Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 165
Young Master Zhang and Old Eunuch Fu colluded internally and externally, relying on the power of the army and Dongchang to run rampant in the Jimen area, exploiting the common people, extorting innocent businessmen, doing good things but not doing bad things, and using the pretext of attracting investment, smuggling and selling arms and unscrupulous money. Money, sex and bribery can be described as covering the sky with one hand and lawlessness, and the momentum is the same for a while.But with all the secrets, what the treacherous courtiers and eunuch partners who are in a hurry don't know is that Fan Yongdou, the kind and law-abiding shopkeeper who was actually targeted by them, is actually living in Jizhou City at the moment, and is also secretly watching. watching them

Since it is a merchant, its work efficiency must be far higher than that of ordinary yamen. Wang Dengku was "escorted" by young master Zhang's personal soldiers to leave the governor's yamen for about half an hour. Fan Yongdou's right-hand man Chen Dabing hurried to Jizhou In another inconspicuous small hotel in the city, Fan Yongdou, who was hiding here, reported to Fan Yongdou: "The shopkeeper, I found out, Wang Laobao went to see Zhang Haogu, a little dog, and stayed in his governor's office for a while. It took a long time to come out, and when he came out, Zhang Haogu sent his own soldiers to take him back to the inn."

"Send your own soldiers? Do you have a good relationship?" Fan Yongdou subconsciously recalled the scene when he was escorted by Huang Taiji when he went to Shengjing, and naturally misunderstood the relationship between Wang Dengku and Young Master Zhang.After a cold snort, Fan Yongdou asked again: "Then what did Wang Laojiao and the little dog talk about in the governor's yamen, did you find out?"

"Small incompetence, I can't find out." Chen Dabin replied dejectedly: "The soldiers who guard the house for the little dog are all brought by the little dog from Linqing, and they are all loyal to him. Don’t spend money trying to get anything out of their mouths, let alone sneak in and eavesdrop.”

"Big pie, I'm not talking about you." Fan Yongdou said slowly: "Your old friend Li Wanting has been in Jizhou for a long time, how did you know to hook up with an old eunuch and not work hard on Zhang Haogu's little dog?" ? On the other hand, Wang Laogou directly stuffed a woman on the bed of a little dog, is he better informed than us?"

"The little one also blamed Li Wanting." Chen Da replied aggrievedly: "Li Wanting said that Zhang Haogu's little dog seems to have the habit of not eating grass by the side of the nest. Li Wanting seduced him several times but did not take the bait , so Li Wanting had no choice but to seduce the old eunuch. Fortunately, Fu Yi, the old dog and Zhang Haogu's little dog, have always had some conflicts, and they are directly in charge of the Jimen firearms warehouse, so we won't delay our affairs "—Don't blame Fan Yongdou's intelligence network for being incompetent. They didn't find out that Young Master Zhang and Fu Yi were actually wearing a pair of pants. The key is that Young Master Zhang and Fu Yi both understand the consequences of too tight unity between the commander and the supervising army. So in public, not only did the two of them not even talk much, but they even bickered with each other from time to time, lest one would waste all his efforts to win over the supervising army, and the other would lose the supervising army's fat vacancies.

"It's a good thing to bribe the old eunuch Fu, but it's obvious that Wang Laoji also plans to get a batch of muskets from Zhang Xiaogou." Fan Yongdou said slowly: "Business is always the most profitable business. , if we are the only ones with these muskets, how much they should sell for is not up to us? But if Wang Laobao also has this kind of muskets in his hand, wouldn’t Sibeile and Da Jinhan have another choice? By then, No matter how much we want to sell at a high price, we won’t be able to open our mouths, right?”

"What does the shopkeeper mean to disturb Huang Wang Laogou's business?" Chen Dabin tentatively asked: "But Li Wanting has already found out clearly that Zhang Haogu's little dog is just a dog without paying the old eunuch. I can't get the muskets, and Mr. Wang is only following the path of a young dog, so I'm afraid he won't be able to get this batch of goods, right?"

"What if Wang Laojiao got through the old eunuch Fu's way again? Or what if Zhang Haogu promised to pay the old eunuch Fu a share?" Fan Yongdou said calmly: "Since the old eunuch dared to sell two hundred muskets If you give it to us, you will definitely dare to sell another two or three hundred new-style muskets to Mr. Wang. At that time, the old eunuch Fu will use Lao Jin's method to burn down the firearms store. Zhang Haogu, the little dog, dares to say anything, why don't you try your best to help the old eunuch cover it up?"

