An acre of poppy field can produce fifty or sixty catties of poppy fruit, can only refine three or five catties of opium paste, the soil of Nantai is moderately acidic and alkaline, warm and suitable, the yield and quality are guaranteed, each mu produces fifty taels of opium, the price on the market is about two and five yuan per good cloud soil, followed by Sichuan soil and hot river soil, etc., in the eyes of Master Long, the price of Jiangbei soil should be two or three yuan per two.

One thousand catties of opium is converted into one sixteen thousand taels, and if the wholesale price is lower, that is, the total price of 40,000 oceans, it is not a big deal, but for Chen Zikun, it is indeed extremely important for the first time, tobacco and soil are not sold, but only when they are sold to Shanghai Tang is the highest profit, if a channel of production, supply and marketing is formed, it will be a daily gold in the future, so he is quite cautious and personally escorted.

After the last war, Chen Zikun incorporated the heroes who held calves into the pistol battalion, forming a reinforced battalion scale, and this time he personally brought three hundred brothers, a water of automatic firearms, and rushed to Shanghai.

Due to the lack of upstream business and the vicious competition of Chinese sailing ships, Swire & Co. did not open up the Huaijiang route west of the provincial capital, and Chen Zikun did not want to take advantage of the foreign to gain self-respect, so he purchased several cargo ships through the relationship of Mingjianglong, equipped with steam boilers and heavy machine guns, and used them as gunboats.

The two cargo ships sailed downstream in the wind and waves, and Chen Zikun stood at the bow of the ship with high spirits, dressed in a white suit

The Huaijiang River turned a corner here, from the east-west direction to the north-south direction, the river level is gentle, the north of the river is a flat river, all of them are alluvial plains with fertile soil, looking at it from afar, the mountains and rivers are magnificent and boundless, Chen Zikun suddenly became poetic, and said: "Take a pen and paper!" ”

The guards immediately brought rice paper and brushes, and in front of everyone, Chen Zikun picked up the wolf and dipped it in Huizhou ink, and everyone waited for him to splash ink, but he didn't move.

The little inspiration in his mind just now was gone, and Chen Zikun couldn't hold back a word.

He has received a Western-style education since he was a child, and he can't write well with a brush, where can he compose poems, and he stayed for a long time with a brush, and a drop of ink fell on the paper to render it, but Chen Zikun had an idea, and drew two lines on the paper with a pen.

Everyone was puzzled: "What is this?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "This is the Huaijiang River. ”

He added two more strokes to the river and drew staggered poles: "This is an iron bridge." ”

Shuangxi said: "Why is there an earthworm lying on the iron bridge?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "This is not an earthworm, this is a train, do you know?" ”

Shuangxi said: "What is the train, such an old one, like an earthworm." ”

Chen Zikun said: "The train is a coal-burning steam locomotive, and the carriage is dragged behind, which can carry hundreds of people and hundreds of thousands of catties of goods, so it is so long, this thing can run fast, and it can't catch up with a fast horse." ”

Shuangxi said: "It's so powerful, you can run so fast on your stomach, and if you stand up, you have to do it." ”

Everyone laughed, but they had never seen the train.

With the rise of Chen Zikun's paintings, he painted many chimneys emitting black smoke on the riverbank, saying: "This is a factory, a coal mine, an iron mine, a school. ”

Everyone was fascinated, and Shuangxi glared and said: "There are so many chimney buildings, it's not the same as Shanghai." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Yes, Lao Tzu is going to build a new Shanghai in Jiangbei. ”

Mixed Jianglong** put on his upper body, walked over with two guns in his waist and said: "Escort envoy, there is Jiangwan in front, it is the brother's nest, do you want to sit and drink a glass of water and wine." ”

"Well, go see your brethren." Chen Zikun readily agreed, he cooperated with Chaojianglong for a while, and decided that he was a good man who valued righteousness, and wanted to take him in.

There is a large area of reeds growing in the depths of the river bay, it is summer, the reeds are extremely dense, as vast as the sea of smoke, the small boat can not be found at all, and the big boat can not drive into the shallow water, no wonder the officials and soldiers have repeatedly suppressed it.

Chen Zikun changed to a sampan and followed the mixed river dragon to a small island in the depths of the reeds, which was the lair of the water bandits at this time, and looked no different from an ordinary fishing village, with a few dilapidated sampans buckled upside down on the shore, bare-bottomed children running around like crazy, tattered clothes on the ropes, and a dozen sheds made of reeds.

"It's populated by homeless people." Mixed Jianglong introduced.

The men on the island are all rude-faced, Chen Zikun didn't believe the words of the mixed river dragon, presumably these people are all Jiangyang thieves who killed people and overstole goods, and they were wanted by the government and had no way out to hide here.

Mingjianglong invited Chen Zikun to take a rest in his shed, which was simply furnished, a hammock, an antique case, and several spiritual positions were placed on it, and the central one was written "First test Zeng Gong to go to the position of illness." ”

Chen Zikun was puzzled: "Your surname is Zeng?" ”

Mixed Jianglong inserted three sticks of incense into the incense burner in front of the spiritual throne, and said: "Yes, my real surname is Zeng, and my father is the last county magistrate of Nantai County. ”

"You are Zeng Jiao!" Chen Zikun was shocked, and at the same time, he suddenly understood why he felt familiar when he saw the mixed river dragon for the first time, it turned out that his appearance and the ghost face on the wall of the thunderstorm night in the county government mansion were cool, and he thought that the man who made up for the Qing Dynasty was the legendary Zeng County Order.

