And although there are threats of strong winds and huge waves on the sea, there are also many pirates in the oceans. But the shipping volume of sea ships is not comparable to the camels of Fan Jian's caravan. Generally speaking, it is much safer than on land. The merchant fleet of Guilin County Prince's Mansion is a large ship worth several thousand dan, so it is naturally safer than those small smugglers.
A large ship of several thousand stones loaded with porcelain, silk, and medicinal materials, with thousands of camels on top. As long as you don’t encounter strong winds and waves along the way, you can dump your porcelain, silk, and medicinal materials in Nanyang, and on the way back, fill them with spices from Nanyang, pearls, copper mines, gold and silver mines from Japan, and you’ll need Zu’an’s alms bowl on the way back. Full of water.
There are strong winds and huge waves on the sea, and there are also snowy mountains and deserts blocking the way to the west on land. The snow-capped mountains are unattainable, and the drought-stricken desert has also swallowed up countless caravans. There are pirates at sea, and caravans on land also have to face countless horse bandits and robbers. The chance of encountering murder and robbery is far higher than at sea. At sea, few pirates dared to rob the Guilin County Prince's fleet.
But a camel caravan on land is much more dangerous than traveling by sea. Taking the sea route, at least there are no countless checkpoints along the way, as well as many tribes that need to be dealt with. Few of the countries in Southeast Asia dared to collect the excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes imposed by the Guilin County Prince. The Fan family did not have the semi-official support of the Guilin County Prince's Palace, so they had to make their way through the more dangerous and difficult Western Regions on their own.
The reason why he is so successful is not only that he is from a martial arts family, but also has a large number of disciples who can reach out to his disciples. Ordinary horse bandits, robbers, and even some small countries in the Western Regions did not dare to think outside the box. More importantly, it is the success of many years of intelligence collection. This is the reason why the successive heads of the Fan family have been able to do such a big business.
Neng controlled all overseas trade rights in Guilin County and Prince's Palace, and found another way to reopen the Silk Road. It was not just Daqi who relied on it. It repeatedly defeated the Uighurs who controlled the Western Regions, drove away the Tubo tribes on the plateau, and regained control of the Hexi Corridor. And it caused Tubo, which once controlled the entire Western Region after the Anshi Rebellion, to completely withdraw to the south of the snow-capped mountains and no longer dare to go south.
A large part of it relies on the painstaking accumulation of information over the ages. From Longyou, where the Tibetan tribes are distributed, all the way to the countries in the far west. The Fan family knew all the tribal leaders along the way, including those who were greedy, those who could be bribed for their own use, and those who were ambitious and wanted to conquer other countries. Fan Mansion has more information and information in this regard than even the Zhenfu Division.
Without these capital, how could the Fan family's caravan dare to do such a prosperous business in the Western Region where there were frequent battles and failed tribes became horse bandits and bandits everywhere? Its land caravans can reach as far away as Persia and the great food countries, and even to a certain extent, can they faintly compete with the Guilin County Prince's Palace? Therefore, it can be said that it is even easy for the Fan family to fulfill Huang Qiong's request.
The reason why Fan Jian is in trouble is because the current internal disputes in the Fan family are too great. After his brother returned to the Fan family, there was a constant dispute within the Fan family about whether to have a relationship with the British king in front of him. Even to the extent that the head of the family, his own grandfather, was in a state of being unable to suppress himself. Although with the "death" of King Shu, the disputes within the Fan family became smaller.
But more people, including my grandfather, still plan to wait and see for a while before making any decisions. After all, dealing with these princes is too risky. No matter which prince you side with, the risks are almost the same. Winning may not bring any benefits. Once defeated, the Fan family will face ruin. When princes compete for the throne, there is no such thing as bringing harm to the party.
Even with the capital in the hands of the Fan family, no matter which country they go to, they will still have good food and clothing. But Xiangyang is the foundation of the Fan family after all, and the tombs of ancestors of all generations are in Xiangyang. This root cannot be abandoned no matter what. As long as the prince does not have an absolute advantage, the Fan family will not express their position easily. At least that was certainly the case before yesterday.
This was also the reason why, after he entered the British Prince's Palace, his grandfather openly severed ties with him in order to save the Fan family. There is no other way. After all, the water in this whirlpool is too deep and too muddy. As the head of the family, it is impossible for the grandfather to accompany Fan Jian with the lives of the whole family and the wealth accumulated by the family over the past hundred years. Go gamble.
Although the King of Shu has fallen now, those who originally advocated taking refuge in the King of Shu have basically kept their mouths shut. A certain amount of power that he originally had in his hands was taken back by his grandfather. But in the Fan family, there were still people bribed by other princes. The disputes within the family were only a little smaller, but they were far from completely settled.
Although Huang Qiong's request was not something difficult. But if you really do what Huang Qiong proposed, it will represent a trend. My grandfather may not really agree to this suggestion. Even if the King of England goes to the Ancestral Temple to worship the Ancestral Temple and participates in today's court meeting on behalf of the emperor, as long as the King of England does not ascend the throne for a day, my grandfather may not make a judgment one day.
As for mobilizing the information within the family, it would be impossible without grandfather's nod. There is one more thing that Fan Jian cannot say, and that is that his grandfather, who is the head of the Fan family, as well as his father, mother, brother and sister-in-law, have arrived in Beijing years ago. Except for the fact that his brother made an appointment with him to tell him about the matter, his grandfather has not made any intention to see him until now.