"Damn it, this old dog is really smart at his calculations!" Chen Dahe scolded, and at the same time suddenly realized, he said to himself, it's no wonder the shopkeeper originally wanted to leave this matter to me, but later he heard that Mr. Wang He also showed up in Jizhou, and then he changed his mind and came to Jimen in person. It turns out that the big shopkeeper deliberately monopolizes this business.Thinking of this, Chen Da quickly put forward two suggestions, "Major shopkeeper, otherwise, make an agreement with the old eunuch Fu in advance, and tell him to look after the remaining new-style muskets, and don't rush to sell them to others or burn the warehouse for the time being. When our money comes back, we will eat up the rest of the new muskets. Or you can negotiate with Wang Laobao and ask him to back down and stop meddling in this business."

"You can't negotiate with Wang Laojiao, and don't let him know that we are eyeing this deal." Fan Yongdou shook his head and said, "Old eunuch Fu could have said hello, but if Wang Laojiao passed Zhang The good old eunuch bought it directly from the old eunuch Fu, in order to avoid having long nights and dreams, there is no guarantee that he will not agree to Wang Laogou."

"Then what should we do?" Chen Dabin scratched his head and asked.Fan Yongdou took a sip of tea and said lightly: "Last night when I disguised myself as your entourage and went to the firearms depot to inspect the goods, I found that there were only more than 500 new-style muskets in the Jimen firearms depot. You can negotiate with the old eunuch Fu and call He gave us another seven days to raise funds, 25 taels of silver, and I bought it all. Five days later, the goods were sent to the north of the Great Wall, and the money was paid with one hand, and the other hand delivered the goods.”

"25 taels of silver? Bought all of them? It belongs to the big shopkeeper, are you sure?" Rao was well-informed around Fan Yongdou, and Chen Dabing was also stunned by this figure.Fan Yongdou nodded, and said: "Yes, I bought them all! After the deal was completed, the old eunuch Fu had no choice but to destroy the body and wipe out the traces. If the gunpowder magazine burned, his hat must have fallen off the ground. No one can buy it again." We have a new type of musket, and we are the only ones in the world who have the goods, so we are afraid that we will not be able to earn back the capital with interest? A musket like this will not mold or rot at home, even if it is sold slowly. It doesn't matter."

When the big boss opened his mouth, Chen Dabing naturally had to do some errands like this. After more than a day of back-and-forth negotiations, Fu Yi finally said that he agreed to take the 25 new-style muskets in his hand with the price of 540 taels of silver. All the bullets were sold to Fan Yongdou, and the trading place was also set outside the Malanyu Pass in the northeast of Jizhou.It's just that Fu Yi didn't dare to guarantee Fan Yongdou Chamber of Commerce for this transaction time.

"Eunuch Fu, 25 taels of silver is not a small amount, so we have to spend some time to raise this batch of silver, right?" Chen Da misunderstood what Fu Yi meant, and pleaded: "Without seven days, we can't raise it at all." So much silver?"

"Shopkeeper Chen, you misunderstood." Fu Yiyin said with a smile: "Our family is not sure about the time, because our family also needs to open up relationships. Our family does not have military power, so we must first prepare for Jizhou's military preparations, Sun Zhijin, and Sun Zhijin. My lord's work, let him send troops to help our family carry muskets. There is also Malanyu guard Yang Haichuan, we have to make an agreement with him, right? Besides, Zhang Futai will go to Gubeikou for inspection after a while Defense, isn't it safer for our family to do it when he leaves Jizhou?"

"Oh, so that's how it is. The grass-roots people are waiting for the good news from Eunuch Fu." Chen Dabing was overjoyed, and quickly thanked Fu Yi.Fu Yi said with a smile, "Shopkeeper Chen, it will cost money to open the joints. Shouldn't shopkeeper Chen take out some of the deposit for this batch of muskets?"

Fan Yongdou was indeed far more generous than Wang Dengku, especially after discovering that Wang Dengku and his party had left Jizhou first, Fan Yongdou immediately concluded that Wang Dengku had also gone back to raise funds!In order to avoid extra problems, Fan Yongdou dispatched people to speed up the fundraising, and at the same time sent a deposit of 1 taels of silver to Fuyi, got an IOU written by Fuyi himself, and arranged for people to wait outside Malanyuguan to prepare for the batch. musket.And soon, Fu Yi also gave a letter of approval, on October [-]th, Master Zhang will go on a tour of Gubeikou, load the goods that night, and deliver the goods at Malanyuguan on the night of the [-]th!

