The middle-aged man in the Fan family's mansion was dressed in a dark striped white Luo Dao robe, and there was no trace of fireworks, and he was on the couch, half-squinting and half-smiling, looking relaxed and freehand, very comfortable.

This is the third day of February in the 267th year of the Ming Dynasty, the sun is rising, and the air is still mixed with a few points of coldness. But the room was warm, and the fire pit was burning hot, and there was a brazier in every five corners of the house. The white charcoal in the brazier was quietly smoldering, exuding heat, and there was not a trace of smoke coming out.

The carved beams and paintings outside the house, the luxurious furnishings in the house, all of which are rich and wealthy of the owner's family.

This person is Jiexiu, or the richest man in Shanxi: Fan Yongdou.

"Either way, it's a good thing for us!" The voice of the opening voice was low and hoarse, slightly harsh, as if the iron sheet was scraping iron sand, this is Wang Dengku, this time he came back to Fan Yongdou's house, and it was this matter that was discussed.

Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku opened their mouths one after the other, and the atmosphere in the room was also lively, and the other six people exchanged their heads with each other, all talking about the news they had heard and the opinions that had just been arguing.

"If you want me to say, this trip to business still has to be slowed down. The losses in Taiyuan City are lost for the time being, and Jinyiwei is not easy to get along with. Jin Liangyu's surname is very obscure, but he is also the top figure among these wealthy businessmen. He spoke vigorously and powerfully, with a hooked nose, and the eyes on his withered yellow face were purring, and he was very crisp: "The first priority at the moment is to give an account of the characters sent by the envoys of the kingdom." Isn't the boss of the Fan family already laid out in Beijing? ”

"That's right, I still found that relationship in the tooth shop. You have to find some mess in the capital first, those eyes are full of poison, and if you don't see rabbits, you don't scatter eagles! This time it was the white and chubby Wang Dayu who spoke, who looked pampered and very clever, but he was a businessman in the traditional impression.

The other big businessmen in the house, Liang Guest, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang and Huang Yunfa all talked nonsense.

"They have poisonous eyes, and they have good goods in their hands. There are few people who know how to do it, and they all have to rely on us. Especially now that Mongolia is full of people, our old Xi'er goes back and forth to the border trade, and if we don't rely on them, it's really not good! Tian Shenglan paused, and said: "Especially this time, I have asked the familiar Lord Belle, and he will give us a big deal!" ”

"Lao Tian, you can do it! You can't eat alone! Huang Yunfa, Liang Guest and others were all bright-eyed.

Tian Lansheng smiled, and before he could speak, Fan Yongdou coughed lightly and said, "We Jin merchants are outside, where are we not acting as one." Especially this time, where can a family sit down in this big deal? It was ordered by the old man regent, and he also treated our eight Jin merchants as one. Everyone has their own little abacus in their hearts, and I Fan Yongdou knows it well. But in the eyes of the regent, whether he can do city affairs is the key. It's done, and you can't write two Jin characters in one stroke. It's broken, and I can't write two Jin characters in one stroke! ”

After Fan Yongdou finished speaking, everyone was pale and said yes.

Tian Lansheng laughed dryly for a while, and said, "Yes, Lord Belle also got the orders of the Ten Kings and asked us to do something. This time, the business was also divided into our hands. ”

The atmosphere is gradually relaxed, but many people are still confused. In fact, except for Fan Yongdou, almost everyone here only got part of the news and saw part of the face.

But there is no doubt that these people who come and go to the border trade and do smugglers and forbidden businesses smell the smell of huge profits.

Wang Dengku pondered for a moment and said, "That's it, let me talk about it." This time, someone from the kingdom gave us a big deal. This is a deal that is even better than the opening of China and France in the early years! ”

Jin merchants refer to Shanxi merchants, but compared with other merchants, Shanxi merchants have a completely different color. In addition to the geographical differences, the ability of the Jin merchants to make a fortune was also completely different, and their initial fortune did not rely on the market, not by knowledge, but by thorough government and army.

Speaking of this, it is necessary to talk about this opening of the Chinese law. Only when we understand this will we understand how important it is to open the Chinese law.

The implementation of the Kaizhong Law is that the Ming court raises military salaries for the army in the northern border towns, and implements the practice of providing grain and cloth for the army in the border towns by merchants in exchange for salt introduction, and going to the designated salt yards to support salt and trafficking salt. Through the implementation of this method, the Ming government not only solved the military salary of the northern border towns, but also received the salt tax, and the merchants of Shanxi also rose as a result. In ancient times, when salt and iron were monopolized, the huge profits of salt were self-evident.

