"It's just salt. The meat used in Uncle Hu's shop is bright salt, which is cheaper than official salt and does not contain sand. We use it in all four townships and eight towns." Zhao Ding'an scratched his head and explained, but still
He didn't say anything about going up.
"Oh, that's private salt." Yuan Feng nodded.
"Yes, yes, yes, it's private salt. Official salt is expensive and useless. No one buys it. Let alone us. Even in the county, everyone in the government uses bright salt. There are people in our village who make this. So who is Lao Wu's father?"
, Uncle Chu, he did this when he was young, but later he had his legs broken, so he rested at home."
The fifth boy among the Thirteen Taibos is named Chu Jian. He has a lame father at home, and he doesn’t move around the town very much. He drinks crazy every day, and even his family doesn’t want to see him. His son has also become a
If Yue doesn't go home, he hangs out with his brothers.
"Well, let Wulang go and invite Uncle Chu. Oh no, let's go visit him."
After a while, Chu Jian was called over. The young man was holding a leg of lamb in his hand and chewing it, making his mouth full of oil. He was the best eater among the Thirteen Taibos. It was no wonder that he couldn't walk when he saw the meat.
His family was so poor that they couldn't even afford stick noodle porridge in the past. Ever since he joined Yuan Feng, he had never stopped eating, and he saw that the young man had grown in size.
When he heard that he was going to visit his house, Chu Jian quit. He threw away the leftover sheep bones, wiped the grease nozzle with his sleeve, and said in a low voice: "What are you doing to him? I won't go."
Zhao Ding'an glared: "How dare you not listen to what Jiulang said! Do you still want to make up your mind?"
Chu Jian jumped up and said: "He is just a loser. He knows how to make horses piss and make money all day long. He never cares about the life and death of my mother and me. What should I do with him!"
When he said this, there were tears in the young man's eyes. He thought that his father had never brought him pride and happiness, but only bitterness and frustration.
"Lao Wu, we have something urgent to do with Uncle Chu, and only he can help." Yuan Feng said.
Chu Jian held back his tears, ran out to get something, and came back and said, "Let's go."
A group of people left the Wang family compound - now there were many people living there, and the adjacent courtyard had been taken over and turned into a compound. They walked slowly towards Chu Jian's house. The town was very small, and they arrived in a while.
It was a dilapidated earthen house, the courtyard walls had collapsed, there were no livestock at home, and the house was in complete darkness.
"Mother, mother, Brother Feng and the others are here." Chu Jian pushed open the firewood door and walked in. A woman with a haggard face came out of the house to greet her. When she saw Yuan Feng and others, she greeted warmly: "Brother Feng is here.
Come on, sit down in the room and drink a bowl of water."
Chu Jian said: "Mom, stop being so busy. Where is he? We have something to do with him."
The woman sighed and said, "Your father went out to make money again. Not to mention, he sold our horse at a low price. In exchange for two coins, he drank and gambled. It's really impossible to live like this."
Tears fell down.
Chu Jian stuffed a bag of things in his arms to his mother and said, "Mom, I brought this to you. It's still hot. Eat it while it's hot." Then he said to Yuan Feng, "I know where he is. Let's
Walk."
Yuan Feng looked at the Chu family's stove and saw that it was cold. He said nothing, said goodbye to Chu Jian's mother, and left.
After a while, they came to a shack, where several idle men from the town were playing for money. Chu Jian pointed at one of them and whispered: "That's my dad."
Yuan Feng looked over and saw a thin, dark man with a dirty head and filthy body. One of his legs was broken, and a wooden stake was installed on it. He was sitting on a bench shaking the dice while shouting: "Buy." Ding Li Hands." Hearing a noise here, he turned around and saw that it was Yuan Feng and the others. He quickly put the dice cup down and said, "We'll open it later."
Chu Jian's father walked over crookedly on a wooden leg and shouted to his son: "Your mother asked you to come here? Even though you have become more successful now, you have become the thirteenth Taibao, but you are still my son." As he spoke, he took out the gourd from his arms and took a big sip on the spot.
Chu Jian's face turned red from suppressing his emotions. He turned around and was about to leave, but Yuan Feng held him back.
"Uncle Chu, Auntie didn't ask him to come here, it's me who has something to do with you."
"Hey, it's Brother Feng, hurry up and sit inside."
Although Chu Muzu was drunk, his mind was still sober. He was not afraid of Yuan Feng, but he was afraid of the knife in Yuan Feng's waist. Besides, the security chief on this side was not a joke. It was the county magistrate himself. Even if you are given an official title, you can't afford to offend your own people.
