Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 109 There's a Business Here

In a private room of a restaurant in the outer city, Zhou Ye had already ordered a table full of dishes. He had only invited one guest today, Xiao Wu from the canal gang.

Since he wanted to send someone away, Zhou Ye's first thought was of this young brother, Xiao Wu. Besides, having more friends means having more options.

If we can establish connections with the canal gangs in the future, it might come in handy sometime.

It's basically a large-scale alliance of the lower-level gang members. Zhou Ye and Sun the Blacksmith of the Black Iron Gang are good friends—okay! The Black Iron Gang has been destroyed now. But that doesn't affect their friendship at all.

And so, amidst the lively atmosphere and the rising volume of drinks, the mood in the private room quickly warmed up. Strangely enough, Xiao Wu was equally attentive to Zhou Ye's invitation.

Zhou Ye was unaware that, from Xiao Wu's perspective, this young man, nicknamed "Brother Zhou," appeared to be a Ming Jin martial arts master. Furthermore, he was renting a place at a high price in the dock area, indicating a large business. In other words, he was quite wealthy. Otherwise, why would he have bought a seat on a boat at such a high price without even blinking an eye?

A promising young talent like this, who is both wealthy and willing to spend money, is someone you'd definitely want to cultivate a good relationship with.

So, amidst the cheerful atmosphere, the two chatted about what had happened that night. "Brother Wu—"

"Oh, no, brother, please just call me Xiao Wu." Xiao Wu quickly replied, "Among us brothers, success comes first. If you're so kind, I might as well call you Brother Zhou?"

"Hehe." Zhou Ye chuckled. "Alright then, Xiao Wu. The Black Iron Gang is gone now, which has freed up a lot of territory."

Don't you canal gang and woodcutter gang have any ideas?

"There are definitely people with ulterior motives. But we're in the business of seeking favors; our profits probably aren't as high as those of the Woodcutters' Gang, right? Besides, the Black Iron Gang is indeed gone, but not all the miners are gone. Those mines will definitely recruit a large number of new miners. Let me just say this: given the environment in the mines, the new miners will definitely band together for mutual support, and sooner or later a similar gang will emerge. When that time comes, are we going to fight this new gang in the streets again? Don't laugh at me, I don't know what others think, but I, Xiao Wu, certainly don't have that kind of idea. Those mining thugs are like madmen; this time, they've really scared us, haven't they?"

Zhou Ye smiled and nodded. Indeed, those miners have always been the most persecuted group, no wonder they have such a strong spirit of resistance.

Zhou Ye felt a certain amount of sympathy for this resistance born of oppression. Life is full of helplessness; during the battle, he had personally shot and killed so many miners. Sigh!

"Xiao Wu, I want to ask you something."

"Please speak."

"A friend of mine wants to go to another place. Does your guild have any help with that?"

"Brother Zhou, you're talking about shady dealings, right? To be honest, our canal gang has always offered this service. It's just that things are pretty tight right now, so the price might be a bit higher. I can help you inquire about it."

"How much does it usually cost?"

"It depends on the route. For example, going to the prefectural city, it would cost about 200 taels per person now, right?" Noticing Zhou Ye's interest, Xiao Wu explained in detail, "Don't think it's expensive. Everyone knows that those who want to take the illegal route have usually committed some serious crime. So our shipping guild also has to bear a certain risk. Also, we usually pay 100 taels first. After your friend is safely delivered to their destination and tells the boatman the secret code you two agreed on, our shipping guild will collect the remaining 100 taels."

two."

"Do we still need to use a private message?"

"Of course we need to. Otherwise, you and your friend won't feel at ease. But it's agreed that it's one group of people on one boat. We, the canal gang, won't pry into the backgrounds of the other passengers, whether they're human or ghost. Plus, there might be floods or bandits along the way, so there will still be some risks."

"Oh? You mean you can charter a boat?"

"That's definitely possible. The price varies depending on the size of the boat. But Brother Zhou, if money isn't an issue, and you're basically chartering a boat anyway, which is quite spacious, you might as well hire a few bodyguards from the escort agency."

"You mean the bodyguard?"

"That's right! Escort agencies usually give our shipping guild face, and our shipping guild also gives escort agencies some face. Anyway, those people in the county town who can run escort agencies all have very deep backgrounds. In this way, both sides will be wary of each other, which is more secure—"

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In the end, Xiao Wu not only readily agreed to escort the person out of the city, but he also enthusiastically introduced Zhou Ye to various aspects of the shady business, including a considerable amount of knowledge about it. And you know what? Without this introduction, it would indeed be difficult for an outsider to understand these industry secrets.

"Brother Zhou, I have a way to make money here. I wonder if you'd be interested?"

"Oh? What kind of connections?"

