Before going to Liaonan, this problem of buying grain already existed.

It's almost an unsolvable puzzle.

Because of the importance of agriculture, Weibao has always put food first in its development plan.

"This Qiao Dongsheng is really haunted! And that Fang Yuan copper, how did he get together with Jin Shang! President Wei said coldly.

"Fang Yuantong is Fang Anping's father, and Fang Anping is your classmate with my second brother, right?" Wu Xuexia pouted.

Wei Bao nodded.

"That Fang Anping, he usually looks very annoying! His family was by you once last time, and almost all of their grain store business went out of business, so they must have changed their hatred! Fangyuan Tongjia specializes in grain trading, although it can't catch up with our Wu family in this piece of grain, but it is also the largest grain trader in the entire western Liaoning except for the Wu family. Wu Xuexia said.

"Let's see if we can ask them to come to Weijiazhuang to meet." Wei Bao said to Fan's head.

"It's not difficult, I'm afraid they won't dare to come." Fan said with a big head: "I can send someone to make an appointment now." ”

"You go in person, if they don't dare to come, I can go to Shanhaiguan!" Wei Bao said: "I don't have much time, and I have to go to Beijing to catch the exam, at most I will stay in Liaoxi for two or three days!" Your tone is harder! Remember, we urgently need to buy a lot of food, but don't let people see that we're in a hurry. And they're not much better than us. Didn't they traffic a large amount of grain to Liaoxi just to earn our silver? If we don't buy it, Liaoxi won't be able to digest so much grain at all! Even if they have a way to secretly sell to Jiannu, how many people are Jiannu? I can't digest so much food. ”

"Yes, President, I'll be right away." Fan agreed with a big head.

Fan's big head said to go and go, without stopping.

I haven't seen President Wei for a while, and this goodbye, Luo Sanzi, Liu Chunshi and Fan Datou, who were once close to President Wei, are extremely in awe.

"If you don't have a way to restrain them, the effect of meeting will not be very good." Fan Xiaolin reminded.

Wu Xuexia also nodded: "Since they have been in a stalemate for so long, they are not afraid that we will not buy it." The key is that the grain can be put in. In these days, grain is more useful than silver, and you can cash out anywhere. ”

"We are not short of silver, what we are most afraid of is that we are willing to pay double the amount of silver, and the other party may not be willing to sell! This is a big injustice, and heaven and earth will not be able to do it. Wei Bao said.

"Unless we let them know that we can buy a lot of food from outside!" Wu Xuexia said.

Wei Bao snorted, and suddenly thought of something: "These people are very short-sighted, they only know the affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and they know about North Korea and Jiannu as far away!" We can pretend to be able to buy a lot of food from overseas! Now there are a lot of European merchant ships in the south! We can say that there is a European fleet coming to Weijiazhuang! And brought a lot of food! ’

"It's useless, they can't believe it unless they see it with their own eyes." Wu Xuexia said.

Wei Bao didn't continue the topic, stood up and said, "Let's all go to dinner!" Got the food ready, right? ”

"It's ready early, just serve the food while eating." Huang Ying hurriedly said.

Xu Rui also said: "It's all ready." ”

Wu Xuexia knew that Wei Bao was in a bad mood, so she didn't answer her words, but she felt that she was not wrong. Doing business is not a playhouse, Qiao Dongsheng's kind of Jin merchant and young owner cannot be easily deceived.

President Wei didn't speak during the meal, Wei Dakang, Fan Laopao, Wang Zhihui and others persuaded Wei Bao to drink some wine, but Wei Bao also politely refused.

Originally, President Wei was not good at drinking, but when there were many people, he liked to drink a little.

After eating, Wei Bao instructed one of the captains of the President's Guard to follow him to Gunship Bay.

Gunship Bay is also closed in Weijiazhuang, although the people in Weijiazhuang know that there are troops and arsenals stationed in Warship Bay, as well as some ironsmith workshops, but those are military units, and ordinary people cannot enter them.

And those who know about the existence of warships are only a few high-ranking members of the Heaven and Earth Society.

So far, President Wei still insists on allowing others to board the warship when he is present.

The Zhenyuan ship was already empty.

Grain, vegetables, fruits, and non-staple foods have all been emptied long ago, and these things are the main stored materials.

All that remains is the display capsule with many antiques of the XIX and XX centuries.

So far, President Wei has only imitated the steam engine, and although other products are quite backward for Wei Bao as a modern person, but even so, Weijiazhuang still does not have the ability to imitate.

