"This man transported silver overnight, obviously in a hurry. Once he was caught by the general, he had to give up the tens of thousands of taels of silver. How could a slave family have such courage? This man must be the master of the silver, and he knew that the silver was small and his life was big. But why did he dare not declare himself once he was arrested? Why didn't he dare to say that the silver belonged to him?" Chen Xiang knew that Zhou Yuji and Huang Chengming had seen through this, but he had to say it himself.

"Mr. Chen is really good at seeing! No one of us rough people expected it." Huang Chengming nodded repeatedly.

——You are rough people? This is too fake!

Chen Xiang continued: "So this person mostly learned from some channel that our army was coming, fled at night, and crashed into the net, and then continued Huang Dasan's words and said it was a bribery."

"Mr. Chen's eyes were as bright as a torch, but I'd like to ask, it's a secret that our army came. Why did he know in advance?" Huang Chengming bit.

Chen Xiang lowered his head and said, "No one from the general has left the team to report the news since he received the order. The only person who may leak the news is the Jinyiwei."

Zhou Yuji and Huang Chengming pretended to be "How could this be?"

Chen Xiang smiled bitterly and said, "Indeed, only our Jinyiwei dispatched personnel, and some of the latest links may be leaked, and the profiteering businessman found out. Please ask the general to teach me to bring this person back to the guard and find out the leaked rat."

"There are such a big rats in the Jinyiwei! It's really horrifying!" Huang Chengming shouted loudly, completely placing the leaked information so as not to turn around and bite him. If Chen Xiang could not force him to say it, this group of people would not be left to the Jinyiwei even if they were beaten to death.

That's a group of shameful people. Who knows where their lower limit is?

"Since Chen Qianhu said this, this person and his entourage will be handed over to Qianhu for disposal." Zhou Yuji spoke.

Chen Xiang had to thank him with a bitter face. Fortunately, his face was covered by a wide-brimmed hat, otherwise it would be even more embarrassing.

The merchant was beaten to death. When he suddenly heard the three words "Embroidered Uniform Guard", he felt lost in his heart and shouted: "My little wish! The little wish is for the general... I just want not to hand over the little one..."

Huang Chengming approached Chen Xiang and whispered: "It seems that he is afraid of being silenced by you."

Chen Xiang's eyes were straight, and he suddenly shook his head and said, "No. We came all the way and did not find any abnormal movements from other big businesses. If there were big rats hidden in the Jinyiwei to inform him, why did he report to a small vendor alone?"

In Zhangjiakou, which of the eight emperors is not a small ant with a family capital of millions or less than 60,000 taels, why can they buy news that big merchants can't buy? And since it's the news that they bought, why don't they sell it? In that way, not only can you make a fortune, but you can also hide the truth from the troubled waters. At least he will not be the only one who will be caught tonight.

"Your son is in Beijing, but I miss you very much." Chen Xiangpao immediately stepped forward: "Don't you really want to meet him?"

When the merchant heard this, he collapsed on the ground, hesitating and wishing he could die.

Huang Chengming looked at Zhou Yuji. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yuji also looked over. The two of them happened to look at each other, and they both said in their hearts: The Jinyiwei's ability to defraud the offering is indeed amazing!

Chen Xiang knew that he had cheated. If it weren't for the father and son who would have the treatment and methods of the Jinyiwei, who would dare to leak the secret? Just as he was proud, he keenly discovered the abnormality of Zhou Yuji and Huang Chengming, which was quite like turning back the whole city. He turned around and said, "This matter will be revealed soon. I will definitely notify the general at that time."

"Wait, he said he could be our army's supporter..."

"The Jinyiwei has already arranged the matters of internal responses, so why do you need this person?" Chen Xiang smiled and said, "At dawn, the general will enter the city."

Zhou Yuji had no choice but to nod, which was considered to be an agreement.

It is hard to say whether Zhangjiakou is considered liberation now.

After the Qing Dynasty withdrew from Shanxi and even in the pass, many places were in sight. This kind of thing has been repeated in recent years, so many officials in prefectures and counties only changed their names, and some wore Ming official uniforms from beginning to end.

Now Zhangjiakou still belongs to Xuanfu in administrative jurisdiction. However, Xuanfu basically no longer exists after the Third Guard Division eastward, and the civil affairs of the jurisdiction belong to Shuntian Prefecture.

The team of Shuntian Prefecture has not even sorted out the twenty-five counties under its original rule, so how can we care about Xuanfu? Therefore, Zhangjiakou Fort was only replaced with the Ming Red Flag, which is anyway.

The former officials and garrisons in the fort had long been eroded and replaced by the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi merchants. Now the entire Zhangjiabao is like the autonomous ruler of merchants, and everything is decided by the big merchants. The military preparations in the city do not belong to the government court, but to the escorts of merchants. On weekdays, they each protect their families and the slayers will resist together when there are horse thieves.

Zhou Yuji received a secret order to completely control Zhangjiakou, identify the severity of the crime of collusion with enemies, and confiscate all the stolen money and goods.

If there is no cheap act in the secret order, it has already set the character of the Zhangjiakou merchants: they are all guilty, and there is a difference between severity and seriousness. Therefore, even if Zhou Yuji wants to massacre the city, it is not considered a rule.

