Both Su Ren and Hou Jian knew that when they were talking, there were many pairs of ears behind the wall.
After seeing off Hou Jian, Su Ren closed the door and came back. Leng Jun, Huo Laosi and others were all in the hall. Everyone looked at Su Ren, and Su Ren said: "Did you hear that? We were really talking about his family.
orange."
Leng Jun shook his head: "Hey! You people don't speak clearly and clearly, and the people who listen are confused."
Su Ren chuckled: "This is the art of speaking. You have lived in the mountains since you were a child, so how can you understand this?"
Huo Laosi said: "I understand one sentence. It is true that the salt-making craftsmen did not come today, but the county captain suddenly turned to the orange tree. What do you mean? What does his orange tree have to do with us?"
Su Ren stopped playing riddles and said: "Actually, it's nothing. It's just that our craftsmen were stopped by someone."
"Who?" several people said in unison.
"Who else can there be? You can think about it, we have already taken over the private salt business, who else doesn't want us to sell salt?"
"Liu County Cheng!" Leng Yue was the first to react.
Su Ren smiled at Leng Yue. Leng Yue's face suddenly turned red and she quickly lowered her head.
Su Rendao: "That's right. Official salt was originally the only business of Liu Wen's family. Now that we want to compete with him, we are naturally unwilling to do so. Stopping the craftsmen is also a warning to us. Liu Wen has nothing to do with Hou Jian.
There are many ways to deal with us."
"What can we do? Without salt-making craftsmen, how can we cook salt?" Huo Laosi became worried.
"In fact, boiling salt is not a big deal. It's just a time-consuming job. Fourth brother, you go to the nearby village tomorrow to find some people, men, women and children. Ask them to bring their own pots and tell them to give each of them five yuan a month.
Liu Wen wanted to use this move to block us, but he thought wrong. The earth will continue to rotate even if it is separated from us."
"What Earth?" Leng Jun caught the first sentence. There was always something new in Su Ren's mouth, and Leng Jun was very fascinated by it.
Su Ren didn't explain either: "Don't worry about the earth. Tomorrow, Leng Jun will guard the house, and the fourth brother will find someone. We will go to the mountains to cook salt immediately. If Liu Wen wants to go against us, then you can't blame me for being dirty."
The next day, Huo Laosi got up early. It was already the beginning of autumn, and there was no work to do in the fields. The nearby villagers were all idle. When he heard that Laojun was looking for someone, he would pay five yuan a month. Naturally,
They all flocked to Laojun Temple, bringing their own pots with them. There were as many as two to three hundred men, women, old and young. Su Ren refused to refuse anyone who came, even half-year-old children. He kept food at Laojun Temple.
He took them all out, gave each person a little, and then led them into the mountain.
Hawking is twelve years old this year. Seeing so many people wanting to go into the mountains, he must follow them, so Su Ren agreed.
Familiar road, familiar forest. This was the third time Su Ren came in. Every time he came, he really wanted to see the cave where he fell and see if there was still a way back, but he couldn't do it every time.
After walking for two days, we arrived at the brine spring. Su Ren divided the people into three groups. The young and strong ones were responsible for chopping firewood, and the women were responsible for lighting the fire and boiling salt. As for the half-old children, Hawking took charge of sentry. Although this time
There are many of them, but there are so many wolves, insects, tigers and leopards in the unexplored mountains and old forests. I'm not sure when one or two will suddenly appear. It's not easy to make money, and Su Ren doesn't want to see the dead.
.
The women who boiled the salt were also divided into two groups. The first group boiled coarse salt, and the second group boiled refined salt. Su Ren did not intend to do the filtering process in the middle. Su Ren and Huo Laosi provided
I built a shack myself, filtered the very thick brine with charcoal every day, sent the filtered out, and let the second group boil it again, thus obtaining snow-white refined salt.
With more people and greater power, hundreds of people can work very efficiently. They can produce five or six thousand kilograms of refined salt in one month. Fortunately, the brine spring has enough water, otherwise it would have dried up.
After the huge crowd returned to Laojun Temple, Su Ren said nothing and asked Leng Yue to give each person five dollars. This month, Su Ren almost died of exhaustion, filtering the brine from morning to night every day.
, there was no chance to be lazy at all, so she went back to the house to sleep early. The nearby neighbors held the money and excitedly held it in their hands, and Leng Yue's image instantly turned into a female Bodhisattva.
It's the day to get salt again. The salt dealers have tasted the sweetness. The person who got the salt last time sold it off before they moved a few places. If Su Ren didn't have any stock in hand, it would probably be the second time.
Take again.
Before dawn, the salt sellers who collect salt have already started knocking on the door. The last one hundred catties of salt were paid for at four yuan per catty, and the next step is to distribute the salt.
Hawking led several children he met in the mountains, holding sticks in their hands to maintain order, and gave those who tried to cut in line a few hard blows with the sticks. Those who were beaten still had smiles on their faces and behaved well.
Line up again. Leng Yue and Huo Laosi were in charge of everything. Su Ren was relieved. It took two days to distribute salt to everyone.
Huo Laosi was so tired that he was sweating profusely, but his face looked like he had eaten bee dung. While he was busy, he was joking with the people collecting salt.
"Hey, your kid is here too. Isn't your territory in the city? Why are you here too?"
