The victims who gathered here at this time and followed the instructions to expand the salt field were a relatively stable group of people. Most of them returned to their hometowns, only to find that their fields were gone and their houses were gone. Even becoming a sharecropper was a luxury.

Forced into desperation, they once again returned to Zhu Youxiao's construction team.

Compared with farming, the treatment here is much better. You can get dozens of yuan in wages every day, and you can also exchange it directly for salt. The price is much cheaper than on the market, and food is included. Of course, it’s not their whole family.

They work. However, the women in their families are not idle either and are recruited to work in the kitchen.

In this way, food for two adults is provided, and both of them receive wages. The burden is greatly reduced, and it is much easier to support the family. Calculated carefully, it is much faster than farming. The wages of the two people add up.

I can have two taels of silver a month.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao's construction team has a very large turnover of personnel. The victims who are short of travel expenses will come here to work for a while, exchange some money and then go back. When the number of people was at its highest, there were almost tens of thousands. However, as the disaster eased,

Most of the victims have returned to their hometowns, leaving only about 3,000 strong laborers in front of us.

They are already jobless vagrants. If they lose the opportunity to work here, they will have nowhere to go.

However, the victims did not cause trouble. The tradition passed down for thousands of years made them accustomed to relying on their own hands to eat and get rich through their own hard work. They were in exchange with Zhu Youxiao's construction team and would never do it because they had no work to do.

to cause trouble.

Seeing the originally energetic face gradually become numb, looking at the faintly crying children, Zhu Youxiao felt a pain in his heart. He felt that he had to do something, he couldn't just let these victims leave. The consequences of their scattering

, either Xiaoju Mountains and Forests were wiped out by the government, or they starved to death, or were sold into slavery.

Neither situation is what Zhu Youxiao wants to see. These are his people, and he has the obligation to give them a bite to eat.

"Huh? Where are you going? There is still work to be done." Zhu Youxiao turned a blind eye to the situation in front of him and asked pretending to be surprised.

"?"

His words caused a commotion among the victims. Those who had not heard him looked around and hurriedly asked. When they learned that there was still work to be done, they immediately became excited and the gloom on their faces was swept away.

Seeing the beaming expressions on the faces of the victims, Zhu Youxiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After handing the people over to Wang Wenyan and Liu Bin, he returned to the capital with more than 200 Yulin troops. He also had his own plans.

As for the more than 3,000 strong laborers, including their families, there are probably tens of thousands of them. However, these people are all experienced, know the rules, and are easy to manage. Moreover, Wang Wenyan and Liu Bin have rich experience in managing the salt field.

With experience, a group of leaders with rich management experience from the salt field can be put up.

With a large number of people, Wang Wenyan and Liu Bin came to Haihekou. The reason why they originally enclosed this place and returned it to the salt field was because of its geographical location. In later generations, this place would be famous as Tianjin.

The port is a large international port.

"Hey! What's this?" Looking at Liu Bin who was arranging the task, Wang Wenyan looked depressed, thinking that he was a scholar with outstanding resourcefulness. Until now, he had not come up with a single plan, but he was doing the work of a foreman.

It's so lonely as snow.

Shaking his head, Wang Wenyan took a large pile of paperwork and walked to the beach. He was the only one under Zhu Youxiao who was literate and educated. Naturally, he was the only one who could do things like port planning and design. He was the only one who could do it.

He was able to obtain technical information from those seconded Ministry of Industry officials.

Da da da!

The crisp sound of horse hoofbeats sounded at Chaoyang Gate, which made people know that there were many horses. Pedestrians on both sides of the street hurriedly avoided to avoid being trampled by the horses' hooves. However, unexpectedly, a series of large carriages appeared.

The carriage is very strange. It has four wheels.

Four wheels supported a huge carriage. The front of the carriage was spacious, and two coachmen were sitting there. The carriages were connected in a long string, making people look like a long dragon winding their way.

People in the capital have become accustomed to this kind of strange carriage. In the past six months, this kind of carriage has often been running on the main street, transporting things on that strange road.

In the eyes of ordinary people, that concrete road is even more magical. No one knows how this road was built. It looks like a whole, and it is flat and wide. It is very comfortable to walk on it, and there is no mud even on rainy days.

The only drawback is that it takes a little time to wear shoes, and the straw sandals will break after being worn on them for a few days.

Rumor has it that this road was built by the emperor's grandson. Even the most ignorant people don't believe this statement. How could the grand grandson of the emperor, a figure from the heavenly family, come back to do such work as building roads? But look at the magic

On the road, the common people dared not believe it. It was probably only a person in the sky who could come up with something so beyond their comprehension.

After the four-wheeled carriage passed the city gate, it moved forward without stopping, until it stopped in front of a grain and oil store. However, the entire convoy only stopped for two columns. The other carriages turned their heads and went around to continue.

Walk forward. When they reach an intersection, the convoy disperses and goes in different directions.

