Xizhimen Street, close to the intersection of Deshengmen Street, is a famous Chongxuan Temple in Beijing, and the branch of the Fan family firm in the capital is on the edge of this Taoist temple.

Most of the shops in the capital are in the outer city, and the area near Zhengyangmen is the most concentrated. In addition, it is to gather on the edge of the Buddhist temple and Taoist temple, counting on the flow of people who worship the Buddha on incense. Of course, this is not unrelated to the fact that there are wide venues in front of the Buddhist temples and Taoist temples to hold temple fairs regularly.

The Fan family branch in the capital has been established for less than three years, because it mainly deals in valuable commodities such as ginseng and fur in Liaodong, so Fan Yongdou put the branch in the inner city when he chose the place, after all, the residents of the inner city are either rich or expensive.

However, there are 24 squares in the capital, and almost all of them have temples, and this popularity is also very different. Most of the shops on the temple side are also temple properties, and the rent is high when the popularity is high.

After Fan Yongdou carefully selected, he still settled here in Chongxuanguan. The popularity of Chongxuanguan can only be regarded as medium in the capital temple, but its location is relatively good, and two of the 16 main streets in the capital are adjacent to it. Whether it is from Liaodong or from Xuanhua to Beijing, Deshengmen and Xizhimen are the closest, and this location is convenient for shops to enter and exit goods.

Secondly, as a Taoist temple, it was still very valued during the Jiajing Emperor, so the shops and mansions near the Chongxuan Temple were larger than in other areas. Although the Taoist temple is somewhat decayed, the state of these shops and houses is still very good.

The Chongxuan Temple is close to the northwest corner of the capital, and there are either warehouses or shops nearby, and there are few residential houses. Therefore, there are almost no idle people in the workshop, and the social situation is relatively simple, and there will be no trouble.

Fan Yongdou asked his entourage to stand at the mouth of an alley and direct the camel team into the backyard of his shop. Only then did he turn around and said to Chen Yi, the shopkeeper of the Beijing branch who hurriedly came to greet him: "Take the two of us back to wash up first, let us relax our spirits first, and in the evening, I want to listen to your report on the situation of the business in the capital." ”

Chen Yi hadn't replied yet, but Fan Wencheng, who looked at the sky, interjected and said: "I feel that my spirit is not bad, please ask Shopkeeper Chen to find me someone to lead the way, I want to take a stroll around Zuo near first, and then come back at dinner." ”

Chen Yi suddenly looked at his owner with some confusion, Fan Yongdou thought about it and said: "It's okay, then Shopkeeper Chen, you can find a clever and sensible person for this Fan Xianggong, and take Fan Xianggong around the neighborhood..."

rushed back to Zhangjiakou from Shenyang non-stop, and rushed from Zhangjiakou to the capital, Fan Yongdou's body was indeed tired. And what is more tired than his body is his heart.

In the past, he followed the path of Jiangmen in western Liaoning, transporting cotton cloth and silk from the south of the Yangtze River, salt from Changlu and military grain from western Liaoxi to Liaodong, and then transporting ginseng and fur back from Liaodong. In addition, he also acquired valuables that the Jurchens seized from the common people when they conquered Liaodong.

He was able to open the trade route of Houjin entirely because when Nurhachi captured Shenyang, these merchants who were doing business in Shenyang were treated favorably by Nurhachi, and passed the seven hatreds that Nurhachi said back to Guannai, and built up propaganda for Houjin to attack the Ming Kingdom, which was rewarded.

Although Nurhachi was extremely cruel to the killing of the Han people in Liaodong, he was quite polite to the generals of the Ming army who surrendered, as well as the Ming merchants who sold the stolen goods for Houjin, of course, except for the last year, when his sanity was a little abnormal.

The Fan family business was operated in Zhangjiakou for seven generations, and it was just a small business. However, after two years of selling stolen goods for the Jurchens, the Fan family's assets have faintly exceeded 500,000 silver taels and have become a medium-sized firm.

Fan Yongdou never thought that it was a crime to help the Jurchens massacred the Han people in Liaodong and loot the wealth in the Guannei, and secretly transport the weapons made by Shanxi households and the armor of Xuanhua Town to Liaodong.

He always believed that he neither killed anyone, nor encouraged the Jurchens to kill, and also saved dozens of Shanxi compatriots when the Jurchens slaughtered the Han people in Liaodong, so the money he earned was clean. As for the successive defeats of the Ming army in Liaodong and the slaughter of more than 100,000 people in the end, it was entirely due to the appointment of incompetent generals by the imperial court.

Fan Yongdou's attitude towards the Ming court is, ** incompetence and anger. He paid his taxes according to the laws of the court, but the court never fulfilled its responsibilities.

When Nurhachi attacked Shenyang, the strength of the Jurchen clan would not exceed 60,000, and the Ming army in Shenyang alone exceeded 70,000. Shenyang City is known as the first male city outside the Guan, not only the city wall is tall, but also there is a wide moat as a barrier outside. At that time, Shenyang was the ordnance manufacturing center of Liaodong, and the materials in the city were hoarded like a mountain.

But such a city was breached by Nurhachi in less than a day. After the city of Shenyang was broken, not only 70,000 Ming troops were slaughtered, but also most of the residents in Shenyang City, totaling more than 50,000 people.

Fan Yongdou and some other businessmen did not lose their lives because they avoided it in time. But since then, Fan Yongdou has no idea about the imperial court.

