Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 341 The person behind the scenes
The border trade between the Tengger tribe and the Ming Dynasty began in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, and now it is the beginning of the spring of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, so it has been less than a year in total.

As border trade developed, both sides made huge profits. Not to mention the Ming Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian helped Emperor Tianqi make a lot of money through border trade and won the emperor's praise.

A large amount of supplies from the Ming Dynasty flowed into the grassland through border trade, making the lives of the tribes much better. In addition, the abundance of supplies also allowed the tribes participating in border trade to safely survive the winter. In addition, in the border trade cooperation, the Tengger tribe won over several Tumed tribes, and the two sides became much closer.

But the one who benefited the most was Zhu Shencui. It was the smooth border trade that made Zhu Shencui have more supplies and gold and silver. Without these supports, Zhu Shencui would not have the strength to carry out his plan. Now the stockpiling of grain and the training of the army are very gratifying, and the mining and manufacturing in the workshops have also formed a scale. If Zhu Shencui had not been worried about the news leaking out and deliberately suppressed it, he would have been able to go even further with his current capabilities.

However, with the development of border trade, some troubles also arose. Not only did Bu Shitu instruct the Elbegji Taiji tribe to secretly attack the Zhenlu Fort in an attempt to disrupt border trade and provoke disputes, but this incident eventually backfired because of Zhu Shenzhui's vigilance, causing Bu Shitu to shoot himself in the foot, which led to the questioning of various tribes including the Ming Dynasty and Ligdan Khan. In the end, they had no choice but to push Elbegji Taiji as a scapegoat and the matter was hastily resolved.

But after this incident, a feud was formed between the two sides. Bu Shitu hated the Tengger tribe with a vengeance, but due to pressure from all sides he did not dare to take action for the time being. The relationship between the two sides was friendly on the surface, but in reality very tense. Zhu Shenzhui knew very well that sooner or later the two would clash and war was inevitable.

Apart from Bu Shitu, the problem now lies on the Ming Dynasty side.

The situation in the court was fine, because Ye Xianggao's retirement had greatly weakened the Donglin Party's strength. In addition, Wei Zhongxian took action against Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others one after another. The Donglin Party was so overwhelmed that they had no time to care about other things and were concentrating on fighting the eunuch party.

But at the local level, especially in Shanxi, with the deepening of border trade, the contradictions between several major Shanxi merchants and Hengtong began to show signs of intensification. After all, the market was so big. Hengtong Trading Company, Dongchang and Jinyiwei jointly presided over the border trade. With the tacit approval of Wei Zhongxian, Hengtong controlled most of the supply of goods in Shanxi and surrounding provinces, including the sales market in the north. This resulted in a significant decline in the smuggling business of Shanxi merchants to the north.

Merchants are profit-driven and their goal is to pursue profits. The rise of Hengtong directly affected the development of other Shanxi merchants and even caused them losses.

In fact, Zhu Shenzhui did not fail to consider these. When he asked Kang Youfu to integrate resources, he contacted various Shanxi merchants through Hengtong, extended an olive branch and proposed win-win cooperation. However, only about half of the Shanxi merchants finally joined Hengtong and operated together. Some Shanxi merchants directly rejected Hengtong's good intentions for various reasons and did not participate.

Some of these Shanxi merchants were small in scale, so Zhu Shenzui just let them be. After all, one more or one less would not make much difference. However, three Shanxi merchants were exceptions. Not only did they reject Hengtong's suggestion, they even showed vigilance and hostility towards Hengtong. These three Shanxi merchants were not simple. Two of them had deep-rooted positions in the Shanxi business community, namely the Zhang family of Zhoupu and the Wang family of Jingsheng.

In addition to the Zhang and Wang families, the same is true for the Jiexiu Fan family. Moreover, from the information obtained by Zhu Shenzhui, the reason why the Zhang and Wang families rejected Hengtong's suggestion and caused the current situation of confrontation between the two sides seems to be the instigation of the Fan family. On the surface, the Fan family stands with the Zhang and Wang families and opposes Hengtong's joint efforts with the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to control border trade. In the past few months, the conflict between the two sides has tended to intensify, but in fact, the Fan family has never stood in the front, but only let the Zhang and Wang families charge forward, and rarely takes part themselves.

This behavior was somewhat abnormal, and it aroused Zhu Shencui's vigilance. In addition to the previous internal strife in Ashe Temur's tribe, Zhu Shencui had been investigating the inside story. Due to the interruption of some clues, Zhu Shencui never found the real mastermind behind the scenes, but as time went on, he gradually turned his attention to the Fan family.

"So the Fan family is still doing business in Chaobei?"

Zhu Qiuqi nodded in agreement. Before the border trade began, Zhu Shenzhui gave Zhu Qiuqi a task, which was to investigate the situation of the Fan family.

After following Zhu Shenzhui for these years, Zhu Qiuqi not only earned money and started a family, but his family also became much more prosperous. Now he has money, a house in the city, and real estate outside the city. His life is many times better than before.

In addition to himself, his two uncles, Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minyu, were also the same. Who brought them these good days? Zhu Qiuqi knew it very well.

Not to mention that the three of them were already close to Zhu Shenzhui, and the changes in their lives in recent years were brought about by Zhu Shenzhui. Needless to say, they were grateful to Zhu Shenzhui in their hearts. In addition, they were from the same royal family and had the same blood, so they had long been family members.

