"This is the first merchant from Shanxi, he asked for 50,000 taels of silver in Yaojin and the shopkeeper, there are three kinds of tobacco, spices and tea, and we want to give up the price of 20% and 5, the shopkeeper can't be the master, and there are not so many goods, so he came directly to Wendeng to negotiate the price."

In Liu Minyou's official room, Wang Erya is reporting to him, this woman in her early twenties has not been married, at this time she is already an out-and-out old girl, she first went to Wendeng in the general store, and then step by step promoted to the director, then transferred to the head of the cigarette factory, and now has become the deputy head of the Sihai Trading Company. It seems that it has dropped, but in fact, the Sihai trading company now has a total investment of one million taels, and all the foreign businesses of Wendeng are connected to this trading company, and the power has greatly increased.

Wang Erya has been in business since she was a child, and after coming to Wendeng, she learned some business ideas from Liu Minyou and Chen Xin. She handed over a report to Liu Minyou, "You only give me the right to a 20% discount, and the same is true for Zhou Laifu, so you have to decide on this." After discussing with Mr. Zhou, the slave family felt that it was acceptable. ”

Liu Minyou looked at the short application in his hand, "This price is a little low, where will it be delivered?" ”

"He can come and ship it himself."

"It's acceptable to take it yourself. But there are three conditions, the first is to ask him to help buy horses from Mongolia, the war horses are the best, and the price can be slightly higher; The second is to help recruit some border soldiers who don't accept it at night, if he asks, you will say that it is used to open the dart game; The third is that he must hire a ship from our trading company to transport goods, and he will give him that price if he agrees to these articles. ”

"Then you can't promise him first." Wang Erya stood up and packed up his paperwork, "I have to drag him for a few days, stay up with him slowly, it's nothing to hire our white spoon merchant ship, but the first two of you are for the soldiers, both of them are digging the corners of the border town, after all, it is a trouble, he may not be able to agree so easily." ”

Liu Minyou said with a smile: "You know this matter better than me, you can arrange it yourself." These were all specially requested by General Chen, and in the past, they had to be sold by other canal trading houses, but now there are border towns that come directly to buy goods, and it is time to put them forward. ”

"Understood." Wang Erya made a thousand blessings and retreated, Liu Minyou's new secretary immediately ran in, he looked around, and then whispered to Liu Minyou: "Mo Huaiwen came from Pingdu Prefecture and said that he had something important to see Mr. ”

"Wu Youdao, be generous in your future reporting, don't be a thief, this is in the official office, not in the Intelligence Bureau." Liu Min is not happy to see his thief eyebrows, this Wu Youdao is the third literacy class, he has been practicing in Tunpu for a long time, and the management of clerical arithmetic is good, especially the ability to summarize is very strong, the only thing is that he always likes to make a mysterious look. Liu Minyou couldn't see his style, so he asked him to correct it, but Wu Youdao said that he was difficult, because he turned out to be a fortune-telling stick in Youfang, and that style had been soaked into his bones.

Wu Youdao showed a bitter face, and Liu Minyou continued to reprimand him: "Mo Huaiwen is the deputy chief of civil affairs, although he has not been officially appointed, you can't call him by his name." He has always done things safely, you have to learn from him, since Huaiwen came from Pingdu, there must be something important, you let him in. After Liu Minyou finished ordering, Wu Youdao went out with his head bowed, and called Mo Huaiwen in a moment.

Mo Huaiwen's face was full of dust and a little anxious. Mo Huaiwen has been following Liu Min for a long time, although the final expression was a little unexpected by Liu Min, but he still admired it, and stood up and smiled at the moment: "What can make Huaiwen come in a hurry must be a big deal." ”

Mo Huaiwen hurriedly saluted, and then spoke: "Mr. Liu, the gentleman and Haoqiang of Laizhou are occupying the land in Jinhua Mountain in Zhaoyuan to open a mine, and if we don't occupy the gold mine there, they will occupy it." ”

When Liu Min heard the gold, his heart was excited, and he stopped and asked, "But before General Chen leaves, let us be more secure recently, so as not to affect him to go to the Beijing Palace to see him." ”

Mo Huaiwen said anxiously: "The subordinates also forgot about this matter at that time, when Pingdu cleared the acres, it was found that a number of large households had returned from Zhaoyuan, so that the land was disputed again, and it was learned that they were all digging gold in Zhaoyuan, and many large households in Pingdu were wiped out by the rebels, and they also had mines in Zhaoyuan, plus many gentry and tyrants in Dengzhou, Zhaoyuan actually vacated many golden holes, and now it is being divided by various powerful people in Laizhou. ”

Liu Minyou hesitated: "How much gold can be produced there in a year?" Why doesn't the government mine it? ”

"The most gold mines, is Zhaoyuan Jinhua Mountain left near, there are Linglong, Wang'er Mountain, Silkworm Village, Huangbuling, Lingshan, Hedong, Qiansunjia and so on gold mines, each mountain is thousands of potholes, since the beginning of spring, along the gold rush river has thousands of people to pan for gold, most of them are employed in Laizhou Haoqiang. The annual output of gold is more than 20,000 taels, thousands of taels of silver, most of which are privately divided by the gentry and officials, and the gentry of Dengzhou have been swept away by the army. (Note 1) Liu Minyou groaned: "Now that the new prefect has not arrived, they are not afraid of the royal court trying ......."

