Traveling through the Republic of China, I married a dead person

Unexpectedly, Zi Yan's idea for Su Bai was to ask Zhou Beiwang for help.

Doctor Jiang must be hiding in Longxing City. Zhou Beiwang's guard battalion is the most powerful and largest reinforced battalion in the Kong family army, with five companies and more than 700 people. As long as we ask him for help, we will be able to dig Doctor Jiang out.

Even if he couldn't find him for the time being, once the ten-day agreement was up and Doctor Jiang sent someone to the Kong Mansion to collect the first payment, Zhou Beiwang would be able to follow the clues and find his residence.

Su Bai did not dare to agree with Zi Yan's mysterious trust in Zhou Beiwang.

She did have an idea. Dr. Jiang could hide it, but his smoker son couldn't.

When he has a nicotine craving, he will go to various smoking dens in Longxing City. Let Zi Yan's brother pay more attention to several smoking dens in Longxing City. Maybe he can find clues about Doctor Jiang's son.

If this method doesn't work, then we can only wait a few days and find a way to track Dr. Jiang when he sends someone to collect the money.

We'll decide who to send to follow him when the time comes, but Zhou Beiwang is not someone Su Bai considers.

Zi Yan's brother also kept the gun on him. After all, this opium den was not a place for good people to come and go. If any unexpected situation occurred, he could take out the gun to scare people and ensure safety.

The shopkeepers of the various branches of the Kong Family Trading Company had returned to Longxing City one after another before yesterday, and Kong Dai arranged them all to stay at the Xiankelai Inn across the street.

When the shopkeepers entered the Kong Mansion, the brothers Kong Chen and Kong Li also returned.

Su Bai took the initiative to tell the two of them that after the seventh day ceremony was completed in the morning, she would gather the shopkeepers of each branch to report and summarize the accounts. She had basically taken over the finances of the Kong family, except for the accounts of the outside branches.

After summarizing all the accounts, she wanted to talk to the two masters about military expenses.

The financial situation of the Kong family is not as good as imagined. Su Bai remembered the advice given to him by Linhua County Magistrate Cheng Zifeng that he would rather suffer a loss than cut ties with the army as soon as possible.

She wanted to test the tone of Kong Chen and Kong Li.

The seventh day's memorial ceremony ended with the wailing of several concubines. Su Bai immediately summoned the shopkeepers of each branch to the main hall in the front yard. After getting to know everyone, he learned about the business status of each branch.

These people all sent condolence gifts at the master's funeral, but they never came back.

This was arranged by Kong Dai. He had considered it carefully so that Su Bai could sort out the accounts within the Three Dragons area and then hand them over to the branches in other places.

After finding out the situation, Su Bai immediately summarized it, and then took Zi Yan to the Second Hospital where Kong Chen and Kong Li lived.

The layout of the second courtyard is the same as that of the backyard, with two main houses with a total of six rooms. Kong Chen and Kong Xin live in one each. This is also their permanent residence when they return to the Kong Mansion. Even some of the furnishings in the house are their personal belongings.

In the past, emperors had temporary palaces when they traveled abroad, and the second courtyard of the Confucius Mansion was like the temporary palace of these two brothers.

The two brothers were sitting at the octagonal table drinking, and Su Bai spread out a stack of account books on a corner of the table.

Taking last month as an example, the rent from the Confucius Mansion’s hundreds of properties and a dozen estates in Sanlong, plus the profits from its own business and the profits from the various branches of the company, totaled more than 28,000 yuan.

The monthly military pay for the nearly 2 soldiers of the Kong family army is more than 6 yuan, and Su Bai pays one third of it, which is more than 2 yuan.

The daily training of the army, the updating and scrapping of guns and artillery, and other miscellaneous expenses would cost the Confucius Mansion several thousand yuan.

There is not much left.

Kong Chen didn't seem interested in Su Bai's report, but Kong Li listened very carefully.

"Niece-in-law, are you crying poor to me?" Kong Chen threw a peanut into his mouth. "It's not easy to be a family member of the Kong family. No matter how much the military expenditure is, you have to pay one third. This is what my eldest brother stipulated in his suicide note."

