Fan Yongdou opened his eyes, picked up the tureen in his hand, and sighed: "It's cheap, it's cheap. If you sell it, you can always get a sum of money back. If you can't sell it, you will lose money every day."
"It's all because of the Tiger Flag. If it hadn't been for them, our Fan family wouldn't have cut off our business with the Mongols. If it hadn't been for them, Fan Ji's business in various places wouldn't have been suppressed and forced to sell out. Destroy shops everywhere." Butler Fan raised the tiger flag and said with a look of hatred.
Fan Ji sold his stores in various places, leaving only a few local stores in Zhangjiakou, and his business was not as good as before.
Since the closure of Zhangjiakou Horse Market, Zhangjiakou has lost its former business atmosphere.
In just a few years, Fan Ji, who was once a prominent figure in the Taiyuan area of Xuanfu, ended up having to retreat to Zhangjiakou in order to protect himself.
"Nowadays, the tiger-character flag is gaining momentum, and their owner is General Wan Guerrilla from Datong Prefecture. Officials from Xuanfu Prefecture have given him some face time and time again. It's not surprising that Fan Ji was suppressed." Fan Yongdou said in a calm tone. .
Butler Fan put down the account books he had compiled in his hands and said: "In my humble opinion, the proprietor of the Tiger-Character Banner will not be a guerrilla general for long. If the Tiger-Character Banner dares to build forts on the grassland, the Mongols will definitely not let him go. .”
"It's true that Liu Heng dared to build a fortress on the grassland, so he was digging his own grave. Of course, this is also an opportunity for Fan Ji to rise again. Now it depends on whether Lao San can win over the nobles in Tumut. "Fan Yongdou said, twirling his beard in his hand.
Standing aside, Butler Fan said: "Don't worry, Master, Third Master will definitely be able to get things done."
"You are quite confident." Fan Yongdou said with a smile.
Butler Fan said seriously: "Master, if you think about it, if the Mongolians don't have the Tiger Flag, they can only buy things like grain and iron from our Fan family, unless the Mongolians will no longer buy these things from our Ming Dynasty."
"Yes, you are right. The Mongolians cannot lack the things of us Han people." Fan Yongdou nodded, and then added, "Without the food grown by us men, I don't know how many people will freeze and starve to death after one winter." Herdsmen.”
Butler Fan smiled and said, "What I'm saying is that if those Mongolian nobles on the grassland want to live a comfortable life, we, Fan Ji, can't do without the help."
The Mongols are good at herding, but they are far inferior to the Han people in farming. Even if they occupy fertile land like Hetao, they are all turned into pastures and rarely cultivated into good farmland.
Mongolians eat more meat, but food is also indispensable. The little food harvested by the Mongolians themselves is far from enough to feed the Mongolians on the grasslands. They can only use cattle, sheep, livestock and various furs from the Ming Dynasty through mutual trade. country in exchange for food.
The imperial court closed down the horse market, and the only way the Mongols could obtain Ming grain, iron, and tea was through Ming merchants who came to the grasslands to smuggle them.
The study door was suddenly pushed open.
A man dressed as a servant came in from outside, stood in the room, and said respectfully: "Master, someone from Zhuangzi outside the city is here."
"Did you find him?" Fan Yongdou turned to look at Butler Fan.
Butler Fan shook his head hurriedly and immediately explained: "Is it a matter of harvesting grain? We have to collect grain from Zhuangzi at this time every year."
Fan Yongdou nodded, and then said to the servant who came in to report the news: "Bring this person here!"
"Yes." The servant bowed and exited the study.
Not long after, a young and strong man followed the servant and walked in.
"Master, I've brought you here." The servant said respectfully to Fan Yongdou, then stood aside with his hands hanging down.
"Little man Li Xin, I have met the master." As soon as the young and strong man entered the door, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed to where Fan Yongdou was.
Fan Yongdou looked at Li Xin who was kneeling on the ground and said lightly: "You came from Zhuangzi outside the city?"
"Replying to the master, the villain was sent by Wang Zhuangtou in Zhuangzi." Li Xin explained.
Butler Fan, who was standing next to Fan Yongdou, whispered: "This person used to be Fan Ji's boy. Later, the caravan no longer went to the grassland, so this person was assigned to work in the village outside the city."
Hearing the butler's explanation, Fan Yongdou nodded.
Since the tiger-character flag cut off the business relationship between Fan Ji and the grassland, many of Fan Ji's jobs have been lost. Some of the workers have left Fan Ji, and some have gone to work in several of Fan Ji's villages.
The Li Xin in front of me is Fan Ji who works in Fanjiazhuangzi.
"Is there something wrong with Zhuangzi?" Fan Yongdou naturally felt close to Li Xin, a fan clerk who worked in Zhuangzi, and his tone was no longer as stiff as before.
Li Xin, who was kneeling on the ground, raised his head and said, "I dare not deceive the master. Something happened in Zhuangzi. The tenants of Zhuangzi refused to give them the grain that was supposed to be collected. They also gathered a few people to confront the guards in Zhuangzi. Wang Zhuangtou really has no choice but to send the villain to see you, master, and ask you to come up with an idea."
After speaking, he looked at Fan Yongdou behind the desk.
Butler Fan on the side whispered to Fan Yongdou: "Master, now our Fan family relies on the harvests of several villages to survive. If we can't harvest food, we will probably have a hard time in the future."
Fan Yongdou frowned slightly.
The Fan family's shops in various places have almost sold out. Even if they are not sold, there is no business to do. One more day of opening will mean one more day of compensation. However, the business of several shops in Zhangjiakou is not very good, and the Fan family has a large number of people, so all the expenses , almost falling on top of the harvests of these Zhuangzi.
Just as the steward said, if something goes wrong in Zhuangzi outside the city, the Fan family will be affected, and the future will be even more difficult.
"Master, why don't you let me go out of the city and visit the village." Seeing that Fan Yongdou was silent, Butler Fan suggested that he go to the village outside the city.
Fan Yongdou waved his hand gently and said: "I still don't know what happened in Zhuangzi, and why the tenants are suddenly unwilling to pay food."
In previous years, the tenants in Zhuangzi delivered grain to the Fan family on time, and now is the time when the summer grain has just come down, so there is no shortage of grain in the hands of the tenants in Zhuangzi, and there will be no shortage of food.
He felt that something must have happened in Zhuangzi that he didn't know about.
"Why don't I ask him?" Butler Fan asked in a low voice, while glancing at Li Xin who was kneeling on the ground.
Fan Yongdou nodded and said, "Okay, you can ask him what happened in Zhuangzi that made the tenants in Zhuangzi unwilling to pay the grain and even confronted the guards in Zhuangzi."
Butler Fan stood up straight, looked down at Li Xin who was kneeling on the ground, and asked, "Why are the tenants in Zhuangzi unwilling to pay their grain?"
"Back to the housekeeper," Li Xin said, "The harvest in the village this year is not good. After turning in the yellow and white lists, there won't be much food left. In addition, I don't know who has heard that the tenants of Datong Tiger Flag are irrigated by water trucks. , there is a bumper harvest every year, and the waterwheels are built with money from the Tiger Flag, and are used by the tenants in their village for free. When the tenants in our village heard these things, they all made a fuss not to pay food to our Fan family, unless We also built waterwheels for them.”
Fan Yongdou, who was behind the desk, his face darkened when he heard this.
Unexpectedly, the trouble in his village was actually related to the tiger-character flag.
