Chapter 134 Closing the Net
I thought to myself that he was pretending to be righteous just now, but he was just trying to gain some benefits.

However, these Shanxi merchants had already anticipated this situation and prepared more than a dozen similar daggers in preparation for such a situation.

However, after Dorot put the dagger back in his arms, he said with a straight face again: "Since it is General Wu's small business, it is natural for us Dorot tribe to take care of it."

"How about this, you can just sell all the remaining goods to our Dorot tribe, so you don't have to transport them thousands of miles away."

"This, this, this..." Fan Yongdou and others were stunned, speechless.

If it was normal goods, even cloth, salt, or even utensils such as iron pots, it would not be a bad idea to sell them directly to Doroth, and it would indeed save them a lot of effort.

But the carriages were loaded with not only food and cloth, but also large quantities of armor, ironware, medicine, gunpowder and other items.

Not only could these things not be sold to other tribes, even the Dorlot tribe, which was granted special permission to trade, could not purchase them without special approval from the imperial court.

If they really sold the goods to Duolot and could not deliver them to Huang Taiji, it would be a small matter. But they were worried that Duolot would report it to the Ming court without knowing what was good for him. Then all the Shanxi merchants would be doomed one by one.

Fan Yongdou immediately racked his brains, and took out a similar dagger from his sleeve and handed it to Duorut, saying, "These were ordered by others, how can we sell them to your department at the last minute?"

"I thank the chief for his kindness on behalf of General Wu. The bribery plan will be put to rest. As long as the chief can show mercy and let us go, I will be very grateful."

However, Dorut simply accepted the offer and skillfully put the second dagger into his arms with a sneer on his face.

Seeing this, Fan Yongdou gritted his teeth and said, "Since the chief knows that General Wu Sangui is Zu Dashou's nephew. He is also the biological son of Wu Xiang, the general of Liaodong, then I will not hide it from the chief. In fact, General Wu and Zu Dashuai also have shares in this business!"

According to Liang Jiabin, because Zu Dashou led his troops to rescue the Duoloth tribe that was attacked by Huang Taiji, the Duoloth tribe was grateful to Zu Dashou.

Last time he just mentioned it vaguely, saying that this was Wu Sangui's small business, and Dorut in front of him did not ask any more questions.

Although it is unknown why, Wu Sangui's reputation is no longer effective.

So Fan Yongdou had to bring up Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou himself, hoping that Dorut would not make things difficult for him for Zu Dashou's sake.

However, Fan Yongdou began to feel that something was wrong. Even though he had mentioned Zu Dashou's name, Duoluotu still did not look happy. He even sneered and said, "If it is really Marshal Zu's business, our Duoluotu tribe will naturally not make it difficult, but..."

Dorut took a step back and asked, "Is this really Marshal Zu's business?"

As soon as Dorut finished speaking, the Dorut tribesmen who followed him immediately drew their swords and surrounded them, staring at Fan Yongdou and others with eager eyes.

Among the eight Shanxi merchants, except for Liang Jiabin who had sold all his goods, the other seven came to Aomulun with their caravans.

Each of the seven caravans had a number of servants armed with swords, which added up to at least five or six hundred people.

However, at this time, on the territory of others, facing the warriors of the Dorote tribe who were eyeing them covetously, these servants who used to love bullying others suddenly became timid, and did not even dare to touch the swords on their waists. Fan Yongdou swallowed his saliva, thinking quickly about the solution in his mind, and said to comfort him: "This is really Marshal Zu's business, but Marshal Zu's identity is naturally not easy to show up. But you should know, Dorote leader, that Wu Xiang, the general of Liaodong, is his brother-in-law. If you don't believe it, I can immediately send someone to ask him to come over to prove it."

Zu Dashou certainly did not directly participate in the business of the Eight Major Shanxi Merchants. This was just Fan Yongdou's strategy of confusing the enemy with other troops.

But he did bribe Wu Xiang and gave him a substantial share. If Wu Xiang were invited to cooperate at this time, it would indeed be possible to scare these Dorote people.

However, a sneer suddenly rang out from a nearby tent: "There's no need to bother Wu Xiang to prove it. Wouldn't it be better to just let me come forward?"

As the words came out, a military commander in full armor walked out of the tent. It was Zu Dashou who was in charge of Jinzhou.

With the appearance of Zu Dashou, many Jinzhou city defenders rushed out of the surrounding tents, each holding a weapon and pointing at the Shanxi merchants with murderous intent.

And that’s not all. In addition to the officers and soldiers wearing the Ming Dynasty’s mandarin duck battle jackets, there were also many people wearing Jinyiwei official uniforms mixed in.

A little further away, the shouts of Gulu, Celine and others could be heard. A large number of Mongolian cavalrymen, swinging maces and holding strong bows, blocked all possible escape routes of the Shanxi merchants.

The moment Zu Dashou appeared, Fan Yongdou knew that his death was imminent. His mind suddenly buzzed, "It turns out that all this is a scam, designed to deal with us!"

Fan Yongdou did not attempt to threaten them by saying that Wu Xiang was also involved, because when he discovered that this was all a conspiracy, he understood that no matter whether Wu Xiang was unaware and his true nature was revealed, or he was deliberately paralyzing them, the right and wrong were all decided by Zu Dashou.

Zu Dashou sneered and said, "If you, the rubbish that only repeats what others say, were to do business honestly, you would be rich, if not the richest man in the world, at least one of the richest people in your area."

"Even if you sell contraband to other Mongolian tribes, as long as it's not armor or gunpowder, it's not a big deal. But you should never smuggle military funds to the Jiannu!"

Fan Yongdou smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, we are indeed a bunch of rubbish who are just parroting others. The Qiao family in Qi County, Shanxi, the Chang family in Yuci, the Cao family and the Kong family in Taigu, the Hou family in Jiexiu, the Qu family in Qi County, and the Kang family in Linfen are the real Shanxi merchants."

"But business is business. If someone offers and we have the product, why can't we sell it?"

"Does it also include treason?" Zu Dashou said coldly.

Fan Yongdou was suddenly speechless and opened his mouth, wondering how to argue.

People in later generations often think that the so-called Eight Imperial Merchants must be as wealthy as a country, but strictly speaking, this is not the case.

Because the earliest Shanxi merchants made their fortunes with salt permits, and because the Kaizhong system was implemented in the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court encouraged merchants to transport grain to the border in exchange for salt permits, and then use the salt permits to exchange for salt for sale.

This led to the Shanxi merchants, who had geographical advantages, quickly accumulating original capital.

(End of this chapter)