And this also became the beginning of the beginning of the Jin Dynasty.

As soon as Wang Dengku said this, everyone present couldn't help but breathe heavily, except for Fan Yongdou.

It was Fan Yongdou, who was also breathing heavily in advance after understanding the news, and couldn't restrain his excitement.

Wang Dengku looked at everyone's expressions, smiled lightly, and said, "The regent wants to make a deal with Li Zicheng!" This business is the survival of the Ming Dynasty at the moment! It's a war horse, it's a weapon, it's a profit! ”

Everyone stared, there was no angry glaring and scolding that ordinary people thought, and some were just staring with full attention.

Wang Dengku narrated Dorgon's plan, making everyone's mood like a roller coaster, undulating.

Dolgon's plan would be simple, requiring the Eight Jin Merchants to use their commercial power to delay the recovery of the Ming Empire, and to try their best to spy on the Ming Dynasty's military intelligence. For this reason, no less than three waves of craftsmen have been lured to the grassland at a high price and transferred to Shengjing. After the crushing defeat in the Battle of Shengjing, no one questioned the strength of the Ming army, and everyone tried to find out the reason for the victory of the Royal Guards.

At this time, Chongzhen's sixteen-year-old fire gun came into everyone's field of vision.

Although the Jin merchants spent no less than 10,000 taels on spying in exchange for only a dozen low-level craftsmen, it is difficult to say whether there are even craftsmen. In Zhu Cihong's system, the workers are coolies, and only master the minutiae of some processes, only craftsmen will have more understanding if they have technology, and only eighth-level masters can fully master the entire process of fire gun manufacturing.

And every eighth-level master, Zhu Cihong protects it with the same level as protecting Yipin Zaifu. Jinyi Weimen is familiar with this hand, and naturally will not let amateur Jin merchants approach. You can't get close, let alone abduct.

Feeling the difficulty of spying, the satisfied envoy in Beijing quickly changed his methods and began to comprehensively search for the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the treatment of craftsmen quietly began to change.

In this troubled era, only farming has become the first target of starvation. Some craftsmen can survive temporarily with the skills in their hands. As long as you can survive, you will have a great chance of transferring, such as waiting for Hengxin Commercial Bank, county government, state government, Jinyi Guard, criminal prosecution department, and major local merchants...... In short, the exploration of various yamen institutions. Some of these people have been ordered by Zhu Cihong, and some are valued by major merchants. In short, under the leadership of Zhu Cihong, the status of craftsmen has quietly improved.

The Jin merchants also recruited merchants through various means to abduct them to Shengjing, including carpenters, blacksmiths, stonemasons, iron smelters, and houses. After Zhu Cihong single-handedly migrated the vast majority of Han Chinese in Shengjing, the Manchus instantly felt the great stagnation of production brought about by the lack of craftsmen.

In short, the various orders from the Qing court were conveyed, and eventually some of them fell into the hands of Manchu spies, and many others fell into the hands of Jin merchants.

Of course, Fan Yongdou is a businessman, and since he is a businessman, he does not work out of thin air.

The consideration made by the Qing court in the past was real money. After Shengjing was evacuated, although Da Yu'er successfully evacuated most of the Manchu princes, she still had some gold and silver. But the Qing court's ability to pay was actually greatly reduced, and it could no longer do as it pleased.

At this time, another tempting good comes.

"The regent has opened up all trade in the Great Qing Kingdom! To the east, the skins of the white mountains and black waters, ginseng and even the jewels that have been harvested over the years. Skins and tiger bones from the Mongolian steppe in the west...... And most importantly, the most important, war horses! The regent has opened it to us! Moreover, the regent wants to do business with Li Zicheng and support Shunguo to attack Ming. With the current situation, Shanxi will no longer be surnamed Zhu in the future! When the time comes, just by moving the craftsmen in Shunguo to the north and transporting the northern goods from the grassland, it will be enough for us to make a fortune! Li Dengku said, thinking of the future a little, as if he saw countless gold and silver beckoning to him.

The rest of the people are also veterans of this way, and they don't understand what kind of huge profits it means here.

