I don't know how many people have read "Three or Five Buckets Overcharged", any country in the future will never be able to get rich by agriculture, the reason is very simple, although food is a necessity, but at the same time it is easy to be saturated, you will not eat two more bowls of rice because of this year's bumper grain harvest.

This war-torn era in the late Ming Dynasty is quite special, too many people in this world are hungry, and as much food as there is, they can recruit as many soldiers as they want.

According to the intelligence of the Military Intelligence Department, this year's vast harvest in Huguang, perhaps this is the reason why the strengthened version of Li Zicheng can block the Qing army in Tongguan, at least, Yang Xin thinks so, Li Zicheng has food, there are more soldiers, these are not the hungry soldiers before, they are well-fed, and the combat effectiveness is naturally not the same.

The wharf in Wuchang seems to be quite prosperous, there are a lot of ships coming and going, as soon as the boat got off the boat, Fan Yuxuan gave Yang Xin a white eye, and said: "I said earlier that you want to come to Wuchang to collect grain, my Fan family is very familiar here, and there are still a lot of industries in the city, and I can make some preparations for you." ”

Yang Xin was stunned, he really didn't expect the Fan family to have an industry in the south so far away, and he always thought that the strength of the so-called Manchu Eight Imperial Merchants was in the north.

"It's not too late for Miss Fan to contact now."

But I still want to save face, and I can't admit my mistakes.

Fan Yuxuan nodded, summoned a guard, and brought a few people into the city first.

Naturally, the large army could not enter the city so smoothly, so they could only camp outside the dock, and Yang Xin sent the old man Tian to bring his own worship stickers to meet Li Guo, the general who defended the city in Wuchang.

Naturally, the army can't wear military uniforms, they are all dressed as ordinary people, and the armor and weapons are all on the ship, but the muskets are carried casually, and they look like the guards of ordinary caravans, but the scale is relatively large.

Soon, there was a reply from the Dashun army that the caravan could not enter the city, but Li Guo was willing to meet Yang Xin and asked him to bring his relatives into the city to meet him.

Yang Xin had no choice but to do so, after all, it was someone else's territory, so he took Fan Yuxuan and Uncle Tian and a few shopkeepers of Daxing Firm, as well as more than a dozen personal soldiers under the leadership of a young general of the Dashun Army into Wuchang City.

The city is quite noisy, and there are crowds everywhere, which is very different from the rest of Terrai.

Yang Xin rarely goes to see everywhere, and he doesn't know what is happening in other places now, just compared with the capital under the Qing Dynasty that he went to before, the people here are much better in spirit, there are many shabby clothes on the street, and there are many people with bare feet, but they are obviously not homeless, the clothes are cleaned very clean, the holes are sewn well, and the most important thing is that the face is full of energy, without hunger and numbness.

Yang Xin was just looking around, and the crowds gathered everywhere in the city didn't know what they were doing, but when he passed through a main street, he saw more than ten people being tied up and paraded through the street, and dozens of Dashun soldiers were escorted in front of him, and the crowd behind was very excited, and they all followed all the way, and there were many discussions.

However, one of Fan Yuxuan's housekeepers had sharp eyes, and suddenly walked over and said, "Second Miss, our grain store in Wuchang City, Hu Chunlai, is inside, he was arrested and paraded in the streets, no wonder the people who entered the city haven't come back to report yet, maybe they haven't found anyone!" ”

Fan Yuxuan was in a hurry, and was about to take someone to rush over to have a look, but Yang Xin stopped him and said, "Don't be impulsive, send someone to take a look, let's go see Li Guo first." ”

Yang Xin felt uneasy because the crowd seemed to be fanatical, and he was worried that Fan Yuxuan would be in danger in the past.

Until the governor's yamen of Wuchang Mansion, dozens of neat Dashun army soldiers stood at the door, and the guards and entourage were asked to stay in the courtyard, and Yang Xin only took Fan Yuxuan and Uncle Tian into Li Guo's study.

There are three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry, the defense is extremely tight, there are no maids in the study, and even the tea is a pro-soldier.

The three of them sat on the bench for a quarter of an hour, and Li Guo was late.

This is a young general, quite handsome, about the same age as Yang Xin, but not as tall as Yang Xin, but he is also tall in this era.

After Li Guo came in, he glanced at Yang Xin coldly and said, "Hehe, the traitor of the Dashun Army, now he actually dares to establish a country, it is really a miracle in the world." ”

Yang Xin was on fire in his heart, even if Dolgon, the regent of the Qing Dynasty, did not have such a big frame in front of him, but he only had to endure it, and make money with kindness, but it attracted Fan Yuxuan's playful eyes, which was obviously gloating.

