As early as the beginning of July, Zhu Ping'an was willing to mobilize Zhang Dingbian's elite cavalry to Tongguan to join his own division, but later learned that Emperor Chongzhen was finally going to do something to Shanyou Shangjia in Beijing, so he ordered Zhang Dingbian to lurk directly from Shandong to the Zhangjiakou area. In order to avoid large-scale movement operations, you must know that Zhangjiakou is a distance of two thousand miles from Tongguan, even the most elite cavalry, under the configuration of one person and two horses, it will take more than 20 days at the expense of the body, and it will inevitably be detected by the Fan family for such a long time.

So, Zhu Ping'an decisively changed his previous plan, and after discussing with Wang Qiaonian again, Wang Qiaonian personally guarded Tongguan, while Zhu Ping'an led 3,000 soldiers and horses, under the banner of Wang Qiaonian, and transferred the war horses of Tongguan to go straight to Fan's nest to rest.

Jiexiu, located in the hinterland of Shanxi, under the jurisdiction of Fenzhou Prefecture, is more than 700 miles away from Tongguan. In order not to startle the snake, at the end of July, Zhu Ping'an divided 3,000 men and horses into zero and entered Shanxi in batches. In order to maintain the secrecy of the operation, Jingshi Jinyiwei and Dongchang also sent special envoys to Shanxi to lurk and wait to meet Zhu Ping'an's subordinates.

But Zhu Ping'an knows very well that the reason why the Ming Central Committee has unprecedentedly supported this action is because Chongzhen has "zero tolerance" for the traitorous behavior of Shanyou businessmen, and on the other hand, all forces are coveting the coveted wealth of the eight families in Shanyou. This is the driving force that prompted Zhou Yanru, Cao Huachun, Luo Yangxing and others to promote this action.

In fact, before leaving Beijing, several bigwigs had already distributed the benefits of this receipt, and Zhu Ping'an also knew this, but as long as he could eradicate the eight families on the right side of the mountain and ensure his share of the income, why should Zhu Ping'an worry about how to divide the accounts between them.

Shanxi has experienced repeated wars, when Gao Yingxiang raised troops, he broke into Shanxi several times, so that the originally fertile land of Sanjin became a white land, thousands of miles of uninhabited, large and small bandits and homeless people are even more numerous. In order to conceal his whereabouts, Zhu Ping'an did not go straight out of Tongguan, but deliberately went north to Chaoyi, Haoyang, Yichuan, and Yanchang line, and then entered Shanxi from Suidezhou, all the way to the night and day, it took more time, but to ensure the secrecy of his whereabouts, so he entered Mianshan on the tenth day of August.

The rest of the departments are also quietly lurking in the Mianshan area one after another. The reason why I chose to start on August 15 came from the news that Huo Wu got from Ning Wan and me. The leader of the eight families of Shanyou Shangjia will only return to his hometown to worship his ancestors during the New Year. And this year, it coincides with the 70th birthday of one of Fan Yongdou's uncles, so the leaders of each family will return to Jiexiu to celebrate his birthday.

After hiding in the barren mountains for a few days, Neiying in Jiexiu City finally found Zhu Ping'an. Nei Ying is none other than the Chang family of Jiexiu Deyu firm recommended by Shen Mingxian. With the help of Fengxiantang, Chang Yao, the shopkeeper of the Dengzhou branch of the Deyu firm, became the undisputed leader of the Jin merchants in Shandong after clearing the power of the Fan family and the Wang family. In this way, it was squeezed by the eight families on the right side of the mountain. In recent years, business in Shandong has become more and more prosperous, but in Shanxi, it has been repeatedly squeezed out by the eight families on the right side of the mountain. The head of the family, Chang Wei, had to swallow his anger.