There are also sewing machines, which Weijiazhuang also imitated, but the effect is very poor.

Because Weijiazhuang does not have its own steel industry, things like steam engines are relatively bulky and do not require high precision.

The sewing machine is different, although it is also very simple, and the accuracy requirements are not very high, but even so, there are still many parts that need to be sealed, especially the gears, which are a little bit worse, and they are stuck and cannot meet the needs of mass production.

There is also the shuttle loom, which is not a demanding equipment, which is produced in conjunction with the steam engine, and constitutes the main equipment of the Weijiazhuang textile factory.

President Wei only brought a few dozen personal guards with him on the warship, and he didn't bring many people, because he wasn't prepared to take a lot of things.

President Wei took people on the warship and asked people to move the bagged food in the small bar and small supermarket on the warship.

Moved all at once.

As a result, there is nothing to eat from the modern era.

Many of these bagged foods have passed their expiration date, and the reason why President Wei only took them down now was not because he forgot them, but because he felt that these things could not be used as food, so he kept a little bit to eat when he was fine, like cigarettes, and was not ready to share them with others.

The main thing is that there are not many things, and if you take them out, you can't sell them at any price, and you have to work hard to explain to people for a long time.

After all, the packaging bags of these bagged foods, the technology of this era is completely unavailable, and Weijiazhuang does not have this technology for the time being, so it cannot be explained to people.

There were more than 50 guards, one of whom was holding a cardboard box, which was filled with bagged food.

President Wei saw that they had all moved, so he took people off the warship again.

This time, President Wei did not stop on the warship for long, although this large warship was President Wei's only thought of modern times.

But President Wei is no longer as sentimental as when he was just reborn and crossed, he has fully adapted to the life of this era, and even feels that he is really a Ming person.

"Let's move back to the President's Mansion!" President Wei said to the guards.

"Yes, President." The captain of the guard promised and beckoned: "Turn left and right!" March! ”

President Wei glanced at the team, then stepped on his red deer horse and flew back to the president's mansion.

That night, Fan's head returned to Weijiazhuang from Shanhaiguan.

"President, they refused to come to Weijiazhuang, saying that the president wanted to visit them, so they went to Shanhaiguan, this group of people is very arrogant." Fan said angrily.

Wei Bao had expected it and didn't say anything.

"If you can, let's go to Shanhaiguan, I'll ask my father to come forward and ask them to meet, they should go." Wu Xuexia said.

"Well, you can send someone to deliver the letter now, and meet you at Shanhai Tower at noon tomorrow!" Wei Bao Road.

"Yes." Wu Xuexia said softly: "Since they are so horizontal, I'm afraid that they will be similar wherever they meet." ”

Wei Bao didn't answer Wu Xuexia's words, and said to Fan's head: "Tomorrow, you have people drive a big treasure ship with a steam engine to the Shanhaiguan estuary, and put it in a place where you can see it on the Shanhai Tower!" ”

"It's easy." Fan's head agreed.

"President, the imperial court prohibits private ships from going to sea, let our big treasure ship go outside Shanhaiguan, it's too ostentatious, right?" Liu Chunshi didn't know what President Wei meant, and reminded.

"It's okay, don't I already have the official position of a transfer envoy in southern Liaoning? If you don't have a ship, what else can you transfer? Wei Bao said: "You go and do it, I have my own intentions." ”

Liu Chunshi and Fan said yes together.

Although Wu Xuexia, Luo Sanzi, Fan Xiaolin, Wang Qiuya, Xu Rui, Princess Zhenming and others were full of questions, no one asked.

Because if President Wei wants to say something, he will naturally say it.

If President Wei didn't want to say it, he wouldn't say it if he asked.

The next morning, President Wei asked the members of the President's Guard to set off with more than 50 boxes of bagged food.

There are dried fruits, puffed foods, sweets, meat products, etc. Potato chips, French fries, shrimp crackers, snow cakes, preserved fruits, sour horn cakes, plums, peanuts, pine nuts, almonds, pistachios, fish fillets, jerky, spiced fried meat and other snack foods.

Grain products (puffed, fried, baked), nuts, potatoes, confectionery, pie products (sour hornnut pie, passion fruit pie, etc.), meat, poultry and fish products, dried fruit products, dried vegetable products, marine products.

A whole carriage was loaded and followed behind President Wei's carriage.

