Entering the twelfth lunar month in a blink of an eye.
Lin Yi planned to go to Shuibo Liangshan to visit, and came to Zhou Tong's room, "Teacher, I have some business overseas. I plan to go out for inspection at the end of the year. I will be back in about ten days and a half."
Zhou Tong nodded.
"If you have business, you have to take care of it. If you have time, don't miss out on spiritual practice."
"I know teacher."
After returning to the house, he spoke to Jin Lian and the girls again, then rode on a horse at home and rushed to Liangshan County. He arrived at Liangshan County in the evening and stayed at an inn in the city for one night. The next day he changed his clothes and appearance and set off for the trip.
By the water.
"Oh, the second boss is here!"
As soon as Lin Yi arrived at Zhu Gui's hotel by the waterfront, Zhu Gui greeted him with two of his subordinates. A sentry had just informed him of the news in advance. He already knew that Lin Yi was coming.
Lin Yi dismounted,
Throw the reins to the assistant, who quickly catches it and takes it to the backyard to take care of it without any instructions.
Zhu Gui was very happy to see Lin Yi and stepped forward to give him his hand.
"Second Master, you have been here for three or four months. During this time, you have made a big name on our Shandong Road. Many people came to pay homage to the mountain and said they were conquered by you." Zhu Gui gushed as he came up.
Talk about it.
"Is everything okay on the mountain?"
"Everything is fine. Since we changed from robbery to charging, we have earned more and have more time to train. Now we are training according to the methods you left, and our combat power has improved a lot than before." Zhu Guidao.
"Okay then, take me up the mountain by boat." Lin Yi said.
"okay."
Zhu Gui immediately arranged for a boat, and he followed. Together, they arrived at the village. There were four gates to the village. When the gangsters saw Lin Yi, they quickly opened the gate to greet him, and each of them respectfully called him "Second Master".
Wang Lun, a scholar in white, heard the report from the mountain that Lin Yi was coming. He quickly led people out to greet him and met Lin Yi at the second village gate.
"Ping'an Lang, you're here. Brothers, I miss you so much." He said and stepped forward to take Lin Yi's hand.
Next to them, Du Qian and Song Wan also came over to greet each other. Another guy came over to greet him, but it was Jiang Dali. This guy's original copycat Black Wind Village was destroyed by Lin Yi, leaving him homeless. After Lin Yi took him in, he let
He came to Shuibo Liangshan, and this guy is now the sixth master of Shuibo Liangshan.
Everyone came to the hall.
After sitting down, I started to talk about the past few months.
After Lin Yi reformed Liangshan, Liangshan now has two incomes. One is tolls. Now that its reputation has spread, the number of passing ships has more than doubled than before. They all pay obediently. The current income is what it was before Lin Yi came.
more than three times and is very stable.
This income is more than enough to support three to five thousand people.
Another source of income is selling private salt.
In fact, during this period, the sale of illicit salt was very widespread in the Song Dynasty. Any place where salt was produced was accompanied by illegal salt sales. In order to resist the arrests of the government and the army, illicit salt dealers often traveled in groups. In addition to a few people, dozens of people were involved.
In addition to groups of hundreds gathering to sell salt, in many places groups of hundreds gather to sell smuggled goods with weapons.
It is said that most of Fang La and his men were from smuggling salt gangs, and his uprising was also funded by smuggling salt gangs.
Shandong Road is close to the sea, so there is naturally a place where salt is produced. Du Qian is now in charge of this business. He has led people to open a channel for purchasing, transporting and selling salt. Now the monthly income is very considerable and is still increasing.
This sales channel, of course, also includes the few copycats that Lin Yi conquered, and now they are all involved in private salt trading.
Lin Yi was very happy with their results.
"The Chinese New Year is coming soon. I plan to invite people from other mountains to come over and get together. They are now our Liangshan brothers. What do you think?" Lin Yi asked a few people.
