Hearing Wu Shigong's sharp question, Guo Zeng'an did not panic, he smiled and said to Wu Shigong: "This time, I have the honor to meet the general, and I also brought a thing of interest to the general. ”

After speaking, Guo Zeng'an gestured to a representative of a salt merchant who came with him, and the representative took out a wooden box. The guards beside Wu Shigong immediately stepped forward, opened the wooden box and checked it, and handed the wooden box to Wu Shigong.

Wu Shigong took the wooden box, looked into the wooden box very curiously, and only saw one of Wang Mi's heads. In order to prevent embalming, there is also a lot of lime in the wooden box, so Wang Mi's head has become smaller because of the shrinkage, and the smell of lime is also very choking, so Wu Shigong is a little disgusted to watch.

However, Wu Shigong remained silent. After handing the wooden box to the guard, he tapped the table beside him with his knuckles, and said after a while, "It's not enough. ”

Guo Zeng'an understood what Wu Shigong meant, he didn't expect Wu Shigong to be so black-hearted. However, Guo Zeng'an thought of Wu Shigong's style of doing things in the past, and he was relieved. Guo Zeng'an then smiled and said to Wu Shigong: "Shopkeeper Wang and his family of seven, they also died of a violent illness a few days ago. Will their heads also be sent to the general? ”

Wu Shigong nodded, this matter of cutting the grass and eradicating the roots, it is better to be careful to rest assured. However, in this way, Wu Shigong could not use Wang Mi's topic to exert too much pressure on Yangzhou salt merchants. Those Yangzhou salt merchants are indeed good means!

Now that the opening remarks have passed, Wu Shigong began to get to the point: "This official understands that Mr. Guo came to Runing Mansion this time for the sale of the salt goods. But why does Mr. Guo think that this official will return the salt sales in these two prefectures to your Yangzhou salt merchants? ”

Wu Shigong's words made Guo Zeng'an stunned. He didn't expect Wu Shigong to be so straight to the point. At that time in the Ming Dynasty, talking about business was a hot season, and it was necessary for the two parties to contact each other to a certain extent, and then they would talk about specific business naturally, and there were few people who talked about business directly.

The main purpose of Guo Zeng'an's meeting with Wu Shigong today is to get to know Wu Shigong. In Guo Zeng'an's thoughts, he would have to have three or two banquets with Wu Shigong before he would discuss specific affairs with Wu Shigong.

However, Guo Zeng'an reacted quickly, anyway, it is better to talk early than late. So he still smiled and said, "The general sees it." The sale of salt goods in Runing Mansion and Guide Mansion has always been the territory of our Yangzhou salt merchants. And now the salt merchants of this long reed, they have crossed the line. But here, there is no intention to dwell on the past things. I am also very sincere, I just want to discuss a way with the general. ”

"That should be your Yangzhou salt merchant and Changlu salt merchant, right? What's the use of you talking about this and listening to your own officials? ”

As if he didn't seem to hear Wu Shigong's mocking tone, Guo Zeng'an still maintained a good attitude and said: "The matter of the salt industry and the affairs of officialdom, we Yangzhou salt merchants will deal with it." Don't dare to bother, General. However, now bandits are rampant in various places, and the general has worked hard to ensure the security of the place. Our colleagues in Yangzhou Salt Industry have also discussed that we should give the general 10,000 taels of silver for labor and military expenses. This is really not a respect. ”

Wu Shigong stimulated Guo Zeng'an three times and twice, in fact, he wanted Guo Zeng'an to make conditions first. Although Guo Zeng'an's current conditions have not reached Wu Shigong's psychological price, this is finally a good start. So, Wu Shigong's face also softened, and he said to Guo Zeng'an: "But this official still has a salt farm in Yangzhou." However, the salt goods from the salt field could not be transported to Henan, which was really worrying. ”

