The old man left the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, and the fireworks went down to Yangzhou in March. The lonely sail is far away and the blue sky is endless, and only the Yangtze River skyline can be seen.

…… Wuchang City, the provincial capital of Huguang, sits on the Yellow Crane Tower and other cultural monuments written by Shixian, which is a national water and land transportation hub

The reputation of "the thoroughfare of nine provinces". Ming Hongwu four years, Jiangxia Hou Zhou Dexing because of the old city to build Wuchang Mansion City, around the city 3,98 zhang, the southeast of the city wall is one zhang wide two zhang five feet, the northwest is three zhang nine feet wide and nine feet wide, the wall is two to three zhang high elsewhere, the wall is built of terracotta bricks, the city shop is ninety-three, the city tower is thirteen, the moat is dug around the city, the water depth is more than one zhang.

There are nine gates in the new city, there are Dadong Gate in the east, New South Gate in the southeast, Baoan Gate and Wangze Gate in the south, Zhuzhen Gate in the southwest, Pinghu Gate in the west, Hanyang Gate in the northwest, Caobu Gate in the north, and Xiaodong Gate in the northeast.

It is precisely because of the developed water transportation in Wuchang that the Han River can directly lead to Yangzhou, Songjiang and Suzhou and other prosperous places from the Han River into the Yangtze River, so it has always been the first prosperous place in Chuzhong.

By the end of October, Wuchang was full of autumn. Ten miles of bluestone paving, lined with shops, the five-storey Shixian Restaurant is located in the golden area, and it is said that the Shixian Li Bai drank here in the past.

Shixian Restaurant, in terms of current economics, is a big IP. After this restaurant changed hands several times, the new owner spent a lot of money to rebuild the building, making this restaurant a well-deserved first floor in Wuchang City.

"Three hundred taels!"

"Five hundred taels!"

"Six hundred taels!" …… In the lobby on the first floor, a group of men dressed in silk and satin were bidding on the high platform, and two of them were constantly raising the price as if they were cross-eyed.

If there are good deeds here, they must be curious about what they are fighting for. At this moment, Zhu Youjiao, who was dealing with the music in the Qianqing Palace, would not have thought that in the land he was over, a large group of officials or squires were bidding for the population.

Yes, now it's not the object that is being heaxed, but a delicate dancer. The woman in the center of the stage is dancing like a butterfly.

Although the Ming Dynasty banned human trafficking, the law has always forbidden the people and not prohibiting power, and those who dare to buy people are never ordinary people, it is those who have the power and money to be the gentry class.

Especially women in this era have no human rights at all. Where there are interests, there are naturally rivers and lakes, and when the interests of the rivers and lakes reach a certain level, there will naturally be a group of people who rush to them, and it is natural for them to take risks.

With the prosperity of Qinglou in Yangzhou and other places, the cost of ransom for some famous prostitutes and oirans often exceeded 10,000 taels, and the salt merchants in Yangzhou did not hesitate to spend a lot of money for the sake of popularity.

It is precisely because there is such a huge demand market that the price of such a beautiful young woman is naturally rising.

Some traffickers saw the business opportunity, and for a few taels of silver, they could select young girls with delicate facial features from poor families to buy and cultivate, and when they became adults, they could get a huge return by selling these women to wealthy merchants and green houses.

Although it takes money and energy to train in the process, and it may not be able to sell for a good price when you reach adulthood, it is undoubtedly a very cost-effective investment.

In fact, the most successful is a certain eunuch who bought a young girl from a family surnamed Shao, and then cultivated, and now she is already the concubine of the current dynasty, and the later Empress Dowager Shao.

Huguang can be said to be a place far away from the emperor of the mountain, which led to the clever formation of this illegal gray industry, and Shixian Lou became a large platform for selling beautiful girls.

Boom...... A piano sound sounded from the second floor, immediately attracting everyone's attention. But I saw that behind the beaded curtain, a woman in white was sitting quietly, and her pair of jade hands like mutton fat plucked the strings lightly, and beautiful notes came down from above.

The guests who were still noisy just now cast their eyes on each other, at first they were just curious, but slowly opened their mouths, and the hall of Nuoda was stunned and could hear a needle dropping.

At this moment, time seemed to stand still. After playing a song, the bead curtain on it was lifted, but I saw a slim girl walking out with a piano.

"The little girl Qilan is ugly!" The voice was gentle and beautiful, and the girl hugged the piano and saluted the guests.

The girl's face was blocked by a scarf, but she couldn't see the woman's face clearly, but such a figure and piano skills were enough to make people want to move.

