Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

The drought is getting worse.Instead, Wu Shigong has formed a group with Yao Yuanwai and the gentry.Yao Yuanwai and the others had disputes over water sources with the adjacent land several times, and Wu Shigong always dispatched soldiers to intimidate the other party at that time.

However, the effect of Wu Shigong's deterrence seems to be getting worse and worse.Seeing that the soldiers just blocked the fight with weapons and didn't do anything, it seemed like a group of scarecrows.Some people in the neighboring realm became daring, and they continued to encourage the people in the local realm to make trouble.

Seeing that the situation seemed to be a little out of control.One day, Wu Shigong led the cavalry and soldiers, and under the leadership of people familiar with the local conditions sent by Yao Yuanwai, they acted in unison, arrested the most vicious instigators, and beheaded them together to show the public.

This time, everything was calm.Wu Shigong also sent cavalry patrols nearby every day to deter them in the days to come.In this way, under Wu Shigong's high pressure, order was restored here.And this piece of land has also become the best place in the entire county to do the best work of drought resistance and self-rescue.

Of course, Yao Yuanwai reported these lives to Qi County Magistrate.He said this to County Magistrate Qi: "These dozen or so scum were all killed by the righteous people in the countryside, and I don't know who the righteous people who killed them were?"

However, it is one thing for Magistrate Qi to open his eyes and close his eyes. Of course, he also has channels to know that it was Wu Shigong's soldiers who killed these dozen people.So, it made him very unhappy.

It's not that Magistrate Qi thinks Wu Shigong's actions are wrong.Although County Magistrate Qi may not be able to kill as decisively as Wu Shigong, he also understands that in this extraordinary period, thunderous means are still needed.

What makes Qi County Magistrate unhappy with Wu Shigong is: in this county, the only person who can hold the power over the life and death of ordinary people is Qi County Magistrate.But now it's fine for Wu Shigong to kill someone, but before he killed someone, he didn't know that the magistrate Qi would call.This clearly means that Wu Shigong, a thousand households, didn't take the county magistrate Qi seriously at all!

Of course Wu Shigong didn't know that magistrate Qi was unhappy with him.He is also worried about one thing now.That is: the cash around Wu Shigong will be exhausted.

When Wu Shigong was in modern times, he deposited cash in the bank when he had cash.Take money from the bank when you need it.This behavior has become a habit.But now, Wu Shigong only has more than 3 taels of silver bills with him, and he has to go to Jining to get the cash, which is very inconvenient.

And next, Wu Shigong needs to use money in many places.At least next month, the military pay of these soldiers will be paid.Therefore, Wu Shigong decided: go to Jining for a visit in person.This time when I arrived in Jining, I simply took out all the money.

Also, in Yang Goudan's blacksmith workshop, there are not many iron materials.Wu Shigong thought about buying together this time.

Knowing that Wu Shigong was going to Jining, Yuan Xingshan also proposed to go with him.He told Wu Shigong: "My lord, the river is about to unfreeze now. The boats are also navigable. The little ones will go to Jining with the adults to buy more goods and ship them here for sale. This is also our business. The stack is officially open."

After hearing Yuan Xingshan's words, Wu Shigong thought it was right.Wu Shigong couldn't leave the Qianhu House often, so he could only come and go quickly on horseback.However, if Yuan Xingshan transported commercial goods by ship, Wu Shigong could purchase some goods urgently needed by Qianhu, and ship them to Qianhu Office together.

The most urgent thing now is gunpowder.Because, after all, Jining is a transportation hub for north-south travel, where the goods are abundant and the prices are cheap.

After the decision was made, Wu Shigong set off immediately.Because of the huge amount of silver extracted this time, Wu Shigong brought along the 150 cavalry guards led by Xue Yongli.Zhang Biao and Li Sanhe were also brought along because of their Jianghu experience.

Wu Shigong and his party all dressed up as businessmen. In addition to the short weapons and pistols that they carried with them, the firecrackers, riding spears and armor were loaded into several carts.Yuan Xingshan bought six or seven carts of Guide's local specialties in the small town again, and brought them to Jining together.

Still after four days' journey, Wu Shigong and his party arrived in Jining.Wu Shigong first went to the bank to get the silver.And Yuan Xingshan first sold these special products of Guide.

Things went smoothly on both ends.Although it took a day for Wu Shigong to get too much silver, Wu Shigong still got the silver smoothly.And Yuan Xingshan found a big business house in Jining, and sold all these special products of Guide to them.This change of hands actually earned more than 200 taels of silver.

This money is also easy to earn.Wu Shigong curiously asked Yuan Xingshan why.Yuan Xingshan told Wu Shigong: "The man from the big business told the small one that he would not have earned so much. But recently, the number of caravans from Guide to Jining seems to have decreased a lot. Therefore, the special products from Guide are The price is also higher.”

"Why?" Wu Shigong then asked Yuan Xingshan.

Yuan Xingshan replied in a daze, "This little one doesn't know either."

Don't think about things you don'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 is military supplies, which are basically not available in the market.Wu Shigong had no choice but to buy a lot of sulfur and saltpeter and go back to mix it into gunpowder.

But in the Ming Dynasty, sulfur and saltpeter were basically used as medicinal materials.Therefore, Wu Shigong had no choice but to go to one pharmacy to buy it.

After two days of purchasing in this way, someone came to the inn where Wu Shigong was staying.After the man sneaked a few words to Wu Shigong, Wu Shigong immediately knew that this person was the middleman who contacted the gunpowder business.

Wu Shigong was also very straightforward, and showed his official seal of a thousand households to the middleman, who immediately felt relieved.After negotiating the price, the middleman quickly shipped out a boatload of gunpowder from the military barracks warehouse protecting the water transportation.Wu Shigong was overjoyed, and in addition to paying for 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 next few days, Wu Shigong no longer has to worry about the issue of gunpowder.

When purchasing iron materials, Yuan Xingshan also told Wu Shigong: If Wu Shigong only purchases iron materials in small batches, in fact, he only needs to go to a few nearby prefectures to buy them.If Wu Shigong wants to buy iron materials in large quantities.Then you have to go to Nanyang Fu or Xuzhou to buy it.Because, this is the place closest to the iron mine of Qianhusuo.

These goods purchased by Wu Shigong, plus some commercial goods purchased by Yuan Xingshan, were loaded on five ships in total.Yuan Xingshan and Wu Shigong said: "My lord, this boat has to enter the Yellow River before it can reach the river where the town is located. Therefore, the entire journey of the boat will take over a month."

Wu Shigong nodded, indicating that he understood.However, somewhere, Wu Shigong's sixth sense made Wu Shigong feel a little uncomfortable.Wu Shigong always felt that the reduction of Guide's caravan to Jining was always a bit abnormal.

Therefore, before the fleet set off, Wu Shigong made an impromptu decision: Wu Shigong himself only left one hundred guards, and took 5000 taels of silver and placed them on empty horses.Wu Shigong and the others took those empty horses back to Qianhu House.The rest of the guards guarded the remaining silver and shipped it back to Qianhusuo.