Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 61 The Fan Family
Zhangjiakou Fort is located in the northwest of Xuanfu Town, adjacent to the Great Wall Pass in the north, and the garrison of Wanquan Youwei in the west. Since the establishment of the fort in Xuande and the trade and exchange with Mongolian tribes, after nearly 200 years of development, the scope of Zhangjiakou Fort has gradually expanded. , and from the periodic small-scale market at the beginning, it has evolved into a large-scale commercial town with daily transactions today. More than ten criss-crossing wide streets and narrow alleys in the castle are connected with each other, and there are many shops along the street. , rice noodles, tea, porcelain, saddles, copper and iron utensils are filled with the shelves of various shops, and the people who come to trade are mainly Mongolians, and there are not many Semu people from the Western Regions. Their commodities are mainly horses, cattle, camels, and sheep. , skins, felt and valuable medicinal materials such as velvet antler, musk, wine, spices and so on.

After Zhangjiakoubao evolved into a large-scale commercial town, large merchants from all over the Ming Dynasty built dozens of deep houses. Due to the limitation of geographical environment, although these large houses occupy a large area, there are many houses in the courtyard, carved beams and painted buildings, but they lack the exquisiteness of Jiangnan gardens. It is elegant and elegant, showing a strong taste of local tyrants.

The Fan residence located in the center of the fort is extremely lively. Today is the [-]th birthday of the old man of the Fan family, Fan Ming. There is an endless stream of merchants, large and small, who come to congratulate them. There are even envoys sent by some Mongolian tribes. The eldest son Fan Yongdou has accumulated contacts over the years. Fan Yongdou is a bold and righteous man. All kinds of people who have business dealings with him admire his loyalty and excellent business acumen.

As early as the early years of Xuande, the Fan family had been doing business in Zhangjiakou and Mongolia for seven generations. Although they had considerable savings, they were not considered top-notch merchants in Zhangjiakoubao. It took less than ten years for Fan Yongdou to take over the business of the Fan family. , the Fan family's business is getting bigger and bigger, covering a wider and wider range, from the original tea and porcelain, to food, medicinal materials, cloth, silk, fur, etc., even the ironware banned by the court, the Fan family also In the smuggling, the Fan family's property has multiplied several times in ten years. Real money is the last word. Now Fan Yongdou is not only the head of the Fan family, but even faintly becomes the leader of Zhangjiakoubao's business circle.

The door of Fan's house was opened wide today. Fan Yongdou was standing on the steps to welcome the guests in high spirits. His ordinary and simple face was full of smiles. He greeted and greeted the guests who came one after another. table case, several literate shopkeepers from the Fan family stood behind the table, took the gift slips from the guests who came to congratulate them, and loudly sang the names of the guests, the types and quantities of congratulatory gifts, etc. Carrying the burden, under the guidance of the servants of Fan's mansion, he carried it directly from the side door to the warehouse.

Most of the gifts from small businessmen are worthless items, such as silk, cloth, tea, pens and ink, etc., but the gifts are light and affectionate, and the Fan family is not short of such things, what they want is popularity, as long as the guests come, even empty-handed, they will Received warm hospitality, the family style of Fan Mansion is like this, low-key and simple, warm and hospitable.

The gifts given by some big businessmen are different. Some know that the old man believes in Buddhism, and they sell a golden Buddha, which was carefully cast by skilled craftsmen in the inland. The facial expressions are lifelike, and they are also of great value. Some send beautiful maidservants, and those who are close to them directly congratulate them with silver. For example, the giant merchant Wang Dengku and others, the congratulatory gift is 5000 taels of silver.

Near noon, the guests were almost all here, and Fan Yongdou ordered the banquet to begin. The servants of the Fan Mansion carried delicacies and wine, and shuttled between the courtyards where the banquets were arranged, and the whole Fan Mansion was noisy Incomparably, businessmen who are acquainted or unfamiliar are sitting at a table, eating and drinking while asking each other about business news. You toast me and I toast you. Everyone takes advantage of this occasion to make as many friends as possible and ask more questions. News, a piece of news that is inconspicuous in other people's mouths, might turn into a big or small business opportunity.

On the main seat of the Flower Hall of Fan Mansion, there were seven well-known businessmen, including Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, Huang Yongfa, etc. Fan Yongdou was at the main seat, and after toasting a glass of wine, Mr. Fan Ming excused himself After getting tired, he went to the inner house and gave up the seat to the eldest son.

The Eight Immortals table made by Huanghuali was filled with all kinds of hot and cold delicacies. In order to prepare for this birthday banquet, Fan Mansion invited the best chefs from the most famous restaurants in Xuanfu and Datong in addition to its own chefs, so that Provide exquisite food to guests.

