Lan Ziyi was eating when Cao Jinbao spoke, he didn't stop his chopsticks when he heard this, but steadily finished eating the dishes in his hands, and then joked:

"I take the silver to show that I have money, Boss Cao gave me silver, and the silver in your treasury will become less, I should have come to ask Boss Cao if the money is enough to spend, why did it become Boss Cao to ask me if the money is enough to spend?"

Cao Jinbao laughed when he heard this, and he said:

"Don't hide it from Wei Hou, although 510,000 taels of silver is a lot, but the silver in my treasury is more than ten times this amount, if you want to say that my silver is not enough to spend, then Wei Hou is too underestimated."

Lan Ziyi called for some tea to moisten his throat, and after drinking the water, he said:

"I naturally know that Boss Cao, you are rich and rival the country, but is all the money in your treasury yours? That's what you merchants have deposited with you, and if the merchants want to take it, won't Boss Cao give it away? If Boss Cao really relied on other people's money to make a fortune, why did he buy so many other industries? ”

Although Lan Ziyi knew very little about Cao Jinbao's business, he knew that Cao Jinbao was not only in the money business, but also a man who could represent the entire northern merchant gang, and he definitely had a lot of property under his hands.

Sure enough, after Lan Ziyi finished speaking, Cao Jinbao lowered his head and laughed twice. After thinking about it, he said:

"I still want to know what Wei Hou is doing when he comes to me today? You came with General Leopard, this is a big face, if there is no matter, do you want to have a family meal here for no reason? ”

Lan Ziyi nodded when he heard this:

"Well, Boss Cao, you're right, I'm here to eat today. I haven't eaten such authentic Beizhen cuisine since I came to Beijing at the beginning of the year. ”

Today, Dugu Leopard ignored the hard work on the road, and forcibly invited Lan Ziyi to see Cao Jinbao, and made the reason clear before going out, that is, to borrow money from Cao Jinbao. When Lan Ziyi followed Dugu Leopard into this green street, after seeing the watchtower built by Cao Jinbao near the river, Lan Ziyi also had a considerable degree of understanding of Cao Jinbao's financial resources. Without being reminded by others, Lan Ziyi spontaneously used all the tricks he had learned since entering Beijing, although these tricks were very despicable to use.

After Lan Ziyi nodded and finished speaking, he added:

"Actually, I can't say that I have nothing to do today, I still have something to do, that is, to solve the problem for Boss Cao, after all, we are also fellow countrymen, and it is within the responsibility of fellow villagers to be anxious."

Cao Jinbao smiled and looked at Lan Ziyi at the other end of the dinner table, and sighed secretly in his heart, he didn't expect that this sixteen-year-old boy was so sophisticated, and he couldn't catch the handle by talking without leakage. According to the news that Cao Jinbao got before, this Lan Ziyi should be a sour and rotten talent, and he doesn't understand these ways, what happened to make Lan Ziyi progress so fast?

Cao Jinbao, who couldn't find an advantage, could only turn his head to Dugu Leopard, and he smiled:

"Old leopard, don't just sit still, but say a few words."

Dugu Leopard only cared about eating vegetables at this time, and didn't look up to pay attention to Cao Jinbao, he just replied when he heard this:

"Boss Cao, every time my Beizhen soldiers go on an expedition, you have made great contributions to raising grain and straw in the rear, and the acting prince appreciates you very much. But talking about things is talking about things, today my young master took the lead in coming here, and he will be in charge of the matter, if Boss Cao wants to talk, you can talk to my young master. ”

Qiu Wenruo and Qiu Xiaozhi nodded with satisfaction when they heard Dugu Leopard say this, and Cao Jinbao knew that it was impossible to drag any favors today. He was silent for a while, during which he just drank by himself, and when Lan Ziyi felt that Cao Jinbao might be sending off guests today, Cao Jinbao made up his mind and said:

"If Wei Hou asks to help me, I really can't ask for it. I do have some things that are difficult to handle recently, but I don't know if Wei Hou can help me do it. ”

When Lan Ziyi heard this, he knew that he had taken the lead, and he said:

"Boss Cao is an old friend of my father, if you need help, just ask, Ziyi will do his best."

