Chapter 123 Zhangjiakou Fort
Chongzhen slammed the imperial desk, his hair and beard standing up in anger and said: "Since they don't regard themselves as citizens of the Ming Dynasty, then I don't need to treat them as citizens either!"

"Zheng Shiyi!"

"I'm here!" Zheng Shiyi suddenly knelt down, feeling inexplicably shocked.

Although he had just tried to guess Chongzhen's thoughts and said a lot of bad things about Shanxi merchants, he even revealed some insignificant inside information.

But he could never have expected that Chongzhen would directly say that these Shanxi merchants were no longer the people of the Ming Dynasty!

This was no longer just harsh words; it was a direct death sentence for these Shanxi merchants and their nine clans!
Let me ask, what crime is it for foreigners to hide in the Ming Dynasty, collude with barbarians, and smuggle large amounts of military equipment and food to support the enemy?
In Chongzhen's eyes, these Shanxi people were no longer the people of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, they were enemies who intended to overthrow the Ming Dynasty!
Before Zheng Shiyi's turmoil subsided, Chongzhen's anger intensified as he asked, "As for those officials who secretly provided convenience to Shanxi merchants, don't they know the inside story?"

"Knowing that the Shanxi merchants were aiding the enemy but not regulating them, and even colluding with and condoning them, they are even more hateful than the Shanxi merchants! Eating the emperor's salary and doing things that betray the master is almost the same as treason!"

"I order you to root out this gang of traitors within one month. Can you do it?"

At this moment, facing the furious Chongzhen, Zheng Shiyi could only answer, regardless of whether he could do it or not: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will bring these traitors who betrayed the country and aided the enemy to justice!"

"Okay, if you do a good job, the position of the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard will be yours!" Chongzhen slammed the table and made a promise.

Zheng Shiyi was not at all excited by this, because the risks and rewards of eliminating such an interest group were not proportional at all.

However, Zheng Shiyi's lifelong honor and disgrace were all related to the Ming Dynasty and Chongzhen. Unless he was 100% sure that the Ming Dynasty would definitely perish, the loyalty of the Jinyiwei was acceptable.

………………

Zhangjiakou Fort, a mansion.

This is the new mansion built by Shanxi merchant Fan Yongdou in Zhangjiakoubao. However, usually only the servants and shop owners are invited here, and Fan Yongdou himself does not come here often, so it seems a bit deserted.

However, today, the deserted mansion is extremely lively.

Dozens of servants were running back and forth, serving tea and water.

Hundreds of slaves were armed with weapons and roaming around.

In the main hall, there was just a large round table, seating exactly eight people.

Although there were a wide variety of delicacies on the table, none of the eight people took a look at them. Instead, all their eyes were focused on a slightly plump middle-aged man.

However, the slightly plump middle-aged man was eating voraciously, but he seemed to have no interest in the delicacies on the table. He just enjoyed the sweetness of the noodles with oil and garlic.

The other seven people did not urge him. They waited until the slightly plump middle-aged man burped contentedly, took the handkerchief handed to him by the maid, wiped his mouth, drank a sip of tea and rinsed his mouth. Then he showed a satisfied smile, looked around and said:
"My dear shopkeepers, I, Fan Yongdou, have long said that the imperial court will not be able to hold out for long if it cuts off the market rewards, and the Mongolian tribes will not agree to it!"

"Look, the imperial court has issued an order to open the trade again!"

Upon hearing this, the other seven people looked at each other and laughed.

These eight people are none other than the eight famous imperial merchants: Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa.

Among them, Wang Dengku even echoed: "Our young emperor is still too naive. It is not easy to "remove all rewards". Let alone Huang Taiji, but Lin Danhan is enough to make the Ming Dynasty drink two pots of pots!"

"Isn't it!" Tian Shenglan also said: "It's been less than three months, and the market is about to open again!" Huang Yunfa snorted coldly and said: "The emperor is embarrassed by changing his orders every day, but it makes us suffer."

"If we don't open for three or several months, I don't know how much money we will lose!"

Zhai Tang laughed and said, "Manager Huang is trying to deceive us again. The official market of the imperial court is closed, but you are still doing business as usual?"

"My shopkeeper in Kalaqin saw with my own eyes that you transported more than a dozen batches to the grasslands, and seven or eight of them... hehe, were sent to Liaodong!"

"Liaodong?" Wang Dengku said meaningfully, "Huang Taiji is much more generous than the poor Mongolians. If he sells ironware and gunpowder, the profit from this trip will be enough to buy hundreds of hectares of fertile farmland!"

"Manager Huang, you really made a fortune without making any noise!"

Huang Yunfa pulled his beard and laughed, "Please don't laugh at me. It has been agreed that Brother Fan will be in charge of ironware and gunpowder. I, Old Huang, can only make a few bucks by selling grains, rice and beans!"

Liang Jiabin, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said coldly: "If Manager Huang doesn't like selling grain, you can exchange it with us..."

Huang Yunfa fell silent immediately after hearing this.

Because in the chain of interests drawn up by the eight people, the materials that each person would transport to Liaodong and Mobei had already been agreed upon to avoid competition among each other.

Liang Jiabin is in charge of wood, which is huge in size and high in cost, but the profit is relatively low among the others.

The most important thing is that transporting timber by land is extremely troublesome and too conspicuous.

If it were just a few Mongolian tribes outside the Great Wall that were relatively close, it would be easy to deal with. Liang Jiabin had already bribed the checkpoints along the way, so it wouldn't be a big problem.

But if it is transported to Liaodong, it will be extremely troublesome.

It is necessary to take the water route from Shandong, which has high transportation costs.

Moreover, that place was Mao Wenlong's territory, and Mao Wenlong was more greedy than others, so Liang Jiabin often had to pay more bribes to be allowed to pass.

So everyone knows that timber trading is a thankless business.

Seeing Liang Jiabin's unhappy face, Fan Yongdou, who had eaten and drunk enough, smiled and said, "Manager Liang, I came back from Liaodong this time to bring you good news. How do you want to thank me?"

Fan Yongdou was the leader among the group, and he had the best relationship with Huang Taiji and the deceased Nurhaci.

In recent years, he was basically the one who handled all the contacts with Liaodong, and then distributed the orders that Huang Taiji needed to everyone.

Hearing Fan Yongdou say that he had brought back good news, Liang Jiabin did not dare to neglect it and immediately said with a smile: "What is there to say? If there is any benefit coming to our door, Brother Fan must be included in it!"

"Haha, you said that yourself, Shopkeeper Liang!" Fan Yongdou laughed a few times, and when he saw everyone looking at him, he stopped playing dumb and said directly:

"Although the imperial court has decided to reopen the trade this time, it is only targeting the Dorlot tribe. I think the young emperor is too embarrassed to say that he is afraid of the Mongols, so he is trying to cover up his mistake!"

"It is open but not fully open. It is just pretended to be a special case so that people in the world will not embarrass him. After a period of time, people in the world will know the truth and stop talking about him. Then it will be fully reopened."

(End of this chapter)