"I'm free today, let the two of you talk about the affairs of the Intelligence Bureau, Zhou Shifa, you can talk about the recent major events first. It just so happened that Director Song had come back today, and there had been some cooperation between foreign affairs and intelligence recently, so the official asked him to come and listen to it. ”

Chen Xin said to Zhou Shifa and Zhang Dong in front of him in the study, and Song Wenxian smiled and bowed to the two.

Zhou Shifa opened his booklet, bowed to Chen Xin and said: "The recent major event in Dengzhou is to catch all the fine works recruited by Li Yongfang, and after cross-examination, no fish have slipped through the net, and a total of 20 people have been arrested, including five people in Wantong, three people in Li Yongfang's residence, one person in the Department of Industry and Commerce, one point in the calligraphy and painting shop, three people in Chen Yijing's family, three people in Tunpu, and the others are businessmen and boatmen involved in the case. At present, most of them have been executed, and Li Yongfang's head was sent to the royal court for trial, and in the name of Denglai, he was sent to the Beijing master for examination, and the other heads were hung in various places in Denglai for public display. ”

Chen Xin nodded slightly while listening, and responded to Zhou Shifa's report, Li Yongfang's matter came to an end, and the arrest of the number one Han Jiān would hit those who felt that surrender did not matter to those on the nine sides. Thinking that the imperial court will definitely pass on the first nine sides to set an example, this can also be seen as one of the aspects of the transformation of the Ming Dynasty's strategic form of the Later Jin.

Therefore, Chen Xin thought that it was a mistake for Huang Taiji to send Li Yongfang, and the best way was to let Li Yongfang live in Liaodong for the rest of his life. Although being arrested now will have little impact on the post-Jin Han generals, it will greatly increase the psychological price of the surrender of the Ming border generals.

Zhou Shifa continued: "According to the place explained by Li Yongfang, the main activities of Houjin Xizuo are in western Liaoxi, the border wall of Xuanda, and along the canal near the Jingshi, as far as Kaifeng and other places in Henan. And these merchants are all closely related to the local gentry, or simply opened by the border generals, and some of them are still untouchable, especially Zhangjiakou Fort, most of the big merchants inside and outside the border have an inexplicable relationship with Jiannu. ”

Chen Xin smiled and said: "You have the specifics, don't move for the time being, the trade at the border is lucrative, and the gentry and vassal kings are all beneficial, so it is indeed not appropriate to make too many enemies." Chen Xin turned to Zhang Dong, "Since you talked about Zhangjiakou, Zhang Dong, you went to Shanxi last time to talk about the situation in Zhangjiakou." ”

Zhang Dong bowed and said: "The subordinates who arrived first this time will go through Huailai, Baoan, and Xuanfu to Zhangjiakou Fort, and set up intelligence points all the way. Last year, Houjin had entered Xuanfu for a short time, and many places were looted, but his subordinates found that the vicinity of Zhangjiakou Fort was very complete, and the Houjin soldiers obviously did not pass through here, but this place was very prosperous, and why Houjin turned a blind eye to it was doubtful. There are shops inside and outside the fort, and it is not less lively than Linqing and other places. According to the official rough inquiry, most of them have official backgrounds, mainly military and civilian officials and gentry of Xuanfu, Datong, and Wanquan Division, as well as relatives of senior members of the Beijing Division, and the relationship is intertwined. ”

"Is there a large amount of border trade?"

