Go back to the end of the Ming Dynasty to be a soldier

Chapter 99 Dragon Inn
As soon as he heard that Lin Yi, a Shanxi merchant, immediately regained his spirits and decided to do a big job.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, if the word "Shanxi Merchants" is mentioned, it can remind people of the words "big rich" and "richest man", and even the image of speculative profiteers, and even traitors.

It wasn't because Lin Yi had any prejudice against businessmen, nor was it because he hated the rich. It was because Lin Yi didn't have a good impression of the Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, and Zhejiang merchants in the late Ming Dynasty.

Objectively speaking, a businessman is the product of the development of social productive forces to a certain stage. His appearance has important positive significance for economic development, social progress, and cultural exchanges. From the perspective of promoting the development of social productive forces, the activities of businessmen It is indispensable.

However, the negative impact of businessmen is not small, which is mainly determined by the nature of businessmen seeking profit. Marx has a brilliant discussion on this point:
Capitalists are as afraid of no profit or too little profit as nature is afraid of a vacuum.Once there is a proper profit, the capital will be bold.If there is a 10% profit, the capital will be guaranteed to be used everywhere; if there is a 20% profit, the capital will be active; if there is a 50% profit, the capital will take risks; for 100% profit, the capital will dare to trample on everything in the world Law; with a profit of more than 300%, capital dares to commit any crime, even risking hanging.

The capitalist is also a businessman, but a more sophisticated businessman.

It can be seen that these businessmen are crazy to the point of doing everything in order to make money.

In this case, the state can only use their machinery, including military police, laws, prisons, etc., to regulate the actions of businessmen, maximize their strengths and avoid weaknesses, and make businessmen's activities operate in a direction that is conducive to social progress and the development of productivity.

But now the mess at the end of Ming Dynasty is full of holes, internal and external troubles, the building will collapse, and it will be difficult to support it.

The government group headed by Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian was too busy to take care of themselves, so there was no time to regulate the activities of these businessmen.

The most famous merchants in this period are probably these few, one is Fuzhou merchants, the second is Shanxi merchants, and then there are Zhejiang merchants and Huizhou merchants.

The Fushang here of course refers to the merchants in Fujian, and the Fujian Zheng family headed by Zheng Zhilong is of course second to none at this time.

Zheng Zhilong's identity is extremely complicated. In the late Ming Dynasty, he was a merchant and thief. He was born as a pirate, but he managed to expand his business overseas. He owned thousands of warships and tens of thousands of navy. In the naval battle, Zheng Zhilong's naval fleet not only defeated Ming's navy, but also defeated one of the most powerful naval fleets in the world, the Portuguese fleet, and fled in embarrassment. Two of the world's leading large Portuguese warships were sent into the seabed.

For a while, in the Straits of Fujian, Taiwan, the merchant fleets of the Eastern Ocean, Southeast Asia and Western powers, Zheng Zhilong said that if they were allowed to pass, they would be able to pass, and if they were asked to stop, they would have to stop.

For a time, the Eastern, Southern Ocean and Western powers only knew that there was Zheng Zhilong in Fujian, but not that there was a Ming court.

It can be seen how powerful this big merchant is, and it has reached the point where it can threaten the rule of the imperial court.Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to appease him.

Although during this period, Zhejiang merchants and Huizhou merchants did not appear like Shen Wansan again, Zhejiang merchants and Huizhou merchants also had a great influence on the economic development of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

But the biggest influence on the Ming Dynasty was not the Zheng family group in the southeast coast, nor the Zhejiang merchants and Huizhou merchants, but a few merchants in Shanxi, such as the Fan family, Wang family, Jin family, Liang family, etc., a total of eight families, The strength is the strongest, collectively known as the eight Shanxi merchants.

These people often wandered inside and outside the frontiers, doing business with the Manchu Manchus, and passed the Central Plains iron, firearms, salt, etc. to the Tartars, in exchange for the furs and furs of the Tartars, the three treasures of the Northeast, and even dragon tickets. Get huge profits from it.

It is understandable for merchants to make money. The key is that the eight major Shanxi merchants do whatever they can. They do not hesitate to sell the interests of the country and the nation. Ironware, firearms, and salt in the Central Plains are all important and urgently needed for Nurhachi and Huangtaiji Group outside the customs. For strategic materials, the Eight Shanxi Merchants, due to their strength, often collude with the government. In order to earn money, they did not hesitate to provide Nurhachi and Huang Taiji with Ming military secrets and sell information. This is an out-and-out traitor behavior.

