Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 288 Salt War (Part )

Ah Hui watched Xu Lixin and others slowly leave with the convoy.

Xu Jin followed Ah Hui and asked, "Brother Cai, are we just going to let them go like this?"

Ah Hui smiled and said, "I didn't expect them to cooperate. After all, they are used to eating delicacies from land and sea. If you ask them to eat pickled vegetable steamed buns, they will definitely not be able to do it."

At this point, Ah Hui shook his head and said, "Sure enough, the scholar is right. These people want to squeeze the bones and suck the marrow out of the common people. Just wait and see. This matter is not over yet."

Xu Jin showed admiration on his face and said, "The old man Jinglüe always keeps the common people in mind. If we just give them rock salt as they say, we can easily make a fortune every day. However, the common people will suffer. Not only do they have to pay a high price for salt, but the salt is also mixed with mud and sand. Alas."

Ah Hui nodded and said, "The scholar is a great scholar of classics, and his subject is Mencius. The people are more important to him than anything else, so even if this will cause these people to attack him, the scholar will still benefit the people.

General Xu, you have been with the scholar for quite some time, so you should be able to understand this."

Xu Jinshen agreed with this, and thinking of the three major disciplines that Su Yun enforced in the army, his expression became even more solemn.

It is easy to shout some slogans at ordinary times, but being able to remain firm in one's heart in the face of major interests is the real practice.

After experiencing this, Xu Jin felt different again.

When Ah Hui saw Xu Jin's expression, he was also touched. In the past few years, he had been following Su Yun. Although he had been dealing with business matters, he had never stopped learning. What he learned was naturally what Su Yun wrote. Otherwise, how could he keep up with Su Yun's pace.

The more he studied, the more he felt the profoundness of Su Yun's expositions. He also often advised the people around him, hoping that they would be closer to Su Yun in terms of thinking.

Thinking of this, Ah Hui smiled and said, "General Xu, let's go back. They will definitely not give up. It's time to implement our plan."

Ah Hui and Xu Jin returned to the lobby, and were immediately greeted by a capable young man. Ah Hui said, "Call a meeting of managers at all levels."

The capable young man took the order and walked away quickly. Xu Jin said with envy: "These young men under you are better than the shopkeepers outside. I don't know where you found them from."

Ah Hui smiled. In recent years, the egg-filled pancake business in Bian Jing has been growing, and with the increasingly large supply chain operations, many outstanding young people have emerged. Ah Hui consciously selected these young people, taught them business skills, and also implemented Su Yun's ideas in the business intentionally or unintentionally.

After several years of tempering, these young people naturally look very outstanding. Compared with those shopkeepers, they may be a little worse in dealing with people, but these require accumulation of experience. But in terms of the ability to do things, these young people are really strong.

This time, Xu Lixin and other big salt smugglers are unwilling to cooperate, and there may be a salt war. Regarding this matter, Ah Hui is not afraid, but is eager to try.

When in Bian Jing, he led Ah Hu and his men to fight against those local tyrants countless times. Whether it was market competition or real fighting, they had never been defeated.

I heard that the salt smugglers are real desperadoes. I hope they won’t let me down.

Soon, a dozen smart and capable young people came to the lobby.

Ah Hui waved his hand and said, "Please report on how the channels in the counties and cities in Fuyan Road are going."

A tall young man stepped forward first and said, "I took people to visit 30 major salt shops in the Baoan Army. Their attitudes varied, but in the end, they either firmly refused or declined politely, saying that they already had stable supply channels. Some of them were even salt shops opened by the big salt smugglers themselves, and their attitudes were very bad."

Ah Hui nodded and said, "Is there no one willing to sell our rock salt?"

The tall young man nodded and said, "No, they have many concerns and are unwilling to agree."

Ah Hui nodded and said, "Next."

The next group of young people reported back, but without exception, few were successful. Although some salt shops agreed to give it a try, their demands were excessive, requiring them to hold the goods directly, with outrageous payment terms, and some even demanding annual settlement.

The situation suddenly became very serious, but Ah Hui laughed and said, "I originally wanted to give them a chance, so if that's the case, don't blame us.

The shops near these salt shops have done some research and reported back to us. If you can rent it, then rent it. If you can buy it, then buy it. I don’t believe that people won’t know the value of good salt at a good price!”

All of the young people laughed immediately, looking quite excited. They all wanted to open their own shops and get rid of all the original salt merchants. This way their profits would be higher, so why should they give them a share of the profits?

Now that they were forced to this point, it actually fulfilled their wishes. At this moment, the young people took out lists one after another. The addresses of various stores were complete on the list, and all the people were very clear. Some even analyzed the background of the owners and how to take over the stores.

