Wang Rong and others listened to Zhu Shenzui's story about the origins of Zhang Xijun and Li You, including the situation at Sheephead Mountain. Their expressions were slightly surprised. They never expected that they would meet at Sheephead Mountain this time while walking. Such a thing.
"Sixth Master, these people from Yangtou Mountain..." Xia Dong frowned and was about to say something, but before he could say anything, Zhu Shenzui waved his hand.
"The people from Yangtou Mountain are of great use to me. This matter has been decided. In the next few days, the village will pick two people to go to Yangtou Mountain. From next year, Yangtou Mountain will be our transit station for salt walking. By the way, Wangjia Village is When the time comes, part of the salt stored there will be stored in Yangtou Mountain. If everything goes smoothly, there will not be too much salt stored in Wangjia Village in the future, and all of it will be transferred to Yangtou Mountain."
"What do you mean...?" Wang Rong asked, making a covering gesture with his hands.
Zhu Shenzui nodded and said: "Uncle is right, that's what I mean. You also know that Wangjiacun is the foundation of everyone. The risk of hiding salt in Wangjiacun is too great. If it were replaced by Yangtou Mountain, it would not be possible. It’s the same, it’s more secretive over there, and people like Li Hu have received our favor, and the location of Sheep Head Mountain is also extremely favorable, so this arrangement will be more convenient for the subsequent salt walk.”
"That's not impossible..." Wang Rong nodded, admitting that Zhu Shenzui's consideration was right, but he was still a little worried about people like Li Hu, who had killed miners and managers and fled to Yangzhou. Although he came from Toushan, he was favored by Zhu Shenzui, but his heart was so far apart that he was not one of his own after all.
Zhu Shenzui immediately laughed and said: "This is also the reason why I brought Zhang Xijun and Li You to Wangjiacun. Let's not talk about Zhang Xijun for the moment, but Li You is Li Hu's only son. With Li You in hand, you can Just don’t worry.”
As for the rest, including the information he obtained from his brother-in-law Zhou Anmin, Zhu Shenzui did not tell them. It wasn't that he didn't trust Wang Rong, but that Zhu Shenzui had other plans.
In addition, Zhu Shenzui had already decided on this matter. He told Wang Rong and others just to say hello so that they would not have to think too much.
It was Zhu Shenzui who led Wangjiacun to do the salt trade in Wangjiacun. Speaking of which, Zhu Shenzui was the real boss. In addition, Wang Rong was Zhu Shenzui's uncle, not to mention Wang Jinwu. Zhu Shenzui just obeyed his orders, so it was naturally impossible for him to object.
What's more, the last time Wang Jinwu and Li Hu fought against each other, the two of them already felt a bit sympathetic to each other. Whether it is Wang Jinwu or Li Hu, they are both straightforward and cheerful people, and they get along well with each other because of their similar temperaments. Zhu Shenzui accepted Li Hu and others, and Wang Jinwu agreed with both hands. Wang Chuer and the others had no objections to this. Only Xia Dong was a little worried, but seeing that everyone had this attitude, he stopped saying anything.
After talking about what happened at Yangtou Mountain, Zhu Shenzui checked the profit accounts of this salt trip with everyone.
According to the distribution ratio, excluding the cost and the share of Wang Rong and his son, the children of Wangjiacun and several leaders, Zhu Shenzui can get nearly half.
However, Zhu Shenzhui proposed that he decided to recruit the Yangtou Mountain side, so the money spent would be deducted from his share. Wang Rong objected as soon as he said this. Since the salt trade is everyone's business, then there is no need for it. Let Zhu Shenzui bear the responsibility alone. What's more, as Zhu Shenzui said just now, Yangtou Mountain will be the starting point for storing and transporting salt in Wangjia Village in the future, which will be beneficial to everyone.
After arguing for a while, Zhu Shenzui reluctantly agreed to deduct the money from the public account. After recalculating, Zhu Shenzui finally took his share, and the rest was distributed by Wang Rong in proportion.
After handling these, the salt walk will be completely completed, and this year's work will be over. After the cold winter has passed, it will continue next year.
After the money was distributed, everyone had smiles on their faces. The harvest from this salt walk was good. With this money, the entire Wangjia Village can live a good year.
Before leaving, Xia Dong quietly told Zhu Shenzui that when they were leaving for salt, he took someone to understand the state and came back with a batch of salt according to Zhu Shenzui's wishes. He had already hid it in Wangjiacun.
Zhu Shenzui was quite satisfied after listening to Xia Dong's report and asking about the amount. However, Xia Dong told Zhu Shenzui that he had inquired in Jiezhou and that next year's salt road might be difficult. I once reminded that it seems that the problem of going to Jiezhou has not been solved.
