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Chapter 1048 'Arrogance' is a serious crime

Fan Yongdou saw that the resentment and resentment towards Zhang Cheng in everyone's hearts had been provoked by Fan Sanba, and he was very satisfied with his son's performance in his heart.

But he couldn't let everyone talk like this. After the shopkeepers vented for a while, he coughed loudly, and seeing everyone's eyes focused on himself again, he said: "Be safe and don't be impatient... ... Take it easy and don't be impatient!"

The hall fell silent instantly, even Wang Dengku and Wang Dayu were watching Fan Yongdou to see what he had to say.

"I heard that the new Jiang Duchen has some opinions on Zhang Cheng's actions."

As Fan Yongdou said, his eyes stopped on Zhai Tang, and he continued: "Brother Zhai, when Duchen Jiang was in the governorship, you walked around with him frequently and had a good relationship with him. This time, brother Lao went to Yanghe Fort.

I don't know if brother Zhai is willing to go? "

Zhai Tang looked left and right, and seeing that everyone in the hall was focusing on him at this moment, his sense of honor was bursting immediately, he clasped his fists and said: "Since Master Fan, all shopkeepers trust Zhai so much, a little What is the toil of the journey!"

This Zhai Tang walked frequently with Tian Shenglan on weekdays. He was also an arty businessman who liked to dance and write.

Fan Yongdou nodded to Zhai Tang, then moved his eyes to Jin Liangyu, and said to him in a very gentle tone: "Treasurer Jin, I would like to trouble you to go to the capital, and ask a few familiar father-in-laws to help."

Although Jin Liangyu and Tian Shenglan have always been at odds, he also knows the truth that the overall situation is the most important thing. He continued: "Everyone Fan is joking. For the benefit of our brothers, Jin will go through fire and water without hesitation.

but……"

Fan Sanba, who was originally smiling, couldn't help but feel a little bit messy when he heard the word "but" at this moment, but Fan Yongdou didn't show a trace of anxiety. It can be seen that "Jiang is still old and hot." "ah!

"As far as Jin knows, one of the two princes in Beijing has a good relationship with Zhang Cheng, and the other has a relationship with Chen Xinjia, Minister of the Ministry of War. This road is probably very difficult."

As soon as Jin Liangyu finished speaking, Fan Yongdou said directly: "No matter how difficult the road is, we have to go on it. At this stage, we have no room to back down.

Just like Brother Yunfa said just now, 'Either the fish dies, or the net breaks', we have no way out, but if there is a glimmer of hope, we must go all out. "

"Okay. Since everyone even Fan said so, I, Jin, will lick this old face and go to the capital once. If I lose my family and property, I will kill Zhang Cheng." Jin Liangyu readily agreed.

Fan Yongdou nodded in satisfaction, and said to Wang Dayu: "Master Wang, Mr. Zhou Ge still needs to do some more work. Now is the time of life and death for me, Shanyou merchant, so I don't dare to spare any more energy."

Wang Dayu smiled and replied: "Brother Fan, just rest assured, this matter is related to the life and death of my Shanyou firm, so I will do my best."

The reason why Wang Dayu doesn't respect Fan Yongdou very much is that the person he relies on is nothing more than Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant of the current cabinet.

Fan Yongdou looked at Liang Jiabao again, and said to him: "As for the ability to make friends, we still have to look at our brother Liang."

Without waiting for Guest Liang to speak, Fan Yongdou continued: "The 'Zit Dilong' side must not relax in the slightest. If Zhang Cheng cannot be dealt with by all means, he will be our last 'killer weapon'!"

Guest Liang said carelessly with a look of indifference: "Everyone, Fan, don't need to worry about this, it may be a little difficult to completely eradicate the 'Brave Army'.

But if it is only aimed at Zhang Cheng alone, in my opinion, it is not difficult! "

Next, Fan Yongdou talked with Wang Dengku and others about adding intentions to win over the garrison officers in various castles in Xuanfu, in case of emergency.

Finally, he said to Tian Shenglan: "Brother Tian, ​​your group of censor friends have raised us for many years, and now it's time for them to repay us."

Tian Shenglan caressed the beard on his chin, and said, "That's easy to say. It's just... If the officials want to criticize Zhang Cheng, they must choose a good reason."

Wang Dayu, who had been seldom speaking, suddenly said: "Master Fan, I don't often go to the town, but I also know that the Yuangu Palace in the middle of the North City has been abandoned until now, what a pity!"

Everyone couldn't help being stunned when they heard the words, they didn't know why he mentioned the Gu Palace at this time, Huang Yunfa continued: "Since the Yongle period, after the King Gu was abolished as a commoner, this Palace of the Gu Palace has been abandoned until now.

