The night is getting darker. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Yongzhong cut the wick with scissors and burst out a large lantern. Four hundred years once passed, the most headache of food, clothing, housing and transportation, especially in this era there is no electric light for him to use, in order to avoid being blind in the future, he has always used butter candles in his room, and he can't wait to even have the lights under the bed.

What Wang Huanzhi said was not Li Yongzhong's impulse, but that he told his master, who is now his confidant, after thinking about it for a few days. Li Yongzhong didn't expect Wang Huanzhi to turn his head and have one heart with him for a while, but some things in business at the moment must be done.

He held a book in his hand, and his eyes swept the words line by line, but his mind was no longer on it. After the crossing, Li Yongzhong hated himself the most for not knowing much about the history of the late Ming Dynasty, and the clearest thing was that the king entered the city, the Ming Dynasty blood Yinshe Ji was cut off, Wu Sangui was angry and red-faced, and let the Qing army enter the customs, but unfortunately it was sixteen years later, and he was not in Beijing, but in Fushun, a small town in eastern Sichuan.

Sixteen years later, it is too far away, and now for Li Yongzhong, the immediate civil unrest in Shaanxi is more worthy of attention than the rights and wrongs of 16 years later. He began to follow Wang Huanzhi to the salt well at the age of seven, and has been soaked in the salt well for nearly ten years. Shaanxi has a salt pond on the side, for most of Shaanxi salt, but now it is different from the past, Shaanxi civil unrest, the day of salt is close at hand, the first Sichuan salt has gained a firm foothold in southern Shaanxi, and now it is a good time for Sichuan salt to enter Shaanxi!

But how to make good use of this opportunity, Li Yongzhong has to think again. Now there are more than ten salt wells of all sizes under the name of the Li family, but there are only six new wells, the original old wells are gradually drying up, although the new wells produce a lot of halogen, but after all, the number is small, and the holes of the old wells cannot be filled for a while.

There are now six salt merchants in Fushun, and although the Li family is in charge of the bull's ear, the others are not objects that can be despised either. Li Yongzhong doesn't think that he can find opportunities in Shaanxi, others can't, especially the Zhang family - the young man's eyes sank, and his lips pursed slightly-the head of the Zhang family is the brother-in-law of Liu Sankui, the in-law of the Li family, if these two families can be honest, Li Yongzhong would rather think that his brother Li Yongbo suddenly became a good man in the four miles and eight towns.

In the past, the Zhang family saw him, even if he couldn't please him, he was always careful, and a few days ago he met the third young master of the Zhang family on the road, and the kid pretended to say that he was going to Xuzhou Academy. At the time, I just thought that little bastard was really disgusting, but now...... Li Yongzhong narrowed his eyes, he remembered that Wutong seemed to have said that Uncle Liu came to see his good nephew?

Hum. Zhang's family, Liu's family.

The daily salt output of the six new wells has been more than half of the total, and the cost of the old wells is more than 30% more than that of the new wells, but the brine output is not as good as the new wells. Li Yongzhong took a sip of tea, only to find that the tea was cold. Drinking cold tea at this time of year was really uncomfortable in his stomach, he thought about it and coughed.

Sycamore quietly opened the curtain and came in. He is a small servant led by Li Yongzhong, "growing up with him", teaching him to read and learn calligraphy, saying that he is a servant, but Li Yongzhong regards him as a confidant to read and see, and he is the most loyal. He taught the rules well, read well, and learned a few tricks from the masters of the dart board on the street, and he was really a useful person.

He walked in, and at a glance he landed in the half-full tea bowl in Li Yongzhong's hand. Shaking his head approvingly, he walked over to clean up the tea bowl and said in a low voice, "Zhong Guan'er, drink cold tea to cool your stomach." ”

Li Yongzhong smiled and said, "It's nothing." But come here, and I'll have something to tell you. ”

Wutong straightened his face and lowered his hand to listen to the training.

"Zhang family ......" Li Yongzhong pondered for a while, and said: "A few days ago, I met the third young master of the Zhang family, and he said that he was going to study in Xuzhou. ”

"Yes."

"Do you want to find a good master to open the well—or do you want to find Master Chen the same as before?"

"Not really." Wutong was extremely articulate, and he said in an orderly manner: "Master Chen is old, and he fell again last month and injured his legs and feet, and now it is his eldest apprentice Cao Si who is taking the job." However, his master was also old when he was not injured, and Cao Si was mostly doing it. ”

"That being the case," Li Yongzhong said, "you go to find Cao Si tomorrow, prepare the things first, and then open the well in a few days." ”

"Yes."

Wutong answered, he refilled a pot of hot tea, and brought in a tea nest before closing the door and going out.

After thinking about it before and after, Li Yongzhong thought that he could rest assured for the time being. Master Chen is a well driller raised by the Li family for decades, and he also has the impression of Cao Si as Wutong said, a very calm and silent person, and his craftsmanship is not bad compared to the master. This pair of masters and apprentices are the two people with the best skills on the field in Fushun, and the Li family's ability to make a fortune also has a lot to do with such a pair of masters and apprentices who can be called salt hands. In the past, other salt merchants in Fushun Town had to greet the Li family when they wanted to open new wells, but now that Li Qi has died, many people bully Li Yongzhong with a young face and a tender face.

The young head of the Li family drank two sips of hot tea, as if the ice cubes that had sunk in his stomach were gradually melting, and his blood was alive again, driving away the cold feeling, and his whole body was comfortable, he sneered a few times, and said in his heart that it would be difficult to clean up if he was in peace, what he wanted was that you were restless.

The early morning in Fushun is opened by the bell of Yuanjue Temple outside the city.

