Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 391 Nanzhi wins once, Shandong wins once

Wang Chang sighed with the last bit of conscience, "But if this happens, I don't know how many poor families will shiver in the cold wind this winter. I don't know how many beggars will freeze to death on the road."

"How could Captain Pei bear this?"

Wang Chang even gave Pei Yuan a little nod, "The sage once said, 'To bear the disgrace of the country is to be the master of the country; to bear the misfortune of the country is to be the king of the world.' How can a person who pushes the people into a pit of fire be blessed by heaven?"

Pei Yuan looked at Wang Chang curiously and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"I..." Wang Chang was stunned for a moment, and suddenly he felt a little dizzy, and the memory of riding a horse began to awaken.

He was a little flustered and was about to continue explaining.

Pei Yuan said, "With our crude plan, can we still make it to winter?"

Wang Chang: “?”

Pei Yuan spread his hands and said with a hearty smile, "We'll have to talk about this in the fall."

"Inspired by us, those wealthy people with idle land will definitely plant a lot of cotton. When the plan to build a large cotton cloth workshop fails, the price of cotton will definitely fall sharply. By then, even the poor will be able to spend the winter warmly."

"The people might even like me more."

Only then did Wang Chang realize the error in his thinking.

It turns out that Pei Gou is such a shameless guy, he only intends to make big promises but is not really willing to do anything.

Wang Chang subconsciously frowned and said, "If that's the case, if things don't work out, won't we still offend those people?"

Pei Yuan said as a matter of course, "So, I can't do such a conscienceless thing!"

This is easy to understand.

Wang Chang guessed Captain Pei's thoughts with the greatest malice, "Is Captain Pei planning to find a scapegoat?"

Pei Yuan didn't respond.

Wang Chang understood again, that was it.

Wang Chang shook his head and sighed, "How can such a thing be accomplished so easily? If it is something that has no background, how can people trust it so easily?"

Pei Yuan had thought about it, so he answered casually, "Business is like a battlefield. There must be people interested in this kind of thing."

What Pei Yuan thought of were the powerful families in Nanzhili who grew cotton.

For ordinary powerful families, targeting a large cotton producing area is something they dare not even think about, and no one has ever dared to do so.

But if there is someone taking the lead and connecting those scattered forces, then each company will only need to put in a very small effort to bring down the cotton market in Shandong.

These people in Nanzhi are not afraid of retaliation from the forces in Shandong. Who can refuse such a convenient thing?

Pei Yuan even thought of a suitable candidate, that is Liu Zhishu, the prefect of Hangzhou!

As long as Liu Zhishu completes this task, he will be able to gain great reputation in Nanzhi.

From now on, let alone going to Zhejiang Provincial Administration, even the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture is something you can look forward to.

Seeing that Pei Yuan had already made up his mind, Wang Chang said with some concern, "If we really use a lot of idle land to grow cotton, I'm afraid it will affect the autumn harvest. In addition, we have to occupy a large area of ​​land to grow beans, I'm afraid it will also affect people's livelihood."

Pei Yuan shook his head and said, "No. Shandong has one of the best plains in the world. In places with abundant water resources, it is even possible to reclaim lake fields and grow rice. During the Hongwu period alone, Shandong had more than 720,000 hectares of cultivated land. In recent years, with the increasing population, more wasteland has been reclaimed, and the land is only increasing."

"As long as there is land, no matter who holds it, something will grow on it. As long as something grows, it will exist in reality."

“It’s just that some people have more and some have less.”

Seeing Wang Chang frown, Pei Yuan explained further.

"Food is the most basic value element in an agricultural society. If the food produced is only enough for everyone to eat and there are no large numbers of people starving to death, it means that there will not be a single rich person in Shandong. This is because the food is evenly distributed and there is no accumulation of additional surplus value."

"But now there are countless wealthy families in Shandong, which means that after the common people have enough food to make ends meet, there is still a lot of surplus food. It is precisely because there is enough surplus wealth that there are enough rich people."

"So, Shandong is not short of food, but lacks meaningful distribution."

“It’s just that those who hoard the surplus value are unwilling to pay more for those people’s labor.”

Wang Chang was completely dumbfounded. He had no idea what Pei Yuan was talking about.

Pei Yuan patiently explained, "We guide the people to grow beans and cotton so that more people can do more valuable things, and then more surplus value can be distributed, which will make people live better."

