The drought is getting worse and worse. Wu Shigong has now formed a group with Yao Yuanwai and other gentry. Yao Yuanwai and the others have had water disputes with neighboring areas several times. Whenever that happened, Wu Shigong always sent out soldiers to intimidate the other party.
.
However, Wu Shigong's deterrent effect seemed to be getting worse and worse. Seeing that the soldiers only blocked the fighting without taking action, they were like a group of scarecrows. Some people in the neighboring areas became bolder and continued to fight.
The people in the local area were encouraged to cause trouble.
Seeing that the situation seemed to be out of control. One day, Wu Shigong led the cavalry and soldiers, led by Yao Yuanwai and others who were familiar with the local situation, and acted in unison to kill the dozen or so people who had instigated and caused the most violence.
They were arrested and beheaded together in public display.
At this moment, everything was calm. Wu Shigong also sent cavalry teams to patrol the area every day in the following days. In this way, order was restored under Wu Shigong's high pressure. And this area also became the entire county.
, the place where drought relief and self-rescue work is best done.
Of course, these lives were reported to Qi County Magistrate by Yao Yuanwai. This is what he told Qi County Magistrate: "These dozen scum were all killed by righteous people in the countryside, and they don't know who the righteous people who killed them were."
who?"
However, it was one thing for County Magistrate Qi to open his eyes and close his eyes. Of course, he also had channels to know: it was Wu Shigong's soldiers who killed these dozen people. Therefore, this made him very unhappy.
County Magistrate Qi didn't think Wu Shigong's approach was wrong. Although Magistrate Qi might not be able to kill as decisively as Wu Shigong, he also understood that in this extraordinary period, thunderous measures were still needed.
What makes County Magistrate Qi unhappy with Wu Shigong is that in this county, the only person who can control the life and death of ordinary people is Magistrate Qi. Now Wu Shigong has killed someone, but he didn’t know before he killed someone.
Hui Qi County Magistrate. This clearly means that Wu Shigong, a thousand households, does not take the county magistrate Qi County seriously at all!
Of course Wu Shigong didn't know that Magistrate Qi was unhappy with him. He was also worried about one thing right now. That was: Wu Shigong had run out of cash around him.
In modern times, when Wu Shigong had cash, he deposited it in the bank. When he needed money, he took it from the bank. This behavior has become a habit. But now, Wu Shigong only has more than 30,000 taels of banknotes around him, and he has to withdraw cash to pay back the money.
It was very inconvenient to have to go to Jining to get it.
Next, Wu Shigong needed money for a lot of things. At least next month, the military salaries of these soldiers would have to be paid. Therefore, Wu Shigong decided to go to Jining in person. This time when he arrived in Jining, he simply gave all the money.
Proposed.
Also, there was not much iron material left in Yang Goudan's blacksmith workshop. Wu Shigong thought of buying it together this time.
Knowing that Wu Shigong was going to Jining, Yuan Xingshan also proposed to go with him. He told Wu Shigong: "Sir, the river is about to be unfrozen and ships can be navigable. The young man and the old man will go to Jining together to purchase more goods.
Ship it here to sell it. This can be regarded as the official opening of our business store."
After listening to Yuan Xingshan's words, Wu Shigong was right. Wu Shigong could not leave Qianhu House often, so he could only ride horses to come and go quickly. However, if Yuan Xingshan used ships to transport goods, Wu Shigong could purchase some items that Qianhu House urgently needed.
The goods were shipped to Qianhusuo together by ship.
The most urgent thing now is gunpowder. After all, Jining is a transportation hub that goes from north to south, and the amount of goods there is abundant and the price is cheap.
After the decision was made, Wu Shigong set off immediately. Because the amount of silver withdrawn this time was huge, Wu Shigong brought with him a 150-man cavalry escort led by Xue Yongli. Zhang Biao and Li Sanhe, because of their experience in the martial arts world,
, were also brought along.
Wu Shigong and his party all dressed up as businessmen. In addition to carrying short weapons and handguns, they also loaded several large carts with firecrackers, spears and armor. Yuan Xingshan purchased six or seven carts in the small town.
Bring the local specialties from Guide to Jining.
After four days of journey, Wu Shigong and his party arrived in Jining. Wu Shigong went to the bank first to collect money. Yuan Xingshan first sold these specialties of Guide.
Both ends of the matter went very smoothly. Although it was delayed for a day because Wu Shigong got too much money, Wu Shigong still got the money smoothly. And Yuan Xingshan found a large trading house in Jining to sell these Guide specialties
, all sold to them. This change of hands made more than two hundred taels of silver.
This money is easy to earn. Wu Shigong curiously asked Yuan Xingshan why. Yuan Xingshan told Wu Shigong: "The person from the big trading company told the younger one: He would not have made so much money in the first place. But recently, the caravan coming to Jining from Guide
The quantity seems to be much smaller. Therefore, the prices of Guide’s specialties are also a bit higher.”
"Why?" Wu Shigong then asked Yuan Xingshan.
Yuan Xingshan was also confused and replied: "This little kid doesn't know."
I didn’t think about things I couldn’t understand. Wu Shigong then worked with Yuan Xingshan to hire ships and purchase goods. The purchase of other goods was also very smooth, but gunpowder was a military material and was basically not available on the market. Wu Shigong
I had to buy a lot of sulfur and saltpeter to mix into gunpowder.
However, in the Ming Dynasty, sulfur and saltpeter were basically used as medicinal materials. Therefore, Wu Shigong had to go to pharmacies to buy them.
After two days of purchasing like this, someone came to the inn where Wu Shigong was staying. After that person sneakily tested Wu Shigong a few words, Wu Shigong immediately knew that this person was the middleman who contacted the gunpowder business.
Wu Shigong was also very happy. He showed his official seal of Qianhu to the middleman, and the middleman immediately felt relieved. After the price was agreed upon, the middleman quickly shipped out a shipload from the military warehouse that protected the water transportation.
Gunpowder. Wu Shigong was overjoyed. In addition to paying the gunpowder, he also gave the middleman an introduction fee of ten taels of silver.
Wu Shigong also introduced the middleman to Yuan Xingshan, and asked Yuan Xingshan to find this middleman when he went to Jining to buy gunpowder. In the future, Wu Shigong no longer had to worry about the gunpowder problem.
When purchasing iron materials, Yuan Xingshan also told Wu Shigong: If Wu Shigong only purchases iron materials in small quantities, he only needs to go to several nearby prefectures to buy them. If Wu Shigong wants to purchase iron materials in large quantities, he will have to go to Nanyang Prefecture or Xuzhou.
I went to buy it. Because this is the place closest to Senhusho where the iron ore is mined.
These goods purchased by Wu Shigong, plus some goods purchased by Yuan Xingshan, were loaded on five ships in total. Yuan Xingshan and Wu Shigong said: "Sir, this ship has to enter the Yellow River before it can reach the river where the town is located. So,
The entire trip by boat takes a little over a month.”
Wu Shigong nodded and said he understood. However, Wu Shigong's sixth sense always made Wu Shigong feel a little uncomfortable. Wu Shigong always felt that there was something abnormal about the decrease in the number of caravans arriving in Jining.
Therefore, before the fleet set off, Wu Shigong made a temporary decision: Wu Shigong left only a hundred guards and brought 5,000 taels of silver and placed them on the empty horses. Wu Shigong and the others took the empty horses back to Qianhu Station. The rest
The remaining silver was protected by the guards and transported back to Qianhusuo by ship.
