Jiexiu Fan is a representative of Shanxi Jin merchants. The development of the Jin Dynasty began at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the focus of national defense and military has always been in the north. The empire set up nine border towns and deployed millions of troops. This requires a large amount of military supplies. As a result, the imperial court also encouraged merchants to transport grain and forage to the northern border towns in reward for "salt introduction", which was the so-called "Kaizhong system".

Shanxi merchants keenly seized this business opportunity, and they transported grain from Henan, Shandong, and Jiangnan to the northern border towns in exchange for "salt introduction", and then turned around to Lianghuai, Hedong, Sichuan, and other places where salt was produced, and used it to buy salt, and finally sold it to other parts of the country for a profit. As a result, he earned a lot of wealth, became a prosperous business gang - Jin Shang, and established a huge business empire.

Jiexiu Fan is one of them. Others, such as the Wang family, the Jin family, the Liang family, etc., all take the head of the Fan horse and look under its wings.

At this time, although the influence of the Jin merchants was far less than that of the Manchu Dynasty, it was already deeply rooted in the Jiubian military town. The current head of the Jiexiu Fan family is Fan Yongdou, and it is he who continuously transported the resources of the Ming Dynasty out of the customs, and finally raised this alien race into a fierce beast with sharp teeth and claws.

Zhu Ping'an, who came from later generations, is naturally familiar with these histories. However, even he never expected that Fan's power would be able to penetrate deep into the heart of the Ming Dynasty, and there was also a genuine Tartar elite to assist him. From this point of view, Zhu Ping'an's current strength cannot fundamentally solve the tumor on this Ming body.

At this time, Yin Shigang didn't know what his new master was thinking, but as a member who had just joined this camp, he felt that he had the responsibility to remind Zhu Ping'an.

"My lord, Jiexiu Fan's family is rich in the world, and the relationship between the DPRK and China is even more intertwined. Since the Jiajing period, Shanxi merchants have been famous all over the world for opening ethnic studies, teaching a large number of scholars to enrich the court, among which there are also many famous ministers and good generals. For example, Yang Bo, the secretary of the military department during the Jiajing Dynasty, was from Shanxi. ”

Yin Shigang peeked at Zhu Ping'an, and found that he was listening carefully to his advice, and he couldn't help but feel energetic, and his voice gradually became louder. "This time, the students don't know what the adults are going to do, but if Fan knows that the adults are bad for them. I'm afraid that the future of the adults will be detrimental to the future of the students! ”

Yin Shigang's analysis made Zhu Ping'an very satisfied. As a lifter, it is not easy to understand and analyze the current form. However, due to the difference in knowledge, Yin Shigang still has his limitations. Another point is that he has not yet understood Zhu Ping'an's true thoughts in his heart.

"What Mr. Yin said is very true. This official didn't plan to get along with Fan, but tonight's incident was a coincidence. However, since the Fan family and the Tartars are involved, it can't be said, this official is going to do this trick of pulling teeth from the tiger's mouth! ”

Zhu Ping'an, who was pleasant, suddenly turned hideous, Yin Shigang's heart trembled, and he seemed to understand a little bit of Zhu Ping'an's inner thoughts in a trance, "It seems that this young master really doesn't have a good impression of Tartar, why is his whole face deformed when he mentions Tartar!" ”

"My lord, that Tartar has been captured by Cao Yesheng and broke his hamstrings and tendons, do you want to try it?" Zhang Dagou asked angrily.

"Judge the fart!" Zhu Ping'an patted the armrest of the chair, "This kind of tartar, which one has not had the blood of the Han people on his hands, take the person back to the grange and hand it over to Yue Jinfeng." As long as you don't get killed, you can clean up as much as you want, keep him alive, and then hand it over to Lord Governor Lu! ”

……

Mr. Ning stumbled all the way for half an hour, looked at the direction, and then ran to a small village outside the Xuanwu Gate of the Imperial City.

