The so-called horse market refers to a fixed place for mutual trade between the Central Plains dynasties and frontier ethnic minorities. Because horses are mainly exchanged or purchased, it is named horse market.
The horse market has a long history.
The nomadic people live in pursuit of water and grass and need food, tea, and cloth from the Central Plains. This has been the case since the Han and Tang Dynasties, such as the Huns and Turks.
In the Ming Dynasty, Lao Zhu was more stubborn.
——You cannot lack tea, but I can spare the horse. When you eat meat until you are half dead, the horse will be mine!
Of course, it is impossible not to give anything, otherwise the Mongols and Jurchens will become anxious, and the gain will outweigh the loss.
In the early Ming Dynasty, under the high-pressure supervision of Lao Zhu, there was once only an official market, and all transactions had to be carried out under the eyes of the government.
This creates a situation where "tea is expensive and horse is cheap".
But once a good system is relaxed and financial interests drive corruption and destroy the entire market monopoly, the situation is reversed.
Lao Zhu is tough, but unfortunately not everyone is as tough as Lao Zhu.
Over time.
For the sake of greater interests, smuggling is on the rise, and the government cannot stop it, so it can only acquiesce in the transformation of the official market into a civilian market.
The reason why the northern Anda Khan repeatedly attacked the Ming Dynasty was that in addition to burning, killing and looting, he also wanted to force the Ming court to completely open the horse market.
For the Ming Dynasty, opening the market would do more harm than good.
Nowadays, the Tatar army is at its peak. You can even think about it with your knees. Once the market opens, the Mongolians will enter and exit the border towns at will, and they will definitely not be honest. It is obvious that they are greedy and greedy.
However, due to various reasons, General Qiu felt that as long as the market opened, the Mongols would be at ease. Therefore, while he was in good hands and gained the trust of Jiajing, he made suggestions to Jiajing many times and requested that the horse market be opened in the border town.
.
Jiajing was finally persuaded and agreed to give it a try.
Last year, the horse market bill was passed to open horse markets in Datong and Xuanfu, specifically for Tatars.
It is to announce the Malaysian market.
However, no matter how hard the officials try, it will have little impact on the civilian market, especially the horse market in Liaodong.
As the largest horse market, it has its own set of rules and is not subject to external constraints.
In order to facilitate the transportation and sale of horses, horse traders active there joined forces with tea vendors and salt traders to establish the famous "Ten Thousand Horse Gang"!
War horse resources are scarce. The government and the Wan Ma Gang have always cooperated, and the Wan Ma Gang has also been very cooperative.
After all, they just want to do business and make money, not betray the country...
In particular, Wang Zhengkai, the leader of this generation, after being loyal to Liang, was even willing to accept the supervision of the Jinyi Guards to prove that he had no collusion with the Tatars and had no intention of being acquainted with foreigners!
Such a righteous act has made the Wanma Gang more and more famous in Liaodong, and its power has grown rapidly. In recent years, it has even expanded to Jizhou, Xuanfu and other places.
Half a month ago.
An unexpected incident occurred in Liaodong's horse market. Many caravans were brutally killed. No one was found alive and no bodies were found. Among them were masters who were at the peak of their innate abilities!
The Wanma Gang investigated in many ways, but were still unable to do anything, so they had no choice but to report it to Jin Yiwei.
To show his concern, Liu Zhenyuan specially sent Shen Xiang to assist. Unexpectedly, the case of robbery and murder of the caravan was not found out. Instead, from clues, he discovered that the Wanma Gang was actually related to the robbery in the ghost market more than a month ago!
Wanma Gang, Huang Family in Ghost Market.
One is in Liaodong, one is in the capital, one is selling horses, and the other is practicing medicine...
A relationship that cannot be fought with eight poles.
Even if they need to see Huang Fanling for treatment, can't they just come directly? With Wanma Gang's net worth, can't they afford the consultation fee? Do they need to kidnap her?
This was not only strange to Shen Xiang, but also concerned Liu Zhenyuan, who asked Cao Jinxing to pay attention to it.
Cao Jinxing took the document and glanced at it a few times.
According to the information provided by Shen Xiang: Hua Liu, the seventh master of the "Eight Horses" at the head of the Wanma Gang in Guangning, once wrote a secret letter to Wu Yunfeng, the head of the Wu family in the ghost city - both of them were members of the Wushuang Sect in Liaodong. True disciple, senior brother relationship - he was asked to bring Huang Fanling to Guangning as soon as possible, and he also made a special note that he must bring her there as soon as possible no matter what the means!
what is interesting is……
This letter was never sent!
Hua Liu was in charge of the accounts of Wanma Gang. After writing this letter, he put it in the account book. It seemed that he had forgotten it. Shen Xiang found it when he sneaked into the accounting room to check.
What’s even more interesting is…
Shen Xiang asked Hua Liu many times, but Hua Liu had no memory of it at all. His demeanor was natural and frank, not pretending.
The chief rudder of Guangning is also doing everything normally.
——Except for this inexplicable letter.
"..."
Cao Jinxing was a little confused after reading the document: "Did he break up after drinking? The break was quite complete?"
"Haha, maybe."
Liu Zhenyuan said with a smile: "This is why we didn't alert the snake... He has no connection with Huang Fanling. To make him arrest people so urgently, it could only be that he is seriously ill or some kind of serious illness that cannot be reported. This is why he chose a terrible person." The controlling miracle doctor.
But according to Shen Xiang's investigation, he himself was unscathed and his skills are still improving, as are Wang Zhengkai and other Wanma Gang masters..."
"It's a bit strange..."
Cao Jinxing took the document and frowned in thought: "The letter was not sent, but Wu Yunfeng still complied with it... Did he send more than one letter, or did he find more than just Wu Yunfeng? Or, it was both..."
"This doesn't count as following the instructions."
Liu Zhenyuan put his hands behind his back and said: "The Wu family didn't want the Huang family to dominate. They had a motive, maybe it was just a coincidence, so they took action even before receiving the letter."
"No."
Cao Jinxing shook his head: "The root of the rise of the Huang family is only Huang Fanling. As long as she is killed, everything will return to the original point. The problem is... I remember clearly that those four people wanted to take her out. There was really no other way. Let her fall off the cliff... If Wu Yunfeng just didn't want the Huang family to dominate, he could just kill someone and everything would be fine."
Liu Zhenyuan then said: "Pharmacists are precious, maybe they want to capture them for themselves?"
"This is also impossible."
Cao Jinxing still shook his head: "Although I have only met her twice, Huang Fanling gave me the impression that she is soft on the outside and strong on the inside. Her guards respect her very much and are even afraid of her, which shows that she has great power! This is not something that a weak lady can do. Yes, force is useless against such people. Even I can see this, and there is no reason why the Wu family shouldn’t know it."
"Um……"
Liu Zhenyuan raised his eyebrows, looked at him with a smile, and nodded: "...That's right, you didn't let fame and fortune go to your head. I'm really worried about you being immersed in that bullshit genius list."
"..."
Cao Jinxing was speechless: "Can we talk more seriously?"
"Hahaha."
Liu Zhenyuan smiled reassuringly and patted him on the shoulder: "I'll leave this matter to your attention. Don't be in a hurry. Take your time."
"All right."
Cao Jinxing put down the document: "Then after Lu Jiaming and the others finish reading the secret book, I will go to the ghost market with him and ask about the situation... By the way, why do I feel that this is not a trivial matter..."
This document alone reveals so many abnormalities!