Don't look at the current Wu Shigong is quite jubilant, but he has actually been worried about one thing in his heart: Yuan Xingshan said that in the early month, the ship will rush to the fortress of Qianhusuo. However, nearly ten days had passed, and the ship had not yet arrived.

Not to mention those materials, just the nearly 30,000 taels of silver on Yuan Xingshan's ship, if there is a loss, Wu Shigong will collapse immediately. Wu Shigong couldn't imagine the consequences.

In fact, the current Wu Shigong is not only walking a tightrope in officialdom, but also walking a tightrope in finance. When he wanted to build the fortress into a fortress, he actually wanted to build a small society in the fortress. And since a small society is going to be established, Wu Shigong has to worry about the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the people in the fortress of the thousand households.

And the cost of food, clothing, housing and transportation for these people is far greater than Wu Shigong's own imagination. So far, these expenses are also supported by the silver that Wu Shigong earned in the capital. And Wu Shigong did not develop any new sources of wealth here in the fortress of Qianhusuo.

And through this rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society, Wu Shigong also discovered a misunderstanding of his own: if Wu Shigong still wants to keep the force in his hands regularized, then it is definitely a dream to fight to support the war. Unless Wu Shigong wants to be a rogue.

Although this time, on the surface, Wu Shigong seems to have benefited a lot from the seizure. However, this was based on the fact that Wu Shigong had taken almost all of the materials and money of the Holy Spirit Society for himself.

This harvest is almost impossible to replicate. Because in the future battles, shouldn't you really turn in your own capture? Aren't there any allies who will take a share of the spoils?

In addition, Wu Shigong's battle this time ended with almost zero casualties. But in future battles, will there be such battle losses? Then it's even more unlikely. As long as there are certain casualties, Wu Shigong will have to spend a lot of medical expenses and burial expenses, and it is certainly not something that can be compensated for by those battlefield captures.

Don't think about it anymore, just wait for Yuan Xingshan's fleet to come back, and get through the things in front of you first. Looking forward to the stars and the moon, on the seventh day after Wu Shigong returned to the fortress of Qianhusuo, Yuan Xingshan finally returned with the fleet.

Yuan Xingshan's fleet was halfway there, and he also got the news that the Holy Spirit Society had rebelled, so he and the other ships didn't dare to move forward. When they arrived in Zuihou, when the news of the extermination of the rebels came, they continued to move forward, so it dragged on for more than ten days.

However, Yuan Xingshan did not dare to go alone, so he traveled with the other fleets and arrived at the town below the fortress of Qianhusuo.

Yuan Xingshan was accompanied by a salt merchant named Lu Jianchen, who brought more than 1,000 stone of salt to this town by ship.

As soon as Yuan Xingshan introduced Lu Jianchen to Wu Shigong, Wu Shigong immediately became excited. O salt merchant! What is that? That's silver! For Wu Shigong, who is currently suffering from no financial resources, this salt merchant who came to the door is simply too precious.

Wu Shigong knew in modern times that the salt merchants in ancient times, especially those in Yangzhou, were simply rich in the world. They made huge profits by trafficking in illicit salt. If Wu Shigong can squeeze into the circle of trafficking in illicit salt, then at least his own military salary problem can be solved.

Therefore, Wu Shigong immediately and graciously invited Lu Jianchen to the fortress of Qianhusuo as a guest, thinking about the relationship between the two.

However, that Lu Jianchen saw Wu Shigong's thoughts at a glance, and he smiled and declined Wu Shigong's invitation. However, Lu Jianchen was also very authentic, and he gave Wu Shigong five stone salt as a gift to Wu Shigong.

The Lu family, where Lu Jianchen is located, is indeed a salt merchant in Yangzhou. In the Lu family, it is Lu Jianchen's eldest brother and Lu Jianchen who are in charge of the business. Lu Jianchen's eldest brother is basically the main inside, and Lu Jianchen is basically the main outside.

However, although the Lu family is a salt merchant and a wealthy family in the eyes of outsiders, the Lu family is only a small salt merchant in the entire salt merchant group in Yangzhou. They also have a small salt farm, but they don't ship much salt every year, and the sales volume of salt goods is not large.

And Wu Shigong's point of sale here is the most important point of sale of the Lu family, accounting for about half of the entire Lu family's sales. This is also the reason why Weishenme personally escorted this batch of salt goods by Lu Jianchen.

However, Lu Jianchen rushed to the town and wanted to deliver his salt to the seller here, but found that the town had been basically destroyed, and the seller was gone. In the whole town, there is not even a complete room in the inn where you can stay. At this moment, Lu Jianchen was a little embarrassed. Because he had just rejected Wu Shigong, he was embarrassed to ask Wu Shigong for help.

