Gong Changyu went home to pick salt, and it was already dark. After dinner, he told his uncle Zhu Qimur and Yinyue about the defeat of the bandit mountain tiger in the maple realm.

After listening to it, Zhu Qiyu praised Gong Changyu: "These bandits have plucked their feathers and robbed them too hard. Old learner, you did a good job! ”

"Good is good...... It is not easy for ordinary bandits in the maple world, so they grab some tolls and can't get much oil and water, after all, there are too few fat sheep. So many bandits eat horses and chew them, and they can barely maintain their daily expenses by grabbing some goods, and the bandits' life is not easy, and they are not even as good as ordinary people. Yinyue said worriedly, "I'm afraid that if I provoke the bandits of the mountain tigers and cut off their financial routes, they will definitely come to Tangwei to seek revenge." ”

"Auntie, we wish that the family compound has its own musket team, and if the bandits dare to come to Tangwei Chong, let them have no return!" Gong Changyu smiled, "The mountain tiger is a straw bale, as long as he takes the lead, I will cut off his head with a knife!" ”

"But I've heard that there are about fifty or sixty mountain tigers, and they are all outlaws, and they are not easy to deal with." Yinyue poured a cup of tea for Gong Changyu, "Old learner, you have to have more eyes to run the rivers and lakes in the future." ”

"What my aunt said is very true. I had 1780 pounds of smuggled salt on this trip, and I gave it to the bandits for no reason, and I couldn't swallow this breath, so I them. Gong Changyuhan said with a smile.

"Fortunately, most of the bandits are not in Fengmen Ridge, otherwise it will be a big trouble." Zhu Qimur said, "Last night, bandits came to our Tangwei and looted a lot of property, and the people in the whole village suffered more or less losses, even robbing some pickles......

Gong Changyu asked: "They are poor and crazy, so where did they go?" ”

"I went to Changlingchong, and I met up with the bandits there." I wish the opening room to answer.

"Have the bandits been to our yard?" Gong Changyu asked.

"They only had three or four muskets, they didn't have much ammunition, their firepower was inferior to ours, they were all beaten away by our musket team, and there was nothing to lose." Zhu Qimu smiled slightly, "It's just that the housekeeper Qibao and the two family members were slightly injured." ”

"It's so arrogant, you dare to come to Tangwei to go wild!" Gong Chang stood up suddenly and slammed his fist on the table.

"Old learner, the bandit leader who took the lead in the robbery last night only had one palm and a smoking gun." Zhu Qiroom said.

"A palm? It can't be the cigarette dealer who sells big cigarettes in Wuyou City, right? Gong Changyu immediately thought of Er Laizi.

"It's too dark at night, I can't see his face clearly, and under normal circumstances, people who sell big cigarettes don't smoke big cigarettes." Zhu Qimur said with great certainty, "The gang of bandits besieging our yard should have nothing to do with the big cigarette sellers. ”

"It's so hateful, I can't wait to uproot the bandits' den in Changlingchong. I'll go tonight with a few muskets and bring back all the folks' things. Gong Changyu carried the saber and walked out of the hall.

"Old learner, let's not go." Zhu Qi's room chased after him, "It's too dark, it's not too late to go to Changling tomorrow to meet the bandits." ”

"If we wait until tomorrow, maybe these bandits will be transferred, and the villagers' belongings will be taken away." Gong Changyu couldn't wait.

"Old learning, idle and less care." Zhu Qi's room stopped Gong Changyu.

"Uncle, you usually teach me that if you are poor, you will be good to yourself, and if you are good, you will help the world. Although I am not yet developed, I will never be ambiguous in protecting the lives and property of my fellow villagers. Gong Changyu said eloquently.

"Okay. The terrain of Changlingchong is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so bring a musket team and a tiger squat cannon when you go. "Zhu Qi Room finally gave in.

"Uncle, artillery is not necessary." Gong Changyu stopped and said, "Changling Chong is too familiar to me, there is a path on the cliff behind the cottage, and we can climb up from there along the vines, and catch them off guard." ”

"Be careful in everything." Zhu Qiroom is still a little worried.

"It's okay, the bandits may be drinking in the stockade at this time, and if they are not careful, the sneak attack on them will definitely be successful."

"Hmm."

"Uncle, then I'll go." ……

Gong Changyu carried a saber on his back and took a musket team to the back mountain of Changlingchong, and with the faint light of the fire, it took less than a quarter of an hour for more than a dozen people to successfully climb to the top of the mountain.

Sure enough, Gong Chang met as expected, and the bandits left a guard, the guy was holding a wine gourd in his right hand and half of the roast chicken in his left hand, and he was tilting his head, drinking soju slowly, drunk and hazy, where to take into account the surrounding situation.

Gong Changyu tiptoed behind the bandit and slapped him on the back of the neck, and the bandit immediately fainted and fell unconscious.

"Up!" Gong Changyu waved his hand, and the rest of the muskets entered the outside of the cottage with guns in hand, and did not find a single bandit patrolling.

"Burn down their nest!" Gong Changyu whispered. Everyone walked quickly forward.

Soon, they arrived outside the bandits' lobby, which was brightly lit, and the bandits were munching on meat, drinking, and punching.

"Hello brothers, three-star photos, four happy wealth."

"Five masters."

"Six-six-shun."

"Seven coincidences." ……

Gong Changyu visually measured the number of bandits, there were about fifty or sixty people, shouting around the table one by one, standing and sitting, swords and guns placed aside.

