With a thick waist, a black brocade robe that was almost torn open by his stomach, his face was full of meat, and there was an inch-long scar on the left half of his face.

Zhang Huangyan pressed the hilt of the knife and looked at the other party quietly, as for negotiating with the other party, Wu Fu, the nominal steward of the caraper, was naturally in charge.

"Yes, it was true that I only went to the mountain in the spring and autumn period, but my lord said that Jiangxi was afraid that there would be a big battle this year, and he was afraid that he would be attacked by the army in the autumn, so he deliberately advanced the time." According to the words discussed in advance, Wu Fu explained with a smile on his face.

"Ha, your master Wu is afraid that there will be a military rebellion in Jiangxi, so isn't he afraid that the official army will hit Fujian and Shaowu Mansion? When is it, and what do you still want to do and make money? Lao Wu, when you go back, tell your master, if you can't stay in Shaowu Mansion, you can come to my Lao Yashan Mountain, and I will give him a position as a military advisor. Ma Chi said with a smile.

"That's a good feeling, but I'm afraid you don't have to worry about Martha, my lord said that the official army is restrained by the Jiangxi Prison Army, and there will be no energy to come to Shaowu in the near future." Wu Fu said.

"That's not necessarily, I've heard that Jiangxi's army was killed in Nanjing, hundreds of thousands of people were annihilated, if the official army attacks Jiangxi, I'm afraid it won't be able to hold it." When the official army finishes fighting Jiangxi, they will inevitably deal with you rebellious gentry. Maybe your lord really came to my old crow mountain. Ma Chi laughed.

"The news of the big boss is really good, if there is really that day, my lord will definitely trouble the big boss, I am afraid that the big boss will not dare to take it in when he arrives." Wu Fupi smiled and said with a smile.

"Haha, I'm not a showman like your master who can only hold a pen, my Lao Ya Mountain is steep, even if there are 100,000 officers and soldiers to attack, I can't break my Lao Ya Mountain." Ma Chi laughed. There is a shortage of materials in the mountains, and Ma Chi often sends his subordinates out of the mountains to purchase materials, and he still knows some things about the outside world.

Wu Fu smiled, but secretly pouted, secretly scolding not to force his face, just the 100 people in Lao Ya Mountain, not to mention the 100,000 army, even the 100 Praetorian Guards around him can beat them all over the ground. At this moment, Wu Fuzhen wanted to replace Zhang Huangyan and order his subordinates to destroy Ma Chi.

"Okay, let's not talk about it, it's still the old rule, you must pay a crossing fee to cross the mountain, one hundred taels of silver!" Ma Chi laughed for a while and said suddenly.

"What? Big boss, you're not authentic. I paid this year's fee when I crossed the mountain last time. Wu Fu couldn't help but exclaim.

"In the past, you crossed the mountain twice in spring and autumn, but this time you crossed the mountain in summer, and if you have one more trip, you will naturally have to pay the silver!" Ma Chi sneered.

"But even so, you don't need to pay an extra hundred taels, right? I used to pay only fifty taels of silver a year. Wu Fu retorted.

"Less nonsense, is it easy for the brothers to come out on a hot day? Don't charge more money to buy some tea for everyone. Besides, now that there is a shortage of soldiers, the price of grain is one day a day, and the cost of crossing the mountain will naturally have to rise. Ma Chi said coldly.

"But ......"

Wu Fu wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Ma Chi suddenly: "Don't fuck nonsense, if you don't pay the money, where will you go back!" ”

"Give it to him!" Zhang Huangyan suddenly spoke.

The mountain bandits on the opposite side are loose and crumbling, and at first glance they are a group of rabble. He also has more soldiers than the other side, so it will be easy to defeat the opponent. But big things matter, Zhang Huangyan doesn't want to waste energy because of this little thing. I don't want to grind because of a hundred and ten taels of silver.

One of his men took out a baggage, counted out a hundred silver coins from it, and handed it to the other man.

"Heh, it's still a good silver dollar, it's really good, it's much better than silver." Ma Chi tilted his head, and a mountain bandit came and took the silver dollar.

"Who is this little brother?" Ma Chi looked at Zhang Huangyan.

"This is my nephew's young master, a student in Shaowu County, and the master specially asked him to come out to see the world." Wu Fu hurriedly introduced. Fujian has a strong business atmosphere, not to mention Xiucai, that is, the Jinshi who lift people and return to their hometowns, most of them are also in business, but the land here is too barren, and doing business is the most profitable. Therefore, Xiucai is nothing in business.

"It turned out to be a talented man, and he was really courageous, and he was polite." Ma Chi arched his hand casually and said with a smile.