Fengyang City is being rebuilt, the surrounding city walls have not yet been completed, and the original rich households have been wiped out by thieves. There are a lot of borderless lands in the major markets, and each yamen has seized the opportunity to occupy the original feng shui treasure. Take the outside of Xuanwu Gate as an example, there are many yamen who have moved their administrative offices here. On the edge is the private property of the officials.

Mr. Ning tiptoed to the back door of a house with blue bricks and green tiles, knocked lightly a few times, and the courtyard door opened quietly.

After Mr. Ning entered the door, the family who opened the door leaned out and shook his head to himself, "There are five out, why only one comes back?" ”

Mr. Ning, led by a family member who had been waiting in the door for a long time, walked through the two courtyards and came to a secluded courtyard, where the lights were still on in the main room, and it was obvious that the owner was not resting.

The family did not report, but directly let Mr. Ning into the main room, served tea, and then exited the small courtyard, closed the courtyard door, and stood outside the door.

The director of the house was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a bronze face, three long wisps of beard, and wearing a homely cotton robe. It wasn't until the sound of the family closing the courtyard door came that he changed his previous calm expression, changed his face in a hurry, threw the book in his hand, and walked in front of Mr. Ning in a few steps.

"What's going on? Why are you the only one coming back? ”

Mr. Ning was shocked, drank all the tea in front of him in one go, felt that he couldn't quench his thirst, and stood up again and snatched the master's teacup, and the cup was dry.

"Don't mention it! met someone from an unknown source, Lao Fan, Tushun and the two step armors all folded in. Tushun was also caught alive! ”

"What!" The master's voice immediately rose an octave, "Why don't you extinguish your mouth!" Tushun is a Tartar! ”

Mr. Ning immediately sank his face. "Tartar? Is this word appropriate for you Liao Qianhu? Don't forget, you're doing things for us, that is, you're helping the Qing Dynasty outside the gates! ”

Liao Qianhu was furious, "If it weren't for the order of Gonggong He in the capital, how would this official help you do things." Collusion outside the border, that is a big crime of raiding the family and exterminating the clan! ”

"If only you understood!" Mr. Ning replied coldly: "What's more, you are still the master of the Thousand Households of the Fengyang Jinyi Guard, then it is even more of a crime!" ”

Liao Qianhu was speechless for a while, and sat down on the chair beside Mr. Ning dejectedly, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

"The top priority is that you have to help me do a good job, and in the future, it will be your business for Lord Liao to be promoted and make a fortune, what does it have to do with me Ning Tong. But now, hmph, if Lord Liao wants to exchange someone's head for glory and wealth, then maybe what awaits the adults will be the disaster of annihilation! ”

Ning Tong's words made Liao Qianhu feel as if he had been drained of his spiritual energy, and the whole person was slumped on the chair, and he had already scolded the father-in-law He and the eight generations of Ning Tong's ancestors in front of him in his heart.

Ning Tong concisely recounted what had just happened, emphasizing that the person who came was not wearing any clothes to show his identity, and could only see that one of them was a tall and thin young man, handsome, but his martial arts were surprisingly high, and his skills were feminine and weird, and he was definitely not the kind of generals who opened and closed the way.

Liao Qianhu wiped the sweat on his forehead, and he was already ready to go all the way to the dark.

Regarding the characters that Ning Tong talked about, Liao Qianhu recalled them carefully, and really thought of looking for people like this.

"Speaking of which, there is such a person, but it seems to be the house slave of a certain general!"

"Who is it?" Ning Tong suddenly came to his senses.

Liao Qianhu adjusted his feelings, and his voice gradually became calm, "Mr. Ning, have you ever heard about the Fengyang defenders defeating the thieves a few days ago?" “

Ning Tong nodded, "When did the Ming army have this kind of combat power, it should be another move to kill good and take meritorious deeds, right?" ”

Liao Qianhu's old face flushed, "It's really not this time, it's a real feat." And it was all thanks to this person that there was such a big victory. Liao is not talented, this time he was also stained with his light, and he also won some rewards! ”

"Who is this person?"