Several other gamblers in the shack are also acquaintances, among them is Lin Carpenter, the father of Lin Lianjiang, the tenth member of the Thirteen Taibao. This guy is from Jiangnan. It is said that he used to have a reputation as a scholar, but later he committed a crime and was sent to the frontier. He was a carpenter in the army. Although his craftsmanship was good, he did not do his job properly. He always liked gambling and pranksters. Like Chu Muzu, he was a famous second-rate man in the town.
Seeing that Mr. Dibao had trouble with Chu Muzu, the others smiled apologetically and avoided it. Chu Muzu cursed at their backs: "You're lucky, if you don't leave, I'll win all your pants."
After scolding, he changed his smile and said to Yuan Feng: "Brother Feng, what do you want from me?"
Yuan Feng said: "The newly arrived magistrate is organizing Baojia. I heard that several nearby forts have also practiced Baoding. The ground has been peaceful since then. But there are so many of us Baojia people and the consumption of food and drink is too high. I'm wondering We have to find some small business to do. We have little capital and can only sell some salt. I heard that Uncle Chu is very knowledgeable about this industry, so my nephew is here to ask for advice. Please give me some advice."
Chu Mu put down the wine gourd he raised to his mouth and his eyes widened.
"Smuggling salt is illegal."
"Uncle Chu, we don't even care about our lives these days, how can we care about what is illegal or illegal? Besides, how can the government care about such trivial matters? The salt we use at home is not all private salt, oh, it is bright salt. "
Chu Muzu scratched his head: "Brother Feng even knows about bright salt. This bright salt is indeed a good thing. It's better than Ningxia's Chi salt and Guanzhong's Daqing salt. It's as bright and clear as a gem, and the taste is right. The price is It’s still cheap, but trafficking is quite risky.”
"Oh? Uncle Chu, tell us, Lao Wu, you go to the dumb aunt and get a pot of good wine, and tell me what I want." When Yuan Feng mentioned the word wine, Chu Muzu's eyes immediately shone, and he Ignoring the son who walked away angrily, he took a sip of wine and started talking.
"This bright salt is all shipped from Xining Prefecture, which is rich in it. I heard that farther west from Xining Prefecture, this stuff is everywhere. It is cheaper than stone and can be eaten with a little processing. But it belongs to the Qiang people. Our Han people's lives are at risk if we casually enter this territory. Even if we establish a relationship with them, whether the cash and goods transactions can be transported back is still a problem. Don't say that no one cares about this. Although the government does not care about it, the big salt lord controls it. Who wants to have a hand in the Bright Salt business? Hehe, have you seen my leg?"
Chu Muzu took a few more sips of wine and continued: "When I went to do this, I was desperate. She was pregnant with a child and wanted to eat a bite of meat but didn't have the money to buy it. I heard that selling smuggled salt can make money quickly.
So I took some young people from the neighboring village to work for a while, and sure enough I made some money. I also accumulated a lot in a few months. The people in the neighboring village saw it with jealousy, so they took advantage of it. Several of them beat me up.
My capital was robbed, and my legs became like this. I crawled foot by foot for more than a hundred miles. When I got home, the key had just hit the ground, and my mother had no milk, and she didn’t even have a bowl of chicken soup during the confinement period.
I can't even drink, I..."
At this point, Chu Muzu choked up and shook the wine bottle. It was already empty. He dropped the wine bottle and said, "I am also a five-foot-tall man. I have been bullied like this. I can't swallow this breath.
But what can I do, they are clan brothers, our Chu family is a single family, we don’t even have any helpers, even if I fight one or two of them to death, what will happen to his mother and baby."
Chu Muzu sighed and shook the wine bottle again, "I'm not a good man, nor a good father. I drink a lot and gamble a lot. This has brought trouble to both my mother and father over the years. They've all been embarrassed by me. You've seen it too.
, the baby didn’t even call me daddy, but what could I do? Later, I thought I’d just forget it and just farm the land honestly. But that group of people in the neighboring village, their business was getting bigger, they had swords and horses, and they took advantage of it.
At night, they pulled up all my crops and killed all the sheep. In short, they didn’t kill me. They just made it hard for me to live. Alas, I was living a miserable life. Only this wine could make me feel better...
"
An extremely suppressed cry came from behind the shack. Yuan Feng pulled the awning open, and it was Chu Jian who was bursting with tears. He took a few steps forward, knelt down with a plop and shouted: "Dad!"
It turned out that the extremely cowardly father had such a story. How could a son be emotionless? Seeing the father and son crying together, Yuan Feng said in a deep voice: "Uncle Chu, can you still ride a horse?"
Chu Muzui was stunned for a moment, then said: "You can ride it!"
"Can you still hold the knife?"
"Hold it!"
"Okay, let's go and get back everything those people owe you to the Chu family!"