Zhangjiakou is located at the intersection of Taihang Mountain, Yanshan Mountain and Yinshan Mountain Range, which is the junction of the North China Plain and the Mongolian Plateau, and is also the only passage connecting the Mongolian Plateau and the Central Plains.

In order to resist the invading Mongols on the northern grasslands, in the fourth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, Wanquan commanded Zhang Wen to preside over the construction of Zhangjiakou Fort. The whole castle is strange in all directions. The height of the city is three feet and two feet. There are city gates on the southeast two sides, the east gate is the Yongzhen gate, and the south gate is the Chengen gate.

Because there is a confrontation between the east and west Taiping Mountains in the north of Zhangjiakou Fort, it is called Zhangjiakou. But the official title should be "Zhangjiabao".

As the fortress of Xuanfu to defend against Mongolia, Zhangjiakou was not broken by foreign enemies in the two hundred years after it became a fort, so the locals called it Wucheng.

In the fifth year of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty, Altan Khan of Tatar was named the king of Shunyi, and the Ming Dynasty reached a mutual market agreement with Mongolia, ending the war that lasted for more than 200 years from the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and set up horse markets in Xuanfu and Datong. Xuanfu's horse market is located five miles north of Zhangjiabao

In the 41st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty built a new fort in the mutual market, named "Laiyuan Fort". The two forts are opposite to each other in the north and south, Zhangjiabao is in the south for the lower fort, and the far fort is in the north name.

The influence of the tea and horse market was far-reaching, and so far, the border city of Zhangjiakou began to transform from a purely military function to an economic and trade one.

In the Chongzhen Dynasty, Zhu Youzhen listened to the slander of the Donglin Party, abolished the factory guards in the border towns, and Zhangjiakou became a trade and transshipment base for the Jin merchant group to smuggle grain, salt, and iron.

In order to facilitate the sale, the eight major Jin merchants headed by Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku even moved their families to Zhangjiakou, relying on the money in their hands, Fan Yongdou and others not only bought off the Ming Dynasty garrison generals, but also bribed the court officials on a large scale, weaving an invisible protective umbrella for their smuggling activities.

Over the past ten years, these eight Jin merchants have become the boundary of Shanxi, and even one of the few wealthy merchants in North China, and it is not an exaggeration to describe them as rich and rival countries.

However, Fan Yongdou and others, after having money, did not think of serving the country, but instead started business with the Dongjiao, who slaughtered tens of millions of Han people.

They didn't care if the gold and silver of the Jianzhou Jurchens were covered with blood, they only knew that they would send more strategic resources such as salt and iron, tea, grain, and cloth to Liaodong in exchange for the gold and silver that the Dongyu had stolen from the Han people.

In order to completely control Zhangjiakou, they did not hesitate to lead the Eastern Captives from Xuanfu into the customs, and killed Yan Shengping, the governor of Baozhou, and the garrison Xu Guotai, Chang Rusong, Du Feng and others, who refused to go along with them.

Eleven years after Chongzhen, due to Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's successive troops, the imperial court was alone and neglected the control of Xuanfu, and the Zhangjiakou garrison was also operated by Fang Shiliang and others in the Ministry of War, and Fan Jian, the nephew of the Fan family.

Because the garrison horses of the imperial court have long been lost in the seven years of Chongzhen and the eight years of Chongzhen's defense of the city, this garrison military horses, but it is composed of the soldiers of the Jin merchant group, the entire fort has a total of more than 1,600 defenders, more than 1,100 war horses, more than 300 large and small artillery, soldiers and horses seem to be not much, but if the eight Jin merchants will organize all the Dingkou at home, it is estimated that it will reach nearly 5,000 people.

After completely controlling Zhangjiakou, the eight Jin merchants no longer had any scruples, and turned a good fort into their own smuggling base.

The Ming Dynasty died in the Qing Dynasty, the reason for this is that the root lies in the negligence of political affairs, too wide with the scholars, too strict with the common people, the peasants are unbearable tyranny, Li Zicheng rebelled to destroy the Ming, the merchants borrowed the rise of the scholars, no profit can not be early, there is no national righteousness in the heart, only the income of the square inch, Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, the people of the Ming country, the Miao descendants of the Han Dynasty, but when the national war was in the time, they did not seek to benefit the country and a dime, but they re-Qing one of the people's letters? Those who do not pay attention to the survival of the Han people, only care about the selfish interests of the family, and forget the righteousness of the small profits, are nothing more than this, and the Qing people will rise so rapidly if they have no iron weapons?

According to the original historical trend, these eight Jin chambers of commerce reached the peak of their lives after entering the customs in Donglu and became the imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty, but in this life they encountered big trouble.

First the Beijing officials who had received countless benefits from them were wiped out by the nets of the god-killing Li Xing, and then the deputy general of Datong, who was funded by them, took his troops and horses to join the newly established Yongli Imperial Court, and the most fatal thing was that the attitude of Xu Dingguo, the deputy general of Shanxi, who was close at hand, also became ambiguous, and this change was especially obvious after the Jingbei Army won the victory in Heluo.

"The mountain rain is coming, and the wind is full of buildings!"

In the Fan Mansion and Hall written by Emperor Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty, Fan Yongdou, the head of the Eight Jin Dynasty, took the blue and white porcelain tea cup in his hand and took a sip with concern.

"What did Brother Fan say? The city defense of Zhangjiakou is strong, we want people, if the official army really presses the border, we will have time to withdraw to Mongolia. ”

Wang Dengku looked at the half-lit red candle in the hall, and replied nonchalantly, this Fan Yongdou is really worried, he still summoned everyone to the house after the third watch, is there anything that can't be said during the day?

"Let's go? Retreat to Mongolia? If you really retreat to Mongolia, who will take us seriously? The reason why we are getting bigger and bigger is because the Qing Dynasty needs us to transport grain, salt and iron, and if there is no food for them, you say, can the Qing Dynasty still look at us? ”

Fan Yongdou is very shrewd, he knows the meaning of his existence, but what he didn't expect is that the Qing Army, which was invincible a few years ago, would actually lose in front of the official army one after another, and even the Qing Emperor who personally wrote to him was folded in the hands of Xiao Li Thief.

"If you knew today, why bother at the beginning, what's the use of saying this now? You say, if we donate all the money, food, and materials in the city to His Royal Highness King Yan, will His Royal Highness King Yan forgive us? ”

Wang Dayu thought about it for a while, and hesitated to say his thoughts, judging from the current situation, the ship of the Qing Dynasty is probably going to sink, without it, as long as the imperial court blocks the passage of material transfer to Zhangjiakou, there will be not enough food support on the side of the Qing Dynasty, and without food, no matter how powerful the Manchurian soldiers are, they cannot be the opponents of the imperial court.

"You didn't think of this, when the Heluo war report came, I sent my son Fan San to the city to do something, but more than half a month has passed, and there is still no news at all, and the old man is also nervous, so I invited you to the house to discuss countermeasures, you say, will we assassinate Xiao Li Thief by Yin Fangmin and them."

Fan Yongdou sighed, he was extremely resentful of Yin Anmin and Fang Shiliang's idiots, and even more complained that he was obsessed with ghosts, and listened to their nonsense, and actually sent Manchurians to assassinate Li Xingzhi, so that he had no room for maneuver.

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