The Ming government was also aware of these despicable traitorous behaviors of Shanxi merchants, and they also explicitly banned them, and issued repeated orders. What about these lawless traitors?

Originally, Nurha Chihuang Taiji and the others were a small tribe in the wilderness, and their strategic resources were very scarce, limited to galloping horses on the grasslands, bending bows and shooting arrows, but after receiving these "funding" from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, their iron and firearms developed rapidly , especially in the era of Huang Taiji, that is, when Ji Dong crossed over now, they had a special artillery team called Wuzhenchaoha. The well-equipped red cannons, coupled with valuable information, made The addition of wings by the Tartars outside the pass accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Some scholars even characterize the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants as the heroes of the Ming Dynasty's subjugation, which is not unreasonable.Because without these Shanxi merchants, the wild boars outside the pass would not have the strength to enter the pass and knock on the door, let alone dominate the Central Plains and dominate the world.

As a person who has traveled through time, Lin Yi certainly knows what these Shanxi merchants have changed, so Zu Keyong decided to attack this Shanxi merchant after he said this.

But Ji Dong knew that if he wanted to make this deal, he had to make sufficient preparations. This was not a simple robbery, and it was necessary to find out where to go.

Since the Shanxi merchants are so strong, they must have many bodyguards. In addition, they have traveled long distances and traveled through several provincial roads to be able to exit and enter the customs smoothly. To do business with the Tartars, they must not only have the support of the Tartars, but must also Only with the backing and protection of the inner thieves of the Ming Dynasty can these profiteers get the green light all the way.

Zu Keyong has already found out that within three to five days, this caravan must pass through Erdaogou Town, which is more than a hundred miles away from them.

In order to be safe, Lin Yi decided to go out in person this time, splitting the troops into two groups, and asked Zu Keyong to lead a thousand elite soldiers to the east to ambush near Erdaogou.

Lin Yi brought more than 100 personal guards including Xiaoying, Zhang Hua, Erhu, Wang Qi, Dongsheng, Gan Bao, Jiang Xingyuan, and rushed northwest to Yingzhou.

The remaining 700 people are under the command of Wang Jian and stationed in their camp. They have to keep an eye on their base camp.

Erdaogou Town is under the jurisdiction of Yingzhou. It is 400 miles northwest of Qianxi. In order to find out the real situation of this Shanxi merchant, more than 100 of his people also disguised themselves as long-distance merchants.

Made more than a dozen cars, and the car was full of sacks, filled with broken bricks, rotten stones and sandy soil, with a layer of rock scraped on the surface, pretending to be high-quality salt, and covered with grass, outsiders can’t see it at all What was pulled out of it.

Ji Dong has now taken off his military uniform, wearing a Wusheng son scarf on his head, a cotton shirt, and a knife hanging from his waist. He has become a handsome young man, and Xiaoying has become a beautiful chivalrous woman.

Zhang Hua, Er Hu, Dong Sheng, Wang Qi, Gan Bao, Jiang Xingyuan, these people became family servants and bodyguards, and the remaining 100 guards became grooms in disguise.

They got out of the mountains and drove their cars towards Yingzhou.

The weather was extremely cold, but fortunately, the weather was fine during this period of time. The snow accumulated in the past few days had almost melted away, and it was still freezing cold. The walking of people, horses and cars had not affected much.

The cold wind was piercing, and Ji Dong and the others were all wearing cotton padded clothes. Thanks to their youth and good physique, they were more or less skilled in martial arts. Therefore, the wind and cold in these frontier fortresses did not pose much threat to them.

But the road is not easy to walk, although it is also an official road, but the road is rough, the area is undulating, there are mountains and ridges, and there are few people.

In order to hurry, so as not to miss the target in Yingzhou, Lin Yi and the others traveled day and night, getting up early and staying late, and traveled more than 200 miles a day. When the sun was westward the next day, Lin Yi and his caravan drove into Yingzhou County.

Yingzhou is a small border county, and its specific location is probably in the northern part of Chengde. However, Chengde is not a bustling big city, nor is it a summer resort that Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to escape from the Eight-Power Allied Forces. No, it's just a small village full of overgrown grass and trees.

However, the small county of Yingzhou has a good geographical location. At the foot of the Great Wall, to the east is an important border town, Shihe Shanhaiguan, and to the west is Xifengkou, which is a passage on the Great Wall where Nurhachi and his son detoured to Mongolia for repeated crimes in the Central Plains.

