weaving

Chapter 1086 The Nature of Businessmen

"It's not that simple."

Fan Yongqin completely shattered everyone's illusions with just one word. He went on to say: "Zhang Cheng is a man who always repays his anger and never does anything unprofitable. Now that he is outside the city, he is bound to win." Hugh, I’m afraid I can’t hold on!”

"so what?"

"Yeah, how can this be good?"

"If you don't defend, can we stick out our necks and let Zhang Cheng chop him with his sword?"

"You can't just sit back and wait for death. You have to fight for life or death..."

Fan Yongqin waved his hand and said: "No matter whether we can hold it or not, we still need to go up to the city. However, it is not good to put all our hopes on defending the city..."

He couldn't help but fell silent when he said this, which made everyone confused as to what he meant by this.

Finally, someone couldn't help it and asked: "Qinlao, do you mean to leave the city...?"

"Someone has to go out and find out what the soldiers and horses outside the city are like. What do they want?"

As soon as Fan Yongqin said these words, chaos broke out again, and they all said evasively: "Who... Who goes... Those Xuanfu Qiu Ba... are unreasonable..."

"Could it be that...our great business...is really...really surrendered to us?"

"Let's fight... We will fight with him... I'll fight for my life... I won't give him a cent of money..."

"Yes, even if you burn it and bury it, you can't give Zhang Cheng an advantage!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Fan Yongqin knocked the delicate snuff bottle in his hand hard on the table, making a crisp sound, and the discussion in the conference hall stopped instantly.

"Okay. Just say a few words."

He continued to ask in a deep voice: "The matter has come to this. Outside the city, the Xuanfu troops and horses not only dared to besiege the city, but also cut off communication with the outside world, trapping Jiexiu like a dead city. Do you think they can let it go?"

Everyone looked at each other, but no one answered.

Seeing this, Fan Yongqin spoke again and continued: "You are holding on to that money and are unwilling to part with it. You are all young and half-buried in the soil. It doesn't matter whether you live or die, but do you still want a whole family? Can I be buried with you?"

The more he talked, the angrier he became, and finally he asked angrily: "Do you think that my Fan family must be extinct and cut off from its roots before you are willing to give up those useless coins?"

Several other clan elders also felt a little embarrassed by what he said. After looking at each other for a few times, one of them asked earnestly: "That being said, even if we give up our money, one of us will have to go out of the city to negotiate with him." That’s good.”

Fan Yongqin slowly took a sip of the newly brewed hot tea and sighed secretly in his heart. The Fan family is really inferior to each other. The years of affluent life have long since wiped away everyone's fighting spirit.

Among today's generation, I am afraid that only Fan Yongdou and his son can still be regarded as figures.

However, it is such a pity that Zhang Cheng, a murderous demon king, has been involved again. I am afraid that after this disaster, the huge family fortune accumulated by the Fan family for more than a hundred years will be wiped out overnight!

In fact, Fan Yongqin, an old man from a wealthy family, had expected what would happen today. Now he is secretly regretting that he did not persuade his younger brother Fan Yongdou more. If he had put more effort into it, he might have been able to successfully dissuade Fan Yongdou and avoid going against Zhang Cheng. , then there would be no disaster today.

Ugh.

However, there are many miraculous doctors and medicines in this world, but there is no regret medicine!

Moreover, from another perspective, Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng scolded the Fan family as traitors and traitors to the country and the people, and he felt extremely aggrieved.

"It is the nature of businessmen to pursue profits." Since ancient times, this has been the case for all business people. Isn't this a matter of course?

Furthermore, in the land of Xuanda Sanzhen, there are countless civilian and military generals, hereditary military tycoons, and merchants and wealthy families. How many of them can be truly clean?

If we are strictly investigated, no family will be able to survive alone!
Perhaps it was just the Fan family's misfortune and offending the vicious and greedy Uncle Yong Ning that led them to their current situation. Or maybe it was the Fan family's huge wealth that caused this "sin of cherishing a treasure".

Now, we can only hope that Yongning Bo will be magnanimous and pursue only Fan Yongdou's branch, so that he and other branches can escape from trouble and not be implicated. It will be considered a blessing.

Thinking of this, Fan Yongqin suddenly put down the tea cup in his hand and said to several other clan elders: "My old bones can't last more than a few years, so I will go out of the city to meet the general from Xuanfu. If Even if I die to save the lives of my tribe, it is still worthy of my death.

If nothing can be done, I have tried my best! "

When the four clan elders heard this, they couldn't help but be in awe and praised Fan Yongqin for being responsible and worthy of being an elder of the ancestral clan.

