When he was in the capital, Wei Xizhuang needed silver, and Zhou Zheng once gave him an idea, that is, to find a way to get salt.

Zhou just wanted to test the depth of the water, after all, the salt tax was the most powerful and fastest way to make up for the finances.

In the future, if necessary, Zhou Zheng hopes to start with the salt tax.

Zhou Zheng would never have imagined that Yan Zheng had been corrupted to such an extent, and these people even wanted to kill Wei Xizhuang, and they dared to kill him!

Wei Xizhuang was very angry, angry because this time he was doing things for business and doing things in the rules, but these people were even more rampant, and they actually came to threaten him. If he had shaken his head just now, he would have been a corpse by now!

He Qishou didn't know how to answer Wei Xizhuang, and he didn't know what to do.

Wei Xizhuang looked at He Qishou's expression, sat up suddenly, and said coldly: "Go, go back to Beijing!" When I come back next time, I will definitely get back to today! ”

They had no other way but to return to Beijing. The commander Zhao Suijin has been bought, Wei Xizhuang is alone, if he doesn't leave, his life will have to be explained here tonight!

He Qishou naturally wanted to hope that Wei Xizhuang would go, after all, they were not familiar with life here, and if they really died here, they might not know how they died outside!

Wei Xizhuang soon 'said goodbye' to Zhao Suijin, and Zhao Suijin was very happy about Wei Xizhuang's 'leave', and with a few words of fake affection, he allowed Wei Xizhuang to leave Huai'an Mansion and return to Beijing.

Wei Xizhuang and He Qishou took people, got on the boat, and went north on the same day.

Not far from the pier where Wei Xizhuang had left, the young man reappeared, watching the ship go north with a mocking look on his face.

There was an entourage beside him, and he sneered: "It's still the Ninth Young Master who is powerful, and two sentences will make this Wei Xizhuang run back in disgrace." ”

The 'Ninth Young Master' had a smug look on his face, and said: "How can there be a person who is not afraid of death, the higher the position, the more afraid of death." ”

"That's also the Ninth Young Master, you are powerful, if you change to someone else, you will definitely kill people directly like before." The retinue continued to pat themselves on the back.

The more the 'Ninth Young Master' smiled, but then he sneered again, and said, "Go, keep an eye on them for me, I want to see them board the ship in the capital, and if they dare to play tricks, tell me immediately!" ”

The imperial court did not check Caoyun once or twice, and there were also some who resisted coercion and temptation.

The entourage looked solemn and said, "Ninth Young Master, don't worry, I will follow them all the way to Hejian Mansion!" ”

Hejian Mansion, the end of the canal, has reached Beizhili, not far from the capital.

The 'Ninth Young Master' watched him leave, until Wei Xizhuang's boat disappeared from view, and then he said to himself: "I have to go to Yangzhou to make them feel at ease." ”

……

Zhou Zheng in the capital was still sleeping, he would never have imagined that the power related to the salt class was so strong, and he didn't expect that Wei Xizhuang, who had said in advance that he would come back before the end of the year, would have to come back in March.

Zhou Zheng slept beautifully and didn't wake up until night.

Zhou Zheng habitually shouted 'Liuzi', but he hadn't come back outside, and was about to go to the kitchen to find something to eat, when he saw Shangguan Qing coming over with a plate of food.

Zhou Zheng was stunned and said, "Are you still here?" ”

Shangguan Qing glanced at Zhou Zheng and hummed crisply.

Zhou Zheng sighed, took the plate in her hand, turned around and brought it into the room, and said, "Come in." ”

Shangguan Qing was dressed in white and followed Zhou Zheng into the house.

When a maid outside saw it, her eyes widened, and then she blinked, and then ran away as if surprised.

Zhou Zheng was hungry, so he sat down to eat, and when he saw that Shangguan Qing was still standing, he said vaguely: "Sit down." ”

Shangguan Qing then sat down opposite Zhou Zheng and watched him eat.

