After sending away the villagers who brought food, Liu Heng returned to the temple hall of Shanzhai Mountain.
Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu followed in.
"Master." Zhao Yutu was the first to speak. "Since the villagers took the initiative to send the food, why should we buy it with money? Even if we don't give them money, these villagers will not dare to take the food away."
"Yes, I spent nearly six hundred taels more for nothing." Li Shuheng looked distressed.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "We want to establish a foothold here. We cannot imitate the Dwarf Tigers who only know how to harm the countryside. Nor can we rob and leave like the way Shi Yunhu did before, and robbed from one county to another."
"Since we want to gain a foothold, we must learn to let the people recognize us. Only when the people recognize us can we really take root here. Otherwise, the government will encircle and suppress us, and the people will hate us. Even if the mountains of Hutou Village are densely forested, sooner or later there will be more than a thousand of us. They will also be wiped out by the government."
Li Shuheng said: "Even if this is the case, there is no need to harvest grain 10% higher than the market price. Now we are not short of grain. All the nearby villages transport grain to Hutou Village, and we can't eat it even if we buy it. This year's new grain will be placed in Next year it will become old food.”
"Captain Li is right," Zhao Yutu said, "Our village receives about one thousand taels of Ping'an silver every month, and today we spent more than half of it on food. If we do it again, one month's Ping'an money is not enough to buy food. With this kind of flowering method, the little money we got from Hutou Village will be used up in a short time."
Both of them expressed satisfaction that Liu Heng bought grain at a price that was 10% higher, and at the same time expressed dissatisfaction with Liu Heng's continued collection of grain.
Liu Heng explained with a smile: "We don't grow food in our village. If we want to eat, the brothers in the mountain can only buy food from several nearby villages. If we don't pay a high price, why should the nearby villagers sell food to us? Only when these villagers get tangible benefits will they take the initiative to sell food to us."
"With tangible benefits, the villagers will let go of their guard against us. The camp will always be expanded in the future. We can't stay in Hutou Village all our lives. A group of big men will have trouble sooner or later as time goes by. Some things People below won’t think about it, we have to learn to prepare for a rainy day.”
After listening to Liu Heng's words, Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu realized that Liu Heng had so far-reaching thoughts. While they were still arguing over a few taels of silver, the other party had already begun to consider the future of Daying.
………………
The news that Hutou Village was collecting grain at a price that was 10% higher than the market price soon spread in several nearby villages.
After an experience of selling grain to Hutou Village, some villagers began to transport their surplus grain to Hutou Village in truckloads.
At this time, the autumn crops have just fallen, and it is time to pay the autumn taxes.
Zhang Juzheng died, but a whip method remained. The people's grain was converted into money, forcing the people to sell grain. Grain merchants aggressively lowered prices and hoarded grain.
The low price of grain hurts the farmers. Although Hutou Village is a bandit's den, the price of grain is 10% higher than the market price. There is no need to fight, and the money will be given according to the weight on the scale.
Several villages near Hutou Village have already sold grain to Hutou Village once. With experience, they brought a large amount of grain to the foot of Hutou Village this time.
This time Liu Heng did not come forward, and Li Shuheng and Zhao Yutu did the work. One was in charge of the money and the other was in charge of the accounts.
After harvesting the grain, money was given to the people, and carts of grain were transported up the mountain.
The new granary was still early to be built, but fortunately there were many adobe houses on the mountain, and bags of grain were sent into the adobe houses for storage.
There was a lot of food in the village, and money was spent quickly. After collecting food for several days, Li Shuheng finally couldn't help but look for Liu Heng.
Liu Heng advised: "My brother Shu Heng, don't we still have money? We will collect as much grain as the villagers send. If we stop now and stop collecting grain, all the previous efforts will be in vain. "
Li Shuheng said with a serious expression: "Daying's money can no longer make ends meet. Not to mention all the Ping An money earned in the past few months has been spent. Even the tens of thousands taels received from Hutou Village have been spent on more than 2,000 taels. If this continues, Spend it clean in the morning and evening.”
Liu Heng said with a smile: "It's not just more than two thousand taels. Keep spending it. If the money is gone, you can still make money. Let's find new ways to make money."
Li Shuheng asked: "What way? Do you have an idea?"
Liu Heng said with a smile: "I have a document for Dongshan's iron yard in my hand. I have asked Yang Yuan to inquire about it to see if we can open an iron yard of our own in Dongshan."
"Opening an iron yard?" Li Shuheng frowned, "Our identity is opening an iron yard in Dongshan. Will the government discover our identity?"
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Don't worry, since we have all been beheaded anyway, no one will link us to the bandits. Even if someone knows, it doesn't matter. As long as we don't go to the county seat, it won't be that easy for the government to catch us."
Li Shuheng pondered.
Hutou Village is not far from Dongshan. Even if something happens there, Hutou Village can get there quickly, which is more convenient than going to Dongshan from the county town.
Dongshan has its own iron yard. In the future, all kinds of iron for soldiers and armor can be used from home, and a lot of money can be saved.
Wanting to understand this, Li Shuheng said: "When will we open an iron yard in Dongshan?"
Liu Heng said: "We still have to wait for the news from Yang Yuan."
"I support setting up an iron yard in Dongshan. It will be convenient for us to use iron ourselves in the future, and several kinds of ores for making gunpowder can be transported back to the village in an honest manner." Li Shuheng is in charge of Daying's money and food, and he is accustomed to starting from saving money when considering problems.
The transportation of grain to several nearby villages to sell to Hutou Village was in full swing. Half a month later, the grain sales of several villages near Hutou Village were about the same.
Villages further away did not believe that the bandits would spend money to buy grain, so they still sold the grain to the grain merchants in Lingqiu.
………………
In Lingqiu City, in the study room in the north room of the Xu Family Courtyard, Xu Youcai, the head of the Xu family, was sitting behind the desk. The desk was covered with white paper, and paperweights were pressed on both sides of the white paper. He was holding a brush in his hand. On the white paper were written the four characters "The right way to make money".
"Good calligraphy." Steward Xu next to him clapped his hands and praised, "The pen moves like a dragon and a snake, and the movement is like running water. However, it is able to penetrate the back of the paper and penetrate deeply into the wood. Master, your calligraphy has improved a lot."
"Haha, really?" Xu Youcai laughed twice, and the more he looked at the four words he wrote, the more satisfied he became.
Butler Xu flattered him: "That's natural. I didn't go for the imperial examination. Otherwise, based on my handwriting, even if I don't get the top prize, I would still be at the second place."
"It's not that easy to get the top prize in three years." Xu Youcai smiled and then said, "I'll have these four words framed later and hang them in the study."
Butler Xu nodded and said, "With such fine calligraphy, I must find the best craftsman in Lingqiu to frame it."
Xu Youcai stood up, walked to the copper basin on the side, cleaned his hands with the water in it, picked up the silk cloth on the side and wiped the water stains on his hands, walked to the Taishi's chair and sat down.
A servant served the gaiwan on a wooden plate and delivered it to Xu Youcai.
Picking up the lid of the tureen, he blew on the tea leaves floating on it, took a sip, and then put the lid back on the tureen. Xu Youcai asked, "The food at the grain store has been much less than in previous years. I sent someone to check." ?"
