The Eight Imperial Merchants delivered a large amount of basic necessities such as grain, clothing, and cooking utensils to the Eastern Exile regime.

Nurhachi did not treat them badly, and exchanged ginseng, deer antlers, animal skins and other valuables to the other party, which made these profiteers very happy.

Gradually, the two sides established a deep relationship of interests, and Nurhachi, who attached great importance to espionage warfare, expanded the content of trade between the two sides from food and clothing to intelligence.

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.

Nurhachi "paid generously for the tariffs, and wrote the seven hateful words, and paid them back".

In the third year of the Eastern Exile of Chongde (1637), Huang Taiji ordered the nobles of the Eastern Exile to lead 100 Han merchants from the interior to carry goods to Guihua City for trade.

As a result of the invasion of the East into the Customs, military expenditures soared, and the finances were in great difficulty.

In this regard, Zu Kefa and Zhang Cunren of the Metropolitan Procuratorate once suggested:

"Shandong is the way of grain transportation, Shanxi is the way of businessmen, it is urgent to appease, if the soldiers and people of the two provinces return to my territory, then the wealth is out, and the country is not scarce."

This shows how much attention the Eastern Capture regime attached to the Jin merchants.

All the gunpowder, eighty percent of the grain, and more than sixty percent of the metal needed for Huang Taiji's war machine came from the Jin merchants who were "honest" to the sky.

It's a win-win deal for both parties.

It was through the Jin merchants that the Eastern Raiders were able to turn looted property, antiques, and gold and silver into food to feed their hundreds of thousands of people.

The price of rice in Liaodong eventually dropped to 124 stones, and the population increased several times, but the price of grain was pressed to a few hundredths of the peak.

The Jin Shang Group, on the other side of the transaction, had stored tens of millions of silver taels in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen alone.

These exploits were further enhanced after the capture of the east, and he was given the status of an imperial merchant.

The Jin merchants, who received special care from the Eastern Exile, monopolized the trade and capital dispatch in northern China, and intervened in the whole of Asia.

It has even extended its tentacles to the European market, from Hong Kong and Kolkata in the south to Irkutsk, Siberia, Moscow and Petersburg in the north.

From Osaka, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Incheon in the east, to Tarbagatai, Ili, and Kashgar in the west, the footprints of Jin merchants have been left behind.

They can even speak Mongolian, Kazakh, Uyghur, and Russian to the northern minorities and Russians.

It can be said that from the camel caravans on the Mongolian steppe to the merchant ships that are going to sea in Wusongkou, there are Shanxi people who are accounting for the price.

From the vinegar smell of Hulunbuir to the aroma of wine in Kweichow Moutai, they are brewing and selling.

The ruins of the place where the Jin merchants were active can be seen everywhere today.

The old West Temple in Gansu, the ancient city tower in Xinjiang, the copper tripod in the Golden Temple in Kunming, the Kangyuan Garden in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and the Huaxilou in Bozhou, Anhui Province, were all founded by Shanxi businessmen.

The famous Kweichow Moutai was first created in 1704 by Shanxi salt merchants who hired workers from Xinghua Village Fen Distillery and local brewing workers.

Rishengchang Lane in Zhangjiakou, Fusheng West Lane in Baotou, Dashengkui Street in Kobdo, Outer Mongolia, Dingxiang Lane and Ningwu Lane in Hohhot, etc., are all related to them.

It is no wonder that in the northeast, "there is Caojia first, then Chaoyang County", and in Inner Mongolia, "there is Fusheng West, and then there is Baotou City",

In the northwest, there is a proverb that "first there is Jin Yilao, and then there is Xining City".

If the Jin Shang Dynasty is a miracle in Chinese history, then behind this miracle are ugly traitorous faces.

It was the impetus of the Eight Great Imperial Merchants that gave the Eastern Capture a chance to breathe, and at the same time accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

……

ZHANGJIAKOU,

A huge caravan drove to a remote official road, and suddenly more than a hundred black-clothed men appeared in front of the caravan, holding bright steel knives in their hands, blocking the caravan's forward route.

The caravan guards numbered several hundred people, and when they saw that someone dared to stop their caravan, the leader of the caravan was furious and urged his horse to come to the group.

Pointing to the people in front of him with his hand, he scolded:

"Who are you, did you eat the bear's heart and leopard gall, or the dog was blind, and you actually dared to stop the caravan of our eight Jin merchants, and if you are interested, you will immediately give Lao Tzu a bastard."

The person led by the other party, dressed in black, with a steel knife in his hand and an iron box on his back, looked coldly at the caravan in front of him.

After a moment, he asked coldly:

"You are the caravan of the Eight Great Jin Merchants? Whether this is true or not, if you dare to lie to me, this is where they will be buried today. ”

"Hahaha, joke, how do the Eight Great Jin Merchants do things, no one dares to care, come on, bombard these ants who don't have long eyes on the spot."

"Yes"

Before he could finish speaking, five hundred escorts flew out, they raised their swords and guns high, and quickly pounced on the black-clothed crowd, wanting to kill these black-clothed people in one fell swoop.

These guards often escorted caravans from north to south, and all of them were very skilled and unsightly, but as soon as they exchanged hands with the men in black on the opposite side, they realized that something was wrong.

"Rush, don't live your mouth."

The leader of the black-clothed man waved the steel knife in his hand, urging the horse to meet the Jin Shang guard, and as soon as the two waves of people and horses touched, the steel knife in his hand swept away, and three people were immediately beheaded.

The black-clothed men behind him instantly smashed into the crowd of guards like a gust of wind, wielding steel knives and slashing wildly, quickly causing the guards to lose more than half.

After a short battle, the escort team collapsed, and the strength of the two sides was not at the same level at all.

The leader of the caravan, who was still very arrogant just now, became pale at this time, and he was arrogant and powerful, and he watched his command being killed one by one.

"Resist, give me ......"

The leader of the caravan desperately shouted to let his subordinates resist, the strength is not at a level, it is useless how you shout, one fights five, one stick of incense time, and all the escorts are killed.

After killing the convoy, they quickly surrounded the caravan, leaving the leader of the caravan and all the others killed.

The bloody scene in front of him frightened the caravan leader, and he knelt down in front of the leader of the men in black and begged for mercy.

"The hero spares his life, it's all because the villain has eyes and is not Mount Tai, you all pull these things away, just ask the hero to spare the villain's life."

"Well, wasn't it arrogant just now, how did you become a dead dog in a blink of an eye, where are these goods going to be sent, tell me honestly, otherwise ......"

The leader of the men in black said, took off the black clothes on his body a few times, revealing the flying fish suit of the Ming Jinyi Guard, this person is the commander of the Jinyi Guard, Qinglong.

After Qinglong revealed his true face, everyone else took off their black clothes one after another, all of them were brocade guards wearing flying fish suits and embroidered spring knives on their waists.

Seeing that it was Jinyiwei who robbed their caravan, the leader of the Jin merchant caravan was even more afraid, who in the world didn't know the fierceness of Jinyiwei.

"My name is Fan Fu, and I am under the command of Fan Yongdou, one of the eight Jin merchants."

Mainly responsible for escorting supplies, we have not done anything illegal and undisciplined, I hope the adults can spare the life of the villain. ”