Mo Huaiwen hurriedly said: "On that day, Chen Dajin crossed Pingdu, and said that the Laizhou gentry were fighting with the military attaches in Ye County, and his subordinates felt very strange that day, those gentry were not fools, everyone knew that they couldn't beat the military attaché, why did they still provoke, but they knew that Chen Dajin was going to enter the Beijing face saint, and deliberately gave Chen Dajin a horse, I guessed for a while that it was a land dispute, and I didn't realize his intentions, and now I understand that they are warning Chen Dajin not to fight for the gold mine." If the subordinates were not bad as expected, Wang Tingxuan had already accepted the share that night. ”

"These dog things." Liu Minyou scolded in a low voice, at that time, Kong Youde broke Huang County and grabbed a large amount of gold, Pingdu's seizure was more than 50,000 taels, after the war, it was still winter, the mine was not mined, they did not think of seizing a few large gold mines for a while, but were the head snake of Laizhou to take the lead.

Liu Min swallowed his saliva when he thought of 20,000 taels of gold, that is, 150,000 or 60,000 taels of silver, and the local area is a gold and silver associated mine, which can produce thousands of taels of silver, and this is a long-term job, which can accommodate thousands of displaced people to work.

Liu Minyou raised his eyes to look at Mo Huaiwen, "What do you think?" ”

"Send some tunhu to open mines over there, fight once or twice, and then ask the Lu Jian army to send soldiers to garrison in the name of suppressing the rebellion."

Liu Min hesitated, that method was actually to use Tunhu's life as a reason, shook his head lightly and said: "If this matter breaks out, what should I do if Laizhou's entry into Beijing is to find the imperial history for impeachment?" ”

"Mr. Liu, you have Chen Dajin's entrustment, you can mobilize the Intelligence Bureau to intercept and kill their messengers, or use the bandits to loot Jinhua Mountain, and then we will send troops to guard Jinhua Mountain and other places in the name of suppressing bandits, and then we will occupy the gold mine."

"This ......" Liu Min wanted to speak and stopped, Mo Huaiwen stared at him with expectation, although Chen Xin gave him the power to mobilize the tun guards, but obviously those tun households did not have the ability to rush to recruit far, even the bandits were enough to choke, in fact, what he wanted in his heart was to ask Liu Min to directly mobilize Geng Zhongming's department, kill a few hundred, and then he didn't dare to come, but unfortunately Geng Zhongming is not here now.

"Will this affect Chen Dajin's face in Beijing?"

Mo Huaiwen persuaded: "This matter has to be done at this time, the royal court tried to collect the Yijin from the people in Laizhou, there must be a lot, and when he comes back, this matter will be difficult to do, and now Lu Zhi is talking about this matter, suppressing that Zhu Wannian, first occupy the gold mine, and wait for the royal court to come back and still share him." ”

Liu Min silently thought in his heart, Mo Huaiwen continued: "Da Jin, plus Penglai, Ye County, and Huang County also have gold mines, if they are all occupied, at least 30,000 taels of gold a year, more than 200,000 taels of silver, even if you hire two or three thousand people, the maximum cost is 30,000 taels a year, excluding the distribution of profits to officials at all levels, there must be more than 100,000 taels a year." ”

Liu Minyou finally remembered the words, Mo Huaiwen was very familiar with him, and knew that the old leader's hesitation had happened again, in Mo Huaiwen's view, Mr. Liu always loved to be kind at any time. When he was about to step up his efforts, Liu Minyou raised his head and said to Mo Huaiwen: "Where are the rebels captured in Dengzhou now?" ”

Mo Huaiwen was stunned, a lot of prisoners were captured before and after the battle of Dengzhou, and the part that began to be looted at the time of Wuqiao was executed, and the remaining more than 2,000 people were all rebellious soldiers and people in Dengzhou City, and they were organizing road construction everywhere, which was the labor reform that Chen Dajin said, and he immediately replied: "Build roads in Ninghai Prefecture...... What does Mr. Liu mean? ”

"Send them to open mines, with some knives and guns, and I'll send another team of soldiers to guard. Those captives, as long as they occupy the mines, can be converted into miners, and they will be paid silver every month, and they can divide the land in the same way as the tunhu in the future. ”

Mo Huaiwen was pleasantly surprised: "Liu Dajin can always come up with some good methods, these captives do work for eight hours every day, they are so tired that they cry and cry, now that they have this hope, they are not afraid that they will not sell their lives, and their subordinates can rest assured, as long as they occupy the gold mine, there are iron mines in Rushan and other places behind, and they will occupy it according to this law." ”

