Lin Rui's words piqued Han Wenjing's curiosity: "What kind of salt could make the aliens willing to exchange it with you for two cows?"
Xu Shaoxuan also asked: "How much salt did you get in exchange for the two cows?"
"Not much, maybe half a pound?" The salt he bought was in one-pound specifications. He poured half of it to trade with the alien, and estimated that there was about half a pound.
His words made Han Wenjing stunned: "What kind of salt can you exchange for two cows!" If the exchange frequency is maintained at this level, then all the soldiers in the Xing family army, from top to bottom, will be able to eat their fill of beef and mutton.
Xu Shaoxuan asked, "Do you have any salt left? Could you show us some?"
Lin Rui bowed and said, "Your Excellencies, your words are truly humiliating to me. I still have some left, so I'll give it to you, my Excellencies."
"Okay, go get it." Han Wenjing said, and Lin Rui turned to go to the ox cart to get the things.
Seeing him come back, Feng Zhenniang and Lin Changxi immediately came over worriedly: "Rui'er, are you in trouble? Don't be afraid, just say it was all Dad's fault, and Dad will take care of it."
Lin Rui couldn't help but smile and comforted, "Dad and Mom, what are you thinking? It's nothing. The two adults are very interested in the goods I traded with the foreigners, and they asked me to take it over to show them. You guys go about your business, I think I'll be back soon."
After hearing Lin Rui's words, Feng Zhenniang finally felt relieved and patted her chest with her palm: "I was so scared, I thought...Pah, pah, pah, our Rui brother must be blessed by God, and nothing dirty will happen to him."
Lin Rui had already dug out the remaining half bag of salt from the camphorwood box on the ox cart, and found a small bowl to pour the salt into. He covered it with the wide sleeves unique to ancient times, and trotted to Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan who were waiting not far ahead.
Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan immediately went to meet Lin Rui when they saw him jogging over, their eyes fixed on the thing hidden in Lin Rui's sleeves.
When I saw some pure, snow-white sand, I couldn't help but wonder, "What is this?"
Lin Rui extended the salt in the small bowl forward again: "You two adults can try it."
Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan are now in the territory of the Xing family army, and they are not afraid that Lin Rui will do anything weird. If he dares to do that, not only him, but also his parents, brothers and nine clans will be dead. Therefore, the two are not afraid that Lin Rui will poison them.
The two stretched out their fingers and took a little bit: "Is this the salt that the aliens exchanged with you?"
Lin Rui nodded.
Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan were both a little bit incredulous. It was not that they had never seen salt before, but the salt in Linchao did not look like this, and the taste was not so simple as salt. How could there be such a magical thing in the world!
It is pure white like snow, without any impurities or bitterness in the whole bowl of salt.
Xu Shaoxuan's eyes lit up, and he looked at him and asked, "How much salt do you have left?"
Lin Rui rubbed his head with a simple expression and said, "That's all I have left. I was planning to trade with the aliens for two more cows, but then I encountered this incident with Zheng Si."
These words made Xu Shaoxuan and Han Wenjing feel very disappointed. If such a good thing could be used by the Xing family army, it would definitely give the Xing family army a great boost in terms of existing military strength and financial resources.
What a pity!
Han Wenjing asked again, "Fanbang is just a tiny country to us, Linchao. I didn't expect them to have mastered salt extraction to such an extreme. It seems that blindly pursuing self-sufficiency in isolation will not work and will be eliminated by history."
Lin Rui nodded in his heart, yes, that's right. The Qing Dynasty he lived in suffered from bullying by the great powers in the later period because of its closed-door and self-sufficient mentality.
The bones of the nobles were trampled on the streets, and the inner treasury was burned to ashes.
"We've bought all your salt. Just name a price." Han Wenjing said carefully while holding the bowl of salt.
Selling salt? Lin Rui really had no idea how to sell it. He could use the salt to deal with foreigners, but it would definitely not work to deal with the superior who controlled his life and death! Now that he was on someone else's territory, he had to be humble and behave himself: "My lord, you said that buying it is really embarrassing for me. It is a blessing that these salt can be eaten by my lord."
"We are not those corrupt officials in the court. Since we said we would buy something, we must buy it with real money. We will not engage in fraud or high-sounding tricks." Han Wenjing saw Lin Rui bribing so naturally, and guessed that he must have been pressured by officials in charge of commerce when doing business. But this is the Xing Family Army, the disciplined Xing Family Army. Who do they think they are!
Lin Rui scratched his head and said, "Sir, I'm used to doing business, and I really can't do the work of clearing wasteland. So, can I ask for a favor and do business in Huangmoguan?"
Every disaster victim who entered Huangmo Pass was tasked with the task of reclaiming wasteland. Among the four social classes, scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, but they accumulated wealth at an astonishing speed. Money can make anything possible. No matter what era, the common people were the ones who suffered the most.
There is a trend of returning to nature that is popular on the modern Internet. When you reach a certain age, the farming spirit that belongs to the Chinese bloodline will be awakened.
But that is just to cultivate one's sentiments. Let him try cultivating 30 acres of land, which is land that was cultivated entirely by manpower in ancient times, without any modern semi-industrialization.
To do business in Huangmoguan, one needs to issue business documents, and Lin Rui is the first among the victims to ask for this grace. It’s not that others don’t want to do business, but they are not eligible to apply because they have not completed their share of land reclamation. Since Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan have such a good opportunity today, why not use it!
Gold, silver and other things will be gone once they are used up, but as long as you start your own business, you don’t have to worry about not making a lot of money.
Although the current times are chaotic and the people are displaced and homeless, how much of the wealth of each dynasty since ancient times is in the hands of the people? Ninety percent of the wealth is in the hands of the royal family and the nobility, and it is those people's money that he wants to make money from.
Lin Rui's request was nothing to Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan. "Okay, we agree to this. We'll send you the business documents tomorrow at the latest, and we'll take the salt back with us."
"Goodbye, my two lords." Lin Rui bowed again and respectfully saw them off.
Only after the two figures walked away did Lin Rui straighten up and pat his back, deeply understanding what it meant that a higher-ranking official could crush a lower-ranking official.
As soon as Lin Rui returned home, he was surrounded by his family. Lin Changfa, Lin Changtai and others lost their mood to work and kept asking Lin Rui what had happened.
Lin Rui briefly explained what had happened. His uncles expressed regret and confusion: "You were doing well in the land reclamation, why are you going out to trade? Rui'er, this place is not like Linjing. It's vast and sparsely populated. How can you do business here?"
"Yes, yes, it's great to open up wasteland. It's hard work now, but in the future this wasteland will become fertile farmland, where we can grow food, enough to feed our whole family."
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