Mixed Jianglong is Zeng Jiao, then Liu Youjin must be a fake, what a cunning Liu County Magistrate, he has deceived Lao Tzu for a long time.

Zeng Jiao, the mixed river dragon, did not notice Chen Zikun's mood swings, and said: "Yes, my name is Zeng Jiao, thirteen years ago, my family was ruined, Xia Dalong rushed to kill me, and wanted to drown me in the river, but fortunately I was rescued by the water bandit mixed river dragon, recognized me as a righteous son, taught me martial arts, and inherited his family business, in fact, I am the second generation of mixed river dragon." ”

"And your father-in-law?"

"In the provincial prison."

Chen Zikun nodded and said, "Then are you Zeng Jiao or Chaojiang Long now?" ”

This question is quite meaningful, and the mixed river dragon lowered his head and pondered for a while, and said: "Zeng Jiao is dead, I am the mixed river dragon." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Then are you willing to do it with me, the waters of the Huaijiang River will take care of you." ”

Mingjiang Long said: "The military envoy wants to recruit me?" ”

Chan said, "Why not? ”

Mingjiang Long said: "The general is powerful in Jiangbei, and we admire it to the fullest, but there is one more condition." ”

"Speak!"

"My father-in-law is on death row in the provincial capital, and he will be executed soon, if the general can save my father-in-law's life, I would rather live and die with him."

Chen Zikun said: "It's easy to do, I promised you." ”

Mixed River Long bowed: "General Xie!" ”

At this point, Chen Zikun and Mixed Jianglong changed from a cooperative relationship to a subordinate relationship, and became the water security brigade under the command of the Jiangbei Guardian Army Office, and Mixed Jianglong became the captain of the security brigade with the rank of major.

……

After subduing the mixed river dragon, Chen Zikun was in a good mood, and the sailboat came all the way to the waters of the provincial capital, and suddenly a sailor with an official flag and painted black came to intercept it with black smoke, and everyone was shocked, and hurriedly set up a machine gun to prepare to fight.

Chen Zikun said with a smile: "The head of the provincial city water police corps is Duan Haixiang's brother-in-law, and this bit of face is always given. ”

The waterway behind is a little difficult to walk, the Huaijiang River enters the Yangtze River, and enters the Huangpu River through Wusongkou, this road is under the jurisdiction of He Fenglin, the envoy of the Songhu Protector, and He Fenglin is Lu Yongxiang's subordinate, and Chen Zikun is not on the same mountain, so he can't talk at all.

What is even more worrying is that the opium business in Shanghai has always been monopolized by Huang Jinrong's Sanxin Company, and it is very difficult for other companies to open up sales channels for opium in Shanghai.

What kind of person is Chen Zikun, the battlefield general who was wiped out in ashes between talking and laughing, Zhang Xiaolin beat his head, and he still cared about what Sanxin company didn't succeed, and the cargo ship carrying opium used a bribe of a small yellow croaker to successfully pass the inspection of the garrison and enter the Huangpu River.

In order to hide people's eyes, opium was unloaded at a wharf in a remote Pudong, Li Yaoting waited for a long time with his people, he opened a package of opium and tasted it himself, the soil of Jiangbei was black but not black, pick a little with a little fingernail to taste, it was very bitter, Li Yaoting frowned, and raised his thumb: "Good goods!" ”

According to the agreement, Chen Zikun was only responsible for planting and transporting, and Li Yaoting was responsible for the goods when they arrived in Shanghai, and his brother settled the accounts, and after he counted the goods, he wrote Chen Zikun a check from Standard Chartered Bank, the amount of which was 64,000 yuan.

"Much, huh?" Chen Zikun pushed the check back, "Even if the Jiangbei soil is in good condition, it is not worth so much." ”

Li Yaoting pushed the check over again: "Big brother, you don't know the market in Shanghai, opium is cheap in other places, even the best Indian horseshoe soil is only seven yuan a tael, cloud soil is five yuan, and Rehe soil is four yuan, but the opium in Shanghai is all monopolized by Sanxin Company, other people's freight does not come in, strange goods can live, and the price will naturally go up, plus there are many people smoking opium in Shanghai, and now the price of cloud soil is fried to eight yuan and five." ”

Chen Zikun said: "I see, it seems that this business is profitable." ”

Li Yaoting took out the cigar and handed it over, and said confidently: "Not only is there to make money, you can become a multimillionaire in a year, but the risk is also very large, in case Boss Huang finds out that I come in strings, and the guy who eats without paying attention will move, so don't engage in packaging and branding next time, and make a fortune in a muffled voice, you know?" ”

Chan was furious that the trademark he had worked so hard to design could not be used, which made him feel insulted.

"What kind of thing is Huang Jinrong, and what kind of bullshit is Sanxin Company, if they are allowed to set fire, they are not allowed to light the lamp?"

Li Yaoting hurriedly persuaded: "Big brother, the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, people have worked hard in Shanghai for half their lives, there are always things that can be handled, not to mention the power of the French Concession patrol house that Boss Huang relies on, we can't defeat him for a while, just secretly get some opium to sell, anyway, Shanghai is so big, there are so many smokers, those addicts can't get a few taels of incense that day, so you can't see anything more than a few kilograms of opium." ”

Chen Zikun said: "A few thousand catties can't see anything, but tens of thousands of catties, hundreds of thousands of catties, this time it's just a test of the water, next time I am going to open up the wasteland for planting, get him 100,000 acres of poppies, dump them on the beach, and occupy the market." ”

Li Yaoting couldn't cry or laugh: "Brother, if you really want to do this, you can do it, and then send troops to capture Shanghai first." ”