But even earlier, the water porters on the salt wells had already gotten up. Water pickers, called water pickers in Sichuan dialect, are about the respect of Sichuan people, and they don't think that they rely on their strength to eat, so they should not be called craftsmen. Before dawn, the young man went to the cowshed, gave the oxen a full meal, and then hurried to the crane to tie the reins, the oxen had a long strength, but on a well, there must be three or two oxen to use.

Take the eight or nine-year-old Nanzhu with a circumference of about three feet, open up the bamboo, the bottom is a valve made of cowhide, which can make the brine enter and not out, lift the brine out of the salt well, the water picker opens the cowhide valve, the brine gushes out of the vat, the water picker at this time carries the bucket to the cauldron that specializes in boiling the brine - not to burn the wood with coal, but to use the gas separated from the brine to burn, so the cost of Fushun salt is lower than that of sea salt.

This is a new well three months ago, the crane is six zhang high, the brine is particularly pleasant, the daily salt can get two thousand catties, especially valued by Li Yongzhong, the day the well is completed, he and the well craftsman silver thousand taels reward, and the other party said: "Just give me the Li family well, you take a mouthful, I give a thousand taels of silver!" ”

Li Yongzhong went to see the cowshed, and several cows were scrubbed clean; I went into the mill room and looked at it for a while, and the water porters were doing their jobs step by step, boiling soy milk, fetching water, and there was no mess; According to the habit, before leaving, I went to the kitchen with my master Wang Huanzhi, saw that everything was in order, lifted the lid of the pot and saw that there was fragrant beef stewed radish inside, and although the steaming tube was coarse grain, the color was still good, and there was no mold.

He nodded with satisfaction and praised the steward Li Pei: "You did a good job!" I handed over this well to you earlier, and some people said strange things, saying that you didn't manage people, and you couldn't do it well, but now you look at it, everything is done, and it didn't disappoint me! ”

Dressed in a dark indigo caftan that is no different from the water picker, only wrapped a white handkerchief around his neck, Li Peiji smiled calmly, and said: "Zhong Guan'er handed over the new well to me, and he also handed over his net worth and life, this is to believe in me as a person, not to mention that we are still brothers who have not produced five suits, how can I not do my best?" ”

Li Pei is the concubine of the second room, a few years older than Li Yongzhong, but his life is much harder than him. His biological mother was a servant girl serving in the study of the master in the second room, and one day the master was drunk and gave birth to Li Peilai. The mother-in-law is not a tolerant belly, Li Pei had a miserable childhood, if it weren't for Li Qi's occasional knock on the second room a few times, I am afraid that the grass on the grave is now one person high.

When Li Yongzhong was twelve years old, Li Qi allocated a few old wells to his two sons, Li Yongbo did not need to say that the salt production in January was less than eighty percent, but Li Yongzhong became Li Qiqing's eyes and gradually let him participate in the management of salt wells. Du Qi's heart was about to leave a capable brother for his eldest son, but he didn't expect that Li Yongbo was a plaster who couldn't be supported, so there was a story about Li Qi before he died.

Three years ago, Li Yongzhong single-handedly selected Li Pei from among the many children of the Li family to go to Guizhou with him to make salt. encountered a flash flood on the road, Li Yongzhong almost fell into a deep stream, it was Li Pei who grabbed him, which did not let the most capable new generation of the Li family turn into a powerful ghost in the mountains, and returned to Fushun, Li Yongzhong mentioned that Li Pei was a third-class steward as a retribution, but found that he was meticulous in his work, and sympathetic to the hard work of the water porter, never withheld for no reason, on the well in his steward, from top to bottom are praised.

From the third-class steward to the first-class steward, others have to spend ten years of hard work, but Li Pei only used three years, there are not a few people who can see the red eyes, and his mother-in-law blows the pillow wind next to the master of the second room, and wants to take his brother-in-law to occupy his errand, Li Pei heard that he knelt in front of the door of the second room, not to say that he did not move, this matter immediately spread, and it was said that the second room of the Li family was not kind, and he knelt for three days to keep the errand.

Others say that Li Pei is stupid and filial, but Li Yongzhong said to Wang Huanzhi: "He is ruthless and smart, but he knows the rules and etiquette, my second uncle is purely blind, what does it matter if such a son is a concubine?" ”

Wang Huanzhi glanced at him meaningfully, and said: "There are always too many people in the world who have eyes without beads. Even if it's father and son, it's not uncommon for the other side to not know each other. If we don't know, we won't let it go. "Li Peilai was mentioned as a first-class chief steward, in charge of this newly opened salt well, and Li Pei really lived up to expectations.

There are more than a dozen salt wells in the Li family, all over Fushun, and when Li Yongzhong and his party all ran down, the sun had risen tremblingly in the air, and the winter sun was faint, and it was not very warm on people. These twenty or thirty miles of running down, although it is not very far, but it takes a lot of energy, Li Yongzhong and Wang Huanzhi are still good, the rest of them are walking, so tired that they can't straighten their waists.

Li Yongzhong looked at the sun, and discussed with Wang Huanzhi again, Fang Qiang cheered up and said: "Hurry up, everyone has worked hard today, and when they return to the house, each person in the account room will pay half a tael of silver." After a while, everyone had a good meal, and there was something to do in the afternoon, so I was cheered up. ”

When a few of the entourages heard that there was money to take, their half-collapsed waists suddenly straightened up, and they suddenly smiled, and their mid-air was a lot full: "Yes!" Xie Zhongguan'er's reward! ”

Li Yongzhong scolded with a smile: "You people are open to money!" ”

A clever entourage replied: "How can you be unhappy with the money of the central official?" We have always had the same heart with Zhong Guan'er! ”

PS: I went to dinner with my friends yesterday, and the update was broken for a day, and it hurt my heart and lungs...... Record it in the account, pay it off on the day it is put on the shelf, and establish a basis for it.