Guest Liang cautiously asked: "There is no restriction on the southern movement of the war horse?" Is it to transport troops from Shengjing to the south, and there is no restriction? ”

"Not at all! Moreover, the regent has already opened up the relationship at sea. At that time, several sea ships will land in Fuzhou every year and transfer to Shengjing. We can still start buying and selling seafood! Li Dengku said leisurely, found that there was some nonsense, coughed lightly, and said: "No matter what, you can sell as many war horses as you want to Li Zicheng." How much armor do you want to sell to Li Zicheng...... You can too! ”

Fan Yongdou coughed lightly and said, "The regent has opened his mouth, and I want my Fan Jiaxun's gun maker to be prepared, and the bird gun can be built first." This time, I already planned, as long as Li Zicheng wants to buy war horses, he will sell as many as he wants. As long as he transports all the craftsmen from Shanxi to the outside of the Saiwai for me! When the time comes, he will buy armor, he will buy birds, and he will have the same! ”

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but have star eyes. Fan Yongdou, the head of the Jin merchants, is really a blockbuster, as soon as he makes a move, it is a big deal, and as soon as he starts work, it is a big business.

You must know that Li Zicheng swept the world, and I don't know how many people he plundered. Naturally, there are a lot of craftsmen. Unlike the craftsmen who are becoming more and more difficult to abduct in the Ming Dynasty, those craftsmen under Li Zicheng who are accustomed to seeing war must agree with the saying that "it is better to be a peaceful dog than a person in a troubled world".

For a while, there were voices of praise in the house.

"It's still Brother Fan's cleverness!"

"Fan Dongjia's method is really amazing!"

"There will be good business in the future, but don't forget my brother!"

……

Fan Yongdou smiled slightly: "Don't give me Fan Yongdou a high hat, just now my Fan Mou's words were also left there to say it." I think Yunfa is doing better than me in this horse buying business, so I have to ask you when the time comes. ”

Huang Yunfa laughed: "Where, where...... Brother Fan just enjoyed the food. ”

"Doing business with the people under Li Zicheng, I will personally take action in this matter. But when the time came, I met the generals under Li Zicheng, for example, Liu Zongmin was a fool, so he just lowered the shelf and stuffed Datong's mother-in-law and silver, and he was invincible. Brother Wang Xian, Brother Zhai Xian, and Brother Jin Xian can all try these...... And Brother Tian, Brother Liang......" Fan Yongdou named one by one, and immediately made the atmosphere in the venue cheerful, and everyone was looking forward to it.

"Of course...... After all, the word from the Ten Kings has also come over! Li Dengku smiled, he didn't care that Fan Yongdou didn't mention his name, he was not worse than Fan Yongdou, and more importantly, compared to Fan Yongdou's painting pie, he could get much more appreciation: "I still have to ...... Shanxi." Can't be surnamed Zhu anymore! ”

At this time, a loud noise came.

Then, an old servant entered and said softly: "King Chuang's army has crossed!" ”

All of them are closed to the north, not far from Taiyuan!

As for Li Zicheng, he is in the Chinese army. This means that the Shunjun vanguard is closer to Taiyuan!

"I'm going to welcome the Emperor!" Fan Yongdou laughed.

"Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

……

The rest of the people gossiped, and walked away one after another.

Suddenly, there was a lot of calm in Taiyuan City.

There are fewer people on the streets, and even the celebrities who used to ride horses and gallop and walk through various cities to help them for a while have gone. After Han Lin learned that there was an opportunity for the Jinyi guards to escort him away, he left as soon as possible. Fu Shan Fu Qing looked at the hastily written letter from his new friend, shook his head, and decided to accompany someone.

This person's name is Cai Maode.

When he arrived at the governor's mansion, he didn't expect that Cai Maode was not alone. Zhao Jianji, the political envoy, and Sun Kangzhou, the prefect of Taiyuan, were both there.

The three Zhengyin officials looked at Fu Shan's arrival, and they all smiled: "I am not alone. ”

After Cai Maode finished speaking, he shook his head slowly: "Master Qing, you should go." ”

"Didn't the governor leave either?" Lord Fu Qing said softly: "At least, I still have a sword...... I can fight the last moment! ”

"We only have hearts...... It's just righteousness. Zhao Jianji smiled bitterly.

Sun Kangzhou sighed faintly: "To be honest, I am not a saint. It's just that this official skin has been worn for a long time, and I really don't want to live up to it. As the prefect of Taiyuan, this official ...... Never be the landless criminal! ”

Rumble......

A dull cannon sounded, and Cai Maode smiled at everyone: "This official went to the city to supervise the defense!" ”

Halfway through, the King of Jin sent the chief of the palace.

The chief of the palace took a few more wrestlers and said poignantly: "Lord Cai! Your Highness, please build the defense as soon as possible! ”

Inside, three thousand taels of silver.

Cai Maode glanced at it, and left with the other three without looking back.

The city was empty. (To be continued.) )