The caravan traveled north and trekked for seven days, finally arriving at Haramanglai, the Guangwu town once established by the Ming Dynasty on the grassland.
At this time, Haramanglai has become a business and travel center on the grassland. As early as the beginning of Huang Taiji's accession to the throne, business and travel officers were set up here to collect business taxes. At the same time, they traded large quantities of strategic materials and purchased related matters with Shanxi merchants. Various intelligence information about Ming Dynasty.
After Fan Yongdou's huge caravan entered Haramglai, it was warmly welcomed by the Mongolian and Manchu merchants here.
"Haha, Fan Laodong's family, what kind of wind brings Old Fan's family here? They have come with a caravan in person after such a long journey?"
Among the crowd, a heroic man wearing Manchu official regalia strode forward. The Manchus and Mongols around him stepped aside to make way, and then knelt on the ground.
Fan Yongdou's eyes widened immediately. The person who came was none other than Ying'erdai, the Minister of Political Affairs of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. He hurriedly knelt down and said, "Fan Yongdou, a common man, pays homage to your Excellency!"
"Haha, Mr. Fan is my friend in the Qing Dynasty, so there is no need to be so polite. Get up."
Fan Yongdou stood up with great effort and said respectfully: "Why are you here, sir?"
Fan Yongdou had only seen Ying Erdai from a distance here before, but now he could be greeted cordially by Ying Erdai, and his feelings in his heart were naturally different.
"Come on, let's talk inside."
Haramanglai is a small square town that was gradually developed on the basis of the original Guangwu Town of the Ming Dynasty. However, its scale is smaller than when the Ming Dynasty took control here. The original city walls of Guangwu Town have been abandoned. The Manchus and Qing Dynasties built more buildings in the city.
A low wall.
In a slightly dilapidated government office in the city, this is the temporary residence of Ying'erdai. Fan Yongdou stood respectfully in the hall. Ying'erdai gave way three times in a row, and Fan Yongdou sat aside carefully.
"I came here this time just for this batch of goods from Old Master Fan."
Fan Yongdou changed color slightly, and his heart suddenly became ecstatic.
"Does Old Master Fan know the cargo list?"
Fan Yongdou said: "I know, the quantities of iron, charcoal and sulfur are all prepared, and the grassroots have also prepared 10% more of these materials, and they will be delivered to you at the same price."
Ying'erdai showed a surprised expression when he heard this, and then said with a smile: "Old boss Fan is really outstanding at what he does, I like it!"
"In addition, starting from this batch of supplies, in the future, they will mainly be iron materials, charcoal, and sulfur. In addition, the more materials such as cloth, medicine, etc., the better."
Fan Yongdou said: "Don't worry, sir, the common people will do their best!"
"I admire Mrs. Fan's strength very much. However, the amount of materials our Qing Dynasty needs is very huge. The Fan family alone may not be able to supply it."
Ying'erdai then took out a few letters, handed them to Fan Yongdou, and said: "I would like to ask Mr. Fan to take these letters back and help deliver them. From today on, all the materials and information we need for the Qing Dynasty will be delivered by The Fan family operates jointly with these companies. As for the price, everything is easy to say!"
Fan Yongdou stayed in the house for more than an hour. When he came out, his face was red and he seemed to be drunk. He also had a thick bill of goods in his hand, which he carefully put in his arms for fear of losing it. .
"Master, there is something good
? "
Fan Yongdou said with a smile: "Haha, of course there are good things. Good times for us in Shanxi are coming!"
The servants of the Fan family all said compliments and congratulations. Fan Yongdou said: "Bulk the goods quickly and lower the price by 10%. Once the goods are bulked up, we will rush back to Zhangjiakou immediately. We have big business to do!"
It only took less than three days for the Fan family's large fleet of goods to be sold out, and then Fan Yongdou took the fleet directly back to Zhangjiakou.
In the fourth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Wen, the commander of Wanquan City, presided over the construction of Zhangjiakou Fort, which was the predecessor of Zhangjiakou City.
According to the records of "Wanquan County Chronicle", Zhangjiakou Fort has a radius of four miles and a city height of three feet and two feet. There are gates on both sides of the southeast. The east gate is Yongzhen Gate and the south gate is Chengen Gate. Because there are East and West Taiping Mountains facing each other like a giant mouth in the north of the city, it was named Zhangjiakou.
Later, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court began to trade with the Mongols in Jiubian, and Zhangjiakou began to transform from a frontier fortress into a trading base for tea and horse trade.
At this time, in Zhangjiakou City, on the main street, the door of a large and magnificent house opened, and the Fan family's motorcade stopped on the street. Fan Yongdou proudly stepped out of the carriage, and then, surrounded by the Fan family, Entered the mansion.
"Immediately send someone to invite the other family heads, saying that big business is coming!"
"yes."
Not long after, in the main hall of the house, the heads of the eight Shanxi merchant families gathered together. In addition to Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family whose ancestral home was Jiexiu, Shanxi, there were seven others.
These seven people are Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang and Huang Yun.
They are all merchants from the Jiexiu area of Shanxi Province. Like Fan Yongdou, they are all merchants from Shanxi. At this time, everyone is sitting together talking and laughing.