Wu Shigong looked at Lu Jianchen's face and immediately understood Lu Jianchen's difficulties. So, Wu Shigong once again warmly invited Lu Jianchen to the fortress of Qianhusuo as a guest. At this moment, Lu Jianchen also got off the donkey, and after being polite, with some gifts, he followed Wu Shigong to the fortress of Qianhusuo.

After Lu Jianchen arrived at the Qianhusuo Fortress, he first visited the Qianhusuo Fortress under the leadership of Wu Shigong. In the evening, Wu Shigong arranged a banquet and met Lu Jianchen alone.

That Lu Jianchen, in the end, is used to going south and north, and at the banquet, he and Wu Shigong are talking and laughing. Unexpectedly, during their chat, they learned that the other party knew Zhang Chunyu in Tongzhou, and the relationship between the two became harmonious.

Now that he has found a common language, Wu Shigong bluntly proposed to Lu Jianchen that he also wants to get a piece of the salt business.

In fact, Lu Jianchen had already seen Wu Shigong's thoughts. Otherwise, he would not have tactfully rejected Wu Shigong's first invitation just now.

Lu Jianchen said to Wu Shigong: "My lord, I'm really sorry, it's not that the villain refuses. It's that there are rules for making salt goods. If you want to buy some salt for your own use, that's fine. However, if you want to do the business of salt goods, if you say something against your ears, you may have more than enough heart and not enough power. ”

Then, Lu Jianchen gave Wu Shigong a detailed introduction to the basic situation of the salt business:

The Ming Dynasty has developed to the present, and the salt industry in the world has long become a stable and saturated market. Although there is inevitably some competition in some places, in the hinterland, which salt merchant supplies which area, how much salt is supplied, and which seller sells it has basically formed a rule.

And this rule cannot be broken casually. If any of the salt merchants broke it, unless he had the great strength to settle it, he would be ostracized by the entire salt guild. Eventually, they will lose their qualifications as salt merchants.

For example: If Lu Jianchen gave Wu Shigong a batch of salt goods today, let Wu Shigong sell it. First of all, Lu Jianchen will offend the sellers who originally sold in this area. And this seller already has a lot of influence in the salt market in this region. That seller will never come to Lu Jianchen to pick up the salt again.

Secondly, when the Salt Industry Guild learns that Lu Jianchen has such a discredited thing, it will also exclude the Lu family from the ranks of salt merchants.

Zuihou, even if Wu Shigong robbed the right to sell salt goods in this area, it was impossible for him to get a grain of salt from other salt merchants. There is no supply from the house.

Therefore, it was not that Lu Jianchen refused to reward Wu Shigong's face, but that Lu Jianchen really did not dare to let Wu Shigong do salt business.

After listening to Lu Jianchen's words, Wu Shigong understood that in fact, the salt market in the Ming Dynasty was a bit like the upper family united to form a form of a monopoly similar to that of a modern monopoly, and the situation of dividing general distribution and sub-distribution during sales was the same.

It is obviously impossible for oneself, an outsider, to rush headlong into this market with great profits at this stage. So, Wu Shigong instead let go of his mentality and chatted with Lu Jianchen.

A few days after this matter came to an end, I didn't expect Lu Jianchen to come to Wu Shigong again.

It turned out that Lu Jianchen, the seller, also fled into the county seat of Qi County when the Holy Spirit Society rebelled when the people arrived. Therefore, when Lu Jianchen arrived in the town, he did not find the seller.

And after finding the seller in the past few days, the seller explained his difficulties to Lu Jianchen.

The seller's sales area is not divided according to the administrative region. He was not only responsible for the sale of salt in the county seat of Qi County, but also in charge of the sale of salt in several counties in Runing Province.

And this salesman is the general dealer in Hyundai's words. And this time, the Holy Spirit will rebel against the people and kill several sub-dealers in Runing Mansion under this general dealer. Therefore, the current general distributor does not need so much salt goods from Lu Jianchen at all.

Moreover, in this rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society, the general distributor also suffered a lot of losses, so he didn't even have the ability to eat those excess salt goods temporarily. Therefore, he asked Lu Jianchen to bear with him.

Lu Jianchen's friendship with this general distributor must be very good. Besides, in this natural and man-made disaster, it is impossible to force the general dealer to buy those excess salt goods. But it is impossible for Lu Jianchen to pull back all these excess salt goods. So, he went to Wu Shigong for help.

Wu Shigong thought for a while: he has now taken in so many more house slaves, and this time he has seized so many mules, horses and livestock, and those salts must have been used. Besides, with the addition of Lu Jianchen's friend, there will be one more way in the future. Therefore, he agreed to Lu Jianchen's request.

The price negotiated by Zuihou was that Wu Shigong bought the excess salt goods at a price of one or six cents per stone. This price is slightly lower than the price of local salt goods.

However, Wu Shigong used the seized materials to barter the goods. And Lu Jianchen can also load these materials on the empty ship back, pull them back to Yangzhou and sell them for the difference, and make money at both ends. Therefore, this transaction is also a happy one.