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Chen Hu didn't look at Li Zixiao, and continued: "Lord Li is not only brave and strategic, but also has a large number of generals, sensing the grace of the saint, returning to the imperial court, and will be the pillar of the imperial court in the future. Please search to see the most complete! target

My master is also full of praise for the general, and this time he specially sent Chen to meet the adult, maybe we can walk around often in the future. ”

After Li Zixiao listened to Chen Hu's words, his eyes narrowed slightly, stared at him, and then laughed.

"Okay, Li is also a long-time celebrity of King De, but it's a pity that it's hard to visit, and it's an honor for Li to be able to do things for King De."

Li Zixiao said this, but he was sneering in his heart.

From Chen Hu's words just now, it is obvious that the other party had already found out his details before looking for him, perhaps because Li Zixiao was born as a bandit.

In addition, he has a strong force in his hands, so King De will send people to find him.

At this time, Li Zixiao had roughly guessed in his heart what Chen Hu was going to do with him this time.

They should need someone who will not be constrained by certain officials of the imperial court, dare to do anything for money, and have some strength, to act as a thug for them to deal with the private salt business of Wanjia.

And Li Zixiao's identity happens to meet these conditions, he was born as a bandit, he was just recruited half a year ago, and he has no background of court officials behind him.

In addition, he has soldiers in his hands, and he is greedy for money, after all, he killed the big families in the entire three counties in Yongcheng, and looted money everywhere, these German kings must have heard about it.

For them, money-hungry people are easier to control, and for them, money can solve problems, and none of them is a problem.

The things that Li Zixiao did were basically not a secret in Yongcheng County, and they could be inquired about by a person.

When Li Zixiao heard Chen Hu say this, he didn't care, just drank tea calmly.

Chen Hu continued, "I am working for King De and managing the official salt transportation and marketing affairs in the Jiangbei area. I'm just a front errand runner. Inviting Mr. Li to the banquet today is also a matter of asking for something. ”

"If I have something to say, if I can help Li, I don't need to say it."

"That's good."

"A general like Lord Li has thousands of soldiers and horses, and it seems that the imperial court has not allocated food and salary to you, and it must cost a lot to want such a group of elite soldiers."

Li Zixiao kept looking at Chen Hu, his face was neither happy nor sad, and his fingers were rhythmically tapping lightly on the wine table.

Speaking of this, Chen Hu paused, and then said: "Lord Li, I know that you need money now, and this time it is like asking Lord Li for a favor, and we are willing to pay you a large sum of money afterwards." ”

"I want to hear about it." Li Zixiao said with a smile on his face with an interested look.

Seeing that Li Zixiao was interested, Chen Hu immediately said while it was hot: "The profits of the official salt business, presumably Master Li knows, Jiangbei Zhuzhou County is our prince's salt area.

But now there are many illicit salt dealers who bring in the illicit salt and sell it at a low price, which is to grab food in our rice bowl, and the prince is very unhappy.

I'm here now to ask Master Li and his men to help us crack down on the smugglers. ”

"It's not a big deal, I'm very happy to be able to do things for the prince, but to use my brothers, the cost is not small, I don't know how to help?"

"Recently, we will find out where the smugglers are hiding, and when the time comes, we will ask General Li to lead people out and arrest these smugglers.

We paid Master Li 600 taels of silver for each dispatch, and each soldier who went out of the operation was 3 taels of silver each, and seized the smuggled salt, and exchanged it for silver with us, and exchanged it for one tael of silver for each smuggled salt. ”

Chen Hu opened the price code, according to this price code.

Chen Hu thought that the price was good, but Li Zixiao was disdainful.

This price code is simply looking for a thug, although Li Zixiao is short of money, he is not short of this money.

"I've been very busy lately, and my soldiers are not available, so if we have that time, we might as well go and encircle and suppress those Japanese bandits, they have more oil and water on them."

Li Zixiao's face became expressionless again, and he said lightly.

This is a refusal, but it is not a direct refusal, he is not dead, he is telling Chen Hu that the price he offered is too low, and it is better to encircle and suppress the Japanese to get more money.

Chen Hu was slightly surprised, but he didn't expect Li Zixiao to directly reject his price.

Chen Hu thought about it slightly, and didn't give up, now that the private salt is overflowing, if he doesn't clean it up, he won't be able to keep it.

Although King Kede is the boss behind the salt merchants, their own people do not have the ability to clean up the smugglers.

Those who sell smuggled salt, large-scale salt merchants, all have armed guards, and they are strong.

And some of the smaller ones are all outlaws, cunning and fierce, and they are not even afraid of death for the sake of money.

Chen Hu could not rely on the officers and soldiers, and although the officers and soldiers were well fed, they could only play the role of ventilating and reporting information.