My grandfather, who had not left Xiangyang for nearly ten years, broke his convention and came to Beijing at this time, which seemed to be showing some attitude. But the problem is that his old man came to Beijing, but he still refused to meet him. Even Fan Jian, who was so smart, couldn't figure out what his grandfather was thinking.
Despite being on both ends of the spectrum, this sentence sounded so disrespectful that Fan Jian didn't want to say it out loud. But now his grandfather's behavior gave him this impression. But the problem is that if his grandfather doesn't ask to see him, there is no way to see his grandfather. Even if you go to visit him, you probably won't see anyone.
Without his grandfather's approval, the information in the family cannot be accessed by others. Especially for an abandoned son like himself who had been expelled from his family, he couldn't even touch his hair. This was the reason for Fan Jian's hesitation. If he promised but couldn't do it, it would be a trivial matter that his impression in the King's mind would be affected.
If the King of England had a bad impact on the entire Fan family's impression because of this, it would be a big deal for the Fan family. Fan Jian, who had been with Huang Qiong for some time, knew very well that although the British king in front of him was young, he was a very powerful master. The most important thing is that he is a person who does not rub sand in his eyes.
Once it really has a bad impact on the Fan family, it will be difficult to undo it. Especially at the moment, the status of the King of England is almost certain with the emperor's repeated unconventional treatment. Judging from the King's wrist, once he sat in that position, no one could push him down.
In Fan Jian's view, although Jia Quan is considered resourceful, he can also speak to the point. But on some key issues, the view is not thorough enough. The King of England is not that prince. On the surface, he seems to be extremely weak and has almost no foundation in the court. But in fact, the King of England currently has far more trump cards at his disposal than any other prince.
Even the original crown prince and the King of Shu may not be as good as him. On the surface, the British king rarely interacted with his courtiers. But it is Nei Lian Yongwang, who actually holds the secret power in Yongwang's hands. Although not all of the tens of thousands of troops in the external Xiaoqi camp are in his hands, at least some of them are in his hands.
Although he was absent from the battle of Hulaoguan, Zhengzhou's subsequent counterinsurgency and aftermath matters. But Fan Jian, who had been in the Xiaoqi camp with Huang Qiong for a while, knew it. With the Lord's city and means, it would be too much to say that he could capture the entire Xiaoqi camp within that period of time. But at least most of the middle and lower-level military attachés in the Xiaoqi Battalion have already been captured by him.
It was Yu Mingyuan, the former capital commander of the Xiaoqi Battalion and the current acting capital commander, Guo Chen. Although he was not completely on the side of the King of England, his thoughts were definitely much more active. Especially after yesterday's sacrifice and today's grand meeting, it must be only a matter of time before he completely surrenders. Although these two are military attaches, they are both smart people with very flexible minds.
Both of them had a close relationship with the King of England in Zhengzhou for a period of time. Moreover, both of them were highly regarded by the King of England. I heard that Yu Mingyuan's wife was also the matchmaker protected by the King of England. It would be really strange for these two people, especially Yu Mingyuan, who had no backing in the court and relied solely on his military exploits to get there, if they did not seize this opportunity.
And Yu Mingyuan is now the military governor of Henan Road, holding tens of thousands of local guards in his hands. Guo Chen acted as the commander-in-chief of the Xiaoqi Battalion, although he has not yet become a full-time official. But the King of England is about to be appointed to the palace to manage the government. Fan Jian doesn't believe that the King of England will not fight for him, the subordinate he led in Zhengzhou? The most important thing is that Zhao Wusha, the commander of Hulao Pass, has completely surrendered to the King of England.
Among the civil servants of the King of England, it seems that the only direct descendants are Su Jin and Jian Yong. But Fan Jian knew clearly that most of those civil servants were just outsiders who always followed the will of the superiors for their own purposes. As long as the King of England stands in that position, most of them may have secret constraints, but there may not be any public opposition that dares to stand up.
With the current confidence, the strength in the hands of this British king is far beyond what any other prince can compare with. The other princes had the ability to reach into the four camps. Who has the ability to take advantage of the opportunity to build momentum and place "one's own people" in choke points like Hulaoguan and in important places in the capital like Henan Road Jiedushi?
After thinking about this, Fan Jian gritted his teeth and finally nodded in response to Huang Qiong's look at him. Xin said that he had better take the initiative to visit his grandfather, and just happened to touch the old fox at home. What kind of attitude does he have now with such a neither up to nor down attitude? Anyway, my biggest loss is just being rejected.
Seeing Fan Jian nodding, Huang Qiong and Jia Quan looked at each other, but both shook their heads in unison. Although on the surface, Fan Jian has completely separated from the family. But in fact, he may not even realize it, but when it comes to the Fan family, he seems to be worried. It is completely different from the usual free and easy attitude in the past.
Huang Qiong didn't have to force Fan Jian to agree, because Huang Qiong didn't want to be too involved with the Fan family, which was a family of rivers and lakes and a business family. This kind of family must definitely use it, but using it too much may not necessarily be a blessing. Because this kind of aristocratic family is no different from the noble families of the past, their so-called loyalty is nothing more than an exchange of benefits.
