A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 583
The Fan family mainly deals in food and various military supplies. Many industries are located in Zhangjiakou. At the beginning, they smuggled with Mongolia, and then Manchuria rose. From the Jianzhou era to the Qing Dynasty, they used Zhangjiakou as one of their bases to carry out trade and business in an endless stream. smuggling.

The trade with Manchuria and Mongolia is very profitable, it can be called huge profits. Those Manchurians and Mongolians have nothing, so they will not be without money. This kind of smuggling is very safe, and it is less risky than sea trade. After all, there is no storm on land. , Frontier smuggling involves a huge interest group, and under the cover of all parties, it is difficult to have an accident.

Originally, this kind of business was a steady profit without losing money, but the Qing Dynasty was defeated, especially Wang Dou showed his ability to forge ahead, so Fan Yongdou and others couldn't help but not be afraid.

The East Road is considered a small place. At the beginning, Wang Dou was there to kill and slash. Although they had losses, it was only superficial. Wang Dou prohibited merchants from smuggling there. But, now that Wang Dou is about to reach Xuanfu Town, Zhangjiakou is still under his threat...

Most of the businessmen in Ming Dynasty read books and were influenced by sage books since they were young. But obviously, they made a choice in the face of family interests and national interests.

It is their commonality to only consider the family, not the country. For example, in the late Ming Dynasty, a rich family would rather die under the knife of thieves and Tartars than pull out a hair to contribute to the national treasury.

The Kang family that Fan Sanba mentioned is also the same famous as the Fan family. They mainly operate salt and grain stores. The scale is so large that there are thousands of warehouses in Pingyang Prefecture alone. Outside the Zhengyang Gate of the capital, They also opened the largest grain store in the whole capital, and even the rich and arrogant Beijing merchants were willing to bow down.

They are also well-capitalized pawnbrokers, known for lending usury. Under various managements, the Kang family has faintly surpassed the Fan family and become the richest man in Shanxi. They claim to have tens of millions of assets. Shichitai is as deep as a passage.

Fan Sanba mentioned that Wang Dou prohibited smuggling outside the mouth, and the Kang family could not take the initiative to tolerate it. However, the official grain store and bank opened on the East Road touched the heart of the Kang family. What is the profit of operating grain?It means buying high and selling low, what is the profit of usury?

Salt is okay, but as Wang Dou's ambition grows bigger and more territories grow, who knows if there will be such a day?
Seeing that the shopkeeper Kangda was silent, but his face was so dark that it was almost dripping, Fan Sanba smiled slightly, and then looked at the head of the Qu family: "Everyone runs a bank, and Donglu is now issuing food stamps. It is invincible, not to mention Donglu Merchants, that is, Xuanzhen merchants, and merchants everywhere in Shanxi, feel that it is convenient. Everyone thinks that the bank in their hands can be compared with it? The ancestor of the Qu family, San Xingong, worked hard. Yali, you have worked so hard to have a foundation, and everyone has the heart to see it destroyed?"

The rich businessman's face turned black when he said it, and his buttocks twitched restlessly on the seat.

Fan Sanba eloquently pointed out one point at a time, making the faces of all the businessmen in the hall turn pale again and again.

The Patriarch of the Kang family coughed, and said slowly: "Nephew's words are not unreasonable, but what should we do? Even the Tartars were defeated by them. Could it be that we recruited the family guards to join his Jingbian army?" Desperate, come to a place where there is no burial?"

The Patriarch of the Wang Family said, "That's right."

Because Wang Pu and Wang Dou had a good relationship, as family relatives, the Wang family really didn't want to be enemies with Wang Dou.

In particular, Wang Dou's methods made them afraid. The merchants in the late Ming Dynasty were actually officials and merchants. Not to mention the fact that many of the clan's children were officials, which one did not have the support of big forces?People from merchant families even served as the chief assistant of the cabinet.

They have always been arrogant and strange, regardless of academics and military generals, if they want to trouble them, they only need to go on strike. These officials and generals often lose their positions and titles. Abandon the official and the noble.

After all, who is an official in Ming Dynasty now, which one does not have some stains?If you search carefully, you can always find him. He is just and impartial. What about his children?What about his family, his people, his servants, his steward?
It's just a tried and tested method, but it has no effect on Wang Dou. He has a cruel heart, and he kills and slashes at every turn. I heard that he killed a lot of North Korean prisoners in Liaodong this time, which is even more chilling and frightening.

Seeing that many people in the hall echoed, many people hesitated, after all Wang Dou is only the general of Xuanfu Town now, he is still far away from them, some people still have the idea of ​​spending money to eliminate disasters, one more thing is worse than one less thing.

