In Tongzhou City, Yan Mingtai, the governor of the Governor's Office, was sitting at the door of his class room reading a newspaper. The 'Revolutionary Army' has recently published several newspapers and has begun to distinguish between different functions. The political mouthpiece is naturally the Revolutionary Times, the local government is the Tianjin Daily, and there is also the Miscellaneous Newspaper for learning, education, and entertainment.

Ma Gonggong's Ming Court column was inappropriate to be placed in the "Revolutionary Times" all the time, so it was moved to the "Miscellaneous Talks". Because the bad things of the Ming court were widely liked by all walks of life, the "Miscellaneous Talk" found many Ming court officials to invite articles. The letters inviting the manuscript were even sent to the capital, and even Xiong Tingbi did not let go, saying that he wanted to interview this high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty.

Xiong Du was dismissive of this, and even scolded loudly.

Yan Mingtai was present at the time, and he saw that he had a lot of money to polish his pen, so he was so itchy that he actually wrote a draft of Xiong Tingbi's words scolding the 'revolutionary army' and sent it anonymously to the "Miscellaneous Talks". Sending this manuscript was meant to be a joke, and I wanted to test the anti-thief - I didn't expect this "Miscellaneous Talk" to actually publish his article, signed "According to well-informed sources".

it!

These thieves are really broad-hearted, and even the articles scolding them are still published correctly, and they are not hypocritical at all. The key is that there is still half a sentence left at the end of the article - welcome contributions from all walks of life in the Ming Court, and the pen is preferred. Those who do not wish to be named can set up a confidential account at 'Bank of China' and withdraw with their pseudonym and password only.

...... hiss, Yan Mingtai immediately saw a golden strip to make money.

"Miscellaneous Talks" happened to publish an interview article with Ma Keshi's father-in-law, and his current identity is not the Tianjin police chief, but an expert on the Ming Dynasty and a gold medal columnist. He had a lot of say in the Ming court's problems. The key is that since he started the column, he has received two or three thousand taels of pen polishing fees.

If this money is based on the identity of Ma Gonggong East Factory before, it is naturally not worth mentioning. But the money came from the right place and was beyond reproach. More importantly, it has played a good exemplary role - a large number of low-level officials in the Ming Court are still very rare, and these thousand taels of silver are still rare. They found out that some of the things they knew could be exchanged for money in the newspaper? This includes Lord Yan.

The official position of the servant is actually the meaning of 'assistant', and Yan Mingtai is Xiong Tingbi's assistant. He was born in the household department and was in charge of the money and grain of the Tongzhou army, and this kind of fat difference should have been a big fish. But Xiong Tingbi's face is dark, he doesn't make money, and he doesn't allow his subordinates to make money. Yan Mingtai was timid, so he really didn't dare to stretch out his hand.

The "Miscellaneous Talks" of the 'Revolutionary Army' opened up a new way of thinking for Yan Mingtai, and after the success of one article, he wrote several articles in a row about Xiong Tingbi's private remarks and sent them over. Some of these articles were published, while others disappeared. He quietly sent his servants to Tianjin, and confirmed with the newspaper and the bank under his pseudonym that there was really a sum of money in the account.

It's just that the money is not much, and the published articles are only a few dozen taels. This is already a high price given for most of the articles related to Xiong Tingbi, but for Yan Mingtai, this money is not fast enough to get rich. The servant replied, "Sir, the editor of the newspaper thinks that the articles you have written are either not strong enough or too pompous. They need big news that gets the inside story out of the way. ”

Big news? Like Ma Gonggong, he keeps revealing the shortcomings of the Ming Court?

Lord Yan asked himself if he couldn't do it.

Ma Gonggong himself is a person from Dongchang, he has goods in his stomach, his relationship network is complicated, and he has a wide network of contacts with the Ming Court. There really is no one who can match him in terms of sources. Yan Mingtai is just a servant in charge of money and food next to Xiong Tingbi, what news can he have except to reveal the words of his own Jiliao Governor?

Oops...... guarding the Golden Mountain but not making any money, Lord Yan is really worried and can't sleep all night. He couldn't think of any other way for him to make a fortune if he wanted to break his head - until Tianxiong Tingbi took the initiative to consult with him about the current issue of military salaries.

"Food?" Yan Mingtai thought that Lao Xiong was going to check the accounts, he secretly thought that he really didn't make any money during this time, could it be that the people below were secretly hiding that they were embezzling? "My lord, our army has been well fed recently, so there is no need to worry."

"Well...... how can you take it lightly when it comes to national affairs? It is always necessary to take precautions, and it is always necessary to get more food. As a servant, you still have a lot of hard work, and you must not be taken lightly. Xiong Tingbi reprimanded Yan Mingtai with a dark face and told him to get out.

Yan Mingtai was scolded inexplicably, and he didn't understand what he meant when he came out of the governor's yamen. But not long after he came out, he was called by Xu Guangqi again, the same thing about asking about food and salary, and the same accusation that he didn't care about the emperor's order and had a bad grace. It's just that this time Old Man Xu said a few more words, asking Yan Mingtai to find a way to hand over the wealthy businessmen, set up an industry, and raise more military funds for the army.

Hey......, what do you want me to do with what you want me to do? Yan Mingtai has been in the officialdom for almost twenty years, and he immediately felt that the words of the two adults today must have some deep meaning, but he still hasn't understood it yet. When he came out of the yamen again, he saw Sun Yuanhua waiting outside.

"Lord Yan, has the army's food and salary been sufficient recently?" Sun Yuanhua bowed his hand to greet and asked in a low voice.