And Chen Hu didn't dare to use the current court officers and soldiers at all, those old soldiers, extremely greedy, scared people to death if they wanted silver, and they couldn't really do things.

In the end, he also aimed at Li Zixiao, Li Zixiao's soldiers and even the Japanese were chasing and killing, and it was not a problem to deal with those salt dealers.

But now he feels that he has underestimated Li Zixiao, and the other party doesn't seem to care so much about this extra money.

"Hehe, Master Li, I wonder if you have a better way to cooperate?" Chen Huxiao asked.

Since Li Zixiao was not satisfied with his bid, he simply let Li Zixiao bid by himself.

Li Zixiao put down the teacup in his hand and asked, "I don't know how much salt you have in your hands?" ”

Chen Hu heard a sound outside the strings and said, "I am in charge of Yangzhou, one prefecture, three states and seven counties, and 10,000 salt leads." ”

After listening to Chen Hu's words, Li Zixiao smiled, how many people were in Yangzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty? More than a million.

Yangzhou Prefecture is the most prosperous and developed place in Jiangbei, and it is close to Jinling, Hangzhou, Suzhou and other wealthy cities in the south of the Yangtze River, so it has a large population.

Yangzhou alone is estimated to have a population of more than one million, plus the floating population, there are even more, and how much salt do more than one million people need?

It is said that the average person consumes about 15 catties of salt per year, and 1 million catties of salt for 1 million people. If you take 300 catties of salt, you need at least 50,000 to meet the demand.

King De occupies this salt area and monopolizes the transportation and sale of official salt, but there are only 10,000 salt leads, which is obviously problematic.

The problem is not that they have too little salt, but that they only receive so little salt after monopolizing such an area.

But in fact, there is still a gap of at least 40,000 salt introductions between the salt they received and the real demand of Yangzhou Prefecture.

Where will the 40,000 taels of salt come from? Don't the hundreds of thousands of people left in Yangzhou need to eat salt?

If there is no salt, why haven't there been any public grievances, which shows that the actual amount of salt supplied by the people is to meet the demand.

Li Zixiao knew very well what tricks they were playing, the salt led by salt had to be purchased from the official price of the salt farm, and at the same time, he had to pay a tax.

And King De occupies the market of 50,000 salts, but they are only willing to buy 10,000 salts, the purpose is obvious.

They use more smuggled salt to fill the blank market, and use lower costs and tax evasion to make more profits.

Fifty thousand salt, if you earn one tael of salt, it will be at least fifty thousand taels of silver, which may not seem like much, but this is a place where there will be profits every year.

Basically, they don't need any capital, as long as they have salt in their hands and monopolize the market.

Even, it is still the official salt price to earn one tael of salt, and if you sell the entrained private salt, you will earn more.

And what Li Zixiao calculated is still the most conservative, for example, the salt consumed by Yangzhou Mansion every year is probably far more than 50,000 yuan.

Therefore, if you make a bold calculation, even if you say that King De and they can earn 100,000 taels of silver from the salt in Yangzhou a year, Li Zixiao is not surprised.

And this is only the profit of Yangzhou, they not only control the salt area of Yangzhou Prefecture, but also other salt areas, and they will definitely be able to make more.

Thinking about it this way, this selling salt is really a huge profit, no wonder Wanjia dares to do private salt business, and it is not a problem to easily earn hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, when you are young.

In the past few years, it has been difficult for those salt merchants to become rich and rival the country.

Li Zixiao knew that this was a piece of fat and wanted to take a bite.

"I want 2,000 salt leads, and sell the land of Yangzhou Prefecture and a county alone.

In addition, every time my soldiers go out to help you fight the smugglers, you have to pay 800 taels for the movement and 5 taels for each soldier.

In addition, the seized smuggled salt belongs to me, and you can buy it back at half the official selling price. Li Zixiao came directly, and a lion opened his mouth.

Yangzhou Prefecture, the least populous county, has at least 100,000 permanent residents, and if you add mobility, there are 1230,000.

This is a market of nearly two million catties a year, almost six or seven thousand salt leads.

If it can be monopolized, there will be at least six or seven thousand taels of silver a year, and it is a continuous long-term income, and the capital that needs to be paid is pitiful.

Chen Hu's mouth was open, but he didn't expect Li Zixiao's requirements to be so high, and he directly wanted to sell the official salt in a county in Yangzhou Prefecture, and he also needed 2,000 citations of salt.

You must know that salt citations are not easy to get, and although the imperial court is also issuing new salt citations, it must be someone who has old citations.