Fan Sanba smiled and sat down. Fan Yongdou coughed and attracted everyone's attention. He tremblingly said: "All shopkeepers, plan ahead. People have no foresight, and there must be near-term worries. If you want to continue the family business, some necessary precautions are: I want... everyone think about Wang Dou's fortune. At the beginning, he killed some businessmen in Jingbian Fort and Shunxiang Fort in Baoanzhou, but no one spoke for them. He then killed Baoanzhou businessmen, no one spoke for them, and he hacked and killed all the good businessmen on Quandong Road, and no one spoke for them..."

What he said made everyone's faces turn pale, and it was true after thinking about it.

Fan Yongdou's stabbing words continued: "...It can be seen that Wang Dou is so greedy and greedy. After he enters Xuanzhen Town, it is inevitable to continue to attack. Then, his territory will expand to the entire Xuanda. We fight, and after we are murdered by him, who will speak for us?...Everyone, we need to save ourselves!"

At this time, even the Patriarch of the Wang Family was silent, and the Patriarch of the Kang Family had a dignified expression: "How to deal with it, please Fan Gong come up with a plan."

Fan Yongdou's expression was gloomy: "Hmph, I don't need to fight Wang Dou hard, you know, in this world, there are many ways to kill people without using a knife..."

He hehe hehe sneered like a male duck: "This Wang Dou, after all, was born in a small place, a bumpkin from Huodun, what kind of background and experience does he have? He only knows how to chop, hack and kill, but In many cases, killing is not enough, for example, if his relatives commit crimes, should he chop or kill?"

Seeing that everyone was very interested, he did not reveal which family member Wang Dou might have committed the crime, but said: "East Road is bigger than Shunxiangbao and Bao'an Prefecture, but compared to the whole Xuanfu Town, and even Xuanzhen City, So what? It’s so intricate, it’s comparable to a small place like East Road?”

"Fornication outside the Great Wall, compared to the towns and cities in the east, it's just a child's play. The officials and generals over there, even the King of Gu, how dare he move lightly? Wang Dou can't rub sand in his eyes, so what if he just rubs it with the people around him? Not to mention anything else, Yang Guozhu's new army has no less than a hundred people staring at him, and there are people from his father-in-law's family among them, will Wang Dou kill him or not?"

Hearing this, the people in the hall relaxed their expressions. If one of Wang Dou's in-laws committed a crime, then it would be easy to handle. Wang Dou would be happy to kill others, let's see what he would do if he killed his own family.

Fan Yongdou continued to sneer like a male duck: "After all, he is a bumpkin from the countryside, and he thinks about simple things. Hmph, when it comes to foreign transactions, at first, he was a military man from the frontier, and he wanted to have an affair with the Mongols, so it was inconvenient to come forward. , let us merchants dispatch!"

"Then, when they saw that there was money to be made, the guarding eunuchs, governors, officials at all levels, and even vassal kings all participated in it, and saw that trading with the Manchurian Tartars was even more lucrative. All the swarms have arrived, otherwise, all the gates will be guarded by heavy soldiers, how can we wait for the caravan to get out of the fortress?"

He talked long and short, a little out of breath, but his old face was so excited that the wrinkles stretched out: "He didn't even look at where Zhencheng is, where Zhangjiakou is, and where Datong Taiyuan is, it's a small place like Donglu. Comparable? Does he have to kill every time he expands his territory, and fight against all warriors, businessmen, literati, eunuchs, and royal families in the world?"

"He can kill others, but can he kill his own family and his father-in-law? And King Gu, does he dare to move?"

Everyone in the hall was relieved and laughed again. Fan Sanba also smiled and said: "As Jia Yan said, you don't have to worry about it, and... the younger generation got the news that Wang Dou went out of the fort privately and did it without permission. Provoking frontiers, killing captives without authorization... All kinds of domineering, the emperor can't bear it, and he knows, what would the Holy Majesty think of this situation? It's almost over!"

He lowered his voice: "Also... I heard that Wang Dou and the Tartars were confused. Otherwise, how could Yizhou's grain and grass be received intact? Many officials are moved by rumors."

Everyone in the hall gave an ooh, and the Patriarch of the Wang Family frowned: "No way, doesn't Wang Dou hate Tartars the most?"

Fan Sanba leaned back in his chair comfortably: "Who knows, there is a way to know people, face but not heart. If the truth behind it is not revealed, who can understand it? Yuan Chonghuan was still a loyal minister back then."