"Okay, of course it's good. We are all brothers, so we should get together during the Chinese New Year." Wang Lun, the scholar in white, was the first to agree.
Lin Yi looked at Zhu Gui, "Then I'd like to ask brother Zhu Gui to send someone to deliver a message to these mountain villages such as Qingfeng Mountain, Wangyue Mountain, Gusongpo, Hutou Ridge, Jiudaogou, and Mopan Mountain. Tell Brother Wang Lun and me
, and all the mountain masters, invite them to celebrate the New Year in Shuibo Village."
Zhu Gui agreed and immediately sent someone to deliver the message.
night,
A large banquet was laid out in the Juyi Hall.
Several leaders and many minor leaders drank and chatted together.
Speaking of the toll business, people were full of praise for Lin Yi. A little boss said:
"Second Master, even though we took money from them, the ship owners and merchants were happy. There are more merchant ships than before. I heard rumors that after we took the money, they could transport goods with peace of mind and make more money than before.
many."
Another little boss answered: "It's natural. In the past, they were afraid of us robbing them, so some took detours, and some didn't dare to buy too much at once. Now we clearly mark the prices, and those who don't dare to leave come and go, and they don't dare to buy more."
They also dared to purchase more goods, and now our income has increased a lot."
"But I heard that the bandits on the other side of the road are having a hard time now. The businessmen are all coming to our side, and the business there is getting less and less."
When Lin Yi heard this, he immediately had an idea and said to Wang Lun, Du Qian and others: "Master, brothers, I think this is a good opportunity."
"What good opportunity?" Du Qian asked.
"For those cottages that are having a hard time, we can send people over and ask them to join Shuibo Liangshan. From now on, they will not have to worry about their livelihood. We have also strengthened our strength. Isn't it killing two birds with one stone?"
Wang Lun immediately nodded and said: "Ping'an Lang has a good idea. In this way, there is still some time before the New Year. Tomorrow we will send people to those cottages to deliver a message. Those who are willing to come will just come over and celebrate the New Year together."
Du Qian immediately said: "I will send someone to handle this matter tomorrow."
Lin Yi was not idle on the mountain. From the next day, he started to train the villagers and took them to exercise together.
Morning exercise is over,
Lin Yi played a game with these leaders, letting many of them attack him. He used swords, guns, swords and halberds at will. Of course, they were all wooden swords and guns, and his was a wooden gun with a head wrapped around it, but it was smaller than an ordinary gun.
Much thicker and longer.
At the beginning, there were 12 guys. These guys practiced the three-three tactics. A group of three rushed towards Lin Yi. Lin Yi waved his big gun and knocked these guys down in three or five strokes.
"Twice more."
This time 24 came up, and Lin Yi easily defeated them again, beating them all to the ground.
"Twice as much this time."
This time there were 48 people, and Lin Yi was surrounded in the middle. He still couldn't see any panic when he faced 48 people alone.
Wang Lun, Du Qian, Song Wan, Zhu Gui, and Jiang Dali were also watching from the outside, and everyone marveled at Lin Yi's force and strength.
"Third brother, why do I feel that the second master is more powerful than before?" Song Wan asked Du Qian.
"Perhaps the second master didn't show it before. After all, he was far better than us. Is there any need to show off even more?" Du Qian said.
Song Wan nodded,
This may be true.
The forty-eight people were still defeated in the end. They were no match for Lin Yi. Lin Yi yelled, "This time there will be a hundred!"
Boom.
One hundred people besieged Lin Yi.
Lin Yi rushed left and right, sometimes dodging and attacking, sometimes mowing down a group of them with great force. Although the minions were as numerous as the tide, Lin Yi was as firm as a rock in the water.
finally,
Lin Yi actually defeated a hundred minions.
They were too frightened to come forward.
Wang Lun, Du Qian, Zhu Gui and others watching the show were all shocked. Song Wan and Jiang Dali were even more excited and trembling. How much they thought they could become invincible warriors like Lin Yi.
