"Do you know why I left you alone?" The speaker was a middle-aged man with a long face and a strong build.
"My boss..." Shopkeeper Wang opened his mouth, then lowered his head and said, "It's about Lingqiu's iron batch."
Fan Yongdou sat on his seat, holding the heater in his hand, and said: "You are also an old man who has been with me for more than ten years. You have been the shopkeeper for almost ten years."
Shopkeeper Wang lowered his head and said: "I have been working with my boss since I was twenty-five years old. It's been almost seventeen years now. Nine years ago, my boss arranged for me to go to Xuanfu and become the shopkeeper, and handed over the management of Xuanfu's shop to me. "
"I remember we were all still young at that time." Fan Yongdou said, "Some people said that you used the money in the shop to buy Fujian iron, and then sold it at the price of Jin iron, colluding with others, and making profits from it. Is this the case? thing?"
"It's wrong, boss, it's wrong." Shopkeeper Wang fell to his knees with a thud.
Fan Yongdou hugged the heater and said, "I don't believe what others say. I'm keeping you here today because I just want to hear it from your own mouth."
"No, there is absolutely no such thing." Shopkeeper Wang said eagerly, "My boss, what I sell in my shop is Jin Iron, not Fujian Iron at all, and every expense has an account that can be checked. If my boss doesn't believe it, you can check the account."
Fan Yongdou frowned and shouted outside: "Come here, bring the things up."
The door of the room was opened, and two servants walked in. They walked to the middle of the room carrying an iron ingot and placed it in front of Shopkeeper Wang.
"Take a look, is this the Jin Iron you are talking about?" Fan Yongdou glanced at the iron ingots on the ground.
Shopkeeper Wang leaned down, touched it carefully with his hands, tapped it twice with his fingers, and fiddled with it for a while before saying, "Yes, it's Jin Tie."
"Bring up the other piece as well." Fan Yongdou ordered the two servants again.
The two servants turned around and left the room, and soon brought another iron ingot and placed it together with the previous one.
Fan Yongdou raised his hand and pointed, "Look at this piece again."
Shopkeeper Wang looked at it carefully and then moved the iron ingot into the house.
"How?" Fan Yongdou asked.
"On the surface, they look similar. It's okay to say that they are both Fujian Iron and Steel." Shopkeeper Wang answered truthfully.
Fan Yongdou said: "These two iron ingots, one is Jin iron that was moved from your shop, and the other is Fujian iron that I had someone buy from outside."
"My boss..." Shopkeeper Wang knelt down next to the two iron ingots and said, "I didn't mean to hide anything from my boss. I originally wanted to wait until things are more stable before telling you, boss."
"Oh? What's going on?" Fan Yongdou rubbed the outer wall of the heater with his palms.
Shopkeeper Wang said: "My boss didn't know something. There is another iron yard in the east mountain of Lingqiu. In the past, we all got our iron from the Xu family. This time I went to Lingqiu and found that the quality of the refined iron produced by that iron yard was comparable to Fujian iron has the same price as Jin iron, so when I came back from Lingqiu this time, part of the iron I brought back came from the Xujia iron yard, and the other part came from another iron yard in Dongshan."
Fan Yongdou said nothing, tapping his fingers lightly on the furnace wall.
Shopkeeper Wang continued: "The proprietors behind this iron yard are bandits from Hutou Village. Although they produce good iron, these people are bandits after all, and the government does not tolerate them. I am worried that their iron yard will not be able to stay, and sooner or later the government will I suppressed it, so I didn’t tell my boss.”
"A group of bandits opened an iron yard and can make iron." Fan Yongdou said, "Can we find out where they came from?"
"I'm not sure about the specifics, but the Xu family said they use coke to make iron, and the output is of high quality, comparable to Fujian Iron. By the way," Shopkeeper Wang seemed to have thought of something, "Last time I went to Lingqiu with Master Qi to make iron. The cargo was stopped by this group of bandits, who did not recognize the Xu family's flag and forced Master Qi to pay the money for safety before letting our Fan family's convoy pass."
"Get up." Fan Yongdou then asked Shopkeeper Wang to stand up.
Shopkeeper Wang, who was kneeling on the ground, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and stood up holding on to the iron ingot beside him.
Fan Yongdou said: "When our Fan family goes to Lingqiu, we will only buy iron from the Xu family and not from other families. Do you understand?"
"Boss, the quality of Xu's iron is quite different." Shopkeeper Wang looked surprised. He didn't understand why he didn't buy good iron but bought poor quality iron.
"There is a deputy inspector named Xu in Taiyuan, who is from the Xu family in Lingqiu. There is no need for us to offend Mr. Xu for a little money." Fan Yongdou said, "Only a small amount of our Fan Ji's iron is sold in a few shops , most of them are sent to the Customs and exported to the Beilu, whether it is Fujian Railway or Jin Railway, it actually doesn’t matter much.”
Fan Yongdou put down the heater, took a sip of tea from the tureen at hand, and continued: "On the contrary, it is the bandits you mentioned who offended the Xu family, and they are holding such a profitable business in their hands, just like a child holding an ingot in his hand. It’s such a busy city, how can the Xu family let it go? We just need to wait with peace of mind. The Xu family will still sell the iron to us after they get the new iron-making technology, so why rush it."
After hearing this, Shopkeeper Wang was enlightened and realized that he almost made a big mistake and brought enemies to the Fan family.
"Boss, I was wrong." Shopkeeper Wang fell to his knees in tears.
"Get up." Fan Yongdou raised his hand and said, "Okay, go back to Xuanfu and keep an eye on the Xuanfu shop. Don't go to Lingqiu. I will arrange for others to take over."
"Yes." Shopkeeper Wang stood up slowly, turned around and retreated.
After he left, Fan Yongcheng came out from behind the screen and said: "Why are you letting him go back to Xuanfu? Although he didn't hide the matter of Lingqiu, he still colluded with outsiders, bought the iron in our shop at a low price, and resold it. Sell it according to Fujian Iron and make profit from it."
Fan Yongdou picked up the heater and said: "He has been with me for more than ten years. I can't let people think that I, Fan Yongdou, am a cold person. Let him guard the Xuanfu shop first. In the spring of next year, arrange for him to leave the customs and go to the north." Delivery, it is better to die in the hands of Beilu than to die in my hands."
Fan Yongcheng walked to the seat next to him and sat down.
The servant offers a cup of hot tea.
Fan Yongdou added: "Now that you have gained the reputation of being a scholar, you can stay at home and study with peace of mind. In the provincial examination in three years' time, you will try to be a successful candidate. You don't have to worry about things at home. I will take care of everything."
"I don't want to give up recruiting people. It's not easy to get talented people." Fan Yongcheng picked up the tea cup and took a sip, then said, "Brother, are you really not tempted? The price of Jin Iron is selling Fujian Iron, and the profit is not small. "
Fan Yongdou said seriously: "The reason why our Fan family can do such a big business is because there are officials everywhere who sell off our Fan family's reputation. It is not worth offending a deputy inspector for a small profit."
"I don't believe it." Fan Yongcheng shook his head and said, "This is not a small profit. Sending the iron to Beilu will make at least four or five times the profit. It seems that brother, you and I are not telling the truth."
Hearing this, Fan Yongdou coughed, with a hint of embarrassment on his face, and said, "Okay, I have arranged for someone to go to Lingqiu, but not under the banner of the Fan family."
Fan Yongcheng smiled and said: "Haha, this is like the big brother I know. He will never let go of a business that makes money."