Zhang Dong flipped through his booklet, "Zhangjiakou only buys about 20,000 horses a year in the official horse market (Note 1), and the private market trades three times as many horses from Mongolia every year, and there are more cattle and sheep than horses, in addition to sheepskins, otter skins and other northern goods, which are imported from Mongolia." From Zhangjiakou out of the customs, there are cotton cloth, silk, needle and thread, salt, groceries, pepper millet, and some pepper and other foreign goods, as well as ironware, because iron tools may be transformed into weapons, in the past, iron tools were limited to sales, during the Wanli period, Guangdong iron pots were limited to 500 mouths per year, making Mongolian iron tools expensive, now the border passes are unsupervised, smuggling iron is rampant, no one cares about it for a long time. ”

Chen Xin asked with interest: "That Zhangjiakou trades tens of thousands of horses every year, what is the approximate price?" ”

"Seven taels to ten taels ranged, it is said that before Longqing, the horse market was forced by the Mongolian people to open, often shoddy, forcing the Ming to buy, after the Longqing switch, the Mongols traded honestly in the official market, and now Tumut is returned to Jiannu, and the city is in chaos again, only those powerful merchants can get good horses. These big merchants are often not limited to Zhangjiakou, their branches are all over Shanxi, Beizhili and other places, far along the Guangbu Canal, in addition to trade income, but also wide open money, usury and so on. ”

Song Wenxian said to Chen Xin: "Wu Xiang has earned us a lot of silver, and the value of the war horse he sends every time is estimated at twenty taels of silver, and he should be a powerful businessman, even if he changes horses, it will not exceed about ten taels." ”

Chen Xin said with a smile: "In the past, there was no such way, we should let people make money, we also earn a lot of money, and everyone is a business." Since Zhangjiakou has this advantage, we might as well trade with these powerful merchants. ”

Song Wenxian asked seriously: "It's just to see how we can talk to those people, these businesses are intertwined in Shanxi, if we want to do border trade directly, there is nowhere to go for a while, and the joints everywhere are opened, and I don't know how much time it will take." ”

Chen Xin looked at Zhou Shifa, "Have you finished screening the captured Mongols?" ”

"It's all screened, and it's divided into four major divisions: Khalkha, Karaqin, Tumut, and Korqin."

Chen Xin turned his head to Song Wenxian and said: "These thousands of Mongolian Dingkou are the way to talk, the people of Khalkha and Korqin take the road of Liaoxi, and Tumut will go to Zhangjiakou, you send people to go to Zhangjiakou with the people of the trading company, and Zhang Dong will go to Zhangjiakou to find a few of the most powerful, Tumut's can pass Guò and put them back in part, and establish direct business contacts with them, it is best to let Tumut's people come to Denglai, we still want war horses, but we can still make a lot of money in other aspects." ”

Song Wenxian nodded while thinking in his mind, but Zhou Shifa said with some hesitation, "But Tumut is a foreign vassal belonging to Jiannu, and they may not dare to trade with us." ”

Chen Xin shook his head and said with a smile: "There were tens of thousands of Mongols participating in the battle of Lushun, and the thousands of Mongol prisoners in our hands are a clear proof of combat power. In the past, our commercial goods changed hands several times, and they were able to go to Mongolia, and the silver was not less. What we have to do now is to make money secondly, through guò these captives and the Mongols to pull the line, Houjin will not dare to trust them, the foreign Mongolian combat power will naturally be reduced, more importantly, Tumut and Karaqin are unstable, then Chahar can be worry-free, as long as Houjin can't swallow Chahar, we will make money even if we lose some money. ”……

After Zhou Shifa and Zhang Dong left, Song Wenxian and Chen Xin continued to drink tea and chat. Chen Xin also told Song Wenxian about the Yanggu Gang, so that Song Wenxian knew that he was not unloading the mill and killing the donkey to deal with the old employees, but these old employees were not very honest, so as not to make Song Wenxian suspicious.

Song Wenxian naturally knew the routine of Lu Chuanzong's gang, Chen Xin could not accept that the Yanggu Gang ran through the military and civilian lines, this is something that even Liu Min did not do, if Liu Min can temporarily control the military power, it is under Chen Xin's authorization. And the Yanggu Gang is relying on the bond of the villagers, and the shop in Ertun is the bridge, and now they are still reaching out to the trading company, using the route of the lady in Chen Xin's house, so it is strange that Chen Xin does not clean them up.