The resident population of the county was originally only 5 to [-], but in recent years, due to the protection of heavy troops and dangerous passes in the east, the Tartars in the west passed the Xifeng Pass and went straight to the land of Gyeonggi. In the past, this place has become a peaceful and prosperous age.

In order to avoid the war and the ravages of the Tartars, those ordinary people who had nowhere to go to flee their homes also ran here, and the Ming merchants who did business with the Tartars also stopped here, and some came here to open inns and do business, so the population here increased. When I got up, it doubled at one time, and people came from south to north, and it was still lively.

During the period of war in the late Ming Dynasty, a county with a population of 10 was definitely a big county.

Lin Yi was afraid of missing the target, so he quickly found the largest inn in the county, planning to stay first, and quickly sent someone to inquire.

Looking at the signboard of this inn, one can tell that this is a large and luxurious inn. It says Longmen Inn in four big characters, flying like dragons and phoenixes, and the gold-lettered signboard is shining with gold.

Ji Dong and the others have a car and more than 100 people, so of course they can't live in a small shop.In addition, there are many people in the big inn, so it is easy to inquire about things.

However, Ji Dong found that although the storefront of this inn was large, it was very deserted and empty.

With doubts, Ji Dong ordered someone to come forward and call the door.

Xiao Er came out to greet the guests, and at first glance, Lin Yi looked very energetic, and at first glance, he was the son of a wealthy family, with a beautiful woman, and this group of people took the car and lined up half the street, showing respect at the front and back, with a smile on his face Become a chrysanthemum: "May I ask where the guest came from and where is he going?"

Ji Dong felt that the little girl asked a little awkwardly, the customer is God, you are the owner of the store, and we are staying in the store. Didn't you let us in enthusiastically first, and asked where we came from? What does it matter? ?

"My son is from Henan and wants to go beyond the Great Wall."

When Lin Yi said this, Xiao Er's face turned cold all of a sudden, and his smile gradually faded: "I'm sorry, Master, you came to the wrong place. Our place has already been taken over by someone. You are so tall, go elsewhere .”

The waiter left after speaking.

Lin Yi was unhappy, and Erhu couldn't hold back his anger, so he stopped him in two steps, "Stop, you fellow!"

Xiao Er saw Er Hu's hulking back, his eyes stared like buns, he was startled and stopped.

"You are so rude, since the inn has been booked, why do you ask me where I came from? As soon as our son said that I came from Henan, your face immediately changed, and you said these words , Why did you come to the wrong place, let us go elsewhere, because we are afraid that we will not be able to pay you, but because our young master has offended you before?"

As Erhu said, he grabbed Xiaoer by the collar of his clothes.

"Why do you still want to beat people? You don't even look at this place. I think it's your first time here. Go and ask, who is worthy of living in our shop?"

"You really look down on people with a dog's eyes..." Er Hu raised his big fist.

"You must not be rude." Lin Yi felt that there was something in the little two's words, so he came over to stop the two tigers. For the convenience of moving, concealing their identities, and fearing that it would be exposed, Lin Yi and the others temporarily changed their names.

"Second brother, we are indeed newcomers, our first trip to do business, and we really don't know the rules here, so please explain clearly."

Lin Yi said with a smile on his face, and Xiao Er finally revealed the truth. This inn only accepts merchants from Jindi. If merchants from Jindi do not come, the inn would rather be empty than accept other guests. Make sure that the merchants in Jindi have a place to live at any time, otherwise someone will ask them to settle accounts, and their shop will not be able to open. This is what the innkeeper explained, and he also does this. This is the rule all these years.

When Lin Yi heard it, Shanxi merchants really had a lot of style, and there was such an overlord clause, but he just took this opportunity to inquire, thinking of this, Lin Yi said: "Little brother, since you are opening a shop, you are afraid that you will not be able to make more money. The businessmen from Jindi haven’t come yet, and the shop is also idle, and we don’t live in badly, so we must give more money, and the merchants from Jindi are here, so we move out quickly, so we won’t embarrass you, please, Xiaoer Is it convenient for you brother?"

Lin Yi said, and gave him 10 taels of silver.

Xiao Er didn't dare to take the money, and shook his head like a rattle: "Young master, don't make things difficult for a villain. This is really unavoidable. The merchants from Jindi came tonight. You have so many horses! Look for a place earlier, where can I find it then? You can go further, turn around two streets, there is a Daqin Inn, where the conditions and environment are good, the shop is quite big, and the price is much cheaper than ours , Young Master, hurry over there."

When Lin Yi heard it, damn it, it's a coincidence that it's better to come sooner than later. I'm going to stay here tonight!
(End of this chapter)