At this moment, a man pushed open the door and hurried in. Before anyone could see the person clearly, they heard him say: "Father, Mr. Chen, the county magistrate... is ready to open the door... to welcome Qiu Ba from Xuan Mansion into the city. ,want……"

When he said this, he was speechless for a moment, and a clan elder asked in panic: "What do you want... you should tell me quickly?"

"If I had given him so much gold and silver, I would have promised not to open the city and let Qiu Ba in..."

"It's just...not even a day has passed...how come we have to sacrifice the city..."

There was a crisp sound of "pop".

It turned out that a clan elder was extremely frightened and wanted to take a sip of tea to calm down. However, he accidentally dropped the delicate blue and white tea cup in his hand to the ground and shattered it instantly. He didn't know it, but his whole body was trembling, and he was shaking as cold as cold. A lonely bird in the wind.

Fan Yongqin was also extremely surprised, but he still managed to calm down and asked in a deep voice: "Lu'er, do you know why Mr. Chen changed his gender and wanted to open the door to welcome Xuanfu's troops into the city?"

The person who just entered the house was Fan Sanlu, the youngest son of the wealthy old man Fan Yongqin. He had studied criminal law since he was a child and was now in charge of criminal litigation matters in the Yamen.

Fan Yongqin had three sons and four daughters, but among the many sons-in-law, none of them became successful. The eldest son was a gambler and could not become a family, the second son was obsessed with actors and had no intention of running a business, and the few sons-in-law had no great talents.

Only the third son, Fan Sanlu, could barely be considered a figure, but he had no interest in doing business. He focused all his attention on local criminal litigation. Although he helped the family a lot, his reputation was not very good.

However, Fan Sanlu still had some cleverness. He went to the county government office in the middle of the night to be on duty and listened to Feng Tanxin. Now after hearing his father's question, he hurriedly and respectfully replied: "Father, we are from the Han family and Zhang family." The Meng family and the Meng family lobbied to persecute the county magistrates, especially the Han family. The child heard this with his own ears. If the county magistrates still refuse to open the door, they... they will open the city on their own..."

…………

The Han family, Zhang family, and Meng family that Fan Sanlu mentioned represented another force in Jiexiu City.

Jiexiu was originally a place where people with the surname Han lived. It has been known as "Hanban City" since ancient times. There is also a folk saying that "first there was Hanban Bridge and then there was Jiexiu City".Furthermore, there are many people with the surname Meng here, and there is also a rumor that there is a theory of "three separate families of Meng", and the people surnamed Zhang are also a large and old family in Jiexiu City.

In Jiexiu City, the four of them have always been in a competitive relationship.

However, as the Fan family successfully opened up the Zhangjiakou market and launched the smuggling trade in the hands of Fan Yongdou, the balance was completely broken. The Fan family's power in Jiexiu also expanded rapidly, forming a threat to the other three families in all aspects. The power of crushing.

In this regard, although the Han, Zhang, and Meng families did not take any action on the surface, they were like 1 weaklings in their hearts. They were secretly building up their own strength and waiting for opportunities to suppress the Fan family.

Especially the Han family, who used to be the talkers in the Jiexiu business world, has always resented the fact that the Fan family had taken away their status as the talkers. The head of the Han family, Han Guangqing, was silent on the surface, but secretly he was constantly making moves.

But the Fan family's business is at its peak, and their financial resources are rolling in. With the support of their strong financial resources, all small actions seem futile. Today is an opportunity, so how can they give up?

What's more, if he, Han Guangqing, doesn't show up at this time, once the troops from the Xuan Mansion outside the city really attack Jiexiu, the three of them will be buried with the Fan family!
Therefore, since they learned that Xuanfu soldiers were besieging the city early this morning, they gathered in Hanfu to plot to open the door and dedicate the city.

Although Mr. Chen, the magistrate of Jiexiu County, is very close to the Fan family, although the three families cannot compare with the Fan family, they are not without strength. After all, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

In Jiexiu County, if the three of them work together to fight the Fan family, the outcome will be unpredictable, but if they just want to open the city gate and let the Xuanfu troops enter the city, it will be much easier.

However, they did not go directly to the city gate. Instead, after gathering their servants, they went to the county government office to ask for an audience with the county magistrate, Mr. Chen. Together with the efforts of the three families, they finally persuaded him.

However, Mr. Chen, the county's venerable man, is quite a fastidious person. Before leaving, he did not forget to send someone to inform the Fan family!
…………

Here, after Fan Yongqin listened to his son Fan Sanlu's brief description of what happened, he hurriedly stood up from his seat and said hurriedly: "Quick, prepare the sedan to take me out of the city..."

"Father, leaving the city at this time is like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth!"