Zhou Zheng ate a few bites, felt relieved when he felt the bottom of his heart, ate slowly, and said, "Are you still used to living?" ”

After Shangguan Xun was rescued, Shangguan Qing has been living in the Zhou Mansion, Shangguan Qing's younger brother Shangguan Lie is in Zhou's Yaxing, and Shangguan Xun went to Suzhou and Hangzhou to help Zhou Zheng deal with Li Shi's assets.

Shangguan Qingqiao's face was cold, and his voice seemed to be emotionless, and he said, "Get used to it." ”

Zhou Zheng hummed and said, "Your father has been gone for a few months, and it is estimated that he will be able to return to Beijing next month, and you will be able to reunite by then." ”

Shangguan Qing hummed and didn't speak again.

Zhou Zheng has never been good at communicating with girls, and Shangguan Qing is not very talkative, and after Shangguan Qing said um, the room fell into an eerie silence.

Zhou Zheng felt a little unnatural when he ate louder, coughed, raised his head and said, "It's okay, you go back first, I'll let the others clean up." ”

Shangguan Qing blinked, said 'yes', and then stood up and walked out of Zhou Zheng's room.

Zhou Zheng saw that she was gone, so he ate comfortably, and silently said in his heart, 'I can still rescue', and ate quickly.

After eating, Zhou Zheng called a maid to clean up, and then sat in the study, thinking about some things while reading.

He originally hoped to reform the Ming Dynasty from within the imperial court, but judging from the current state of the court, this is almost unachievable. If Chongzhen is on the throne, the court situation will only be more chaotic, and pinning hopes on the reform of the court is an unattainable luxury.

"There has to be an external force." Zhou Zheng looked at the book and whispered calmly with his eyes.

If it can't be done internally, it is necessary to borrow external forces, and external forces must be firmly in the hands of Zhou Zheng.

The control of the Ming court is now declining sharply, and various forces are constantly emerging, which one to choose?

Liukou definitely can't, expect them to be better than Zhou Zheng himself.

Neither can the merchant group, these people are basically one with the gentry, mercenary, and their power is still too weak.

As for the honorable ministers, they can't be counted on, they only care about sucking blood on Da Ming, and can't see anything else.

And then there's the army.

"Which one?"

Zhou Zheng's expression was heavy, and various powers flashed in his heart, slowly scrutinizing, constantly comparing and analyzing.

……

Early the next morning, Zhou Zheng accompanied Zhou's father, and after Zhou Fang finished breakfast, he left the house to go to Zhou Ji.

Now he doesn't have to go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but he can concentrate on his business.

"How's the eldest brother's marriage?" Zhou Zheng asked Liu Liuzhe, at the dinner table just now, Zhou Fang still looked like he didn't belong.

Liu Liuzhen turned his head to look at Zhou Zheng and said, "The Ding family still intends to withdraw from the marriage, but the eldest lady of the Ding family is unwilling to withdraw, and the matter is still dragging on." ”

Zhou Zheng hummed, thinking in his heart that he had to find a way to help Zhou Fang solve it.

Secretly remembering this matter, Zhou Zhengdao: "When will the economy come?" ”

Liu Liuzhen said: "I informed him yesterday, and he replied that he would come to Zhou Ji to see the second young master before noon." ”

Zhou Zheng nodded, and the two walked towards Zhou Ji on foot.

Zhou Ji cleaned up yesterday, and it was much more tidy, and the guys of Xingu were very respectful to Zhou Zheng, and when they saw Zhou Zheng coming in, they stood on both sides, shouting 'Dongjia' in unison.

Zhou Zheng felt both novel and interesting about this title, and said with a smile: "Let's do things, there is no need to be restrained." ”

A few guys are people who saw yesterday's incident with their own eyes, and they can let the people of the Metropolitan Procuratorate arrest the people of Shuntianfu, who would dare to underestimate such an owner?

The six of them said more and more respectfully: "It's the owner." ”

Zhou Zheng looked around, and saw that several people were nimble and flexible, so he nodded secretly and went up to the second floor.