Eh, ......, what the hell are you guys doing? They came to me again and again to ask me about it. During this time, I secretly wrote a few manuscripts and submitted them to the thieves to make some extra money, and I really didn't reach out to make money in the army's salary.

Yan Mingtai was about to refute a few times with confidence, but Sun Yuanhua pulled him to a remote place, lowered his voice again and said: "Lord Yan, now that the enemy is present, it is really respectable that Xiong Du alone supports the situation in Tongzhou. Our juniors should also think of some ways to assist one or two, for the saints, for a few adults to relieve their worries. ”

There must be something strange about this!

"Yes, yes, what Brother Chu Yang said is extremely true. It's just that Yan's qualifications are dull and powerful. Yan Mingtai's mind turned around a few times, and then he thought of Sun Yuanhua's identity, and already knew that this must be Xiong Tingbi and Xu Guangqi who had something troublesome to do by themselves, and turned around to wake himself up. But he just wants to play stupid, and he will never agree easily.

I saw Sun Yuanhua take out a book from his sleeve, on which was written in simplified Chinese "Small Brick Kiln Construction Method". He said in a deep voice: "Lord Yan, I recently learned that there is a shortage of masonry and stone in this market, and the price is good. Why don't you and I work together to build a brick kiln? I recently found a book below, which describes in detail the way of burning bricks. If it succeeds, it will provide relief to the poor and increase military resources. ”

Open a brick kiln?

Yan Mingtai's head was like a flash of lightning, and the current demand for masonry was ......, as if only Tianjin would offer a high price. The demand for masonry has always been large, and if you can burn the masonry and transport it by water, you can really make a lot of money - just sell the masonry to the thieves, ah......!

No wonder Xiong Tingbi called Lao Tzu to train him, which clearly meant that he wanted to eat fish but refused to get fishy, and asked me to do it. Moreover, how can the brick kilns meet the salary needs of these tens of thousands of troops, there may be even bigger ones in the future. The brick kiln is just throwing stones to ask for directions.

Oh...... do I want to take this job?

Yan Mingtai's mind was spinning, he wanted this benefit, but he also had to guard against being cheated by his colleagues. After pondering and pondering, he suddenly thought of someone, so he smiled at Sun Yuanhua and said, "What Brother Chuyang thinks, Yan deeply agrees. However, under the busy military affairs, I really can't spare time. Why don't you recommend someone to do this? ”

"Who?"

"Former Liaodong Governor Li Weihan. This person was impeached in a lawsuit not long ago, but because he got more than a dozen Tartar heads to save his life, he is now idle and scattered in the capital. After inquiring below, Li Weihan's recent iron ore business has been very large, and it has something to do with the south. ”

Sun Yuanhua knew that it would be difficult for Yan Mingtai to come forward in person, and it would certainly be more convenient to find a vest to put in front. He asked, "Is this man reliable?" ”

"What's reliable and unreliable? It's a big deal, let's build a brick kiln and let the one surnamed Li sell it. Give him two cents and he will definitely run fast. ”

"Two points is too much, but borrow him a skin, and don't want him to do anything, give him five cents at most."

The two casually discussed, and after negotiating some details, they went their separate ways, and neither of them thought to record it. Yan Mingtai returned to his room, and after thinking about it to make sure that he would not be at any risk, he breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't help but scold in his heart: "Xiong Tingbi, it's good that you are a thick-eyed and big-eyed person who is secretly engaged in these shady things, and you still want to push Lao Tzu in front as a shield." ”

Anger is angry, but this is a way to really get rich.

When Yan Mingtai thought about it, he found that he could make money in a righteous and bright way - the gang of anti-thieves in the 'revolutionary army' had a great appetite, and they even bought a large number of bricks and stones, as well as other agricultural and sideline products, ore, coal, and timber. The 'Revolutionary Army' also sells large quantities of goods. For example, there is a shortage of salt in the north, but the price of salt in Tianjin is extremely low, and this change of hands is a huge profit.

"No, no, this money can't be earned by a person surnamed Xiong." Yan Mingtai's first thought was that he also wanted to participate in it, and then he thought of why should he participate in it? Wouldn't it be possible to open an additional brick kiln directly? The money for opening the kiln can be directly taken out of the military funds, and it can be repaid when it is earned, or even if it is not repaid.

"Our army occupies Tongzhou, which is the geographical advantage. Why do I need to open a kiln to do business, I just need to get stuck in this position and collect money. There are definitely a lot of people in the north who want to do business with thieves. I have to report to the Xiong Governor to prohibit outsiders from passing through at will, and only those who have given silver can go south. The more Yan Mingtai thought about it, the more beautiful he became, and he felt that he was so stupid in the past, why didn't he think of the trick of collecting tolls?

This was happy in his heart, and Yan Mingtai immediately sent people to contact Li Weihan and other merchants in the north, and also sent people to hook up with the thieves in the south. The merchants of the north were naturally happy, and they had long wanted to communicate with the south. It's just that the reaction of the 'revolutionary army' was unexpected - do business, we welcome it. But if you dare to engage in toll collection, we will send a large army to fight it.

This is tariffs, this is trade barriers, which will cause great harm to the flow of goods, which will greatly suppress non-governmental commercial activities, and this is a shackle to the development of capital, and we resolutely oppose this kind of behavior of splitting the market. You collect tolls from the merchants of the north going south, and sooner or later you will collect tolls from us going north—if you dare to collect tolls, our army will beat you.

We, the 'Revolutionary Army', have always pursued free trade!