Most of the ways of the heavenly merchants originated from Tao Zhugong.

If you talk about the most legendary figure in the Spring and Autumn Period, it should be Tao Zhugong. His original name was Fan Li, a native of the Yue Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period, when the Yue Kingdom was destroyed by the Wu State, it was he who proposed the plan to surrender Wu and restore the country, and accompanied the Yue King Gou Jian to the Wu State as a slave, and did everything possible to get Gou Jian to return to China, and became the first adviser to assist Gou Jian to destroy the Wu Restoration State, and the official worshiped the general.

But when Gou Jian returned to China, he understood that Gou Jian was a person who could share hardships but not happiness, so he retreated bravely and resolutely abandoned his official position. First of all, he went to the country of Qi and changed his name to Yizipi. The people of Qi knew that he had good character and high talent, so they asked him to be the prime minister. Because he had made up his mind to retreat to Linxia, he resigned soon after. He settled in Tao, the commercial center at that time, and called himself "Zhu Gong", and people called him Tao Zhu Gong. Here he was engaged in both business and agriculture and animal husbandry, and soon showed extraordinary business talents.

In business, he proposed that "scarcity is precious; People forsake me, and people take me and forsake me; hoarding goods, monopolizing Juqi, seizing the opportunity, and gathering and dispersing appropriately", he soon became the richest man in the Spring and Autumn Period, and was known as the two great strange merchants together with Lü Buwei, who was "strange goods to live in" in the Warring States Period.

Fan Li's descendants take "Tao" as their surname, and each generation of patriarchs is called "Tao Zhu Gong", and after several generations of reproduction, it has now become the largest family in Qi State. The state of Qi was different from the state of Qin and the Three Jin Dynasty, the concept of governance of the Qin State and the Three Jin Dynasty was biased towards Legalist academics, and the status of merchants in their country was very low, and they were not even allowed to wear clothes made of silk and satin, and they were not allowed to enter and leave high-end places. But the country of Qi is very different, merchants are the foundation of the country of Qi, merchants are not only not discriminated against here, but have a high social status. A wealthy family like the Fu family, which has been entrenched in Qi for hundreds of years, has long been involved in more than just business.

On the one hand, they cooperated with the government, and in good years, they collected a large amount of grain from the wells, and if the court needed grain in a disaster year, they would sell the grain to the court, so as to make good friends with the government and the people; On the other hand, a large number of outstanding sons of the family abandoned business and entered politics, and held large and small positions in the center of Qi and local governments, which combined the "family and country" well. Relying on these means, although the Tao family had several ups and downs, during which the Qi country even changed hands several times, the Tao family still held the position of the richest merchant family in the world, and most of the prices were determined by it.

However, in recent years, the status of the Tao family has been unprecedentedly challenged, and the Long family, which arose in the East China Sea, rose rapidly by manufacturing and selling weapons and armor in the troubled times, and became the largest business family in Qidi after the Tao family, and challenged the Tao family's position as the business leader with an aggressive posture.

Because the Zou family in Linzi had a good official relationship, they first bribed officials of several counties in the Qin State with a lot of money. After the re-establishment of the Qi State, the Zou family quickly changed the door and voted under the Tian family, and after Liu Bang moved in, he made good friends with the Han Dynasty in every way. Relying on a good relationship with the ruler, the Zou family soared in the shopping mall, and even the leader Tao family did not pay much attention to it.

On the other hand, since the death of the Qi State in the Qin State, the Tao family has been declining, although it still maintains the title of the richest businessman, but it is constantly challenged by the emerging family, and this generation is even more because of the problem of the leader "Tao Zhu Gong" The dispute has been caught in infighting.

It turned out that Tao Zhugong of this generation had only one heir, but his only son was a blessed person, so he just got married and left west, leaving behind a widowed wife and a widowed son. Tao Zhugong was old again, and he couldn't take care of the family business due to lack of energy, so he had to entrust it to his daughter-in-law Shangguan Zhishui to take care of it. Fortunately, although his daughter-in-law is weak-looking, she is a very assertive and strong woman, and under her careful grooming, the Tao family not only did not continue to decline, but radiated new vitality.

Inside, Shangguan Zhishui treats all uncles and elders equally, handles things impartially and impartially, and wins the admiration of the clansmen; Externally, she won the support of the Long family, and through in-laws and other means, the Tao family and the Long family formed an alliance to jointly fight against the unruly Zou family, and strongly re-erected Zhengshuo in the business world, sweeping away the decline of the Tao family for more than ten years.

"Prosperity must decline", this smart woman also knows this truth, so she wisely chose to temporarily retract her edge, and cautiously showed the Tao family's surrender and goodwill in front of Liu Bang, the person in power. At the beginning of the year, he donated 200,000 stone grain and grass free of charge, and this time the Han army was defeated in Hebei, and Shangguan Zhishui donated 300,000 stone grain to fund Liu Bang.

But as the war became more and more intense, Liu Bang kept desperately expanding the army, and the food she donated could only solve a temporary emergency. Liu Bang opened his mouth widely, sent people to the door many times to blackmail, or blackmail, and forced the Tao family to take out another 200,000 stone of grain, but it was still a drop in the bucket. Gradually, Shangguan Zhishui also faintly felt a trace of uneasiness in her heart.

It's an inexplicable intuition, as if there's always something in your heart that you're worried about is going to happen, but you can't say why. Shangguan Zhishui had no choice but to constantly comfort himself not to think crankily on the one hand, and on the other hand, he told his family to be more cautious during this time.

Closing his eyes and leaning on the soft pillows, his delicate body continued to shake with the rolling of the wheels of the carriage, but Shangguan Zhishui was used to it, but his body was a little tired.