"Zhu Ping'an, who has been promoted to the commander of the high wall guard! This person led more than 100 soldiers, attacked the thief camp at night, led the thief camp to roar, and then attacked the defenders in the city before and after, so there was such a big victory! ”

Liao Qianhu's words surprised Ning Tong. In recent years, through the business names of Fan's firm in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to obtaining rich material supplements, Guanwai has obtained various information and information from the Ming court, which can judge the reality of the Ming army and provide intelligence support for frequent entry and looting.

Today's Ming Dynasty is already in decline, the official army is tired of dealing with thieves and Manchu iron cavalry outside the Guan, the elite is not three out of ten, plus natural disasters**, thousands of miles of red land. The once invincible Ming Empire is like an old house full of holes, as long as you kick it at any time, it will collapse. Now, the Great Khan Emperor Taiji outside the gate is waiting for such an opportunity.

Although Ning Tong was a Han Chinese, his uncle was already a high-ranking official in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and this time it was also because of his uncle's recommendation that he was sent to enter the customs and unite with the Fan family to transport materials and intelligence outside the customs.

Fengyang Xiangshun Ji business name is an important link in the transportation and communication channels between Jianghuai and the capital and even outside the customs. From here, all kinds of materials and news from the south of the Ming Dynasty, Jianghuai and even Jiangnan can flow into the customs in a steady stream. However, the invasion of the thieves in the eighth year of Chongzhen caused Xiangshun Ji to disappear overnight, which brought great difficulties to Fan's envoys.

This time, it is to restore the contact point and transit point in Fengyang.

But the biggest trouble is that Lu Zhenfei was ordered to rebuild Fengyang, but the original Fang City of Xiangshunji was assigned to the imperial court, and the construction was about to start. However, a large number of account books and news records of transactions that were originally stored in Xiangshun Kee are still buried deep under the ruins of the firm. In the past year or so, the Fan clan has sent people to search for it several times, but they have never found those things. But once these things are discovered by the government, especially by Lu Zhenfei, it will be a catastrophe for the Fan family.

Originally, a gust of wind raided Fengyang, giving Ning Tong great hope, and the Liukou ransacked Fengyang again, which gave him an opportunity to take advantage of, he could have sneaked into Fengyang after the Liukou withdrew, and took away all the account books unconsciously, but he didn't expect that a gust of wind didn't even enter the city, and the 30,000 army disappeared.

As a last resort, Ning Tong had to take Fan's children and Tushun and others to infiltrate Fengyang, and the person known as Fan Ye was the person in charge of Fan's Nanzhili. Because after the rogues entered the city, the shopkeeper and his men did not survive, and after searching for many things to no avail, he found a tomb robber who wandered in the Jianghuai area to help find it.

finally got some clues, but I didn't expect it to fall short, and even Tushun was caught alive.

"No way!" Ning Tong thought about it repeatedly, and Huo Ran stood up. "Tushun must not fall into the hands of Lu Zhenfei, and that Zhu Ping'an can't be left alive!"

"He's an official of the court! From the command of the four products, how can you punish the crime if you have no name? Liao Qianhu licked his lips and replied with difficulty.

Ning Tong sneered, "If I remember correctly, Lord Liao is a thousand households of Fengyang Jinyiwei. Isn't it the duty of Lord Liao to investigate, arrest, and interrogate? Besides, is it rare for you Lord Liao to do such a thing? ”

Ning Tong looked at the furnishings in the house, "If I remember correctly, this house was originally the private property of a certain Fengyang official. As a result, it wasn't your Lord Liao's frivolous words of greed, so he arrested his whole family in prison, isn't this mansion also surnamed Liao? ”

Liao Qianhu's face was as white as paper suddenly.

"A military attache from the fourth grade, is it still an official in your Ming Dynasty? If you can't even do this, then why do I spend so much money every year! ”

After speaking, Ning Tong brushed his sleeves and left, leaving only Liao Qianhu, who was stunned.