281 Huang Wan'er didn't say anything. Chen Jie said after a while, "Let's get started."
Huang Waner: "What starts?"
Chen Jie then reached out to undress himself and asked, "What do you think?"
Huang Wan'er stopped Chen Jie and said, "No."
"What?"
Huang Wan'er said: "Today, not."
"Will you still say no?"
Chen Jie was stunned. It was the first time he knew Huang Wan'er would say no.
Huang Wan'er looked at Chen Jie and said, "From now on, I won't stay in your house anymore. If you want, come to Jixiang Temple to find me."
"Why?"
Chen Jie was surprised by Huang Wan'er's change.
Huang Wan'er sighed and said, "That woman, after all, I can't bear to hurt her."
"My wife?"
Chen Jie asked.
Huang Wan'er said, "She and I are both miserable people! Why should miserable people make things difficult for miserable people?"
…
The imagined thrilling battle did not happen. Chen Jie quickly returned to the banquet in the front yard. He had been away for such a long time, but no one asked him where he had been.
Chen Jie had already changed into a loose martial arts uniform and drank some drinks with the group.
Soon the banquet was over.
The end of the banquet meant that Chen Jie officially became the head of the White Tiger Hall in Mianshui County, and also officially became a leading figure in Mianshui County.
From then on, Chen Jie began to have a place in Mianshui County.
…
Just like that, half a year passed.
The entire Mian River was calm in the past six months, but three major events also occurred.
First: Wu Hong successfully broke through the Hua Jin and became the new chief constable of Mianshui County. The old chief constable Zhang Liye was transferred to Huangzhou Prefecture and served as the deputy chief constable of the prefectural city.
Not long after Wu Hong's breakthrough, he had an argument with his best brother Chen Jiusi. The two fought in Zuixianlou and parted unhappily. Since then, the two have not been in contact. Wu Hong also arrested dozens of people from Baihu Hall in succession, claiming to be upholding justice. Chen Jiusi also used his connections to get the magistrate Tang Wannian to dismiss three old constables from Zhang Liye's period in order to establish his authority.
Rumor has it that the two parted ways because of differences in their ideals. What a pity!
Second: The Darughachi Mansion released a group of beggars that had been captured before. Among them was a beggar named Zhou Peng, who actually broke through the Hua Jin level and occupied two streets in South Street again. He was called the Iron Beggar.
And as these new forces emerged one after another, the Thirteen Guardians of Mianshui County were also re-ranked.
Now they are: The Tyrant of the South, Old Liu of the North, The Invincible Thirteen Protectors, The Doctor, The Head of the Constable, The Oil Seller, The Ghost Hand, The Scholar, The Pretty Beauty, The Blacksmith, The Iron Beggar, The Blind Fortune Teller, The Eagle, The Tiger, The Leopard!
Among them, Nan Batian and Bei Laoliu were the most steadfast and did not move at all. But the third person was replaced by Langzhong. Who is Langzhong?
That's right, it was Chen Jiusi. His identity as Bai Langzhong's apprentice was exposed. Everyone then realized that the third-ranked figure in the Mianshui County gang is actually a doctor.
Just like back then, after Peng Shizhong became famous, someone dug up the fact that he used to be a fisherman, and so the Thirteen Tigers became fishermen after drinking a number.
The third is that after Chen Jie became the head of the White Tiger Hall, he carried out drastic reforms on the entire White Tiger Hall, which affected the entire Mianshui County and made the entire White Tiger Hall's business flourish, far exceeding the period of Peng Shizhong.
The specific reforms are divided into three parts!
The first part of the militarization reform was the establishment of the White Tiger Guard. The combat effectiveness of the White Tiger Guard increased sharply, and with Chen Jie spending money, the strength of the White Tiger Guard increased by leaps and bounds.
All thirteen teams have already entered the dark energy realm, and their combat power is no weaker than that of Nan Batian's direct lineage in the Fisherman's Gang.
Nan Batian was very angry about this, but he could do nothing about it. He privately lamented more than once that raising a tiger would only bring disaster upon himself!
In addition, the White Tiger Hall was also expanding, having accepted two hundred new disciples in the past six months, bringing the total number to nearly eight hundred at one time.
Second, economic reform.
There are mainly two types of reforms. The first is to adjust the industries under its umbrella, and the second is to reduce taxes on shops.
All shops on all streets managed by Baihutang will enjoy a 30% tax reduction, which will attract more high-quality merchants to invest and open shops on Baihutang's four streets. This will greatly increase the traffic on these four streets, and Baihutang's directly-operated shops will also benefit greatly.
And because of the tax reduction, Chen Jie became a benevolent and righteous person in the eyes of these shops, and his reputation among the people increased.
Secondly, he adjusted the economic system under his command and put forward a sixteen-character policy.
Reduce production to protect mining, reduce taxes to attract businesses, expand innovation, and eliminate malpractices.
The first one is to reduce production to protect the mine. This means that Chen Jie reduced the production capacity of the iron ore. In the past, the iron ore of Baihutang was sold outside, but now, the entire mining area has reduced mining to ensure only the iron demand within Baihutang. All other ore veins are sealed and no longer mined on a large scale.
As a new force in the gang, Darughachi certainly did not trust me. Although I had joined his sect, he was still on guard against me.
Therefore, one must take the initiative to give up some rights in exchange for trust, such as the right to mine iron ore.
What does iron represent in this era? It represents weapons. What do weapons represent? It represents instability and riot. Therefore, in order to reassure Darughachi, Chen Jie took the initiative to stop the most violent industry, the iron mine, and only mined enough iron for the White Tiger Hall to digest internally.
At the same time, any trade in iron products was also cut off from the outside world.