Fan Yongdou picked up the wine glass and said with a smile on his face: "Today, all brothers and virtuous brothers can come here in person to wish my father's birthday. I, Fan Yongdou, feel warm in my heart. Our brothers have been dating for many years, and we have helped each other no matter in business or human relations. It's rare that everyone can get together today, I offer you a toast, I'll do it first!" After finishing speaking, he raised his neck and drank the wine in the glass, then turned the glass down to indicate that the wine in the glass was indeed drained, This is an expression of respect for the guests.

The rest of them picked up their wine glasses and drank a cup, Fan Yongdou greeted: "Come on, let's move your chopsticks and taste the chef's skills of Xuanfu Zhuangyuan Building!"

Everyone picked up their chopsticks one after another, and ate food to suppress their alcoholism. For these wealthy businessmen, what kind of food and wine have they never tasted?So everyone put down their chopsticks after tasting it for a while.

Sitting side by side with Fan Yongdou is Wang Dengku. Among the eight people, he is the oldest. He is over [-] years old this year. Because of his good management, he is also the one with the richest family background. His business is mainly grain. Due to the drought, the grain per shi rose to three taels. Relying on his keen sense of smell, Wang Dengku stored up a large amount of grain a few years ago. With the price increase in the past few years, Wang Jiahao earned a lot of silver taels.

He picked up a bear's paw and put it in his mouth, put down his chopsticks to taste it slowly, and sighed: "The method of picking up this bear's paw is the second in this Zhuangyuanlou. No one else dares to say that it is the first. The taste is mellow and melts in the mouth." , the aftertaste is sweet, this cook is absolutely amazing!"

Fan Yongdou said with a smile: "It's not easy, the old brother likes it so much, the younger brother will buy the cook and send it to the house later, and the older brother can order it anytime he wants to eat!"

The rest of the people looked at them with a smile. For them, the most important thing is money, just buy whatever they like, just a cook.

Wang Dengku swallowed the bear's paw in his mouth, took a sip of tea and said: "My brother's heart has been taken, I think it's better to avoid this matter, the Zhuangyuan Building is pointing to this famous dish to attract customers, and bought this cook It's like smashing someone's signboard, we can't do such a thing as cutting off people's wealth."

Jin Liangyu, who was sitting horizontally, was a few years younger than Wang Dengku. He took a sip from his wine glass, put it down and said with a smile, "Brother Wang, this is not like what you said. The most popular card in the Meixian Academy in Datong Mansion is not by the old man. Did you buy it? That’s a 16-year-old nobleman. At that time, you didn’t care if you were the cash cow of Meixianyuan. You just spent 1 taels of silver. There's something we don't know about!"

Everyone laughed. Wang Dengku loves delicious food and beautiful women all his life, especially beautiful women. As long as he likes them, no matter whether they are in the dust or a good family, he has to buy them back at any cost. For a person in his 50s, the concubine actually There are more than 20, and I don't know how his old bones can bear it.

Seeing everyone laughing, Wang Dengku didn't take it seriously at all, instead he smiled proudly: "What do you know, if a man hasn't found dozens of stunning women in his life, wouldn't his life be in vain, earning so much money? To enjoy it, what is the difference from Tu Kela? Xiao Jin, you are the most stingy, with a family of millions, and you have to sneak around to find a woman, and you are not afraid of being laughed at!"

Jin Liangyu suddenly looked embarrassed. His surname is Zhang. His family has been farming for generations. There are five brothers in his family. I like it. After a few years, the main family promised their daughter to him. The main family only had this child, so the only requirement was to let him marry. If you marry into a family, your neighbors will poke your spine, and your family will be ashamed, but Jin Liangyu doesn't want to let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Regardless of the strong opposition from your family, you choose to marry a family. For this reason, his father went to the Yamen to break ties with him. He also took the surname of Jin from his host family.

Jin Liangyu took over the Jin family's business after he married. With his flexible mind and keen eyesight, he managed the original business well in a few years. Later, he got involved in the tea business and personally carried pack horses to carry tea into the prairie. On the return journey, he brought back the exchanged horses, sheep, cowhide and other materials, and sold them to mainland merchants. This trip made thousands of taels of silver, and also explored a golden road. The Jin family also grew from a well-to-do family. Step into the circle of middle-level businessmen, and later met Fan Yongdou and others by chance. After several transactions with each other, they found that they were speculative, so they exchanged information and expanded the scope and scale of business. After several years of accumulation, this At that time, Jin Liangyu was already a rich man.

Although he has endless money, Jin Liangyu has always respected and loved his father-in-law's family. He and Miss Jin's family had a son and a daughter. The daughter married the second son of Tian Shenglan, another wealthy businessman present. His 16-year-old son is learning to do business with him. The father-in-law thinks he has too few heirs and wants him to be a concubine, but Jin Liangyu firmly refuses. He still calls his wife Miss. He will never forget the kindness of the father-in-law, a lady Being able to marry him, a poor boy, made him have such a good life today.

His in-law Tian Shenglan coughed and said, "People are different. Brother Wang, why don't you want this cook? What's wrong with this?"

(End of this chapter)