Chapter 1: Salt ()

The sky is blue and white clouds are floating. A red sun with gold edges is round and radiant at this time, and the river surface is red, with bright golden light, and the sun swallowing the sky.

On the river surface, a ship's mast was revealed. The entire ship gradually emerged from the horizontal surface bit by bit. The flag on the top of the sail was clamoring in the wind, and a big word "salt" was flying in the wind.

A group of people stood at the bow of the boat. Under the bamboo-woven hat, their bronze cheeks were exposed. The long-term wind and sun were blowing, and their skin was cracked. They had been swaying on the boat for more than ten days, looking at the outline of the increasingly close city wall, everyone cheered and excited.

"Brother, Pingjiang City is ahead. The last few loads of salt we transported this time are several merchants in Pingjiang City." A voice said.

Looking at the huge city in front of you, Zhang Yang felt an indescribable shock. The wall was more than eight feet high, with blue bricks outside, countless bracelets on it, huge city towers in the middle, and the door holes below were also very spacious, enough for two carriages to move forward side by side.

This is Pingjiang City, one of the most prosperous cities in the south. No wonder so many rich people like to live in Pingjiang City. It should be very safe to have such a strong city.

The boat was leaning on the dock, and everyone began to break down and tied the boat to the wooden piles on the dock with ropes.

"Brother, are we going in just like that?"

Zhang Yang turned his head and looked at him. He was talking to his third brother, and the others also showed concern. Finally, the salt was delivered, and everyone could return to Baiju Salt Field to submit the work.

"Everyone bring the salt ashore first, follow me and see my gestures, and I will go to negotiate with the military master at the city gate." Zhang Yang said with confidence.

I was the one who served as the salt transporter, which was the one who negotiated with all parties after the salt transporter landed. Naturally, I solved this kind of thing myself.

Several people stood at the gate of the city to bask in the sun. The hair on their foreheads was made into small strands, like peaches, with two braids wrapped in two large rings hanging behind their ears, wearing hats and hats on their heads. They wore narrow and tight short robes, a belt around their waists, a bow and waist knife on their backs, and a quiver on their right.

This is the standard Yuan soldiers' outfit.

"Who is coming?" Seeing a group of people approaching, a Yuan soldier leveled his spear and asked from a distance.

"June, we are from Baiju Salt Farm in Taizhou. A few days ago, several shops in Pingjiang City ordered two salt in our salt farm, saying that the salt in Pingjiang City was almost sold out, and they repeatedly urged to hand over the salt. The villain rushed to deliver the salt." Zhang Yang took two steps quickly and stepped forward and said.

Since ancient times, salt and iron have been officially specialized. Now, the "Cash Induction Method" is implemented. Once the salt is 400 kilograms, the official sale of salt banknotes is issued. The merchants who sold Huainan salt to the Lianghuai Salt Transportation Office to buy the salt, went to Tongzhou or Taizhou Salt Warehouse to support salt, and then released after inspection in Yangzhou Dongguan.

"June, can we enter the city?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Do you have any documents?" Jun Ye asked, "You can't just let you into the city just by saying you?"

"Yes, of course, there is," Zhang Yang quickly took out the document issued by the salt field from his chest. The document had been stamped with the official seal of Lianghuai Salt Transportation Company and the official seal of Yangzhou Dongguan, proving that his salt transport was completely legal this time. He also took a wrapped purse and sent it there.

"This is a filial piety to several military officials." Zhang Yang said.

"Yeah, you can go to the city." Seeing that there was no problem with the documents and the money for filial piety, Jun Ye spoke.

"Thank you, Junjun!" Zhang Yang said, greeting his companions behind him.

"Let's go, come into the city!"

Several strong men were carrying shoulder poles, with a large clay pot hanging in front and behind the shoulder poles. When they walked, the shoulder poles were creaking.

On both sides are houses next to each other, most of the streets are brick and wood structures, with beautiful patterns carved on the beams, which are magnificent. It is a paradise for rich people.

The group carried a shoulder pole and walked slowly along the street, left the street, turned into the alley, and walked for a long time in the alley.

Everyone looked around carefully, but no one paid attention.

"According to the original plan, Shiyi and Shide, you two will take everyone to hand over the official salt to the shop. Shixin, you and I will sell the salt we brought with us, and finally meet outside the iron shop in the east of the city." Zhang Yang said in a low voice.

Everyone reached into the salt-filled pot and put up a small bag of bricks wrapped in oil cloth from it.

In addition to official salt, each pot also carries five kilograms of private salt.

Zhang Yang and Shi Xin untied their belts and took off their long gowns outside.

The special vest is exposed inside. This vest has one feature: there are many pockets, four large pockets in the front and two pockets in the back. The size of each pocket is just about five kilograms of salt bag inside. A hemp rope is specially added to the back of each pocket to bear the gravity. The hemp rope is connected to the shoulder pads on the shoulders to ensure sufficient strength.

Several people began to help Zhang Yang and Shi Xin put the salt bag in their pockets.

Immediately, Zhang Yang felt the gravity of the salt. Fortunately, these six bags of salt were only more than 30 kilograms, which was much lighter than the weight of the shoulder pole.

The remaining two bags of salt were placed in the bag on the calves, and five kilograms were on one side, just the weight of a pair of sandbags.

If you wear clothes outside, you can't see anything.

Zhang Yang felt a bit like a drug seller.

This set of equipment was also invented by myself. Now, I want to use it to make my first pot of gold in my life.

