The Fan family compound in Zhangyuan Village, Jiexiu, Shanxi, spans a whole street and is called "Xiaojinluan Hall" by the locals, which shows its grandeur.
Fan Sanba, wearing a small melon-skin hat and a long mandarin made of fine Songjiang cloth, was sipping tea comfortably. The best Xinyang Benshan tea (called Maojian in the late Qing Dynasty), the taste is called beautiful.
Because of this outfit, his father Fan Yongdou often scolded him. He said that he did not know how to be diligent and frugal and was a waste of money.
The older generation of Shanxi merchants are notorious for not spending money and being "picky". No matter how rich they are, they still live an ascetic life: wear old sheepskin robes, eat steamed buns, stuff them with green onions and garlic, and eat them after they die.
I kept a big box of gold ingots in the cellar, but I was only willing to spend two taels of silver to buy myself a coffin.
Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family, wears an old sheepskin robe like this, and a generation above, Fan Yongdou and his father Fan Ming are also the same. According to Fan Yongdou, no matter how rich you are, you can't forget your roots.
The old Fan family was developed in the hands of Fan Yongdou's father Fan Ming. Fan Ming's father was not good to Fan Ming back then. Fan Ming was so angry that he took a few dates and came from Shahukou (Xikou) alone.
Went to Zhangjiakou (East Gate) to do business. Met a big customer named Nurhaci and made a fortune.
Don’t get me wrong, Fan Ming was just doing business, not enough to be considered a traitor. Fan Yongdou’s generation was closely colluded with the Qing Dynasty, selling salt, iron, grain, weapons and other controlled materials, not to mention selling intelligence to the Qing army.
, so that the Qing army knew exactly how many Ming troops were there, how many cannons, and who the generals were. A serious traitor who had made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty.
It is said that after the Qing army entered the customs, Emperor Shunzhi hosted a banquet for eight Shanxi merchants: Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa, and they were named "Imperial Merchants". There is some doubt about this matter, "Qing Shi Lu"
"There is no record. But one thing is certain, the old Fan family has many political and economic privileges that other businessmen cannot enjoy.
Not only did their family purchase goods for the royal family, but they also took advantage of the opportunity to monopolize the market for ginseng and other valuable medicinal materials in northeastern Ussuri, Suifen and other places. They were called "ginseng merchants" by the people; they were also a large copper merchant, a large grain merchant, and a large-scale merchant.
A timber merchant and a Malaysian merchant; naturally he is also a major salt merchant.
In addition to operating the Hedong and Changlu salt industries, he also participated in the Lianghuai salt industry. Fan Sanba sent his third son Fan Yubin to stay in Yangzhou and be responsible for the Lianghuai salt area, including Jiangnan (South Zhili), Anhui, Henan, and Huguang.
,Salt trading in five provinces of Jiangxi.
We used to make a lot of money, but business has become increasingly difficult in recent years. Mainly due to the re-emergence of Nanming, Huguang and Jiangxi lost more than half, and the market of nearly two provinces was lost at once; the output of Guangdong salt is increasing
The bigger, the price is cheaper than Huai salt, and smuggling is serious; the first two points are not fatal, the most alarming thing is the third point, they have encountered a new opponent: Hui merchants. Hui merchants have extended their tentacles into Yangzhou,
There is a tendency to catch up from behind.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were three major business gangs of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Huizhou, known as "Shaanxi Bangchui", "Jin Abacus" and "Hui Camel". Now, with the rise of sea trade, Guangdong merchants have also begun to show their prominence.
The first to rise were honest and trustworthy Shaanxi merchants. Later, Shanxi merchants relied on careful calculation and joined the big tree of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Huizhou merchants relied on clan unity and the hard-working camel spirit to rise successively, and their strength exceeded
Shaanxi merchants.
Huizhou merchants began in the Southern Song Dynasty and flourished in the late Ming Dynasty. They mainly came from the six counties of Huizhou Fushe, Xiuning, Wuyuan, Qimen, Yi, and Jixi in southern Anhui. These places are mountainous and have little farmland, and farming is not enough to fill their stomachs.
They can only do business. Huizhou merchants who grew up in the mountains are particularly able to endure hardships and are very united. They have no capital to do business, so the whole family works together. Most Huizhou merchants are joint-stock companies. It is not surprising that a business has dozens of shareholders, and it is absolutely
They have the same surname. Some people joke that if a Huizhou businessman wants to escape, the first thing he will carry on his shoulders must be his family tree.
