At this time, it can be regarded as quiet and stable, this Jiaozhou Tongzhi Wu Wensong and this Liu Fulai are considered to be fellow villagers, after Liu Fulai gained power, he took the initiative to go over and get a position of Jiaozhou Tongzhi, which was also on the way, just to bring this letter of thanks.

After reading the letter and listening to Wu Wensong's narration, Li Meng let out a long sigh, the whole thing is like hearing that someone has won the jackpot lottery in modern times, just listening to it feels so incredible.

The face of the old eunuch was already a little vague in Li Meng's memory, but seeing that such a miserable old man could have such good luck, Li Meng was also happy for him. Looking at the silver ticket of one thousand taels in his hand, Li Meng shook his head, thinking that the salt goods of the two ships were counted and even added to the dozens of taels of silver for the old eunuch, that is, about two hundred taels, and the other party actually gave so much at once.

I am not short of money, and I can't take advantage of this, so I politely asked Wu Wensong, the new Jiaozhou Tongzhi sitting there, and said:

"It's really troublesome to go on this trip with Lord Tongzhi, I originally thought that it would be a meeting in Pingshui, but who would have thought that Gonggong Liu would find it, it's really ......"

Seeing that Li Meng admitted this matter, Wu Tongzhi's attitude became more polite, and it could even be said to be respectful, and when he heard Li Meng say "troublesome", he actually stood up and said with a smile:

"It's okay, it's okay, it's just a little thing."

It made Li Meng feel very awkward, thinking that I was just a one-sided relationship with Eunuch Liu, and Wu Tongzhi would not be snobbish to such a point.

That is, Li Meng is from time in time, if it is a person of this era. will feel that Wu Tongzhi's performance is really normal, when Wei Zhongxian is the most powerful. The Ming Dynasty has spread the ancestral hall of life, saying that everyone knows that it is nine thousand years old. There is also a joke in Jingshi, saying that the ministers of civil and military affairs all worship Wei Zhongxian as their father-in-law, and the Ministry of Rites Shangshu said to Wei Zhongxian, the young man is too old to worship the nine-thousand-year-old as a father-in-law, so it is better to let my son be a godgrandson to the nine-thousand-year-old, everyone at the time said. Sure enough, it was the Book of Rites. Know etiquette.

Although the above is a joke, it also shows how fierce the power of the celebrant is and how powerful the capital is and how many officials in the capital are. Many people who claim to be famous ministers are still so subservient to eunuchs and eunuchs, not to mention the small knowledge of officials because of others.

To be honest, Li Meng also feels a little happy now, not that he has a prominent eunuch acquaintance. Instead, I felt that there was one more acquaintance. After crossing into this world, Li Meng always felt a little lonely. Those peers in the Lingshan Guard soon became his subordinates. After entering Jiaozhou City and various places in Shandong, they are dealing with some businessmen and salt lords, they are all interested in each other, each other's beware of calculations, and there is nothing to gossip about, lack of friends, know more people who have no interest, and have one more object to talk to, which is always pleasant.

Li Menggang wanted to ask if he could send a reply letter back through the post station, but after thinking about it, he didn't speak, the post station was gone a few years ago, if there was still this post station, Li Zicheng, who broke into the army, must still be a post soldier, instead of coming out to rebel and call himself a general.

"Dare to ask my lord, but is there any way to send the letter to Jingshi, I really can't imagine that this Gonggong Liu has such an opportunity, and I want to write a letter to congratulate me."

Wu Tongzhi's face has always maintained the most kind and polite smile, and when he heard Li Meng ask like this, he immediately replied:

"This is simple, the Zhizhou Yamen sent a special official to go once, the virtuous brother is an inspection, and Gonggong Liu is also the pen of the inner court, isn't this a business deal?"

Shandong to the north of Zhili Jingshi, is not the modern kind of convenient transportation, sending people to go once the cost is really not small, but it is all spent in the yamen, do not need Wu Tongzhi to spend his own money, but to please others, why not. Li Meng naturally didn't argue about anything, just nodded and smiled.

The letterheads on both sides went back and forth, if it weren't for the expedited fast horse of the military intelligence, there would not be a month without thinking about the news, and Li Meng did not put too much worry on it.

Tang Lao Er was expelled and the matter of riding a horse and salt Ding was deducted under Li Meng's arrangement, which was deliberately spread to the various salt ding teams, which was another warning to everyone, this Tang Lao Er also has an elder brother in the family, and his parents are not young, after returning home, his parents and brothers feel that their faces are gloomy, and they will not be able to boil salt and sell salt in the future, their income will be reduced, and their livelihood will be greatly affected. The whole family felt that they couldn't hold their heads up in front of their neighbors.