In the main hall, there is a dazzling array of antique porcelain, gold and silver vessels, and beautiful jade and coral. The room is fully decorated. There are also several beautiful and young maids serving tea and water. Even these maids are wearing silk and satin. clothes, and a lot of gold and pearl hairpins on her head, which shows how luxurious she is.
After everyone sat down and chatted for a while, Wang Denku said with a smile: "We all heard that Mr. Fan personally led the team to the grassland. Why did he come back so soon? He also said there was a big business. I wonder what kind of opportunity it is to make a fortune?"
Fan Yongdou said with a smile: "Everyone, this time I went to Haramang, who do you think I met?"
Wang Dengku said: "One of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty has died, how can he be a big shot? Could it be which prince of the Qing Dynasty?"
Fan Yongdou said: "He is really a big shot, but he is not a prince. He is Ying Erdai, the political minister of the Qing Dynasty."
"It's him?"
The rest of the people have also heard about Ying Erdai. After all, every family present is engaged in trade with foreign countries and transports various strategic materials to the Qing Dynasty all year round. Otherwise, the Qing Dynasty's governance methods are destined to fail. The scale supports the material consumption of hundreds of thousands of troops.
"Yes, this time Ying Erdai placed a huge order with me, covering iron, copper, saltpeter, sulfur, cloth, salt, ironware, medicine, grain, etc. The amount of each type of goods They are all very huge. With the strength of my Fan family, I cannot eat them at all, so
I invite you all to join us and pool the financial resources of the eight of us to jointly prepare this batch of goods. "
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Dayu said excitedly: "What's the price?"
Fan Yongdou said: "You are all experts at the east entrance. You all know the price of these goods that are traded with the Mongols and the Qing Dynasty every year, so I won't say more."
"The price offered by Ying Erdai this time is very generous, 20% higher than the usual price. Everyone, this is a great opportunity to make a fortune, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Everyone got excited after hearing the news and started talking about it.
But after everyone discussed it for a while, they began to worry.
Huang Yunfa was the youngest and had experienced less things than the others, so he seemed a little unable to handle things, so he said: "The Qing Dynasty is no longer what it used to be. Even Huang Taiji was led by Liu Yan, the current elder. The army killed them. I think Ying Erdai personally came out to place a big order for us, just to revive the strength of the Qing army. But if such a huge thing is known by the court, our eight families will suffer!"
Fan Yongdou suddenly laughed and said: "The imperial court? Whose imperial court? Are you from my family or my Fan family! Fuck the imperial court. As long as each of our families makes money, it is king. I don't care whether the imperial court is dead or alive." !”
Wang Dengku also said: "That's the truth. We are all businessmen. It is only natural for businessmen to pursue profits. As for whether the Qing Dynasty can recover and whether the court will still be attacked by the Qing Dynasty, that is not what we consider. It’s over, let others worry about it.”
Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang
and Huang Yunfa laughed one after another, but Fan Yongdou laughed and said, "It's just that our families should be more cautious when doing things, and try not to make mistakes. I heard that Liu Yan is also a character who is not recognized by his relatives. If he finds out, If it happens, our family will inevitably suffer disaster."
Everyone nodded.
Fan Yongdou then began to assign tasks to each family: Wang Dengku and Jin Liangyu were responsible for iron materials, Wang Dayu was responsible for grain, Liang Jiabin and Tian Shenglan were responsible for saltpeter, and Zhai Tang and Huang Yunfa were responsible for cloth.
Fan Yongdou is responsible for the remaining medicines, copper materials, salt, ironware, and sulfur.
After everyone distributed the large order, Fan Yongdou said: "The generals and civil servants in Zhangjiakou are all ours. You all have to make another contribution before shipping this time. Don't do it because of this." A small amount of money delays big things.”
"Yes, Mrs. Fan's words make sense."
"Spending a small amount of money to do big things is what we Shanxi businessmen do."
"This is natural, Mrs. Fan reminds me."
Then Fan Yongdou said: "One month, that Ying Erdai only gave us one month, including all the time to collect goods and transport them north. You must hurry up. This order must be done well, we Shanxi merchants It is based on integrity, reputation is the most important, and we must not do anything to ruin our reputation. As long as we complete this order, our future large-scale transactions with the Qing Dynasty will continue to come naturally."
Everyone agreed loudly, and after talking for a while, they all left and hurried to prepare the goods.
After a while, Fan Yongdou's son Fan San pulled out of the screen
He came out from behind and said worriedly: "Father, is this too risky?"
"Are you worried about the new chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Yan?"
"Exactly."
Fan Yongdou said nonchalantly: "Humph, it's just a warrior. How many warriors have had a good ending since ancient times? Don't worry, I estimate that it won't be long before the adults in the court will join forces. , who drove Liu Yan out of the court."
Fan Sanba was still worried and said: "But I heard that Liu Yan is not an ordinary person. What kind of new policy is being implemented now? The generals of the guards and the generals guarding the pass are also dismissing their respective servants and paying the arrears of taxes."
"I heard that the Huai'an guards refused to dismiss their servants and pay back the back taxes. Later, they were arrested and brought back to the capital by people from the newly-established Military Intelligence Department of the imperial court. I heard that their homes were confiscated and beheaded!"
But Fan Yongdou still sat firmly on the Diaoyutai and said: "So what? This can only mean one thing: the more joyful Liu Yan is, the faster his defeat will come!"
Fan Sanba nodded and said, "I hope so."
