Take the warehouse back to the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 20 Shrewd Shanxi Merchants

It is not without reason that Shanxi merchants became the largest merchant gang in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

First of all, Shanxi merchants are not as poor and extravagant as Lianghuai salt merchants, who wear gold and silver.The life of Shanxi merchants is very simple, and they seldom buy gorgeous clothes or other items for themselves or their families.Except for the necessary expenses, Shanxi merchants spend very little. They will cast silver into silver melons and store them in the cellar.

The main industries of Shanxi merchants are grain, salt and banknotes.Among them, the bank is the pillar industry of Shanxi merchants.

Furthermore, Shanxi merchants are particularly good at handling personnel relations.Locally, they actively run schools.Subsidize those students from poor families to complete their studies, and when these students enter high school, they will feed back Shanxi merchants.

Shanxi merchants are best at investing. They not only invest in industries, but also invest in people.

After the death of Zhang Juzheng in the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Siwei acted as the chief assistant of the cabinet.And this Zhang Siwei is a native of Puzhou, Shanxi, a descendant of Shanxi merchants whose roots are Miaohong, and he is the representative of Shanxi merchants in officialdom.

Today, Fan Zheng was able to give Zhao Wen 50 taels of silver so generously, because he took a fancy to Zhao Wen's future development.If Zhao Wen's future is bright in the future, then today's 50 taels of silver will be greatly rewarded.If Zhao Wen didn't have that great ability or his future was unknown, it would be only 50 taels of silver.To Shanxi merchants, this money is not even a fart.

Zhao Wen walked in the front, and Zhao Daniu followed behind Zhao Wen, leading the horse.

As soon as they entered Zhangjiakou, they were stunned by the sight in front of them.

Zhao Wen can be better, after all, he has seen the prosperous business activities of later generations.

But Zhao Daniu was different, he had only entered the city a handful of times in his life, so he was a little dazed for a while.

"This is Zhangjiakou, it's too prosperous!" Zhao Daniu said with his mouth wide open.

Zhao Wen patted Zhao Daniu on the shoulder and said with a smile, "What is this? It's just a small market anyway."

For Zhao Wen, the current Zhangjiakou market is indeed a small market.

A few people walked on the streets of Zhangjiakou, looking at the dazzling shops on both sides of the street.

There are many shops on both sides of the street, and all kinds of shops emerge in endlessly, including grain stores, cloth stores, taverns, and blacksmith shops that make the sound of ping-pong-pong.

There are countless small vendors on both sides of the street, and they shouted at the top of their voices: "Steamed buns, it's hot, steamed buns just out of the pan!"

"Wonton, hot wonton with thin skin and big stuffing!"

Zhao Wen led Zhao Daniu and others to stop in front of a small shop selling Chaos.

"Three bowls of wontons!" Zhao Wen sat on the bench, slapped the table, and shouted loudly.

"Masters, sit down first, the wontons will be here soon."

The stall owner took off the white rag from his shoulder, wiped it on the table, and poured Zhao Wen and the others a cup of tea with a smile on his face.

Zhao Wen picked up the rough porcelain bowl containing cheap tea and took a sip.

"puff!"

As soon as the tea was drunk, an extremely bitter taste filled the whole mouth.

Zhao Wen spouted the tea in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and put down the rough porcelain bowl.

"What kind of bullshit tea is this, why is it so bitter?"

Zhao Wen looked at the tea on the table and shook his head with a sad face.

Zhao Daniu, on the other hand, was holding the thick porcelain bowl with a face of enjoyment, savoring it carefully one bite at a time.

Frontier soldiers like Zhao Daniu can't drink tea a few times throughout the year, so for them, drinking tea every time is a kind of enjoyment, regardless of the taste.

Wang Qi took a sip of tea, slammed his mouth open, with endless aftertaste on his face.

Looking at the appearance of the two, Zhao Wen couldn't say anything, so he turned his head and looked towards the street.

The whole street is neither wide nor narrow.The entire street is paved with bluestone slabs, and it is safe for carts to walk on it.

From time to time, caravans with carts passed by on the street, and among the crowd, there were many Tartars with horses.

From what it looks like, they should be here to sell horses.

There is an open space of about three or four acres in the northwest of the street, and a lot of carts are parked outside the open space.

In the center of the clearing, is a gigantic bazaar.This open space is the place where the steppe Tartars traded with the merchants of Ming Dynasty.

After Zhao Wen looked at it for a while, he found it boring, so he turned his head back.

At this moment, the stall owner came over with three bowls of steaming wontons.

"Gentlemen, eat slowly!"

The stall owner put down the wonton in his hand, then turned and left with a smile.

Zhao Wen took out the chopsticks from the chopstick holder, picked up the bowl, and sucked the soup in the chaos along the edge of the bowl.

Zhao Wen swallowed a mouthful of soup, frowned and looked at the wontons in the bowl.

Taste buds that have been overwhelmed by various seasonings such as MSG and chicken essence in later generations are really hard to swallow this kind of food that only has a salty taste.

Looking at Zhao Daniu and Wang Qi who were eating heartily, Zhao Wen had no choice but to eat reluctantly.

"belch!"

Zhao Daniu put down the bowl in his hand, rubbed his stomach, and burped for a long time.

This is already Zhao Daniu's fifth bowl of wontons. Similarly, Wang Qi has already eaten three bowls.

Only Zhao Wen was still holding the first bowl of wontons, and he hasn't finished eating yet.

Zhao Daniu looked at the bowl Zhao Wen was holding, and said with a smile, "My lord, you can't finish it?"

