The opening of shops successfully mitigated the negative impact of the strike, and due to the half-price reward on the first day, there was a shopping frenzy in the city, especially for food and clothing. The first batch of 20 shops was obviously not enough, Master Guo organized the manpower to quickly open ten more shops, and due to the shortage of manpower, Zhou Mazi was transferred to a grain and oil shop as a deacon.

Different from the single shop that sells rice and noodles in the local area, Master Guo combines rice, flour, grain, oil, and salt to sell them together in order to save money. In this way, the effect is surprisingly good, which is convenient for the people and saves costs.

As the saying goes, the people take food as the sky, and Zhou Mazi was assigned to manage the first large-scale comprehensive rice, flour, grain, oil, and salt shop in Taiyuan City, which is also the importance that Master Guo attaches to him. Zhou Mazi was complacent about this, and he was quite proud, and more importantly, his monthly salary rose by five taels, and this kind of income was not even thought of in the past, but now he really saved it, so he made up his mind to follow the general with all his heart.

As soon as Zhou Mazi took office, he sorted out the entire rice, flour, grain and oil shop in an orderly manner, where to put any goods, how much inventory, how much cost, and how much the unit price was sold. Three days after opening, the shop in charge of Zhou Mazi was also the only profitable shop among all the shops.

Early in the morning, Zhou Mazi got up at dawn, commanded the young men to unload the door panel, and placed the rice, flour, grain, oil and salt that were to be sold. Who knew that as soon as the door opened, the people flocked to the whole shop, blocking the whole shop, the source of customers was wide, the business was booming, Zhou Mazi was napping and dreaming, and he could wake up with a smile, his mouth was grinning all day long to keep up with his ears, and the pockmarks on his face were crowded together as if they were blooming, how ugly and ugly it was.

When the mood is good, the attitude is also diligent, which is simply unimaginable in the former ruffian. A trembling old man with a bag of rice in his hand obviously couldn't squeeze the young students in the crowd, and he couldn't squeeze in after standing in line for a long time, and he turned in a straight circle in a hurry.

"Boss, boss is here!"

The old man looked at Zhou Mazi suspiciously and pointed at himself. "The afterlife is calling me?"

"Exactly, come here, weigh you first."

As soon as this statement came out, someone immediately fried the pot and wanted to ask Zhou Mazi for an explanation, Zhou Mazi scolded angrily: "My husband has not bought it since the morning, it is you turtles and grandchildren who have been crowded, and you have the face to complain, buy it, buy it, don't buy it!" ”

The scolded person shuts up, and of course he won't really get out. Zhou Mazi filled the old man's nearly fifty catties of rice bag to the brim, and ordered someone to carry it back for him. The old man was very grateful for this, and he bowed and bowed, Zhou Mazi was proud, in a comfortable mood, and full of joy in helping others.

In the evening, when the board was closed and the goods in the store were counted, the turnover of this day turned out to be the sum of the previous three days. Zhou Mazi seemed to have discovered a mountain of gold and silver, and then realized that doing business was a daily and gold-making business, which seemed to be much better than working tirelessly in the auxiliary barracks and going up to be a soldier from time to time. So he made up his mind and followed Master Guo in the future.

Then for three days in a row, it was hot every day, and it was not an exaggeration to make money every day, but Zhou Mazi soon became worried again, because the rice, flour, grain and oil in the shop were almost exhausted. He was previously responsible for the transfer of goods, because he still had some understanding of the inventory of the trading company, and at this sales speed, the warehouse may have bottomed out. However, he is not worried, because there is no problem that the general can't solve, he just needs to rush to the front and be a pawn.

In the face of the hot scene every day, Zhou Mazi counted the goods and counted the money, but the psychological side couldn't help but get up and down, and always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't remember what was wrong anyway. Finally, after seeing the old man he had helped three times in a row, Zhou Mazi realized what the problem was.

Judging from the old man's clothes, the family was certainly not rich, and that day he learned that there were only mother-in-law and an unmarried girl in the family. But the rice grain he bought three times in a row was nearly 200 catties, enough for their family of three to eat for more than half a year. And there is another detail, the old man buys high-quality rice every time, which is very different from the ordinary people's style of buying cheap. Why is it so extravagant?

Zhou Mazi finally couldn't help but ask the old man why he came to buy rice several times, who knew that the old man didn't want to think about it and replied: "Hou Sheng, the old man saw that you were good and went a long way to take care of your business, to tell the truth, someone paid for us to go to the city to buy rice, salt and oil, and then ninety shares." The old man laughed and showed the yellow teeth in his mouth, and asked, "How, haven't you made less money these days?" ”

Someone paid for the old man to buy rice? This sentence turned over and over again in Zhou Mazi's mind, and his heart suddenly chuckled, as if he understood something, and he didn't care about looking at the store, so he briefly explained a few words to the young man, and then hurriedly went to find Master Guo.

