"Guanzi Xiao Kuang": "The four people of Shinong, industry and commerce, the stone (pillar stone) of the country." "Huainanzi Qi Folk Training": "It is a person who is not an official, an official who is not a businessman, a farmer who is a businessman, a farmer who is different from another state, who is a farmer and a farmer, a man who speaks and acts, a man who speaks skillfully, and a man who speaks a few words."

The four people of Shinong Industry and Commerce appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the earliest meaning is that the four people are equally important to the country, and there is no praise or disparagement.

This can also be seen from the characters at that time, such as Fan Li and Lü Buwei.

Ancient Chinese society was actually composed of a small number of elite taxis, and most of the peasants, and the scholars were often businessmen and craftsmen.

Since then, successive rulers have gradually formed a suppression of the Shang for various reasons, and in the West, the Venetian merchants are also the object of ridicule in various literary works.

Before the Yuan and Ming dynasties, although there was already a distinction between the high and low of the four folk in the folk atmosphere, there was no too strict hierarchy, and all classes could be converted, but not solidified, and the upward channel was still there, and the industry and commerce were not classified as lowly from the system and decree.

Agriculture is the foundation of the country, industry is the skill of the country, and business is the blood of the flow, and the four are equally important to the country.

The rulers of the past dynasties were afraid of the mobility and instability of the merchants, and behind the merchants were often scholars, and the Dashi clan had land and grain, and they were doing business through side branches and obtaining a large amount of silver, and the imperial power was naturally afraid and inevitably suppressed the status of the merchants.

Although the status of business is not high, its importance to the country is self-evident.

In the east city of Yangzhou, near the inner side of the city wall, there is a row of huge wooden houses, here are the warehouses built by the eight imperial merchants, who are close to the water gate, and all kinds of materials can be transported in and out through the moat that links the Grand Canal.

Yangzhou is a treasure of feng shui, close to the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, where materials from the south to the north are gathered.

The eight firms, which are now the blood flowing within the Qing court, have been very successful in their political investment in the Manchus, and with the southward movement of the Manchus, the eight firms have also been rewarded, and their assets have increased more than a hundredfold.

The merchant followed the pace of the Qing soldiers, and trampled the salt merchants of Lianghuai, the maritime merchants of eastern Zhejiang, and the Jiangnan gentry group who once manipulated the Ming Dynasty politics all under their feet.

Yangzhou is now the base camp of eight businesses in the south of the Yangtze River, the copper and iron of Chizhou Prefecture, the silver mine of Taizhou, the gold mine of Suichang, the salt of Lianghuai Shandong, and the rice grain of Jiangnan are all transited here.

On the edge of the Grand Canal, a big shopkeeper of the Qing Yongchang Company was standing by the dock and waiting, and after a while, dozens of flat-bottomed boats came out of the water gate.

Big ships could not sail into the moat, could not directly enter Yangzhou, could only dock by the canal, and then these flat-bottomed boats in and out of the grain and grass and other materials into the warehouse.

The big shopkeeper is Fan Yongdou's confidant, named Yan Congnian, his parents died in the second year of Chongzhen's Jiannu into the Kou, he was later accepted by Fan Yongdou as a business apprentice, and became one of the big shopkeepers of Qing Yongchang.

Fan Yongdou has been colluding with the Manchus for a long time, and it is a blood feud between Yan Congnian and the Manchus, but he was frightened by the Manchus, not only did he not mean revenge, but instead recognized the thief as his father, ran through Liaodong many times for the firm, and helped the chieftain send a large amount of salt and iron.

Yan Congnian stood on the edge of the dock, watching the hired workers on the Fu boat carry down the bags of rice grain, on the other side, a flat-bottomed boat approached the Dafu boat, and the hired workers of the firm put a large number of huge thick iron into the rope net, and dozens of people on the Fu boat immediately worked together to slowly pull the thousands of catties of rope net onto the big boat with a pulley.