"I remember that the Fan family always shipped goods through Zhangjiakou, right? Didn't I ask you to take action? Why hasn't this trade route been cut off yet?" "It is Zhangjiakou, but uncle, this is a long story..."

He frowned slightly. The border trade in Zhangjiakou was also an outlet for the Ming Dynasty, but it was different from that in Weiyuanwei. The border trade there was a border market dominated by the imperial court, and the target was Ligdan Khan's headquarters.

Due to the rise of Jiannu in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty formed an alliance with Ligdan Khan in order to win over the Mongols, and also opened up border trade with Ligdan Khan. Zhangjiakou is located in Xuanfu and is close to Datong. From a geographical point of view, it has always been an area facing the grassland. In addition, the trade route of Zhangjiakou has existed since the early Ming Dynasty. Since the Ming Dynasty smuggled to Mongolia, Zhangjiakou has always been the frontier. This situation has always existed.

Before this, Zhu Shenzui suspected that the Fan family was smuggling goods to Liaodong through Zhangjiakou in order to make huge profits. After the border trade of Weiyuanwei began, Zhu Shenzui was too busy to handle the matter, so he handed it over to Zhu Qiuqi. However, he did not expect that so much time had passed, and the Fan family's trade route was still there, which made Zhu Shenzui very dissatisfied.

Because the abnormal behavior of the Fan family aroused Zhu Shenzhui's vigilance, he deeply suspected that the party that colluded with Galiba and others was the Fan family. Although Zhu Shenzhui had no evidence, evidence was not important to him. He was not an official, nor a master who could solve cases. Suspicion was enough. In addition, the reason why the Zhang and Wang families were at odds with Hengtong and brought a lot of trouble to Hengtong was because the Fan family was secretly instigating it. Zhu Shenzhui would naturally not be polite to the Fan family.

After figuring out the situation of Fan's trade route, Zhu Shenzhui started to take action. His method was very simple, which was to directly cut off Fan's trade route to the outside of the Great Wall, so that Fan's cargo could not be shipped out. Originally, he thought this was not a difficult task, but he did not expect that after several months of trouble, Fan's trade route was still used, which made Zhu Shenzhui a little annoyed.

"Eighteen, I remember that we had already established connections in Zhangjiakou, so how come the Fan family's business routes are still there? What's going on?" With an unhappy look on his face, Zhu Shenzhu asked Zhu Qiuqi directly.

Zhu Qiuqi's face also looked a little unhappy. This was something his uncle had instructed him to do before, and he originally thought it would not be difficult to do it well.

The garrison commander of Zhangjiakou was Lieutenant General Hei Yunlong, and there was a connection between Hei Yunlong and Zhu Shencui that was unknown to outsiders. When Zhu Shencui handed the matter over to Zhu Qiuqi, he also handed over the contact channel between Hei Yunlong and Zhu Qiuqi. It should not be difficult for Hei Yunlong, as the Lieutenant General of Xuanfu and the garrison commander of Zhangjiakou, to cut off the Fan family's trade route from Zhangjiakou. However, the Fan family still used this trade route well, which really made Zhu Qiuqi feel very embarrassed.

"What? Hei Yunlong doesn't try his best? Haha, he is so brave! Could it be that he thought that after becoming a lieutenant general, he would forget how he got this position?" Zhu Shenzui sneered in his heart, and at the same time he was wondering where Hei Yunlong got the courage to disobey in public. If it were not for Zhu Shenzui, how could Hei Yunlong and his son return to the Ming Dynasty, let alone be safe and sound? As for wanting to be promoted from a garrison commander to a lieutenant general in one step, it was just a dream.

The reason why he and his son are in this situation today is all because of Zhu Shencui's behind-the-scenes manipulation. Moreover, until now, Zhu Shencui still holds the evidence that Hei Yunlong was captured by the Mongols and almost became a slave. Now that he can't even do this small thing, what's the use of him?
"Uncle, actually this matter cannot be blamed on General Hei."

"What? According to you, instead of blaming Hei Yunlong, you want to blame me?" Zhu Shenzhui asked back unhappily.

It was the first time that Zhu Qiuqi saw Zhu Shenzhui so angry, so he bit the bullet and hurried to explain. He told Zhu Shenzhui that after he sent the message to Hei Yunlong, Hei Yunlong did cut off the Fan family's trade route, but who would have thought that Hei Yunlong would run into trouble not long after the trade route was cut off.

Because of the pressure from other parties, Heiyunlong had to open up the trade route again, which was why he failed to meet Zhu Shenzhui's request. Zhu Qiuqi had just learned about this matter and was about to report to Zhu Shenzhui, but Zhu Shenzhui asked him about this situation first.

"Someone interfered?" Zhu Shenzhui asked back with a frown.

"That's right. General Hei sent a message saying that he is powerless to do anything about this matter. He has no say in the matter because of the pressure from above. If he refuses forcefully, he may lose his position as a lieutenant general and garrison commander..."

"There is such a thing?" Zhu Shenzhui was very surprised. Hei Yunlong's official position was not low. The lieutenant general could barely be considered a senior military officer. Moreover, he was also the garrison commander of Zhangjiakou. He had military power in his hands and was considered a local powerful figure.

Even if the Fan family has connections in the officialdom, ordinary officials have no ability to influence Hei Yunlong, except for a few high-ranking officials at the border, such as the Governor-General of Xuanda, the General, and the Governor. But Zhu Shenzhui has never heard that the Fan family has such a background. Could it be that his previous information was wrong?
(End of this chapter)