Not to mention, the salt area has long been divided, and the salt merchants have divided the salt area of each salt field one by one, and each has a monopoly on a salt area, and there is no new salt area at all.

Salt attraction is important, but it is not as important as the monopoly of salt areas.

Now Li Zixiao not only wants salt, but also monopolizes the salt transportation and sales in a county in Yangzhou, which is really a great appetite.

"Lord Li's appetite is too great." Chen Hu said in a deep voice.

Li Zixiao smiled leisurely, and then said: "Although the price I offered seems to be very high, the price is worth it, those smuggler salt dealers are all outlaws, but I take my subordinates to fight hard."

If I dare to make this price, I will promise to help you get things done, but if you can really curb the illegal salt that is now rampant, you will earn more than what you pay me. ”

"This ......" Chen Hu shifted his body, a little hesitant.

"It's just a very simple account, I don't believe that Steward Chen doesn't understand. Now the sale of illicit salt is becoming more and more rampant, occupying a large market share.

If you can eliminate these smugglers and regain the market share they occupy, it will be equivalent to reclaiming a cornucopia that will make money, you say, is it worth it? ”

"Can Master Li really eliminate those smugglers?"

"As long as the information you provide is correct, my subordinates will be able to deal with these rabble." Li Zixiao said confidently.

Although he knew this, it was certainly not as simple as it seemed.

But since you want to get this cornucopia, which can enter six or seven thousand taels of silver a year, you must be prepared to extract your teeth.

"I can't call the shots on this matter, I have to go back and ask for instructions."

Li Zixiao smiled and said, "Of course, I can wait for your reply." ”

When it came to this, Chen Hu knew Li Zixiao's attitude, and he couldn't sit still at the moment, so he hurried back to pass the news to King De.

Although Li Zixiao's conditions are high, he feels that Li Zixiao really wants to cooperate, and he does feel that Li Zixiao has the strength to cooperate.

After drinking two more glasses of wine, Li Zixiao left first, and then Chen Hu also left.

Before leaving, Chen Hu called Sun Man to the side and took out a gift box.

"Thank you Sun Sanniang for your hospitality tonight, just a little gift, talk about gratitude, take a step in advance in the next time, I'm afraid I will bother Sanniang next time."

The gift box was opened, and there were one hundred taels of snowflake silver inside, as well as a set of jade jewelry, a pair of jade bracelets, a pair of earrings, and a necklace.

Li Zixiao sat in the carriage and returned to Guanfu under the protection of quartz.

For this cooperation with King De, he still values it very much.

If the cooperation is negotiated, in addition to the gains obtained from each dispatch to crack down on smuggled salt dealers, he will obtain the monopoly of salt sales in a county of Yangzhou.

Since then, it will be six or seven thousand taels of silver every year, and as for who will hand over the right to sell salt in this county, Li Zixiao has already thought about it.

Of course, it was handed over to the Guan family, he couldn't stay in Yangzhou for a long time anyway, since the Guan government took refuge in himself, he should be supported.

With the strength of the Guan family, it is still possible to run the official salt monopoly in a county, and he will only be responsible for collecting money every year at that time.

There are many other benefits to this cooperation, such as a relationship with the German king.

Although Zhu Mingxia has not been down for a few years, the more they play a role at this time.

Of course, Li Zixiao also targeted the belongings of the smugglers.

Selling illicit salt, since it is five times more profitable, the smuggler salt dealers are also rich.

Those big salt merchants in Yangzhou and Weizhou will have millions of dollars at every turn, and the smugglers will not be poor.

If you kill them and steal their homes, this will be more profitable than selling smuggled salt.

Li Zixiao just wants to eat black, and he is now familiar with these things.

"Shi, I will send a message to the Yuanba outside the city, let him sweep away all the Japanese around Yangzhou as soon as possible in the next two days, and then let them choose a safe place outside the city to camp and wait.

In addition, all the property they seized during the raid was sent to the Guan Prefecture, except for a part of it and returned it to the local robbed people. ”

Li Zixiao sat in the carriage, drunk, and commanded to the quartz outside the car.

"Yes, General, I'll let Tie Dan deliver the news later." After hearing this, Quartz replied respectfully.

On the other side, after Chen Hu got Li Zixiao's conditions, after returning to his residence, he immediately sent someone to deliver the news to King De.

Chen Hu is also very active in promoting cooperation with Li Zixiao.

He was responsible for managing the official salt trading of Yangzhou for King De, and the benefits he got from it every year were not a small amount of money.

If he had lost this ministry, he would have no place to look for such a good job.

Moreover, he also agrees with Li Zixiao's statement, if he can really exterminate those illegal salt dealers and regain market share from Wanjia.

The little reward they gave Li Zixiao was just a drop in the bucket.

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