Liu Minyou sighed, "This matter is decided, but when will it start, I still have to ask General Chen, going to Beijing is in a separate place, it is always safer, fortunately, it is enough to go back and forth between Tangma for three or four days." Just let those Laizhou Haoqiang dig for a little more time, I can see through it now, these moths are soft and hard and don't eat, they are all goods that don't shed tears when they don't see the coffin, and it's superfluous to reason with them. ”……

"Wen Dengxiang, the guest officer is here to bring in cigarettes? But when you go to my store, you can see that Yaojin is an authentic Wendengxiang. On the wharf of the Yaojin South Canal, Deng Keshan, who was dressed in brocade and jade, took five or six green skins and shouted along the streets along the river.

Last time Liu Minyou came back from participating in the Battle of the Four Cities, he came up with the idea of liberating Li Ranzhu, and at that time Liu Minyou promised to let him act as an agent for Hejian Funan. Deng Keshan's head is lively, he is the head snake of Yaojin, he knows very well that spices, tea, sugar are not worried about the market at all, he did a good job of the tooth card the year before last, not only in the canal string goods, but also in Hejian Mansion opened a southern goods shop, specifically from the four seas trading company in Yaojin after the cigarette market, he keenly found business opportunities, in one breath in Yaojin and Hejian Mansion opened two tobacco shops, has become a small rich man. Now he is tied to the Four Seas Trading Company, and he works harder than the guys of the trading company.

A merchant who had just gotten off the ferry came over and asked in a Liaodong accent, "Is it a real Wenden or a fake Wendeng?" The fake Lao Tzu won't buy it. ”

Deng Keshan hurriedly said: "Naturally it's true, they are some broken goods, you taste this taste, brother, I tell sù how do you recognize this authentic Wendeng incense, the tobacco leaves are taken out and chewed raw, there is a mellow wine taste, and it is very refreshing to smoke, brother will give you a taste." ”

Deng Keshan handed one to a merchant, and the merchant looked at it and said strangely: "Why does this cigarette have a cotton butt?" There is a piece of tobacco missing. ”

Deng Keshan smiled all over his face, "This is not a cotton butt, this is this filter, this thing is only available in Dengzhou, there are more than ten kinds of herbs soaked in it, all of which are precious tonics, what kind of sea dog whip is out of Dengzhou, Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet, used this thing, brother ......" Deng Keshan said mysteriously, "With this sea dog whip, ten women in a night are not a problem, but there are not many in each one, you have to tell everyone when you buy the goods, smoke a few more every day." ”

The merchant laughed, "Your brother is interesting, I'll try it." ”

Deng Keshan gave it to him, and the merchant took a sip, which was a mild and slightly mellow smoke smell, less spicy, but the slight paralysis of the mouth was still there, and he immediately said: "Count yours, it's Zhen Wendeng, take Lao Tzu to your shop." ”

"Wang Er, quickly lead this big brother to the shop and tell the shopkeeper, this big brother is the dragon and phoenix in the middle at a glance, and the price should be the best." After Deng Keshan shouted loudly, one of his green-skinned lackeys took the guest officer to the Sihai Trading Company next to him.

Deng Keshan hummed "Peony Pavilion" proudly in a low voice, this is the enemy four single business he did today, after the beginning of the year, cigarettes are in short supply, Deng Keshan's commission is rising, and now this filter cigarette comes out, Deng Keshan thinks that business will only get better and better.

He went all the way along the river bank to the south, here there are many merchants from the north and south of the north and Shanxi, after taking the ferry, they will go ashore from several wharves, those ferryboats also have their own relationships, hearing the merchants talking on the boat about what goods, they will go to the wharf near the shop pù they are familiar with, and the tooth line waiting on the wharf can get close to the water and get the moon first.

Deng Keshan was very familiar with these roads, and arranged two or three entry into each pier to act as a dental shop, never missing a potential customer. Now he is also a small wealthy businessman, with twenty or thirty lackeys under him, and he is very familiar with the local area, and Wen Dengxiang is exclusively operated by the Four Seas Trading Company, and the black and white roads near the dock still give him face, and try to introduce him to business.

Coming to the last ferry port like this, a subordinate ran over with a blue nose and swollen face, Deng Keshan's face darkened, and he scolded loudly: "Is it Linqing's gang again?" ”

The subordinate cried and said: "It's them, they bought the boat, pulled to their cigarette shop, they knew that their cigarettes were not as good as Wen Dengxiang, and when they saw that the guests were about to arrive, they beat us and forced us to leave the dock, and the big fool was knocked unconscious, and he was still lying there......"

Behind Deng Keshan, a group of green skins shouted and scolded in unison, Deng Keshan waved his hand, "Brothers, call Lao Tzu in, play the line, green hands, help, everything that can be shouted is called to Lao Tzu, and today I copied the fucking Linqing tobacco shop." ”