The first prefecture in Guizhou was Tongren Prefecture, which was a transportation hub connecting Guizhou and Huguang. Most of the properties in the two places were concentrated for trading here, so it is still a relatively lively and prosperous city.

According to Yang Wencong, a general named Tian Yang of Liu Kongzhao was from Tongren Mansion. The Tian family is a large family in Tongren Mansion, a scholarly family, and a family of officials. It is very influential in the local area. It’s a pity that Tian Yang is not in his hometown, otherwise he could get to know each other well.

However, Ma Mingfeng knew that Tian Yang was not very good-natured, and he did a lot of corruption and bribery. After the establishment of the Hongguang regime, he excluded Shi Kefa and sat down and refused to save him when Shi Kefa was surrounded, which led to Shi Kefa's defeat and later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but was still killed.

So Ma Mingfeng had no intention of making friends and getting close to Tian Yang at all. He just said lightly: "Anyway, people are not here. If we don't know Tian Yang yet, there is no need to meet his family. Besides, we are not staying in Tongren Mansion for too long. At most, we can only rest for a day or two before continuing to travel. There are still six or seven hundred miles away from Guiyang, so we have to hurry up."

"That's what you mean." Yang Wencong didn't doubt that he was. He stopped talking about Tian Yang's affairs, and then discussed selling salt.

In fact, Yang Wencong didn't know how to do business at all. The main reason why he discussed selling salt was to leave some salt and give it to some officials. According to him, giving salt in Guizhou is more effective than giving silver.

Ma Mingfeng deeply agrees with this. Although Ma Mingfeng does not understand the officialdom in Guizhou, Yang Wencong understands that as an authentic Guizhou native and has been living in the officialdom for a long time, can what he says be wrong?

So Ma Mingfeng left behind a thousand kilograms of salt, and the rest were sold along the road.

As a result, the caravan had not yet arrived in Guiyang, and the nine thousand kilograms of salt were sold out, and the price was around 80 cents of silver. In this way, Ma Mingfeng obtained more than 6,000 taels of silver. In addition to the cost of buying salt, vehicle and shipping fees, hiring workers, mule husbands, hotel accommodation and other expenses, this time he made a profit of nearly 5,000 taels of silver!

When Ma Mingfeng got the news, he thought with joy: "I really didn't expect this trip to make so much money! This trip alone is enough to redeem Xiangjun. It seems that doing business is indeed a way to make money."

Wu Jing was naturally very happy, but his family once had hundreds of thousands of dollars and he still looked down on this interest. However, he was full of admiration for Ma Mingfeng. So when he reported the profits of this business to Ma Mingfeng in detail, Wu Jing said sincerely: "To be honest, we can make so much this time, and the boss will definitely make great contributions. If the boss had not driven the business route from Xiangxi to Guizhou with sincerity and erudition, this time we might not only make less money, but also suffer casualties. The boss received the help of Miao Village. This time, there were no casualties in the Phoenix Mountain, and it also saved time and carriage costs. By the way, the boss, what goods do you think we need to sell when we return to Nanjing next?"

Ma Mingfeng heard this and said, "This time we bought white rice. I have already inquired. The white rice here can be exchanged for nearly 120 kilograms of white rice. Even if we use 5,000 taels of silver as capital, we can still exchange 50,000 kilograms of white rice and 158 kilograms of white rice. This is nearly 8 million kilograms of white rice..."

"Huh?" Wu Jing couldn't help frowning after hearing this and said softly: "Boss, are you considering this matter again? Although white rice is cheap, the rice price in Nanjing is not expensive, only one or two cents of silver, which is close to the historical highest price. In this way, we only have two cents of profit. Excluding the cost of transportation of vehicles and ships, hiring labor, investing in stores and other expenses, it is almost equivalent to not making money. Once the rice price drops, we may lose money."

Ma Mingfeng said confidently: "Rice prices have fallen? This is impossible. In recent years, whether it is pacifying Liao or dealing with thieves, how much money has the Ming Dynasty spent? Wars are everywhere, and the rice prices have soared. Even if the war does not affect Nanjing, the rice prices in Nanjing are now close to the highest level in history. How could it fall? Unless we can quell the thieves and Liaodong in a short period of time, which is almost a dream, let alone..."

"What's more?" Wu Jing asked subconsciously, but did not see Ma Mingfeng answering, but he looked thoughtful.

"It's nothing. The shopkeeper just needs to do what I told him to do. We will make a lot of money this time. But you have to remember that after returning to Nanjing, we should not take action immediately. You have to find a secret place to stock up on the rice and take strict supervision. There must be no worms or broken things. By next spring, it should be time for us to make money..."

Ma Mingfeng did not explain the reasons to Wu Jing, and there was no way to explain these, because of the impact of the Little Ice Age, the flood and drought disasters in the Ming Dynasty were particularly serious. According to historical records, after the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Nanjing would have a major famine for three consecutive years, and then rice prices would rise sharply. By then, even ten times or twenty times profits would be possible.

However, Ma Mingfeng's heart was also very bitter. At that time, I really don't know how many people would starve to death? In fact, the reason why he spent so much 100 meters was not only to make money, but also to allow millions of kilograms of rice to be added to Nanjing when the famine occurred. This not only allowed the people to starve to death less, but also slightly lower the prices. However, Ma Mingfeng knew that in the face of three consecutive years of famine, his storing of rice was a drop in the bucket.

It seems that in addition to white rice, I also have to find ways to introduce some sweet potato seedlings, which can reduce the losses caused by disasters to a certain extent, and even help the people at critical moments.

As for Henan, it is the hardest hit area in the world. It is not only flood and drought disasters, but also invading bandits. Not to mention Ma Mingfeng, even Yang Sichang, who was in charge of power there, would probably not be able to rescue him.

"It seems that personal strength is still too meager. If you want to turn the tide with your own strength, you must slowly accumulate strength, and at the same time, you must use the other forces of uniting this world to have a glimmer of hope."

Ma Mingfeng is not just thinking about it now? His mind has already been put on the entire land of China. At this time, he wished he could directly transform into a god, and strangle the leaders of the Qing Dynasty and the bandits with a wave of his hand to restore peace and stability to the Ming Dynasty. In this way, he could live a stable and comfortable life.

But he knew that this was all fantasy, and he had to find ways to actively integrate various forces in order to have hope of reorganizing the country.

"Time is too late, I have to keep working hard. Let Mr. Wu take care of business matters in the future. The most important thing I will do next is to study and take the imperial examination. Only when I have a higher position in the court, the more voice you have, and let more people save and change the world according to their own intentions. However, no matter what, I will not admit defeat."
Chapter completed!