Yang Xin calmed down his anger for a while, thought for a while, and said: "Since the general knows that the country has been established in Xia, and the Li family does not dominate the world, it is better for us to be pragmatic, one more enemy, it is better to have one more friend, I don't know what the general thinks is saying this?" ”

After speaking, he glared at Li Guo coldly.

His words are neither arrogant nor humble, and even contain threatening elements.

Sure enough, Li Guo was furious when he heard this, but he thought about it and held back, so he sat down with a big grin, and said in a weird manner: "What King Xing said makes sense, I don't know what King Xing brought a caravan to Wuchang this time, and what kind of deal he wants to do with this general, King Xing started by selling grain in the Dashun army, but he didn't expect that after the founding of the country, he was still so obsessed with doing business, and he didn't look like a king at all, but more like a big shopkeeper of a business." ”

He said politely, but he hid a needle in his mouth, sarcastically saying that Yang Xin was a traitor to the Dashun Army.

Of course Yang Xin is very angry, but what can he endure him?

"General Li is right, he is just a shopkeeper in the next year, he made a fortune by reselling grain in the Dashun army, and now he comes to Wuchang, he naturally comes to resell grain, I heard that this year's Huguang grain harvest is bumper, General Li is not interested in selling in the next point."

Li Guo laughed, very proud, like a very proud time of worship, said: "No wonder King Xing can make a fortune so quickly, there is really a set of business, I know that I came to this general to buy food, there are many rats, smuggling food secretly with Dashun on his back, and he was caught a lot by this general, and today he is parading on the street, and he will be cut off after the street!" ”

As he spoke, he looked meaningfully at Fan Yuxuan beside Yang Xin.

Fan Yuxuan broke out in a cold sweat, originally planned to rely on Yang Xin's relationship, and plead with him after seeing Li to see if he could let Hu Chunlai go, but in the current situation, she has to get into it if she doesn't have a good relationship, she is not close to Hu Chunlai, it is the shopkeeper under her second uncle, so she naturally doesn't dare to mention it again at this time.

Yang Xin naturally doesn't care about Hu Chunlai's life or death, the Fan family has always been black-hearted in business, Li Guo warned Fan Yuxuan, it is a good thing for herself, and she will come up with a way to grind herself.

Yang Xin said with a smile: "That's natural, doing business in the next has always been above board, Tong Su is not deceitful, and never sneaky, so the general can rest assured to cooperate with him, and he will never lie and deceive." ”

"Not for sale!"

Li Guo categorically refused, and said coldly: "Don't think that General Ben doesn't know, if you buy Dashun's grain, you will resell it to the Manchu Tartars or the dog emperor of the Ming Dynasty, these two countries are mortal enemies of Dashun, General Ben won't be so stupid!" ”

Yang Xin was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that this rogue army had also become refined, and he actually knew how to fight economic warfare and use food supplies to weaken the enemy.

After thinking for a while, he knew that if he didn't take out something now, he wouldn't be able to taste what he wanted, so he continued to smile and said, "General Li is wise, your intentions have actually been guessed by you, why don't you listen to the conditions of the general and refuse again?" ”

Li Guo's color slowed down slightly, and said, "Let's hear it?" ”

Yang Xin thought for a moment and said: "Although the general has grain in his hands, when he enters the city, he sees that the people are wearing rags and have bare feet, if he is not mistaken, because this year's grain harvest in Huguang, and Dashun is not allowed to sell outside, the grain price in Huguang may be much lower than in previous years, although the people are not short of grain, but lack of silver." ”

Li Guo looked impatient and said, "So what? Compared with previous years, so many people starved to death, and now under the rule of Dashun, the people have enough food, no one starves to death, everyone is grateful to Dashun Tianwei, the army and the people are united, and they are barefoot, so why be afraid? ”

Yang Xin was confident, and said: "The people are naturally satisfied if they are full, and whether they are barefoot or not barefoot does not affect the fundamentals, but now that hundreds of thousands of troops in Dashun are fighting with the Qing Dynasty in Tongguan, the military expenditure is so terrifying, the army is not just full of food to do war, weapons and armor, muskets and artillery, all need silver, didn't the general consider the pressure of the treasury for King Chuang?" ”

Li Guo sneered and said: "Don't be alarmist, although General Ben is young, he also knows how much silver he can sell grain to the enemy, far less than the loss of the enemy, such a cost-effective business, General Ben is not interested, if King Xing has no other conditions to negotiate, General Ben will send off guests!" ”

As he spoke, he stood up impatiently.