During the tense waiting, various preparations were in place one after another, and the day of October [-] finally arrived. Early in the morning, Fan Yongdou's internal and external lines received news at the same time, and Master Zhang really brought his personal team to Gubeikou Went there—and there was news from the eyeliner at Gubeikou that Ming army guards at Gubeikou, Wang Shou and Hei Yunlong, had already started making arrangements to welcome Young Master Zhang for his inspection tour.After Young Master Zhang left, the defense of the Jizhou defense area was temporarily handed over to Man Gui who was stationed in the barracks outside the city, and Sun Zhijin, the soldier of Jizhou, was in charge of the defense of Jizhou city.Overjoyed, Fan Yongdou hurriedly sent someone to ask Fu Yi if he could deliver the goods tonight, but Fu Yi laughed and said: "It's not tonight, why wait until Master Futai comes back from Gubeikou before shipping? By the way Let me tell you some good news, there is an official document from the Ministry of War, the new muskets are expensive, and the craftsmanship is responsible, the delivery of the next batch of new muskets will be delayed, you wait to make a fortune."

The imperial court was unable to continue to equip the Jimen army with new muskets for a while. This news was undoubtedly a surprise to Fan Yongdou. He added a bargaining chip to resell at a high price. When he investigated the situation of his competitor Wang Dengku, he found that Wang Dengku had already been in Jizhou these days. A shop was bought in the city, and a branch was about to be opened. It was obvious that Wang Dengku, who had already hooked up with Young Master Zhang, was planning to play a long-term game to catch big fish.Secretly rejoicing, Fan Yongdou told Chen Daping and other assistants: "Tonight, I will pretend to be your assistant and go to the firearms depot with you to supervise the loading of cars. As for Wang Laobao, ignore him for the time being and wait for him." When you find that you can’t buy new-style muskets, you might call the head of the trader’s attention——Da Jinhan paid a high price of 5 taels of silver for the head of Zhang Haogu’s little dog.”

That night, everyone acted according to the plan. Fu Yi first used the name of entertaining Lu Wanling and his wife, and poured Lu Wanling unconscious with medicinal wine, and then rushed to the firearms warehouse with Li Wanting. Chen Dabing, Fan Yongdou and the others had a round, and Sun Zhijin, the Jizhou military garrison, had already arranged ten carriages and three hundred soldiers, waiting outside the gunpowder depot.When the people from the Fan family shop opened the firearms arsenal, three hundred soldiers worked together, and quickly loaded more than 500 firearms and matching bullets into the carriage, and put a seal on the wooden box where the guns and ammunition were loaded. I rushed to Malanyuguan with the goods in person, and only waited for the payment and delivery the next night.Chen Dabing, Fan Yongdou and others also went with the car, leaving Li Wanting, Sun Zhijin and others to deal with Man Gui and Lu Xiangsheng and other cronies of Young Master Zhang in Jizhou City.

They went out of the city and drove overnight. At noon the next day, the convoy of Fu Yi and others arrived at the Malanyuguan pass. Yang Haichuan, the guard of Malanyuguan who had been bribed by Fu Gonggong, had already prepared a temporary warehouse. In front of Chen Dabin and Fan Yongdou The others pushed the ten carriages into the warehouse and temporarily sealed them up, waiting for the night transaction.At this moment, Chen Dabin, who felt unsafe, suggested to Eunuch Fu: "Eunuch Fu, why don't we store these ten carriages in the open air, and our people will guard them with Eunuch and your people, which is safer."

"Storage in the open air?" Fu Gonggong, dressed in casual clothes, was furious, pointing at the merchants who entered and exited the pass, and shouted: "You don't want heads, our family and General Yang still want heads, if these people see ten carriages , spread the word, do we still need our heads?"

"It's packed in a carriage, who knows what's in it?" Chen Dabin whispered.Fan Yongdou, dressed as an attendant, carefully inspected the warehouse prepared by Yang Haichuan, and found that the warehouse was sealed on all sides, and there was only one thick door to enter and exit, which was indeed relatively safe.Fan Yongdou then ordered Chen Dabing in a low voice: "Promise him, but the door has to be sealed, and our people and their people will guard it together. When we deliver the goods in the evening, we will inspect the goods again."

Chen Dabin followed the order, and proposed to Fu Yi that the Fanji firm and soldiers of the Ming army should be guarded together. Fu Yi agreed, and pushed ten carriages into Malanyu Pass, locked the gate of the warehouse, and put a sticker on it. The seal was guarded by the defenders of Malanyuguan and the staff of Fanji Company. Fan Yongdou, Chen Daping and others felt relieved and accepted Yang Haiyang's invitation to have dinner in Guanzhong, waiting for the dark transaction.But what Fan Yongdou and others didn't know was that not long after the warehouse was sealed off, a corner of the seemingly solid bluestone floor in the warehouse was suddenly pushed up, revealing a dark hole in the ground. Soldiers of the Ming army quietly drilled out of the hole, and took out one after another heavy boxes with seals on them—I believe there is no need to say more about what happened next?
…………

It was the second watch of the night, the moon was dark and the stars were sparse. More than 24 people and more than 24 horse-drawn carriages quietly touched outside the pass and under the Malanyu Pass. After a signal was issued, the closed gate of the Malanyu Pass was also quietly opened. With five hundred soldiers surrounded by ten carriages, they left the pass.The two sides met, traded and inspected the goods. Ming army soldiers climbed into the carriages from outside the customs, opened a few wooden boxes at random, and took a look at them. It was [-] cars, so he reported to Fu Yi: "Eunuch Fu, [-] taels, that's right."