"Brother, let's go." Shixin said.

"Okay, everyone will take action separately." Zhang Yang said.

Everyone dispersed.

Zhang Yang and Shi Xin continued walking along the alley, and soon arrived at the gate of a large courtyard.

There are two stone lions at the door, the front door is covered with vermilion paint, and a layer of iron sheet is wrapped underneath. The copper bubble nails look particularly dazzling on it. It looks like a rich man.

Zhang Yang stepped forward and buckled the door.

"Who?" A middle-aged man in his thirties came out.

"Is the butler here? We have something to discuss."

"I am, just say anything." The visitor said impatiently.

"We have green salt, which is low in price and good in quality. Do you need it in the house?" Zhang Yang said in a low voice.

"How much?"

"One hundred words."

The visitors' eyes lit up. The 200-yuan green salt sold outside was often out of stock. The masters, wives and ladies like to rinse their mouths with green salt. This green salt consumes a few kilograms a month. If it is so cheap, the 100-yuan extra kilogram will be put into their own pockets.

"Let me see, don't fool me with a large piece of sea salt."

Shixin flexibly took out a pack. "This pack is five kilograms of good green salt."

Carefully uncover the mouth of the oil cloth. The butler looked at the salt exposed inside and immediately smiled: the color is white, the powder is even, and the texture is probably the best among green salt. This kind of green salt is sold at about 300 pounds in the store. Now I make a profit.

"Okay, I want it, do you still have it?" said the housekeeper.

"No more, if you want it, I'll bring it to you next time." Zhang Yang stopped the impulsive taxi letter in time.

"Okay, come again in a month, and then this bag of salt will be cleaned." said the butler.

"Okay, I will definitely deliver it to you next month." Zhang Yang happily took the five cents of silver handed over by the butler.

The two walked away.

"Brother, we're sending it." Shixin was happy like a child. "Our load of salt was shipped here and sold for two taels of silver, while our small bag of five pounds was sold for five cents of silver."

"So we need to make high-end products and target high-end consumers." Zhang Yang said.

Shi Xin shook his head, not understanding.

"Brother, why don't you ask me to give him a few more packs? Wouldn't it be better if we sell it all out?" Shi Xin said.

"You don't understand this, right? We are now engaged in retail, not wholesale, how much can our family use? We need to go to a few more companies to accumulate long-term and stable supply relationships, so that our shipments can increase and our money will make more and more money. Remember this place clearly, and I will let you deliver the goods in the future." Zhang Yang said as he walked, "Look for the next one."

After walking a few streets, all the pockets of the two of them were empty. It seems that there are too many big families in Pingjiangcheng, and it is better to sell the private salt they brought here.

Each person brought forty kilograms of salt, one hundred cents per kilogram, which was eight taels of silver, which could indeed be called a huge sum of money. As a salt transporter, his annual salary was only one tael of silver.

When I arrived at the iron shop in the east of the city, the rest of the people had already sent salt and were waiting there.

They looked around and the figure they had been looking forward to suddenly appear in front of them.

"Brother is back!" Shiyi and Shid said.

"How is it done?" Shi Yi asked in a low voice.

Zhang Yang didn't say anything. Shi Xin had already taken out the purse on his chest and shook it hard.

Immediately, the sound of copper coins colliding came from inside.

Everyone immediately smiled happily. If they hadn't been worried about the many people around, they would have cheered.

Zhang Yang took Shixin's purse, unbuttoned his mouth, and began to share the money for everyone.

"Yuan Ming, Yuan Shao, your brothers' mothers were ill for a long time. They bought her some things to make up for it. She said that she handed her two hundred cents."

"Bosheng, Lu Zhen, you two have siblings in your family. If you need food at home, buy some rice and go back."

"Wen Bing, Tianqi, you two are single, one person is full, and the whole family is not hungry. Keep this little money and find a good wife."

Zhang Yang handed each person one hundred cents.

Everyone got the money and felt that this trip was not in vain. Only with the elder brother would he have a good life. With the wages of the salt farm, he would not even have enough food. If he hadn't been brought to transport salt by his elder brother, he would have lived a hungry and full life.

"Brother..."

Zhang Yang looked at everyone, and the admiration in his eyes was so comfortable.

"Don't worry, as long as you follow me, Zhang Shicheng, you will definitely let everyone have food, money to spend, and a wife to marry. Now, everyone can buy what they need. After an hour, we will gather at the dock."

When everyone dispersed, only their three younger brothers were left: Shiyi, Shide and Shixin.

"Brother, are we going to share some points?" Shi Yi said.

"No, our money needs to be concentrated in one piece to expand our scale. Our trip is just a way out. It seems that this is completely feasible. Next, we want to make our career bigger and we want all the big families in Pingjiang City to eat the fine salt we produce. Our capital will be like a snowball, growing bigger and bigger."

Selling private salt is considered a career? Shixin thought with dissatisfaction.

"Let's go, go back to the dock." Zhang Yang said.

When I walked to the city gate, I suddenly found a group of people surrounding the wall in front.

"What's wrong?" Shi Xin said, "I'll go and see the fun."

After a while, Shi Xin returned with his head down, "I thought there was something good. It turned out that the Red Turban Army was causing trouble again! Now, it's time to be nervous again."

"Don't talk, there are so many ears here, let's talk when you return to the boat." Shi Yi said.

Red Turban Army? Zhang Yang was shocked.
Chapter completed!