The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 80: It is inconvenient for the bandits to cross the border

Madam Gong Er frowned slightly: "You want me to go and suppress bandits? I am a bandit myself. County Magistrate Wu doesn't think this request is a little bit..."

Wu Jialiang: "I also know that this request is a bit strange. If it were any other king, I would definitely not ask him for help. It is because King Gong is not an ordinary hero that I dare to make this unreasonable request. According to my recent observations, King Gong raised an army because he had the ambition to fight against the Jin. Now he is entrenched in Dongmiaozi Village, managing the local area, and has not harmed the people in the slightest. He is devoted to preparing for the fight against the Jin. Such loyalty deserves my respect. This time, I also want to ask King Gong to consider the righteousness of fighting against the Jin and suppress the bandits and ensure peace in the rear. When the Jin bandits come again in the future, the whole county can work together."

After hearing this, Madam Gong Er felt a little happy, thinking to herself: After receiving the guidance of the True Lord, I have been working hard to become a "village sage", and my reputation has improved. I used to be regarded as a thief, but now even officials regard me as a hero.

The order given to her by the True Lord was to "restore order." Madam Gong Er would certainly not refuse Wu Jialiang's request, but she also had other concerns: "County Lieutenant Wu, our Jimo Volunteer Army is only known to a few people in Jimo County, but in Laiyang County, no one knows our reputation yet."

"If I lead my army to Laiyang County now, even though I'm going to suppress bandits, the magistrate, lieutenant, and common people won't think so. They'll just think I'm going to kill and burn people. Then I'll not only have to face the Laiyang bandits, but I might also have to fight against the archers organized by the lieutenant, the garrison troops, and the militia led by the gentry..."

Wu Jialiang's expression turned serious. "You don't have to worry about the Laiyang County Magistrate and the County Lieutenant, but you have to be on guard against the local militia."

Indeed, this is a problem!

The rebel army crossed the border to suppress the bandits, but they could not use the name of Wu Jialiang. In the eyes of the people in Laiyang County, it would be a group of vicious bandits entering the country. Wouldn't that scare them to death?

By then, the magistrate and lieutenant of Laiyang County will certainly be timid and will not move, but the local gentry of Laiyang County will definitely take action. Each gentry will take out their own servants and slaves, organize militia and militia, and take pot lids, hoes and dung ladles to form many teams to "protect themselves."

This is the so-called Lijia system!
The operation of Lijia did not require any mobilization from the government, and was entirely managed by local gentry.

The rebel army might have to fight the militiamen in Laiyang County before they even have a chance to fight the bandits.

That would be very ugly!

Wu Jialiang frowned and pondered...

You are oversimplifying the problem. After he became an official, he has been thinking about things from an official's perspective. He is an official, and the common people will not organize militia to resist him.

But after listening to what Madam Gong Er said, I realized that the problems the bandits faced when crossing the border were no less than those faced by the government soldiers.

If Gong Er Niangzi was a group of vicious bandits, the local militia could just destroy them, but Gong Er Niangzi obviously did not want to be an enemy of the people.

How can this be good?

Just as he was racking his brains for a solution, a rebel soldier on guard in the distance shouted, "The boat is coming, the boat is coming..."

Wu Jialiang looked in the direction the man pointed and saw a small ship on the sea, heading towards the shore of Guanhai Salt Field. "Huh? A merchant?"

Madam Gong Er winked at him and said with a smile, "Salt smuggler! County Magistrate Wu wouldn't want to arrest you, would he?"

Wu Jialiang smiled bitterly. "If I had run into him elsewhere, I would have certainly arrested him. But how can I arrest him if I had run into him here? I'm not a county lieutenant now. I'm just a businessman who came to visit the sea salt fields to discuss business. Don't forget that."

The merchant ship soon docked, and then a young businessman jumped off the ship. He was wearing merchant clothes, but Wu Jialiang could tell at a glance from his skin color and movements that he was a tough guy.

Madam Gong Er clasped her fists towards the merchant and said, "Mr. Gao, it's been two months since we last met."

