For the arrival of the Shanxi caravan led by the Fan family, Huang Taiji gave a very high courtesy.

On the afternoon of the day when it was agreed to continue to implement the strategy of encircling and sending reinforcements, Huang Taiji personally met with Fan Yongdou's brother Fan Yongkui and Fan Yongdou's most trusted son Fan Sanba in his Jinding tent, and gave the two of them the first-class official position of the Han army under the Huang banner of Dajin Guozheng on the spot.

At the same time, Fan Yongkui was given a bronze medal for passage, and the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, headed by the Fan family, was granted the right to monopolize trade in various departments of the Eastern Mongolian steppe and the Later Jin.

In the second year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, that is, at this time in the third year of Tiancong of the Later Jin Kingdom, the only Eight Banners of Jianyu were the Jurchen Eight Banners.

That is, there were only the so-called Inner Eight Banners later, and the Outer Eight Banners had not yet been compiled, that is, the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Han Army Eight Banners.

However, in the Zhenghuang Banner, which is directly led by Huang Taiji, sixteen Han Army Niu Lu have been compiled at this time.

After all, the Jurchen population in Jianzhou is limited, and there are not many Jurchen strong men who can really fight, and as early as when Nuer Hachi conquered the surrounding Jurchen tribes, they have all been successively incorporated into the Jurchen Eight Banners.

Therefore, after Huang Taiji took great pains to inherit the throne of Nuer Hachi, in addition to the Niu Lu that he had taken from the Dolgon Duoduo brothers, in order to strengthen his own strength, he also successively surrendered a group of Liaodong Han people who were relatively early after the surrender of Jin, and selected their elite and warlike warriors into their own banners, called Han Army Niu Lu, and handed them over to traitor commanders such as Li Yongfang, Tong Yangxing, Sun Degong, and Bao Chengxian.

Unlike the Jurchen official names such as Gushan Ezhen, Meler Ezhen, Jiala Ezhen, and Niulu Ezhen of the Jurchen Eight Banners, these Han generals and soldiers who surrendered to the Later Jin State had their own set of official names.

The name of this set of official names is basically copied from the official names of the Ming Dynasty, but it is also different.

It is divided into five levels: general soldiers, deputy generals, staff generals, guerrillas, and reserves, but each level is divided into three levels.

The Han army's first-class preparation is naturally the highest among the preparations.

Don't look at this official position doesn't seem to be very high, but at that time, the status of the Han people in the Later Jin Dynasty was very low, except for a very small number of Ming Dynasty generals who were demoted to get preferential treatment, the vast majority of Han people were the coated slaves of the Eight Banners, and it was already a great thing to be able to have a decent official position.

Because a general of the Ming army like Sun Degong betrayed Wang Huazhen, the governor who trusted him, and then took refuge in Jianlu with his army, he only got a third-class guerrilla official position.

Then, Huang Taiji was able to directly appoint a speculative businessman Fan Yongkui and Fan Sanba as a first-class reserver, which was only one level behind people like Sun Degong, which already shows that he attaches great importance to them.

But for the official position of being prepared for the emperor or not, Fan Yongkui and Fan Sanba were grateful on the surface, but in fact they didn't take it seriously.

First of all, the Ming Dynasty did not have this official position.

Besides, if you just have a name, and you don't have soldiers, you don't have a salary, you don't have a salary, you don't have a land, what's the use of just having a good sound?

As profiteers, where do they value these false names?

Therefore, what they value more is that Huang Taiji gave the Fan family firm the monopoly privilege of passing through Saibei, specializing in the trade of the Eastern Mongolian tribes, and the trade of the Later Jin Kingdom.

For the Fan family firm and the eight members of the former Zhangjiakou Shanxi Chamber of Commerce headed by the Fan family, this time the caravan went north, once again opened up the trade route with the Houjin State after the capture of the country, and then, monopolizing the trade from outside the mouth to the Houjin country, will inevitably bring huge profits to themselves.

However, for Huang Taiji and other high-level Jianyu, the arrival of the Shanxi caravan led by the Fan family firm not only brought life-saving salt tea grain to the Houjin Kingdom, but also brought them more important Ming internal information than these salt tea grains.

It was the information of the civil strife in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty brought by the Fan family firm from the killing of Hukou that made Huang Taiji's idea of going south to attack the Ming Dynasty more and more clear and concrete.

After receiving and rewarding Fan Yongkui and others, in the next few days, Huang Taiji continued to send sentry horses to the south of Quang Ninh to ambush and inquire about the news, and at the same time asked people to take out rare furs, ginseng, Dongzhu and other things looted from the Heilongjiang and Asu River valleys, and trade with the caravan led by the Fan family firm.

Huang Taiji took these "luxuries" that he could not eat when he was hungry and not enough to wear when he was cold, and they were completely looted and had no cost, in exchange for food, ironware, salt and tea and other things that came from within the Ming Dynasty and then gold was in short supply.

