The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

In addition to the rectification and innovation of the salt industry in Dawei this year, similar rectification and innovation will also be carried out in industries such as tea and mining that account for a large proportion of trade.

In addition, after two or three consecutive years of fighting after the founding of the country, it is best to rest for one year.

Therefore, Liu Sheng had no plans to send troops to Northeast China in the spring.

However, military action is not necessarily necessary to put pressure on the Qing captives.

It can also be done by attacking the Qing’s foreign trade channels.

After pondering for a while, Liu Sheng said to Zhang Jiayu, the secretary who was on duty in the palace, "Have the Telecommunications Department send a message to Beijing to ask the Xiuyi Guards about the progress of the investigation of Shanxi merchants."

"Yes."

Zhang Jiayu responded and went to the telecommunications office.

When laying out the salt industry last year, Liu Sheng planned to rectify the northern salt industry, mainly the Changlu Salt Field, while also investigating Shanxi merchants, and uprooting all the eight imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty, including the Fan family who had colluded with the Qing Dynasty.

This matter is now underway.

The Qing Dynasty currently had three main foreign trade channels.

The first was through North Korea, the second was through Shanxi merchants, and the third was through trade with the Western Regions through the prairie.

The third road here is the farthest and has the smallest trade volume.

As for the first channel - just order the navy to block the trade between North Korea and Japan, you can achieve the effect of blocking North Korea and the Qing Dynasty at the same time.

As long as the inventory of Shanxi merchants is completed, the Qing Dynasty will definitely be more difficult, and many important materials such as food, sulfur, saltpeter, etc. will become scarce.

If the Qing Dynasty wanted to solve its difficulties, it could only strengthen its control over North Korea and even capture more territory in Lee's North Korea.

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If the eight major Shanxi merchants are regarded as private companies with large capital, their headquarters are not in Shanxi, but in Zhangjiakou Town, Xuanfu, North Zhili.

After Da'ei took over Xuanfu, he upgraded Zhangjiakou to a county. After initially rectifying the horse market, he expanded the scale of the mutual market in a principled manner.

As a result, within two years, Zhangjiakou restored seventy-eight percent of its former prosperity.

Zhangjiakou was originally a fort built in the border guard building of the Ming Dynasty. It was built in the fourth year of Xuande. It can be said to be a landmark building that transformed the Ming Dynasty's military operations on the grassland from offensive to defensive.

Therefore, in the early years, people often called it Zhangjiakou Fort.

This fort is located on a high ground beside the Qingshui River.

If you look at it from a high place, you can find that it is located in the intermountain basin in northwest Hebei, at the junction of the Mongolian Bashang grassland and the Bashang grassland in northwest Hebei.

Surrounded by mountains on three sides and Qingshui River on one side, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and its location is extremely dangerous.

Because the Ming Dynasty built Zhangjiakou Fort to guard against northern invaders and prevent enemies from the west from threatening the capital by bypassing Zhangjiakou, it was designed as a Chinese-style war fortress.

The fortress wall is four miles in circumference and three to five feet high, with only two doors.

That is, Yongzhen Gate in the east and Chengen Gate in the south.

There is also a smaller city in the city, which is where important facilities such as the former guard arsenal and government offices were located.

Zhangjiakou Fort City is not that big. Later, when the Ming Dynasty implemented the mutual market policy, the city was overcrowded, and there were many residential buildings even in the city walls.

Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible for the horse market to be located within the castle.

Instead, another castle was built on the other side of the Qingshui River, named "Laiyuan Castle", which means guests coming from afar.

In order to facilitate business, many businessmen choose to buy real estate in Zhangjiakou Fort or Laiyuan Fort, or even move their families here.

Most of the Shanxi merchants who mainly engaged in foreign trade had their business headquarters located here.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, between Zhangjiakou Fort and Laiyuan Fort, both sides of the Qingshui River were filled with houses and other buildings, which were larger than many county towns.

In fact, it has become a "county town" without city walls in northern Xinjiang.

It can be said that the establishment of a county in Da'ei was a matter of course.

The Fan family moved here as early as the beginning of the mutual trade more than a hundred years ago, and now they have multiplied to the eighth generation.

Therefore, the Fan family has hundreds of people in Zhangjiakou, and there are houses in the two forts.

However, perhaps to facilitate business in the horse market, Fan's main residence is not in Zhangjiakou, but in Laiyuanbao City.

Fan's main house is a typical contemporary building of a large northern family.

The inner courtyards are within courtyards, connected by passages separated by high walls. There are also second-floor corridors, underground warehouses, etc., which are no different from a maze.

People who are not familiar with the road will not be able to get out for a while.

The sunshine at the end of March is not too bright.

Fan Yongdou, who was in his sixties, ate two bowls of carefully cooked Bazhen porridge and eight side dishes of four meat and four vegetables, and then went to an open-air terrace on the second floor to bask in the sun with satisfaction.

This balcony is located on the second floor, which is actually equivalent to the third floor.

Because of the strong wind and sand in the north, there are very few buildings with more than two floors in Laiyuan Fort, so this terrace is considered a spot with a good view in Laiyuan Fort.

Fan Yongdou sat down on a rocking chair, and four handsome maids aged twelve or thirteen immediately gathered around him.

Either stand or squat.

Some squeezed their shoulders, some beat their legs, and the one with the best skills and the most mature look rubbed Fan Yongdou's temples.

Under such attentive and comfortable service, Fan Yongdou soon narrowed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep under the warm spring light.

Less than half an hour passed.

Fan Yongdou snored slightly, and the maids had already stopped.

But there was a burst of rapid footsteps.

Soon a fat middle-aged man who looked somewhat similar to Fan Yongdou came up the stairs.

But it is Fan Sanbo, Fan Yongdou's eldest son, who is now the public head of the Fan family.

He looked a little anxious, and he didn't care that Fan Yongdou was sleeping. He walked closer and said, "Father, there is news from outside the mouth."

Fan Yongdou opened his eyes, glared at Fan Sanbo dissatisfiedly, and then waved his hand to the four maids to retreat.

Then he asked, "What news?"

Fan Sanbo said, "Let us try to send another batch of sulfur, otherwise we will tell the Da'ei court about our family's affairs."

"It's really unreasonable!" With Fan Yongdou's qi-nurturing skills, he couldn't help but slap the armrest of the rocking chair angrily after hearing this, "The princes of the Qing Dynasty are really getting worse and worse, and they actually come to threaten us!"

Fan Sanbo hesitated for a moment and said: "The visitor said that the Da'ei imperial court has blocked North Korea's maritime trade, causing North Korea to lack sulfur for aid."

"They can't get much sulfur from North Korea, so they can only pin their hopes on us."

"They also said that as long as they can send another batch of sulfur to be traded overseas, money is not a problem, or they can double or triple the last price."

Double or triple the last price?

Fan Yongdou's eyes lit up when he heard this, as if a silver light flashed through his eyes.

After Da'ei captured Xuanfu and strictly inspected prohibited trade goods such as sulfur and saltpeter, the Fan family and several other Shanxi merchants who mainly traded with the Qing Dynasty transferred the prohibited trade to Datong Prefecture in Shanxi Province.

Although Datong Mansion was under Dashun's control at that time, there were many more loopholes to exploit than Da'ei.

Therefore, it did not affect their trade with the Qing Dynasty.

However, after Damei captured Shanxi and Shaanxi last year, although several more trading places were opened on the border, the search for trade contraband became more stringent.