On November 23, in the Fan Family Courtyard in Zhangjiakou, eight Shanxi merchants who had been trading with the Qing Dynasty gathered together to discuss major events that would occur this month.
Zhangjiakou was an important customs clearance town at the foot of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty. In the fifth year of Longqing, Emperor Muzong of the Ming Dynasty reached an agreement with Ada Khan to reopen the mutual market. "Mutual market" does not mean that trade can be carried out everywhere, but that there is a special place managed by the government, and
It is the "Horse Market". Zhangjiakou Fort is the horse market of Xuanfu Town, and has become a place for large-scale trade between the entire Xuanfu Town and Mongolia.
By the Wanli period, with the development of trade, Zhangjiakou was prosperous with "department stores, carriages, horses, camels, sheep, cloth and fou, and the skills of stepping on pills, money, and cattails."
In this era, Shanxi merchants were all-pervasive in doing business and had no concept of national interests at all. After the founding of the Hou Jin Dynasty, Shanxi merchants also traded with Hou Jin through Zhangjiakou, and Zhangjiakou became a distribution center for Tatar and Ming smuggling trade. Hou Jin's specialties were transported to Zhangjiakou
, replaced by grain, gunpowder and ironware produced in the Ming Dynasty.
After the Jin Dynasty, the economy of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was predatory, but this predatory economy was not enough to be self-sufficient. It can be said that without the support of Zhangjiakou's smuggling trade, the Manchu Qing Dynasty would not be able to launch a war.
In the original history, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was very grateful to Shanxi merchants after entering the customs. They named eight Shanxi merchants as the Eight Imperial Merchants and granted various privileges. Shanxi merchants were as rich as the rest of the country during the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
In today's 17th year of Chongzhen, Shanxi merchants have been doing business with the Manchu and Qing Dynasties for decades. The eight major Shanxi merchants who communicated with the Manchu and Qing Dynasties all have business houses and personnel stationed in Zhangjiakou.
But history took a big turn because of Li Zhi's appearance. In November, Li Zhi received the emperor's imperial edict and was ordered to inspect the trade of Shanxi merchants and examine whether Shanxi merchants had collaborated with the enemy.
In the second hall of the Fan family compound, the representatives of the eight merchants all looked solemn, and the atmosphere in the hall seemed to have solidified.
This month, Li Zhi's younger brother Li Xing was stationed in Shanxi according to the imperial decree. He sent people everywhere to inquire about information and check the accounts of Shanxi merchants. He showed the momentum of not giving up until he got to the bottom of the investigation. Even the secret guard who was considered by Li Zhi as his right-hand man
Ambassador Han Jinxin also arrived at Xuanfu to assist Li Xing in examining Shanxi merchants.
The head of the Jin family, Jin Liangyu, knocked on the table and said distressedly: "Because of the censorship of this yellow-mouthed boy Li Xing, our Jin family has suspended trade with the Qing Dynasty for ten years. A large amount of grain and gunpowder were backlogged in the warehouse, and we suffered heavy losses.
.”
Hearing Jin Liangyu's words, Fan Yongdou glanced at him in surprise. Fan Yongdou was surprised that Jin Liangyu was in such great danger that he didn't know whether he would live or die.
Fan Yongdou is the head of the Fan family, a large merchant gang in Shanxi. He made his fortune since Jiexiu. As early as the early Ming Dynasty, the Fan family was doing business in Zhangjiakou and Mongolia. After seven generations, the business grew bigger and bigger. In the hands of Fan Yongdou, the Fan family
It was already the largest trading partner of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
The eight major merchants who smuggled goods with the Manchus were also headed by the Fan family.
Seeing that Jin Liangyu didn't know the importance, Fan Yongdou also knocked on the table.
Wang Dayu, the head of the Wang family, shouted: "Mr. Jin, you really don't know what's going on. Now Li Zhi is coming in a menacing manner. He wants our entire family fortune, and even our lives! You are still feeling sorry for me these ten and a half months ago.
Buy and sell?”
Jin Liangyu rolled his eyes and said: "The Qing Dynasty was originally going to conquer Korea in the spring, and now is the critical moment of lack of supplies. If Zhangjiakou trade is interrupted and supplies are not available, and it never recovers, what kind of business will you and I do? Selling goods.
To which one?"
"When the Qing Dynasty was at its peak a few years ago, how big was the trade volume? In recent years, the Qing Dynasty has declined, and my Jin family's business has dropped a lot!"
Wang Dayu said: "You are still worried about the Qing Dynasty's southern expedition. I think you should worry about the safety of our eight businesses first. This Li Zhi is a murderer who kills without blinking an eye. He killed more than a hundred Jin gentry in Shandong at one time and ransacked their homes.
Weakened. Now that he has received the imperial edict to investigate us, if we are found out by him, it will probably be a serious crime that kills our heads!"
Jin Liangyu rolled his eyes and said: "Our eight families have been operating in Shanxi for decades. If the eight families come together, the three towns of Xuan, Da, and Shanxi will all obey our orders, and the city guards of the three towns will all obey our orders.
Li Zhiyuan is far away in Tianjin, so what can he do to fight with us?"
"Even if we find out our details, I'm not afraid of him!"
Hearing Jin Liangyu's words, the owners of the other seven shops seemed to have been given a shot in the arm, and they were all inspired - no matter how powerful Li Zhi is, he is only powerful in Shandong and Tianjin. In Shanxi, the situation is firmly under control
In the hands of the intricate Shanxi merchants, Shanxi has a thin land and a large population. Which local civil servants and military generals are not supported by the merchants' money?
Eight Shanxi merchants united to mobilize more than 100,000 soldiers and horses from three towns in Shanxi Province. This is more than 100,000 soldiers and horses...
Jin Liangyu stood up and said: "And our business gangs in Shanxi are all family businesses. Which of those guys is not very loyal? Most of the guys who know the secrets are the backbone of each business gang and will not betray us!"
"As far as I know, everyone has been careful in these years. The transactions with the Qing Dynasty have never been done through the main account. They are all bartered privately. As long as we burn that private account, where will Li Zhi find us to communicate with the Qing Dynasty?
Evidence? Now that we have stopped trade with the Qing Dynasty, Li Zhi will be even less able to catch our evidence!"
"Then Li Xing, a kid with a yellow mouth, can't just say that he saw ginseng and mink skins in our warehouse and ransack our house, right?"
"Our ginseng is bought from North Korea, and the mink skin is trafficked by Mongolians! What can Li Xing say?"
When everyone heard Jin Liangyu's confident words, their minds became active. Several people gathered together and whispered, seeming to be thinking about how to make it watertight so that Li Xing would not be able to catch any evidence.
Finally, everyone finally came up with a countermeasure. A businessman in his prime stood up and said: "Master Jin is right! Let's send all the guys who know the details outside the Great Wall and hide them in Guihua City for a few years. The rest
The guy doesn't know anything. If the bills are burned again, what will Li Xing find out?"
Guihua City was Hohhot in later generations and was the trade center of Mongolia in this era. Eight Shanxi merchants were doing business in Manchuria and Mongolia at the same time, and they also had many connections in Guihua City. If the Mongols in Guihua City were allowed to hide some people,
Not a problem.
Jin Liangyu knocked on the table, nodded and said: "Okay! This is the kind of courage we need. We have been doing business with the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia at the same time over the years, and there are no specific records of the goods coming in and out. Although the people in Zhangjiakou know that we are trading with the Qing Dynasty,
But that’s just a legend. Li Zhi can’t just rely on this legend to raid our home!”
"I don't believe that Li Zhi can go to Guihua City and pull out all the guys we're hiding there."
