After Fan Yu learned of this, according to the favorable conditions of doing business with his father outside Cyprus since he was a child and being familiar with the roads, he carefully calculated and voluntarily transported military rations at a cost lower than 1/3 of the imperial court's grain transportation, which Kangxi Wenzhu immediately approved.

From then on, to the Qianlong period, they repeatedly "tried their best to save the loss, traveled thousands of miles in the desert, did not work the officials, did not disturb Lu Yan", and the military rations they transported were all "bound to come". During this period, they were either attacked by the enemy, or changed their grain transportation plan halfway, and suffered heavy losses several times, but they were also borne by Fan personally, saving hundreds of millions of taels of national expenses for the Qing Dynasty!

In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), the Qing court gave Fan Yu the post of Taifu Siqing, with two clothes. Since then, Fan has been an imperial merchant and a high-ranking official, and has become famous for a while. This is also rare in the more than 200-year history of the Qing Dynasty. Fan Yu died in the 15th year of Qianlong (1750), and he was the only merchant to enter the Qing Historical Manuscript.

In fact, at first, many Jin merchants provided military supplies to the Ming Dynasty army at the border pass, and the Jin merchants accumulated a certain amount of funds. However, the border army of the Ming Dynasty was not paid enough attention by the imperial court, and the equipment was replaced slowly, which made the Jin merchants not make much profit in military materials. The eight major merchants of the Jin Dynasty carried out smuggling activities to the Mongolian tribes outside the Great Wall, but the sales volume was not large, and the eight Jin merchants were very dissatisfied.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Later Jin regime secretly prepared for war and prepared to invade the Central Plains, and needed to hoard a large amount of food, clothing, metal, and gunpowder. The Eight Great Jin Merchants invested in their needs, smuggled all kinds of military materials they needed to the Later Jin, and even betrayed the military and strategic intelligence of the Ming Dynasty to the Later Jin. In return, the Later Jin regime exchanged ginseng, deer antler velvet, animal skins, and valuables looted from the Central Plains.

Among them, Fan Yongdou, a Shanxi businessman, is the most typical, and through transactions with the Later Jin regime, the Shanxi Fan family has accumulated a lot of wealth and has become the leader of the Jin merchants. According to the record of "Qing Shilu", in the third year of the Mandate of Heaven (1618), there were 16 traders in Fushun from Shandong, Shanxi, Hedong, Hexi, Suzhou and Hangzhou.

They also did a bad thing, that is, Houjin ventilated the news, which ruined the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen's ten years should be the most depressed time for King Li Zicheng. Zhang Xianzhong's troops were defeated and surrendered to the Ming, and Li Zicheng was ambushed by Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou of the Ming army in a panic. This battle almost cost Li Zicheng's life, and he finally ran into Funiu Mountain with Liu Zongmin and other 17 old brothers.

Originally, Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou and others were ready to wipe out all Li Zicheng's gang and then return to the division, but at this time, the Qing troops entered the customs, and Chongzhen forced Sun Chuanting and others to be the king.

The departure of the officers and soldiers relieved Li Zicheng, the leader of the rebel army. And just 6 years later, Li Zicheng, who made a comeback, came back.

In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty, which had been exhausted, was forced by Chongzhen to let Sun Chuanting lead the last new force of the Ming Dynasty to fight a decisive battle with Li Zicheng in Ruzhou. In September, Sun Chuanting was defeated in Ruzhou, Li Zicheng pursued and killed 400 miles in one day, Tongguan was lost, and Sun Chuanting was killed.

At the beginning, because the Qing army suddenly entered the customs, Sun Chuanting withdrew his troops, so Li Zicheng survived. 6 years later. Li Zicheng, who made a comeback, defeated Sun Chuanting and destroyed the Ming Dynasty. The biggest turning point in the middle was the second entry of the Qing army.

And not only this time, before Li Zicheng destroyed the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army chose a good time to enter the customs every time, and almost all of them were when the rebel army was facing defeat or a trough. Every time, he pulled the rebels at a critical time. Even many people think that Li Zicheng and the Qing army are exchanging news, so that they can cooperate so closely? So who has been passing information to the Emperor Taiji of Houjin? This group of people was specially sealed by the Qing Dynasty later, and the eight imperial merchants headed by the Fan family.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty government and the Later Jin Dynasty were in full swing, and in addition to smuggling grain, salt and iron and other materials to the Later Jin, they also provided military intelligence and led the way for the Later Jin. In the process of Houjin's five entry into the customs, the defense situation and invasion routes in each area were almost clear, and these military information were passed on by these eight emperors.

