A large-scale military operation was launched in the north, and Wan Lei was deeply affected. As a postmaster, he had to do a good job of receiving passing troops. He had to receive at least four or five groups of passing troops a day. Just preparing tea was enough to keep him busy.
Well, if it weren't for the oil stove, I'm afraid the firewood that would have been burned would have taken up a whole room.
The worst thing is the common people nearby. They have to be expropriated to build roads and transport food. Since ancient times, the state collects taxes and the people pay taxes. This is a matter of course. The so-called rule of the world is not the king's soil and the water's edge. Is it the king's rule?
Sir, in addition to paying land tax and head tax, ordinary people also have to perform corvee labor.
To put it bluntly, corvee is a coolie tax. It is said that if you have money, you can contribute, and if you have the ability, you can not enjoy the rights, but you can never escape the obligations. Building river embankments, working as errands for inns, and repairing roads are all the obligations that ordinary people should fulfill. As for ordinary people,
How many times a year you go out to serve, that is, it is the official who has the final say. Once an official document comes down, you have to do it with your life. Of course, it is for nothing.
As a newly settled place, the people in Beiping have been suffering from the military disaster for a long time. Now they have to take on the heavy task of building roads and transporting food, and the people's resentment is inevitable. Especially when I heard that Chief Zhao treated him differently, some
Some people did not go to war, but some people wanted to go to war more often. The people near Zhaozhuang complained a lot.
Fortunately, Wan Lei had expected it and loaned Zhao Hongru five taels of silver as emergency funds. The five taels of silver didn't seem like much, but it really filled the mouths of the people. According to the current price of one tael of silver and two hundred kilograms of rice, five taels of silver
Two silver coins can be exchanged for one thousand catties. Chief Zhao has about a hundred households under his jurisdiction. Each household is given one catty per day, which is enough for ten days.
As the saying goes, taking advantage of someone's soft hand and short-talking others, the villagers' complaints stopped when they saw that Zhao Lichang offered benefits. However, compared to Wan Lei, who has made a lot of money, Zhao Hongru's oil business is in trouble.
It's not that there's a problem with productivity or sales, it's that we don't dare to sell the oil even though we have it.
Why? Because Qiu Ba gathered nearby. These guys are not soldiers of the people. They used various reasons to set up checkpoints everywhere and requisitioned whatever they saw was good. Not only did they not give money, they didn't even give me an IOU.
There is no difference between open robbery. If the people disobey even a little bit, they will be beaten severely, or even be accused of collaborating with the enemy, and they will directly kill the good and take the credit.
The situation is so tense that it is difficult to transport bulk goods such as oil products to the city. Zhao Hongru would rather let the goods on hand temporarily sink to the bottom of the warehouse than take the risk. If he does not sell goods, he will naturally have no working capital. If not,
Wan Lei secretly injected capital, and he was afraid that production would have ceased.
All in all, no matter the common people or the landlords or gentry, no one in Peiping likes this sudden war, because everyone's newly settled life has been broken again.
He was very busy during the day, but his own business could not be left behind. Whenever Wan Lei had free time, he would spend time in the laboratory. Even the newly purchased maid Wei'er was assigned a new job - to help prepare the prepared food.
Grind the spices into powder.
"Master, do you think it's possible to grind it so carefully?" Wei'er asked, pointing to the small stone mill in his hand.
"Well, it's almost done. Let's deliver the goods to Grandma Li tomorrow. Let's work harder and earn more money to buy more delicious food." Although Wei'er is a good cook, it's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, because after more than ten days
Without going out for shopping, Wan Lei's stomach has long been in a state of revolution.
"Sir, it's better to wait before shipping. After all, it's a chaotic situation outside and it's not safe to go out." Wei'er advised in a low voice.
"This is not possible. We are very trustworthy in doing business. We will ship the goods when we say they will be shipped. There is no room for delay."
