Chapter 108: Increased Production of Refined Salt

Next, Yangguangzhai entered a busy stage. The Qingcheng County Magistrate had been captured alive, so for the time being, no one would pay attention to the movements on Shi Xian Shan. It would be good enough if Qingcheng could handle the affairs within the city.

Unless a new county magistrate was arranged from above, they would make plans then. For now, they could directly go to Shi Xian Shan to mine the toxic salt stones.

Through the statistics and character assessment of the two uncles, about a hundred people from Liu Family Village were willing to go to Shi Xian Shan to mine.

These people didn't know about the mountain bandits. Their task was to mine salt every day, and Jiang Jinshi provided food and accommodation, and there were monthly wages.

Unlike the mountain bandits of Yangguangzhai, Yangguangzhai did not care about their family members; it was equivalent to an employment relationship between the two.

I pay, you put in the effort to work for me, and the villagers get the money to buy grain for their families.

After a discussion, Jiang Jinshi and Li Xinyue decided to pay at a price of eighty wen per person per day. This price didn't seem high, but one hundred people required eight taels of silver per day.

The matters of transportation and management were handed over to the team of Tang Lin and Zhang Honghong. Tang Lin, Tang Xiao Yu, and Zhang Honghong had now learned some sign language, and there was no problem with simple communication.

Tang Lin was mainly responsible for the management of Shi Xian Shan, Zhang Honghong was responsible for transportation, and Tang Xiao Yu assisted Tang Lin.

You must know that Shi Xian Shan was bare; they couldn't let the people from Liu Family Village rest and sleep in the mine caves, right?

So Jiang Jinshi spent a lot of silver and found a 'foreman' in the city who specialized in building houses for others, and contracted the matter of building houses on Shi Xian Shan to the other party.

At first, Jiang Jinshi thought about building blue brick houses, but then he thought, why waste this silver? Anyway, as long as it was livable.

He fully displayed the face of a 'capitalist' and finally built a large row of wooden houses.

Just like that, without any opening ceremony or banquet, and Jiang Jinshi didn't even go to Shi Xian Shan, the mining operation began quietly.

Except for the nearby villages that noticed, others didn't even know such a thing was happening.

Of course, these toxic salt stones needed to undergo the first step of processing on Shi Xian Shan. After all, if they transported the stones to Yangguangzhai for processing, a donkey cart of toxic salt stones wouldn't extract much refined salt, greatly increasing transportation costs.

They knocked the toxic salt stones into small pieces and put them into large iron pots to stew until the water was boiled dry, then collected the crystals of various colors around the pot and put them into bags, then transported them to Yangguangzhai. When they were transported out of Yangguangzhai, they became bags of refined salt.

Everything began to proceed in an orderly manner. The Licheng County Magistrate, Xiao Chunqiu, went up the mountain again to discuss cooperation with Jiang Jinshi.

The reason was none other than that the daily production of refined salt at Yangguangzhai had increased several times over, and Xiao Chunqiu was starting to find it a bit difficult to handle alone.

"Brother Jiang, to be honest, the refined salt that was pulled down the mountain the day before yesterday is still sitting in the room!"

After all, he only had one sales channel, and refined salt was not something that ordinary people could afford. The target group was those landlords or officials with some assets.

Jiang Jinshi smiled indifferently: "Brother Xiao, you don't need to have pressure. You can eat as much as you can; I will just find other people to cooperate with."

With such good goods in hand, it was not easy for Jiang Jinshi to find merchant caravans to cooperate with. It was just that since he had reached a cooperation with Xiao Chunqiu first, he would definitely prioritize supplying him.

Since he couldn't eat so much goods now, he would just go find others.

Xiao Chunqiu said: "I have a proposal, but it depends on whether Brother Jiang is willing!"

"Just say it!" Jiang Jinshi understood that this was probably the purpose of Xiao Chunqiu coming up the mountain.

"Seeking far is not as good as seeking near. There are several other families in Licheng who can also eat some of Brother Jiang's refined salt." Xiao Chunqiu stated his purpose.

Jiang Jinshi understood in an instant that Xiao Chunqiu should be here as a lobbyist. After all, he had some small frictions with the other families before, and now he was here to see his attitude.

"I don't know if Brother Xiao thinks this way yourself, or if those families think so too."

"Both!" Xiao Chunqiu continued: "If cooperation is reached, it will be good for everyone."

Xiao Chunqiu had also been hiding and selling salt at first. After all, Jiang Jinshi's production wasn't high at that time, so he could just make a fortune in silence.

Now that Jiang Jinshi's production had increased, he couldn't swallow it himself. It just so happened that other families discovered clues because of the accumulated goods.

So Xiao Chunqiu simply confessed, wanting to pull everyone together to make money. Although this didn't benefit him for the time being, after a night of careful consideration, he didn't even value his position as county magistrate that much.

His thinking was different from the current scholars. He didn't think that scholars had a higher status than merchants. Instead, most merchants, because they had silver, could enjoy life more than officials.

Before, as a county magistrate, he had to fight for food in the same pot with other families. Licheng was only so big; if each family took a share, there wouldn't be much left for him.

Conversely, the profit of selling salt was higher, and it was sold outward, so he didn't have to fight for food with others. What he got was all his own. Even if he pulled in other families, the silver he got wouldn't be less.

This could also do Jiang Jinshi a favor. As long as he agreed to let these three families join, then in Licheng, Jiang Jinshi would be the one whose word was law.

After all, compared to the small gains in Licheng, everyone wanted to make more money, so how would they make things difficult for the 'gold master' Jiang Jinshi!

The other families were also very happy to hear this news! Especially when Xiao Chunqiu showed the heads of the families the quality of the refined salt produced by Yangguangzhai, plus the incredible price, the smart ones could immediately calculate how much business opportunity was in it.

Even Tang Yunhe, who once wanted to vent his anger for his daughter, was moved at this moment.

In the face of sufficient interests, what hatred could not be smoothed over? Moreover, that was just a small matter, and his daughter hadn't been hurt.

Now they were just worried that Jiang Jinshi wouldn't agree to let them join, which led to the scene of Xiao Chunqiu coming up the mountain as a lobbyist.

Jiang Jinshi naturally understood all these principles, and he even thought further. In such a cooperative relationship, the relationship between the few would become more and more inseparable, while he would occupy the dominant position.

Because salt of such quality and price only existed here, but merchants who wanted to make money were everywhere.

In this way, Licheng could be firmly grasped in his own hands. If anyone wanted to destroy this scene, they would have to see if the people in Licheng agreed.

For these families, the benefits were not just this.

Ever since Jiang Jinshi unified Lianhuan Shan, the indiscriminate robbery had made everyone unable to bear it. Now that cooperation had been reached, you couldn't rob me anymore, right?

In this way, the previous trade routes could be restored, and income could be raised again. ===== CHAPTER 109 =====