This time, Zhu Ping'an was ordered to exterminate the power of Shanyou Shangjia, and the Chang family became a dark chess piece buried in Jiexiu with the efforts of Fengxiantang. It is inevitable that the Chang family has been pressed by the eight families on the right side of the mountain for so long, and it is inevitable that there will be some resentment, and now the imperial court is going to do something to the eight families on the right side of the mountain, if these eight families fall, a group of upstarts from the Jin merchants will break out of the cocoon, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Chang family.

Chang Yao, the head of the Chang family, sent people to wander around the Mianshan area in the past few days, until the day before yesterday, the person who came was finally discovered by the soldiers who patrolled and brought to Zhu Ping'an, and only after he knew that the person who came was Chang Yao's eldest son Chang Huan.

Chang Huan didn't expect Zhu Ping'an to come with troops in person, although he was in his thirties, but when had he seen a high-ranking official like Zhu Ping'an for most of his life, and as soon as he met, he paid a big salute.

Zhu Ping'an personally helped him up, but Chang Huan was flattered and didn't come back to his senses for a while. Asked about the situation in Jiexiu City, Chang Huan calmed down and answered them one by one.

The ancestral home of the Fan family is Jiexiu, and the rest such as Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu and others are also in Yuci, Pinggu and other places near the left, but since the Fan family became the leader of the eight families on the right side of the mountain, they have been quite respected by the Manchu Qing Dynasty outside the Guan, and they have been named an official in private. Therefore, the Fan family began to deliberately manage the county seat of Jiexiu, funded the consolidation of the city defense, and the appointment of officials in the city was even more decisive, in other words, this Jiexiu City is the world of the Fan family, and there is a militia of more than 1,000 people built by the Fan family.

August 15 is not only the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also the birthday of Uncle Fan Yongdou. Speaking of which, Fan Yongdou was able to ascend the throne of the head of the Fan family back then, and this clan uncle contributed a lot, so Fan Yongdou also specially led his sons and nephews to rush back from Zhangjiakou to celebrate his birthday. And the heads of the other houses also came. In the past few days, there are many guests in Jiexiu City, and according to the practice of previous years, even the officials of the Yamen of Shanxi Mansion City will come to visit.

"The Chang family is going to pay homage to their birthdays when the time comes, right?" Zhu Ping'an listened to Chang Huan's introduction, but suddenly came to such a sentence without a head.

Chang Huan was stunned for a moment, and then nodded, "What the big marshal said is very true, now that the Fan family is covering the sky with one hand in Jiexiu City, and Fan Yongdou is back, my Yuci Chang clan will naturally come to visit." ”

Zhu Ping'an nodded, "The Chang family has lived in Shanxi for a long time, and they also belong to the Jin merchant family, and the Jin merchants are all over the world, and in the future, the official will rely on your account to deal with relevant affairs. The official personally entered the city and visited the head of the eight families on the right side of the mountain! ”

Chang Huan was taken aback, "How can a handsome and golden body be in danger?" ”

Zhu Ping'an waved his hand disapprovingly, "Although Jiexiu is the old nest of the Fan family, but now that the overall situation has been decided, some of the three thousand elite soldiers under the command of this official have already mixed into the city, and when the time comes, the imperial envoy will also send the Fenzhou Jinyi Guard to enter the city at the same time, what danger can there be." Don't let your manufacturers participate, but also for the sake of the future, just do what the official tells you to do! ”

Although Zhu Ping'an is only in his early twenties, he has been an official for a long time, and he has unconsciously formed a killing atmosphere, which made Chang Huan also shudder, and hurriedly agreed.

After the main topic was discussed, Chang Huan hurriedly rushed from people to the chariots and horses hidden in the mountains and forests, and when he arrived at the camp, Zhu Ping'an took a closer look, but it was slowly more than ten carts of food, meat and poultry. Zhu Ping'an warned Chang Huan that this operation must be strictly confidential, and there must be no more large-scale transportation of materials like this.

