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In addition to paying military salaries, large quantities of food, grain seeds, and oxen had to be purchased. There were also a large number of people who needed relief. Qin Mu had been spending money like water these days. The little money and food allocated by Yang Tinglin was quickly used up. The gold and silver treasures that Huo Sheng had pledged last time would not last long, and Qin Mu began to worry.
Could it be possible that Huo Sheng and his men should disguise themselves as bandits and rob the rich
There is no impenetrable wall in this world. If you really do this, you can get money and food in the short term, but sooner or later you will be exposed by others.
By then, I am afraid that my reputation will be a hundred times worse than that of Li Zicheng and others, which will be extremely detrimental to my future development.
Moreover, this method of looting is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. It only causes destruction without producing anything, and is definitely not a long-term strategy.
How about getting some penicillin and selling it for money
In the past, the Qin family’s industries involved medicine, chemicals, real estate and other industries. There was a pharmaceutical factory in the family that produced penicillin. Qin Mu knew the extraction process
But there is a problem. Even if penicillin can be extracted now, how can this injectable drug be stored and transported? Who will sell it to? Who will inject it? How many people dare to accept the injection
Something like this involving life and death will hardly open up the market in China without long-term subtle influence.
Well, get some cement to sell? Qin Mu couldn't help shaking his head when he thought of this. Now is a chaotic world, a real chaotic world. Everyone is busy destroying. Who has the heart to build? The rich are eager to exchange their property for gold and silver and hide it. Who will buy your stuff
The imperial court wanted to build more fortifications, but it was so poor that it was almost making ends meet. How could you make money by selling things to the imperial court? I'm afraid you wouldn't even get a single IOU.
In such a world, exporting weapons, food, etc. is undoubtedly the most expensive thing, but Qin Mu has problems with self-sufficiency of these, let alone exporting them.
Money! Food! Qin Mu was worried all day long. He thought of many ways, but had to give up because they were not suitable for the time being.
The fiery sunset dyed half the sky red. Qin Mu returned to the back court after a busy day. Qiao'er put two hot dishes on the table, one was stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots, and the other was tofu with green onions. The colors looked so-so.
The two of them have been dependent on each other for a few months, and it was the first time that Qin Mu ate the food cooked by Qiao'er. He picked up a bowl of steaming white rice and took a bite... ... ... ... Uh, it was a little undercooked.
The little girl's big eyes, as bright as stars, stared at him without blinking, waiting for his evaluation dryly.
"Well, not bad, not bad." Qin Mu felt that for children, encouragement was better than criticism. He swallowed the rice in big mouthfuls and looked like he was eating it with relish.
"Really? Are they really delicious? Sir, please try these dishes and see how they taste." Qiao'er smiled like the morning glow and picked up some dishes for him attentively.
Qin Mu picked up a piece of bamboo shoots and chewed it with relish, grinning and chuckling from time to time: "It's delicious, girl, don't just look at it, eat it too."
"Yeah." Qiao'er quickly picked up the bowl, scooped up rice, picked up some dishes, and as she ate, tears slowly flowed down her face.
"Hey, girl, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Sir, I'm really useless. I... Sir, please don't eat. I'll do it again."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, it doesn't need to be that way. It tastes good except that it's a little lighter. Look at my pimples, they're still standing. It's just right to eat something lighter."
"But it still smells burnt, it's bitter." The little girl couldn't stop crying. She would rather Qin Mu scold her a few times, maybe she would feel better that way. Qin Mu was busy all day and very tired. He finally had the chance to sit down and have a meal, but she made him like this.
Qin Mu looked at her and found her quite interesting. The little girl was twelve years old this year and had been begging for two years. She had one meal a day and one meal a day. She must not have cooked in the past two years.
Qin Mu couldn't help but think of the fact that the girl could read. He had never asked Qiao'er about her past. The girl had always been a quiet person and had never taken the initiative to talk about her family's situation.
But if she was a child from an ordinary family, a ten-year-old would have been exposed to some housework and would not be unable to cook even the simplest meal. This further proves that the girl was born in a wealthy family.
Qin Mu reached out and rubbed her little head, and comforted her in a gentle voice: "Okay, Qiao'er, don't cry. This is your first time cooking, and it's great that you can do it like this. I may not be as good as you. You are so smart. After this experience, add more water to the rice and more salt to the dishes tomorrow, and you will do well."
"Well, thank you, sir. I will make more tomorrow. By the way, sir, salt is very expensive in the market. You can only buy a little bit with one tael of silver. That's why I didn't put more when I cooked today."
"Huh? You bought the salt yourself? How expensive was it?" Qin Mu seemed to have a flash of light in his mind, but he couldn't grasp it for a moment and couldn't help scratching the back of his head.
Qiao Er pouted and replied, "It's very expensive. One pound of salt costs two coins, and it's just coarse yellow salt."
"Two cents of silver for one catty, and one tael of silver for five catties?" Qin Mu exclaimed. A flash of light flashed through his mind. He was stunned for a moment, then stood up suddenly. He happily picked up the little girl and spun around in the hall for a few circles, then kissed her on the forehead.
"Hahaha, Qiao'er, you are destined to be a lucky wife. We're rich, we're rich. Two cents of silver for a pound of salt, what's the difference between this and robbing money, hahaha..."
The little girl wiped the saliva from her forehead with a red face and pouted her lips and said, "Sir, I also think they are robbing us, but they are robbing our money. How can you be so happy about it?"
It is no wonder that Qin Mu and Qiao'er felt like they were robbing money. You have to know that in peacetime, a pound of salt only sold for about one cent of silver. Due to the war, the price has risen now. Even in places like Nanjing, the price is not very high, only about one cent and a half.
Qin Mu never imagined that the price of salt here would be so high, almost twenty times higher than that in Nanjing.
If you think about it carefully, you can understand it. Salt, like grain, is an indispensable item for people's daily life. However, Jiangxi and Huguang do not produce salt. Taking into account the transportation cost, the price of salt here is much higher than that in the Lianghuai area.
Now that trade routes have been blocked due to the war, the transportation of salt has been greatly affected, and it may even be impossible to transport it in. Naturally, the price has skyrocketed.
"Hahaha, girl, if others can rob, we can rob too. I have someone with a knife, so am I afraid that I can't rob them?"
"Oh, I see. Sir, do you want to be a salt merchant?"
"No! No! No! We don't sell salt, we produce salt!"
"Produce salt? Then please produce some quickly, sir. I won't be reluctant to put salt in the dishes next time." The little girl struggled down and looked at Qin Mu expectantly, her eyes shining like two diamonds.
"Do you think I'm a hen?" Qin Mu raised his hand and hit the little girl, causing her neck to shrink. "Eat quickly. Only after eating can you have the strength to produce salt."
The little girl sat down obediently, but after picking up the bowl, she ate while stealing glances at Qin Mu's buttocks. Her expectant eyes made Qin the magistrate very angry.
"You little bitch, are you doing this on purpose? I've told you that I'm not a hen. Even if I were a hen, I would only lay eggs, not salt... ... ... ... Are you still looking... ... Are you still looking? Just wait, I'm going to roast you today..."
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