"Father, don't you know that after returning from Liaodong this time, uncle Wang Shuai and Uncle Yongning are closer than before?"
Wang Muchen struck while the iron was hot and continued: "My Wang family is in Shanxi. Not to mention being the leader in the business world, it is one of the best and one of the richest. Not to mention that I have a clan uncle in my family who is the chief soldier of the town.
Now, Fan Yongdou and others in Zhangjiakou are short-sighted, full of copper odors, and are bent on working as slaves to earn the dirty money of betraying the country. My father listened to his son's advice and has gradually turned the family business into the right path. The business in Zhangjiakou and mine have really ceased. Dispensable.
So, why bother going into this muddy water? "
Faced with his son's questioning words, Wang Dayu fell into deep contemplation. It was not until a long time later that he slowly opened his eyes and asked softly: "What should I do, my son?"
"Father, according to Mu Chen's advice, you should go to Datong immediately to meet with the clan uncle, General Pu, to explain the whole story, and then explain it to Uncle Yongning through the clan uncle. Only in this way can we avoid Uncle Yongning's suspicion and protect our Wang clan. Prosperity and peace!”
Wang Dayu was still unable to make a decision for a moment. He looked up to the heights of the roof beams and said with difficulty: "If we are to cut ourselves off from Shanyou merchants, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult for my Wang family to join the merchant gang in the future."
"Father's fallacy. Based on Mu Chen's understanding of Uncle Yongning, it is hard to say whether the Shanyou Merchant Gang can survive after this incident, not to mention that the Xuanfu is now under the rule of Uncle Yongning, and Shanxi and Datong are also promising Yong Ningbo means approaching.
Mu Chen thought, it won't be long before the three towns of Xuanda are all under the control of Uncle Yongning. However, I am afraid that by then there will be no Fan Yongdou or Wang Dengku in the world. "
Wang Muchen saw that his father was still deep in thought, looking hesitant and hesitant, so he said again: "Father, let's think about it carefully. Do all the people who participated in the secret discussion that day really have the same heart as Fan Yong?"
"did you mean……"
Wang Dayu opened his mouth but couldn't speak, but his son Wang Muchen's voice came to his ears: "Father should understand the principle of 'people talk too much'.
Among the people who participated in the secret discussion that day, in addition to the eight people from Zhangjiakou, there are also four people from Shanxi, such as the Kang family and the Qu family. Let’s not talk about them for the moment. Let’s take the eight people from Zhangjiakou. Are they really ‘one heart’? "
Wang Dayu was extremely frightened when he thought about it carefully. The expression on his face kept changing, and he was uncertain. But after a moment, his eyes became determined, and he said: "It's not too late. Mu'er, you set off immediately, go to Take a trip to Datong.”
…………
Shanxi, Datong Prefecture, Huairen County.
Huairen is located in the upper reaches of the Sanggan River in the north of Shanxi Province, outside Yanmen Pass and in the middle of the Datong Basin. It faces Hunyuan County across Dading Mountain to the east, and to the west is Hongtao Mountain, Datong Zuowei and Yunchuanwei. It is adjacent to Yingzhou and Shanyin County in the south and directly connected to Datong Fucheng in the north.
It is 600 miles away from the Ming capital, more than 480 miles away from Taiyuan City, 180 miles away from Shuozhou, and only 40 miles away from Datong City in the north.
The head office of the well-known Datong Prefecture business "Qian De Ji" is located in the inconspicuous Huairen County, and the Qin family is also the richest businessman in the county, known as "Qin Ban City".
Although the business focus of Qiandeji has been moved to Datong Fucheng in recent years, its ancestral home and headquarters have always remained in Huairen and have not been moved.
In fact, this is also a tradition among Shanxi merchants and even merchants from various parts of the Ming Dynasty. Once their head office is established, it rarely changes and often remains in the same place for decades or even hundreds of years.
This is not only restricted by the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, but also demonstrates the original intention of the ancient business families to "never forget their roots". Since the establishment of their headquarters, they will never change their location. It also reveals the core of their business - "integrity" Two words.
The Qin family has lived in Huairen for generations. Because it is on the official road from Taiyuan to Datong, its ancestors started from a small stall. It took many generations of hard work to achieve what it is today.
It is precisely because this family fortune is hard-won that the Qin family has always attached great importance to the education of their children. This is also a major secret to their long-term prosperity.
As the young masters of the Qin family, Qin Zichen and Zhang Cheng, move around more and more frequently, Qiandeji's trade routes have blossomed on the North Road and East Road, and business in other places in Xuan Town has also become particularly prosperous.