"Eunuch Fu, why don't you count the numbers, and see if a carriage is worth 1 taels?" Chen Dabing asked hypocritically.Fu Yi smiled and said: "Don't be so troublesome, our family can't believe shopkeeper Chen? Shopkeeper Chen, do you want to inspect the goods again?"

"The grassroots are taking the liberty." Chen Da was not polite, he climbed into the carriage himself, shook the fire pocket to take a closer look, and found that the seal on the box was correct, it was the seal of the Jimen Supervisory Army pasted last night, and he opened it casually The wooden box, first of all, it was indeed a musket wrapped in oiled paper, and then the oiled paper was torn off, and it was found that it was indeed a new type of musket wrapped in waterproof oiled paper, and the handle of the musket still had the mark of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty.Chen Dabing was careful, and he climbed into other carriages with the cheek, opened a few wooden boxes at random, and saw that the wooden boxes were indeed loaded with new-style muskets, so Chen Dabing jumped out of the carriage and nodded slightly to Fan Yongdou.Fan Yongdou also felt relieved, and made a deal gesture to Chen Dahe.

"Eunuch Fu, let's deliver the goods." Chen Dabin suggested.Fu Yi nodded in agreement, and now the armies of both sides will retreat, and the unarmed grooms will lead the carriages to meet and exchange each other's carriages carefully. .When they broke up, the two parties bid farewell to each other even more hypocritically, telling each other to take care of themselves on the way and to keep in touch when they had time.But when Fu Yi returned to Malanyuguan, he immediately ordered the gate to be closed to prevent him from sticking to it.Fan Yongdou jumped out and shouted: "Hurry up, get out of here immediately, be careful that they are cheating on you!"

Fan Yongdou acted carefully, for fear that the defenders of Malanyuguan would come out and snatch the new musket back.But Fan Yongdou didn't know it. At the same time, on the beacon tower near Malanyuguan, Young Master Zhang, who was supposed to go to Gubeikou for inspection, was conducting another transaction with Wang Dengku.Seeing through the binoculars that Fu Yi and Fan Yongdou had finished the transaction, Young Master Zhang smiled at Wang Dengku and said, "Shopkeeper Wang, did you see that? Fan Yongdou has already left with the goods, so it's time for you to do it too?"

"Master Futai, don't worry, Caomin is already ready." Wang Dengku gritted his teeth, thinking that since Fan Yongdou's old fox has been traded, the goods must not be fake!Wang Dengku took out another firework from his arms, ignited it and fired it at the nearby hilltop.Soon, three balls of fireworks rose from the nearby hills, and ten carriages came out of the woods below the mountain. The carriages were loaded with shiny silver!And in view of the change in the number of transactions, the quantity is not 6 taels as mentioned before, but 10 taels...

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Three bright fireworks roared and flew into the air and exploded, which could still be clearly seen from a distance of more than ten miles.Fan Yongdou, who hadn't gone far, saw the fireworks exploding, and immediately shouted: "Hurry up, someone wants to cheat!"

"Who is going to cheat?" Chen Dabing asked in surprise.Fan Yongdou roared with a livid face: "Needless to say, it must be the barbarian army, otherwise who would know that we are trading here today? Hurry up!"

"Allah (Mongolian: kill)! Allah—!" The situation seemed to be completely beyond Fan Yongdou's expectations. Amidst the strange screams, thousands of ragged Tatar cavalry rushed from the northeast and charged towards Fan Yongdou aggressively. team.Hearing the sound of killing, Fan Yongdou, who had been doing business in Mobei for a long time, couldn't help being completely dumbfounded, "Tatar cavalry? Judging from the accent, it seems to be the Alashan Erut tribe on the Horqin Grassland. Aren't they the deadly enemies of the barbarian army? How can we help?" Did the barbarian army come and eat black? Could it be that the barbarian army is not eating black? "

"Trouble." Hearing the shouts of killing coming from a distance, Young Master Zhang turned to Song Xiance with a sad face and said, "Master Song, it seems that I have to trouble you to send an official document to the Royal Academy of Sciences—the model rifled gun we use for training." Unfortunately, more than 500 of them were lost during the actual combat exercise. Please send another batch over quickly, so as not to delay the training progress of the slave slaughter army. By the way, there are also iron bullets for ordinary muskets, and remember to ask the Ministry of War for some— —Alas, I am a clean and honest official, and I have not extorted money from the people, so I can’t afford to make iron bullets myself.”

(End of this chapter)