The visitor was none other than Gao Jin, a sea merchant who had been here once before in early February. "I just went to Dongmiaozi Village, and the people there told me to come directly to the salt field to purchase goods from now on, so I sailed here directly."

Madam Gong Er smiled and said, "You can come directly to the salt field to purchase the goods. This will save me the trouble of transporting the salt back and forth, and it will save my people a lot of effort."

Gao Jin smiled: "That's right. It saves a little money, although it's not much, it's still money."

Madam Gong Er said: "The more salt there is, the more money there will be for foot traffic, which is not a small amount." When Gao Jin heard about the high amount of salt, his eyes lit up: "I like high amounts of salt."

Madam Gong Er stopped talking and waved her hand, saying, "Come on, move the salt onto Mr. Gao's boat."

The porters who had been prepared long ago immediately started working, carrying large bags of salt onto Gao Jin's boat... Every time a bag was carried up, the people on the boat would count it and finally settle the bill together.

A sailor on the boat took a handful of salt, examined it carefully, licked it, and then shouted to Gao Jin, "Boss, this salt is good! It's not too bitter and can be sold at a good price."

Gao Jin was quite curious when he heard this, so he took some salt and licked it. After tasting it carefully, he found that the salt was really good, with the bitterness greatly reduced. It could be seen that the impurities in the seawater were removed more cleanly, and the salt was of top quality. Madam Gong Er had no intention of raising the price for such good salt, so he made a huge profit.

But after a while, Gao Jin started to feel something was wrong. He'd run out of salt by about this time before, but why was he still loading it onto the boat? Bag after bag, could he never finish it?

Gao Jin couldn't help but ask, "How many more are there?"

Madam Gong Er: "Not much, but it's enough to fill your ship. Didn't I tell you last time? Prepare more boats."

Gao Jin wiped his sweat and thought: I didn’t know you had so many goods this time.

He couldn't help but look into the salt field, and then he saw the brick pool at a glance.

His eyes lit up at the sight of these new ponds, and he immediately understood: "So you have a new salt-making technology. No wonder there is so much salt, and the quality is so high. I'll take this new batch of salt to the south, and it will make the official salt producers cry for mercy."

Madam Gong Er smiled and said, "Do you want to learn?"

Gao Jin immediately shook his head: "No, no, no."

Stealing other people's technology is a big taboo in this era. Many technologies are passed down to sons but not daughters.

He even deliberately turned his head away from looking in the direction of the brick pool, not wanting to offend his business partners and cut off his supply of goods.

Wu Jialiang's eyes darted around when he saw this scene, thinking: This salt merchant knows the rules! Damn, people in the underworld are more disciplined. The officials in the officialdom are not as reliable as them. I'm really unhappy as an official. I really miss the days when I was a thief.

Gao Jin looked at the salt that was constantly being loaded onto the boat and couldn't help but sigh. "I'm screwed this time. I didn't expect there was so much good salt here. I have another boat that went to the Haiyang Salt Field. That boat must not be full. After I meet up with that boat, I'll go to Guanhai Salt Field again and fill that boat up before returning south."

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention.

When Wu Jialiang heard the words "Haiyang Salt Field," his eyes lit up. "Haiyang Salt Field, you mean the one on the border between Laiyang County and Muping County, right?"

Gao Jin: "Who is this gentleman?"

Madam Gong Er quickly said, "I forgot to introduce you. This gentleman's surname is Wu, and he is..."

Wu Jialiang quickly said, "My name is Wu Yong, and I'm a salt merchant traveling overland."

Gao Jin smiled and said, "So you're a friend from the underworld. I'm honored. Why are you asking about the Haiyang Salt Field? If you want to buy salt, there's no need. The new salt from the Guanhai Salt Field is much better than the Haiyang Salt Field, and there's more of it. Since you already have connections here, why bother going to Haiyang?"

Wu Jialiang: "I'm just interested in Laiyang County. Since you're doing business in Haiyang, you must know some wealthy families in Laiyang County. Could you introduce me to some local gentry?"

When Madam Gong Er heard what he said, she suddenly understood that Wu Jialiang was planning to contact the gentry in Laiyang County to find a way to solve the problem of the rebel army crossing the border.

(End of this chapter)