Especially last year, their Qian De Ji also participated in the business of providing and transporting military supplies for the Xuanfu Army, and they also made a lot of money. Of course, there were also secret shares of the Wang family in Qi County.
The more Qin Zichen came into contact with Zhang Cheng, the more he felt that Zhang Cheng was indeed different. Apart from the business tax, he was like a rat crossing the street elsewhere. Even though the North Road was full of military households, the merchants all had this kind of behavior. relation.
But Zhang Cheng's cleverness lies in the word "willingness".
He used these two words skillfully. He not only accepted commercial taxes, but also exempted them from taxes and exploitation at various banknotes. He also provided bulk commercial goods protection services to merchants who paid taxes, charging only a small fee, which offset the overcame the opposition of most people.
Then there was the Battle of Liaodong. What frightened him was not how fierce and powerful the soldiers of the Yongyi Army were, but how he was shocked by the way they did business with the army.
It turns out that money can still be made like this?
In Qin Zichen's original impression, those generals were greedy and vulgar people, but Uncle Yongning gave him a different feeling.
The shrewdness in Zhang Cheng's bones made him feel a little scared. It seemed that everything was under his control, making many things that were originally impossible easy to succeed.
Take the matter of doing business with the army. At first, he just had the attitude of giving it a try. After all, the reputation of the army was too bad. It was good to buy on credit even if he owed money. , are they doing less?
However, due to Zhang Cheng's favor, he still invested a lot of effort in it after discussing with Wang Muchen. After all, Zhang Cheng was already the deputy commander-in-chief at this time, and it would be a matter of time before he became the commander-in-chief of the first town in the future. matter, they are unwilling to give up this relationship.
But I never thought that this battle in Liaodong would not only be a great victory for the Ming army, but their business would also go very smoothly. They would make a fortune by transporting the military supplies mobilized from various places in Xuanda to Liaodong and selling them to the Xuanfu army.
The goods they brought privately were also sold for a lot of gold and silver in the capital. The goods purchased from the capital were transported to Liaodong with the army, and they also made a huge profit. What surprised them most was the purchasing power of the Yongyi Army officers, and Yong Ningbo also Never owe a penny on credit.
Afterwards, Qin Zichen and Wang Muchen also analyzed the matter. They both believed that only Uncle Yongning could do this. If there is such a business in the future, they can only do it with Uncle Yongning, and they still cannot do it with other Ming generals. trust.
However, the Qin family made a lot of gold and silver on this trip, but Huairen and other merchants in Datong Town were not as good as in previous years. Although the purchasing power of the people was declining, they were affected by the Xuanzhen North Road merchants. Impact is also a big impact.
Just when Qin Zichen was full of confidence in the future of Qian De Ji, he encountered a sudden disaster!
For some reason, rumors spread throughout Datong Prefecture that the Qin family was colluding with foreign thieves, harming the virtuous elders of the village, and trying to eat up all the large and small businesses in Datong Prefecture and dominate the entire Datong commercial territory.
This rumor spread not only in Datong Prefecture, but also in Shanxi Province, and quickly spread to all parts of the province, as if there was an invisible big hand pushing behind it.
As this rumor spread more and more widely, some businesses began to terminate commercial cooperation with the Qin family. The goods in their stores were boycotted and could not be sold at all.
At the same time, Qiandeji's supply of goods in Datong and Shanxi also had problems, and many Xiangyou were alienated from them. Although the supply of goods in Xuanfu Town, especially on North Road, was not cut off, transportation has also become a problem. A big problem.
It was okay in Xuanfu, but it was a different scene once entering Datong. Many horse and carriage shops in Datong no longer dealt with the Qian Deji business, which made the Qin family difficult to survive in Datong.
Although Qin Zichen also used some connections, it didn't help. Those officials who usually called each other brothers and brothers, eldest brother and younger brother, all avoided him. Occasionally, he found one or two people, but they mostly looked around and laughed. Talking to him, he never mentioned the matter of being squeezed out.
In the end, the older generation of the Qin family was even more alarmed. They were originally dissatisfied with Qin Zichen's father-son joint management, so they took the opportunity to press, threatening the future of the family, and asked the Qin family's father and son to hand over the family's control. position.
Qin Zukang, the real boss behind Qian De Ji, the leader of this generation of the Qin family, although he is nearly sixty years old, he is sober in the world. He knows very well that several of his peers in the family are jealous of his branch. They teamed up with outsiders to put pressure on their father and son, hoping to take the opportunity to regain their position as head of the family.
