But happy to be happy, Shopkeeper Fan still shook his head and said: "Shopkeeper Niu, all this you said cannot be proven. This can't win the trust of those princes and taiji on the grassland. ”

Niu Mancun unhurriedly took out a few letters from his arms and spread them on the table. "These are my proofs," he said. You can take a look. ”

Shopkeeper Fan reached out and picked up the letters and opened them, but his brows were furrowed, because the letters were full of words he didn't recognize. But it was clear to him that there were two systems of writing. So he looked up at Niu Mancun with an inquiring gaze.

Niu Mancun pointed to the first letter that the shopkeeper Fan read and said, "This letter is a power of attorney from those Westerners. The rest of the letters were from several daimyo of the Wa Kingdom. ”

Shopkeeper Fan looked through the letter in his hand repeatedly, and already believed what Niu Mancun said in his heart! Because the paper of the Wa Kingdom is roughly the same as that of the Ming Dynasty. But the Westerner's letter was different, because it was written on parchment. Of course, these letters were actually forged by Liu Pei. I didn't expect them to believe it, I just gave them an excuse.

Shopkeeper Fan read the letter several times before returning it to Niu Mancun and said, "If that's the case, it's a little possible." Is it just that the cow shopkeeper needs something else besides the horses? ”

Niu Mancun said: "There are also cattle, sheep, leather goods and grain. Horses are Japanese and Westerners. Cattle, sheep and grain are bought and sold by our brothers. ”

After thinking about it, Shopkeeper Fan said: "It's okay to talk about cattle and sheep, and if the quantity is small, you can always get some." But food is really hard to come by. ”

In between, Niu Mancun said proudly: "It's okay! In fact, those daimyo and Westerners have long paid enough for our business. So even if we don't do the business of cattle, sheep and grain, we have enough profits. But since you're here, it's just a piggybacking business, so why don't you do it? As for earning more or less, we don't care. Of course, if you can earn a little more, why not earn more? ”

Shopkeeper Fan was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then laughed with Niu Mancun. The reason why Niu Mancun said this was to hide his true purpose, so that he could smoothly breed MA and war horses. As for the cattle and sheep, they will be transported to Shandong, and the grain will be stored as a reserve for future supply points.

In addition, Niumancun clearly knew that the grain reserves in the northwest were in the hands of these Jin merchants. They were the largest landowners in the Northwest. The reason why grain prices remain high in the northwest is, of course, due to the climate of the Xiaoice River, which leads to a decrease in grain production. But the bigger reason was because these Jin merchants sold all their grain to the Mongol Tatars and the Later Jin Tatars.

As for whether the ordinary people in Daming can eat food, they don't care at all. Sell the grain to that

How much money can you make with some mud legs? Sell it to Mongolian Tartars and Houjin Tartars, and you get real money! As for whether people will starve to death, it doesn't matter. After starving some people to death, there was enough food left over for the living.

In the following period of time, Shopkeeper Fan discussed many details with Niu Mancun, including things like price. At the same time, Niumancun also provided samples of 10 bottles of perfume and 10 pieces of soap, so that the shopkeeper Fan could send them to the grassland to try the market.

After the matter was negotiated, Shopkeeper Fan naturally wanted to set up a banquet to entertain him, but Niu Mancun and his subordinates would definitely be entertained separately. Niu Mancun and Shopkeeper Fan were in the private room, and several of Shopkeeper Fan's men accompanied Niu Mancun's subordinates next door.

The banquet was staggered, and it was inevitable to ask each other about the details. The Fan family is engaged in business with the grassland, where would they agree to Niumancun's request so easily. Therefore, Shopkeeper Fan has been asking about things at sea in the name of curiosity in his words during the banquet.

Niu Mancun directly told the shopkeeper Fan that he was originally from Shanxi. I just followed the caravan to Shandong to do things, so I stayed in Shandong. Later, I went to the sea by coincidence. Now it's time to do things for the big man at sea. It's all made up in the water.

Niu Mancun is no stranger to things at sea, after all, as a field officer, he has to experience everything. What's more, Liu Pei's most powerful thing now is the fleet, and he will definitely go to the ship for training. So what he said was true, and Shopkeeper Fan mostly expressed his affirmation.