In fact, Wan Lei had already negotiated with the madam of Siyiyuan about the exclusive right to sell facial cream. However, the madam was afraid of offending the second son of the Li family, so he did not dare to come to the inn to pick up the goods in person. Wan Lei had to deliver the goods to his door in person. For this reason,
, he also has to convince the sloppy Taoist priest to let him accompany him as a bodyguard.
Of course, Wan Lei is not afraid that his goods will be robbed by Qiu Ba, because he carries very little goods, and he can get away with hiding more than ten kilograms of stuff anywhere. Moreover, he does not ask for more from Grandma Li.
Most of the silver and goods were used to pay off debts, and only a small amount of silver was used to buy some daily necessities. After all, he still owed Nanny Li nearly a thousand taels of silver.
However, Grandma Li was not afraid of Wan Lei's credit, because the facial cream was such a good thing, the dozen kilograms she had were sold out by her colleagues in major brothels within a few days, and the price was even directly raised.
Double the price, she could directly sell it for one tael of silver or one tael of goods. A small profit was nothing. Those colleagues who usually looked down upon her came to her with a face and begged her. She smiled so much that her face almost cramped.
Seeing that there was hope for abandoning prostitutes and turning into good deeds, Grandma Li was naturally too lazy to repair the smashed Siyi Yuan. She just simply cleaned up and opened another one. This time, she no longer engaged in flesh-and-blood business. Her "daughters" had all been replaced.
Once the body changes, it becomes
She became a sales girl. And Grandma Li not only limited her sights to her colleagues in the prostitution industry, she sent these "daughters" everywhere to "sneak into" the homes of wealthy officials, gentry, and wealthy people, and sell to those ladies, striving to make the business bigger.
powerful.
With sales now in place, the supply of goods has begun to become tight. Grandma Li often sends people to urge Wan Lei to ship the goods quickly. Wan Lei has already promised to ship the goods tomorrow, so naturally he will not break his promise, because honest management has always been his business priority.
One of the principles. Sell the goods to every family, and ship the goods when you say. This will make Grandma Li more confident and bold to give up prostitution and become a good person, and concentrate on the future of exclusive sales.
Work.
Just when Wan Lei was looking forward to his future life, he suddenly heard someone shouting outside: "Brother Wan, I'm back!"
"You've caused me so many troubles, and you still have the nerve to come back?! Go, hurry up and ask your father for a beating." The person who came was none other than Zhao Xueer. She had been hiding out for a few days, and now she finally ran back in the dark. However,
Wan Lei became furious as soon as he heard her voice. Just to help her settle that mess, he not only had to lose money but also took a lot of risks.
Now the situation has calmed down for the time being, but the second young master of the Li family will definitely not let it go, and something else may happen in the future. Mr. Zhao Jiu is also worried about his daughter, and he cannot concentrate on the oil refining work. He also said
If this unscrupulous woman comes back, her legs must be broken.
"I've suffered a lot and finally came back. I didn't even welcome you, and I said so many sarcastic words. It's true." Zhao Xueer muttered.
"Master Wan, the adults from hundreds of families are here too." Song Jinming's voice came from outside the door again.
"Oh, come on, please come and sit in the inner hall." Wan Lei hurriedly opened the door and walked out. After all, the person coming was the Jin Yiwei, his "protector god", so he couldn't be ignored.
Li Baihu really came again, and when he saw Wan Lei, he complained, saying that he should not have offended the Li family. Wan Lei felt relieved after hearing this: because this Jin Yiwei still had hope for him and had no intention of putting him at risk.
If he was an abandoned son, he wouldn't talk so much nonsense otherwise. Therefore, he promised to accept it and would change his ways from now on and stop doing such nonsense.
However, the real purpose of Li Baihu's trip was not to curse, but to say goodbye. As the head of one hundred households in Changping Guards, his troops were transferred to the expeditionary army. He had to go with the army, so he came to remind Wan Lei to be careful.
some.
Wan Lei came to talk about this matter so late, and Li Baihu was so concerned about it. Wan Lei felt warm in his heart and said hurriedly: "It is difficult to determine whether it will be good or bad, brother Li, please take care of him."