The weather in August, like a woman's face, changes when it is said, becomes without warning, and becomes sudden.

The sun was shining before the previous hour, and the next hour was stormy, dark clouds, lightning and thunder in the air, and the easterly rain was coming.

Chen Xiang lazily leaned on a horse-tethered stake at the gate of the Fotu Pass in Chongqing City, bored with his teeth biting a dog's tail grass, squinting his eyes and dozing off, hearing the thunder, he looked at the sky lazily, cursed in his mouth, dragged the straw sandals on his feet and got up and walked towards the door of a big car shop on the side of the road.

He is now a fellow in this big cart shop, specializing in feeding forage for livestock, and has been working here as a small laborer for more than twenty days.

This shop has a very large plate, the owner has a wide face, the road is deep, there is a relationship in the government, and more than half of the cart business in the entire Chongqing city is contracted to this store, Chen Yuan wanted to enter this store at first, and it took a lot of effort, and finally gave the second shopkeeper a load of wild boar meat and two mountain ginseng, and then mixed in.

Chen Xiang has a strong physique, works neatly, and is worthy of an adult man, and is very liked by the shopkeepers in the store, and he loves to call him for any strength and work, of course, the salary will not be given more, but Chen Xiang has no opinion, and he shook his arms with a smile, and everyone in the store laughed at him and called him "Chen Fool".

Chen Fool is famous, for such a hard time selling labor, no one will doubt that he is a spy sent by Shizhu, Chen Xiang has taken root in the big car shop quite safely, and this shop happens to be at the gate of Fotu Gate, and the crowd of cars and horses entering and leaving the city gate can be seen clearly by Chen Xiang.

At this time, Chen Xiang walked into the store slowly, but saw that the shopkeeper of the store was hurriedly coming out of it and was about to go out.

Chen Xiang was stunned for a moment, and asked casually: "Big shopkeeper, it's going to rain soon, do you still want to go out?" ”

The big shopkeeper stood at the door and looked at the sky, scolded, paused and said to Chen Xiang: "Then why don't you go and bring the hat and coat to the master, and wait for the master to be caught in the rain?" No eyesight! ”

Chen Xiang hurriedly responded, went to the store to find the hat and clothes, and trotted out to put on the big shopkeeper, he tied the belt for the big shopkeeper, but he heard the big shopkeeper muttering to himself: "If you suffer a thousand cuts, can't you slow down?" I have to go to the barracks on this rainy day, and I don't know who Master Zeng is going to beat, so he is in a hurry to reincarnate. ”

Chen Xiang was shocked, and his hand moved, and at this moment, a thunder exploded in the sky.

"Click!"

The big shopkeeper who was talking to himself was shocked, and Chen Xiang took the opportunity to ask: "The big shopkeeper, is there going to be a war?" Is it safe on the road? Don't spoil the business of our big car shop. ”

The big shopkeeper was blinded by the thunderstorm, and said casually: "What are you afraid of, the road will naturally be cut off in the war, but we don't have to worry, the business outside is gone, and there are officers and soldiers. ”

After a pause, he came to his senses, slapped Chen Xiang on the head, and scolded: "Why are you asking this?" Motherfuck, get out and do your business, it's because Lao Tzu found out that the mules and horses have lost weight, and he will beat you to death. ”

Chen Xiang hurriedly tied the last rope of the robe, and rolled with his head down without saying a word.

The big shopkeeper hummed and put the hat on, looked at the pouring rain outside the door, cursed again, and plunged into the rain.

Half an hour later, the back door of the big car shop was also gently opened, and a figure also dressed in a hat and a hat flashed out of it, looked left and right, quietly broke into the rain curtain, and disappeared.

……

Ma Chongming returned to Wanshou Valley at noon on 8 August, and he went ashore in Xituo Town, where the chariots and horses prepared by the Shizhu Xuanfu Envoy were already waiting on the wharf, and the grain packing carts on the grain ship were directly transported away, some of them entered the grain warehouse of the Xuanwei Envoy, and most of them were transported to Wanshou Valley in an endless stream along the official road.

Along the way, the natives were surprised to see that there were many carts loaded with pigs mixed in the middle of the grain carts, and the second senior brother with a fat head and big ears was tied to his four feet, and he shouted vigorously.