Cao Jinbao pursed his lips and was noncommittal, he said:

"There are a lot of things, and they are more trivial, so I'll pick a few key things, where do you think of it, what do you think?"

Lan Ziyi nodded in response:

"Absolutely."

Cao Jinbao said:

"Then let me talk about a recent thing first, the most appetizing thing at the moment is the imperial court's move to open a position. According to the planning of the imperial court, Beiping City and Nanjing City took these two points as the core to transport grain to the outside ring by ring. For such a large-scale activity, the government's own transportation capacity is not enough, and the imperial court needs to rely on the strength of merchants, that is, us, to transport grain. ”

Lan Ziyi said:

"I know this matter clearly, and I was also present when the imperial court decided this matter that day, and it was also an established policy to rely on your bosses. Just what's wrong with that? ”

Cao Jinbao smiled:

"That's a big problem. Wei Hou only knew that the imperial court had to mobilize merchant transportation capacity in order to transport grain, but he did not know that the imperial court had issued a special grain transportation charter to restrict our operation. ”

Lan Ziyi hadn't heard of this, so he turned his head to look at the Qiu family's father and son, Qiu Wenruo took Lan Ziyi's eyes, and then said:

"The granary of the state treasury is open to release grain, and the amount of grain put out in this way is huge, not all businessmen have the ability to undertake this job, if someone has a dark heart and wants to swallow these life-saving grains? This is the intention of the imperial court to issue a charter. ”

Hearing this, Cao Jinbao turned his head to look at Qiu Wenruo, and he said:

"This is Mr. Wen Ruo, who was introduced by Wei Hou when he entered the door just now. Sir, what you said is true, and I know this truth, but the problem is that when the imperial court issued a concession, he did not issue it according to the rating of the merchant's strength, but sold each concession at a price, and sold it to the merchants of the capital. ”

Lan Ziyi frowned and said:

"Who came up with this bad idea?"

Cao Jinbao said:

"Of course, it's the general manager of the north and south warehouses, and Lord Shen of the Ministry of Works."

Lan Ziyi was shocked when he heard Shen Zhong's name, and he said:

"Is it him?"

Cao Jinbao said:

"Doesn't Wei Hou know that he is the chief official of the north and south grain?"

Lan Ziyi smiled:

"This is a fat difference, and it's really cheap for Shen Zhong to take care of him. However, even if he issued all the concessions to the Jingshang, it would be impossible for the Jingshang to transport the grain from all over the country, and their transportation capacity would not be enough. ”

Cao Jinbao nodded and said:

"Yes, it is true that the Beijing Merchants alone cannot complete the plan of super-body allocation of grain, so the Beijing Merchants Chamber of Commerce has been selling their concessions for the past few days. This is interesting, except for the Beijing businessman in the whole world, it is my border businessman, who is he shouting for? ”

Lan Ziyi said:

"Naturally, I shouted to Boss Cao. Since the other party sells it, why doesn't Boss Cao buy it? ”

Cao Jinbao said:

"There is a shortage of grain in the whole country, and it is indeed possible to make a lot of money by legally reselling official grain. But it costs a lot of money to transport grain, and the concession price given by the Beijing merchants is exactly the profit I can make, and I can't afford to buy their special orders. But if I don't buy this concession, I won't be able to transport grain, and if I let the Beijing merchants transport the grain all over the country, then the market of our border merchants will be squeezed out. I don't want to see that happen. ”

Lan Ziyi said:

"Anyway, the Beijing merchants are unwilling to be able to transport all the grain, and when their transportation capacity is insufficient, the imperial court will naturally think of Boss Cao, and Boss Cao can be restless."

Cao Jinbao smiled:

"Wei Hou, it's easy for you to think so. Since the Beijing merchants can buy off the imperial court and monopolize the grain, they can also put the black pot on our heads. At that time, as long as the imperial court rectifies my crime of not being able to wait and see, we businessmen will not be able to eat and walk around. Where is there a chance to go a little restless. ”

Lan Ziyi said:

"So what does Boss Cao mean, let me fight for this concession for you?"