It was precisely with the support of clan power and the spirit of hard work that Huizhou merchants squeezed Shaanxi merchants out of the Yangzhou market and compressed the market space of Shanxi merchants in Yangzhou. By the Qianlong period, when it came to Yangzhou salt merchants, basically
The ones above were Huizhou merchants. However, now during the Shunzhi period, it was Shanxi merchants who were in charge of Yangzhou's salt industry, as well as Shanxi merchants' allies.
Shanxi merchants and Shaanxi merchants jointly controlled the salt industry in the Ming Dynasty. It has a long history. It originated from the "Kaizhong method" invented by Taizu, which was to let merchants transport grain and other military supplies to the border, and then use the receipts given by the army to contact the government
Changing Yanyin (a license issued by the government to franchise salt sales).
Because Shanxi and Shaanxi are military strongholds, the "Opening the Central Law" was naturally beneficial to Shanxi merchants and Shaanxi merchants. They jointly controlled the Ming salt trade represented by Yangzhou. Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the "Opening the Central Law" gradually became the "Exclusive"
With the method of "Business Leading to the Shore", Huizhou merchants gradually penetrated into Yangzhou.
Huizhou businessmen attach great importance to education, read a lot of books, and have many ideas. Recently, there is a leader of Huizhou businessmen in Yangzhou, named Jiang Guomao. He has a lot of bad ideas and always finds fault with the Shanxi business leader Lao Fan. The old Fan family is the "emperor"
"Shang", with a strong background, there are naturally many illegal things. This damn Jiang Guomao searched for people everywhere to collect evidence that the old Fan family broke the law, and when he found it, he complained to the government. Because the evidence was solid, the old Fan family suffered a few small losses.
.A while ago, this guy actually caught Fan Yuqi, Fan Sanba’s youngest son, with evidence of tax evasion and reported it to the government.
Hum, Fan Sanba sneered a few times, and said to himself: Wang Guomao, Wang Guomao, you are also doing big business. Don’t you know that no one in the court should do business? Most of the tax money that my old Fan family evaded can be
I have lost all my money and sent it to the capital. What can you, a common man, do to me, a great "imperial businessman"?
"Master, the third young master is back from Yangzhou."
Fan Sanba was thinking about this when his men came to report that his third son Fan Yubin was back.
The third son must have come here because of the younger son's affairs. He straightened his clothes, sat upright, and looked like the head of the family. In the past few years, Fan Yongdou has grown older and gradually stopped taking care of things, leaving his son Fan Sanba to do the work.
He became the head of the Fan family in Jiexiu. Of course, this is just a general situation. If there is a major event that affects the survival of the Fan family, old Fan Yongdou will still have to take charge of the overall situation.
"Father, my son is back."
Fan Sanba looked at Fan Yubin's dress and couldn't help but get angry. He was just dressed like an ordinary wealthy businessman, so the old man scolded him for being a prodigal; his son's dress was much more luxurious than his own. Not only were the clothes made of fine materials, but he also had a big donkey on his hat.
Zhu, but the old man didn’t scold him, and said that he was doing business in Yangzhou, a prosperous place, and dressing well was necessary for business. There was nothing I could do, the old man loved his grandson, and he was partial!
"Well, thank you for your hard work, Bin'er. How is Qier's lawsuit going?"
"Father, it's settled. Jiangnan Governor Ma Guozhu changed his attitude and said that the tax money was not evaded but paid in error. He only needed to pay 200,000 taels back and then he would release the fifth brother. Huh, the man surnamed Jiang spent so much effort.
In the end, there is nothing we can do to win over our Fan family."
"Tsk", Fan Sanba sneered in his nose, "You are still too young to know the dangers of the shopping mall. Since the man named Jiang dared to complain, he must have given money to Ma Guozhu. Fortunately, there was someone in the Fan family, and your grandfather asked Zheng
Prince, this time you can take risks and pass the test."
"That's it", Fan Yubin suddenly realized.
"When you return to Yangzhou this time, remember to bring one hundred thousand taels of silver to Ma Duxian. If his surname is Jiang, we can give it to the Fan family."
"Yes, father."
"Well, go and say hello to your grandfather, he loves you the most."