The mattress, the four treasures of the study are all newly replaced, and the room has also been cleaned, Zhou Zheng is very satisfied, and after sitting for a while, he began to grind ink and practice calligraphy.

After a while, Liu Liuzhen came in, holding the thick account book, and said, "Second Young Master, this is all the account books of Zhou Ji and Zhou's Yaxing for the past two months. ”

Zhou Zheng looked at a few big books, and took a copy casually, the numbers are all Chinese characters, and the font is vertical, which is very large.

Zhou Zheng looked at it and said, "Go ahead, I'll call you again if there's anything." ”

Liu Liuzhen was just about to leave, when he suddenly patted his head and said, "Second Young Master, I remember, Wei Gongzi left you a box before leaving, and I will go and get it for you." ”

Wei Xizhuang left him a box?

Zhou Zheng was curious, sat and waited.

Not long after, Liu Liuzhen ran up again, handed over a palm-sized box, and said, "This is it." ”

Zhou Zheng took it, looked at it over and over, and said, "Okay, I know." ”

Liu Liuzhen was also a bunch of things, turned around and went downstairs again.

Zhou Zheng opened the box and saw that it was a token, dark gold, with the word 'Yu' on it.

Zhou Zheng picked it up and started to be heavy, like gold, with a red seal-like thing behind it.

"The token of the Brocade Guard?" Zhou Zheng looked at this token with a curious expression. He had seen the token of the Jinyi Guard, but it was not like this.

Wei Xizhuang only left this token, and there was nothing else, Zhou Zheng couldn't determine, thought about it, put it in his arms, put the box in the cabinet, and continued to look at the account book.

Zhou Zheng has in his hand the account books of Zhou's dental bank, which is now in charge of the distribution of Zhou Ji, and also digests Li Shi's assets.

Zhou Zheng looked at the distribution category, there are hundreds of large and small distributors in Beijing, and even, it has developed outside Beijing, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan provinces, and some merchants also come here, less than ten or twenty taels, more than hundreds of taels.

Zhou Zheng looked at it carefully, and to his surprise, the profits from these distributions were very considerable, and they continued to converge to the tooth shop, with daily income ranging from dozens of taels to hundreds of taels, and an income of five or six thousand taels a month.

Zhou Zheng looked carefully, smiled and nodded, the market in the capital is quite mature, and it can be considered to expand outward.

However, the business environment of Daming is very bad, and it is not possible to establish channels or franchise on your own, and you have to have the cooperation of local snakes.

"It seems that we have to discuss it with Cheng Economy." Zhou Zheng muttered to himself.

Cheng Economy is a tooth businessman, and he knows many things better than Zhou Zheng, if he wants to expand outward, he has to do it in the economy.

Pedal, pedal

Suddenly, there was a dense sound of footsteps on the stairs.

Zhou Zheng looked up, only to see Liu Liuzhen hurriedly come up, approached and whispered, "Second Young Master, someone is staring at us." ”

Zhou Zheng was stunned, got up and looked down from the window, only to see a figure in the opposite corner suddenly shrinking back.

Zhou Zheng waited for a while, then stood by the window and said, "How long have you been staring?" ”

Liu Liuzhen stood behind Zhou Zheng and said, "My man saw it before, but he didn't care, I'm afraid he was here before we came." Second young master, do you want to quietly arrest and interrogate? ”

Zhou Zheng looked at the corner, groaned for a while, and said, "The old liar is back?" ”

Liu Liuzhen paused and said, "I came back yesterday, and the person is fine, but he handed over half of the formula, and now he is hiding and dare not see you." ”

Wei Huaide is not a resolute person, he doesn't need to be punished, he can do anything if he is scared.

Zhou Zheng was not surprised, Wei Huaide only knew half of it, and said: "Well, how long will it take to become an economy?" ”

Liu Liuzhen calculated the time and said, "It's almost noon." ”

Zhou Zheng looked at the corner, the person no longer showed his head, but Zhou Zheng knew that he was still there and had not left.

I didn't run away when I was discovered, and it seems that I have a heart.