The Patriarch of the Kang Family tapped his fingers on the table, and said in a deep thought: "In this way, maybe the king thief can be thrown into chaos and fall into the quagmire. However, this is the strategy that Fan Gong said, to add fuel to the flames, to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight?"

Fan Yongdou shook his head and said: "Of course not, gentlemen, how can we not try our best?"

He fumbled in his bosom, and quickly found something, which was a food stamp with a denomination of one bucket on the East Road.

He looked at the food stamp for a long time, flicked it with his fingers, sneered, and said with an extremely cold expression, "Wang Dou is a martial artist after all, what else does he know other than fighting and killing? It is said that the three armies have not moved, and the food and grass go first. Waiting will mess up his food and grass foundation, let's see what he uses to raise soldiers!"

The Patriarch of the Kang family slapped the palm of his hand on the table: "Wonderful, Mr. Fan is just trying to get rid of the bottom line."

The merchants in the hall were also happy and discussed. Fan Yongdou's move touched the bottom of their hearts. As merchants, they are not good at training and fighting, but they have a natural sensitive advantage in competing for business.

Just like the Kang family back then, in order to crush the local competitors, they took out [-] golden arhats for three consecutive months and pawned them in the opponent's pawnshop, forcing the person to close the pawnshop and go away, Fan Yongdou stabbed him Broken window paper, the Patriarch of the Kang family's mind instantly, a chain scheme using such tricks emerged.

Moreover, this kind of competition in the shopping malls is not face-to-face, and it is very suitable for the taste of merchants, and the risk is not high. Even the head of the Wang family applauds.

"A wonderful plan, a wonderful plan!"

"Fan Gong's sword is not old..."

"Ginger is old and spicy..."

"Wang Dou is invincible in battle, but he is courting death if he confronts us in business matters!"

"Just like precious money, let his food stamps become waste paper..."

"I can't accept Fan Gong..."

Amidst the waves of praise, Fan Yongdou was also proud. He squinted his eyes and was intoxicated for a while, then waved his hands and said: "Okay, okay, shopkeepers, stop praising me."

He looked at the excited people, and then his expression turned cold again: "Hmph, those people on the East Road who are ungrateful for profit are exactly the same as the one surnamed Wang. They brought in a lot of low-quality goods and ruined the livelihood of many shopkeepers. ? How many clerks in commercial firms lost their salaries? How many people died without food and clothing?"

He abruptly peeled off the black fox fur on his body, threw it into the fire tray, and took a fur from a servant girl, which was originally made by a businessman surnamed Zhao. Merchant, start with the old man!"

The businessman surnamed Zhao, who was originally plump and skinny, suddenly stood up, waved his hands and shouted: "Boycott road goods, give me back my clothes and food!"

He didn't have a Donglu leather jacket on him. Looking around, he peeled off the black fox fur from a businessman on his right and threw it into the fire.

The same is true for Fan Sanba, who followed closely behind his father with a serious expression.

The Patriarch of the Kang family thought about it, and then stripped off his Donglu leather coat and burned it.

The rest of the merchants, either willingly, acted quickly, or reluctantly procrastinated, and finally stripped off the Donglu leather coat on their bodies.

They can't help it, everyone is like this, if they are unconventional, they will immediately become traitors, and it will be difficult to tolerate them everywhere in Shanxi.

All of a sudden, a large amount of fur was thrown into the fire and burned, and the pungent smell roiled in the hall. At the same time, the maids and women who were serving were covering their noses, feeling a pity in their hearts. What a good material, it was just burned in vain. Many people froze to death and starved to death.

However, they are all domestic slaves. At this time, the crime of betraying the master is extremely serious, and their interests are related. They are also very loyal to the master.

As soon as the coat was gone, there was a fire sandwiched between the walls and a fire plate in the hall, and everyone felt cold and swishing. Fortunately, Fan Yongdou considered this and handed over a large number of leather clothes for the shopkeepers to wear. .

The Patriarch of the Wang family took it over and saw, isn't this a mink and fox fur coat from a merchant shop surnamed Zhao?Damn, use dog skin to pretend!
Fan Yongdou looked around the crowd: "This is the second step, a small test, I hope Uncle Zhongyong will come to realize that the general situation is like this, and he cannot support it alone. You must know that cutting off people's money is like killing their parents. He wants to kill the person. How much more than tens of thousands?"

He sat down, took a few sips of hot tea slowly, and said: "The third step, what Datong, Taiyuan, Qingyuan, there are people who are close to the king thief, such as the Li family, the Chu family, They sell soy sauce and vinegar, so why bother to mix it in? Let them have a look first!"

(End of this chapter)