"What? Someone instigated the people to loot the goods? ”

Master Guo only felt that his head was as big as a bucket, and the shop of the trading company had returned to the market price for the rest of the time, except for the half-price sale on the first day, but according to Li Xin's intention to suppress the resentment of the people in the city, the final selling price was two percent lower than the market price. Could it be that some businessmen smell a business opportunity and are ready to buy at a low price, and then sell at a high price afterwards to make a difference?

No, no, think about it again, Master Guo shook his head and turned his mind again, and finally patted his thigh, "Yes, something is wrong!" ”

Before the words fell, he also went out with a roar, leaving Zhou Mazi aside.

"Master Guo, Master Guo......"

Master Guo figured it out, there must be someone in the city who was obstructing it, so he hired the people to rush to buy the goods until the trading company's inventory was exhausted, his purpose was self-evident, and his intentions were sinister!

After Li Xin learned the news, he was not much surprised, with Lu Jinji's ability to subdue him with one move, how could he have been in Taiyuan Mansion for so many years. After pondering for a moment, I still came up with a way to deal with it.

"It's better to sell it in limited quantities, only to solve the current problem of food and clothing, and the surplus food and surplus will not be sold!"

"Please tell me in detail!"

"With the household registration certificate issued by the government, it is strictly forbidden to purchase according to the jurisdiction of Dingkou, it is strictly forbidden to exceed the amount, cross jurisdictions, and if necessary, compulsory measures can be taken against people who behave badly!"

Master Guo slapped his thigh again, this idea is so good, the general is worthy of being a general, and how difficult the problem can be solved with just a moment of thought.

Li Xin thought for a while and said: "If necessary, you can increase the price, with a limit of five!" ”

Master Guo left happily, Li Xin looked at his back thoughtfully, this method is a last resort, so that the low public dissatisfaction may rise again because of the price increase after the restriction. In the final analysis, it is to resist until they can't go on with the strike, and the game can be regarded as winning.

Now it depends on whether Tian Fuzhen's progress is smooth, for several days, the Taiyuan prefect's yamen has been closed again, and it is a search and arrest, and the chickens and dogs in the city are jumping, it is impossible to say how much of the results will be, but the people's grievances have risen again.

Li Xin has always felt strange, Tian Fuzhen, who has always been strong and upright, and does not rub sand in his eyes, seems to have always been timid in the confrontation with the Lu family, and does not dare to let go, which is very different from the Tian Fuzhen he knows, but it is not his usual character.

However, he didn't think about it for long, and Lu Sizhen came.

Seeing that this procurator who had always been close to him was full of stern faces, Li Xin knew that he had something to say.

"Is there something important about coming here?"

"The lower official has learned of a secret matter, and he has come to inform the general!"

Li Xin raised his head in surprise and glanced at Lu Sizhen, he said that it was a secret matter, what kind of secret matter was it? But when this secret matter came out of Lu Sizhen's mouth, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time.

Li Xin was surprised that Lu Jinji actually used two large boxes of silver to buy Lu Sizhen, but what surprised him even more was that Lu Sizhen was unmoved and directly handed over the two large boxes, no, the three large boxes of silver. This is undoubtedly Lu Sizhen's acceptance of his name, and it is an extremely obvious gesture of goodwill. However, Li Xin remained silent and only asked some details.

"Lu Jinji originally only sent two boxes of silver, why did he take the initiative to ask for another box?"

"Xia Guan wants to know where the money comes from! Now there is an answer, it is from the mansion of the moneylender who has committed suicide! Now, it has been revealed that this person is Lu's marionette. ”

This is indeed a big breakthrough, Li Xin began to feel a little excited, and seemed to have a feeling of seeing the sun, and the previous depression was greatly swept away.

In the end, Li Xin asked Lu Sizhen to go back and continue to collect and sort out the criminal facts of Lu Zhouwang's three families, just wait for the time to be ripe, and then fight hard.

As for the three major boxes of silver, they will naturally be confiscated and rushed to the General Military Mansion. However, after Master Guo saw the silver box, he was stunned for a moment, and after a lot of up and down, he suddenly opened the lid of the wooden box, picked up the silver ingots that were neatly stacked inside, and looked at it for a long time before putting it down.

When he looked back at Li Xin, his face was full of disbelief and shock.

"Where did this box of silver come from, General?"

Li Xin told Master Guo what Lu Sizhen said, and Master Guo pointed to the three boxes of silver and blurted out: "General, if the villain is not mistaken, this box, the fineness of this silver ingot, and the inscription on the silver ingot are the same as the 70,000 taels of silver sent by the Zhenwei guard!" ”

Looking at Master Guo, Li Xin didn't react for a while, and actually repeated a sentence.

"It's the same as the silver sent by the town guards?"

As soon as the words came out, Li Xin was suddenly stunned, the 70,000 taels of silver from Zhenyuwei were snatched back from the hands of the Tartars, and the Tartars were snatched from the shareholders of the trading company, and the silver was borrowed by Jiannu. Don't? Li Xin rushed forward and also picked up a silver ingot, only to see that the bottom of the silver ingot was crooked, not Manchu or something!