The term Shanxi merchants also became famous in later generations.
By the Qing Dynasty, the top 16 major financial groups in the country were all in Shanxi. Shanxi merchants ranked first among the national business gangs and dominated the business world for more than 500 years.
Among the prominent group of Shanxi merchants, the most famous ones are the eight Shanxi merchants. These eight refer to the eight major families of Qiao, Chang, Cao, Houqukang, Fan and Kong.
Of course, this does not mean that all Shanxi merchants collaborated with the enemy and treason. Because at this time, many of them have not yet risen. However, the Fan family, the target of Lu Xiao's focus, is not the same thing.
Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family. Speaking of this person, he is quite famous.
After the Tatars in the north rose to power, they were actually on the verge of collapse several times. The main reason was that the Ming army's foundation was still there at the beginning. The important towns in the north had sufficient weapons and soldiers still had the will to fight. Even after the failure of the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming army
The army also won victories such as the Zhenjiang Victory and the Ningyuan Victory.
Among them, in the great victory of Ningyuan, the Ming army used red artillery to beat the hell out of the Tatars, causing heavy casualties. However, the Tatars who failed to capture Ningyuan had to retreat to the mountains. This battle was also an important political capital of Yuan Chonghuan.
However, due to the failure of the robbery, their food was far from enough to survive the entire winter. Just when the Tatars were at a loss, a Shanxi merchant team led by Fan Yongdou appeared.
They spent a lot of money to open up various joints and avoid the Ming army's blockade. They transported a large amount of food into the mountains to aid the Tatars!
!
You must know that at that time, the mountains were blocked by heavy snow, and the mountain roads that the Tatars themselves were not willing to take were actually used by these Shanxi merchants.
This time, the Fan family risked their lives to aid the enemies of the Ming Dynasty. How to describe it? Forgive me for my lack of knowledge, I really don’t know how to describe it.
The final result is that the Tatars relied on the food from Shanxi merchants and the support of intelligence to successfully survive the most difficult winter. After recharging their energy, the later Tatars entered the customs. Otherwise, just one
The cold and starvation in winter will severely weaken the Tatars' vitality. They will not be able to recover in ten or eight years.
Such behavior made Lu Xiao aware of the existence of this group of Shanxi merchants. However, the Ming Dynasty had too many places to spend money. If these guys were dealt with in advance, the money would probably not reach his hands.
But now, the right to train troops has been obtained, and some people have even been recruited. When Lu Xiao is most in need of money, of course he has to withdraw the money he has saved.
In the past few years, these Shanxi merchants have provided food and grass to the Tatars. When the Tatars were full, they plundered Liaodong. They used the looted money to repay these Shanxi merchants. The entire Liaodong, except for a few important towns, was reduced to scorched earth.
. Thousands of years of accumulation fell into the hands of the Tatars, and then passed to the hands of these Shanxi merchants.
Such a huge accumulation made it possible to become the number one business gang in the country.
At this time, Fan Yongdou was counting the goods. Once winter was over, his master would definitely go out hunting again. As a slave, of course he had to feed his master first. Otherwise, how could he have the strength to hunt?
Therefore, this time Fan Yongdou prepared a large amount of grain, grass, and ordnance from the south. He planned to transport it into Liaodong through the joints he had opened before, so that his master could eat well and go hunting.
But what he didn't notice was that some of his guys looked at him a little strangely.
Almost no one knows how much money Fan Yongdou has. But Fan Yongdou himself knows it very well. After all, he is a businessman and is particularly sensitive to money. Over the years, he has accumulated tens of millions of taels of property. In addition to banks, more are hidden in his pocket.
In various secret residences, cellars, etc.
Many of them have been permanently sealed. Only the next head of the family knows about them. They are used to make a comeback when the family encounters a crisis of overthrow.
Lu Xiao had sent people to infiltrate his caravan many years ago. It took him five years to find out basically all his hiding places.
"Cheer up, everyone. This batch of supplies is urgently needed by Liaodong. If they are not delivered in time, this year's dividends will be cut in half."
As soon as these words were spoken, the clerks immediately began to work as if they had been given a shot of blood.
It is worth mentioning that Shanxi merchants did not act collectively. The scene would have been too big. They would prepare supplies in advance and then enter Liaodong in batches.
After feeding the garrison at each major pass, they can successfully enter the mountain. This time, the Tatars rushed in a hurry. Fan Yongdou knew that this was because the other party was preparing for a large-scale entry battle. For this reason, he deliberately worked overtime.
Just to be able to feed his master before the fight begins.
But for some reason, Fan Yongdou felt a little uneasy today. He had checked the goods three times, and there were no problems. After thinking about it, he could only conclude that he was a little nervous. After all, the scale of this time was unprecedented.
After the goods were prepared, the entire team was on the road day and night. Fan Yongdou took charge of the battle himself, but soon he became drowsy due to his old age and returned to the carriage to rest.
After an unknown amount of time, Fan Yongdou woke up. He felt that the caravan had stopped. He knew it was time to rest, so he called his servant to get him some food.
But after shouting a few times, no one answered at all outside. He was a little confused, because he clearly heard a lot of people talking outside. Why did no one respond to his words? This group of dog slaves really needs to be dealt with.
Fan Yongdou became angry and jumped off the carriage, preparing to teach his servant a lesson. But when he pulled down the carriage, he felt something was wrong.
There are many people outside, very, very many people. And these people are not my colleagues at all. I don’t know any of them as far as I can see. The key is that these people are carrying the goods on their own cars at this time.
Fan Yongdou made a loud noise and almost fell to the ground.
Did he encounter a rogue bandit? But when he thought about it carefully, he felt something was wrong. Because if it was a rogue bandit, how could he have killed all his men silently and odorlessly? You know, he hired a group of bandits.
Jiang Hu Ke, who is highly skilled in martial arts, serves as a guard. Ordinary bandits and robbers simply do not dare to approach a caravan of their size.
Moreover, Fan Yongdou was very experienced and the route he took avoided the large bandits. The mountain bandits and road tyrants along the way had already been taken care of. Logically speaking, this situation should not happen.
But now, all the guys have disappeared silently. A group of strangers are carrying their own goods. The key is that everyone is busy with their own things, and no one pays attention to themselves. It is as if they are transparent.
generally.
The only good news is that he is still alive and unscathed. This means that the other party knows about him and there should be room for maneuver in this matter.
Fan Yongdou gritted his teeth and stopped a young man who was carrying food.
"My brave man, I dare to ask you, who is your master? I, Fan Yongdou, would like to ask the brave man to introduce me to you. I will thank you very much afterwards."
However, the other party just raised his head, looked at him with a strange look, and then walked around him carrying a bag of grain. Not a word was said from the beginning to the end.
Fan Yongdou felt cold all over, and an inexplicable fear surged into his heart. This time, it was not just the fear of losing this batch of goods. He now had a feeling of impending disaster.
