Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 38 2.15 Brother Zhou, just like it

Volume Two

2.15 Brother Zhou, just like it

A few days later, on the ninth day of April, in the study room in the inner courtyard of the Xue family.

"Brother, are you in such a hurry to get me back just to show me these bricks?" A loud voice, obviously full of anger, "I just arranged a batch of overseas goods in Songjiang, and I haven't waited yet. If you ask me to go back to Jinling after being assigned to my family’s store, you can’t just be teasing me, right?”

"Second brother, don't get angry in a hurry." Xue Tu's laughing voice sounded, comforting his second brother, the second owner of the Xue family, and the helmsman of the sea trade, Xue Xun, "No matter how big your sea trade is, it can still be bigger than salt." Goods will bring more money, what I talked about today is related to the fate of my Xue family for hundreds of years!"

"Salt goods?" How much income can be raised, just because I don’t want to be too controlled by others when necessary.

If we take action in this regard, let alone the Eight Great Salt Merchants in Yangzhou, even in Jinling City, we are only one of the strongest. ', in the past, they and the old relatives of the Jia family took good care of us. If we intervene in the salt business, they will be the first to offend. "

"Don't worry, second brother, I just arranged to give it a try. Whether or not I will do it, I have to wait and see the result after trying it." Xue Tu was also an old fox. He smiled and took a sip from his tea bowl and shouted to Zhang Dehui, "You dog slave, hurry up. Come here and explain clearly?"

"Back to the Second Master, the two treasures this time were proposed by Mr. Zhou." Zhang Dehui told Xue Xun about the cement and sun-dried salt. Seeing that his expression became more and more solemn, he continued, "Don't worry about the cement first." Mention, if this salt-drying thing is really done, the cost can be reduced by more than [-]%, and the output can be increased ten times!
Second Master, when that time comes, let alone the Zhen family’s objections, as long as we are willing to supply them at a price that is [-]% lower than the current price, the Zhen family and the Xue family can completely ignore each other in the future, and there will never be any There is no contradiction at all. "

"In this case -" Xue Xun's expression became more solemn, "Our first problem is not to make money, but to ensure that we don't die. Does Big Brother have any arrangements?"

"Go get it!" In Xue Xun's confused eyes, Xue Tu nodded to Zhang Dehui.

"Second uncle, please have some tea!" Just as Xue Xun watched Zhang Dehui go out in confusion, Mrs. Body."

"Thank you sister-in-law!" Xue Xun quickly stood up and took the tea bowl with both hands politely.

"Master, Madam, Second Master!" Just as he was talking, Zhang Dehui had already entered the door carrying two newly made firecrackers, one long and one short, with the smell of paint still on the surface. "Second Master, please look, this is our new creation. My treasure—Master, my servant has arranged that all unrelated persons are not allowed to enter the inner house. Except for the study room, only the young lady and Ying'er are in the embroidery building."

"Fire gun?" Xue Tu frowned and picked up one. He found that the workmanship was very exquisite, but there were a lot of extra things next to the medicine pool and a shoulder rest. "Is this all you need?"

"Give the second master a try!" Xue Tu smiled and nodded, and Zhang Dehui immediately began to charge and load the short gun.

"The gun barrel is thicker and the filling is more than half shorter than the commonly used bird gun." Seeing Zhang Dehui loading it, Xue Xun, who was well-informed on the ship, immediately commented, "Although it is not as good as the Western self-generated fire gun, But it is far stronger than the blunderbuss, and it has almost caught up with the firing rate of the crossbow. But this short blunderbuss is so small, so maybe it is not powerful enough?"

"This long gun is not as good as the short gun, but it also saves more than [-]% of the time compared to the bird gun." Zhang Dehui explained while loading, "If the second master has hundreds of guns on his ship, he should be able to save a lot of money in the future."

"If I can have thousands of them, I don't have to do any business on the sea in the future." Xue Xun's face gradually relaxed, and he even smiled, "I can get all the safe money in the East China Sea, but it's a pity that I don't have it." Cannons, or else we can talk about the Ping An Silver in the South China Sea.”

"Xiangong Zhou also knows about cannons, but we can't do it for the time being." Xue Tu looked at his second brother with a smile, whose expression turned shocked again, "So, this time, we mainly need a safe, reliable and concealed cannon. place."

"The eldest brother is talking about the sea?"

"Yes, little brother Zhou said that not far to the east of Songjiang Estuary, there is a string of archipelagos arranged in the northeast and southwest. There are many large islands that can be used. It is best to use the kind of islands that are uninhabited but have good conditions." Xue Tu said with a smile.

"The territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom? It's really good." Xue Xun nodded slowly after thinking for a while, "This little brother Zhou is indeed back from overseas. Even if the Zhou Dynasty was a maritime merchant, it is normal for him to know the big island in the east of Fujian Province. Anyone who knows about various businesses in Nanyang is considered well-informed. As for the Ryukyu Kingdom, it would be hard to tell if my younger brother hadn’t done business with the Japanese several times.