"I ...... I'm eight hundred, no, I'm willing to give a thousand taels! ”

"Two thousand taels, the old man actually paid two thousand taels to buy it!"

"Although this official is as incorruptible as water, he is also willing to pay three thousand taels for Qilan!" …… After seeing the performance of this girl named Qilan, although she couldn't see Fang Rong clearly, the old embryos below immediately bid authentically.

When a local outsider saw the reaction of those people, he sneered and said, "You people from other places, don't be smiling and generous here!" Qilan is the first beauty of our Jingchu, not to mention only three thousand taels, even if it is thirty thousand taels, it may not be able to buy, it is said that the king of Chu will soon welcome the Qilan girl into the palace of the king of Chu! "Jing Chu's first beauty?

The wealthy businessmen who had just called for the price couldn't help but gasp when they heard that Qilan had such a resounding reputation, and they looked at each other.

This Jing Chu has always produced peerless beauties, and now he dares to be named with such a name, and the other party's appearance must be good.

Now with this master-level piano skill, if you send someone to Yangzhou, you must be an Oiran-level figure again.

The shopkeeper here is naturally not stupid, whether it has been booked by the King of Chu or not, it must be to find a high price and then sell it, and it is naturally impossible to take people away for a few thousand taels.

While talking here, the first beauty of Jing Chu, Qilan, had disappeared on the second floor, but the person had disappeared.

"Don't be stupid, it's important to get down to business!" Wang Yu saw that his companion Hu Jun was still staring at the direction where Qilan disappeared, and slapped Hu Jun on the back of the head.

Hu Jun was in pain, so he hurriedly turned his head to look at the table not far away, only to find that the person who had been staring had already gotten up and left.

"This sound should only be in the sky, and it is rare to hear it in the world!" A middle-aged man wearing a six-grade official uniform left from the Shixian Restaurant, as if he was in an endless aftertaste, and he was shaking his head and reading it.

Wang Yu and Hu Jun followed the middle-aged man in the six-grade official uniform, this middle-aged man was resolutely an idle official, and he was slowly walking in the direction of the dock.

Wang Yu has been following the other party for a few days, so he has already figured out the other party's habits, that is, he has been following from afar.

The docks outside the city are bustling with activity, with a large group of dock workers loading and unloading goods. When Wang Yu looked at the middle-aged official and turned around and walked back, he thought that this time he was busy again, but he found that there was an obese outsider next to him.

The appearance of this fat man who had just gotten off the boat was talking to the middle-aged official, and finally handed over an account book to the middle-aged official.

"Let's go our separate ways!" Wang Yu saw that the big fish he was waiting for finally came, and when he parted ways with Hu Jun.

Hu Jun knew that success or failure was here, so he nodded heavily, and quietly followed the middle-aged man in a six-rank official uniform with a person.

At this time, it was close to dusk, and the entire Wuchang City was bathed in golden sunlight. Tweet! Ye Fugui suddenly sneezed loudly, and then looked behind vigilantly, but the person had already come to the Huguang Patrol Yamen, and immediately walked into it with two subordinates.

"Outside of Ye Yuan, we are not outsiders, why should we be so polite!" Jiang Hong saw Ye Fugui coming, and his face was full of smiles.

Ye Fugui naturally knew that this was actually a polite remark, and immediately smiled and said: "These are all worthless native products, please also smile at the Inspector!" If the contemptible people are salting in the lake, they have to rely on the patrol to take care of the adult, if the patrol press is not willing to accept this little gift, then I have to repair a letter and let my uncle help me intercede! ”

"How can such a trivial matter bother Ye Shilang, so it is better to be respectful than to obey his fate!" Jiang Hong naturally did not deliberately excuse himself, but also pushed the boat with a smile.

Ye Fugui naturally had a plan to give the gift, so he smiled and said: "Around noon tomorrow, the salt boat will arrive at the dock, and please take care of it!" ”

"Definitely!" Jiang Hong already knew the Tao of this, and now that it is convenient, he will have two pieces of money in the account, so he naturally knows how to do it, and immediately agreed to come down.

Although he has been promoted to the governor of Huguang, he is far from being as beautiful as he seems. Not to mention that his future promotion will cost money, just every year he has to send ice and charcoal to the teacher, if he relies on the imperial court, he can't even support his own family.

It is precisely like this, even if he wants to be as honest as water, he has to climb to the top to have this qualification. Ye Fugui saw that the matter had been completed, so he got up and said goodbye and left.