Yang Xin was shocked and covered with cold sweat, he was bound to get this grain, and he must not give it up, so he hurriedly said: "Then what if this king is willing to provide Dashun with a loan of five million taels of silver, plus the silver from selling grain, is the general tempted?" ”

Li Guo was stunned for a moment, he never thought that Daxing could be so rich today, the opening is five million taels, although the Dashun army robbed a lot of silver in the capital, there are nearly 20 million, but as Yang Xin said, the cost of raising a million army is huge, it is unimaginable, Daxing has such financial resources, and now the army is only more than 30,000 people.

Li Guo thought for a moment and said, "King Xing waits, wait for General Ben to enter the back hall to discuss with his subordinates for a while, and then return to King Fuxing." ”

Yang Xin nodded, and Li Guo hurried away.

Fan Yuxuan, who was on the side, tugged at Yang Xin's clothes and whispered, "Are you crazy?" I didn't make any money, I invested five million first, these are all rogues, do you still think that you can borrow or not? ”

Yang Xin said with a smile: "Don't worry, I will take the private deposit of Daxing Money Village out to lend, and I will not use our principal bank, now Daxing Money Village has too much silver, and I must lend it, otherwise this king will pay interest to them in vain every year." ”

Fan Yuxuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I didn't mean that, I'm worried about you." ”

Yang Xin waved his hand and said: "Don't worry, Li Zicheng used to be a rogue, so naturally he didn't talk about credit, but now he is the emperor, and he has worked hard in Huguang, which is no longer a rogue's style, and this king believes that Li Zicheng will not pay off his debts." ”

The three of them waited in the study for a long time before Li Guo came back.

"Let King Xing wait for a long time, we discussed it and agreed in principle, but we can only sell you 100,000 stones, and the price can be the current market price, six taels of silver and one stone, but Dashun asked for a loan to be increased to eight million taels, I don't know what King Xing thinks?"

Sure enough, let Yang Xin guess right, Dashun is not short of food now, but it is very short of silver, but the total amount of this grain is indeed a little small, only 100,000 stones, only 600,000 taels after buying, you must know that the residual grain of the Fan family in the capital was as high as 70,000 stones, even if the 100,000 army went out, you have to bring a grain of 200,000 or 300,000 stones at any time.

Fan Yuxuan had already rolled her eyes when she heard this, this Dashun's conditions were too ruthless, selling 600,000 taels of grain, she had to borrow 8 million, she simply regarded Yang Xin as a wronged leader, she felt that Yang Xin would definitely not agree.

"Okay, deal!"

Yang Xin replied without hesitation: "However, this king has an additional condition, Dashun is not allowed to sell grain to Daming on a large scale within half a year, and the grain sold to Daming cannot exceed 100,000 stones!" ”

Li Guo was overjoyed, he didn't expect Yang Xin to accept such harsh conditions, he had a great achievement in vain, and he added a lot of points in front of King Chuang.

"No problem, for Daming, we won't sell them a grain of rice, let alone 100,000 stones, King Xing can rest assured, Dashun is strictly investigating grain smuggling recently, even if it is a private person, there will not be a large amount of grain flowing to Daming."

Yang Xin nodded and said, "That's the best, and ask General Li to prepare the agreement, and we will officially sign it tomorrow." ”

Li Guo felt that happiness came too suddenly, and he had already lost his previous hostility to Yang Xin, and ordered his soldiers to arrange Yang Xin and others to the most luxurious inn in the city, the Yellow Crane Tower Inn, to show respect.

After Yang Xin left, a person came out of the inner room behind the study, with a white face, holding a feather fan, staring at the direction of Yang Xin's departure at the door, and was silent for a long time.

"Military advisor, is there something wrong with this King Xing's brain, and he agrees to such harsh conditions?"

Li Guo said excitedly to the visitor.

The man laughed and said: "I wanted to test him, but I didn't expect him to really agree, the general can't be careless, this person is not simple, even the army division can't see through his intentions, just 100,000 stone of grain, it's not enough to affect the battle situation, anyway, we are earning, so it doesn't matter so much!" ”

Li Guo nodded hurriedly and said: "This is a windfall, General Ben immediately sent someone to report to his uncle, recently his old man is worried about military expenses, the military division wants to start a workshop to make muskets and artillery, and the expenses are not small, such a large amount of money is justified." ”

The man nodded and said, "That's right, let's study next, if we can buy a batch of cannons from the Portuguese in Macao as samples for our artillery workshop research." ”

……

came out of Li Guo's mansion, Fan Yuxuan complained about Yang Xin all the way.