Handing over the ironware market to Nan Batian and Bei Laoliu may seem like a sign of weakness, but it is actually a form of self-protection. The result is that the Darughachi Mansion will increase its support for itself and even make certain concessions. The third expansion and innovation is built on this basis.
What is expansion and innovation? The answer is simple: Nanhu Salt Field.
Chen Jie took the initiative to close the mine, in return for which he gained more trust from the Darughachi Mansion and a larger share of the salt market.
In other words, it was not more market share, but that Chen Jie opened up a new market: the refined salt market.
In this era, coarse-grain salt was used in cooking and was also sold as coarse-grain salt. The grains of this salt were large and contained many impurities, so it tasted bitter.
As a time traveler, Chen Jie naturally knew how to purify salt.
They directly produced fine salt with less impurities and no bitterness. This kind of salt was priced very high and was bought by rich people rather than poor people.
The price of this salt is more than three times that of normal coarse salt.
Originally thought the market share would be small, but unexpectedly it became popular among the wealthy circle, allowing Chen Jie to make a fortune. This immediately made up for the reduction in iron ore production, the reduction in commercial taxes, and other financial problems, and increased the income of Baihutang by more than 30%.
This is because Chen Jie gave 60% of the profits from the refined salt business to Darughachi, otherwise he would have made more.
The fourth is to eliminate malpractices.
This abuse refers to two aspects. The first is that the disciples of the White Tiger Hall charge exorbitant fees, bully many small vendors on their street, eat without paying, and demand tributes.
Chen Jie directly warned against this behavior, and if he found any such behavior, he would be immediately expelled from Baihutang and would never be employed again. He also regularly sent people to inquire about the situation of the vendors. As long as there was a report, he would deal with it severely and without mercy.
The other drawback is some of the shady businesses of Baihutang.
For example, usury!
As a gang organization, Baihutang often sells usury, and this used to be one of the important sources of income for Baihutang.
Nowadays, it is normal for people to borrow money, for example, due to poor harvests, poverty caused by illness, losing all money in gambling, etc.
Anyway, these days a small natural disaster or man-made calamity is enough to destroy a family.
In order to survive, they have to borrow money from rich people. Who has money? The gangs have money.
But the gang's loan interest rates are quite high.
For example, the common one is nine out and thirteen back, and the more cruel one is donkey rolling.
Nine out and thirteen back means that you come to the gang to borrow ten taels of silver, and the gang asks you to write an IOU for ten taels of silver, but only gives you nine taels of silver. However, when you pay it back, you have to pay back thirteen taels.
But this is considered to be quite conscientious.
Gang borrowing is more like "donkey rolls". What is "donkey rolls"? Chen Jie borrowed 361 taels of silver in Xiantao Town. Two months later, it became 25 taels. This is "donkey rolls".
Therefore, many families have been crushed by these usurious loans.
What if you can't pay back the money you owe? If you have land, your land will be confiscated; if you have houses, your houses will be confiscated; if you have children, your children will be confiscated.
Especially for daughters, after confiscating them, they could be sold to brothels, which would bring in a considerable amount of income!
In recent years, many families have been broken up because of usury.
Chen Jie knew the harm of this, and after some careful research, he launched a very low-cost loan plan in his own territory.
The previously ridiculously high interest rates have been reduced.
First, if farmers need to borrow money because of poor harvests, they can get 10% interest on the loan, which means only 10% interest.
This was already considered very cheap in that era, but the scope of implementation was relatively small. Only the three village fish pens in Baihutang loaned money to the villages and towns in this way.
The second is the people in the city. If they want to do business or borrow money, ten out of twelve will go out and return.
The third is gambling loans. In this era, there are casinos everywhere and many people become addicted to them.
Chen Jie had no way to stop them from gambling, but he did impose restrictions on their lending. From the previous limit of 9 out of 13, it was changed to 9 out of 13 returns. He also required that all gamblers could only borrow money once and were not allowed to enter the casino again before the money was repaid.
Because of this series of reforms, the reputation of Baihu Hall has been growing and it is even more prosperous than when Peng Shizhong was alive.
And his reputation for benevolence and righteousness spread throughout Mianshui County.
This resulted in other people's businesses being severely hit, especially the three streets of Xiongying Hall which were closest to Chen Jie's Baihu Hall.
The three streets of Xiongying Hall are adjacent to the four streets of Baihu Hall. They were originally arranged by Nan Batian to look after Peng Shizhong. However, due to Chen Jie's economic reforms, the income of the three streets of Xiongying Hall has been greatly reduced.
The Eagle Hall cannot be compared with the White Tiger Hall. You have to know that the White Tiger Hall is Peng Shizhong's foundation, with its own iron mine, its own salt field, and its own commercial street.
As for the three Qin Ying brothers, they may be good at fighting in the underworld, but it would be too difficult to let them govern the streets.
Therefore, the main ways of making profits in these three streets are casinos, brothels, and loan sharks.
That's right, Qin Ying's main way of making money is loan sharking. His business strategy is to trick people into gambling, and when they win money, they go to brothels to spend money. When they lose money, they borrow loan sharks. Then you go gamble again, and when you lose, you borrow again. Finally, when you can't pay back, our Master Qin will come to take your house and land, and then send your daughter and wife to the brothel to replenish the brothel.
The most critical point among these is usury. However, now the White Tiger Hall next door is offering low-price loans, resulting in fewer and fewer people borrowing from them.
Bang!
Qin Hu slammed this month's account book on the table.
"This is too much, this is too much!"
Qin Hu roared angrily. Seeing Qin Hu like this, Qin Ying frowned slightly and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Brother, take a look at this month's account book. The White Tiger Hall is simply shitting on our necks!"
After hearing this, Qin Ying took the account book that was thrown on the table and started to look at it.
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