Not long after, Ning Yi saw Lu Hongti in a side room. Her face was a little long and sallow. She looked like a village girl in her thirties. However, Ning Yi recognized her from her temperament at first glance. She had changed her appearance, but her eyes still had a calming aura. She was the woman who taught him the Six Paths Breaking Internal Skill and said it was a second-rate skill.
After seeing her, Su Tan 'er did not beat around the bush. She asked if they were old acquaintances. Ning Yi bowed and smiled. "Master." This time, Su Tan 'er was shocked. After being stunned for a moment, she gathered her skirt and was about to kneel down. Lu Hongti blinked his eyes and held her up. "Don't talk nonsense. I can't accept you as my disciple."
Although Lu Hongti was similar in age to Ning Yi and Watermelon, she had a gentle temperament and seemed to be much more mature. No one would be suspicious if she dressed up as a thirty-year-old. The three of them chatted for a while. Su Tan 'er knew that although this heroine did not admit that she and Ning Yi were master and disciple, she did teach her Husband Kung Fu, so she should be treated as an elder. If the two of them wanted to have a deep conversation, it would not be appropriate for her to stay. She left after serving tea, leaving the two of them a chance to talk alone.
After his wife left, Ning Yi asked, "Did you come here to form an alliance with Fang La or something else? Also … Tan 'er said that you were being hunted? "
Lu Hongti looked at him for a while. "I came here specifically to find you."
"Huh?"
Ning Yi was stunned. This reason was indeed beyond his expectations. After all, Lu Liang had come from thousands of miles away just to contact one person. It was not worth it for her to make such a trip. Then, he listened to Lu Hongti's reason.
"Hmm … In this year, according to what you said, the village has been doing very well. Things were done according to what you said. We contacted the merchants on both sides and asked them to pass through Lu Liang Mountain. Except for war-related materials, everything else can be passed. There will be a war this year, but all kinds of goods are in high demand. We took a cut according to the market price and exchanged the payment for salt, iron, and grain. We asked the merchants we are familiar with to bring them in advance. We've also talked to a few villages nearby. They've told us that we'll help out and share some things with them. Heh, it really took a lot of effort to convince them previously … "
What Ning Yi had planned for him was actually a purely commercial operation. It was actually very simple. Lu Hongti's stronghold would provide a one-stop service to Lu Liang Mountain. The people from this stronghold would follow them throughout the journey to ensure their safety. The people from this stronghold would also coordinate with the few forces along the way and give them a certain share of the profits. In the past, the situation in Lu Liang Mountain was actually quite chaotic. It was a barren mountain with unruly rivers. The small roads were difficult to traverse. The merchants risked their lives to cross the mountain and were robbed on the way. If they met someone who followed the rules and paid a protection fee, they might be able to pass. If they met a hungry village, they would kill people and rob all the goods.
The problem was that under such circumstances, the villages might not be able to get what they wanted. Not many merchants would take this road just to sell some grain. If you robbed a cart of cloth and wanted to exchange it for grain with the outside world, you would definitely be ruthlessly slaughtered. In the end, the profit was actually quite limited. In addition, the people who were forced to go up the mountain felt that they had no future. They often muddled along and hated work. With the attitude that one day was one day at a time, everyone lived in poverty.
Modern commercial operations would not directly optimize production, but it would first coordinate the distribution of goods to develop in a healthy way. In the past, grain merchants who dared to enter the mountain would definitely make a lot of money. Now, Lu Hongti only asked the familiar merchants to bring enough salt, iron, and grain according to the market price. The one-stop security service also made the merchants more willing to help Lu Hongti. As for the other villages, they did not contribute manpower or effort. Of course, they could not get a big share. But even if they got a small share, it was still better than in the past. Most people still felt that this side was quite generous.
In a chaotic system, as long as a system was formed and there were rules, there would definitely be profits. Of course, there were people who were jealous of such a thing. But in this kind of business, a year was just the beginning. There were not many people who were aware of it. And even if others wanted to do it, they would not be able to do it in a short time. As mentioned earlier, the people who went up the mountain were not diligent people. They worked hard in the past and had no direction. They were just muddling along. It was actually not easy to maintain a smuggling channel, coordinate people from all sides, and spend a lot of effort to control the movements in the mountain. For those who were involved in this matter, it was equivalent to working from nine to five, and even overtime. These mountain bandits were used to being free and unrestrained. Who would be willing to work every day?
In order to really get things going, they had to rely on the various ideological work that Lu Hongti had done in the stronghold. She recalled the bitterness and thought about the sweetness, told stories, and even "saved" a family of opera singers. Every seven days, they would perform in the stronghold. When Ning Yi first said these things, he was only using things like business operations, company culture, and system indicators. When Lu Hongti first started, it was actually quite difficult. But after everything was put together, the effect was obviously beyond her imagination.