Du Qian exclaimed: "Ping'an Lang is really a peerless general. The ancient overlord Xiang Yu, Marquis of Wen Lu Bu, Yuchi Jingde of the Tang Dynasty, and Xue Rengui are just like this."
Wang Lun looked at Du Qian and thought, I'm afraid he is even more powerful than them. Not only is he powerful in terms of force, but he also has spells that you don't know about. Who can measure the magic of ghosts and gods?
Exercise is over.
Lin Yi went to the warehouse to see the private salt, and Du Qian accompanied him.
Du Qian was in charge of this business. The private salt was brought back from outside, stopped in Liangshan, Shuibo, and then sent to all directions, especially the fifteen counties in the three states around Shuibo. Sellers were developed in each county.
There are loads of coarse salt in the warehouse. When you open the oilcloth and take a look, you will see that it is the most primitive coarse salt. It is earthy in color and has mud and grass clippings on it. It is probably fished out of the salt pond and transported directly to the warehouse.
Lu started selling.
Lin Yi knew that people in ancient times ate this kind of coarse salt.
Impurities and harmful chemicals are not a problem for ordinary people. Some are good to eat. Salt like this is very expensive in salt shops, so ordinary people should eat sparingly.
The imperial court stipulated that selling private salt was a felony, and it was also illegal for ordinary people to buy private salt. The price of private salt was often only half of the official salt. In order to afford salt, ordinary people had no choice but to take risks and buy private salt.
Now on the market, there is a kind of salt that is better than coarse salt, called green salt. It is blue in color and is a grade better than sea salt.
Of course, the price is also high. Nowadays, green salt is mainly produced in Xixia. Xixia and the Song Dynasty have fought many wars over the trade of green salt. Green salt is an important trade resource of Xixia. The Song Dynasty did not allow imports, so it launched wars.
Lin Yi held a large piece of salt in his hand and thought about something in his mind. Green salt is actually nothing, it's just that there is no good purification technology in this era, but this cannot be difficult for Lin Yi. In fact, the purification of salt is not complicated.
He can easily make snowflake salt that is better than green salt.
Pour the coarse salt into the wooden barrel to dissolve, and let it sit for about five or six hours to allow the sediment to completely settle, remove the grass clippings, and use a thin water pipe to drain the supernatant into another clean wooden barrel.
Burn limestone with charcoal to get quicklime, add water to make lime milk, pour the lime milk into a salt water bucket and stir to remove the bitter taste.
Let it sit for a few more hours to allow the milk of lime to precipitate. Take the supernatant and distill it to obtain snowflake salt.
But now, don't worry, the consumer group of snowflake salt must be those high-ranking officials, and ordinary people cannot afford it, so this technology should be used to make money when you can control it.
As for these sea salts.
In fact, it's not as exaggerated as people say, like eating dead people.
Ancient people have been eating coarse salt for thousands of years, and they are still alive and kicking. For the common people, health, they have already eaten coarse salt, so they don’t care about health. It’s good to have it.
Besides, it’s not necessarily true that those modern gadgets that add a bunch of chemicals are really better than these.
"What's the profit from private salt?" Lin Yi asked Du Qian.
Du Qian smiled and said: "Ten coins per pound, pure profit."
Don't underestimate 10 coins. With the scale of smuggling in Liangshan, it is easy to get 100,000 coins a year. This thing is a daily necessity and you don't have to worry about selling it.
Buying cheap and selling expensive, the only problem is that they are afraid of being investigated by the government. But they themselves are mountain bandits and water bandits. If they don't sell illegal salt, they will be punished if they are caught. So they are afraid of being investigated by the government.
"If other copycats follow suit, how much can they earn in a year? Can they buy and maintain copycats?" Lin Yi asked.
Du Qian patted his chest and said: "This private salt business is enough for them to support the village, and it is just the beginning. In the future, the channels will become wider and wider, and they will only make more money."