"That's right. Didn't our canal gang rent out a lot of warehouses? But the chaos a while ago—"

It turns out that many smugglers also suffered heavy losses in this chaotic battle. Some were killed or wiped out, leaving behind many unclaimed warehouses. Others, eager to escape the city, wanted to get rid of the goods in their warehouses as quickly as possible.

However, a false prosperity appeared in the market of the county town—a large number of stolen and plundered goods were suddenly released into the market, and everyone wanted to get their cash back as soon as possible, which instantly caused the entire market to collapse completely.

The same was true for the warehouses at the canal docks. Many warehouses were already overflowing with all sorts of goods, and even the original owners couldn't be found, or they wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible. But they simply couldn't sell them! There were just too many sellers, and almost no one was willing to take them on at this point.

What particularly troubled the canal transport guild was that many of the goods were neither edible nor usable, yet the guild members still owed them money every month. If they couldn't afford rice, were they supposed to starve?

And then there are those warehouses. If the inventory continues to pile up, what will happen to the future rent? That would result in a huge loss of money.

"Brother Zhou, the price of many goods has dropped to 20% or 30% of their original value, some even to around 10%. Once the situation stabilizes, caravans from outside will come sooner or later. Then, with a simple resale, the price will multiply several times over."

"Uh-huh."

That makes sense, but Zhou Ye really wasn't very interested in doing business. But then he thought, Xiao Wu had already been very helpful, so he should at least give him some face.

"Xiao Wu, do you know what kind of goods we have?"

"That's too many. How about this: whenever you're free, just go to those warehouses and pick whatever you like?"

"Uh—how about tomorrow morning? Shall we meet somewhere?"

"OK!"

"Oh, right, please accept these things. One thing at a time, we agreed to give each other a generous reward last time. This is just a small token of our appreciation, please don't be shy about it."

"Well... thank you very much, Brother Zhou. If you ever need anything from the Canal Gang in the future, leave it all to me."

"hehe."

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After dealing with the matter of sending Xiao Jie away, Zhou Ye saw that it was still early, so he went directly to the Gu family.

This delay has been far too long, almost jeopardizing my winter intensive training. So I should resolve the matter of my temporary assignment to the Gu family as soon as possible.

More than an hour later, in a small reception room of the Gu family.

At this moment, Zhou Ye had completed all the procedures for his temporary posting to the Gu family and had successfully received his first month's salary of 10 taels of silver, as well as the customary 10 taels of "signing fee".

Just then, Gu Jiu walked in carrying a package. He said with a smile, "Brother Tian, ​​inside is a set of monster material books you need. Also, you seem to be the kind of person who loves martial arts, so I specially brought you a gift. These are martial arts books that our Gu family seized this time, more than a dozen in total. I had them make copies of each one, and I'm giving them all to you. Perhaps you can use them for reference in the future."

"Oh, Ninth Young Master, this gift is too generous."

"Why be so formal with us brothers? From now on, don't call me 'Young Master,' just call me Ninth Brother!"

"Alright, Ninth Brother."

"By the way, we haven't had it reviewed and proofread by experienced experts yet. So don't practice blindly. Stop immediately if you notice anything wrong."

"I understand, I understand. It's just for reference, but it's still very useful to me."

"As long as it works. As long as you like it."

Zhou Ye increasingly felt that once one reached a certain level, obtaining mid-to-low-grade martial arts manuals became increasingly easier. Take Du Keyuan, for example; who knows how many martial arts manuals his martial arts school possessed?

The difficult part is the cultivation techniques, especially top-tier ones. This also includes top-notch martial arts skills, which are rarely circulated outside the martial arts world.

Of course, due to the two rebellions, a large amount of things flowed out of the hands of powerful families, so not only were all kinds of goods abundant in Fufeng County, but even martial arts manuals became extremely common.

But no matter what, this was Gu Jiu's good intention.

Unexpectedly, Gu Jiu continued to extend his goodwill: "Brother Tian, ​​I have a business deal here. I wonder if you'd be interested in joining forces?"

"Oh? What kind of business? Could you please enlighten me?"

"That's right. In the distribution of profits after this war, our Gu family got a portion of the weaving business. You may not know this, but the weaving business isn't doing well right now. A lot of cloth has entered the market. And the foreign merchants have stopped coming. Currently, each bolt of cotton cloth only costs 3 qian of silver? It used to be worth at least 1.5 liang. Silk has fallen to about 1 liang per bolt. So I want to take advantage of the low price and buy a batch. The price will definitely rebound after spring."

"Really? Ninth Brother, are you sure you can do it?"

"Of course I'm confident. Take this rebellion in the county town, for example. Many skilled weavers in the weaving workshops have lost a lot of their workers. It will take at least one or two years to restore production to what it was before. After all, skilled workers need a long time to be trained. The cotton and mulberry fields outside will also suffer huge losses. So next year's production will definitely be significantly reduced. At that time, we will definitely be able to sell our cloth at a high price."

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