Before coming, Guo Zeng'an had already known about the salt farm that Wu Shigong had obtained from the Lu family, and those Yangzhou salt merchants had already discussed countermeasures for this matter, so after listening to Wu Shigong's words, Guo Zeng'an immediately said: "You don't have to worry about this general." Before coming down, our Yangzhou peers had already discussed, and every year we were allowed to give 3,000 stone of salt to the general for free. ”

"It's only 3,000 stones? The salt field of this official has an annual output of tens of thousands of stones! ”

"That's negotiable. If the general is willing to buy it at the market price, then our Yangzhou peers will never stop it. However, the general's salt goods cannot be transported to the area where our Yangzhou counterparts sell salt goods. This really has to ask the general to bear with me, because after all, the salt industry has the rules of the salt industry, and it is not unreasonable. ”

Wu Shigong nodded, and this first problem was basically solved satisfactorily. However, this is not the case with the salt sales model conceived by Wu Shigong in these two provinces.

"Give the official fifteen thousand taels, and the official will return all the salt markets in these two provinces to you. However, the official still has a few conditions: the 10,000 stone of salt in the official salt factory every year, you must sell it to the official; The official didn't want to see the prayer family in these two mansions again; In addition, the official is not willing to abandon those old friends, and in these two prefectures, he wants to set aside two county salt markets, one to the Lu family, and the other to the official's friend of Changlu. If you agree, the matter will be revealed. ”

This condition is simply too lenient. Before leaving this time, they, the Yangzhou salt merchants, had already discussed, and the bottom line of the labor army cost was 20,000 taels of silver. And those Yangzhou salt merchants also knew that it was unrealistic to swallow the salt market in all regions of the two prefectures, so they originally promised to reserve three counties for Wu Shigong to sell salt goods. So at this time, a representative of the salt merchant sitting at the head of Guo Zeng'an wanted to agree immediately.

However, the salt merchant's representative saw that Guo Zeng'an was still sitting as steady as Mount Tai, so he also tried his best to swallow the words that had come to his mouth.

When Guo Zeng'an heard Wu Shigong's words, he was also happy in his heart. But he immediately figured it out, after Wu Shigong had such a relaxed condition, there must be a follow-up. So Guo Zeng'an still smiled and asked, "Then general, do you have any other conditions?" ”

Listening to Guo Zeng'an's words, Wu Shigong immediately hahadaxiao. It's just comfortable to talk to smart people. So Wu Shigong immediately threw out his ultimate condition: "In these two prefectures, any salt merchant who sells salt goods must pay one penny of silver per stone to the official as the official's army maintenance expenses." And in the future, if the areas under the control of the government are expanded, the sale of salt goods in those areas will also be charged according to this example. ”

Wu Shigong's words immediately made several salt merchant representatives stand up from their chairs in shock. They didn't expect that this Wu Shoubei's heart was too dark, and he wanted to peel off such a thick layer of skin in the sale of salt.

Guo Zeng'an immediately said: "This is absolutely not good. General, you'd better change the conditions. ”

Wu Shigong made a gesture for these salt merchant representatives to sit down, and then said: "Don't be impatient, you haven't listened to all the words of this official." This money can rise in the price of salt. The official has also promised here, as long as you agree, there will be absolutely no salt goods from other houses in these two mansions, and the price of your salt goods will be guaranteed. ”

As soon as Guo Zeng'an heard Wu Shigong say this, he pondered it for a while and found that the price increase of this salt commodity was nothing more than a rise in the common people who bought salt, and it was the wool that came out of the sheep. It had no impact on them, the Yangzhou salt merchants and the local salt sellers.

As for whether Wu Shigong is black or not, it is not his business with these Yangzhou salt merchants. So Guo Zeng'an also nodded immediately and said, "Since the general said so." I don't know what to do anymore. However, for such a big matter, Zai Xia is not qualified to call the shots here. So I have to go back to Yangzhou to discuss with my peers. But as I will say here, this should not be a big problem. ”

Hearing Guo Zeng'an's reply, Wu Shigong was also very satisfied with the results of this meeting. He picked up the teacup with a smile, and the guards behind him immediately shouted, "Send off!" ”