Zhao Wen put down the bowl and chopsticks, nodded, and said, "Yes, I can't eat anymore."

Zhao Daniu rolled his eyes and said with a smile, "Give it to me if you can't finish it. This is white flour. It's something you can only eat during the Chinese New Year."

Zhao Daniu didn't wait for Zhao Wen's reaction, he hugged the bowl on the table and started to eat and drink.Without much effort, he was eaten up by Zhao Daniu.

"Come on, settle the accounts!"

Zhao Wen slapped the table and shouted loudly.

The stall owner came over with a smile, wiped his hands on the scarf around his waist, and said, "My lords, you have eaten nine bowls of wontons in total. This bowl of wontons costs ten yuan, and the total is ninety yuan."

Zhao Wen fumbled in the money bag, but didn't see any copper coins in it, so he took out a piece of broken silver that weighed half a tael.

Zhao Wen slapped the broken silver on the table and said, "No need to look for it!"

The stall owner saw Zhao Wen boldly patted a broken piece of silver, and immediately said with a happy smile: "Thank you for the reward!"

Zhao Daniu looked at Zhao Wen's extravagance, and whispered with resentment on his face: "How can this be such a prodigal? This is money. This money can buy a hundred bowls of wontons, so I gave it to him for nothing. How nice I am!"

Zhao Daniu looked at the money in the stall owner's hand with distress, and couldn't say anything, after all, the money belonged to Zhao Wen.

Zhao Wen stretched his waist, pointed to the open space on the other side of the street, and said, "Let's go to that market."

"Row!"

Zhao Daniu looked away from the silver in the hands of the stall owner with a look of reluctance, took the horse and walked towards the market.

As soon as he walked to the periphery of the market, seven or eight soldiers guarding the market surrounded him before the car came to a stop.

"Where's your post? Take it out and let me have a look!" The soldier in charge stretched out his hand and looked at Zhao Wen.

"Post? What post?" Zhao Wen was taken aback. Do you need posts for business?

"You don't have a post? If you don't have a post, go back wherever you came from!" The soldier in charge smiled contemptuously and stood in front of Zhao Wen.

"What are you doing? Blocking the road and robbing? In broad daylight, why don't you let us in? Why?" Zhao Daniu couldn't hold back, and yelled on the spot.

Zhao Wen looked at the soldier and said coldly, "Do you know who I am?"

The soldier was taken aback, and thought to himself: I've never seen this person before, could it be possible that he has some big background?But it's impossible to have only one car and two followers if you have a big background.

"Do you know Fan Zheng, Yuan Fuxiang's treasurer?" Zhao Wen asked coldly.

"I know, the famous shopkeeper Fan, everyone in Zhangjiakou doesn't know."

"It's good to know, he is my brother." Zhao Wen boasted without blushing or panting.

The soldier looked at Zhao Wen and said, "Why don't I believe it!"

"Hmph, don't you believe it? Believe it or not, you go and find out. Who in Zhangjiakou doesn't know that Fan Zheng is my brother Zhao Wen, if you stop me today, it will be disrespectful to Brother Fan Zheng. You If you don't give face to the Fanzheng brothers, you don't give face to the Fan family, and if you don't give face to the Fan family, you don't give face to the Shanxi merchants. If you say you don't give face to the Jin merchants, can you still live in this family?" Zhao Wen looked at the soldier jokingly, and threatened him by pulling a tiger skin as a banner.

An extremely thin man behind the soldier gave him a hand, leaned into his ear and said, "It seems that what this man said is true."

"Really, how could there be no posts?"

"I guess it should be the first time, otherwise it would be impossible."

The soldier in charge nodded, and said with all his thoughts: "Okay, I won't embarrass you today. Go in, by the way, you must make up the post for me later, otherwise, there will be no next time. "

After the opening of the Quechang Horse Market in the Ming Dynasty, in order to facilitate management and control the number of merchants, a very strict system was implemented.

For a long time, the Ming Dynasty imposed a strict blockade on the grassland.Especially salt, tea and iron pots, these three things are strictly controlled.

People on the grasslands eat meat for a long time, and their vitamin intake is very low.And it is impossible to grow vegetables on the grassland, so tea is needed.

Tea can not only supplement the vitamins needed by the human body, but also laxative and moisten the intestines, so it is very popular in grasslands.

Not to mention the salt, no matter where it is, it is a valuable thing.

As for the iron pot, it is afraid that the Tartars will smelt it and make it into a sword.

Every businessman who wants to enter the market to do business must apply for a business card.

If you don't have this sticker, you can't trade.

After all, if these businessmen see money and sell some prohibited items to the grassland, it will be bad.

But as the country weakened, this system gradually collapsed.Those powerful caravans don't care about this at all, entering and exiting the horse market is like entering and exiting no man's land.

And the small caravans are small and unpopular, so they must have this, if not, then they can only miss the market.

As time goes by, the powerful caravans are getting bigger and bigger, while the weak ones are getting smaller and even disappearing.

This is also one of the reasons why Shanxi merchants became the largest merchant gang during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Seeing that Zhao Wen and the others were only pulling a cart and that there were no banners of those large caravans, the soldiers guarding the market wanted to drive them away.

After all, those big caravans don't want anyone to compete with them for business.

Most of these soldiers have received favors from Shanxi merchants, so they are quite careful in doing this matter.

　Thanks for the fried lotus, Sichuan Fat Brother, Teng Hei, that foot de style, the recommendation ticket of the big brother in the south! ! !
　　


(End of this chapter)