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Xuanfu Town, in the Ming Dynasty it was not a small town in the ordinary sense.

Rather, it starts from the east and lives in Yongguan and Sihaizhi, and reaches the Xiyang River in Yanggao County, the northeast corner of Shanxi Province in the west, one of the nine important towns with a length of 1,000 and 23 miles, and the famous Tumu Fort is in Xuanfu.

Because Xuanfu is located outside the Yongguan Pass, it is no less important than Jizhou Town to protect the safety of Yanjing.

In the fourth year of Xuande of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Wenyu built a castle on the edge of the Great Wall in the northwest of Xuanfu, named Zhangjiabao.

Jiajing eight years garrison Zhang Zhen in the north of the castle of the Great Wall a small gate, called "small north gate", because the door is as small as a mouth, and by Zhang Zhen to build, so called "Zhangjiakou".

Zhangjiakou is located at the southern end of the Mongolian Plateau, and the sun is very white and bright in summer, shining like a diamond; But the summer is short, and the winter is long and far-reaching, and the north wind always carries a screech, surging through the ancient Great Wall, wrapped in the dust and sand of the plateau, blowing overwhelmingly and painfully.

Due to the short summers and long winters, there are not many crops that can be grown here except grass, and the land is generally bare and somewhat barren for most of the year.

But if you really think it's barren, you're wrong.

Since the 30th year of Jiaqing in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court approved the opening of the border "horse market" of "cloth and silk for horses" with the Mongols in Zhenggou and Xigou outside the gate of Zhangjiakou Dajing, and it has become the starting point of a Sino-Mongolian, Russian trade route that stretches from Zhangjiakou to Kulun and to Kyakhta for more than 8,000 miles.

The nomads exchanged horses, cattle, sheep, camels, skins and other animal husbandry products to Zhangjiakou for Han-epitek silk, cloth, rice, tea, pots and other daily necessities.

Due to the opening of the private "horse market", it has attracted a large number of mainland businessmen. The trading shops of all walks are four or five miles long, and the merchants are vying for it, and the shops are scaled.

Walking into Zhangjiakou, but seeing the bustling streets, "Nanjing grosgrain shop", "Suzhou Hangzhou grosgrain shop", "Linqing cloth shop", "velvet shop", "grocery shop" and other signboards are lined up.

Merchants and herdsmen on the grasslands drove horses, cattle and sheep, and pulled leather goods and medicinal herbs.

The caravans in the interior tied salt, tea, cloth and other supplies on horseback, preparing to go deep into the steppe in exchange for greater profits.

Among the Han people doing business in Zhangjiakou, the most are from Shanxi. They had a near monopoly on trade with herders. Among them, the Fan family from Jiexiu, Shanxi, is the leader of Shanxi merchants.

Fan Yongdou, who is in his forties, wears a money horse coat and a melon skin hat, and stands in front of his own business inn dressed as a man;

watched the huge caravan led by the second son Fan Chunxiao gradually drift away. Dang Yongdou was very relieved in his heart. The son grew up. Finally, he can lead a caravan into the steppe to trade alone.

The goods exported by the Fan family were mainly salt and iron tea, and the goods brought back were not ordinary horses, cattle and sheep, but precious furs and medicinal materials. These things are not only lightweight, but also a hundred times more profitable than horses, cattle and sheep.

Valuable medicinal materials such as ginseng in Ussuri and Suifen in Northeast China were all monopolized by the Fan family.

And if we want to maintain this monopoly, we must get out of the wilderness, where the grassland desert is full of dangers and boundlessness, and the herders live in pursuit of water, if they are not familiar with the roads and the various forces, and the routes of their migration. When the caravan left, it either couldn't find anyone, or it was swallowed up.

It is precisely because the Fan family has the advantage of being familiar with the trade routes and having a close relationship with the various forces on the grassland that they have been able to maintain a monopoly position. Among the various forces, the greatest wealth to the Fan family was undoubtedly the Manchu Qing.

"The owner, it's windy outside, hurry back to the house, the second son has been in and out of the grassland in the next year, and the road is familiar, you can rest assured." Shopkeeper Wu, who was following behind Fan Yongdou, persuaded.

Fan Yongdou walked inside and asked, "Shopkeeper Wu, hasn't the Lu family's tea arrived yet?" ”

"Go home to the east, not yet, I heard that the Qin army occupied Huai'an and cut off the waterway of the Grand Canal, not only the Lu family, I'm afraid that the tea in the south of the Yangtze River will not be able to come for a while."

"Well, it's getting harder and harder to do business." Fan Yongdou frowned and sighed.

In the past, before the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it was at war with the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming court forbade salt, iron, tea, grain and other materials from leaving the customs, and Fan Yongdou and the other seven families in Shanxi smuggled these prohibited materials to the Manchu Dynasty;

The Manchu ginseng, leather goods, and rare treasures seized from the customs were handed over to them to be sold in the interior.

But after the Qing army entered the customs, the income in this area was basically cut off, and now even the goods in the south can't get by, which makes Fan Yongdou a headache.

Shopkeeper Wu comforted: "Owner, I have sent someone to Shandong to buy tea, and there should be a letter in half a month." ”

"The tea in the south can't come, and there is not much tea in Shandong, and the price is afraid that it will also rise, and our profits will be less."

"There's no way around it, but the owner doesn't have to worry too much, and the goods from the south won't be undeliverable."

