Jingchunlou is a restaurant located in the West City of Beijing. Due to the variety of dishes and deliciousness, the business is very prosperous. If you don’t make reservations in advance, there is no time for the elegant seat upstairs to be free.

It was almost noon, and Jingchun Tower was very lively. Various carriages had already been parked on the wide venue in front of the building, and there were carriages constantly coming.

Salt merchants from Shuntian, Baoding, Zhending, Hejian, Yongping, Daming and Xuanfu were either coerced or voluntarily came to Jingchunlou to see if there was really salt as white as snow and cheaper.

Zhao Sihai, a salt merchant from Zhending Mansion, got off the carriage and looked around. He didn't see a few familiar people. He was about to walk to the restaurant when he suddenly heard someone shouting, "Brother Zhao! Let's wait!"

Zhao Sihai looked back and saw a man coming out of a newly parked carriage, wearing a brown cloth robe, a unified hat, a folding fan, and a smile on his face.

Zhao Sihai smiled and said, "Who am I thinking it is? It turns out to be Brother Li! Haha!"

The visitor was Li Youjin, a salt merchant in Baoding Prefecture. The two met when they went to Lianghuai Salt Field to purchase goods several years ago. Zhending and Baoding were adjacent to each other, but they each distributed in the mansion, and there was no competitive relationship. In addition, they talked and became friends.

This time when he came to the capital to attend the meeting, Zhao Sihai originally wanted to ask Li Youjin to come with him. When he arrived in Baoding, he realized that Li Youjin had already entered Beijing several days in advance. Unexpectedly, he met an old friend as soon as he got off the carriage.

After the two bowed to the ceremony, Zhao Sihai looked at no one around and whispered: "Brother Li, tell me the truth about me. This time you came to the capital, you only came after the Jinyiwei came to the door, right?"

Zhao Sihai sold salt in Zhending Mansion for many years and saved up a lot of property. He didn't have much ambitions, so he planned to continue to operate like this and pass it on to his descendants.

Some time ago, two strangers with a capital accent came to the door and said they wanted to discuss business with Zhao Sihai. The servants of the Zhao family hurried to the inner house to report to their master.

Zhao Sihai was enjoying the cool air in the pavilion in the garden. After hearing the report, he asked the servant to send him away in the future. He was very satisfied with his current life and had no intention of interfering in other businesses.

Who knew that the visitor came directly to the garden without permission. Zhao Sihai was angry and wanted to call on someone to knock the two out of the mansion.

Many salt merchants with relatively rich family business started by selling private salt. Many of them had lives on hand and had a few desperate people under their control. After selling private salt, they turned to hook up with people in the government, bought salt, and then took the goods from the government's salt farm and then took the place to distribute them. Of course, the distribution area was the territory that they had licked blood with their people on their heads.

Zhao Sihai's territory is mainly in the northeast of Zhending Prefecture, Zaoqiang, Wuqiang, Wuyi, and Shenzhou. He is a native of Zaoqiang. He practiced martial arts with his second uncle when he was young, and when he grew up, he followed his second uncle to sell private salt.

When he was eighteen years old, his second uncle was beheaded while fighting with another salt dealer. He was also stabbed into the ribs with a long spear and jumped into the river before escaping by luck. He was raising his injuries for more than half a year before he recovered.

In half a year, he dreamed of the scene where his second uncle was cut off his head countless times. He vowed to ask his second uncle to take revenge and to place his enemy's head in front of his second uncle's grave so that his second uncle's eyes can rest.

After recovering from the injury, Zhao Sihai finally figured out the life patterns of his enemies after half a year of squatting. On a dark and windy night, he invited several brothers who had passed away to climb over the wall and entered the enemy's house, killing all the more than 30 people in the family of the other party. After seizing tens of thousands of taels of silver, he burned the enemy's house into ruins with a fire, and finally fulfilled his wish.

This shocking case alarmed the government, but the constable from the yamen found nothing after investigating the scene, and in the end it could only be regarded as a unsolved case. The magistrate Zaoqiang was also transferred to another place to demote.

Zhao Sihai endured for more than a year again. After the matter was completely calmed down, he used the money in his hand to recruit dozens of desperate people, and led his subordinates to fight everywhere. Finally, he captured his current territory, and then spent a lot of money to whitewash his identity and become a rich man.

With Zhao Sihai's shout, several strong men holding sticks with muscular upper bodies ran over from the front yard and surrounded the two of them. They just waited for the master to knock them over to the ground and throw them out of the Zhao mansion with the order.

The two strangers were not panicked. One of them grinned his teeth, reached into his arms and took out a wooden sign, and shook at the strong men: "If you don't want to cause trouble to your master, get out of here!"

Another older one stands with arms folded and silent.

Zhao Sihai was far apart and could not see the few words engraved on the wooden sign, but he had also seen the scenes and had dealt with people in the government many times. Knowing that people in the martial arts world did not show their identities, the wooden sign was obviously only equipped by people from the court.

He quickly ordered the strong men to retreat, and then bowed respectfully and said, "I wonder where the two distinguished guests came from? The young man is quite familiar with Captain Sun of the county government. He should be the young man. At noon, he asked Captain Sun to accompany the two distinguished guests to drink in a despicable place. If the two are short of money, the young man will be given filial piety!"

