Chapter 93

The two of them were attracted by Yu Heng's laughter, and then Jiang Jinshi said with a look of pity: "Such a good child, how did he go crazy?"

"I'm not crazy!" Yu Heng shouted, rushed up, and hugged Jiang Jinshi's thigh. "You are the star I'm looking for, you are the chosen one."

"Chosen one, my foot, silly child, read fewer storybooks!" Jiang Jinshi curled his lips.

Yu Heng shook his head with a firm expression: "You don't understand, only I understand."

"Hey yo! There's something I don't understand, tell me about it." Jiang Jinshi was full of pride; could a transmigrator like him be stumped by a native?

Even if the other person knew a little bit of divination, Jiang Jinshi still wouldn't admit defeat.

"You know about star signs, right?" Yu Heng still didn't let go of his hand, looking at Jiang Jinshi with burning eyes.

"Oh! I thought it was something else, star signs, I don't understand!" Jiang Jinshi picked his nose.

Yu Heng didn't have the slightest bit of contempt, but instead said with a serious face: "The star signs told me, you are the chosen one."

"Fine, fine, fine! You let go of my leg first!" Jiang Jinshi raised his right foot and shook it in the air, but Yu Heng remained motionless, hugging it.

After Jiang Jinshi put his foot down, Yu Heng let go of his hands, bent down, and patted the dust off his clothes. "So from now on, I'll follow you."

"Yo! Didn't you say you wouldn't come to the mountain stronghold even if you died? How did you suddenly see the light?" Jiang Jinshi looked at Yu Heng with suspicion, thinking the other person just wanted to use sweet talk to gain his trust.

Yu Heng scratched his head embarrassedly: "I hadn't discovered that you were the person I was looking for at that time."

Jiang Jinshi didn't care; since the other person said so, even if he wanted to gain his trust to escape, it didn't matter. He just felt the other person was a talent, not that he couldn't do without him.

Perhaps Yu Heng saw through Jiang Jinshi's thoughts and hurriedly patted his chest to guarantee, "Don't worry! I'm very capable, I know a lot of things, I won't hold you back."

"Oh! Then tell me, I'm preparing to sell salt, what should I do?" Jiang Jinshi put away the letter Lazy Toad wrote and asked nonchalantly.

He didn't count on Yu Heng having any good ideas, he just wanted to dampen the other person's spirit.

Yu Heng pinched his fingers to calculate and answered confidently: "Go southwest, you can make money."

"Southwest? What kind of idea is this, it's better not to say it." Jiang Jinshi rolled his eyes and got up to walk outside.

Yu Heng hurriedly followed, fearing he would be locked in this dungeon again, leaving only Lazy Toad to sigh in place.

The difference between people is really big; others come in for a little while and go out, while he doesn't know how long he will have to stay here!

Because there were portraits of him in Lin City, Jiang Jinshi couldn't enter the city gate, so he could only hand over the task of delivering the letter to Wang Hou.

Wang Hou was preparing to take his brothers to "beg" in Lin City; after all, Jiang Jinshi said he was responsible for intelligence, so what was the point of always staying on the mountain.

Jiang Jinshi also had tasks for Wang Hou's trip to Lin City, mainly to inquire about where there was saline-alkali land or soil salt mines, and even "Black Stone" mountain was among the targets.

At the same time, he could also inquire about the movements of the government for Yangguangzhai; after all, such a big thing as robbing the city, Jiang Jinshi didn't believe the government would have no action.

As long as he could hear some wind, he could be prepared early.

In this era, coal hadn't been utilized yet, so this was also a very good business opportunity, but it was ultimately not as good as salt.

"Black Stone" is coal; although everyone knew it could be burned for warmth, they also knew it would cause people to be poisoned to death. Once people knew the method of burning "Black Stone" without poisoning, countless merchants would swarm in, lowering the profit.

Wang Hou, who received the task, went for three days before bringing back the reply from the County Magistrate of Lin City.

The difficulty of delivering a letter to the County Magistrate's hands was not low; this was not something where you could just take a letter to the door and ask the guard to deliver it for you.

Wang Hou waited for three days before waiting for an opportunity. Fortunately, the other party replied in time and let him bring it back. It could be seen that Lazy Toad still had some status in the other party's heart.

During these three days, Li Xinyue kept preparing for salt production. Although this "factory" looked a bit crude, it could be put into operation at any time with an order.

This factory separated all the processes, with one group of people only responsible for one thing, and everything appeared orderly under Li Xinyue's arrangement.

Of course, the salt production personnel also had monthly wages, which were lower than ordinary mountain bandits.

The biggest problem at the moment was the sales channel. Jiang Jinshi took the reply brought by Wang Hou and opened it slowly, putting it down after a while.

"What does it say?" Li Xinyue asked impatiently.

Jiang Jinshi touched his chin, "He said face-to-face talk."

