"Not really."

The owner shook his head and smiled bitterly: "In the past two years, the yamen in various places have sent people to investigate, but there is no gain, this case is not solved, those merchants who have been running on the Yellow River all the year round would rather wait more time and gather more people to take a big boat with us than take our small fishing boats." ”

"I heard that those gangs on the ferry team up to find those water bandits on the Yellow River last month, but they didn't get anything, and those water bandits also said that they didn't do it, hoping that the other party was just passing by, otherwise if it goes on like this, this day is really impossible."

At this time, He Liu looked up at the True Xuan Dao Elder on the side, his eyes were full of inquiry.

Seeing He Liu's eyes, after carefully observing the shipowner, the True Xuan Daoist said in a low voice: "It's not a wicked person. ”

Hearing this, He Liu nodded slightly, he still trusts Zhen Xuan, and Zhen Xuan's physiognomy technique is also ranked first in the entire Ming Dynasty.

At the bow of the boat, Su Hao looked at the turbid Yellow River water on the river, and from time to time picked up the water bag and poured a sip of tiger bone wine, the internal force in his body continued to flow, after more than 20 days of cultivation, with the assistance of tiger bone wine and tiger bone paste, the internal force in his body has begun to take shape, about two years of internal force of ordinary martial artists.

Under the nourishment of this internal force, he can already clearly feel that the internal organs in his body are gradually getting stronger, and his vitality is gradually recovering, and it is estimated that he will be able to return to the state before he practiced the secret technique of paper control in three or four months, and as the internal force continues to grow, this time can be shortened even more.

………

Zhangjiakou Fort, Fan's family.

At this time, in the lobby of the Fan family, Fan Yongdou sat on the main seat, and on the chairs on both sides, seven middle-aged men with luxurious clothes and extraordinary bearing had serious expressions.

If there are locals in Zhangjiakou Fort, they will definitely be able to recognize that these eight people in the lobby are the patriarchs of the eight major families who have done the largest smuggling business in Zhangjiakou Fort: Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Guest, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa.

"Brother Fan, you specially invited us over, I don't know what's the matter?"

Wang Dengku held the teacup and said lightly, although they are all mixed in Zhangjiakou Fort, there is not much competition between their major families, there are countless tribes on the grassland, and some have business to do, and there is no need for competition between them at all.

"I invite you brothers to come over this time, mainly because I want to share a deal with you."

Hearing this, Fan Yongdou smiled and arched his hand.

"What kind of deal?"

Zhai Tang frowned and said, there is no competition between them, but they also do their own business, basically there is no contact, although they have backers behind them, but smuggling is not a fair and honest thing, once they are hacked, they have nowhere to reason.

"The Jurchens want 400,000 stone grain and 5,000 armor, and my Fan family can't afford such a big deal, so Fan wants to ask all the brothers to eat this deal together."

Fan Yongdou said calmly.

"Why are there so many?"

Tian Shenglan on the side frowned, the Jurchens did buy food armor and other necessities with them before, but basically every time it was only tens of thousands of stone grain or hundreds of armor, this time it was suddenly so much in quantity, it was by no means so easy to get together.

You must know that ordinary people only eat six stone of rice a year, the Jurchen army has a lot of training and consumption, but it is only ten stones, no matter the others, 400,000 stone of grain is enough to support an elite soldier of 40,000 or 50,000 people for a year, 5,000 armor, ordinary soldiers are not qualified to match armor, and those who can match armor are the elite of the elite.

In the Ming Dynasty, in a guard station, the officers have the qualifications to match the armor, that is, at least they have to be from the small flag officers of the seventh grade, or the pro-soldiers of each hundred and thousands of households, and the other big soldiers are not qualified, and the absolute elite of a complete armor is enough to affect the situation on the battlefield.

Fan Yongdou said: "In the first battle of Guangning last year, the imperial court was defeated, and most of the area west of the Liao River was occupied by the Jurchens. ”

"And what are they paying this time?"

Tian Shenglan said again: "This time such a large amount, the risk is too great. ”

"One stone of grain is five taels of silver, and one piece of armor is one hundred and twenty taels, for a total of two million and six hundred thousand taels."

Fan Yongdou said calmly.

"Do those Jurchens have so much silver?"

Wang Dengku frowned, this silver is not something that is available, Liaodong is a bitter cold land, and the people are not very rich, and it is not easy to gather more than two million taels of silver.

"Those Jurchens said that they would repay it with rare medicinal materials such as ginseng and Ganoderma lucidum that are more than 100 years old."

Fan Yongdou said in a deep voice: "We will ship it in batches, transport the goods once and collect the money once, and we are not afraid of those Jurchens playing moths." ”

"Brother Fan, although there is a lot of money this time, the risk is too great, and mobilizing these 400,000 stone grains at one time will probably attract the attention of the imperial court."

After being silent for a while, Wang Dengku also shook his head, usually they have grain shops in various places, and they are collecting grain all the time, and each time tens of thousands of stone grain are out of Zhangjiakou Fort in batches and many times, it is not very noticeable, but 400,000 stone grain is not a small amount, no matter how careful it is, it will attract people's attention.

"I've thought about it."

Fan Yongdou said in a deep voice: "Those nobles over there in the capital have grain, this time I will buy it from them, and I will buy it from them at five times the price." ”

"Then our business is not in vain."

Hearing this, Tian Shenglan's face changed abruptly, the current price of grain, one stone of old grain is five yuan of silver, one stone of new grain is six to seven yuan, five times, if you buy new grain, it will cost almost three taels of silver, plus the consumption of the road, it is completely in vain.

"Brother Tian, you can't just look at the front of you when doing business, those people have been rooted in the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, and the relationship between the capital and the various health offices is intertwined, if we can catch up with their relationship, then our next good days are ahead."

Fan Yongdou shook his head and said, "Otherwise, if we have any big business in the future, we will still have to be timid." ”

Although they have also made some connections in the capital now, most of them are civil officials from poor backgrounds, and they are from poor backgrounds, so it is easier for them to get into relationships, but these people are not good backers.

Just like Zhang Heming, the secretary of the Ministry of War, their Fan family only got in touch with his son a few years ago and leaned on Zhang Heming, but Zhang Heming retired when he said he would retire, and the hard work of several years was directly wasted.

And those nobles are hereditary, although the Ming Dynasty emphasized literature over martial arts, and the power of those nobles was indeed far inferior to that of the early Ming Dynasty, but it was more than enough to shelter them from a few merchant families.

The most important thing is that the relationship between those nobles and the guards in various places is intertwined, and many of the children in the family are hundreds or thousands of households in the guards, and with the relationship between these people, they are unimpeded in this border place, which is much stronger than the hundreds of thousands of households and so on that they are now buying.