"Well, where is my fourth brother? There is no need to worry about selling such good salt. Those coarse salts are also eaten by people. Mr. Huang said that if I can't get these refined salts this time, I will never get them again.
You bought my salt, you can give me as much as you want this time, as long as you have it."
"Hahaha, you kid really dare to speak. Aren't you afraid that Liu Xiancheng will cause trouble for you?"
"This is official salt, not private salt. What can you do if you ask me?"
Su Ren was lying under the tree, listening to the conversation of these people, and snorted in his heart. Well, you Liu Wen actually gave me a stumbling block, okay, let's see who is better.
Leng Yue was also very busy. She kept writing and drawing on the bamboo slips. After writing one volume, she took another one. She sat there all day long, listening to the flattery of those men. She felt very happy. She was a bit sharp-eyed.
Yes, one lady shouted at a time, which made Leng Yue feel very happy. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and she didn’t dare to raise her head, but her hands wrote quickly.
A total of 5,324 kilograms of salt were distributed, which means that by this time next month, there will be 21,296 coins in the room specially set aside by Laojun Guan to store money.
Excluding the 5,000 yuan given to Hou Jian and the 5,000 yuan given to Chang Shi, the balance is more than 10,000 yuan.
Su Ren calculated this number in a few seconds, and everyone almost fainted. No one had ever seen so much money.
"Tell me again, how much money have we made this month?" Stern's chest was rising and falling, and his breathing was heavy.
Su Ren looked at the few people and smiled and said: "Don't be so excited. From now on, you will almost always have this amount of money every month. It will only be more, not less."
"Ten thousand dollars, how much food can we buy? We can't eat it all in ten years, right?" Huo Laosi excitedly walked around the room, stretching his fingers for a long time but still couldn't figure out how much food he could buy.
Mrs. Huo Qian held her daughter and cried like a human being. There were tears on her face, but she was smiling.
Su Ren took a deep breath, stood up and patted his butt: "After all the excitement, we have to get to work. Fourth brother, let's go to the county town tomorrow and use all the money to buy food. After another month, our good days will come.
"
Huo Laosi nodded repeatedly and agreed.
Su Ren's salt has just been put on the market, and the effect has not yet appeared. Liu Wen must not have noticed Su Ren's fierce counterattack at this time. When he entered the grain store, the brother with bad breath happened to be on duty. When he saw Su Ren, he sneered:
"What? Are you here to buy food again? Do you have to pay on credit today?"
Su Ren ignored him and poured all the money in the bag on the ground: "Count it. When you finish counting, you will get the rice. You won't have to ask Liu County Cheng again this time, right?"
Brother Bad Breath smiled disdainfully: "No, my master said that as long as Lao Junguan has money, he can sell any amount of rice." With a wave of his hand, several servants came over to count the money. Brother Bad Breath warned: "Count carefully.
These are the offspring of Mr. Su’s money, we can’t let others suffer, hahahaha..."
He had nothing to say to this kind of loser. Su Ren ignored him. This time Su Ren took out all the money Lao Jun Guan had, a total of five hundred dollars, which could buy ten stones of grain. He sat in front of the grain and rice store and looked at the street.
People were coming and going, waiting for the rice to come out. Not far across the street was Liu Wen's salt shop. Unlike the bustling crowd last time I came here, there were not many people here today.
Su Ren secretly laughed in his heart, wondering if Liu Wen would be in pain next month. It seemed necessary to talk to Hou Jian, otherwise when Liu Wen really did something, it would be difficult for him and the others to deal with it.
Let Huo Laosi drive the bullock cart back first. Su Ren left the city and turned to the barracks. Because of Hou Jian's relationship, the soldiers at the door were very polite to Su Ren. As soon as Su Ren reported his name, there were people walking as fast as flying to the Hou Mansion.
Report. When Su Ren came to the Hou Mansion, the old man with a dead face was standing outside the door.
This time Su Ren didn't wait, Hou Jian was in the living room. Seeing Su Ren, Hou Jian laughed loudly: "Master Su is really awesome. Yesterday's salt production was better than last month's. It seems that my oranges were sold at a good price.
"
Su Ren nodded: "Don't worry, Captain, as soon as the payment is recovered, the Captain's share will be delivered."
Hou Jian chuckled: "It's easy to say, you and I are brothers. We won't talk about these vulgar things today. On the fourth day, prepare a banquet. I want to have a drink with Mr. Su."
The dead-faced old man agreed, turned around and went out to prepare.
The banquets of the Han Dynasty were simple and practical. Large pieces of meat and large pots of wine were the protagonists of the entire banquet. It was beef, which surprised Su Ren. Farm cattle are something that is prohibited from killing, but Hou Jian actually broke the law.
, it seems that this remote place is really high in the mountains and far away from the emperor, and no one can control it.
Bronze Jue was very uncomfortable drinking, and the wine was bland and tasteless, not even as good as the beer of later generations. After drinking two jue, Su Ren put down the wine jue, cupped his hands and said: "I thank you for reminding me last time, and I can't thank you enough. This time I have something even more interesting."
I would like to ask the captain for more help, which can be regarded as contributing to our business..."
"Hahaha!" Before Su Ren could finish what he said, Hou Jian quickly interrupted: "Drink, today we only drink and don't discuss business." (To be continued)