Yu Heng jumped out first: "Can't go, this must be the dog County Magistrate's treacherous scheme."

It has to be said that Yu Heng's mindset changed really fast. At the beginning, he still had the idea of considering the Da Qian Dynasty, but in just a few days, he had already put his heart and soul into Yangguangzhai.

Ye Chang wiped the long sword in his hand and said: "I'll go!"

Luo Feng was not to be outdone, "All line up behind, if anyone goes, I go first."

Of course, Wang Hou's meaning was that he could go; after all, there were his brothers in the city, so if there was any situation, he could have some support.

Watching everyone argue, Jiang Jinshi said with a smile: "Don't argue, the letter says he will come to our mountain stronghold to talk face-to-face."

"Ah?"

"This..."

"He does have some courage!" While Li Xinyue praised the other party, she felt more and more that this matter was feasible; after all, for selling salt, people without courage wouldn't dare to do it.

"Since the other party is not afraid, then we must show some sincerity!" Jiang Jinshi waved his hand, "Prepare to welcome guests."

The sky was getting dark, and two guests were welcomed at the gate of Yangguangzhai.

He thought the other party and Lazy Toad were brothers, so there shouldn't be much difference in figure and appearance, but seeing the person himself still gave Jiang Jinshi a big surprise.

Jiang Jinshi stepped forward to welcome him and said: "I didn't expect Lazy Toad's brother to be... so elegant!"

The person in front of him held a folding fan, was high-spirited while walking, and wore a brocade robe; he was completely the look of a scholar.

"You flatter me! Chief Jiang is even more handsome than in the portrait!" While speaking, the County Magistrate of Lin City closed his folding fan and bowed to Jiang Jinshi, "I am Xiao Chunqiu."

"Jiang Jinshi!" Jiang Jinshi bowed in return.

As the host, Jiang Jinshi naturally wouldn't let the guest stand foolishly at the gate of the stronghold, so he generously accompanied Xiao Chunqiu to the hall.

Xiao Chunqiu didn't look around and asked tentatively: "My silly brother has caused Chief Jiang trouble!"

He didn't mention at all that the mountain stronghold he had painstakingly managed was destroyed by Jiang Jinshi, but instead said he caused Jiang Jinshi trouble, which made Jiang Jinshi look at him with new eyes again.

"It's not trouble, I and... uh... Brother Toad also had a very pleasant exchange." Suddenly Jiang Jinshi remembered that he didn't know what Lazy Toad's name was at all, only knowing the other party's nickname in the green forest.

"Hahaha! That's good, that's good!" Xiao Chunqiu opened his folding fan, and finally, a happy smile appeared on his face.

Luo Feng behind Jiang Jinshi reacted quickly, immediately left the team, and prepared to go to the dungeon to release Lazy Toad.

Lazy Toad was lying in the dungeon with nothing to do, when suddenly the door was opened, and the person who came didn't say a word, carrying him out.

"What... what are you doing?" Lazy Toad was startled, subconsciously thinking he was going to be slaughtered.

Luo Feng said while carrying Lazy Toad: "Your brother has come to pick you up!"

Now Lazy Toad was spirited, and he didn't need Luo Feng to carry him, walking forward with small steps.

Jiang Jinshi arranged for Xiao Chunqiu to take a seat, while he sat in the first seat.

"Serve the food!" Jiang Jinshi shouted, smiling at Xiao Chunqiu: "Let's eat and talk."

The person behind Xiao Chunqiu didn't take a seat, guarding his master like an iron tower.

From the other party's eyes, Jiang Jinshi couldn't see any fear, only high fighting spirit.

Under Jiang Jinshi's special arrangement, the small squad leaders didn't come, only Luo Feng and Xiao Hu were brought.

Soon Luo Feng brought Lazy Toad over. Seeing his big brother, Lazy Toad suddenly felt a bit aggrieved and said: "Brother, why did you only come now!"

Xiao Chunqiu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Lazy Toad, but his face became very serious instead: "What kind of talk is crying and howling, sit down properly!"

"Oh!" Lazy Toad didn't dare to speak again and sat obediently on the side.

Xiao Chunqiu stood up, turned his head, and bowed to Jiang Jinshi again: "I thank Chief Jiang for the grace of not killing my foolish brother!"

"Not at all, I and your brother are also like old friends at first sight!"

Xiao Chunqiu knew that Jiang Jinshi was saying polite words, but he had depended on his brother since he was young, and now that he finally had silver and power, if Lazy Toad really had an accident, he would definitely not let Jiang Jinshi go.

Since knowing that Yangguangzhai had unified Lianhuan Shan, he subconsciously thought that Lazy Toad had already encountered an accident and was planning to write to the Prefecture Governor about suppressing the bandits, who would have thought that Lazy Toad was not dead.

Plus Xiao Chunqiu was more interested in what Jiang Jinshi said in the letter, so he came in person.

Soon the rich wine and food were brought up, and Xiao Chunqiu raised his glass first, "To Chief Jiang."