"But..." Su Bai looked embarrassed: "I heard from the housekeeper that once the front line engages in battle, military expenses will skyrocket..."

"I don't care!" Kong Chen knocked his wine glass on the table: "When the time comes, I will sell everything I have to raise enough money for the military expenses!"

After saying this, his tone softened a little. The other two-thirds of the military expenditure mainly depended on taxes from the three counties and donations from large households. If they really had to open fire, they would also be in a tight spot, as they had already squeezed out most of the money.

A few years ago, when the Kong family army was besieged by several warlords, they didn't even have food to eat. Everyone in the Kong family had to tighten their belts and endure hunger.

In a few days, he planned to suppress the bandits in Panlong Cave, so there would definitely be casualties, and he would have to provide compensation for the deaths. Even though it was just a small battle, it would still cost him 1,800 oceans.

Looking at Kong Chen's big, greasy head, Su Bai thought, he was simply a wolf that drank human blood.

Kong Li's attitude was much more polite. He advised Su Bai not to worry, as the iron mine in Xishan would soon produce ore. If all went well, the iron mine and the ironworks would have a considerable income, perhaps more than the income from all the Kong family's current businesses combined.

"I want to hand over all the iron mines and ironworks to the second and third masters. I, a woman, really don't have the ability to manage so many businesses."

The two brothers were surprised by Su Bai's words, and they looked at each other.

"Then what?" Kong Chen asked.

Su Bai directly expressed his thoughts: "I want to use the iron ore and iron factory to offset one-third of the military expenditure."

The two brothers looked at each other again, and Kong Chen threw another peanut into his mouth: "Then you can get 28,000 yuan a month, right?" He slammed the table and said, "You are so young, and you are plotting against me?"

Su Bai regretted it. How could he reason with these unreasonable warlords?

Take the iron mine and iron factory for example. The Cheng family invested in full, and Mr. Kong did nothing, but he owns half of the shares. The Kong family's existing assets were most likely robbed.

Su Bai explained that since he was in charge of the Kong family, he just wanted to give the dozens of people in the Kong family a relatively stable life.

Kong Chen added: "Without our protection, can you be safe?"

At this point, Su Bai had no choice but to reveal his trump card: "I'll keep the business and real estate to support the family, and the other hundreds of properties and shops and the business in the three counties will all be given to you, okay?"

Su Bai had already calculated that the Confucius Mansion had a lot of businesses within the three counties. The most profitable one was the opium den, followed by the casino and brothel. The profits from the remaining businesses were extremely limited.

The most profitable businesses all make money in a dishonest way, and Su Bai didn't want to continue doing them.

The profits from the business can cover the daily expenses of the Kong Mansion, and more than a dozen properties and fertile fields can ensure that the Kong family will never have to worry about food.

After all this is settled, pharmaceutical manufacturing will be my ultimate way to make money.

The two brothers were completely surprised that Su Bai was willing to bleed so much.

"Have you thought it through?" Kong Li asked.

Su Bai nodded.

Kong Li smiled. He fully understood that Su Bai wanted to live a peaceful life, so it was settled.

However, the Kong Mansion and the Seventh Army are still a family. Returning to the Kong Mansion means the two brothers returning home, and the Second Courtyard of the Kong Mansion will always belong to them.

The security of the Kong Mansion is still the responsibility of the Kong family army. No matter what happens, we have our own army to support us.

Su Bai breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he was not responsible for the uncertain military expenditure.

"Thank you, Second Master and Third Master." Su Bai bowed to them and said, "I'll go get the document ready and we can sign it."

Su Bai was about to leave with the account book in her arms when Kong Chen stopped her and said, "Wait, where are the gold bars my eldest brother left behind? Are you planning on doing this?"

Su Bai wanted to pinch himself for actually forgetting about this matter.

"The gold bars that the second master mentioned were indeed not given to the servant by the master before his death."

Kong Chen suddenly got angry and slammed the table hard, shaking the chopsticks to the ground: "Don't think I don't know, the gold bars are hidden in Dongyuan!"