By noon, the crowd had returned to the camp one after another. Huang Dagen was the first to return to the camp, and his handling of the official document for the purchase of salt was very smooth, and the official of the salt industry supervisor saw that it was an official document from the neighboring Chongqing Mansion, and he smiled at the money and goods sent by Huang Dagen, and it was very refreshing to do things.

Zhu Zhuozi and Du Daquan also sold the goods relatively smoothly, and the price obtained from the sale was not much different from that of Chongqing Fucheng, and the money was used on the spot to be used in Huojing County

"Jiaozi" made a settlement. Only Wang Youfu and Dong Hu went to redeem it

There was some trouble when "Jiaozi", the reason was that the merchant who paid was expensive at a price, and was unwilling to charge a handling fee of 5/1000 as agreed, but had to charge 10/1000 of the fee.

though

"Jiaozi" has appeared for more than 200 years, but most people in the trading team do not know about it. Dong Hu and other mountain people are accustomed to bartering and do not understand

What is "Jiaozi", even Zhu Zhuozi is only a small trader, and Jiaozi only knows a little about it, and has not used this kind of monetary tool used in large-scale transactions.

At that moment, Ouyang Xuan explained it to everyone

The approximate idea of "Jiaozi". The origin of this Jiaozi has a special background. In the Northern Song Dynasty, copper coins were passed, but because of the developed economy of Shu and the lack of copper, the government cast iron coins instead, but the iron coins were heavy and inconvenient to use, and 1,000 large iron coins weighed 25 catties, which could not adapt to long-distance commodity transactions.

In this context, the world's first paper money appeared in Chengdu

"Jiaozi". At first

"Jiaozi" was a mutual guarantee of reputation between large merchants, and was later taken over by the government due to the increase in commercial disputes and lawsuits.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, due to the increasing corruption of bureaucratic rule, officials did not understand finance and issued currency indiscriminately, which led to the official

The depreciation of "Jiaozi" is seriously equivalent to waste paper and has to be abolished. official

After the abolition of "Jiaozi", the large private merchants are still in circulation

"Jiaozi", this kind of Jiaozi is also called

"Private". Wang Youfu and others went to exchange it for the endorsement of the merchant's reputation

"Private". After handling all the matters, Ouyang Xuan saw that everyone still had a tired look on their faces, so he decided to rest for another half a day, and by the way, he purchased some daily necessities unique to Qiongzhou.

While wandering around, Ouyang Xuan found a little cotton and cotton cloth from an unknown place in a business, so he ordered Zhu Xuanzi to buy them all.

Since the Western Han Dynasty, although cotton has been introduced to China, it has not been in large quantities. Since the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, although large-scale cultivation can begin in some places, linen has always been the main fabric for the clothing of the common people, and the rich and noble families mostly used silk.

Ouyang Xuan did not see any cotton products in Chongqing, and he did not see cotton planting on the way to Qiongzhou.

To say that this cotton is a good thing, in addition to making clothes, it is also an important raw material for the development of the military industry.

As a graduate of chemical engineering, Ouyang Xuan knows that to make powerful smokeless gunpowder, nitrocellulose is the main raw material, and cotton is the most important raw material for making nitrocellulose.

With cotton in hand, he was able to start experimenting with smokeless gunpowder. The next day, before dawn, the merchant and trade team set out early, and entered the territory of Huojing County before it was still dark.

The name of this fire well has first appeared in the Qin State when governing Shu, because the natural gas here is very rich and shallow buried, the local villagers inadvertently found that the gas gushing out of the ground can be burned when digging the well to find water, the fire is very big, it is called the fire well.

As you get closer and closer to the county seat, you can see workshops boiling salt in villages along the official road from time to time. Yizheng County, Linqiong County, Dayi County, Anren County and other counties under the rule of Qiongzhou are mostly plain areas, but Huojing County is all hilly and mountainous, although the population is less than that of Pingyuan County, but because of its developed salt industry, it is the most important tax source county in Qiongzhou.

When everyone crossed the official road and went up the hillside, they saw Huojing County at the foot of the mountain in the distance. At this time, Ouyang Xuan ordered everyone to stop and set up camp in the woods next to the official road.

At that time, although it was almost dusk, he could still rush to Huojing County before sunset. Ouyang Xuan camped here not to save accommodation fees, but because he decided to take Zhu Xuanzi's suggestion and only buy a little official salt and buy more private salt.

Camping far outside the county can avoid private transactions being discovered by the government. This time, they were under the banner of the Chongqing Mansion Army, and they were also for the people in the mountains to eat salt, but buying illicit salt was a felony stipulated in the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, and there was still no immunity.

Ouyang Xuan knew what the consequences would be if he violated the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, but he was not afraid of it. Because he knew that in a few months, the Mongol army would invade in a big way, and the salt industry of the fire well would also fall into the hands of the Mongols.

Officials in various prefectures and counties in western Sichuan fled or surrendered, and they could not care about investigating his behavior of buying illicit salt, which is why he personally led a team to come this time and devoted all his financial resources to buy salt.

Taking advantage of the fact that the day was still dark, Ouyang Xuan convened everyone to discuss the purchase of salt and the return trip. Hengyuan Town and Huojing County are located on the edge of the Longmen Mountains in western Sichuan, and are triangular with the location of Chongqing Mansion in the plain.

There are big roads and small roads on the way back, and the big road is the road that the trade team took when they came, that is, first from Huojing to Qiongzhou, and then back to Hengyuan through Chongqing Mansion, which is about 220 miles away, although this road is far but flat and safe, but it is difficult to bypass the salt prison pass in Qiongzhou.

The trade team was prepared to use all the proceeds from the sale of mountain goods, except for a few other daily necessities, to buy salt, and the amount of private salt purchased was too large to be concealed, and at least it would be severely knocked by the inspection officials, and there would even be a risk of being confiscated; The small road does not pass through Qiongzhou City and Chongqing Mansion City, but goes north along the Longshan Gate for one hundred and forty miles, and you can directly reach Hengyuan Town.

It's just that the road is barren and difficult to travel, and there are bandits from time to time along the way. As the saying goes, a strong dragon is difficult to fight a snake, and although the merchant team is armed, it does not want to clash with the government or bandits on the border of Qiongzhou.

Therefore, there is some dispute between the people and the small road. When the argument was over, it was Ouyang Xuan who decided to take the path back to Yokohara.

His reason is that most of the people in the trading team are mountain people, and walking on rugged mountain roads is like walking on flat ground, and he is afraid that these paths will be difficult to walk?

As for bandit attacks along the way, just be careful and take precautions. As long as the bandits dare to come, just use them to practice their hands.