The two were chatting, and there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves outside the Fan family's business inn, and a group of Qing soldiers turned over and dismounted in front of the door, and rushed straight into the business inn.

Not long after, Fan Yongdou hurriedly went out with twenty or thirty guards, and Shopkeeper Wu followed out and asked in a low voice: "Dongjia, this road is not calm, why not wait for Wang Dengku and others, there is a good response on the road." ”

Fan Yongdou turned over and replied, "Didn't the regent state in his will, and he would enter Beijing immediately after receiving the order, how could this be delayed?" If they come, tell them that I am one step ahead. ”

Shopkeeper Wu came back to his senses at this time, Dolgon was in such a hurry to recruit the eight families into Beijing, this was a godsend, and the first to arrive might be able to grasp the opportunity.

Fan Yongdou didn't have time to say more to him, and galloped away with the guards

Four thousand miles to the south, several fast horses galloped into the north gate of Fuzhou, and then went straight to the palace in Longwu.

Long Wu was discussing with his queen Zeng to strengthen the control of the southwestern provinces, and the commander of Jinyi Wei made Lu Kunheng hurriedly enter, and after listening to Lu Kunheng's report, Long Wu couldn't help but exclaim: "What, Zheng Zhilong has also surrendered?" ”

"Back to the emperor, Zheng Zhilong was in Jingjiang a few days ago, and he did have an inexplicable battle with the Qin army, and Bai Tie, the secretary of the pseudo-Qin Criminal Department, caught Hong Chengchou's son, and also took out Zheng Zhilong's handwritten letter to Hong Chengchou, I'm afraid this matter can't be fake."

After listening to Longwu, a wave of fire rushed straight to the top of his head, and the green tendons on his forehead jumped wildly, looking like he wanted to kill.

Empress Zeng hurriedly comforted: "Please don't be impatient, please don't be impatient." ”

Long Wu suppressed his anger and said to Lu Kunheng: "You go down first, if there is any new news, report immediately." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Waiting for Lu Kunheng to withdraw, Long Wu immediately asked, "Empress, what should I do now?" ”

Empress Zeng thought for a while and said: "Xiang Zhuang danced the sword, which was intended for Duke Pei, the emperor, Qin Mu was ostensibly targeting Zheng Zhilong, but in fact, he was coming for you, the emperor." ”

"I also know this, the question is that since Zheng Zhilong's surrender is true, what should we do?"

Empress Zeng sighed faintly: "Qin Mu's trick is really at stake, if the emperor wants to rely on Zheng Zhilong again, I am afraid that the southwestern provinces will immediately fall to Qin Mu." Now the plan is that the emperor can only leave Fujian as soon as possible and leave Zheng Zhilong alone, besides, since Zheng Zhilong has been cleared, it may be difficult for the emperor to stay in Fujian to ensure safety. ”

"The queen means that we should retreat to Guangdong?"

"In addition to this, the concubine can't think of any other good way."

Long Wu thought for a moment and resolutely said: "Okay, just as the queen said, I will inform Huang Daozhou and them to retreat to Guangdong as soon as possible." "Long Wu is a person who does what he says, Zheng Zhilong's surrender made him worried, and he didn't want to delay for a moment.

"The emperor is slow, he can't go like this, now the entire Fuzhou City is under the control of Zheng Zhibao, I'm afraid it's not so easy for the emperor to leave, he has to make some other arrangements."

"It's all burning eyebrows, if the queen has any ideas, just say it."

"Your Majesty, the Tartar soldiers were at the water dividing pass before, and the ministers of the court and the central government were in a panic all day long, and there must be more than one person who secretly communicated with the Tartars, and the emperor would not deceive him early tomorrow, so as to appease the Zheng family first. Only in this way can the emperor's southern tour be possible. ”

“”

At the court meeting the next day, Long Wu ordered the ministers to take out a plate, cover it with a yellow papa, and place it in front of the emperor according to the plan of Empress Zeng.

Then he said to the ministers of the palace: "I have no heart for the benefit of the world, and I support the throne for the ministers of the Honors and Auxiliaries. I robe, vegetable food, morning and night scorching, who is the joy of the king?

It's just that the ancestors are at the top, and the people are at the bottom, drawing from the emperor, but I am afraid of losing the original intention of the ministers. Looking at the ministers today, it is not the original intention, some time ago, the chief of the Guan Shang searched for more than 200 letters of surrender in the Guanzhong, and now they are all here.

I didn't want to know his name, so I ordered the brocade guard to check the number of seals, and held it to the front of the noon gate to burn it to the public. The ministers in the class should also have it, and I don't care. Some should change their minds from now on; If there is no original, Yiyi is determined to do its best, without the original intention. Encyclical. ”

Long Wu originally wanted to use this move to appease the Zheng family, who had fornicated with the Manchus, and then find an excuse to "tour south" Guangdong. Without thinking that it was too late, Zheng Zhilong led the Zheng family fleet and hurriedly returned to Fuzhou.

Zheng Zhilong is now torn his face with Qin Mu, and he needs to pull the tiger skin of Longwu to fill the banner, where is he willing to let him leave Fuzhou?

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PS: Thank you for every reward and friend who voted for the monthly ticket, my heart was inexplicably moved, I have written a book for several years, and there are rarely more than ten people who reward in one day, I finally saw it today, every bit of support from my brothers, is worth remembering. Thank you. Say goodbye!.

(To be continued......)