"Oh, that's better than sitting still and waiting for death."

"But... time... I'm afraid it's too late..."

"you……"

Fan Yongqin, an old man from a wealthy family, said hurriedly: "You ride on horseback to stop Han Guangqing and ask him to wait for a while. I will arrive soon and go out of the city with them to welcome Yongningbo's generals to my residence."

Seeing that Fan Sanlu was still stunned on the spot, he couldn't help but urgently urged: "Silly boy, hurry up and go!"

…………

Not far outside the east gate of Jiexiu City, a river flows from northwest to southeast. This is the Jianhe River. As a tributary of the Fen River, it is also an important water source for Jiexiu City.

Now, in a slightly dilapidated City God's Temple on the west bank of the Jianhe River, Chen Zheng, the commander of the White Tiger Camp of the Yongyi Army, was sitting on a big chair.

There are also four people sitting on their own pony at the bottom. The three old and one young are none other than Han Guangqing, the head of the Han family in Jiexiu City, and the heads of the Zhang and Meng families. The young man is wearing an official uniform of the eighth rank. , is not the Prime Minister of Jiexiu County, Jingnan.

"I'm sorry that some old gentlemen came out of the city to greet me." Although Chen Zheng sat in the first place, he still spoke very politely.

"How dare you, how dare you. General Chen led the Wang Division to assist in the suppression of Henan Province. He is loyal to the national affairs. We are passing through the border and we have to do our best."

Chen Zheng just smiled when he heard this, turned to look at the county prime minister Zhong Jingnan, and said to him: "I have ordered Uncle Yongning to arrest traitors and slave traders along the way. I didn't want to attack the city by force to avoid hurting innocent people.

Now Chen Zhixian is willing to open the city gate and welcome our army into the city. That would be a great thing. In the future, when the general's army is done with the traitors in Henan Province and wins the battle, he will definitely show his merit for Chen Zhixian in front of Yongning Bo. "

When Zhong Jingnan heard this, his face darkened, and he replied angrily: "General Chen is not our Shanxi general, and he is not leading our Shanxi soldiers. Naturally, I can't control General Chen in my position. The same goes for Uncle Yongning." If you can't take care of Shanxi province's problems, how can you show your merits?

Today, Your Majesty Mr. Chen just cares about the people in the city. In order to protect the people from the disaster of war, he reluctantly agrees to open the city gate. He also hopes that General Chen will adhere to what he just said and not hurt the people in the city. "

Chen Zheng didn't get angry when he heard this, he just smiled and said: "My Yongyi Army attaches great importance to military rules and disciplines. Wherever it goes, there is no violation. The people eat pots of pulp and there is never any harassment."

When he said this, his expression suddenly changed, he looked at everyone with cold eyes, and said word by word: "As long as the people in the city wait and don't come looking for death, they will not die!"

These words made everyone tremble, and Han Guangqing hurriedly added: "The county has issued a notice, and everyone who has nothing to do with it should stay at home and will never go to the streets to seek death on their own."

"That's fine."

"General Chen, Mr. Fan is still waiting outside. Do you want to let him meet with the general first, and then the army can march into the city?"

"Humph."

Chen Zheng showed an angry look on his face and shouted in a deep voice: "My army is entering the city to hunt down traitors. Do we still need permission from the Fan family?"

"No... no need..."

Han Guangqing was a little incoherent, and he stammered: "General, the Fan family has a deep and wide house with many people. If you can cooperate voluntarily, wouldn't the general save a lot of things?"

What's more, Mr. Fan came alone to ask for a meeting with the general, which shows his sincerity. It does no harm to the general to meet him. On the contrary, it shows his respect for the elderly and love for the people. Presumably Uncle Yongning will not blame the general after hearing this. "

Chen Zheng nodded when he heard this and said: "Since the head of the Han family speaks like this, I will meet him."

He waved his hand and said: "Liu Changliang, let me have a chat with the heads of the family. I will meet Mr. Fan of the family."

Liu Changliang understood, stepped forward and made a "please" gesture, and said to several people: "Young general will accompany some family heads to the camp for a walk."

…………

"Mr. Fan, what else can you say?"

Chen Zheng felt that he had given Fan Yongqin enough face by letting him come to the temple to meet him, so naturally he was not so polite in his words.

"Fan has nothing to say. I just ask General Chen to protect my family from being implicated by Fan Yongdou!"

"Talking into slavery and betraying the country is the crime of punishing the Nine Tribes."

With a serious look on his face, Chen Zheng continued to face Fan Yongqin: "However, if I want to save the lives of your Fan clan members, it's not impossible!"

(End of this chapter)