These days are the time for Ludi farmers to buy seeds, but because of the Tao family's shopkeeper privately deducted and aroused public anger, the angry Lu people rushed into the Tao family's shop, smashed it to pieces, and sued the local county government. Shangguan Zhishui didn't dare to be careless after hearing the news, and went to Ludi to mediate in person. After removing the profit-hungry shopkeeper and promising to halve the price of Ludi's seeds, these Lu people were satisfied and willing not to pursue it.

It's just been a busy day, and she is already tired, so she reached out and touched the back of her somewhat sore hand, Shangguan Zhishui couldn't help but feel a trace of bitterness in her heart.

Her husband died young, but her son was still babbling, and her father was old and frail, and the burden of the whole family was on the shoulders of a little woman like her. The owner of the Tao family, outsiders look at the scenery, and only she knows the suffering. You must know that she is just a weak woman in her twenties, but she has to stand up and pick up the burden of the entire Tao family.

The carriage stopped suddenly, Shangguan Zhishui suddenly got down and almost fell, grabbed the seat dangerously to stabilize his body, and pulled the curtain in shock.

"Fauber, what's the matter?" Shangguan Zhishui pulled the scattered bun on her forehead and asked with a pale face.

The hoarse voice of the old butler Fu Bo came from outside the car, "Young lady Hui, there is a person dressed as a Han army in front of you to block the road, Qiu Hu and they have already gone over to deal with it." ”

Shangguan Zhishui frowned, slightly curious in his heart, and heard a commotion in front of him, so he opened the car door without curiosity.

I saw that not far away, the general Qiu Hu and several others were talking around a tall and thin person, who was dressed in a dirty red Han army uniform as Fu Bo said, but he didn't know if he stopped the carriage for personal reasons or because it was related to the Han army.

Shangguan Zhishui stretched out his head and looked carefully, only then did he see clearly the appearance of the Han soldier, just a young man in his twenties, arguing loudly with Qiu Hu and others with a scorched front, Qiu Hu and the others began to see that he was still a little polite in the dress of the Han army, and the more he said later, the more angry he became, and he actually pushed it away.

As if sensing that someone was spying on him, the young man turned his head, but he happened to see Shangguan Zhishui head-on. was stunned for a moment, then ecstatic, waved his hands and shouted loudly: "Miss Shangguan, Miss Shangguan." ”

Shangguan Zhishui was stunned. She is not the eldest daughter of the Shangguan family, and since she got married five years ago, no one has called her "Miss Shangguan" again. I couldn't help feeling a little strange in my heart, so I motioned to Fu Bo to let the young man come over.

The young man walked towards the carriage in a hurry, but knelt in front of the carriage with a "poof", and kowtowed vigorously with a "bang". Shangguan Zhishui looked at him puzzled from the carriage and asked; "What are you doing here?"

The young man didn't speak immediately, but after kowtowing vigorously for ten times, he raised his head and said; "Miss Shangguan, you noble people have forgotten things, I'm afraid you have forgotten the things in Qingyang back then. When the flood was raging, everything that could be eaten at home was washed away, and our family was hungry and waiting to die. ”

Shangguan Zhishui was kind-hearted, and when she was married, she often sold her gesture ornaments to others, and then used the money to help some poor people. How many thousands of people have been helped in her hands, how can she remember the person who guarded the scriptures. But seeing that he has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his face is full of heroism, he doesn't look like a traitor villain at all, but he believes in eight points in his heart. He asked softly; "I don't know why the strong guard stopped my carriage?"

Wei Jing looked left and right, his face showed a look of embarrassment, Qiu Hu and the others naturally knew what he meant, but the soles of their feet were nailed, and they didn't move at all. It is their duty to protect the young lady, how can they let this person of unknown origin be alone with the young lady.

Wei Jing saw that everyone was so not "urban", so he had no choice but to open his mouth to find out the way; "Miss, I have something important to tell you alone, and please let them step down."

"What's the matter, what's the matter?" Shangguan Zhishui showed a curious look on her face.

Wei Jing glanced around from the corner of his eyes, lowered his voice and whispered: "It's a matter of life and death for the Tao family. ”

Shangguan Zhishui's delicate body was shocked, staring at Wei Jing with wide eyes, and said slowly for a long time; "Dare to ask what this strong man is called."

"In the Lower Guard, the Janissary Left Battalion is a hundred generals." Wei Jing raised his head and said proudly.

The hundred generals of the Praetorian Guard at that time were in their early twenties, and they were indeed very rare in the Han army.

It's a pity that Shangguan Zhishui is used to seeing the officialdom of Qi State, and all he has seen is a high-ranking and powerful person, how can he take this mere hundred generals to heart, so he just nodded, still looking as usual.

Wei Jing secretly glanced at Shangguan Zhishui, but when he saw that her face was as usual, he couldn't help but be slightly disappointed in his heart.

These little expressions naturally couldn't escape Shangguan Zhishui's exquisite thoughts, she pondered for a while, waved her hand and said; "Stand down, all of you."

Qiu Hu said anxiously; "But young lady, this person's whereabouts are strange, he doesn't look like a serious person, I think it's better to ...... him first"

Shangguan Zhishui's face sank, and he said unhappily; "Is this your decision or mine?"

Qiu Hu saw that he had said this, so he had to lower his head and wait to leave with a group of subordinates.

"Okay, General Wei, now you can talk." Shangguan Zhishui looked at Wei Jing quietly and said.

"I got news in the army that the King of Han will wipe out the Tao family."

"What!" Shangguan Zhishui stood up with "Huo" in a moment, got up and said with wide eyes.