"What exactly is going on?" Zhu Shenzui asked Xia Dong.
"It was said before that it was a demand from the military. This time I went over and inquired carefully to find out what the demand from the military was. It was clearly the reason why someone bribed the mine supervisor."
"who?"
"The Liu family of Pingyang Mansion!"
"Liu family?"
Zhu Shenzui suddenly frowned. He knew that the Liu family was a famous big businessman in Pingyang Prefecture. Although they were businessmen, the Liu family also engaged in private salt business, but compared to Zhu Shenzui and the others, they were small businesses. No, the Liu family's private interests are much greater.
For a long time, Liu was transporting salt for the court while secretly selling private salt, and the amount was huge.
Compared with Zhu Shenzui and Wangjiacun, the Liu family cannot compare with them in terms of financial resources or the scale of the salt trade. It stands to reason that everyone does not offend the river. The Liu family's salt trade is to use the salt guide to secretly store salt and sell it for smuggling. Zhu Shenzhui and the others just make some "unplanned" surplus salt through their connections with the salt well to make a little money. .
Everyone has different paths, different sales channels, and they have never had any dealings with each other.
But this time, the Liu family actually bribed the mine supervisor and directly monopolized the amount of remaining salt in Jiezhou next year. This was equivalent to cutting off Zhu Shenzui and his company's supply of goods at once. If all the remaining salt there was taken away by the Liu family, then where did Zhu Shenzui's salt come from?
Without the supply of goods, it would be impossible to continue the salt business in the future. This is a big deal.
There are only a few salt-producing places in Shanxi, among which Jiezhou is the largest and has the most stable production. It is not far from Pingyang Prefecture and Wangjiacun, so it is very convenient to buy salt and transport goods.
If the salt road in Jiezhou is cut off, then their private salt business will be impossible.
You must know that it is a long way to get salt from other places. Secondly, the relationship channels must be re-opened. In addition, taking salt is extremely risky. There is no guarantee that it will be as stable as now after changing the channels. Not to mention the cost and transportation reasons, which are simply unrealistic.
But now, the Liu family suddenly has a monopoly on the salt road in the state, which is no small matter. What on earth do the Liu family want to do? Zhu Shenzui didn't know it for the time being, but cutting off someone's financial path was the same as killing his parents. It was absolutely impossible for Zhu Shenzui to watch his salt road being cut off.
After carefully asking Xia Dong about the news he had learned in Jiezhou, Zhu Shenzui secretly thought about how to solve this problem. But for a while, Zhu Shenzui had no good solution, not to mention that this matter was not a trivial matter, he had to think about it carefully.
But what is gratifying is that this time Xia Dong took people to Jiezhou and transported a batch of salt back. At least this batch of salt is enough to make two or three trips after next spring. Therefore, it was not urgent in terms of time. He planned to wait until he returned to Pingyang Mansion to find someone to inquire carefully before making a decision.
Putting the matter aside for the time being, Zhu Shenzui had a good drink with his uncles Wang Rong and Wang Jinwu that night, and the uncle, nephew and cousins talked a lot between them.
When he woke up the next day, Zhu Shenzui washed up and prepared to leave Wangjiacun. Before he left, he did not go to see Zhang Xijun and Li You who had settled down yesterday. How would they settle down and what would happen next? He had already settled down with Wang last night. If Rong communicates well, Wang Rong will handle it according to his wishes, and Zhu Shenzui won't have to worry about it at all.
Just like when he came, Zhu Shenzui was holding his jujube stick in his hand, a baggage on his shoulder, the musket and the silver he got from the salt trade in his arms. He bid farewell to Queen Rong and went to the palace alone. Return to Pingyang Mansion.
In the afternoon, Zhu Shenzui returned to Pingyang Mansion safely. He had left Pingyang Mansion for nearly a month. He entered the city and looked at the familiar streets in the city. He also thought about his sister-in-law Zhang and niece Qiaoer, whom he had not seen for a long time. Zhu Shenzui The pace quickened.
After a while, he finally arrived home and pushed the door. The door bolt inside was locked, which made Zhu Shenzui breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that his sister-in-law Zhang and his niece were both at home. Zhu Shenzui carefully told Mrs. Zhang every time he left home that he must remember to lock the door when he was not at home to avoid any accidents if there was no man at home.
After two pats, footsteps were heard from inside, and soon Zhang's alert voice came.
"Who is it?"
"Sister-in-law, it's me who's back!" Zhu Shenzui responded quickly.
"Uncle?" Zhang's surprised voice came, and then the door bolt was removed, and the door opened with a creak from the inside.
"Uncle is really back!" When she opened the door and saw Zhu Shenzui outside the door, looking at her with a smile on her face, Mrs. Zhang's face was full of joy.