"Big shopkeeper, this is the last batch of crude iron in the warehouse, and if Governor Hong wants it again, he can only transfer it from the warehouses in Henan and Shanxi." An account keeper slowly walked to Yan Congnian's side with an account book and said.

"The proprietor has explained that the prince of Yu and the governor of Hong want to cast cannons with fine iron and build weapons, and the merchant must transport six million catties of pig iron in the near future." Yan Congnian said in a deep voice: "The warehouse is not enough, so let's transfer it from the north, I will transport this batch to Jiangning first, and then go to the Chizhou mine to take a look, I should also receive a batch." ”

"Don't worry, I'll arrange it when I go back." The bookkeeper hurriedly said.

Yan Congnian nodded and ordered, "You can have someone transfer some sea salt and transport it to Jiangning's shop for storage." ”

"Big shopkeeper, has there been anything big happening recently? The transfer of materials was so frequent that the ships of the merchant could not keep busy. ”

Yan Congnian nodded and explained: "In August, Haikou directly entered the Yangtze River, I am afraid that the imperial court will be angry, and the news came from Huguang that Wang Yan, the prince of Chu of the puppet dynasty, was in Hubei, and all kinds of materials were hoarded in the Wuchang area, and I am afraid that he is preparing to fight." ”

This ethnic group fights against each other, which is related to the rise and fall of the ethnic group, but it has nothing to do with Yan Congnian and the people who work for the Eight Great Emperors, they don't care about these, they just care about their own money and food, and they can live a richer life than others, as for whether the Han people die or not, whether the Ming Dynasty dies or not, it has nothing to do with them.

When the tent heard this, he was a little worried: "Big shopkeeper, last time Haikou's ship came and burned more than 800 salt ships of our firm in Zhenjiang, will they enter the Yangtze River again?" The big shopkeeper is sailing on the Yangtze River this time, so you have to be careful. ”

Yan Congnian smiled, he witnessed the Manchu Qing Dynasty from the bitter cold land of Liaodong, step by step development, saw the invincibility of the Manchurian Eight Banners, and also saw the Ming Dynasty collapse at the touch of a button, vulnerable people, in his eyes the Manchu Qing Dynasty is extremely powerful, and the Ming Dynasty will be finished sooner or later.

Yan Congnian shook his head and said with a smile: "The imperial court sailors are guarding Zhenjiang, and the Haikou is now overseas in Chongming, and they can't go deep into the Yangtze River channel. I will go to Chizhou this time, there will be no problems. You hurry up and transfer the pig iron according to what I have explained, and when Governor Hong finishes the cannon and puts it on the river, it will be safer at that time. ”

At that moment, Yan Congnian ordered the allocation of some materials, and after waiting for more than an hour, the hired workers on the ship finally shouted loudly: "Big shopkeeper, the goods are all loaded." ”

"Alright, hoist the sails and set off at once."

Huguang, Man Dazhuang won Wang Yan's general order, received military rations and equipment, led the Dongting sailors, sailed eastward, and directly killed the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The water network in the south of the Yangtze River is the place where the water division comes in, but although the Qing soldiers occupied the south of the Yangtze River, they did not develop a strong water army.

This is also the situation reversed too quickly, the Ming army was too late to defend before, and it was impossible to threaten Jiangnan, so the Qing court naturally did not need to maintain a sailor, and the Manchurians did not understand the training of sailors.

Now the situation has changed, the Qing army in Jiangnan has no naval division to ensure the safety of the waterway, so it can only gather nearly 100,000 green battalion soldiers in the Jiangning area, and the Han Banner Gushan Jin Li led 30,000 people to confront Jin Shenghuan in Chizhou and Anqing.

At this time, the Yangtze River seemed relatively deserted, and only a few fishing boats and merchant ships occasionally appeared, but the Qing army's military ships could not be seen at all.

Dongting sailors, 100 big boats, 200 small boats, lined up on the river mighty sailing, the scene was very spectacular, the people on the fishing boat were surprised to see the huge fleet coming, and they hurriedly rowed the boats to the shore.

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