The bleak autumn breeze brings coolness from the water, blowing on the face, there is a feeling of rigidity.

Xu Ping sat in the drunkard pavilion, lying on the railing and looking at Jinshuihe, his face gloomy.

Since Shi Yannian went to Jinxiang County and Cao Wei went to the northwest, few people in the capital have come to drink in the drunkard's pavilion. Baijiu also has some regular customers in the capital, mainly some high-ranking military attachés. These people don't have any Yaxing, they won't run dozens of miles to drink wine, and most of them rely on a few companies to secretly smuggle liquor to the capital.

Xu Ping knew that there were several powerful families who specialized in smuggling liquor into the capital for profit, but he didn't bother to pay attention to them, just pretending not to know. There were even people who tried to cooperate with him, but Xu Ping refused without thinking about it. He will not make money from this kind of illegal and criminal activities, and if he wants to live a long life, he must put safety first. In the end, Xu Ping has too many ways to make money, and it is really not worth the risk. Of course, there have been many people who have asked the people in Xujiazhuang about the brewing method of liquor, but because the people involved are all cronies, and Zhuangzili is really good to Zhuangke, it has not been leaked out so far, but this is also a matter of time.

The worst thing is the sugar shop, since it opened, all kinds of dirty things have emerged one after another, Xu Ping is really annoyed. Making money with sugar is making money, but it is too easy to make too much, and in the capital, a mixed place, it is targeted by people from all walks of life, and all kinds of means have been used.

Two days ago, someone in the capital sent a message to Xu Ping to hurry up and go to the city, and he had something to talk about the sugar shop. Xu Ping refused because he was busy with the affairs of the village, but just wrote a letter to his father, telling him to take care of everything, just divide the money every month, and not get involved in the whirlpool.

The so-called something to talk about is nothing more than which wealthy family wants to take a piece of the white sugar industry, either wants to buy shares, or wants to open a branch, how can Xu Ping have that time to pay attention to them? The Li family is a partner in business, of course, these things are settled by them, and if you don't have the ability, don't eat such a big mouthful of meat.

Anyway, Xu Ping doesn't care, it's a big deal to close the shop, and the whole family will move back to Baisha Town, relying on the money he earns now plus a grange and a restaurant, which is enough to live comfortably for a lifetime.

Xiuxiu hummed a song, guarding a small briquette stove, and boiling a large pot of fish soup while warming wine. The fish is a large carp caught from the Jinshui River, and it is delicious, and it has been boiled for more than half an hour.

Xu Ping didn't go to the capital, and the Li family couldn't hold back, so they had to let Zhang Tianrui come to Baisha Town to discuss some things in the sugar shop. Xu Ping brought Xiuxiu over and waited for Zhang Tianrui in the drunkard pavilion.

The sugar shop can earn 70,000 or 80,000 yuan for the Xu family this year, and Xu Ping also feels that this amount is too big, and if there is no strong background, it will be difficult for this business to continue. At this time, the prime minister's monthly salary was only 400 yuan, and after a year, plus all kinds of miscellaneous subsidies and rewards, it would not exceed 20,000 yuan. The Xu family is an ordinary merchant, how can He De keep a profit of nearly 100,000 yuan a year. Moreover, the officials of the Song Dynasty have always been discounted, saying how much, but the actual hand always has to be six or seven discounts.

Zhang Tianrui came to talk about it, Xu Ping didn't mind transferring the sugar shop and the method of making white sugar at a suitable price, saving a lot of trouble.

As for the idea of pulling a few powerful people in to support themselves and then make a lot of money, Xu Ping has never had it, in fact, it is also a ridiculous idea. The real power in Asari is the scholars, and those so-called wealthy families are just pets in captivity, and it is completely impossible to shelter such a big business. As for cooperating with scholars, not to mention, which prime minister will open a shop at home? Isn't that uncomfortable? The Song Dynasty strictly forbade officials and scholars to lend money for profit, although there was no prohibition on doing business, but in fact it was an unspoken rule, and they could not directly participate in commercial activities. At this time, there was no such chaos as in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and the scholars were relatively clean and self-loving.

The longer he stayed in this world, the more powerless Xu Ping felt, and the arrogance of pointing at the country in the history textbook in his previous life had long been polished. At that time, I thought that the ancients were stupid, and if they were right, as long as they used a little trick, they wouldn't be tricked? Especially in the previous life, thick black studies were popular, and in this era, they are not like fish in water, what kind of pedantic scholars, villains who only have money in their eyes, they can't let them do whatever they want with some means, and they have to count their money for themselves if they are sold. Only when you really get in touch with it do you know how ridiculous that idea is, the popularity of that knowledge is just to treat the ancients as fools, in fact, there are really few fools. If you are smart, studious, and capable, how many people can compare to Ding Wei, who is still struggling on Hainan Island at this time? It is the later generations who think they are smart and ruthless, and there are few people who can compare to him, Ding Wei has a famous saying: "Ancient and modern loyal ministers and filial piety are not enough to believe." It is a historical pen ornament, and it wants to be a beautiful talker for future generations. "This is a lot of years before the history is like a little girl or something like that. But what was the result? It's not that he was relegated to Hainan Island all at once, and he has never set foot in the capital again in his life.

People in Xu Ping's previous life always thought that he could play the ancient scholar doctor with his cleverness, but it was just a joke. If you want to gain a foothold among them, you must have great wisdom to be invincible, the so-called little wisdom is just a tightrope to gamble on luck and fate, this is not Xu Ping's favorite day.

