Tirentang Pharmacy and Xiao Cao Temple, an alley at the end, built in the Kui Xing Lord's house is the house of Jian Father Jian Xiaowu, between a few ancient trees, it is also a quiet place in the middle of the noise.

As soon as Wang Xingping and the others walked through the alley, they heard a gust of wind behind them, and a ragged man ran out of Xiao Cao Temple, and several thin figures chased after him, and chased him to the big well. The residents who were washing and fetching water next to the well avoided one after another, and several men chased after the well and pressed the man to the side of the well and beat him.

'The dog is so big and gallant. ’

You didn't take a picture of the dog's pee, and you stole it here. ’