But Chang Huan explained: "My Chang family farmed in this mountain for a living decades ago. After turning agriculture into business, he did not dare to forget his roots, so he reclaimed thousands of acres of barren land in Mianshan and built several granges, so he could be self-sufficient without leaving Mianshan. A few years ago, when the rogue was rampant, my Chang family hid in this mountain and settled the village to protect themselves, so these foods did not need to be purchased from outside. ”

……

Jiexiu is located in the middle reaches of the Fen River, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the southwest is the Bird Mouse Valley, which controls the north-south traffic artery. The scale of the whole city is not large, the distance between east and west, north and south is only two miles, during the Jiajing Dynasty, Jiexiu built the outer city, and also added an iron gate, but the age is old, and now it has been dilapidated, so in the early years, it was replaced by the stone gate by the Fan family.

Zhu Ping'an led Shen Ke and other relatives to enter the outer city through the stone gate in the north, the scale of the outer city is not large, and it is very desolate, most of the poor people and garrison soldiers live again, but as soon as they enter the inner city, they clearly feel the prosperity here.

Although there are not many streets, they are horizontal and vertical, the road surface is flat, and the area of the inner city is not large, and there are only some high-walled compounds, and there are few merchants. Listening to the children of the Chang family, these are the properties of the eight families on the right side of the mountain, the Fan family is in full swing, and the other seven families have also built courtyards and industries here. There are not many merchants in Jiexiu City, because the inner city is basically inhabited by families and relatives, and the rest are buildings such as government offices, but there are very few people, so merchants are scarce.

Walk all the way to the northernmost Runji Gate, which is where the ancestral house of the Fan family is located, and now it is a piece of grand building, but it is quite a bit of the style of the wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River, with white walls and black tiles, which is particularly elegant.

The whole inner city of Jiexiu is very lively, because of the birthday banquet of the Fan family, there is an endless stream of guests from all over the world, a huge part of which are businessmen and other figures, and officials from all over Shanxi have been arranged to live in the Fan family's courtyard temporarily. There was a long queue of traffic in front of the wide gate of the Fan family's compound, and there was a long queue of congratulatory guests waiting to give gifts to enter the house.

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but smile when he looked at this scene, turned his head and said to Shen Ke beside him: "Blind, also present our congratulatory gifts!" Let's go to the house first to fill our stomachs! ”

Zhang Yaoxian hurriedly stopped, "Dashuai, this ......!" ”

Zhu Ping'an waved his hand, "It's okay, you have arranged a qiē outside, and Yuan Min, the official of the Jinyi Guard, has also arrived in the city, you will be responsible for meeting with him, and seeing the flying fire in the courtyard, you will start at the same time, remember, you must control the garrison in the city and the Fan family's regiment to train soldiers and horses!" ”

After speaking, Zhu Ping'an took Shen Ke and more than 20 relatives and walked towards the gate of the Fan family with a swagger.

Along the way, the wolf-like soldiers punched and kicked, beating the crying fathers and mothers of the guests gathered at the door of Fan's house, and there was chaos in front of Fan's house for a while.

The steward of the Fan family in front of the door frowned, and with a wave of his hand, dozens of strong men from the nursing home surrounded him.

Shen Ke laughed: "Let's come all the way to congratulate the Fan family, is the Fan family so hospitable?" ”

The steward took a closer look, and saw that the more than 20 people under the stairs in front of him were all dressed in brocade clothes, but he didn't dare to slack off, so he hurriedly ran over and said, "I don't know where the distinguished guest came from, how to call it?" ”

Shen Ke let go of half of his body, showing Zhu Ping'an's figure, "My lord came thousands of miles from Fujian to congratulate the old birthday star of the Fan family in person!" As he spoke, he took out a wedding card and handed it to the butler.

The housekeeper peeked at it, but only saw the word "Zheng", and he was shocked at the moment.

Shen Ke handed over a silver ticket again, "I came in a hurry, I didn't prepare a gift list, this is a little bit of my lord's heart, not a tribute!" ”

The housekeeper took a look, but his legs couldn't help but be soft, and the amount on the silver ticket was clearly the words "20,000 taels". R1152