"Master, something big happened.,"
Fan Youfu hurriedly came to the study from outside, breathing heavily.
Fan Yongdou took away the bowl of tea from his mouth and said reproachfully: "Looking at your panic, you are still so rough after following me for so many years. Tell me, what happened again?"
Fan Youfu calmed his breathing and then said: "The convoy we sent to Houjin was robbed. The place where it was robbed was not far from Horqin Ranch. The body was discovered by Horqin herdsmen. This is the second time."
"Hadn't the Houjin people informed Horqin about Obateji? How could he still be robbed? Also, do you know who robbed him? Was it a horse bandit or someone else?"
"Could it be Lin Dan Khan's person?" Fan Youfu said. "Lin Dan Khan from Chahar has always been at odds with Hou Jin. He is the most likely to take action against the team we sent to Hou Jin."
Fan Yongdou said in a deep voice: "Did our people in Horqin say who did it?"
"The corpses were all chewed up by wolves, and there were no wounds at all. We just suspected that it was done by horse bandits," Fan Youfu said.
"It can't be horse bandits." Fan Yongdou shook his head slightly and said, "The last time the convoy was robbed, we arranged a large number of guards for the convoy, and with Horqin's Obateji taking care of it, ordinary horse bandits would not dare to deal with it. Our convoy takes action."
Fan Youfu said: "If it wasn't horse bandits, then it was a tribe on the grassland that robbed our convoy. The tribe closest to Horqin is the five Inner Khalkha tribes led by Chaohua. Could it be Chaohua? "
"It can't be speculation." Fan Yongdou said, "He has formed an alliance with Houjin and knows that the goods of our team are sent to Houjin."
It has been two years since Chaohua's grandnephew Zaisai was defeated by Lao Nu two years ago and began to form an alliance with Houjin.
"There is one more thing." Fan Youfu said: "There is news from Taiji, which we are familiar with in Horqin. The convoy with the Tiger Flag has arrived in Baicheng and has the support of Lin Dan Khan. Even the five ministries of Inner Khalkha have also A convoy of tiger-shaped flags appeared.,"
"The Tiger Character Banner was not a group of tribes that had been running the right wing of Mongolia. When did they move to the left wing of Mongolia?" Fan Yongdou was surprised.
This news was more serious in his heart than the accident of Fan Ji's motorcade on the grassland.
If something happens to Fan Ji's motorcade, he can send a new one. If he loses his business route, he will cut off the Fan family's way of making money.
Fan Youfu said in a deep voice: "Except for Horqin, Monan Mongolia is now cooperating with the Tiger Character Banner."
"It's not enough to take down one Tumut. He actually wants to eat the entire Monan Mongolia. Liu Heng of Tiger Flag has no intention of giving us a way to survive." Fan Yongdou rubbed his temples vigorously, and then said, "In this way, You send someone to Horqin to see if the people who intercepted our caravan were the people with the Tiger Flag?"
Fan Youfu hesitated and said: "Sir, what happened to our convoy, was it the Tiger Flag?"
"It's not like they haven't done this kind of thing before. Have you forgotten how we lost to the Tiger Flag in Tumut? It's not because all the goods we sent to Bansheng City were robbed by them, so we couldn't get them out. The goods are here." Fan Yongdou said bitterly.
The Fan family lost a lot of money when they competed with Huzi Banner for the Tumut trade route. In the end, they failed to win the trade route. If they hadn't formed a relationship with Hou Jin later and regained control of a smuggling route, I'm afraid he would have lost a lot of money. The position of the head of the Fan family will be removed by the Fan clan members.
"If it is really made by the tiger-character flag, it will be difficult to handle." Fan Yongdou worried, "Now the tiger-character flag is becoming more and more powerful in the Xuanfu Chamber of Commerce. They used to secretly sell goods to our business. In the past half a month, They are no longer selling goods to us.”
"They are all a bunch of profit-seeking people who forget their loyalty." Fan Yongdou cursed and added, "Give them a high price, and if you make money, they will naturally sell the goods to us."
"It's no use. We have already found several shopkeepers who have sold goods to us before." Fan Youfu said, "These people are making all kinds of excuses, either saying they don't have the goods, or saying they can't make the decision."