Because there were so many eyes and ears in the interior, the internal situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time, especially the form of war between the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and the rebel army, was clear to the Houjin thousands of miles away. The fundamental reason why Chongzhen entered the customs after the tenth year was to rescue Li Zicheng and other peasant rebels. In other words, it was actually these eight imperial merchants who gave Houjin information and saved Li Zicheng.

Even to a certain extent, if there were no traitors like the Eight Great Emperors, Hou Jin would not have been so clear about the internal information of the Ming Dynasty, and he would not have specially sent troops to pull Li Zicheng. And if Li Zicheng can't survive, he won't be able to destroy the Ming Dynasty. In the end, maybe I won't be clear!

But don't think they have good fruit to eat! Not many people like traitors, especially since they are still Han and so rich! So his descendants fell into bad luck.

Since the Fan family became an imperial businessman, the business has become bigger and bigger, and the family foundation has become thicker and thicker. This person was the later Qianlong Emperor.

Qianlong deliberately handed over the Qing court's "copper block" trade to Japan to the Fan family, and bought copper from Japan and sold it to the Qing Dynasty. But the price at which the Qing Dynasty bought copper from their families was much lower than the original price they imported from Japan.

The key problem is that Emperor Qianlong did not allow their family to quit, forced them to keep working, and finally owed the Qing court more than 3 million taels of silver. After that, I saw that their family was almost squeezed, and they casually found a crime and beheaded all over the house, but none of them were left! This is retribution!

The reason why Liu Pei emphasized these people is because he wants to do business in Shanxi, especially the border trade business, which is absolutely inseparable from these eight companies. It should be said that most of the officials and army generals in Shanxi have been bought off by these eight and have become their accomplices! Therefore, if Liu Pei wants to smoothly open up the Northwest Trade Road, he will definitely not be able to avoid them!

As long as they are willing to help, Niuman Village can smoothly buy horses and enter the interior of the Ming Dynasty, and pass through Shanxi unimpeded. As for what happened after leaving Shanxi, it was up to Niu Mancun to figure out his own way.

Even so, these eight families can play a role in liaising on their behalf. With these eight families writing letters as guarantees, they can take the path of officials and generals in Shanxi. Through them, local officials and generals were contacted, and the trade routes in the northwest were completely opened.

After a few people in Niuman Village stayed, they went out to inquire about the news. It was easy to find the Fan family's shop. At this time, when the Fan family had not yet reached their peak, it was still relatively easy to see high-level figures. If I wait until a few years later, when I have won the world, the door of the Fan family will be similar to the prefect's yamen, not waiting for idlers to step into. However, at this time, Niu Mancun, as a living person, can only see the shopkeeper of the store at most.

So when Niu Mancun said that he had a big business and wanted to talk to the shopkeeper, he easily met the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is also surnamed Fan, and he should be a relative of the Fan family. He met with Niu Mancun in the second hall, wanting to see what kind of big business this person had to talk about?

After the two of them sat down, one of the guys quietly withdrew after serving tea. After the shopkeeper Fan and Niu Mancun exchanged pleasantries, he quickly got to the point. said: "Cattle shopkeeper, what kind of big business do you want to talk to us?" ”

Niu Mancun said: "The business that I want to talk about with Shopkeeper Fan is horses!" ”

As a border crossing for trade with the Mongols, the horse business was undoubtedly one of the more lucrative of many businesses. However, the Ming Dynasty has always forbidden the sale of iron and other military materials on the grassland. On the contrary, the Mongols also restricted the sale of horses to the Ming Dynasty. Even the imported horses are mostly castrated, and they will not be used for a few years.

In fact, there is no shortage of good horses in the history of China. However, there is a very nasty problem in the breeding process of horses. Even the magnates also like horses.

You know, owning an extraordinary horse in ancient times is no different from owning a Maserati in modern times! So of course, the horses of the gods are sought after by the powerful. Plus they had money and power, so they often got the best horses of the time.

But the magnates were often not skilled in riding, and it was difficult for them to control the furious horses. So they resorted to the idea of castrating the best horses they had brought and then riding! After the horses were castrated, their violent personality became docile. It's convenient for them to show off!