Everyone Wang mentioned at this moment, what is the intention of unknown? "

Wang Dayu raised the corner of his mouth, smiled evilly, and said: "Zhang Cheng has made great contributions to the country, and he was named Yongningbo, but he still lives in Zhenshuo Mansion. It is really disrespectful. I will invite the court, the emperor, and the The Palace of the King of Gu has been renovated, and it has become a 'Yongning Bo's Mansion', and it is right to pay the pillar of the country!"

"Go on."

Fan Sanba suddenly applauded with high fives, and said happily: "As expected of Master Wang, this method is really wonderful."

Huang Yunfa also seemed to be enlightened, and added: "Not far to the east of the abandoned 'Guwang Mansion' is the 'Zhen Guo Mansion' where Emperor Wuzong once lived, and it has been abandoned for many years now.

In my opinion, it can be repaired together, and it can be fully expanded to the "Emperor Yongning's Mansion". "

Tian Shenglan also said: "I will first find someone to write a booklet and ask for credit for Zhang Cheng, and then please expand the Guwang Mansion and Zhenguo Mansion into the 'Yongningbo Mansion', so that the censors can use this to attack Zhang Cheng."

He added: "'Turning over' is a serious crime!"

Fan Yongdou looked at Wang Dayu and said to him: "Even so, the strength is still a little weaker."

Naturally, Wang Dayu knew what was going on in his mind, and replied bluntly: "I can go to Zhou Ge's old mansion, but it's hard to say what the outcome will be."

"Well. It's better to go than not to go."

Fan Yongdou continued: "Old Zhang Ge and several court officials from Shanxi have to move."

He didn't wait for Wang Dayu to answer, he turned his head to the people in the hall and said: "My shopkeepers, now Zhang Cheng and I are in a situation that cannot be tolerated, we must not sit and wait for death.

This time, we are just spending more money, but money is something outside of us, as long as we can defeat Zhang Cheng, what we spend today will be doubled in the future.

But if we lose this time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to save even the bones! "

Wang Dengku also answered at this time: "Everyone knows how vicious Zhang Cheng is, I think he was only a general at the beginning, so he dared to kill Zhang Guowei's deputy commander-in-chief's family in the name of a thief.

Today's matter, just like everyone Fan said, we have no way out, you must not be stingy with money, you must know the truth of "you have to give up to gain", my Wang Dengku assures you, as long as you successfully kill Zhang Cheng this time.

The money I give away today will surely be doubled in the future! "

At this time, Fan Sanba continued: "Some places on the North Road are very strange. Let's talk about the grain, salt, cloth, medicinal materials, and bank accounts. Zhang Cheng, a bastard, actually opened an official store. Not only to compete with the people for profit, but also to collect commercial taxes from private stores.

Moreover, official grain stores and government-run banks specialize in the business of collecting grain and lending money, but private stores are not allowed to lend money without permission, nor can they collect grain at will.Shopkeepers, think about it, if Zhang Cheng can gain a firm foothold in my Xuan Town, is there still a way for us to survive? "

With a smirk on his face, he turned his eyes to another businessman on the lower right who had never made a sound, and continued to say sadly: "This guy Zhang Cheng has been prosperous in official career in recent years. He became the commander-in-chief of our Xuan Town, and now he has to be made an earl again.

If we retreat and endure today, and wait for him to take control of Xuanzhen in the future and become even more powerful, then if I try to make a difference and fight against him, I am afraid that I will never have the same opportunity as today! "

"Let's fight. The caravan guards of our families are all called together, as well as the cavalry of 'Zi Di Long' and 'Fan Tian Wang', plus the defenses of the castles we support, we may not be able to fight."

"If Zhang Cheng doesn't give us a way out, we can't just sit and wait for death!"

All of a sudden, the crowd in the hall became angry again. Everyone talked to each other and clamored to gather strength to give it a go. Some people also suggested not to fight hard, it can only be used as the last blow. .

"What do shopkeeper Kangda think?"

Di Tang suddenly said this, and the discussion in the hall stopped instantly, and everyone's eyes were on the old man with a kind face but very dark eyes on the lower right.

…………

The main business of the Fan family is food and various military supplies, and its industrial center is in the Zhangjiakou border trade. At the beginning, it mostly smuggled with various Mongolian ministries for profit.

Later, the power of Jiannu gradually rose, especially after the defeat of Lin Dan Khan, they used Zhangjiakou as their base. On the surface, they still traded with Tumote in Guihua City and other Mongolian ministries, but in their hearts they smuggled grain, Iron materials, gunpowder and other military supplies for profiteering.

Originally, the normal mutual market and border trade with various ministries of Mongolia was already very profitable, and the trade of smuggling military supplies was absolutely huge profits.