Song Wenxian shook his head and said to Chen Xin: "Lu Chuanzong has always thought that he is the most senior, and he also has some skills in fighting, but it is not a good thing, now it seems that this is a little short-sighted, it is better for adults to be the principal of martial arts." ”

"I hope these people in Yanggu won't make some more things out." Chen Xin squinted his eyes and sighed, "Mr. Song, you know, I am the most important old relationship, usually there are some flaws, as long as it doesn't hurt the elegance, I often let them go, but Lu Chuanzong's method is to hurt Denglai fundamentally, we can beat others, it lies in the division of each job, even if you want to get self-interest, it is difficult to start, business is the top priority, Mr. Liu is planning a plan to support Denglai industry and commerce next year, they will come to get this thing, the danger of the shop in Ertun is not tens of thousands of taels of silver, but to give all the officials a demonstration, If everyone has the power in their hands to occupy commercial interests, then one of them will always become the current court officials. ”

Song Wenxian sat up and said: "Your Excellency is far-sighted, since you have said this, your subordinates happen to have some experience, and it is also about Zhangjiakou Fort and Jin Shang, do you want to hear it?" ”

"Jin Shang? What does Mr. Song still know about them? ”

"In fact, since Wanli, this Shanxi businessman has been implicated in the court, and the lower officials have traveled a lot in Beijing. After listening to it, the adults knew how much they had to do with the DPRK and China, and they also knew that Zhangjiakou Fort was far more than just a border pass. And his subordinates also felt that it was very reasonable for the adults to deal with the Yanggu faction. ”

Chen Xin smiled and said: "This official likes to listen to Mr. Song the most, and the context is very clear. ”

Song Wenxian lowered his head and straightened out his thoughts, and then said: "Shanxi is called the mountains and rivers in the surface, but its mountains are more than the people may not be a good thing, such as Puzhou and other places, farming can not be for a family's food needs, and its people have no choice but to turn to business. Although the Jin merchants were rich, they had always stayed away from the court. The real Shanxi businessmen influence the government and start with the Longqing peace. ”

Chen Xin listened carefully, saw Song Wenxian licking his lips, and added some tea to Song Wenxian. Song Wenxian had known each other for a long time, and knew that Chen Xin was not very particular about courtesy, so he bowed his hand to express his gratitude, and then continued.

"Before the Longqing negotiation, I often attacked the border passes, Jiajing 29 years had soldiers besieged the Beijing division, I Daming and I have been fighting back and forth, Xuanda border city is open and broken, is that although there is smuggling, but often subject to military disasters. In the fourth year of Longqing, Wang Chonggu was the governor of Xuanda, and I suddenly defected to Xuanfu by Hannaji, and Wang Chonggu took this opportunity to start negotiations with him. This Lord Wang Chonggu may not know, but his nephew is the later first assistant Zhang Siwei, who was still a servant of the Ministry at that time. Longqing discussed peace, with Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei being the most active. ”

"You mean that Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei are both representatives of the Jin merchants?"

"Exactly, there are three people who are big businessmen in Wang Chonggu's relatives, and his second sister is Zhang Siwei's mother, Zhang Siwei's wife is also a Puzhou businessman's family, Zhang Siwei's second brother and fifth brother's wife are also Puzhou people, and the family is also a big businessman, Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei's children, and Yang Bo, a military secretary from Puzhou businessmen, and Ma Ziqiang, a bachelor from Shaanxi businessmen. With these complex marriages, the Great Jin Shang is more or less related to these two people.