As a merchant who specializes in border trade, since the imperial court can't protect himself, he can only take refuge in the forces that can protect him, otherwise the Fan family's shop will not be able to survive on the border. As for whether he betrayed the Ming Dynasty and the imperial court, Fan Yongdou felt that it was the Ming Dynasty and the imperial court who gave up on him first, so he was not at fault for doing so.

When Fan Yongdou closed his eyes, sold stolen goods and various products from Liaodong for the Jurchens, and then transported all kinds of materials urgently needed by the Jurchens from Guannai, his initial small uneasiness was also calmed by the huge wealth that poured from this trade.

After Huang Taiji ascended to the throne of the Great Khan, the newly enthroned Later Jin Great Khan obviously attached more importance to them as Ming merchants than Nurhachi.

Instead of Nurhachi, who only wanted them to sell and buy supplies, the new Later Jin Khan also hoped that they would be able to bring him all kinds of information about the Ming Kingdom.

Fan Yongdou, who was already closely entangled with Houjin, naturally did not dare to disobey Huang Taiji's orders. In order to leave a way back for himself, he also deliberately took a concubine in Shenyang, in case the matter was revealed, the Fan family would not be destroyed.

Although Fan Yongdou did this, he didn't believe in his heart that he would end up like this. Because of the incompetence of the Ming army and the government, coupled with the collusion with Houjin to steal and sell military rations and military supplies, as well as the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty, he felt that even if he showed any signs, he could get out of the way.

He even thought about kicking out those big businesses in Shanxi and taking those few businesses in Zhangjiakou to swallow the exclusive business of the Jurchens. But after the new emperor ascended the throne, his business was greatly affected in just one year.

First of all, the Changlu Salt Farm was swallowed up by the Four Seas Commercial Bank, and then the imperial court's rectification of Liaoxi Town blocked the original unimpeded Liaoxi Trade Road.

The military rations from Liaoxi Town and the salt from Changlu were the bulk goods exported to Liaodong, and they were also the shortest source of goods they could find. The distance from Zhangjiakou to Shenyang is long, and the export of high-value contraband such as ordnance and armor can also be profitable. But if you transport grain and salt, it's a loss-making business.

Although there are salt lakes in the Mongolian steppe, the salt is not enough for the Mongols themselves, and the Chahar tribe is still hostile to the Houjin, and the salt lakes controlled by the Mongols are difficult to provide salt to the Jurchens.

The severance of the Liaoxi trade route was actually equivalent to a heavy blow to the Fan family's business. Although the Later Jin signed an agreement with the Ming State to open up two mutual markets in Jinzhou and Yingkou, Huang Taiji was unwilling to let the export of goods from the Later Jin Dynasty be subject to the places set by the Ming State, so he increased his support for several merchants in Zhangjiakou and wanted to open up a fixed trade route through the Mongolian steppe.

But as soon as Fan Yongdou returned to Zhangjiakou, he found that the ginseng he had brought back from thousands of miles was actually not easy to sell, which made him feel a little exhausted. Losing the grain of western Liaoning, the salt of Changlu, and the ginseng business of eastern Liaodong, how long can this scene of the Fan family's firm just being rolled out support?

After feeling the capital, he only thought about resting for a while, and he really didn't have the spirit to go down with Fan Wencheng. Therefore, he simply agreed to Fan Wencheng's request and went to the house next door to the shop to rest.

Shopkeeper Chen found a sixteen or seventeen-year-old half-grown boy for Fan Wencheng, who was an apprentice in the Beijing branch and a township party recruited from Jiexiu, Shanxi, in addition to being clever, the most important thing was reliability.

This young man named Chen Linan has been in the capital for almost a year, but because of his convenient legs and feet, he often delivers goods outside, so he is more familiar with the capital.

After watching the shopkeeper leave with the owner, he became a little lively, and asked Fan Wencheng respectfully: "This master, where do you want to go shopping?" ”

Fan Wencheng thought about it, and then said to him: "Is this bell and drum tower and Guozijian far away from here?" ”

When Fan Yongdou got up after taking a nap, he found that the sky outside had begun to darken, so he called the little guy in the courtyard and ordered him to fetch a basin of hot water, and wiped his face well, only then did he feel that he was alive.

As soon as Fan Yongdou finished washing here, the shopkeeper Chen of the Beijing branch walked into the room with a basin of steaming meat slices and a small basket of steamed buns covered with towels.

"Boss, you're resting well, this is dinner for you, why don't you eat it first?" Shopkeeper Chen said earnestly while putting the things in his hand on the table.

Fan Yongdou wiped his hands, threw the towel in the basin, let the servant who was waiting for him clean up, and then walked to the table and sat down.

He took a sip of noodle soup before he said comfortably: "The master on this stove has good skills, you can be regarded as the right person."

When our Fan family business is out of the house, we just want to eat a big pot of rice together, and we can't engage in specialization. Like some businesses, the master eats one portion, the shopkeeper eats one, the big guy eats one, and the apprentice eats another, is it interesting?

When everyone goes out, they are in a group to seek a way to live together, and people who have left their hometowns follow you out to work hard, and even a meal must be divided into high and low, which is easy to make people deviate from morality. ”

"What the owner is saying is, how else can you say that the owner is kind-hearted? When you were in Shenyang, no matter how difficult it was, you didn't leave us alone. The shopkeepers of these eight joint accounts, mention you, the one who doesn't give a thumbs up, and say: Fan Dong's family is righteous. Shopkeeper Chen flattered carelessly.

Fan Yongdou was in a good mood when he heard this, and after he swallowed a mouthful of steamed buns, he continued to ask, "Has that Fan Xianggong come back?" Has he eaten it? ”