Chapter 195: He treated us like fools and even scared himself when he took revenge
Zhangjiakou is an important city in the northern border of Shanxi Province.
Xie Qingyuan, the general manager of the Xie family business in the three northwestern provinces, sat by the window of a gorgeous and exquisite teahouse, looking at the Shanxi merchants' united caravan that was heading north along the long street, with a gloomy look in his eyes.
"Everyone, please tell me."
"In our Southern Merchant Alliance, the caravans that have been going out of the border to trade have disappeared one after another in recent times. Could it be that these Shanxi merchants are secretly doing something wrong?"
"Otherwise, where do all these coincidences come from?"
"According to reliable information we have obtained, the petty thief Li Dingguo, who is entrenched outside the Yansui Town in Qin, has never left the Jialu River area!"
"They just kept attacking the small and medium-sized Tatar tribes along the river, and quickly expanded themselves by plundering everything from the Mongolian Tatars."
He said in a stern and cold tone, "There is no doubt that we have been fooled by these Shanxi merchants!"
"Not long ago, we even lost a large fleet of treasure ships because of this, and lost a large number of personnel!"
"These Shanxi merchants must have known that Li Dingguo's gang of petty thieves is not easy to deal with, so they tried every means to lure us into being deceived and go to war to seek revenge on them, thus making us mortal enemies!"
"Oh!"
Xie Qingyuan slammed the table and stood up, cursing, "These Shanxi merchants are too ungentlemanly!"
"Isn't it just asking them to give up a few trade routes outside the Great Wall? It's like we're trying to take away their lifeblood, so they're using all means to retaliate against us!"
"They don't even think about it. If it weren't for our generosity and the magnanimity of the Wechat Business Alliance in the past hundred years, would the salt merchants from Qin and Jin be able to go to Yangzhou to occupy a place in the salt industry?"
"When there is wealth, everyone gets it. When there is money, everyone makes money together. This is the long-standing way to make money!"
"But I never expected that the Shanxi merchants would be so petty. They can take other people's things, but they can't touch their own!"
"In the past few months, they have been secretly planning all kinds of shameful means. Are they trying to treat us, the Southern Merchant Alliance, as fools?"
Xie Qingyuan was right. This time, the Shanxi Merchants Alliance really treated the arrogant Southern Merchants Alliance as fools and played a trick on them!
However, how could there be any fools among these wealthy southern merchants who were able to create wealth that could rival a country in the rich southern coastal area?
These truths were soon discovered by them, but they did not yet have conclusive evidence.
"Thank you, Shopkeeper. All the current situations have shown that the relationship between the Shanxi Merchants Alliance and the Tartars outside the Great Wall, especially the Later Jin Tartars, is unusual!"
Wang Fugui, the representative of the Wang family, one of the three major salt merchants in Yangzhou, had a fat and big-eared face full of lividity, which was enough to prove how much anger he had accumulated!
He interrupted coldly, "We have suffered such a huge loss, how can we not retaliate?"
"With the foundation of the Shanxi Merchants Alliance, what can they use to fight against us, the Southern Merchants Alliance?"
"More than 70% of the officials in the court are from the official and gentry families in our south. The right to speak in the court has been controlled by us for nearly a thousand years!"
"The foundation of people like us is totally incomparable to those nouveau riche Shanxi merchants."
"Take the Huizhou salt merchants of our Yangzhou for example. Since the Yongle period, they have almost monopolized the salt industry of the Ming Dynasty!"
"The connections and wealth accumulated over so many years are beyond the reach of these unethical Shanxi merchants, no matter how hard they try!"
"We must take revenge on them!"
Their Wang family is one of the three major salt merchants in Yangzhou, and can be said to be the richest in the world.
Of course, this refers to these wealthy businessmen.
The truly richest person in the world is the shopkeeper of the Xie family next to him, who comes from one of the representative families of the thousand-year-old family: the Jiangnan Xie family.
"The swallows that used to fly in front of the halls of the wealthy and the poor now fly into the homes of ordinary people."
One of the people this poem refers to is the Xie family in Jiangnan!
They have been a super family that rose from the Eastern Jin Dynasty and have been passed down to the present day.
Although there have been ups and downs during this period, it has still been passed down tenaciously to the present day, and its foundation is unfathomable!
Especially during the Zhengde and Xuantong years of this dynasty, it once again reached its peak and was known as the number one family in the world and the richest man in the world!
Rumor has it that there are even two still-living masters in the Xie family who have reached the peak of the fifth level of martial arts. They have eliminated countless enemies for the family, both openly and secretly.
"Well, we need to teach these Shanxi Merchants Alliance a profound lesson."