So Jiang Jinshi didn't like chatting with these pedantic scholars, as a mountain bandit, he naturally had to be casual, but the other party was so polite, Jiang Jinshi could only bite the bullet and pretend to be a scholar.

The two of them boasted to each other for a while before finally shifting the topic to selling salt.

"I wonder, what does County Magistrate Xiao think of what I said in the letter?" Jiang Jinshi put down his chopsticks and asked Xiao Chunqiu.

Xiao Chunqiu filled his wine glass and responded unhurriedly: "If that salt is really as Chief Jiang said, I do have some ideas."

Jiang Jinshi heard the meaning of these words, the other party thought there were exaggerated components in his letter, but fortunately, he was well prepared.

Luo Feng stepped forward at the right time and took out the refined salt prepared in advance and placed it in front of Xiao Chunqiu.

Xiao Chunqiu only took one look and knew that Jiang Jinshi really didn't exaggerate; the quality of this refined salt was far better than what was on the market.

"If it's of this quality, how much can be produced in a day?" Xiao Chunqiu only recovered his original appearance after being surprised for a few short breaths and asked Jiang Jinshi solemnly.

Jiang Jinshi raised his palm, "Five shi!"

Xiao Chunqiu frowned, but his tone didn't contain any emotion, "A bit less!"

"It's not less, if it sells well, I can add more at any time!" Jiang Jinshi wasn't worried about this point; as long as there were merchant caravans to take the goods, he could increase production here.

Now Xiao Chunqiu didn't speak, thinking about the profit and feasibility.

Seeing his big brother was moved, Lazy Toad hurriedly discouraged him: "Brother, this business can't be done!"

Xiao Chunqiu only gave Lazy Toad a look, and Lazy Toad didn't dare to discourage him anymore. He knew his big brother's temper; once he decided on something, nine cows couldn't pull him back.

Jiang Jinshi picked up his chopsticks and picked up a piece of meat, "Brother Toad is right, this business is not something ordinary people dare to do, it's fine to consider it more."

On the surface, Jiang Jinshi was thinking for Xiao Chunqiu, but in reality, he just wanted to provoke the other party!

Xiao Chunqiu laughed: "Chief Jiang doesn't know, in the current situation, no one cares what we do."

"Oh? Where does this come from?" Jiang Jinshi followed the words and asked.

"The Xiongnu are pressing on the border, breaking two cities in a row, and now the Prince of Zhenbei is overwhelmed in the north! There is no time to pay attention to us." Xiao Chunqiu said this very calmly, as if he were not a court official.

Jiang Jinshi didn't care about this matter either, only knowing that this matter was beneficial to him was enough, instead, Lazy Toad asked in shock.

"Brother, how do you know?"

Xiao Chunqiu explained: "The Prince of Zhenbei has issued orders to all the cities in Beijiang to fully recruit soldiers to resist the Xiongnu."

"But hasn't the Prince of Zhenbei been accepting everyone who comes all these years?" Jiang Jinshi felt it was a bit funny, even everyone in the village knew that as long as you went to join the army, the Zhenbei Army would definitely not refuse you.

The struggle with the Xiongnu had lasted for many years, which also led to many orphans and widows in the entire Beijiang. Now the so-called full recruitment must have no effect.

Xiao Chunqiu looked at Jiang Jinshi: "Now recruiting soldiers is already very difficult, the biggest problem is logistics and supplies. Since half a month ago, the soldiers haven't even been able to eat their fill, what can they use to resist the Xiongnu?"

"What about the Imperial Court?" Jiang Jinshi was puzzled. In his view, the Imperial Court shouldn't have no reaction.

"Don't know." Xiao Chunqiu shook his head, obviously not wanting to continue chatting about this topic, "So I don't worry about the government's problem, I care more about, what price does Chief Jiang plan to sell this salt for?"

Jiang Jinshi didn't answer this question, but asked instead: "Does County Magistrate Xiao know where there is rock salt nearby? Even poisonous salt is fine!"

In the eyes of Jiang Jinshi and Li Xinyue, poisonous salt was just salt containing heavy metals or harmful substances, and it would be refined salt once purified.

These words fell into Xiao Chunqiu's ears, but it was not a simple question, but Jiang Jinshi revealed a message to him.

He could turn poisonous salt into refined salt!

Xiao Chunqiu was not very surprised that coarse salt could be turned into refined salt; after all, the refined salt on the market came from this way, it was just that Jiang Jinshi's quality was better.

But if poisonous salt could be turned into refined salt, that would be very different...

At this moment, Xiao Chunqiu's look at Jiang Jinshi changed. Before, selling salt was something that could be done or not, but if Jiang Jinshi really had this ability, then the gold and silver contained in it were indescribable.

"Chief Jiang, it's very presumptuous to ask this!

But I want to know...

Can you turn poisonous salt into refined salt!"