By Zhang Juzheng's cabinet, Wang Guoguang, who was born as a merchant in Yangcheng, Shanxi, replaced Zhang Shouzhi, the secretary of the household department, who opposed border trade, so that most of the important positions in the court were held by officials from Shanxi merchants, and Xu Wenbi, the prince of Dingguo, was also supported. It is a businessman in Zhangjiakou, far more than the local people of Zhangjiakou Fort, but from all over Shanxi, and most of them can be seen behind the influence of the vassal king, the minister, the central government, and the local officials. ”

Chen Xin nodded and said: "After all, it's still a good word, for this good word, even genetically modified...... But Longqing's peace is still beneficial to the imperial court, at least there is no need to fight with me every year, so what about Zhang Siwei? ”

As soon as Zhang Juzheng died, Zhang Siwei instigated Li Zhi, who was born as a salt merchant in Datong, Shanxi, to impeach Feng Bao, and took this opportunity to start criticizing Zhang Juzheng. Knowing that Zhang Siwei's father died, he lost his authority due to Ding Wei, and Shen Shixing, who was born in Jiangnan, took over the position of first assistant, and then the Donglin Party, which represented the canal and Jiangnan merchants, was in control. However, the border trade of Zhangjiakou Fort was very profitable, and in the past few decades, it has only been much more entangled with the DPRK than in the Wanli period. ”

Chen Xin was a little silent after listening, the business of the Ming Dynasty was developed, and the superior family background made the children more qualified to study the imperial examination, many officials in the court were actually the spokesmen of commercial interests, and the huge domestic market itself had huge interests, coupled with the natural defects of the system in the early Ming Dynasty, so that the zhèngfǔ gradually lost its control over the grassroots, and the lack of rules made these businessmen insatiable.

The period of Zhang Juzheng's reign was a period in which the power of the governor was centralized and the local control was strengthened, and the key was not in a whip law, but in the examination law under the control of the cabinet, which strengthened the power of the governor to control the local officials. So that the cabinet not only refers to the local document to draft, but also to supervise the local government, which is the reason why Zhang Juzheng will be supported by the majority of officials after his death.

What Zhang Juzheng hopes for is a top-down political system of centralized power, and the Donglin Party puts forward the so-called theory of the public of the world because of a large number of interests at the grassroots level, and Li Sancai even put forward a new theory of monarchy, nominally fighting for power for the people of the world, righteousness and glory, but in fact fighting for their own business and land interests, in general, it is bottom-up, but this world only includes their groups, not the people of the world, and the Donglin Party is actually the embodiment of the right to speak in business and land interests. The monopoly formed by the combination of commerce and power also made the merchants of the late Ming Dynasty less enterprising than Western commerce.

As soon as Zhang Juzheng died, the groups of business interests in Shanxi and Jiangnan acted as representatives to liquidate Zhang Juzheng personally, and then overthrew Zhang Juzheng's examination law. The loss of control over the local government again was also the reason for the financial and military difficulties in the later years.

Chen Xin turned his head to look at Song Wenxian, "Everyone has their own selfish interests. Mr. Song, what do you think those court officials are? We can understand it, but the emperor can't read it? ”

"The subordinates feel that the emperor understands, when the emperor just eliminated Wei Zhongxian, he needed the Donglin Party to stabilize the situation, so that they were proud for two years, and in a blink of an eye, the change came, Wen Tiren said that Qian Longxi, Wang Qia and Yuan Chonghuan colluded to lead Jiannu into the customs to sign the alliance under the city, but the subordinates did not believe that the Donglin Party would do this, and the subordinates believed that the Donglin Party's mind was not on state affairs at all."

Chen Xin laughed, "Mr. Song means that they don't want to guard, it's just that they are just a little worse." ”

"It's far from it, this group of people is a good hand in the court to fight for power, and their mouths are more beautiful than the other, and when they get their hands and really want to do practical things, they don't know where to start. Therefore, the emperor was soon disappointed in them, and took advantage of his own changes to suppress the Donglin Party, support Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren, who regarded themselves as lonely parties, and let them and the Donglin Party contain each other, which is the way of monarchy checks and balances, and Zhou Yanru obviously did not understand the emperor's thoughts, but wanted to unite Donglin to deal with Wen Tiren. ”