Huang Chengming was originally a student of Hejian Prefecture. He also followed the merchants in his family to the west entrance since he was a child, so he was skilled in equestrianism. Since he was a partner with Zhou Yuji, he has no questions about the secret orders, but only strongly supported him. Zhou Yuji was quite grateful for this and secretly decided that if Huang Chengming pleaded for mercy, he could let go. However, he didn't know that although Huang Chengming was from a businessman, he did not have class consciousness.

In Huang Chengming's view, there are only two types of people in the Ming Dynasty, law-abiding good people and evil people co-working the enemy. Whether it is a merchant or a farmer, co-working the enemy should be damned. Hejian Prefecture has been ravaged by the Eastern Captains since the early years of Chongzhen, so this hatred has been persistent and difficult to eliminate. Since learning that the Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou colluded with the Eastern Captains and betrayed the Ming Dynasty, Huang Chengming has been looking forward to seeing them being rectified the Fa one day. Now this task can be regarded as a meat bun falling from the sky.

Zhangjiakou is north of Beijing, with long nights and short days. Finally, it was dawn. Zhou Yuji ordered the blockade of all gates of Zhangjiakou Fort and prepared to enter the city. The team later blocked all the passages leading to Zhangjiakou from the outside world. At this time, Zhangjiakou was really unable to fly out.

...

The movement outside the fort naturally alarmed the rich merchants inside.

As the actual controller of Zhangjiakou, Fan Yongdou did not believe that it was a commotion of the horse thief. To be serious, who wouldn't give him some face to the few horse thieves on the grassland? He was a person who had received a banquet from the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. However, it was as dark as varnish, and there was no flag on the city wall. He could only wait until dawn to talk about it.

Although he did not go to find the other seven business partners, the officials from the other seven companies found him. The eight most powerful families in Zhangjiakou gathered together to discuss how to deal with these "bandits" outside.

"I think these people are mostly official troops." Wang Dengku, who is second only to Fan Yongdou, said: "After the Qing army leaves, the soldiers of the Xuanfu will always come to fight the Qiufeng."

Fan Yongdou said: "If you beat Qiufeng, it would be reasonable. Everyone, can you have a note?"

"It's up to Mr. Fan to decide everything." Everyone said in unison.

The Fan family's grandparents and grandchildren operated border trade for seven generations, and this foundation is not comparable to that of wealthy businessmen who have exploded for two or three generations.

Fan Yongdou was also very pleased, pondered for a moment, and said, "This time it's a big battle. We still have many things in our hands that have not been sold. We have insufficient money. Let's take 500,000 taels to see if we can pass it. If we can't pass it, we can share the money after selling the goods. What do you think?"

Everyone also felt a little sad that 500,000 taels were a little sad, but the fierce soldiers and generals after the war were the most difficult to mess with. The generals and merchants in daily life were no different from those of the merchants, and they could bargain, but these red-eyed Qiu Bas often drew their swords to kill people. They first fed them with silver, and then used them to pull them into the water, becoming a protective umbrella and a channel for selling stolen goods. These are things that generations have used to.

"Another." Fan Yongdou's tone was heavier.

Everyone quickly calmed down and listened to him respectfully.

"There are also indispensable points in Beijing. Look, each family pays 100,000 taels, and my Fan family pays 200,000 taels. If you go to Beijing to manage some points, it will make those Qiu Ba know how to advance and retreat." Fan Yong said.

Wang Dengku first expressed his opinion: "That is, the so-called emperor and ministers, I heard that the capital is now full of cruel officials from small families. These people are the easiest to get rid of, just use money."

The others breathed a sigh of relief. To them, more than 100,000 taels and 200,000 taels were not a big deal. The key was that there were people in the court. From the Jiajing Dynasty to the present, they have enjoyed the days when the collusion between officials and businessmen was unfavorable. As long as there were people in the court, it was better to open up a trade route.

When Beijing had just changed hands, each company had already sent people to Beijing to inquire about various information and arranged possible ways to use it, and also used a lot of money. However, the kind of money of 1,800 taels was not considered silver in their opinion, so this time each company was considered a soldier of 100,000 taels.

"After dawn tomorrow, I will leave the city and negotiate with them. Let's prepare the money for each family." Fan Yong said.

The money for feeding Qiu Ba was the least profitable, so Fan Yong decided to pay 500,000 taels, and his Fan family and Wang Dengku's Wang family did not need to pay. Moreover, because he came forward to negotiate, the remaining six families had to raise 100,000 taels for him, which was considered a face-to-face money, so it was equivalent to each family still having to pay another 100,000 taels.

Everything was arranged, Fan Yongdou felt that this would be perfect, so he just lay down for a while before dawn, but he didn't expect to fall asleep.

When Fan Yongdou woke up, the whole of Zhangjiakou had changed.

...

Chen Xiang and the secret spies of Jinyiwei in the city met the secret code. The guards in Zhangjiakou went to the inner castle gate and opened one after another. These spies had long dressed up as guards. Although the time was still short and they could not be fully trusted by the master, their mission was originally just to find out the doors of each family and to open the defenses of Zhangjiakou in time.

After such a simple task, some of these people could return to Beijing for training in Jinyiwei, while others continued to lurk - if Zhou Yuji did not plan to massacre the city.

Zhou Yuji took his personal guards and stood on a horse in front of the Shangjia who was afraid to greet him. He gently raised the horse whip and asked in a deep voice: "Where is Fan Yongdou!"
Chapter completed!