Fan Yongdou said in a stiff tone: "If the shopkeeper can't make the decision, then look for the proprietor behind them."
"We looked for it too," Fan Youfu said, "but they didn't see any of our Fan Ji people at all. Either they couldn't even get in, or they said they were not at home and had gone elsewhere."
Fan Yongdou's face sank, and he said coldly: "When I was making money in the past, everyone was scrambling for it. Now when my Fan family encounters any trouble, they all act like they are hiding from the plague god. It's all about the idea of having breasts and that's the mother."
Snapped!
In anger, he slammed the tureen in his hand to the ground, breaking it into several pieces of different sizes. The tea inside splashed onto Fan Youfu's shoes, soaking a piece the size of a copper coin.
Fan Youfu stood aside, speechless.
Fan Yongdou took a deep breath and asked, "How much stock does Fan Ji's shop have?"
Fan Youfu thought for a while and said: "There is no shortage of food. The new food we just received is only the shop in Datong that is missing some, but there is a serious shortage of medicinal materials and some other things."
"If you do this, collect all the goods from Fan Ji's stores and prepare a convoy to go to Houjin." Fan Yongdou said.
Fan Youfu hesitated for a moment and said: "As a result, other shops will not have enough goods, especially the shops in Datong. They don't have much goods originally. They have to close their doors because they are diverting goods."
"Then we'll close it down first." Fan Yongdou said, "Datong is the hometown of the Tiger Flag. Since we returned from Tumut, the shop business in Datong has become more and more difficult. This time we just take this opportunity to rest for a while. .”
Fan Youfu hesitated for a moment and said, "Isn't the Governor of Datong going to deal with Liu Heng? Should we wait and see?"
"We can't wait any longer." Fan Yongdou waved his hand and said, "We must deliver Houjin's goods as soon as possible, and we cannot let Tiger Flag take away Houjin's business route again."
"Probably not!" Fan Youfu said, "The old man has been in contact with Houjin since he was a child. After so many years, we have maintained a good relationship. Even if the Tiger Flag wants to take away this business road, I'm afraid he won't. It’s that easy!”
"What do you know!" Fan Yongdou said as if he had been defeated, "Now that Hou Jin has conquered Shenyang and Liao, he has become the king. At this time, the old man's affection is of little use unless we have a continuous supply of energy. Provide Hou Jin with much-needed food, soldiers, armor and medicinal materials."
"My eyes are too shallow." Fan Youfu quickly admitted his mistake.
Fan Yongdou added: "Although Datong's shop is important to us, it is not as good as Houjin's. As long as we firmly hold on to Houjin's line, the Fan family will have at least a hundred years of prosperity."
Since the Fan family and Huziqi failed in their struggle for trade routes in Tumut, Fan Yongdou took risks to regain his relationship with the Jurchens, helping Houjin sell the stolen gold and silver to the Ming Dynasty, and then provide Houjin with the urgently needed grain iron. Goods such as goods and medicinal materials were smuggled into Houjin.
Over and over again, the Fan family made a lot of money, and most of the losses they suffered during the battle with the Tiger Flag in Tumute were recouped.
"By the way, the convoy sent to Houjin needs some preparation." Fan Yongdou reminded.
Fan Youfu nodded and immediately asked, "Who will be in charge of the team?"
Fan Yongdou pondered for a moment and said: "There can be no more mistakes in this batch of goods. You can personally escort them to Houjin."
"Me?" Fan Youfu looked bitter.
Fan Ji's motorcade had accidents on the grassland twice in a row, and he was worried that he would never come back if he went there.
Fan Yongdou knew what he was worried about, so he said: "Don't worry, nothing will happen to the goods this time. I will arrange for people to go to Horqin in advance to inform Houjin's people, and ask Tian Khan to send people to pick up you and the convoy. With the protection of the Jurchen people, Not to mention the horse bandits, even if the people from the Tiger Flag go there, it will be useless."
"Everything is up to you, Master." Fan Youfu breathed a sigh of relief.
Hearing that there was a Jurchen escort convoy on the road, his heart dropped completely to his stomach.
No matter how powerful the soldiers of the Tiger-Character Banner are, they will never be a match for the official army. And even if the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers cannot defeat the Jurchens, the soldiers of the Tiger-Character Banner are even less likely to be their opponents. 11