Chen Xin smiled and nodded again and again, "Listening to Mr. Song's words, I was stunned, if the cabinet officials had the level of Mr. Song, our Daming would not be what we are now." ”

"The adult has won the award, even if he is the first assistant, Daming is still the way it is now, it is not a person who can change it, and the general trend is so helpless. Zhang Juzheng was a genius, his eldest son was killed before his bones were cold, and his home was also raided, and his subordinates were still far worse than Zhang Jiangling. ”

Chen Xin stood up and walked a few steps, smiled at Song Wenxian and said: "Today, I have a lot of gains, but this official thinks that it is indispensable for officials to do business at home, and the important thing is not to rely on the power in their hands, otherwise although the business looks active, it is actually all in the hands of officials and businessmen, and in the end the upstream and downstream are not profitable, but this circulation is the most profitable. People who are full of morality can be shameless in the face of business profits, such as today, everywhere is like this, and it can't be changed without turning the world upside down. I also thank Mr. Song for being able to speak outright, when you and I met, we were friends, no matter what the official is, please Mr. Song always be like this, there are not many people who can speak freely now. ”

Song Wenxian stood up and bowed down and said: "That's because the adults themselves have not changed, and the subordinates spend more time with the adults. ”

Chen Xin shook his head, "Please remember Mr. Song's words today, I always remember Mr. Song's assistance at the end of my life, the world is vast, Mr. has more things to do, please take care of yourself, yesterday rì received information, Liukou crossed the Yellow River in Mianchi, and it has been confirmed that he did not go west to Tongguan, but advanced into the hinterland of Henan, Henan, Huguang, and Nanzhili are all possible directions, and Mr. Song's affairs may be more." ”

Song Wenxian bowed his head and said: "The adult also gave his subordinates the opportunity to show what they have learned, if it weren't for the adults, the subordinates would just die silently in a shogunate, although there are many things to do now, it is true that the villain is willing to do it, that is, Shanxi is so complicated, but the subordinates feel more interesting." ”

"Now Denglai's smuggling of Liaodong is under our control, and the sulfur iron is not allowed to travel, Xuanfu's border trade smuggling is the biggest source of materials in Houjin, our forces want to enter Shanxi, and in the near future, we may have to rely on the power of Wen Tiren and Liang Tingdong to take the line in the dark, and the decline of Houjin has been revealed, if these Jin merchants are interested, we can trade with commercial benefits, if they are not interesting, then they are against Dengzhou Town, and we don't have to reason with them in the future."

"That subordinate remembered, and soon sent someone to Shanxi to deal with the matter of the Mongol prisoners, speaking of which, there is an old acquaintance in Xuanfu."

"Old acquaintances?" Chen Xin frowned, "I really didn't think about it, the trading company has business contacts and may know each other, and the official doesn't seem to know anyone." ”

"The adults should have forgotten, they sent Zhu Wannian away last year, and only Xuanda had a position, which is good, he happened to be in Yanghe in Xuanfu to prepare for the army."

Chen Xin patted his head, now that Laizhou Mansion is clean, then Xuanfu has one more opponent, "Don't pay attention to him, we don't grab land in Xuanfu's activities, if Zhu Wannian wants to deliberately embarrass me, that is, he will seek death by himself, and he will not give him some hardship, who will be afraid of Dengzhou Town in the future." ”

Note 1: Referring to "Wang Chonggu's Song", since the Longqing Peace, Zhangjiakou Fort in the beginning of Wanli annual official horse trading volume of about 18,000, Xuanda three towns total about 35,000, private transactions are not included, according to Wang Chonggu's statistics, the folk not only horses, but also cattle, sheep and mules together to calculate, the total number of official in more than three times, of which Zhangjiakou Fort is four times, considering Wang Chonggu's statistics can not be comprehensive, the number of private horse markets is estimated to be three times that of the official market. (To be continued.) )