"The bandits are most afraid of the officers and soldiers, so we will burn their houses first and then release our guns." Gong Changyu whispered, "Shui Qiang, you go and set fire." ”

"Okay." Zhu Shuiqiang bent his waist and went to the bandits' shack. A few minutes later, smoke billowed from the shack and the flames were in flames.

Gong Changyu shouted like a bandit: "Brothers, the officers and soldiers are attacking, run-" Then the gunshots rang out, and the bandits in the hall were in a mess.

The bandit leader sitting in the center of the lobby was shocked, grabbed the cigarette gun on the table, and then calmed down again: "Brothers, don't panic, this shot is not from the official army. ”

"Big boss, we don't have muskets or ammunition, whether it is an officer or not, let's withdraw as soon as possible." A bandit who looked like a dog-headed military advisor said.

"So you don't want so many treasures?" The bandit leader asked, pointing to a pile of gold, silver, and copper plates on the ground.

"What else do you want, it's important to save your life." The military advisor dragged the bandit leader out of the back of the lobby. Gong Changyu carried a saber and rushed into the lobby, slashing at the frightened bandits.

Seeing that the eldest brother had slipped away, the bandits had no intention of fighting, so they fled for their lives and scattered like birds and beasts. In a short time, the bandits ran away with nothing left.

"Burn this bandit den for me!" Gong Changyu kicked over the oil lamp on the table. The tung oil was scattered, and the hall quickly caught fire, and everyone hurriedly picked up the things on the ground and exited the lobby, so the bandit den in Changlingchong was destroyed by Gong Changyu......

Soon, Gong Changyu took the capital given by his uncle Zhu Qi's room, relied on his feet and shoulders to pick salt to make money, and began to support himself, going back and forth to the Jingyue border all year round.

He picks more than 180 pounds every time, and a trip is more than ten days and half a month, although he can earn some silver, but he is often threatened by bandits and robbers, and his business is not very good.

Uncle Zhu Qi room in the beginning of the Taoist calendar opened a "Mao Sheng Xiang" money village, in Baocheng, Hongzhou, Jingjiang have a branch, Zhu family's silver tickets in the three places can be directly circulated and exchanged, a year of profit conservatively estimated is more than 300,000 taels of silver.

There is a certain reason why Zhu Qi's room did not hand over the money village to Gong Changyu to take care of. Gong Changyu is not shrewd enough in business, too honest, does not pay attention to reading, does not know much, will be calculated by businessmen when signing contracts, and if he has not completely quit his gambling addiction, it is impossible for a huge money bank to be handed over to his nephew to operate.

Two years have passed, Gong Changyu has walked the rivers and lakes, has understood the difficulties of making a living, and gradually stayed away from the gambling table, and his aunt no longer scolds him casually.

One day, when he was idle, Gong Changyu said to his uncle: "I want to form a salt gang, but I don't have enough money on hand." ”

When my uncle heard this, he immediately understood that Gong Changyu had something to say: "How much do you need?" ”

Gong Laoxue whispered: "10,000 taels is enough." ”

My uncle is a local tyrant, and I can withdraw 10,000 taels of silver at any time, but now I see that my nephew is motivated and has a business mind, and he is very happy: "Old learner, my uncle supports you, and you don't have to think about the silver." ”

Zhu Qimu smiled and took out a stack of silver tickets and handed them to Gong Changyu.

"Wow, that's so many silver tickets!" Gong Changyu took the silver ticket, counted it, and was very surprised: "Jingjiang also has a semicolon of Zhujia Qianzhuang, why don't I know?" ”

Uncle Zhu Qimur said with a smile: "The matter of Qianzhuang can't be said to others casually, in this era, the soldiers are in chaos, and if the people with bad intentions know the details, they will come to the Zhujia compound to close the sheep (tie up the ticket)." ”

Gong Changyu thought thoughtfully: "That's, can I go directly to Jingjiang City to withdraw the silver?" ”

My uncle took a sip of tea and said, "Of course you can." How are you going to set it up? ”

Gong Changyu blurted out: "Choose fifty strong and loyal people, and thirty horses." ”

Uncle said: "Can you think about the rules of the Salt Gang?" ”

Gong Laoxue responded: "Just refer to my uncle's money management system, and implement it with changes." ”

The uncle clapped his hands and said, "Okay, the old school has grown up." In this way, the Salt Gang will be created in my name, you are the actual gang leader, give me 20% of the profit a year, how about it? ”

Gong Changyu didn't think about it, and hurriedly thanked: "Okay!" Thanks to my uncle's weight. So, Gong Changyu took his salt gang to start a salt business, which was smooth sailing, and he made a lot of profits in the first year, and he was ready to expand the scale of the salt gang in the second year.

At the end of the thirtieth year of the Taoist calendar, Feng Zun, the leader of the "Emperor Worship Sect" in western Yuexi, saw that the time was ripe, and secretly gathered more than 50,000 believers in Jinchuan to hold a large-scale armed rebellion against the Qing and the country, and the country was named the Blue Wolf Country.

The blue wolf army was united in their hearts, and they specially attacked the yamen and garrisons in western Yuexi County, and the officers and soldiers fled and lost many cities. Jingjiang City was always threatened by a small group of blue wolf troops, and Gong Changyu's salt gang business in western Guangdong County was greatly impacted, and the income of the salt gang plummeted.