The term Jin Shang was also famous in later generations.

By the time of the Qing Dynasty, the top 16 large conglomerates in the country were all in Shanxi. Jin merchants have been the first in the country and have dominated the business community for more than 500 years.

Among the prominent groups of Jin merchants, the most famous is the eight families of Shanxi Jin merchants. These eight masters refer to Qiao Chang, Cao Hou, Qu Kang, Fan Kong, and the eight families.

Of course, it does not mean that all Jin merchants collaborated with the enemy and treason. Because at this time in time, many of them have not yet risen. However, the Fan family, the object of Lu Xiao's attention, is not the same thing.

Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family. Speaking of this one, it can be regarded as a big name.

After the rise of the northern Tartars, in fact, they were on the verge of collapse several times in the middle. The main reason is that at the beginning, the heritage of the Ming army was still there, and the important towns in the north were well armoured, and the soldiers still had the will to fight. Even after the defeat of the Battle of Salhu, the Ming army also won such victories as the victory of Zhenjiang and the victory of Ningyuan.

Among them, in the victory of Ningyuan, the Ming army beat the Tartars with red-coated artillery, and suffered heavy casualties. And the Tartars who failed to defeat Ning Yuan could only retreat into the mountains. This battle is also an important political capital for Yuan Chonghuan.

But because of the failure of the raids, they did not have enough food to survive the winter. And just when the Tartars were at a loss. The Jin merchant team led by Fan Yongdou appeared.

They spent a lot of money to open up various joints and avoid the blockade of the Ming army. A large amount of grain was brought into the mountains to aid the Tartars!!!

You must know that at that time, the heavy snow closed the mountains, and the Tartars themselves were unwilling to take those mountain roads. It was actually passed by these Jin merchants.

In this round, the Fan family risked their lives to aid the enemies of the Ming Dynasty, how can it be described? Forgive me for being a little bit of a scholar, and I really don't know what to say.

The final result was that the Tartars relied on the food of the Jin merchants and the support of intelligence to successfully survive the most difficult winter. Recuperate, and only then did the later Tartars enter the customs. Otherwise, just a winter's death from freezing and starvation would have to make the Tartar vigor very bad. I can't cultivate for ten or eight years.

Such an act made Lu Xiao notice the existence of these Jin merchants for a long time. It's just that there are too many places where the Ming Dynasty used money. If he had dealt with this group of guys in advance, I am afraid that the money would not have reached his hands.

And now, the right to train soldiers has been obtained, and even some people have been recruited. When Lu Xiao was most short of money, of course he had to take out the money he had saved.

In recent years, these Jin merchants have provided grain and grass to the Tartars. When the Tartars were full, they plundered in Liaodong. Use the looted money to repay these Jin merchants. Except for a limited number of important towns, the entire Liaodong was scorched. The accumulation of thousands of years fell into the hands of the Tartars, and then transferred to the hands of these Jin merchants.

Such a huge accumulation made it the first of the national merchant gangs.

At this time, Fan Yongdou was counting the goods. As soon as winter passes, his master will inevitably go out hunting again. As a minion, of course, he must feed his master first. Otherwise, how can you have the strength to hunt?

Therefore, this time Fan Yongdou prepared a large amount of grain, grass, and ordnance from the south. Prepare to walk the joints that were opened before and transport them into Liaodong. Let his master be fed and go out hunting.

What he didn't notice, though, was that some of his buddies looked at him strangely.

How much money Fan Yongdou has, almost no one knows. But Fan Yongdou himself knows it very well. After all, he is a businessman, and he is extremely sensitive to money. Over the years, he has accumulated tens of millions of taels of family property. In addition to the money bank, it is more hidden in various hidden residences, cellars and other places.

Many of them are permanently mothballed. Only the next head of the house knows. In order to enable the turnaround when the family encounters a crisis of overturning.

Lu Xiao had sent people to infiltrate his caravan many years ago. It took a full five years to basically figure out all his hiding places.

"Cheer me up, this batch of materials is urgently needed in Liaodong, if it is not delivered in time, this year's dividends will be less than half."

As soon as these words were spoken, those guys suddenly began to work as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.

It is worth mentioning that the Jin merchants did not act collectively. That's just a big scene. They will prepare supplies in advance and then enter Liaodong in batches.

After feeding the defenders of the major passes, you will be able to successfully enter the mountain. This time, the Tartar was in a hurry. Fan Yongdou knew that this was because the other party was preparing for a large-scale battle to enter the customs. For this reason, he deliberately worked overtime, just to be able to feed his master before the fight.

But I don't know what's going on, Fan Yongdou feels a little uneasy today. He has inspected the goods three times without any problems. After thinking about it, I could only think that I was a little nervous. After all, this time the scale is unprecedented.

After the goods were ready, the whole team traveled day and night. Fan Yongdou personally pressed the formation, but soon he was a little old, and he became drowsy. Go back to the carriage and rest.

After I don't know how long, Fan Yongdou woke up. He felt the caravan stop. I know it's time to rest. So he called his servant to get him something to eat.

But after shouting a few times, no one outside answered at all. He was a little puzzled, because he obviously heard the voices of many people outside. Why didn't anyone respond to their own words? This group of dog minions is really not cleaned up.

Fan Yongdou was furious and jumped out of the carriage, ready to teach his servants a lesson. But when he pulled down the carriage, he sensed that something was wrong.

There were a lot of people out there, very, very many people. And these people are not their own buddies at all, as far as the eye can see, they don't know anyone. The point is, these people are carrying the goods in their own cars at this time.

Fan Yongdou's brain was slammed, and the whole person almost fell to the ground.

Is this a rogue robber? But when you think about it, it feels a little wrong. Because if it's a rogue, how can he lose all his buddies silently and odorlessly. You must know that I have hired a group of highly skilled Jianghu guests as guards. Ordinary rogue robbers would not dare to approach a caravan of their size.

Moreover, Fan Yongdou is very experienced, and the routes he takes avoid those large rogues. The mountain bandits along the way have long been tied. It stands to reason that this should not be the case.

And now, all the guys have disappeared without a sound. A group of strangers are carrying their own goods. The point is that all of them are busy with their own affairs, and no one pays attention to them. It's as if you're transparent.

The only good news is that he is alive and unscathed. This shows that the other party knows that there should be room for maneuver in this matter.

Fan Yongdou gritted his teeth and stopped a young man who was carrying food.

"This strong man, dare to ask, I don't know who you are in charge? In Xia Fan Yongdou, I also asked the strong man to introduce me, and I will be thanked afterwards. ”

However, the other party just looked up, looked at him with a strange gaze, and then walked around him with a bag of grain. Not a word was said from beginning to end.

Fan Yongdou only felt cold all over his body, and an inexplicable fear welled up in his heart. This time, it's not just the fear of losing this shipment. He now had a sense of impending disaster.