After watching the soldiers' artillery demonstrations, Zhang Chu finally mentioned the issue of money. Wang Jijie has long been mentally prepared for this, but he doesn't know how big Zhang Chu's appetite is. So he asked tentatively: "I wonder how much expenditure will be required for this operation?" ”

"The preliminary set is two million taels of silver." Zhang Chu and the staff officers have already made a plan.

"And what do we get?" The previous conversation only expressed an intention, and Wang Jijie wanted to determine the interests.

"I have a few options for you to choose from, one is that you lend me the money, and we can negotiate a repayment date and interest, and then pay it back to you. Or we will give you the same amount of salt after we occupy the salt lake, and deliver it to you in installments, of course, at a much cheaper price than others. What I hope most is that you will use this money as an investment in the salt lake, and jointly develop the salt lake, which is risky but more profitable. There is an even greater advantage of cooperating with me, that is, after the occupation of the Yuncheng area, I will send troops to sweep the areas along the Yellow River in that area, and build a fortress at the ferry, and then the trade from Shanxi to Jiangnan will be handled by merchants with whom we have a cooperative relationship. Zhang Chu calmly offered his conditions.

"It's so good, I can't take out so much silver alone, I'm going to go back and discuss it with the elders of the clan, and at the same time consult if other merchants are willing to participate." Wang Jijie understood that Zhang Chu was asking for the life of Shanxi merchants, he first sent troops to the grassland to defeat Huang Taiji, cutting off the hand of the Jin merchants to the grassland, this time to be more ruthless, if it is really as he said to block the ferry on the Yellow River, Shanxi's big businessmen will not be able to live without cooperating with him. At the beginning, Wang Jijie and Zhang Chu discussed cooperation with the idea of taking risks and making a fortune, and now they have to consider how to survive in Shanxi.

"But please also ask Boss Wang to keep this plan secret, if the government knows about it, we will have to spend a lot of trouble." Zhang Chu knew that the people of the Ming Dynasty did not have a very strong sense of secrecy now, and he might have told a relative or friend that he was happy to tell him, and it was not possible to be told the secret.

Leaving the test site, Zhang Chu took Wang Jijie to see the cloth and ironware produced by Zhongyang, which made Wang Jijie even more excited, the quality of the goods is so good, and the price is so low, this is really a great opportunity to make money, and it is worth strengthening cooperation with Zhang Chu. For this reason, Wang Jijie no longer stayed, and quickly rushed back to Taiyuan, Shanxi, to discuss with his clansmen about cooperation with Zhang Chu.

The old mansion of the Wang family in Taiyuan, at the invitation of Wang Jijie, the leaders of the Wang family gathered here. There was a long debate about whether or not to cooperate with the security forces.

They weren't worried about the danger of mixing with the thieves, they had already done many smuggling businesses with enemies of the court like Houjin. What they were worried about was that Zhang Chu's strength was not strong enough, and the money was invested, and Zhang Chu was defeated by the official army, so it was called a loss of money.

An old man stopped everyone's discussion and said to Wang Jijie: "Jijie, only you have been to Zhang Chu's territory, you tell everyone, he is really as powerful as the legend, will he defeat Yuncheng because he shook the foundation of the court, causing the emperor to be angry and mobilize a large army to exterminate him." ”

Wang Jijie got up from his seat and looked around at the elders present, although he was young, he had established a high prestige in the family through his efforts in the past few months, the business of the Wang family had developed greatly under his care, and everyone here had made a fortune, today's matter must be decided, otherwise the old people will have more concerns after a long time, so he said loudly: "I followed Zhang Chu all the way from Fugu to Zhongyang, and saw the army under Zhang Chu with my own eyes, There is both strict discipline and sharp weapons, his strength does not need to be said by my empty mouth, Hong Chengchou gathered more than 100,000 officers and troops to prepare for the attack to prolong, was beaten by Zhang Chu, tens of thousands of people were taken prisoner, I think everyone has heard of this matter, I think that the Jin army attacked the Beijing division after the year, the emperor and a group of civil and military forces were helpless, all the officials and troops were defeated by the Houjin one after another, only Zhang Chu with more than 1,000 foot soldiers, defeated thousands of Houjin troops, and burned Luanzhou City, such combat effectiveness to deal with the court Those military discipline corruption, An army with little food and pay is not a problem at all. Let me ask you, do you know why we haven't been doing business from Zhangjiakou to outside the mouth recently? ”

"I heard that there are more and more Mongol robbers outside the mouth, and many caravans have been robbed by Mongols." A middle-aged man in the clan who was also doing business abroad knew something about the situation and answered Wang Jijie's question.

"Those Mongols are all Zhang Chu's subordinates." Wang Jijie said affirmatively.

"Ahh Everyone present was taken aback, they didn't know how Zhang Chu had a relationship with the Mongols again, so they all looked at Wang Jijie with puzzled eyes.

"The Mongols gave the eldest princess Wuliang Haxu to Zhang Chu, Zhang Chu is now the concubine of the Mongols, when Huang Taiji attacked the Naturalization City, Lin Dan Khan led the people to escape, it was Zhang Chu who led the troops to recover the Naturalization City, and the area around the Naturalization City is now nominally controlled by the eldest princess, but most of the army is Zhang Chu's people, the eldest princess is just a false name, and it is Zhang Chu who really cuts off the trade route. Looking back now, Zhang Chu has beaten Houjin, the official army and the dead Wang Jiayin in a circle, and they have all won, if you still doubt Zhang Chu's strength, it is really a problem with your vision. In addition, when I returned, Zhang Chu gave me a thorough explanation, after this operation, he would definitely occupy the ferry from Shanxi to the south of the Yangtze River, build a castle at the ferry, check the passing merchants, and merchants who had no cooperative relationship with the security army would not be able to pass. In this way, the businessmen of Shanxi cannot enter the grassland to the north, and they cannot reach the south of the Yangtze River to the south, which is no longer a question of whether to make money or not. And how long can this mountain be eaten is still a question, one day Zhang Chu occupies Taiyuan, and you can be pulled out and beheaded if you are charged with Tonghoujin or Tongchao. This is the end of the family business that you have worked so hard for several lifetimes. Wang Jijie often interacted with the people of the Ming Dynasty in foreign business, and he has deeply realized how rotten the Ming Dynasty court has been, and now it is the building that will collapse, as long as there is a little wind and grass, the Ming Dynasty will not be able to keep it. Not only do businessmen have to make money, but they also have to leave a way out for themselves and spend the money they earn. Many merchants in Shanxi had been planning to do this for a long time, but they had bet on Houjin, who looked very powerful. If it weren't for Zhang Chu sending people to cut off the trade routes outside the mouth and beat Huang Taiji away from Guihua City, the merchants could only cooperate with the Houjin, and the peasant army at this time was just satisfied with robbing a place and running away after grabbing the grain, just have something to eat. "Since Zhang Chu's strength is so strong, why don't he raise troops by himself, and everything he has robbed belongs to him, instead of cooperating with us businessmen, who will believe him if he doesn't want to cheat us out of our money." The elder of the clan who asked Wang Jijie to explain to everyone just now said to Wang Jijie sternly. (To be continued.) )