Da Ming started to ascend the throne

Chapter 52

The eight imperial merchants delivered a large amount of basic living materials such as food, clothing, and cooking utensils to the Eastern Captive regime.

Nurhachi did not treat them badly, and exchanged valuables such as ginseng, deer antler, and animal skins with the other party, which made these profiteers very happy.

Gradually, the two sides established a deep interest relationship. Nurhachi, who attached great importance to espionage warfare, expanded the content of the trade between the two sides from food and clothing to intelligence.

According to the "Records of the Qing Dynasty", in the third year of Tianming (1618), there were 16 traders in Fushun from Shandong, Shanxi, Hedong, Hexi, Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Nurhachi "all paid fees generously, wrote seven hateful words, and paid them back."

In the third year of Chongde in the East (1637), Huang Taiji ordered the nobles of the East to lead 100 Han merchants from the inland to carry goods to Guihua City for trade.

The captives entered the customs, military expenditures soared, and finances were very difficult.

In this regard, Zu Kefa and Zhang Cunren, who participated in politics in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, once suggested:

"Shandong is the way of grain transportation, and Shanxi is the way of merchants. It is urgent to recruit. If the soldiers and people of the two provinces belong to our territory, there will be wealth and wealth, and the country will not be short of it."

It can be seen from this that the Eastern captivity regime attaches great importance to Shanxi merchants.

All the gunpowder, [-]% of the food and more than [-]% of the metal needed by Huang Taiji's war machine came from Shanxi merchants who were "integrity".

For both parties, this is a win-win deal.

It was through the Shanxi merchants that the Eastern captives could turn the looted property, antiques, gold and silver into food to feed their population of several 10.

The price of rice in Liaodong finally fell to one or two or four shi, and the population increased several times, but the price of grain fell to a few hundredths of the peak.

On the other hand, the Jinshang Group, which was on the other side of the transaction, had hoarded tens of millions of taels of silver in Chongzhen's 15 years alone.

These achievements were further improved after the Dongbao entered the pass, and he was granted the status of an imperial merchant by the emperor.

The Shanxi merchants, who received special care from Dongkuo, monopolized the trade and capital allocation in northern China, and got involved in the entire Asian region.

It even extends its tentacles to the European market, from Hong Kong and Calcutta in the south to Irkutsk, Siberia, Moscow and Petersburg in the north.

From Osaka, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Incheon in the east to Taerbahatai, Ili, and Kashgar in the west, they all left footprints of Shanxi merchants.

They can even use Mongolian, Kazakh, Uighur, and Russian to communicate with the northern minorities and Russians fluently.

It can be said that from the camel caravans on the Mongolian grasslands to the merchant ships going to sea at Wusongkou, there are Shanxi people who are calculating the prices.

From the vinegar flavor of Hulun Buir to the wine aroma of Kweichow Moutai, they are brewing and selling.

The ruins of the places where Jin merchants were active can still be seen everywhere.

The Old West Temple in Gansu, the ancient city pagoda in Xinjiang, the bronze tripod in the Golden Temple in Kunming, the Kangyuan in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and the Flower Theater in Bozhou, Anhui, were mostly built by merchants from Shanxi.

The famous Kweichow Moutai was created in 1704 by Shanxi salt merchants who hired workers from the Fen Distillery in Xinghua Village and local brewers.

Rishengchang Lane in Zhangjiakou, Fusheng West Lane in Baotou, Dashengkui Street in Khobdo, Outer Mongolia, Dingxiang Lane and Ningwu Lane in Hohhot, etc., are all related to them.

No wonder there is a saying in the Northeast that "there is Caojiahao first, and then there is Chaoyang County", and in Inner Mongolia, "there is Fushengxi first, and then there is Baotou City".
In the northwest, there is a proverb that "there is Jin Yilao first, and then Xining City".

If Shanxi Merchants are a miracle in Chinese history, then behind this miracle are ugly traitorous faces.

It was the help of the eight imperial merchants that gave Dongyao a chance to breathe, and at the same time accelerated the demise of our Ming Dynasty.

……

Zhangjiakou,
A huge caravan drove to a remote official road, and suddenly more than 100 men in black appeared in front of the caravan, holding shining steel knives in their hands, blocking the caravan's advance route.

There were hundreds of caravan guards. Seeing someone dare to stop their caravan, the leader of the caravan was furious and urged his horse to come in front of this group of people.

He pointed at the people in front of him and cursed:

"Who are you, have you eaten the heart of a bear, or are you blind? You dare to stop the caravan of our eight Shanxi merchants, and get out of here immediately."

The person at the head of the other party, dressed in black, held a steel knife in his hand and an iron box on his back. He looked coldly at the caravan in front of him.

After a while, he asked coldly:

"You are the caravan of the eight major Shanxi merchants? Is this true? If you find out that you dare to lie to me, this is where they will be buried today."

"Hahaha, it's a joke. No one dares to control how the eight major Shanxi merchants do things. Come and kill these blind ants on the spot."

"Yes"

Before he finished speaking, five hundred guards galloped out. They raised their knives and guns high, and rushed towards the black-clothed crowd, trying to kill these black-clothed men in one fell swoop.

These guards often escorted caravans to travel north and south, all of them were very skilled and defiant, but as soon as they fought against the man in black, they found something was wrong.

"Come on, don't live."

The leader in black waved the steel knife in his hand, and urged his horses to meet the Jin merchant guards. As soon as the two groups of people came into contact, the steel knife in his hand swept across, and three people were immediately cut in half.

The men in black who followed behind him rushed into the crowd of the guards like a gust of wind, wielding steel knives and slashing wildly, quickly killing more than half of the guards.

After a short fight, the guards were defeated, and the strength of the two sides was not at the same level.

The caravan leader, who was still arrogant just now, turned pale at this moment, he had to be powerful even if he was arrogant, and he watched his subordinates being beheaded and killed one by one.

"Hold it, hold it up for me..."

The leader of the caravan yelled desperately to make his subordinates stand up. The strength is not at the same level. No matter how you shout, it is useless. One hits five, and within a time, the guards are all killed.

After killing the guards, they quickly surrounded the caravan, leaving the leader of the caravan behind, and killing all the others.

The bloody scene in front of him frightened the leader of the caravan. He plopped and knelt down in front of the leader of the man in black, begging for mercy.

"The hero, please spare me. It's all because the villain has eyes and is not Taishan. You take all these things away, and I only ask the hero to spare the villain's life."

"Well, wasn't it very arrogant just now, how did it turn into a dead dog in an instant, where are these goods going to be sent, tell me honestly, otherwise..."

The leader of the men in black said, and took off his black clothes a few times, revealing the flying fish suit of Daming Jinyiwei. This person is the commander of Jinyiwei, Qinglong.

After Qinglong showed his true colors, everyone else took off their black clothes one after another. All of them were Jin Yiwei in flying fish suit with embroidered spring knife on his waist.

Seeing that it was Jin Yiwei who robbed their caravan, the leader of the Shanxi merchant caravan was even more frightened. Who in the world does not know the ferocity of Jin Yiwei.

"My name is Fan Fu, and I am under the command of Fan Yongdou, one of the eight great Shanxi merchants."

Mainly responsible for escorting supplies, we have not done anything against the law and discipline, I hope the adults can spare the villain's life. "

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(End of this chapter)