It wasn't until the sun was up that Xu Ping saw the shadow of Zhang Tianrui riding a horse on the road. I don't know what the relationship between this Zhang Tianrui and the Li family is, he is very trusted, and he entrusts him to handle all the things in the sugar shop, and no one from the Li family has ever come to ask directly. Of course, there is also a reason why the Li family, as a relative of the official eunuch, is not able to directly participate in business activities, so find such a person to be a white glove.

After taking Zhang Tianrui to the Drunkard Pavilion and seeing the ceremony, Xu Ping said: "Don't worry about the hard work from afar, and drink a glass of wine." There was a golden carp boiled in the best of the Jinshui River, and it was brought to drink. ”

Zhang Tianrui thanked him, drank three glasses of wine with Xu Ping, and then put the wine glass away, and said to Xu Ping with a wry smile: "The little officials have a good leisurely life, but we don't know that we are about to turn white in the capital!" ”

Xu Ping said lightly: "It's all about laughing, I have tens of thousands of acres of grange there, I don't know how many things are going on every day, and I never have a day of leisure, where does the word leisurely start?" ”

Zhang Tianrui didn't dwell on this question, and went straight to the topic: "The sugar business has encountered a big problem!" ”

Xu Ping didn't care: "Which one is going to trouble us?" ”

Zhang Tianrui sighed: "It's not any family, although Li Fangfang's official position is not obvious, but his mother is the eldest princess, and there is really no family in this dynasty who will offend to death." This time, it was the imperial court that made a move, and no matter who spoke up, it was useless. ”

Xu Ping was taken aback: "What do you mean?" ”

Zhang Tianrui said: "Do you remember that at the beginning of the year, because the shop received Chen tea, it caused a storm in the court, and how many officials were punished for it?" ”

Xu Ping nodded, of course he remembered this, and it was the most influential thing he did when he came to this matter, and he was a little proud when he thought about it.

"This time, it was because of Ma Jiliang, who was expelled from the capital last time."

When Xu Ping heard this, he raised his head suddenly and looked at Zhang Tianrui: "Why is he involved again?" Hasn't he been let go of Liangzhejiang and can't manage the affairs of the court? ”

Zhang Tianrui just sighed: "It's because he went to eastern Zhejiang that he caused trouble!" The sugar collected in our shop is all from Siming, and it is under his rule. Because of the good business this year, we have purchased almost all the sugar in the Siming area. I don't know what Ma Jiliang thinks, so I counted the amount of sugar we collected, converted it into money, calculated an account, and put it on a book. ”

Xu Ping was still a little puzzled, and asked: "We are all fair trades, don't steal or rob, what can he do if he counts?" Is it not possible to make money by breaking the law? ”

Zhang Tianrui shook his head: "Don't break the law, Ma Jiliang just told the court that just Siming's sugar, we can make a profit of 120,000 yuan a year in our shop." If this business is regulated by officials, sugar and tea and salt are generally implemented officially, and the world is implemented, and the imperial court can increase its income by one or two million yuan a year. The third division can't make ends meet every year, and after hearing this way of making money, he was tempted to send someone to find Mrs. Li. ”

Xu Ping heard the news and was stunned. What does it mean to be a collector? The thinking of these three divisions is also too advanced, and the gameplay that will only appear after a thousand years has been made, and now they have come out? When I think about it, this development is really natural. The government-run industry and commerce of the Great Song Dynasty were huge in scale, covering almost all walks of life in the economy, and were an important source of revenue for the central government. And the methods are flexible, there are government-run and government-run enterprises, as well as government-run private enterprises, and even government-private partnerships, changing their names, and almost all kinds of games have appeared after a thousand years. If it weren't for the later invasion of the Mongols, there was a huge fault line in the political economy, and in Xu Ping's mind, I am afraid that even the reform and opening up would have been saved, and almost all kinds of systems had appeared at this time.

The central government of the Song Dynasty was under great financial pressure, and except for the early Song decades, increasing fiscal revenue was almost always the top priority of the imperial court. One or two million a year is enough for the three divisions to tear their faces and end up in person. I was thinking about what kind of wealthy family made a move, and there was always a way to deal with it, but I didn't expect that the amount was so large that it would attract the covetousness of the monster of Sansi.

At present, the market of white sugar is mainly the palace and the wealthy families in the capital, if it is really promoted to the whole country, it is not difficult to make millions of dollars a year. The worse the living conditions, the more sugar is a necessity for life. When I remembered my previous life, when I was a child, there was always a sign outside the commissary: "Tobacco, Alcohol, Sugar and Tea". Tobacco has not risen at this time, don't talk about it, wine and tea have been monopolized in this era, and it is natural to include sugar in the franchise system, but it is only to blame Xu Ping for not thinking in this direction some time ago.

China's tobacco monopoly income covers almost all military spending, and that was Xu Ping's previous life, and if a few franchises are done well in this era, most of the financial problems can actually be solved. The Prime Minister of the Third Division of National Financial Affairs knows this better than anyone else, and the idea of putting on white sugar is really natural.

Thinking of the horror of the monster Sansi, Xu Ping didn't even have the heart to resist. Not to mention him, with such huge economic interests, I am afraid that even the prime minister of the dynasty has no strength to resist, even if the emperor comes forward in person, he may not be able to suppress the impulse of the three divisions, this monster's thirst for money is beyond imagination.

After being silent for a while, Xu Ping asked Zhang Tianrui: "What did Taiwei Li say?" ”

Zhang Tianrui smiled bitterly: "The little official should be calm when he hears it. Taiwei made it clear that the determination of the three divisions had been made, and no one could stop it, so they could only find a way to get real benefits from the imperial court. The lieutenant wants to fight for the transfer of the two officials, and then change to a good errand in real office. Petty officials can also do the same, it should not be difficult to get an official from the imperial court, even the money and tea fields can also be opened, it should not be difficult. ”