It’s just that it’s really not close there. The string of big islands is around the southernmost point, and it will take my little brother’s fleet about four days and four nights to get there - huh?Yes, this is safe enough. No matter what we do, we don’t have to worry about being discovered. If we arrange some people to go over, we can even save the need to keep it secret. "

"What the second brother said makes sense!" Xue Tu and Zhang Dehui smiled at the same time, obviously happy to verify Zhou Yang's suggestion again, "If you want to build a large sea salt field there and build some other factories by the way, it will take a lot of time. How long will it take to actually ship the goods?" "I'm afraid it won't be until the end of this year." Xue Xun pondered for a moment and quickly calculated, "Brother, we don't need to move all the workshops, we only need to move the ironworks and saltworks. As long as it’s good, you don’t have to worry about other things like weaving factories and embroidery rooms. Anyway, these things are abundant in the Zhou Dynasty, and they can completely solve many hidden dangers here.”

"Then let's do it!" Xue Tu made the final decision, "Second brother, I don't care about your maritime business, but you must devote your main energy to the island. I want to see the results before the end of the year. As for the manpower and money required, can you You can take as much as you want, and I'll cover the rest, as long as I can get these things done."

"Just like what the eldest brother said, the foundation of our Xue family has been laid for hundreds of years!" he."

"Second brother, you are worrying too much. Talents are rare!" Xue Tu smiled and stopped his thoughts.

"Second uncle, Xianggong Zhou should have more than these things." Mrs.

"There is more than one hand left." Xue Xun's face flashed with a stern look and then slowly disappeared, "Brother, do you have other plans?"

"Let's take a look at the situation. If possible, I'm going to give Bao Yatou to him." Xue Tu smiled faintly and expressed his plan.

"Oh? I remember that he came back from overseas and has no relatives around him? So he is one of his own? That's okay." Xue Xun's expression changed and he nodded slowly, "In that case, I won't ask any more questions."

"That's it!" Xue Tu nodded with satisfaction, turned to Mrs. Xue and said, "Let the kitchen prepare a banquet. I want to have a drink with my second brother?"

"Oh? I haven't tried my family's cooking in a few days." Xue Xun laughed loudly, "I'm sorry for you today!"

That night, the Xue family guest room garden.

Zhou Yang still had no distracting thoughts and devoted all his energy to martial arts training. More than half a month had passed since he arrived in Jinling. It was not that he really wanted to live in the Xue family as a guest, but that Xue Tu "gave him a Too many." He has taken medicinal baths once every three days for eight times so far. The effect is astonishing, making his progress far greater than the simple training in the capital.

Now, his physical strength of nearly [-] kilograms is the best harvest, and it is not just him, because it is impossible for one person to use the medicinal bath, and it would be a pity to throw it away. He arranged for the Li brothers to take turns using it after he used it. Coupled with adequate nutrition, the two brothers' natural powers were further enhanced.

"Brother Zhou, are you still working hard?" While he was practicing his two-handed swordsmanship, a familiar voice came from behind him, and he saw Mrs. Brothers of the Li family? I asked someone to stew a ginseng rooster. You should eat it while it’s hot, so as not to hurt your body from practicing too much. "

"I've met Madam!" Zhou Yang put down the long sword without caring about finishing the practice, and casually put on the coat that was hanging on the flowers before turning around to greet him, "They don't have medicinal baths, so I arranged not to have to train like this. These days I feel very sorry for bothering my wife every day!"

"Brother Zhou, you're welcome, it's not worth anything." Mrs. Xue smiled, carrying the food box and placing it on the stone table, "What do you mean, you will win this autumn?"

"Of course I think so. It's just that this autumn, I'm afraid it can't be explained in one sentence." Zhou Yang smiled helplessly, sat on the stone bench, opened the food box and started eating. It wasn't the first time anyway, and he was polite at first. Rejection, there are not so many things happening now, "It's just that there are talented people all over the world, and I don't dare to say the result."

"Don't eat in such a hurry, drink some soup." Mrs. Xue smiled and pushed the soup bowl over, "Just try your best. As the saying goes, 'hard work pays off,' and Brother Zhou is so capable, I think he will definitely win."

"Thank you madam for your kind words!" Zhou Yang smiled and stretched his hand towards the soup bowl to pull it over, but he didn't expect that Mrs. Xue didn't have time to stop her hand. The two of them pressed their hands together and their bodies froze at the same time.

"Brother Zhou, just like it." It seemed to be very long, but also seemed to be very short. Mrs. Xue withdrew her right hand like an electric shock, "You can just put it here after eating. Someone will take it back tomorrow. I'll take my leave now."

"Madam, walk slowly!" Zhou Yang was still a little stiff, and raised his eyes to see Madam Xue walking away in a hurry.

After that, although he had plenty of medicine and food every day, his servants always brought him food.

(End of this chapter)