Li Meng changed the rules of salary again, and now he has a total of 2,200 people under his command, and Li Meng has to personally get the salary of these people.

In the past, the money was handed over to the captain of the Yanding team, and then they went down, and the money was in whose hands it was, naturally it was for whom, of course, these Yanding knew who was the leader now, but in the long run, their minds were really uncertain.

This time, the rules were simply changed, and when the garrison was rotated, Li Meng took the account room and the secretary office to put it together, and put it in real name and real silver, and put it to the individual, and every salt ding received a salary, and he had to answer loudly and solemnly: "Thank you Lord Li for your salary!" Don't underestimate this kind of slogan-style language, the subtle effect is very powerful, and it will slowly cultivate an impression in the hearts of these young and simple salt dings.

In late September, Li Meng already felt that he had to add clothes, and he already felt a little cold in the morning and evening wearing a single shirt, and Li Meng finally realized that the weather was not cooler now, but much lower than the modern temperature, and the winter was longer.

Laizhou salt and Dengzhou salt, slowly but effectively infiltrated to Jinan and Yanzhou, compared with the Huai salt merchants, Li Meng's salt goods are of better quality, lower prices, and more numerous sales channels, after all, the Huai salt merchants are outsiders, they sell salt to the state and county government salt merchants, rely on these people to sell official salt privately.

Those Laizhou and Qingzhou salt merchants and salt lords who are attached to Li Meng are all very grassroots classes, buying and selling salt goods, and directly found those local powerful gentry, the so-called scattered sale of private salt, most of them are carried out through these local snakes, Li Meng's side is familiar with the people, and the doorway is clear, so he directly goes to the door.

These local powerful gentry have no fear of the official salt merchants in the local state and county, and the reason why they operate and trade together is just a combination of interests. They have all heard of it, and there may be some unlucky ghosts, so they naturally have to be careful, not to mention that the salt sellers and salt merchants on Li Meng's side are not bullying others, they are taking the road of everyone's wealth and selling it publicly, and these local snakes are naturally willing to follow and get rich together.

Everything is going on slowly and regularly, Li Meng's anxious mood is a little relaxed, Guo Dong's Liaomin blacksmiths made firearms, the barrel is gradually thickened, the caliber continues to increase, the amount of lead and gunpowder is also getting bigger and bigger, the effect is getting closer and closer to Li Meng's requirements, the range and power are getting bigger, although there is still a lot of gap with the requirements, but after all, it is to find the right direction.

After the two Jinyi guards came once, it seemed that there was no news, Li Meng began to pay attention to the precautions, and after a long time, it was not a matter of fact, thinking that maybe the two Jinyi guards passed by here to fight the autumn wind, and there would be no aftermath when they ran away, this Jiaozhou is not a rich place, the emperor is far away, and there will be Jinyi Wei thinking about it every day.

One of the most interesting things during this period is that the Zhang butcher who originally opened a casino in Fengmeng Town entered the city to give gifts, this butcher was originally just a small dice shop in Fengmeng Town, because he detained Ma Gang, so he dealt with the salt pole, and now the two sides are no longer a grade of existence, whether it is Li Meng or Ma Gang, they are naturally too lazy to pay attention.

Who would have thought that Zhang Butcher's small dice shop, in this year or so is also slowly done, every fierce town is more and more prosperous, traders from all over Shandong are gathered here, these people are some outlaws with money in their hands, eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling is a big item to spend money.

There is no entertainment in the town, this small dice shop is naturally prosperous, Li Meng's requirements for this kind of gambling house are not to push people into a desperate situation, not to do things that hurt nature and reason, and try to be fair.

Li Meng is also too lazy to manage these irrelevant small businesses, and he casually set a few rules and ignore them, after those dice shops and all kinds of illegal transactions came to Li Meng to report, even if he was protected by the salt pole, no one was allowed to go there to make trouble, and the compensation was to report to the inspection department at any time, and some small things were also handed over to them to do.

No one makes trouble, as much as possible not to make the fraud funny, everyone is naturally willing to play in such a place, Zhang Butcher's business by taking advantage of the geographical advantage, the more prosperous.

It turned out that it was just a group of people getting together to play dice, and later it was Pai Gow and other things going into battle together, and the bets were getting bigger and bigger, Li Meng's business was getting bigger and bigger, and Zhang Tuhu's casino was also rising with the tide, and a few big houses were built in Fengmeng Town, and more people were hired.

Even the people in Jiaozhou City, Changyi and Jimo County know that there is such a famous casino here, there are many high rollers, and they have come to gamble with money, Zhang Butcher is not as stunned as he was when he first met Li Meng, he also knows that he can have Li Meng's blessing and acquiescence today, without these two, his thriving casino, I am afraid that it will close the next day.