Of course, in this, the most important factor was the military force. It was impossible to make all the people in the stronghold work together and not cause any trouble. During this period, there must have been fights and blood. But no matter what, it sounded like this business had basically taken shape under Lu Hongti's hands.
"… Tian Hu has been reaching out to us. In the past three months, he invited the chiefs of the stronghold to a meeting. Seven of them were killed, and most of them joined Tian Hu. But fortunately, we haven't been affected yet. Instead, some of them were dissatisfied and came to join me. In the past few months, the stronghold has been getting bigger and bigger. Tian Hu doesn't seem to have any intention of making a move on me. I heard that he thinks that we are just businessmen, so he looks down on us. But you said before that if the stronghold suddenly becomes too big, then … the ideological work can't keep up, and it will be very troublesome. Grandpa Liang also said so, so he asked me to go south to Jiangning to find you. "
When Lu Hongti said this, she looked at Ning Yi and smiled. "Originally, I wanted to catch you and bring you back to Lu Liang."
It turned out that the development of the organization had reached a bottleneck, and there was no confidence in the future. Ning Yi understood and also smiled. "Forced to Liangshan, this is …"
"I'm not forcing you to Liangshan, I'm forcing you to go to Lu Liang." At this time, there was no special meaning in forcing him to Liangshan. Lu Hongti corrected him seriously. "But when I went to Jiangning, I heard that Fang La had become the emperor. You weren't at the Su family, so I went to the home of your confidante, Nie Yunzhu. Originally, you asked me to send a message, so I still remember the place. Looking at her condition at that time, I thought you were dead. Later, I showed up to ask and found out that you were trapped in Hangzhou without any news, so I continued to go south."
Ning Yi thought for a while. "How is she?"
"She's just worried about you, and that Miss Yuan Jin 'er. She's quite interesting." Lu Hongti smiled. "I said that I would protect you. They were only relieved when I almost knocked down a tree across the river. After I arrived in Huzhou, I heard about you again. At that time, I secretly found your wife and kept an eye on her for a while. When I saw that she was preparing to go south, I pretended that I was being chased on the road and asked her for a favor … It's always easier to find you with her. Besides, I originally planned to make you owe her a favor. "
Ning Yi nodded. "Thank you very much."
Lu Hongti just smiled. "You're so involved in Hangzhou. When can you leave?"
"I don't know, but don't rob me." Ning Yi crossed his hands. "I'll make a detailed five-year plan for you. I probably can't go to Lu Liang for the time being. After things in Hangzhou are done, I have to go to the capital. Now that the Wu dynasty is in deep trouble, I know the Right Chief Minister, so I probably have to go and help."
"You … want to be an official?" Lu Hongti frowned.
"I'll be an advisor, maybe help with some logistics."
"… Now that the Jin and Liao are at war, how can the Wu dynasty be in deep trouble? The imperial court … really wants to take the opportunity to conquer the Liao and take over the 16 provinces of Yan Yun?"
Although he was a mountain bandit, Lu Hongti was actually quite concerned about the situation of the Wu dynasty. Ning Yi just smiled and shook his head. "It's impossible. The Jin will destroy the Liao. Liao is an old wolf, and the Jin Kingdom is a tiger. What we're afraid of now is that after the tiger kills the wolf, it will discover that there's still a sheep below and continue to kill. The Wu dynasty has no strength, and it always wants to be an empty wolf. I'm afraid that in the end, the country will be destroyed … "
"Mm." Lu Hongti understood what he meant and nodded. "Then … the five-year plan you mentioned is …"
"When you have time, tell me about the situation in Lu Liang, and all the details of your surroundings. When the time comes, the two of us will make one or more plans and see what we can do in the future. However, the general direction can be imagined for now. " Ning Yi deliberated, smiled, and casually gestured with his hand. "Strengthen our control over our surroundings, rely on Lu Liang Mountain, and engage in smuggling. We'll develop your side into a smuggling transit station, or in other words, a * * * * * * … Uh, it means that smugglers can live there, and create a market there, provide protection, and provide order."
"… The ironware and warhorses in the north are allowed to be transported to the south, and the luxury goods in the south are allowed to be transported to the north. We can develop a little, rob the Liao people's things, kill the Liao people's peddlers, and auction them in Lu Liang Mountain. We can do business with Tian Hu and sell the Wu dynasty and Liao's things to them. At the same time, we can do business with the Wu dynasty. If there are any heads of the Liao people or armors of the army, we can sell them to the Wu dynasty's army. Didn't you fight with the Liao people before? The heads will probably be wasted. This will definitely be very profitable. In the end, it'll be best if we can build a neutral city. But for now, we can basically think of this direction … "
*****
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