"Moreover, if there is no way to do business, ordinary people will not easily do things like growing cotton and beans."

Wang Chang was restrained for a while, and after a while, his face was a little stiff and he said, "Isn't the captain planning to ruin the cotton business?"

Pei Yuan replied, "We must always make more preparations to take advantage of the situation. If we can grasp the timing well, we can enter the market as a hero after the cotton price collapses. Then we can gain the right to control cotton in one fell swoop."

"We can win once in Nanzhili and then win again in Shandong."

Pei Yuan was not in a position to talk about the soybean empire, but he could share the benefits of cotton with everyone.

Pei Yuan also explained to Wang Chang, "Once we have the right to speak on cotton, we can decide the future direction. Then everyone can come in and participate."

"I plan to bring in the Shandong Anti-Japanese Pirates Command to transport the cotton-padded clothes to Liaodong via official ships. Official ships are supposed to patrol the sea and defend against Japanese pirates. We can let them take part and get some money for free. We don't have to consider the cost-effectiveness of cargo transportation at all, and both sides will benefit."

"Liaodong is an isolated place. It is vast and sparsely populated, but it also has many natural ports and islands that can be used as transit points. We only need to spend very little to block the news and then resell those cotton clothes to North Korea or Japan."

"North Korea has furs and ginseng. Japan has a lot of gold and silver. Let's take them back and share them among us."

Pei Yuan also specifically mentioned Wang Chang, "You will definitely get a share."

"This..." Wang Chang was suddenly confused by the plan proposed by Pei Yuanxin.

Pei Yuan spread out his hands and analyzed for Wang Chang bit by bit, "Instead of letting those princes and military leaders worry about the grain in the warehouse getting moldy every day and try their best to exchange it for land, it would be more reassuring to let them exchange it for money."

"They gained wealth; the people who planted cotton and beans gained an extra share; even the people who planted grains saw their harvest become more valuable because the total amount of grain was reduced."

"In order to get money, the Shandong Anti-Japanese Military and Political Department had to go out to sea frequently, and even expand to the coastal islands. This could also serve as a decoy, so that the Japanese pirates would not dare to easily invade Shandong territory."

"Liaodong is isolated overseas, and they can take a share of it. With such a business to pull them together, Shandong and Liaodong will not become alienated in the future."

"Besides, as long as the Shandong Beiwodusi gets involved in this business, there's no reason to complain about making too much money. We can't have an empty ship when we return from Liaodong, right? Even if we just transport wood, we can still make a lot of money."

"Liaodong has been barren for a long time. All you can see is endless forest. This money is like picking up something for free."

"Good wood is scarce. If there is enough wood, we can let Xuzhou Zuowei use it to build ships. I remember that Xuzhou Zuowei can build ocean-covering ships, right? This will strengthen our maritime transport capabilities. The whole game will basically be activated." "Of course..." Pei Yuan smiled, nodded at Wang Chang, and pointed at himself, "We take the biggest share."

Wang Chang felt the horse's spurring and then the familiar rhythm of being a dog, and suddenly felt very relieved.

After all, this model is very successful.

The battle record can be verified.

Wang Chang said sincerely, "I am willing to follow your orders."

Then he also reminded, "It is taboo to trade with the vassal states privately."

Pei Yuan immediately denied it and said, "It has nothing to do with us. We just transported the goods to Liaodong. Liaodong is the territory of our Ming Dynasty. As for how it was done over there, you can ask the censor to check it out."

Wang Chang immediately realized that even if the incident happened, it would probably remain an unsolved case.

The development level of Liaodong is very low now, with wilderness everywhere and wild animals occasionally sneaking into the villages.

Let alone sending a few imperial censors, even if the court sent thousands of imperial censors, they probably wouldn't be able to find the port where they were trading goods.

Pei Yuan thought about it and also found a few good stronghold targets.

One is Pi Island.

At that time, Mao Wenlong was in Pi Island, relying on the strength of the Ming navy, he was able to defeat the Jurchens in a desperate situation.

That location can be defended securely with only a few people, and it can easily radiate to North Korea, making it a good place to start a business.

Pei Yuan asked about the affairs of the princes again. Unfortunately, with Zhu's unbelievable rules and regulations in place, no one dared to mess with those princes.

Wang Chang had only been in Shandong for a short time, so naturally no one would open up to him and talk about anything.