"Get out of the way after you collect the money, don't delay our journey." Zhang Huangyan said lightly. Zhang Huangyan didn't have a good impression of this old crow mountain master, and he didn't want to talk nonsense with the other party at all.

"It's easy to say, young master, please come over." Ma Chi whistled and led his men down the mountain bandits to get out of the way.

With a faint glance at Ma Chi, Zhang Huangyan led the team to continue along the mountain road.

"Big boss, that dog Xiucai is too proud, he didn't take you in his eyes at all, otherwise let's give them a little color to see, and grab a handful by the way, they seem to have a lot of silver goods." Looking at the caravan not far away, one of his subordinates galloped to the horse with a grin.

"Fuck you!" Ma Chi turned his face and scolded.

The subordinates of the "big boss...... were scolded and stunned, and they were very aggrieved.

"Don't you open your eyes and take a good look, who is the other party? As far as you crooked melons and cracked dates are concerned, they are not enough for others to clean up. Ma Chi continued to scold.

"They're just guys, they're all honest, why can't we clean it up?" The subordinate was not convinced.

"Shit! What guys, you've been dealing with them for so many years, don't you know what they're like? Look at the people in their team, except for Wu Fu, who else is familiar, and these guys are all in good shape and steady steps, where are the guys, it is clearly an army! Ma Chi sneered.

"Huh?" The men were stunned.

"Ah what, Lao Tzu was a personal soldier in front of General Yu back then, what kind of army has not been seen, can you still be wrong?" Ma Chi sneered.

"Then, how dare you take money from them, and collect so much?" The subordinate stammered. If this team is really an elite soldier as Ma Chi said, it can't be defeated by its own group.

"They crossed the mountain road to Jiangxi at this time, and they were still dressed in disguise, there must be something important, I bet they don't want to make extraneous branches." Ma Chi sneered.

"Isn't Shao Wu Mansion occupied by the Wu family? Where did the army come from? The subordinate was puzzled.

"Who knows, maybe Shao Wufu has changed, maybe the Wu family is finished." Ma Chi sighed. Deep in the mountains, the news is a little lagging, and it takes time for many things from the outside world to come in.

......

"I said don't ink with them, you just talked too much." Zhang Huangyan said to Wu Fu.

"Young master, it's not me who inks, I'm worried that they will suspect if they give it refreshment, after all, a hundred taels of silver is not a decimal number." Wu Fu said aggrievedly.

"You're right." Zhang Huangyan thought about it and admitted that what Wu Fu said made sense. After all, if you are pretending to be a caravan, you should have the appearance of a caravan.

"Young Master, don't worry, you didn't arouse their suspicion just now." Wu Fu hurriedly said, "You are a talented master, and you are a fledgling, it is normal to be refreshing." ”

"I'm not afraid if they suspect me, after all, they are just a group of mountain bandits, and when General Li leads the army over, they will inevitably be exterminated by the way. It's just that you have to be cautious when you get to Jiangxi, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the traitor government, and then Lao Wu, you remind me more. Zhang Huang said. This time it is used as an outpost of the army, and while probing the enemy's situation, it will be troublesome to purchase military food and grass for the army.

"Young master, don't worry, I'll leave everything to me." Being taken seriously made Lao Wu very happy, and patted his chest and assured.

The caravan walked in the mountains, climbing one mountain after another, and the road was so difficult that it could only walk more than 30 miles a day. This is still a small team of 100 people, and if it is an army of tens of thousands, I am afraid it will be even more difficult.

After walking for another ten days, the team finally walked out of the vast mountains and entered Jiangxi.

"This place is stuck on the main road, and the rebels are not stationed?" Standing at an abandoned city wall, Zhang Huangyan said in surprise.

This ruined city wall is located on the main road of the valley, after the city wall, the road suddenly widens, it is much easier to walk, as long as hundreds of troops are arranged, there are tens of thousands of troops, and it is difficult to break through easily.

"This is Shanguan, where there are 100 households. In the past, there were troops stationed there, and a few years ago, there were still dozens of military households guarding the pass, but after the rebels captured the whole of Jiangxi, the original defenders fled, and the city wall was deserted, and for some reason, the rebels did not send troops to guard here. Wu Fu explained.

"The rebels are just a group of short-sighted people." Zhang Huangyan sneered.

After the Shanguan pass, you really enter the territory of Jiangxi, although there are still many mountains in front of you, but the road is much wider, and the further you go west, the fewer the mountains become, and you can already see the village populated.

Wu Fu was really familiar with this area, so he took everyone to stay in a village that day, and bought some vegetables from the villagers, and also bought a goat, so that the big guy had a good meal.