Because Wu Wei, the governor of Huguang, went home to guard his filial piety when he met Ding Wei, and the new governor of Huguang, Liang Jing, did not arrive, so everything was basically fine when Jiang Hong was done.

As for Li Qing, the political envoy of Huguangzuo, this is actually an old acquaintance, and this political envoy does not have much power left at all, and giving him a little benefit is actually rewarding him with money.

Coming out of the patrol yamen, Ye Fugui was too lazy to run from yamen to yamen, so he asked his subordinates to send gifts over.

Ye Fugui has a house in Wuchang City, and he also bought a beauty from Shixian Lou to raise in the house, and walked in the alley humming a small tune.

Although the October wind was cold, his heart was warm at the moment. As long as he thought that the salt ship would arrive tomorrow, then he would be able to make a lot of money from it, and he immediately felt that he was simply a business genius.

Although life is smooth now, he always feels that he is still making a small amount of money. Originally, with his background, it was not a problem to get through all the joints in the official face, but the salt introduction that he could control was still too little, and what he hated the most was those border merchants.

Even though his uncle was a dignified household servant, the current salt law of the imperial court was the Kaizhong method, and the grain needed to be transported from the southeast to the border warehouse in exchange for salt.

Not to mention that he was not familiar with the transportation route and the high cost of transportation, even if the grain was really transported to the side warehouse, the salt in exchange for it would not be very cost-effective.

After all, if you want to mention salt in the salt works now, you have to spend an extra amount of money. On the other hand, those border merchants who are familiar with the road already have rules and regulations for transporting grain, and they have even opened up merchants in the border areas, and they can directly send the grain produced by the merchants to the border warehouses to get salt introduction, so that the cost of salt introduction for them is getting lower and lower.

It is precisely like this, under this damn system of opening the Chinese law, I can only think of other ways to make a little money, and the real big head is still in the hands of those border businessmen.

From the current point of view, the best thing to do now is to abolish this kind of cheating law, only then can you have the opportunity to become a real big salt merchant.

Just when Ye Fugui hated those side merchants who blocked his wealth, he slammed into a person. Standing in the middle of the alleyway was a burly young man, who looked indifferent in the face of Ye Fugui who fell to the ground.

"Who are you who dare to stand in the way of Lao Tzu?" Ye Fugui saw the person standing in front of him, and asked angrily.

Lu Song condescendingly looked at this two-hundred-pound middle-aged fat man, and then reported to his home: "Lu Song, a hundred households in brocade!" ”

"Jin Yiwei? What are you doing outside of your own staff? Get out of the way! Ye Fugui is a person with a background after all, and he patted his ass and stood up and said sharply.

Lu Song didn't get out of the way, but said lightly: "Lord Qincha, please!" ”

"Honcha-sama? Which chincha? Ye Fugui's brows furrowed, and he suddenly became confused. The corners of Lu Song's mouth rose slightly, and he said slyly: "Naturally, it is Wang Yue, the new deputy capital of the Imperial Palace, you haven't heard about the rolling heads of Anlu Prefecture?" ”

He ...... Didn't he already bypass Wuchang and go to Yangzhou? Ye Fugui seemed to have been poured a basin of cold water, and immediately asked in horror.

The smile on Lu Song's face was even stronger, and he simply announced the answer: "If it weren't for that, how could you show your flaws, this is called a soldier who is not tired of cheating!" In fact, a few days ago, Wang Yue did deliberately release a smoke screen and chose to enter the Yangtze River from other waterways.

Just when everyone in Wuchang City thought that Wang Yue took a detour to Yangzhou to rectify the salt administration, it turned out that Wang Yue came to Wuchang City from the Yangtze River and saw the most real side of Wuchang City.

Although the price of salt here is far from being as outrageous as that of Anlu Prefecture, the water system here is developed, and even the cost from Yangzhou is not too high, so the salt profit here is also very considerable.

As for the reason why he is waiting for Ye Fugui here, he is actually waiting for a big case. Ye Fugui was taken to a private house, and when he really saw Wang Yue in a cloth dress, when he saw this rumored big devil, he was immediately so frightened that he wet his pants.

"Ye Fugui, the old man has been waiting for you for a few days, are you recruiting or not?" Wang Yue knew that the person in front of him was the key breakthrough, so he asked with a calm face.

Ye Fugui was a person who had seen a big scene after all, but he warned with a little confidence: "Lord Qincha, this matter is very related, don't you think that this matter can be done by a businessman?" ”

"Isn't it already clear? The one who really controls all this is naturally the King of Chu! Wang Yue seemed to have known all this, and he said amazingly.