Zhangjiakou, Fan Fu, Fan Xuan and Fan Ke brothers are discussing in the study.

"So, our people have already found the lair of the Zhuolu Trading Company?" Fan Xuan asked first.

"Exactly, big brother." Fan Ke replied.

"Didn't you say a few days ago that this caravan passed through the Baoan Prefecture Mansion, and finally stopped in a small town, and then disappeared into the mountains, the other cavalry was too powerful, not only our people, but also other families no one was pleased, and they were all blocked? Why is there news again? Fan Xuan asked.

His health is not as good as day by day, so he simply let go of most of the affairs and let Fan Ke take charge, and he only makes decisions, because he can't know many things at the first time.

"I haven't asked people to evacuate that town, and just yesterday, a letter finally came back, not only did the Zhuolu Trading Company put up a sign in that town, but also began to recruit refugees on a large scale."

Fan Xuan nodded, "I'm afraid it's not just that, that town should be the so-called Zhuoluji, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that it's just a transit place for them, what about the old nest?" Where is it? ”

"The eldest brother is amazing, and the younger brother admires it." Fan Ke smiled and arched his hand, "Those few of us are still a bit smart, two of them have changed their disguises and have successfully blended into the refugees, and they have arrived in the mountains with the first batch of people." ”

"Oh, you really found it?" Fan Xuan was interested.

"According to the information that came back, there is a lot of construction in the mountains, building houses and fort walls, and this is what recruited them to do this, if nothing else, I think this is their old nest." Fan Ke said.

"Isn't there anything else to do in the mountains besides building?" Fan Xuan asked, he just wanted to know what Zhou Chengyun wanted to do when he was the governor of Shanglian and the major merchants in the south of the Yangtze River found such a hidden place and built houses locally at the expense of blood.

Fan Ke shook his head and said, "No, they just do some masonry work in the mountains, well, there are a lot of horses, but they are shepherded by their own people." ”

I have to say that Zhiwen and Zhou Chengyun were extremely lucky, when Fan Xuan paid attention to them, it was already summer, and the sale of sweaters came to an end, except for seeing Zhiwen with the horses pulling back the wool from outside the plug, nothing else was known.

Now Fan Xuan and they finally found the location of Zhuolu Mountain, but it coincided with the day of summer grain harvesting in the mountains, although there was no shortage of wool, but there were not many people who were reassuring, and there was still some time before the winter, it was not carried out on a large scale to weave sweaters, but only continued on a small scale in the mountains.

The newly recruited refugees were all pulled to let them build houses and dock forts outside the pass, and the weather was hot, although there were many mountain people in sweaters, but no one would wear them at such a time, and the spies of the Yifan family did not notice the slightest clue.

"And what about the wool they pulled back, so much, where did it go?" Fan Xuan was unwilling and asked.

Fan Ke replied, "It should be in the mountains, it is said that there is another mystery in the mountain, there is a pass to guard the main road, but our people can't go in to investigate." ”

Without waiting for Fan Xuan to answer, Fan Ke continued, "However, I think they should be in the mountains to settle the fields, and there are also villagers in the mountains who have gone out to work outside the mountains these days. ”

This is barely reasonable, Fan Xuan secretly summed up, maybe Zhou Chengyun's idea is really to farm and store grain, use grain to exchange wool on the grassland, make wool into felt clothes, and sell it to Liaodong, anyway, with the support of the governor of Jiliao, he doesn't have to worry about not being able to sell it, but what Fan Xuan has never understood is why he has attracted so many Jiangnan merchants, it seems that there is a lack of effective information and he can't make a judgment.

"However, eldest brother, their grain production is a bit exaggerated." Fan Ke suddenly laughed, waking Fan Xuan up from his contemplation.

Fan Xuan didn't speak, motioning for Fan Ke to continue.

"According to the mountain people who came out to help, their grain yield per mu is actually thousands of catties, you say it's not funny, if there is really such a high yield, it is an unprecedented thing, it is comparable to Shennong, hehe, and I am not afraid of blowing the cowhide out." Fan Ke shook his head.

Zhiwen did not think about blocking the news of high grain production, and never asked the mountain people to silence them, on the contrary, he also wished that this letter would spread as quickly and widely as possible, but he did not have the energy to arrange it when he encountered the matter of official purchase.

The mountain people harvested a lot of frightening, but they paid the first seed fee, and left enough for their own rations and the next seed fee, and the rest of the grain was all purchased by the Zhuolu Trade Union, and there was no large amount of excess grain flowing out of the mountain, and there was no personal witness, so it was not very convincing, not to mention that Fan Ke didn't believe it, that is, many refugees who went to Zhuolu Mountain didn't believe it.

"What did you plant?" Fan Xuan asked calmly.

"According to the spies, the people of Zhuolu Mountain called sweet potatoes and potatoes, and he managed to get a few from the villagers and send them back to us in a few days." Fan Ke replied.

"Sweet potatoes? Sweet potato bar. Fan Xuan said.

"Big brother, you know?" Fan Ke asked.

Fan Xuan nodded, "This thing was introduced from overseas, so it is called sweet potato, there are people in southern Fujian, I have seen it, after washing away the dust and mud, its color is ruddy, and it is also appropriate to call it sweet potato." ”

"How's the yield per acre?" Fan Ke hurriedly asked.

Fan Xuan said while thinking about it, "It wasn't good at first, I heard that it has improved in the past few years, but one mu is only a hundred catties at most, where can I get a thousand catties." "Just now he was still a little vigilant, for fear that Zhou Chengyun would get something good to plant, even if the yield of 1,000 catties per mu is just an exaggeration, and he put gold on his face, but if he folds it in half, 500 catties is also a very terrifying number, and now he knows that he is planting sweet potatoes, and he can be regarded as putting his heart down, that thing is just drought tolerant, no matter how it is reversed, it is impossible to produce thousands of catties per mu.

This week, Chengyun exaggerated the grain production, although he didn't know what his intentions were, but he could make great use of it, he was making trouble for himself, thinking of this, the corners of Fan Xuan's mouth turned up, revealing a smile.

"Big brother, why are you laughing?" Fan Ke asked.

Fan Xuan didn't answer and asked, "Zhuolu Trading Company's nest is in Baoanzhou, right?" ”

"Yes, the eldest brother thought that he would be between the Xuanfu and the Jingshi, which is really wise." Fan Ke praised.

Fan Xuan was noncommittal, and then said, "The mountains and forests of Baoan Prefecture, I remember that most of them are the property of the royal family, if I remember correctly, it should be the land of our acting king." ”

Fan Ke listened quietly, he was in charge of the Fan family for the first time, and many things were not very familiar, Fan Xuan had always been well-read and memorized, he said that he was not mistaken, then it would not be wrong.

At first, Fan Ke didn't understand what his eldest brother's plan was when he mentioned the acting king, but when he saw the weird smile on Fan Xuan's face again, a flash of lightning suddenly flashed in his mind, and he knew what Fan Xuan was going to do.