"Tell me, where is the big town, how can you buy food?" After dinner, Zhang Huangyan called Wu Fu over and began to discuss things.

"Twenty miles west from here, there is a big town called Tong'an Town, with a population of four or five thousand, and the town's Squire Lu and my lord are friends. You should be able to get some food there. Wu Fu said respectfully.

"How much food do you think you'll get?" Zhang Huangyan asked.

"The Lu family has three or four thousand acres of land, and the fields around Tong'an Town belong to everyone, as long as they are willing to pay a high price, there should be no problem in getting one or two thousand stones of grain." Wu Fudao.

"One or two thousand stone of grain." Zhang Huangyan muttered. Two thousand stone of grain was only enough for an army of thirty thousand for a few days.

"Can we get more food?" Zhang Huangyan asked.

"Then you have to send people to the townships to collect grain, fortunately, now that the summer harvest is not long ago, the people should have some grain in their hands, as long as they pay a high price, they don't have to worry about running out of grain, but buying too much is afraid that it will arouse the suspicion of others." Wu Fu said worriedly. After all, the Wu family caravan used to be in the porcelain and raw silk business, and they had never dealt in grain at all. Moreover, Jiangxi and Shaowufu are separated by hundreds of miles of Wuyi Mountains, so it is not cost-effective to buy grain from Jiangxi and transport it to Fujian.

"Excuses are just there, if you think about them, you can always find excuses." Zhang Huangyan said lightly.

Wu Fu thought for a while: "Otherwise, my lord is worried about being surrounded and suppressed by the Fujian Praetorian Guards, so he sent us to Jiangxi to arrange the back road." At present, Fujian's maritime trade is monopolized by Fujian sailors, and they will not buy raw silk porcelain in the future, and the Wu family will move to Jiangxi in the future to engage in grain business? Wu Fudao.

"That's fine, let's just say it." Zhang Huangyan nodded.

After resting in this village for the night, the next day the procession continued its journey, as the road was much easier, and by noon they reached the town of Tong'an.

Zhang Huangyan, accompanied by Wu Fu, personally went to the residence of the squire Lu to meet him.

Hearing that Zhang Huangyan was Wu Lan's "cousin", Squire Lu was very polite and hosted a banquet to entertain Zhang Huangyan. Every time the Wu family caravan went to Jiangxi, they would settle in Tong'an Town, and they would buy some mountain goods from the Lu squire, and the two sides had some business dealings.

Squire Lu is also a lifter, but he has never been an official. When scholars meet, they naturally have to take the teaching test, Zhang Huangyan has done his homework in advance, and he was also a scholar beforehand, so naturally he did not arouse suspicion.

"The virtuous nephew doesn't know, I'm afraid it won't take long for this Jiangxi to fight, it's not the right time for you to come." Squire Lu sighed.

"Even if the Praetorian Guards enter Jiangxi, they can't kill all the businessmen, and the business still has to be done. In Fujian, my Wu family really can't stay anymore. Zhang Huangyan sighed.

"The virtuous nephew just collects the grain, and where does he sell it? Isn't it too laborious to transport back to Fujian from here, isn't it cost-effective? Squire Lu asked.

"If you don't go back to Fujian, you will do business in Jiangxi. In the same year, my uncle became a senior official in the Nanchang Imperial Court, and the grain could be sold to the army of the prison country as military rations. If it doesn't work, take Poyang Lake into the Yangtze River and sell it to Jiangdong. Zhang Huangyan smiled.

"I see." Squire Lu nodded, not the slightest doubt. Because the grain merchants in Jiangxi are also doing this. The Wu family had a way in the Nanchang Imperial Court, and they could easily earn silver by selling the purchased grain to the army.

"Uncle, if you are interested, you can join in a share, and we will work together to do business." Zhang Huangyan invited with a smile.

"Haha, thank you for your kindness, but forget it. Uncle, I have little capital, but I can't buy and sell grain. Squire Lu refused with a smile.

He thinks that Zhang Huangyan is just polite. After all, he and the Wu family only have some business dealings, and they don't have much friendship. Besides, the grain business is not much profitable, and it still needs to go back and forth. With that silver and that energy, it is better to buy more raw silk from the people and resell it to Fujian to make a lot of money, which is much more cost-effective than doing a grain business.

"But don't worry, uncle, I will definitely help you collect grain. There is still some grain in my family's grain depot, which is sold to my nephew at the market price. Squire Lu smiled.

"Thank you, uncle!" Zhang Huang was overjoyed, with Squire Lu's words, the "caravan" gained a firm foothold in Jiangxi, and then just waited for Li Yanzhi to lead the army to arrive.