Pei Yuan already had a plan in mind, so he said no more.

After Pei Yuan asked Wang Chang about the strength of Shandong, he also told him some of his plans.

"This time, I came to Shandong not to investigate a case, but because Qi is strategically located and has always been rich and powerful. I want to consolidate the foundation here."

"I plan to settle down in Shandong for the long term."

Wang Chang knew that Pei Yuan said this and he definitely didn't plan to stay in Jinan.

Jinan has the Governor's Office, the Three Departments Office, and even a large group of people of Prince De.

What Pei Yuan was going to do could not be exposed in public.

Wang Chang immediately asked, "Then I wonder what Captain Pei has his eyes on?"

Pei Yuan had some inclinations before, and after listening to Wang Chang's introduction, his thoughts became clearer in his mind, "I plan to stay in Yanggu County and establish a permanent base there."

Pei Yuan chose Yanggu County naturally for the human and financial resources that could be harvested.

When "Little Wu Song" cooperated with the Bazhou bandits who fled to Shandong to attack and kill Pei Yuan, many powerful people in Yanggu County helped and provided a lot of young and strong men for "Little Wu Song".

Later, Pei Yuan defeated the Bazhou bandits and captured thousands of young men. He had already tortured them to find out their identities and backgrounds.

Pei Yuan was concerned about the presence of Gu Dayong and Xiao Yan at the time, and thought of coming back to have the meal all to himself, so he did not bring up the matter immediately.

Now is the perfect time to harvest these human and financial resources and use them as resources to rebuild the Luo Sect.

Wang Chang listened to Pei Yuan and said, "Then I will go with the captain and help him establish his career."

Pei Yuan shook his head and said, "No hurry. I have some things to take care of. When I'm done, I'll call you over. You can help me out."

Thinking about the establishment of Luojiao, Pei Yuan remembered something else and asked Wang Chang, "By the way, some time ago, I asked you to put pressure on the prefectures and counties to hand over the Luojiao members. How is it going?"

Wang Chang didn't know what expression to show on his face after hearing this. "After repeated inquiries from this subordinate, all prefectures and counties responded. The number of Luojiao believers they reported ranged from eight or nine to seventeen or eighteen."

"Tsk." Pei Yuan laughed.

He looked at Wang Chang and said jokingly, "They are all capable operators."

Wang Chang was also a little embarrassed.

The leader of the Luojiao is now going to Huguang with money to buy beans. Now the Luojiao is just a PPT, without even a hair. Government officials in various places have arrested a large number of Luojiao believers.

This was Pei Yuan's purpose in the first place, so it would be bad for him to take advantage of the situation and say nonsense like "How could this be possible?"

He said to Wang Chang, "Write down the names of those who sent more than ten people. These people are more likely to cooperate. We can try out our cotton and bean planting plan there first."

The number of people sent from various places is also very particular.

The meaning of sending eight or nine people was very clear, that is, to cater to the superiors as much as possible within a limited scope. Therefore, the number of people they sent did not exceed two digits.

Those with more than double digits expressed their intention to please in a restrained manner, and their number was kept below twenty.

The attitudes of all parties are ambiguous yet clear and easy to understand.

Wang Chang also understood what they meant and nodded, "I have already done the statistics."

He asked Pei Yuan, "Should we send these people to the governor's office or to Captain Pei?"

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "As the deputy commander of the Evil Suppression Unit, it would not be appropriate for me to handle this matter personally, right? I should wait for Chen Toutie to come back and let him do it himself."

Wang Chang asked tentatively, "Then send it to the governor's office first?"

Pei Yuan laughed and said, "Send it to the governor's office first. When Gu Dayong arrives, he will most likely choose to stay in Shandong temporarily. Then you can send half of it to the West Factory. When Chen Toutie arrives, it will let those cult members know how powerful their future leader is."

Wang Chang understood what Pei Yuan meant.

——Just work together with Gu Dayong and cooperate with Chen Toutie to show off.

Wang Chang couldn't help but think of the scene when he laughed and watched Pei Yuan showing off outside Taoyuan City.

At that time he was just an unknown background figure.

As a result, now it was Chen Toutie's turn to show off, and he became the villain who got slapped in the face again.

While Wang Chang felt resentful, he couldn't help but feel a little envious. When will it be my turn to show off?

(End of this chapter)