If anyone could look from the sky at this time, they would find that these carriages were scattered in all directions and parked in front of each grain and oil shop, and then some men moved down sacks one by one from above.

Maybe there was a sack, and I didn't explain it. A waiter grabbed a corner and pulled it down, and it suddenly broke. Some white particles flowed out of it. If I looked carefully, I found that it was not salt.

Soon, there was a sign where the clerk put out a sign that said today's price of salt, one pound per pound, and a figure was drawn next to it to represent the salt and the price.

Occasionally, a sturdy man in a bunker uniform passed by the grain and oil shop. When he turned around and took a look, he couldn't move his eyes immediately.

"Three dollars a pound?" The man's eyes were as big as copper bells, and he was breathing heavily. He subconsciously touched the cloth bag in his arms, which contained his wages for the past few days.

It was the money he needed to buy wine and meat. After hesitating for a long time, he walked in anyway. It was okay to work as a coolie without drinking wine, but it was absolutely impossible not to eat salt at that time.

In a small pavilion in the back garden of the British Government House, Zhang Weixian and Zhu Chunchen were sitting opposite each other, drinking wine and enjoying the coolness.

"Lao Zhang, are you really planning to get involved?" Zhu Chunchen asked in confusion after taking a sip of wine.

"Hey, what do you think I think? That blind boy of mine robbed that little baby's money and has been unable to get away for a long time." Zhang Weixian also took a small bite in depression. Compared to Zhu Chunchen's roughness, he

Much more elegant.

As a benchmark among the heroes who contributed to the Jingnan War, the British government and the Chengguo government have always been on good terms. The two families are family friends and they often go back and forth. This time, it was Zhu Chunchen who found out that Zhang Weixian was selling salt at a low price and came over to ask.

"Hey, that little kid's moral behavior can still make you fall into trouble? I'm afraid you want to get in touch with that party yourself." Zhu Chunchen said with some disdain.

"..." Zhang Weixian stopped talking, held up his wine glass, and fell silent.

"That little kid has some skills. I don't know how the two hundred Yulinlangs under him are trained. They are extremely capable, even better than the old servants in my house."

Hearing what Zhang Weixian said, Zhu Chunchen's face suddenly became solemn. He knew that the old servant he mentioned was in his own house. It was found in every Duke's house and was the basis for their foothold in the military.

"It's not as amazing as you said. How old is that little kid? Even Qi Shaobao wasn't that capable at his age." Zhu Chunchen's face was full of disbelief.

"Hey, don't forget, the descendants of Yu Long and Qi Hu, Qi Jin and Yu Zigao are both his disciples." Zhang Weixian reminded.

"That's right. How capable those two were back then, their descendants would be able to dominate the world if they only had 70% to 80% of them." Zhu Chunchen suddenly realized.

"But we, the Jingnan family, are in the same relationship with the country. Do we need to rush over in such a hurry?" Zhu Chunchen was still a little confused about Zhang Weixian's actions.

"Hmph, based on his current performance, of course I won't. But..." Zhang Weixian leaned forward, took out an ingot of gold, and placed it gently on the table, "What if we add this?"

"Silver?" Zhu Chunchen became confused, "How much profit did he promise you?"

"The price of salt he gave me is this..." Zhang Weixian stretched out his right hand and raised two fingers.

"Pfft!" Zhu Chunchen was startled and spit out the wine in his mouth, "How much?"

"Two denarii!"

"The purchase price is two yuan, and if you sell it for three yuan, you can make a profit of one yuan." Zhu Chunchen murmured to himself and began to calculate, "If it were my family with one hundred and three grain and oil shops, in one month, we could almost make

If you sell 100,000 jins of salt, you can get a net profit of 10,000 taels."

"Ten thousand taels a month!"

This figure immediately made Zhu Chunchen breathless. The Duke's office said that it was impressive, but the family had a big business and a lot of expenses. In addition to the land and manor, they could only do some small business to sustain themselves. However, this aspect was suppressed by the civil servants.

If you don't go out, you can only stay in the capital.

Now, just by changing the seller, he can get an extra ten thousand taels of silver a month. How can he not covet this? Immediately, he shouted anxiously, "Old Zhang, our two families have been friends for generations, can you

If you want to do me this favor, tell that little kid, no, tell His Highness Taisun, and tell Lao Zhu that I also want to purchase goods from him."

"Of course there is no problem with this, but let me tell you first. If you want to get goods from Taisun, you must follow his rules. The selling price must be three coins per catty, and if he lowers the price in the future,

We have to follow suit." Zhang Weixian said with a smile.

As nobles of the Ming Dynasty, they had no burden at all to do things like selling private salt. However, this is also the reason why today's salt policy is corrupt. Many people can't exchange salt for salt, but these eyes are sold privately.

go out.

"No problem, no problem." Zhu Chunchen agreed wholeheartedly. He was not stupid. He knew that this was Taisun's tactic to win over. Even if the price was to be reduced, the other party would protect their interests.
Chapter completed!