You must know that Jiannu and Mongols have gold and silver treasures. They have invaded and plundered the interior of Ming Dynasty several times since the early years of Chongzhen.

However, Beidi and Liaodong did not produce tea, and the food they produced was not enough to cope with the sharp increase in daily consumption. There were also military supplies such as iron and gunpowder, which were also urgently needed for expanding their military power.

However, in addition to tea, military supplies such as grain, iron materials, gunpowder, etc., were also strictly controlled by the Ming court, and they were not allowed to be sold in the market. little bit.

Therefore, they can only rely on the smuggling trade of Shanxi merchants such as Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku to buy at high prices.

However, Jiannu didn’t actually suffer a loss, because in addition to selling them smuggled military supplies at a high price, Shanxi merchants would also give them a lot of information about Ming Dynasty, which meant that part of the high price Jiannu paid was for the purchase of information.

Of course, frontier smuggling is strictly prohibited by the Ming government, and since the benefits are so huge, it will naturally involve an extremely large interest group. Nothing happened in the rest of the year.

Originally, this smuggling business was a steady profit, but with the rise of Zhang Cheng's power in Xuanzhen, it has increasingly threatened the smuggling interests of the eight major Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou.

When Zhang Cheng first came to Beilu, he thought of smuggling trade. At that time, he sent people to Zhangjiakou, intending to join their smuggling group, but how could they be interested in such a small general.

After being rejected by Fan Yongdou and others, Zhang Cheng began to establish his own smuggling channel in Dushikou, and started smuggling trade with various Mongolian tribes outside the mouth.

Although Zhang Cheng's move is far from threatening the core interests of Fan Yongdou and others, the profits of smuggling border trade are too great, and Fan Yongdou and others will never allow outsiders to intervene in this field.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng's private disclosure of border trade is tantamount to touching their resistance and taboos, and there is also the case of Shanxi merchants teaming up to manufacture fake military tickets, hoping to destroy Zhang Cheng's financial foundation and make him lose money. The ability to feed the army under his command.

But I never thought of their move. Although it has achieved some effects and has a certain impact on the reputation of Beilu Military Tickets, it cannot destroy Beilu's finances. On the contrary, various products of Beilu have begun to impact their business territory.

Now, Zhang Cheng has become bigger all the way, which has already threatened their existence. Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku and others are afraid that Zhang Cheng will retaliate against them if he finds out about the fake military ticket, so they decide to act first!

Most businessmen in Ming Dynasty were educated. Although they were influenced by sage books since they were young, they made their own choices at the moment when the interests of their families and the country were in conflict.

In order to defend your own family interests, you can give up your own country!
Although Fan Yongdou and others could not represent all the merchants and aristocratic families in Ming Dynasty, they clearly reflected the thoughts of most of them.

This is like those court officials, rich merchants and country gentry in Ming Dynasty who would rather die under the knives of thieves and tartars than pull out a dime to make a small contribution to the treasury!

And the Kang Da shopkeeper Zhai Tang mentioned just now is the Kang family who is as famous as the Wang family in Shanxi.

Their family is mainly engaged in the salt industry and grain. Its scale is so large that there are thousands of warehouses in Pingyang Prefecture alone. There is also a grain store opened by them outside the Zhengyang Gate of the capital, which is the largest grain store in the whole capital.

Even many Beijing merchants who are rich, powerful, and arrogant, are willing to bow down!

In addition, their Kang family is also a well-capitalized pawnbroker, and their usury business is even bigger. After several generations of hard work, the Kang family has faintly surpassed the Wang family and became the richest man in Shanxi.

The Kang family in Shanxi is known to have tens of millions of assets. The mansion in Pingyang Mansion stretches to the sky, the Kang Garden is even more extensive, and the trees, stones, ponds and terraces are as deep as a tunnel.

What Fan Sanba mentioned just now is that Zhang Cheng wants to ban out-of-mouth smuggling and monopolize the out-of-mouth smuggling trade in the name of the government. Grain and salt are government-run, and private lending is not allowed, which is tantamount to a shot in the heart of the Kang family.

Where is the profit in food business?
Isn't it just relying on buying low and selling high, what's the profit of usury, isn't it also a rolling profit, Zhang Cheng's move is to dig out the roots of their family from the bottom of their hearts!

As for the salt business, if all the goods are purchased from official stores, how much profit can be left?

Although the Kang family's business in Xuanfu does not account for a large proportion of the family business, Zhang Cheng's momentum is so strong that it is difficult to guarantee that he will not extend his tentacles to Shanxi in the future.

The Kang family also wanted to plan ahead, so they were invited to Zhangjiakou, hoping to use Fan Yongdou and others to completely snipe Zhang Cheng's official career!

(End of this chapter)