When he walked out of the Red Sleeve Workshop, Liu Jun looked back and sighed a little reluctantly. Shen Sanniang is really good, but today he has no time to stay. Hu Guang's proposed cooperation was both expected and somewhat surprising to him, but it was an opportunity.

If the cooperation is negotiated, not to mention the income of 10,000 taels of silver a year, there are many other benefits, such as the relationship with the Zhu family such as King Andong and King Jing and King Yi, although Zhu Ming has not been down for a few years, but the more this time their role is more and more small. There is another one, Liu Jun is actually not just staring at that bit of silver.

This is for the long-term development, smuggling salt is a profiteering industry, but also a high-risk industry, most of the smuggling salt dealers are armed smuggling, fierce, even more beneficial than ordinary bandits, Liu Jun hopes to take them as the next combat target, with the nine-headed bird to practice these people in actual combat.

Of course, Liu Jun also aimed at the belongings of the smuggled salt dealers, since the sale of smuggled salt is five times more profitable, the smuggled salt dealers are also rich, and the big salt merchants in Yangzhou and Weizhou have millions of belongings, and the smuggled salt dealers will not be poor. If you kill them and steal their homes, this will be more profitable than selling smuggled salt.

Liu Jun just wants to be black and eat black, anyway, he has no land in Tuntian, and he has no channels to do business, so he still cracks down on bandits and smugglers to make money. But if he goes it alone, he may not be able to deal with the characters behind these smugglers, but if he is under the banner of a few princes of the Zhu family, then he only needs to settle the people in front, and the characters in the back will naturally have them to negotiate.

If it weren't for the fact that there were no bandits in Macheng recently, Liu Jun would not be in a hurry to take this order. Recently, the eastern part of Hubei can be said to have been frequently mobilized with troops and horses, all of which are guarding against the fifth battalion of the left in the east, so that the bandits of the original small fish and shrimp have also suffered from the pond fish and have basically been swept away. It is difficult for Liu Jun to suppress bandits and make some extra money, unless he has the courage to cross the border and run to Guangzhou, Henan or Luzhou Mansion in Nanzhili to suppress bandits, but that side is not as peaceful as Macheng, and in the past, I really don't know who killed whom.

After Hu Guang got Liu Jun's conditions, he hurriedly ran back to Qizhou and returned to Andong Palace.

Hu Guang was very active about this matter, he ran this salt business, and the benefits he got from it every year were not small, and if he lost this ministry, there would be no second such good errand.

Zhu Changjun, the king of Andong County, was sitting under the tree in the back garden of the palace, chatting with his niece.

"You, you, this time it's all going to kill us, I told your parents earlier, you can't mess with your temperament. I usually don't go out much, and I have to bring more guards when I go out, but you don't listen, and this time something big happened. ”

"I'm not fine." But the young and beautiful woman was coquettish.

"I can't say you." King Anton sighed and said, helpless against this niece who has always had a lot of character. This niece was born to his sister, because his sister recruited a son-in-law, so this niece also grew up in the palace since she was a child, and she was very loved by him.

Although my brother-in-law came to the door at the beginning, it was not an ordinary door-to-door. His brother-in-law's family was a very famous family in Qizhou, and his grandfather Li Shizhen was once a judge of the Tai Hospital, and was respected as a medical saint at that time. His father is Li Shizhen's eldest son Li Jianzhong, who was once a jinshi, and the official was sentenced to Yunnan. Anton Wang's brother-in-law Li Shuchu is the eldest son of Li Jianzhong, the grandson of Li Shizhen, and six cousins. When he was young, he was talented and talented, and he was deeply valued by Zhu Yiyi, the eldest son of King Anton at that time, and recruited him as a son-in-law, and specially arranged a study room called Tanbelly for him, which symbolized that he would be as rich and prosperous as Wang Yizhi in the future.

Later, Li Shuchu really became a jinshi, and successively served as the head of the household department, the prefect of Yanghe, and the deputy envoy of Shanxi. A few years ago, he was old at home and enjoyed his old age. Li Shuchu's sons are very smart and sensible, and they are well-read. The most headache in the family is this niece Shi Niang.

In his early years, the great-grandfather of Zhu Changjun, King of Andong, was the grandson of Emperor Xianzong, the second son of King Yi, and the king of Chongren County. Later, because his brother King Yizhuang died and had no children, he succeeded to the throne of King Yizhuang, and his sons were also crowned kings of the county. One of the sons was named King Anton, and his son Zhu Yiyi was the eldest son, and he recruited Li Shuchu as his son-in-law. However, he died before his father succeeded to the throne of Anton, and later his eldest son was the eldest grandson, and Zhu Changwei succeeded as the king of Andong more than 20 years ago, until now.

Li Shu returned to the Li family after entering junior high school, but several children grew up in the palace since they were young. King Anton really loves Shi Niang, so he is getting older now, but he has a bit of a wild temperament.

"Lord Wang, Steward Hu is back, and I am asking to see you outside." A slave came to report it.

"Biography."

Shi Niang sat on the side and took her uncle's arm, "I haven't chatted with my uncle for a few days, I will stay in the palace for a few more days, and I won't go back first." ”

Zhu Changjun guessed his niece's thoughts, knowing that she was in trouble this time, and she didn't dare to go back to see her brother-in-law.