Ah Hui laughed out loud after seeing this and said, "It seems like you didn't discuss this properly with the salt merchants. You're all just waiting here, right?"

The young men kept apologizing, saying that the salt merchants were ungrateful and so on. Only then did they prepare for a head-on confrontation.

Ah Hui naturally didn't worry about these things and started to arrange the recruitment.

When it comes to recruiting, A Hui specifically consulted Xu Jin about whether there are some old soldiers in the army who are getting older and can be laid off. Xu Jin quickly reported the matter.

Naturally, there are many such people in the army, whether it is the Imperial Guards, the Wing Army, or even the Qiang Army, all of them will face such a situation, but they have no place to be arranged before, so they can only stay in the army to do miscellaneous work.

Now that Ahui is willing to accept it, this is naturally a win-win for both parties.

Ah Hui naturally had his considerations for accepting these veterans. The salt business was different from other industries. Most of the other industries were not too bloody, but the profit in the salt business was too high. Therefore, the salt smugglers were very cruel. Once you could not compete head-on, you had to be on guard against them using force.

Although there are troops protecting Fuyan Road, this business must eventually be done on other routes. It is certain that the troops on other routes will collude with these salt smugglers in private, and then there will be no one to protect them.

Therefore, it is necessary to increase the military force of each salt shop, and when necessary, violence must be fought with violence.

As for this point, Ah Hui, who had dealt with those local tyrants in Bian Jing, knew the key points very well and naturally would not be unprepared.

Therefore, Ah Hui even wanted all the guys in the salt shop to be from the military, preferably those who had fought in wars, so that if a real war broke out, they would be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

When the matter was reported to Qi Keyong, Qi Keyong and others were overjoyed. Without even waiting for Su Yun's consent, they began to screen the soldiers in the army one by one. In the end, there were nearly two thousand people on the list.

These two thousand imperial guards are all over 40 years old, and most of them have served in the army for 10 to 20 years. Although they can still fight in the battlefield, their physical strength is no longer as good as that of young people.

Especially during this large-scale drill, these imperial guards were no longer able to keep up. If they were forced into society, they would likely become a destabilizing factor for society. But it was a great thing that Ah Hui was able to accept them now.

Moreover, this salt shop is also the property of the Fuyan Road Army, so it is extremely appropriate to recruit them into it.

Ah Hui was also extremely quick, ordering his men to attack everywhere and buy up shops on a large scale. Rock salt was also quickly transported into various shops under the escort of the Xiang army, and the imperial guards acting as shop assistants also arrived quickly.

Baoan Army, Jintang City.

Jintang City is a fairly large city in the Bao'an Army. It is also a place with very prosperous business and is the commercial center of nearby towns and cities.

As the year draws to a close, Jintang City becomes more and more lively.

This year, Fuyan Road won a great victory, and the Western Xia army was no longer able to attack. It seemed that this year could be a good year, so the people were very happy. Therefore, whether they were rich or poor, they all wanted to have a good New Year.

Therefore, Jintang City is bustling every day, and many people from nearby areas come here to buy New Year's goods.

Mao Yuzhou had just returned from the Suide Army. The Suide Army's fortresses were basically destroyed by the Western Xia army. Post-war reconstruction required a large number of manpower, and the Suide Army's manpower alone was not enough. So an engineering team came here to recruit people. He worked for the Suide Army for two months, and this year he can have a good year.

He bought several feet of beautiful cloth, intending to make some nice clothes for his wife and children at home. He also had to buy some New Year's goods. Mao Yuzhou even gritted his teeth and bought 20 kilograms of fatty pork!
These twenty kilograms of pork are really a big deal!
He bought twenty kilograms of fatty pork, intending to smoke it into bacon. This way, if his wife and children felt hungry after the New Year, they could cut it into small pieces and cook something with it, and the taste of meat would satisfy their cravings.

However, after buying the meat, Mao Yuzhou felt a little regretful. He bought so much meat, and it would take a lot of salt to pickle it, and that salt was very expensive!
But now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to buy salt. I can't spend half my fortune on this meat and eat it all during the New Year, right?
That would be too wasteful. If my wife knew about this, she would keep nagging about it until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Then go buy some salt.

Mao Yuzhou gritted his teeth. What else could he do now that things had come to this?

He followed his memory and went to the salt shop in the city, but on the way, he found that there were many people queuing in front of him. Mao Yuzhou looked at the shop sign and recognized one of the words "salt". He was suddenly surprised: When did a salt shop appear here?

He hurried over to take a closer look, but was scolded, "Get in line! You want to cut in line? See if my fist will let you through!"

(End of this chapter)