"What's on that car?" Wu Xuexia asked Wei Bao: "I saw a lot of strange bags with all kinds of food, where did they come from?" ”

"From the West!" President Wei said.

Wu Xuexia seemed to understand a little, "From the West? Are you going to use these to cheat Qiao Dongsheng and Fang Yuan Copper? A car of such things, I'm afraid they won't be on the set, right? Do we still have it? If there are many more, it is possible. ”

"Where are you going to get a lot of them? It's all here. Wei Bao smiled wryly.

When they arrived at Shanhailou, Wu Xiang had already arrived, and Qiao Dongsheng and a group of grain merchants from North Zhili, South Zhili, Henan, and Shandong had also arrived.

Everyone refused to come to Weijiazhuang, but they didn't snub President Wei too much in Shanhaiguan, and they were late or something.

Wei Bao brought more than 100 people to escort him.

This pomp, that is, President Wei, although he already has the identity of a seven-rank official, is only a fame after all.

Moreover, this official position was not appointed by the Ministry of Officials through formal channels, but was given to Wei Baobao by Sun Chengzong.

Yo, it's replaced by someone else, how dare such a seven-grade official make this kind of pomp?

President Wei dared.

"This Wei Bao is too arrogant!" Qiao Dongsheng looked at the neat two rows of guards below and took a sip.

"Not really! Bring so many people! Scaring people? Other officials and businessmen couldn't help but complain.

Even Wu Xiang felt that Wei Bao was a bit exaggerated, and he used so many people to escort him? What is this afraid of? Afraid of the official army? Or show off something? If you go to Beijing, do you dare to make this kind of pomp?

President Wei can't be said to be deliberately arrogant, every time he comes back to Shanhaiguan, he is basically like this.

It's just that he didn't have an official position before, and his guards were basically plainclothes guards, and there were many agents of the Statistics Bureau, who only wore civilian clothes and mixed in the crowd, and would not wear uniform uniforms like now.

"Look at his people, what are they wearing? The people of the Ming Dynasty, why do they dress the same as the Hu people? Do all Jiannu wear it like this? One person asked.

"No, Jiannu won't wear it like this, his gang is dressed like tricksters." Another humane.

Everyone laughed out loud at the trick.

Everyone's atmosphere is still very relaxed, because they all feel that they are sure to win, win Weibao, and there is no pressure at all.

However, hostility is hostility, and when President Wei's carriage stopped and President Wei got off, a group of grain merchants looking upstairs in Shanhailou couldn't help but exclaim, Wei Bao was indeed a little different, and he didn't know how many people he won with his chic appearance and temperament.

If you don't know the details of Wei Bao, know that Wei Bao's father and mother are just from a rural farmer, and say that Wei Bao is a prince, some people will believe it.

No one greeted Wei Bao at the gate of Shanhai Tower.

There are only Uncle Sun Jiu and Sister Fang, and there is also the housekeeper of the Wu Mansion.

Wu Xiang's identity is impossible to stand at the door to greet Wei Bao.

Wei Bao saw Sister Fang, smiled slightly, and was about to talk to Sister Fang and Uncle Sun Jiu, when Wu Sanfu walked out of the lobby in three steps and two steps: "Xiaobao." ”

"Oh, Brother Sanfu." Wei Bao said happily.

"Don't say it, don't say it, go upstairs, my father and dozens of grain merchants are waiting for you." Wu Sanfu said.

Wei Bao snorted and said to Uncle Sun Jiu and Sister Fang, "Uncle Jiu, Sister Fang, I'll go first." ”

"Let's get down to business." Uncle Sun Jiu hurriedly said.

Sister Fang also said: "It's important to do business. ”

"Brother." Wu Xuexia got out of the carriage and happily walked to Wu Sanfu's side.

"Xuexia." Wu Sanfu hadn't seen his sister for a while, and when he saw Wu Xuexia, he was also very happy: "With Wei Bao, it's all dark?" Wei Bao didn't bully you, did he? ”

"No, what is he bullying me for? Where am I dark," Wu Xuexia pouted with a smile.

"Let's not talk about it yet, let's go up, Daddy is on it." Wu Sanfu said.

Wu Xuexia also snorted, and together with Wei Bao, followed Wu Sanfu upstairs.

There are actually not many people, but they are all people with status, and Wu Xiang directly asked him to take down the third floor of Shanhailou.

"Daddy." When Wu Xuexia saw Wu Xiang, she was excited, stepped forward quickly, and snuggled up to her father to be coquettish.