Is this a feast, Lord Wang? Can you use so many pigs? It's still early for the New Year, when are you going to eat? The mountain people speculated one after another, watching the pig cart drooling, life in the mountains was difficult, there was not enough food and clothing, and it was rare to eat pork once a year, unless there were hunters at home, who could go up the mountain to hunt and catch game and make tooth sacrifices.

At the gate of the huge official warehouse in Wanshou City, Zhou Cheng counted the number with a brush in his right hand and a book in his left hand with a serious face, sketched and drew on the book, wrote and remembered, and the grain trucks stopped directly in front of him, and groups of people in Wanshou City were requisitioned to unload the trucks, and they came and went with grain bags on their faces with a smile.

On the steps at the door of the Guancang Yafang not far from them, Ma Chongming was splashing spittle stars, talking to Wang Huan beside him.

"This time I went out, my old man Ma can use his strength to eat milk, and almost all the big grain merchants in Huguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have been bought out by me." He touched a few strands of goatee growing on his chin, and invited merit: "A total of 100,000 stones, a big deal, I have been in business for so many years, I haven't had such a big deal for a long time, those grain merchants can be impressed with me, hehe, in the future, my Ma Chongming can also be ranked number one in the national grain merchants." ”

Wang Huan looked at the carriage and donkey cart that came and went like a carp crossing the river, and said with a smile: "The horsehead people have worked hard and made great achievements, and the silver to buy grain, please check with Xu Tiezhu, and you can go to the earthen fort tomorrow to withdraw it." ”

Ma Chongming rubbed his hands, his face was ruddy, and he was sweating with excitement: "This, I don't make any money, I buy it at any price, I give it whatever price, I don't make a penny, I contribute to Wanshou Valley, as long as it's enough, it's enough." ”

In fact, he calculated very clearly in his heart, the price of buying grain, as long as he knew, he quoted a price at will, and he didn't make money, but secretly the difference had increased many times, hehe, who made me a grain merchant?

"By the way, horse-headed man, what is the number of pigs?" Wang Huan asked.

Ma Chongming hurriedly said: "This pig has taken a lot of effort, Lord Wang, you also know, there are fewer and fewer people raising pigs in recent years, and the number you want me to find is large, I ran all over Huguang several mansions, and finally found the number of a thousand, but luck is good, they are all good pigs, fat and strong, according to your requirements, one hundred breeding pigs, nine hundred meat pigs, and one of them is not bad." ”

"Great!" Wang Hua clapped his hands and said: "The horse-headed man is really reliable, he is worthy of being the pillar of my stone, I will definitely report to my stepmother and record your great achievements." ”

Ma Chongming was overjoyed, his face was even redder, the fat on his fat face shook upside down, and he forced himself to unfold the folding fan in his hand reservedly, revealing the big words "integrity in business" on the fan face.

Xu Tiezhu hurriedly came from outside, his linen clothes were covered with sweat, and reported in a loud voice: "My lord, all the breeding pigs have entered the pigsty outside the city, leaving two hundred sows for breeding, and the rest have been sent to the gunpowder field." ”

Wang Huan said "um", this arrangement has been planned for a long time, and the lime pond in the powder field is waiting for the fat to go to the pot.

Ma Chongming is very strange, what are so many pigs transported to the gunpowder field for? Where are there so many people who can eat hundreds of pigs? The food was so good.

Wang Huan didn't tell him that if the miser knew, these pigs were all used to soak in lime to refine glycerin, but he was afraid that he would fall into the lime pool and drown.

The process of unloading the grain is step-by-step, there is no need to watch it personally, Zhou Cheng can do this errand very safely, Wang Huan looked at it for a while, and then took a group of subordinates back to the meeting hall in the official office.

In the square in front of the council hall, the earthen furnace had been removed, and in the open space in front of the hall stood a group of sturdy men, all tall and healthy, wearing short sackcloth clothes, leggings tied to their legs, wearing bast shoes, and their heads wrapped in white cloth scarves, standing solemnly and solemnly, arranged in rows like sculptures, motionless.

This is the hundred-person team trained by Wang Huan, and it is the first time today that they have entered the official office of Wanshou City and lined up for review.