"It's okay for you to stay for a few more days, you don't dare to go out casually like that anymore."

As he was talking, Hu Guang had already come in, and he was not surprised to see Shi Niang there, he was also an old man in the palace, and he was very familiar with Shi Niang, and every time he came back, he always had to bring her some gifts.

"Huber, did you bring me a gift?" Sure enough, as soon as Shi Niang saw him, she immediately shouted.

Hu Guang said with a smile, "Didn't Miss Biao go to Luoyang and come back so soon, I really don't know, otherwise I must prepare a gift, and I will definitely make up for it next time." ”

King Anton waved his hand, "Don't pay attention to her, she is in a big trouble this time, my brother-in-law and sister don't know how to clean her up, and now they want to stay with me." You're back so soon, but what you said was done? King Anton did not avoid his niece and talked about things directly.

"That Liu Jun is willing to help us do things, but he also put forward a request, the conditions are a bit high, I don't dare to call the shots, so I will come back immediately to report to the prince." Hu Guangdao.

Li Zhen was about to leave, she was not interested in listening to those things, but as soon as she heard the word Liu Jun, her steps couldn't help but stop. Instead of leaving, she pricked up her ears and listened carefully.

"Oh, a little martial artist born in Macheng County, the general training officer, from the martial arts of the eighth grade, also dares to ask us for conditions, but he is indeed a courageous one. What conditions did he make? King Anton asked leisurely.

Hu Guang said cautiously, "Liu Jun proposed that as long as he cooperates, he is unwilling to act as a thug, so his condition is to help us settle the illegal salt traders in Qihuang in the future, and then we will give him 3,000 salt guides, and the county of Macheng will be assigned to him to sell alone." In addition, for every salt dealer captured in the future, we will give him ten taels of silver, and the leader of the salt dealers a hundred taels of silver. In addition, the seized private salt is divided in half, or we buy it at a price of one tael per quote. ”

Anton Wang listened quietly and sneered, "You told him who was looking for him?" ”

"Having said that, the matter of the king of Andong will be followed by the king of Jing and other kings."

"Since the words are all explained, but he still dares to make such conditions, then I have to say that he is very arrogant. Maybe he did kill a few thieves, but if he didn't know the height of the sky, such a young man was not worth looking at. That's it, I don't need him to do this. It was difficult for King Anton to accept Liu Jun's conditions, the status of the two was completely unequal, but Liu Jun's conditions were completely mentioned at the same price.

"Uncle!"

"What's wrong?" King Anton turned his head to look at his niece who was shaking his arm.

"I haven't told you anything before, I was saved by the thief this time, it was this Macheng Liu Jun who personally broke through the thief's lair to rescue him, and he had the grace to save my life. And I also have some knowledge of this Liu Jun, although he is younger, he is really capable. Uncle, can you give him a chance, let him try it first. If you don't try, how do you know he's just talking big? Although Li Shiniang cried all the way back from Macheng County, she still couldn't really forget him completely after returning to Qizhou.

originally thought that time would smooth everything out, but when she heard about Liu Jun's matter at this time, she couldn't help but stand up and speak for him after all.

King Anton was a little surprised, he only knew that this time his niece was originally from Luoyang to Wuchang's aunt's house as a guest, but he encountered a thief halfway, killed the coachman's guard, and tied up the mountain to make meat tickets. Then fortunately, the officers and soldiers killed the bandits and thieves and rescued her. The niece didn't want to talk about it, and he didn't know the details of it now.

Now that his niece said this, he realized that it was Liu Jun who saved his niece. This was really a bit of a surprise, and it also made him feel that he owed Liu Jun a personal favor.

"That's it, since Liu Jun saved Shi Niang, then I have to thank him. However, one thing is the same thing, and it cannot be completely confused. Hu Guang, you go to Macheng again, and bring a thank you gift from the palace to thank Liu Jun. After a pause, King Anton said again, "You reply to Liu Jun again, I can cooperate with him, but he also has to show his strength first." Let Liu Jun start to cooperate with us to clean up the illegal salt dealers in Qihuang, starting with Macheng, if he can come up with some practical results within a month, then we can officially cooperate. ”

"I will not give a reward to a salt-dealer who has been caught, nor will I give his brother a salary, but I will take back the smuggled salt that he has seized, and I will take it back at the price of six pennies per penny. If he can make a difference, then starting next year, I can give 1,000 salt leads, and assign Macheng County to him to sell official salt separately. ”

The recovery price of private salt offered by King Anton was only two cents of silver per catty, and the salt was reduced from 3,000 to 1,000, but he was willing to assign Macheng to Liu Jun. Of course, there are prerequisites for this, Liu Jun has to make a performance first, and with a good performance, he can lead Macheng and salt to Liu Jun from next year.

This is also a condition that King Anton only made for the sake of saving his niece, and King Anton did not think that Liu Jun could meet such performance requirements. After a few months, Liu Jun can't do that at that time, and then he can stop this so-called cooperation, and at the same time, it can be regarded as repaying him for saving his niece.