As for what was happening in front of him, he was also a little anxious and unable to deal with it for the moment.
Although like his son Qin Zichen, Qin Zukang also thinks highly of Uncle Yongning and insists that there is nothing wrong with following Uncle Yongning. Only by being firmly tied to Uncle Yongning can the Qin family achieve greater development in the future.
However, facing the pressure from many peers, and even several uncles who were invited to put pressure on him, it was difficult to deal with it for a while.
Since ancient times, business has relied on the cooperation of various firms. After all, it is impossible for any firm to take over all the transactions in the world.
But now that all parties have terminated their cooperation, if there is no change in the short term, then even if the Qin family is rich, the Qian Deji will inevitably come to an end. It will inevitably go bankrupt, close down, and eventually withdraw from the Datong business community.
And "closing down" is only the first step.
Then, that's when the real nightmare begins. With the help of the forces behind it, there will inevitably be a large number of incited villagers, and even green-skinned villains who take the opportunity to cause trouble.
Already, people of all kinds have gathered around Qian De Ji in front of shops in various places every day. They insult and curse constantly, which is getting worse and worse. The shops are so frightened that they can only press against the door of their stores every day. It's so pitiful that I can't do any business at all.
Many store clerks also resigned due to pressure from their surroundings and families. Only some shopkeepers, big and small, continued to stick to the shops with pitifully little work.
The once prosperous Qiandeji seemed to have been hit by a plague overnight. Almost everyone in Datong and Shanxi was shouting for beatings, just like rats crossing the street.
Qin Zichen also went to the General Military Mansion many times, hoping to get help from General Wang Pu of Datong, but he only got one reply: "Brother, please be patient, I will definitely keep you safe."
Wang Pu treated Qin Zichen with the same enthusiasm as before, but he didn't provide any substantial help. In fact, he couldn't blame him for this.
After all, Datong Town is not a solid military post like Xuanfu Town. Two systems are implemented here. In each guard post in Datong Town, the officer system is implemented.
Outside the scope of the Wei Department, there is another set of normal administrative systems. At the local level, there are various prefects, prefectures, and county magistrates who direct local government affairs, while at the upper level, they are under the jurisdiction of the Shanxi Chief Envoy Department and the Shanxi Provincial Envoy Department.
Therefore, although Wang Pu in Datong is also the commander-in-chief of a town, he does not have the power of Zhang Cheng. Only when it comes to public security incidents such as robbery and catching thieves, he, the commander-in-chief of a town, has the opportunity to show his face.
Until one time, Qin Zichen's wife went to the street and was also besieged by several thugs and shrews. In panic, even her clothes were torn to pieces.
…………
On this day, in Huairen County, in the Qin family compound, a battle to force the palace to be imprisoned was going on in a tense and fierce atmosphere.
Under the instigation of everyone, four uncles in the family also joined the team to force the emperor to convict. With no choice, Qin Zukang, the head of the family of this generation, could only hand over the power of the family.
That night, Qin Zichen knelt in front of his father, with tears in his eyes, and said with tears in his eyes: "Father, it's all because of the child's sudden anger that you suffered such humiliation."
"you are right!"
Qin Zukang looked at the moonlight outside the window and said firmly: "You young people are so short-sighted that you will eventually suffer the consequences."
He turned around and said to his son Qin Zichen: "Zichen, pack your bags immediately. At dawn tomorrow, take your daughter-in-law and Huaner with you and set off immediately to Xuanfu to find Uncle Yongning."
"Father……"
Qin Zichen didn't know why his father had such an idea, so he continued questioningly: "How can I leave you and my mother alone and find a way to survive!"
He also felt something bad. Just after Qin Zukang handed over the seal of authority of the Qiandeji family, with the withdrawal of all the Qin family members, many servants and servants in the mansion also left.
The huge Qin family compound was immediately deserted. There were no more people coming and going as before, and it even seemed a little lackluster. A vague, bad feeling instantly filled Qin Zichen's mind.
"brute!"
Qin Zukang's old eyes were full of bloodshot eyes, and he roared angrily: "Do you think that I will never have any descendants from now on?"
Qin Zichen seemed to have a premonition of something. For a moment, his mind went blank. All kinds of past memories kept emerging in his mind. Suddenly, a tall, handsome and majestic figure emerged...
"Father, Uncle Yongning will not ignore us...Wang Shuai will not ignore us..." (End of Chapter)