"Are you stupid? Where is there such a business for you, this time it will be a big loss. ”

Fan Yuxuan muttered: "Besides, how can a mere 100,000 stone of grain stir up the grain price in Nanjing, and then we can only rely on Aunt Chen's harvest in Jiangxi!" ”

Yang Xin didn't care, and said with a smile: "Why do you talk so much?" When you come to Wuchang, let's try Wuchang fish first, relax, this king never makes loss-making transactions. ”

Everyone came to the most luxurious restaurant in the inn street, and when they entered the door, the style inside changed greatly, the outside was extremely lively, there were already signs of prosperity, but the business of this restaurant was not very good, only a few guests sat sparsely, and the most important thing was that the clothes were very ordinary, and there were no other places to see the rich people who went to the places were all powerful people wearing gorgeous clothes.

There is also a stage in the middle, a woman in her forties wearing a simple skirt, babbling and singing, and an old man in Tsing Yi holding an erhu to accompaniment.

Fan Yuxuan laughed when she saw it, and said: "No wonder the business is so bad, the drama is so old, where can I attract guests." ”

The few people who ate listened to it with relish, and no one made a noise, and when they turned their heads and saw such a person coming in, they all frowned, and then ignored them and continued to listen to the song.

Yang Xin listened carefully, this woman looked ordinary, she was old, but she didn't sing badly, and she couldn't understand what kind of opera it was, and she was very ethnic style.

glanced at Fan Yuxuan, and whispered: "This is art, you think it's a girl from Qinglou, what do you want to look so good?" ”

Fan Yuxuan pursed her lips and smiled, and said, "What art do you know, when you arrive in Nanjing City, this girl will ask Qin Huai Bayan to come over to play with you, so that you can see the real art!" ”

Yang Xin was speechless, he didn't expect a woman to be so dirty, he simply ignored her, he listened to it very intoxicatingly, Uncle Tian also listened to it with relish, and even hummed quietly, he was old, and he didn't have much desire for young women, but he felt that the drama on stage was good.

Yang Xin is not short of money, the most expensive and best dishes naturally ordered, the shopkeeper even came to serve the dishes in person, and said to everyone: "You are from other places, you must try Wuchang specialties today, steamed Wuchang fish, fried bacon with red cabbage moss, Huangpo Sanhe and pork ribs and lotus root soup, all exquisite, are all small and personally cooked, you eat and forget to return, and want to come to Wuchang again as a guest." ”

The shopkeeper's face is kind, with a big head and a thick neck, and he looks particularly enthusiastic.

Yang Xin was stunned, it is relatively rare for such a large restaurant to be cooked by the shopkeeper himself.

Uncle Tian on the side said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, the old man sees that your restaurant is luxuriously decorated, but the price of this dish is very cheap, there are not many customers, but there are a lot of guys, the old man is a little worried, if you continue to operate like this, I am afraid that it will not last long." ”

Fan Yuxuan laughed when she heard it, thought it was true, and said: "It seems that Tian Lao's business vision is much higher than that of Aunt Chen, no wonder he can become the first shopkeeper in Daxing, and the little woman admires it." ”

The shopkeeper immediately blushed and said: "Don't worry, this restaurant is opened by Dashun Army, mainly to entertain foreign guests, it doesn't matter if you make money or not, as long as you let the foreign guests eat happily, the small ones will be satisfied." ”

Uncle Tian was dumbfounded, he had never heard that doing business was not to make money, just to make the guests happy, of course he was happy, the same restaurant, such dishes were at least twice as expensive in Daqing or Daming, and Daxing was even more expensive, and the prices in Daxing were now higher than those in Daqing and Daming.

This dish is really reliable, the taste is right, the taste is good, everyone eats it happily, only Fan Yuxuan can't eat it, and said: "Hehe, don't say that others don't know how to do business, your family Xingwang doesn't know what's wrong, and now it's also a faint." ”

Uncle Tian smiled and said: "Miss Fan filtered, although my family Xingwang didn't buy too much grain this time, but others can't buy it in the future, just the news of the Dashun Army's strict investigation of grain smuggling has reached Nanjing, Nanjing's grain prices will rise, as for loans, we can still earn interest, why not." ”