After hearing Captain Sun's waist tag, the young man sneered in his nose. After Zhao Sihai finished speaking, he shook the label in front of Zhao Sihai's eyes and slowly said: "Can Mr. Zhao recognize the word "Zhao? What is Captain Sun's head tag? What is Captain Sun's identity? How dare he drink with his master? Glimp eyes! We are the emperor's personal army!"

When Zhao Sihai heard the words "The Emperor's Personal Army", his face suddenly disappeared without any blood. Sweat suddenly emerged from his head flowed down his forehead.

Could it be that the case was discovered back then? Or why did the Jinyiwei come to the door? No, how many years have passed, who still remembers what happened back then?

The young man put his waist card in his arms, looked at Zhao Sihai, and laughed: "Zhao Yuanwai was a person back then! He had at least dozens of lives in his hands? Why did he become a rich man for several years? He became so brave? Don't be afraid, I'm looking for you today, because I want to give you a great fortune!"

When Zhao Sihai heard this, he finally relaxed and thought too much. If the incident happened that year, the brigade would have been sent to the door and directly confiscated the house and arrested people.

Zhao Sihai didn't bother to wipe his sweat, and reached out and slapped his big mouth with a "snap": "The little one is blind! I don't know the nobles! The two of you are the ones who are in charge to invite you to sit down quickly! Come on! Buy a banquet! The ingredients must be the best!"

Two Jinyiwei sat down on the stone bench in the pavilion, looked around, and the young lieutenant who was talking sighed: "I have always heard that the salt merchants in Jiangnan are rich, but I didn't expect that our salt merchants in the north should not be underestimated! Zhao Yuanwai's house costs a lot! If two people rely on the salary of the court, they may not be able to afford it even if they have dozens of generations! Tsk tsk!"

Zhao Sihai did not dare to sit down, so he brought tea to the two of them with a teapot and said with a smile: "The two are joking! The young one is just a local rich man, how can you compare to your status and glory? When the two are full of wine and food, the young ones will present their own local products!"

The captain praised: "Zhao Yuanwai is aware of it! I am worthy of being the two of you who have chosen you! I am Li Liang, the small banner of the 300th House of the Fufu Department of Jinyiwei, and this brother is Zhao An, the captain. Two of you were ordered to come to find you, Zhao Yuanwai, to negotiate with you with a scattered salt business!"

At this time, several maids brought the wine and food to the stone table in the pavilion. Li Liang and the others cleaned their hands in the copper basin, picked up the chopsticks and started to eat them without hesitation.

Zhao Sihai stood aside, thinking about Li Liang's words.

How did the Jinyiwei start a business? Could it be that he was to find out his own background and threaten to interfere in his own salt affairs and embezzle his own property?

Li Liang looked up at Zhao Sihai, chewing a piece of beef sauce in his mouth, and said vaguely: "Mr. Zhao, why don't you sit down? Don't be polite! It's like your own when you get here!"

The captain named Zhao An was busy eating, and he didn't even look at Zhao Sihai.

Zhao Sihai sat on a stone bench with a wry smile and said, "I just used the meal. I'll enjoy it slowly! There is no good food in the countryside, so I'll take care of it! Why don't you drink wine?"

Li Liang put down the chopsticks, swallowed a piece of ribs from his mouth, picked up the tea and took a sip and said, "Good tea! It's really a thirst quenching!"

Zhao Sihai secretly despised: Best-class Biluochun! Why are you Jinyiwei so vulgar? It seems like you have never had a meal in eight lifetimes!

He also thought that the Jinyiwei was always frugal and frugal, and was picky in food and food. Didn’t he know that the lower-level officers and lieutenants of the Jinyiwei usually rely on salary to support their families, so they did not have the opportunity to enjoy big fish and meat all day long? Especially after Luo Yangxing’s Weiwei rectification campaign, the originally slack and scattered atmosphere of Weiwei still changed completely. Some people who relied on their generations of Jinyiwei, had a mixed relationship with each other and were inconsistent with each other. They disagreed with Luo Yangxing’s rectification campaign and still did their own thing, thinking that it was just a whim and was used to show the emperor’s old military academy. Luo Yangxing used several warnings to be regarded as a target and did not repent after several warnings. Those who dared to plead for him, or held a grudge against him, abused their power to destroy the reputation of Jinyiwei in the name of official affairs, were all arrested and arrested in the Northern Town Fushi Prison, and soon died of illness.

After this iron-blooded remediation, the Jinyiwei realized that the commander was serious. Anyone who wanted to be blind or not could only be called seeking death.

Chongzhen allocated 200,000 taels of silver from the treasury to the Jinyiwei. After Luo Yangling's character, all the salaries of all personnel doubled. The Nanzhen Fushi Department sent personnel to supervise it and distributed it to everyone on a monthly basis. After two-pronged approach, the Jinyiwei's atmosphere was completely renewed.

Li Liang said, "Mr. Zhao, I know that your salt road comes from Lianghuai Salt Field. I got the salt veins from the government and went to the salt yard to buy salt for distribution. During this period, I took out the money layer by layer. In addition, the road was consumed, your cost per kilogram of salt should be more than two cents, right?"

Zhao Sihai bowed and smiled bitterly: "What the best person said is not bad! After getting the small one, it will be worth 20 cents of silver per kilogram, and it is also a large grain of bitter salt, which tastes extremely bad. But people cannot lack salt for every meal, so they can still sell it."
Chapter completed!