Chapter 89: You handle internal, I handle external

In this era where even having enough to eat is a luxury, many ways to make money don't apply, but this still doesn't stump Li Xinyue.

People nowadays certainly won't pursue spiritual fulfillment; basically, to make money they must revolve around the 'food' aspect of clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

Although Li Xinyue's system can exchange for potatoes or sweet potatoes, this is not a suitable way to make wealth.

She plans to sell salt, precisely fine salt.

Nowadays, most salt on the market is coarse salt; even the very precious fine salt is yellowish, and its quality is far worse than in her previous life.

This is undoubtedly an extremely lucrative line of work; even if ordinary commoners knew how to refine it, they wouldn't dare sell it, for this thing is firmly controlled by the Emperor—whoever touches it dies.

Besides those nobles and the Scholar-Gentry, who secretly sell it to places like Xiongnu, earning large price differences.

But Yangguangzhai is a bandits' lair!

He dares to do the business others dare not! Not only does he dare, he aims to be the one with the best quality and lowest price.

Therefore, Li Xinyue's goal this time is not merely to make money from all of Beijiang; she also intends not to let Zhongyuan slip by.

The raw material, coarse salt, is temporarily not hard to purchase; later, when the scale expands, Li Xinyue also plans to set up her own caravan, dedicated to selling her products outward and then bringing back raw materials.

Jiang Jinshi, however, has a different view: in such a vast Beijiang, surely there must be a salty-alkaline tract to be found?

Once our forces grow strong, we can just seize it—directly saving the cost of raw materials, so aside from labor, everything else is profit.

Their plan isn't limited to salt either; with autumn approaching, winter is naturally not far off.

In past years, Beijiang's winters would freeze many to death; if we could find coal, we could then make stoves to sell, thereby earning money while also saving many lives.

Coincidentally, both salty-alkaline land and coal are considered 'waste' in this era, yet they have the ability to turn waste into treasure.

For now, there's no lead on the coal matter, but refining coarse salt can be done at any time.

Jiang Jinshi's task is to find someone familiar with Beijiang, then through that person locate coal and salty-alkaline land.

Of course this is only the first step; according to Li Xinyue, she also needs to make some glassware to fleece the upper class's pockets—dual approach to earn more.

Soon the results of Jiang Jinshi's assignments appeared: although Yangguangzhai has many people, few possess any craft skill.

Even counting those who once studied under a carpenter for a time, Jiang Jinshi included them, and the total is still under twenty.

After all, people of this era value craftsmanship highly; generally it's hard to pass on externally, which leads to an extreme scarcity of talent.

Fortunately, the things Li Xinyue needs to make aren't very precise; even 'half a pot of water' is barely sufficient.

As for these craftsmen, Jiang Jinshi naturally values them greatly, and quickly announced that henceforth they too could receive monthly wages.

This bunch were overjoyed; they had thought they'd just eat and drink here, doing menial worthless work, never expecting they could also earn money!

Having handed them over to Li Xinyue, Jiang Jinshi no longer concerns himself with the remaining matters.

The two were originally meant to complement each other—one handles internal affairs, the other external.

Thus, the idle Jiang Jinshi grabbed a halberd, took Xiao Hu, and went down the mountain to rob travelers; Ye Chang stayed behind in the stronghold to help train the bandits.

Lying with Xiao Hu on the roadside grass, Jiang Jinshi suddenly asked, 'Xiao Hu, do you want to bring your family up to the stronghold?'

Xiao Hu blinked at the words, then spoke bluntly: 'Big brother, my family doesn't do banditry.'

'Our stronghold isn't all about banditry; there are other things to do.' Jiang Jinshi patiently explained to Xiao Hu.

Xiao Hu scratched his head, using his rarely employed brain to think patiently before saying, 'I don't know; I'll follow whatever you say, big brother.'

Jiang Jinshi chuckled and teasingly asked, 'That's your family, yet you also listen to me?'

Who would have thought Xiao Hu would earnestly nod, 'Mm! I listen to big brother!'

'Forget it then; just pretend I never said it.' Jiang Jinshi closed his eyes and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He also knows why Xiao Hu obeys him so much, but still feels the reason is somewhat absurd.

It's merely because he let Xiao Hu eat his fill that Xiao Hu willingly does so—something utterly unbelievable in his previous life.

As for Xiao Hu's family, his reply already says it all—just like his own cheap grandfather's household, not all relatives can be called family.

Xiao Hu remained silent, sitting quietly beside Jiang Jinshi without thinking of anything else; in his eyes, Jiang Jinshi is the person who treats him best.

He lives happily in Yangguangzhai, without having to lug heavy things around, and can sit and eat his fill without getting beaten.

The two stayed like that on the grass for a long time; Jiang Jinshi almost fell asleep, yet no one passed by.

"Ah! It seems our reputation is truly terrible—half a day has passed and we still haven't opened for business." Jiang Jinshi couldn't help but sigh.

After all, Jiangcheng was just robbed; now hardly anyone wants to travel this road, even those leaving the city avoid it, fearing Jiang Jinshi will seize them to drain their blood.

Just as Jiang Jinshi was about to give up, a figure unexpectedly appeared at the road's end.

At this distance, Jiang Jinshi couldn't tell the person's gender, but they appeared very agitated.

"Yo! With Yangguangzhai's reputation this bad, someone still dares to pass—let me see if you've eaten a bear's heart and leopard's gall!"

Xiao Hu hid behind a tree per Jiang Jinshi's order, while Jiang Jinshi lay prone in the grass, experienced, waiting for the other to approach.

Yu Heng strode heavily toward Jiangcheng; having heard of the robbery even while outside the city, he now worries greatly whether this incident will affect his search for the two fated ones of Beijiang.

As for the feared Yangguangzhai, he had already calculated with his fingers—today is auspicious for travel.

Recalling last night's celestial signs, Yu Heng is especially concerned for his master; he knows his master's temperament too well—if the Crown Prince succeeds normally, all is well, but if the Second Prince manages to seize the throne, his master will likely follow the old emperor into the Yellow Springs.

Yet he can't help much; his master once told him that the Yuan Lineage of Divination and Calculation has three 'nos' for divination.

Do not divine for oneself, do not divine for spirits or gods, do not divine for those without affinity.

The first is because divining for oneself yields nothing; the second is because divining for spirits invites backlash; the third is that one must not blindly interfere in others' karmic ties.

Thus he clearly knows his master won't serve as Imperial Preceptor for the Second Prince, so the Second Prince will certainly not retain his master.

Yu Heng was deep in thought when a person leapt out from the roadside bushes, startling him.

"Robbery!"