Because the pricing power is in the hands of the Fan family's firm, Fan Yongkui and the others thought that they had made a lot of money, but in fact, they did not take the information that was more valuable than these things, but gave it to Huang Taiji, who was eager to understand the inside story of the Ming Dynasty, as a gift.

A few days later, in the middle of June 27, to celebrate the completion of the transaction, Huang Taiji once again hosted Fan Yongkui and others to see off the Shanxi caravan that had returned with a full load.

At the same time, he also took this opportunity to gather all the post-Jin leaders in the vicinity of Quang Ninh, including Mang Gurtai, the owner of the Zhenglan Banner, and Yue Tuo, the owner of the Red Banner who led the army to be stationed on the east and west sides of Quang Ninh.

After the banquet was over, the banquet was withdrawn, and Huang Taiji saw that everyone in the big tent was waiting, so he coughed a few times, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

"Today, the Fan family's caravan returned to the west, and the lord of the special command Baylor gathered here to hold a banquet to see off the owner of Fan and the young owner of the Fan family.

"I want to be here to express my sincere gratitude to the Shanxi caravan led by the Fan family business, who have traveled a long way to trade here and exchange ideas.

"I earnestly hope that after this trade, the Fan family will be able to take the lead and bring more and larger Shanxi caravans to the Eastern Mongolian tribes to trade with our Great Jin Dynasty.

"My Dajin Dynasty values the merchants who come from afar the most. When you come, not only will you be exempt from taxes, but you will also be rewarded. Two Fan Beiyu, you must make persistent efforts! ”

When Fan Yongkui and Fan Sanba heard this, the two of them who were already sitting on the ground quickly got up, and then respectfully, facing Huang Taiji, knelt on the ground to thank him.

Huang Taiji is tall and fat, has big ears, and is quite majestic, and has never had a good face for the banner lords of the Houjin Kingdom, Beile Beizi, and now he deigns to be noble, so courteous to two businessmen from the Southern Dynasty, the people in the tent naturally know the reason.

Although they plundered a lot of materials, but except for cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock, there were not many edible things, although iron, salt and other things can be made by themselves, but the production is extremely limited, so the price of salt and iron in the country is expensive.

And tea is not to mention, only in the Southern Dynasties this thing.

As for mink, dongzhu, ginseng and other products outside the border, it seems to be extremely precious, but for the older generation of Jurchen nobles who have always advocated practicality, they know very well in their hearts that these things that are regarded as treasures by merchants of the Southern Dynasties, especially the dignitaries and nobles of the Southern Dynasties, are actually of no use to the rich country and strong soldiers.

Among all the people present, even the Mang Gurtai, who adhered to Jurchen customs, despised the Han people to the extreme, and had a reckless and impulsive personality, knew that these merchants were an indispensable and important resource for their Eight Banners nobles.

After saying the previous words, Huang Taiji, who was already thin and long-eyed, squinted his eyes, looked at Fan Yongkui and Fan Sanba, who were kneeling not far in front of him, and said:

"I heard that the Ming court forbade business travelers to go out of Cyprus and trade with our Dajin Kingdom, and this matter is justified in Ming.

"After I went to Dajin Guoguo, I had submitted letters to Ning Jin many times and sincerely negotiated peace, but the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Kingdom were stubborn and ignored them, and this matter was also justified in Ming.

"But even so, I have to decide again today that I, Dajin, want to negotiate peace with Ermingguo.

"You have the right to trade and enjoy monopoly, and although it is inconvenient to come to the north now, it will definitely prosper in the long run, so you don't have to worry about it."

After Huang Taiji finished saying that he was ready to negotiate peace with Da Ming, Fan Yongkui and Fan Sanba were all shocked, looked up at Huang Taiji, and then at Fan Wencheng, and then hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise!" ”

Since the Fan family has taken the lead, Fan Yongkui and others certainly hope that Houjin and Daming will negotiate peace and trade, after all, after Houjin and Daming negotiate and trade, they not only enjoy the right to monopolize trade given by the lord of Houjin personally, but also no longer have to bear the risk of killing their heads and stealing their families like this.

Therefore, knowing that Houjin and Daming had plans to make peace, Fan Yongkui and others naturally had to do their best to treat Houjin.

But what they don't know is that the so-called peace negotiation is a big pie drawn by Huang Taiji to Fan Yongkui and others at the suggestion of Fan Wencheng.

It stands to reason that there is no need for Huang Taiji to care so much about this kind of speculative smuggling businessman, but Huang Taiji is not an ordinary person, and he is the best at making a full set of acts.

He knew what these businessmen wanted and feared, so he prescribed the right medicine.

And when it comes to negotiating peace with the Ming Dynasty, Huang Taiji has not thought about it, although most of the time it is a fake peace, but he has also thought about real peace at some times.

But this time, with the news of the civil strife in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty brought by Fan Yongkui and others, what Huang Taiji is talking about now is a fake peace.