The thin middle-aged man at the side said sinisterly, "Otherwise, they really think we have no temper and treat us like children!"
He is one of the three major salt merchants in Yangzhou: the head of the Zhong family's caravan in the three northwestern provinces, and the biggest backer behind him is the Xu family, Duke of Wei.
Therefore, the words of this shopkeeper named Zhong Yiming carry a lot of weight.
Duke Wei was one of the two most powerful dukes in the entire Ming Dynasty, whom no one dared to provoke. He was in charge of the military power of several provinces in the south and was extremely prominent.
Once the Duke of Wei’s Mansion gets angry, the entire Ming Dynasty will tremble!
To put it bluntly, the weight of Duke Wei's words in the south is much more important than that of His Majesty today!
"How about this."
Zhong Yiming thought about it and immediately made a decision. "Outside the three northwestern provinces, our power is far inferior to that of the Shanxi merchants. However, the Liaodong border area, including the sea route, is the world of our Southern Merchant Alliance!"
"If nothing else, we can still afford three or five top-quality treasure ships."
"We will report this directly to the master, and ask him to order all the coastal fleets under his command to directly cut off all the sea trade routes of the Shanxi and Qin merchants!"
"Let these Shanxi and Qin merchants never sail out to sea again!"
"I want to see if they can bear this kind of loss!"
"Compared with the lucrative profits from maritime trade, the profits from foreign trade in the three northwestern provinces are far less!"
"Until these damn Shanxi merchants admit their mistakes and apologize to us!"
Zhong Yiming is a guy who is known for his ruthlessness. If he doesn't make a move, it's fine. But once he makes a move, he hits the opponent directly on the weak spot!
But what he said was the truth. In all the Ming sea areas along the southeast coast, they were truly able to call the shots.
Even today, 90% of the pirates on the southeast coast are controlled behind the scenes by this alliance of wealthy merchants.
You know, the three most famous pirates along the coast of Ming Dynasty are all large maritime forces that can compete with those large white Hu fleets overseas!
No matter which major pirate force is ordered to take action, the sea trade routes of these Shanxi and Qin merchants can be completely blocked.
"That's right! That's how we should fight back!"
"That's right, we can't just brush this matter off lightly this time!"
"If most of the high-ranking officials in the court were not reluctant to part with the large annual tributes from the Shanxi and Qin merchants, we would not be able to beat them to death with one blow. Otherwise, we might as well just wipe them out!"
"Well, let's teach them a heart-wrenching lesson this time and see if they will behave themselves."...
In this exquisite restaurant belonging to the Xie family, dozens of big shopkeepers from the Southern Merchant Alliance agreed in unison. Today, the restaurant had been cleared of all the idlers, so they could speak freely without worrying that the content of the discussion here would be leaked out.
Everyone discussed the solution proposed by Zhong Yiming, and then called in a group of beautiful maids and singing girls to start a round of debauchery...
……
"what?"
"Yan Zha hasn't come back yet?"
"Why is it like this?"
Shengjing City, the Grand Prince’s Mansion.
Hauge's face was filled with anger. He couldn't believe the news he had just received, and he repeatedly asked his trusted general Gushan Ezhen Sunahai.
Niulu Zhangjing Yanzha is one of the fiercest generals under Gushan Ezhen Sunahai. Although his cultivation is not very high, he is the most trusted by him and is also the most capable confidant among his subordinates.
Yan Zha was also one of the attendants of Grand Beile Haoge, and could be said to be the most trusted confidant of the two.
Precisely because of this, and because of the importance of this mission, Hauge personally gave a guarantee to his father Khan Huang Taiji and recommended Yan Zha to go to Lijiabao near Dingbian City in person to reward Li Yanglong, the head of the Li family who had made great contributions to the Later Jin clan, and to retrieve crucial top-secret intelligence.
Who would have thought that nearly half a year had passed and not only had Yan Zha not completed his mission but had also sent back news that he was missing!
This is a big deal!
Although the Later Jin clan could notify the big Jin merchant Fan family to send over a supplementary copy of the top-secret intelligence they wanted, the precious time wasted in this way was of vital importance to the overall layout of the Later Jin clan!
"Lord Baylor."
Sunahai's face turned pale as he reported, "The Fan family has responded to the spiritual eagle message I sent."
"They said that the Li Family Fort was cleared out by the enemy overnight. They must have been killed."
"The Fan family discovered the bodies of the entire Lijiabao clan in a mass grave nearby, including the bodies of Yan Zha and two of his warriors!"
"They were slaughtered overnight along with the entire Li Family Fort family!"
"After the Fan family's vigorous investigations over the past few days, we have found out that on the day when Lijiabao was destroyed, a large group of rebels from the interior happened to pass by nearby."