After the banquet, the shopkeeper Fan sent away the group of Niuman Village, sat there and asked for a hot hand towel to wipe his hands and face constantly, relieving his drunkenness. At this time, several of his men also entered the private room. Shopkeeper Fan dropped the towel in his hand and asked, "How is it?" But have you asked clearly? ”

A big guy in the lead bowed down and said, "Those who go back to the shopkeeper have asked clearly." The guys under this Niu shopkeeper are all from Shandong, and their accents are right, and the things and places they say are also right. It shouldn't be bad. It's just that you can't figure out who they are in charge? ”

After asking the guys in detail what they had talked about, Shopkeeper Fan groaned for a while before saying, "It shouldn't be wrong." ”

Then the shopkeeper Fan took the man back to the shop. After entering the room, the shopkeeper Fan wrote a letter and arranged for someone to send it away. The letter was marked with the word urgent. Shopkeeper Fan knew that the letter would be sent directly to Shandong in the passage arranged by the Jin merchants. There is a high probability that it will fall to the Shanxi Hall in Jinan City. The Jin merchants had quietly laid out a huge network within the Ming Dynasty. It's a pity that this network didn't play its due role, but instead became an accomplice of the aliens!

In the days that followed, Shopkeeper Fan and Niumancun always maintained close contact, and often feasted on Niumancun. anti

Come over, Niumancun also often entertains the shopkeeper Fan. Soon, Niuman Village gained some fame in the Zhangjiakou area.

Everyone knows that there is a Shandong businessman here in Zhangjiakou. The hands are wide and the people are bold. And they don't compete with everyone for supplies. So Niumancun soon broke into the circle of merchants. However, everyone also found that several of Niu Mancun's subordinates were quite short-tempered! If you don't agree with each other, you will draw a knife against each other! And the movements are neat and fierce! Even the Dazi Mongolian Tatars have suffered at their hands.

After knowing these things, Shopkeeper Fan was not only not worried, but was very relieved. Because all of them really prove that they are a group of lawless pirates.

More than a month later, the shopkeeper Fan invited Niu Mancun to the banquet. As soon as Niu Mancun entered the private room, Shopkeeper Fan said happily: "Brother Niu, congratulations!" ”

When Niu Mancun heard this, he was secretly happy in his heart, could it be that the matter had been completed? So he immediately asked, "Brother Fan, I don't know what the happy things are!" But there's news on the steppe? ”

Shopkeeper Fan said happily: "The guy I sent to Saiwai has returned. Do you know how much your bottle of perfume sells for? 120 taels a bottle! That's 120 taels! ”

Niu Mancun also immediately overjoyed and said, "Then congratulations to Brother Fan for his great ambitions!" ”

In fact, the price of the cow sold to the shopkeeper Fan in Mancun was 40 taels of silver per bottle. As a result, as soon as the things were transported to the grassland, the price tripled! It can be seen that those princes and Taiji are very rich!

This is not surprising at all. Because slavery is still practiced in disguise on the grassland. The herders at the bottom have nothing. Only a small percentage of herders own sheep and cattle. But in addition to paying various taxes to the prince and Taiji, they also have to accept their additional exploitation.

In other words, they had to sell their cattle and sheep to the prince and the Taiji at a low price. Then they would sell it to the merchants of the Ming Dynasty at a high price. Then get the goods from the Ming merchants and sell them to the herdsmen at a high price. So the wealth of the steppe is highly concentrated. are all concentrated in the hands of those princes and Taiji. The herders at the bottom are destitute. However, this only fueled the desire of these herders to plunder.

Niu Mancun nodded with satisfaction and said, "Very good!" However, the profit in the middle is Brother Fan's. Also, how does the soap sell? The price should be good, right? ”

Shopkeeper Fan said with a smile: "The soap sells very well!" But it's not as sought-after as perfume. ”

In fact, Shopkeeper Fan has already regretted revealing the price of the perfume just now. If such a high price triggers the greed of Niumancun, it will not be good to go to the grassland to sell perfume! So he didn't say the price of the soap. But Niu Mancun's statement made him feel very relieved, so he took the initiative to mention the matter of horses.