"Yes! It's 'Shiobiki'!"
Mu Xiu was so busy that he was stretched out on his back, and there were two big dark circles under his handsome face.
He was extremely excited and didn't show any signs of fatigue at all.
"...With this, you can come to my Gu family's salt field and exchange it for an equal amount of sea salt! Therefore, I call it a 'Salt Voucher'!"
Mu Xiu fiddled with a bill that had been treated with primary anti-counterfeiting measures, showing it to Gu Qingcheng while explaining, "We have grain, but due to the temporary suspension of sea transportation, we are unable to transport it to the river."
"The front lines are in dire need of food and fodder, but the Xin Dynasty's court won't allocate any."
Mu Xiu, a "merchant" who was not in the opposition, had some understanding of this.
In addition to the fact that the Gu family was well-informed, it was also related to the elite education that Mu Xiu received since childhood.
In the court, the new emperor Chen Jing was afraid of Chen Duan.
He himself relied on the powerful army he held to usurp the throne, so naturally he was afraid that those under him would follow suit.
Chen Duan is his cousin and is a general who is no less capable than him.
Whether in terms of military achievements, prestige, or the troops under his command, he is second only to Chen Jing.
Chen Jing would be wary of Chen Duan and even expel him from Jiankang. This is simply too much.
Even though he had already "exiled" people to Lingnan and the fighting situation on the river bank was tense, Chen Jing still transferred Chen Duan here.
In addition to Chen Duan's ability to defend the territory, Chen Jing also hopes that he can consume the troops of the Northern Dynasty.
When the snipe and the clam fight, only Chen Jing, the fisherman, can benefit.
Since it was "utilization" and the intention was to weaken Chen Duan's military strength, they would naturally not allocate food, fodder, weapons, etc. according to the rules.
Chen Duan brought his own food and supplies to guard the border for the Southern Dynasty.
However, this was not the only reason why the imperial court did not allocate food and fodder.
Another biggest reason is that the imperial court really did not have much food.
After years of war, even the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River could not bear such a loss of food.
Furthermore, Chen Jing came to power as a rebel and had no concept of "the world" in his bones.
When the national treasury had money, he would not think of using it for disaster relief, road construction, or other major livelihood projects. Instead, he would only think of building a palace for himself, or simply put it into his own private treasury.
When there is food in the government warehouse, he will give priority to supplying his own troops.
Other generals?
Humph, they are all wolf cubs and potential threats.
Gu Qingcheng: ...
It's quite speechless.
Even though he became an emperor, he still behaved like a warlord at heart.
How can such a person sit firmly on the throne?
Therefore, the fall of the Southern Dynasty was not only due to the strength of the Northern Dynasty, but also due to its own reasons.
Although Mu Xiu has basic political literacy, he is more focused on the areas that concern him.
He would not say that "Chen Jing is not fit to be emperor" just because of a food problem.
He is more concerned about how to solve this problem——
"The imperial court has no food either! But the gentry and gentry in Jiangnan do!"
Mu Xiu had never been to Jiankang, but his husband was Gu Yi.
As an excellent teacher, Gu Yi not only imparts book knowledge to Mu Xiu, but also teaches him a lot of more practical common sense such as astronomy, geography, local customs and so on.
From Gu Yi, Mu Xiu learned about the vastness of the world, as well as the splendor, wealth, extravagance and absurdity of Jiankang.
Furthermore, there was actually a similar problem in the Northern Dynasties - the imperial court had no money and no food, but the powerful and gentry were all rich.
Mu Xiu understood this and had a solution to the problem of the ending.
"They have long coveted the Gu family's sea salt, but the Gu family is a wealthy family and can monopolize the sea salt business."
"At most, we'll share some of the profits with the wealthy families in Lingnan and Gu's in-laws—"
However, there are still many aristocratic families in Jiankang who cannot get a share of the sea salt pie.
No, to be precise, it is the "high-quality and affordable" sea salt.
The major families actually have salt fields along the coast.
However, they still use the most primitive method of boiling salt, which is labor-intensive, requires iron pots, and consumes a lot of wood.
The cost of sea salt is high, so the price is also high.
Gu's, on the other hand, produced high-quality sea salt with lower price.
"Recipe! Gu's must have a recipe for making salt!"
"...Even if the recipe isn't available, I'll still get more affordable salt!"
The major families are aware of the value of the formula, and their idea of seizing the formula is simply impossible to achieve.
They can only settle for the second best and get as much affordable sea salt as possible.
If you can't be a first-hand manufacturer, you can still make huge profits by being a middleman.
Mu Xiu understood the intentions of the various noble families and placed his bait precisely.
"As long as the salt merchants under the major families can deliver grain to the military camp by the river, they can exchange it for an equal amount of salt at the Gu's Trading Company!"
"Of course, it will take time for our salt to reach Jiangnan, so we can't deliver it immediately. In that case, give us a certificate first."
And this certificate is the "salt permit".
With this certificate, salt merchants can extract sufficient sea salt from Gu's Trading Company!
“This method is very good!”
Gu Qingcheng praised without reservation.
She admired sincerely: Mu Xiu is indeed a natural business genius.
Even if he is limited by the times, he can still use his extraordinary talent to come up with the best plan.
"The gentry in Jiangnan already have food, and since they are relatively close to the front lines along the river, they can deliver the food to King Liang in a timely and efficient manner."
As for the Gu family, they don't need to spend any manpower or material resources. They can perfectly solve the food problem by simply allocating some of the sea salt they normally sell.
The gentry in Jiangnan are not at a disadvantage either.
They used their accumulated grain to exchange for sufficient low-priced high-quality salt. Even if they did not buy it in Jiangnan and transported it to the Northern Dynasty, they could still make a fortune.
A win-win situation, oh no, this is destined to be a "win-win-win" situation - the Gu family, the Jiangnan gentry, and Chen Duan!
It was created by the genius Mu Xiu himself!
As expected, some people are born warriors, some are chosen generals, and some are business geniuses who are chased and fed by God.
And all of these have been or will soon be taken under Gu Qingcheng's command!
Huoshui: "Your Majesty is mighty! Your hegemony is just around the corner!"
"How about we do a mission to celebrate?"
The troublemaker appeared in time, smiling flatteringly, rubbing his paws that appeared, and trying his best to seduce.
"This time, you can draw the heroine's script!"
"Your Majesty, aren't you looking forward to it?"
In order to lure Gu Qingcheng, Huoshui spent a huge amount of money.
He took the initiative to mention the "compensation" he gritted his teeth and gave to Gu Qingcheng at the end of the last mission - a female lead role!
Gu Qingcheng raised an eyebrow, "Heroine's script? Haha, it's not the kind of 'former heroine' who gets counterattacked."
When it comes to playing word games, a big shot like Gu Qingcheng who is in charge of government affairs is the king.
When she picked her words, she was an absolute disaster.
Troublemaker: ...
Secretly wiping away a non-existent cold sweat, it quickly put on a smile and said, "No! It's definitely not the 'former heroine'!"
At most, it's just—
Ahem, can’t say that!
Gu Qingcheng glanced at Huoshui for a long time before finally nodding: "Okay, then let's do the mission!"
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