"If it goes as expected, this massacre was caused by that rebel army."
"The Fan family's intelligence said that this is a very strange and unique group of thieves."
"The leader of the gang is an eleven-year-old boy who was born an orphan beggar. His name is Li Dingguo."
"This Li Dingguo is so bold that he has formed an army of orphans and beggars as the backbone. He did not develop within the borders of the Ming Dynasty, but went straight out of the border. Now he has occupied the section of the Jialu River outside the borders and has become the tyrant of the Jialu River!"
"They make a living by robbing caravans heading for trade outside the Great Wall, as well as the Mongolian tribes in nearby areas. Recently, they have become more prosperous and even become the most troublesome enemy of the Shanxi merchants."
"Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family, also said that when the head of the Fan family in Qin went to the border areas to trade, all the people disappeared together. It is very likely that they died at the hands of the little thief Li Dingguo."
"There is no doubt that this group of petty thieves has become a powerful force outside the northwest border of Shanxi, and their style of doing things is extremely bold!"
"Lord Baylor."
Sunahai then reported the issue that Hauge was most concerned about. "I have asked one of the sacred birds of my tribe, the Saker Falcon, to go out in person and retrieve the same information from the big Jin merchant Fan Yongdou in time. It is enough not to delay the Khan's request, so you, Lord Beile, can take it and report it."
The Later Jin clan now worships two pairs of sacred birds, the Saker Falcon.
These two pairs of Saker Falcon spirit beasts are extraordinary existences. One pair is at the peak level of level five spirit beasts, and the other pair is at the initial stage of level five spirit beasts.
They have all awakened their innate magical powers, and with the advantage of being the overlords of the sky, they are top-level spiritual beasts and birds that are invincible in their class.
They have a high status among the Later Jin clan and are extremely arrogant.
Most of the high-ranking generals of the Later Jin Dynasty wanted to ask them to go out and do things, but they were simply unable to do so.
Sunahai paid the price of a three-hundred-year-old red fruit and was finally able to persuade one of the Saker Falcon divine birds.
It was only by having it go to Zhangjiakou in person and retrieve the secret information from Fan Yongdou that Sunahai would not be angered by Hauge or even Huang Taiji.
Sunahai had originally intended to keep this three-hundred-year-old red fruit, which he had painstakingly obtained from the depths of Changbai Mountain, for himself to use in the near future to break through the peak of the initial fifth stage of martial arts and enter the middle fifth stage of martial arts.
However, in order to make up for his mistake this time, he had to pay this rare level 5 spiritual fruit and ask the clan's sacred bird, the Saker Falcon, to come out. It was simply heartbreaking.
This will undoubtedly have a huge impact on his progress in cultivation, and the loss will be difficult to make up for in the future.
That’s a level five spiritual fruit!
In this life, so far, I have only obtained this one level five spiritual fruit.
Just using this as an honor to a divine bird, Sunahai felt so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood!
As one of the top masters in the army, Sunahai knew very well that if he failed to break through to the middle fifth level of martial arts in the next few years, his status would drop sharply.
Although he can still sit firmly on the throne of Gushan Ezhen of the Bordered Yellow Banner, the pressure he will face in the future will be enormous.
In the Later Jin clan, the strong are respected.
All the dozens of Gushan Ezhen in the entire tribe are generals with the fifth level of martial arts cultivation.
Most of the Gushan Ezhen among them are now masters at the initial and middle fifth level of martial arts, and there are no more than ten of them.
There are only three Gushan Ezhen who are in the late fifth level of martial arts in the entire Houjin clan.
As for the great masters who have reached the pinnacle of the fifth level of martial arts, there are only two of them, Abahai, the commander of Huang Taiji's personal guards, and Manggurtai, the leader of the Zhenglan Banner.
As Gushan Ezhen, who is in the early fifth level or middle fifth level of martial arts, his status is completely different.
If we were to ask who in the world today hates Li Dingguo the most, it would be Gushan Ezhen Sunahai of the Bordered Yellow Banner!
"Wait!"
"Li Dingguo, you little thief, in a few years, it will be time for me, Sunahai, to personally seek revenge on you!"
"At that time, I will chop off your head with my own hands and make it into a wine cup, which I will use to drink wine from now on!"
Sunahai swore a secret oath in his heart, and then he spent a huge amount of money to ask the tribe's sacred bird Saker Falcon to go find Fan Yongdou and retrieve the top-secret intelligence file again, and handed it to Hauge respectfully.
In any case, Sunahai felt relieved after completing this round of tasks on time.
This time he did not commit an irreparable mistake and at least he managed to save his life and status. It was a blessing in disguise.
(End of this chapter)
