Chapter 49

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Li You was pleased, for in his view, human nature feared most the arising of a desire; once desire took root, cutting it off became impossible, and besides, he didn't believe Wu Zhuge had no such desire himself!

Wu Zhuge smirked, his tone laced with mockery: "You probably haven't figured out the ways of our Second Boss's household, have you?"

"The Cao family of Mianxian?" Li You asked uncertainly.

"Yes. Cao Er is a household-born servant of the Cao family, disliked by them, and exiled to become a Shopkeeper… But this Mianxian Cao family isn't some colossal power—maximally, they're allied by marriage to the An family of Hanzhong Fucheng… Yet their ancestral clan? That's the Qin-Jin Cao family!"

When Wu Zhuge mentioned the Cao family, he fixed his gaze on Li You.

Li You looked utterly baffled—he had no idea who the Qin-Jin Cao family was. The only famous Cao he knew were Cao Cao and Cao Zhengchun.

Of course, Li You understood social niceties; he instantly feigned shock and stammered: "Could it be… Could it possibly be… How could that be…?"

"Exactly! The very Cao family famed for 'Before Chaoyang County existed, the Cao family shop was already there.'"

"Chaoyang County? Isn't that in Liaodong, Rehe?"

Li You couldn't help but frown—this made no sense at all!

"Cao Sanxi is from Qin-Jin; he moved to Liaodong, but that doesn't mean all 106 members of the Cao family's 'San' generation went to Rehe. Their family's trade still thrives across Qin and Jin!"

Since Cao Bangyan in the early Hongwu era, over 200 years and 14 generations, the Cao family had amassed wealth, connections, and renown, becoming a mighty household with an extremely flourishing lineage; by the late Wanli era, the 'San' generation alone numbered 107, operating pawnshops, timber, raw silk, cloth, salt, coal, and iron mines.

One member, suppressed and ostracized by the family, fled home, braved the journey to the northeast, settling in Sanshota Village in what was then Rehe Province. He started by grinding tofu, then branched into brewing and pawnbroking. During the Ming-Qing transition, Cao Sanxi served the army and became a meritorious subject of the Qing government, amassing a fortune in the process.

The Cao family's business expanded from beyond the pass into the interior, first establishing a branch in Taigu, using it as a hub to radiate across major central Chinese cities, dominating more than half of China. Moreover, the Cao family crossed borders, reaching the world: nearby Tokyo and Pyongyang, far as Berlin and Paris, even New Delhi in India, and as far as London across the English Channel.

Spanning two continents, Eurasia, stretching tens of thousands of miles, the Cao family carved an immortal glory not only in Shanxi's commercial history but in all of China's commercial history.

By the Daoguang and Xianfeng eras of the Qing, the Cao family's commerce had reached its zenith: over 640 trading houses spread across half of China, assets exceeding ten million taels of silver, and a workforce of 37,000.

The Cao family thrived for four hundred years, enjoying wealth and honor across ten generations. But when the Japanese army invaded Taigu, they proved even more ruthless than the Manchus—specially seeking out the Cao family, they spent two days, using over forty large trucks, looting everything clean, leaving the Cao family utterly bankrupt.

In this Chongzhen era, the Cao family held no high-ranking officials in the Great Ming, nor were they that wealthy.

The An family at least once had An Xifan, a Ministry of Rites official and one of the Eight Virtuous Scholars of Donglin. The Huizhou merchants were famed as Confucian merchants—like Hu Xueyan, Bao Zhidao, Hu Kaiwen, Jiang Chun, Wang Kuanye—and this region also produced cultural luminaries: Zhu Xi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Cheng Dawei, Dai Zhen, Wang Shishen, Bao Tingbo.

In truth, at this time, neither family's wealth necessarily surpassed the "Shan You Eight Families," famed as possessing tens of millions, truly the richest. 【Note】

Wu Zhuge's voice kept droning on…

"... Cao Sanqing of Mianxian is chairman of the Salt and Iron Guild… Several nephews hold posts in the yamen. With such a vast enterprise… Do you really think he's only colluding with our Longmen Zhai?"

"From Yang County north and east, aren't knife-wielding bandits as numerous as grass?"

"Yet in Chongzhen eleventh year, they still managed to sell salt and iron all the way to Mount Shangluo, where Li Zicheng lay low."

"And in Chongzhen twelfth year, they still sold salt, iron, ox tendons, tung oil, black lacquer, ox horns… all the way to Gucheng, where Zhang Xianzhong was under amnesty—otherwise, how could Zhang Xianzhong dare rebel again now?"

"Selling to rebels?!" Li You was truly stunned!

"Sell to the government? The government's broke as a beggar, and those sitting behind their high thresholds are all dogs that eat bones down to the marrow. Selling to bandits is far easier—they've got plenty of cash and never greedily extort or demand!"

"You think only he sells? Didn't Prince Zhu Changhao of the Rui Mansion participate? Didn't the An family branch in Hanzhong Fucheng? The Chen family of Baocheng, the Wang family of Chenggu, the Li family of Nanzheng…"

Li You clenched his lips, saying nothing.

"These great households have grain, money, people—so we may not be able to touch Cao Er. In truth, I'm just a dog working for the Cao family. All the dirty, filthy business gets dumped on me by Cao Er… Heh, but the money he pays? It's plenty!"

"Of course, there are business matters too—crushing competitors, flipping middlemen, forcing pawnbroking, collecting usurious interest…"

"Last year, I slaughtered the Luo family in the west of town. People say my Longmen Zhai is monstrously cruel—but weren't the patrol inspector and the garrison commander of Nanzheng his youngest brother?"

"If he didn't open the door, how the hell could I get in?"

"I bear all the blame, but that same night, they seized every bit of the Luo family's land, warehouses, and shops. I got my share of gold, silver, grain, and fodder—but they took the laying hens, and they took the mountains of wheat and millet piled in the Luo family estate."

"Then they set up three days of porridge stalls outside the Nanzhong County yamen with old rice and rotten grain. A stream of ragged, hollow-eyed refugees all bowed three times and kowtowed nine times, thanking the Cao family for their great kindness!"

"Ah…"

Li You could no longer hold his lips shut, yet he had no words—he was deeply shaken by Wu Zhuge's words.

【Note】: The Eight Banner Merchant Houses: "The Eight Merchant Houses all came from Shanxi. In the late Ming, they traded in Zhangjiakou: Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Fan Yongdou, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, Huang Yunfa. When Our Dynasty rose in Liaodong, we sent men to trade at the pass—all eight families managed it. After securing the throne, they were summoned to the capital, feasted in the inner palace, and granted imperial robes and meals." —Wanquan County Annals 【Debatable】

The Eight Great Shanxi Merchants: Fan family of Jiexiu, Qiao family of Qixian, Cao family of Taigu, Kang family of Linfen, Kong family of Taigu, Qu family of Qixian, Hou family of Jiexiu, Chang family of Yuci. (Order not ranked.)

The two groups differ in both timeline and scope—not all Shanxi merchants were red-topped merchants.

The Taiping Rebellion crushed the Manchu, Han, and Mongol Eight Banners entirely, marking the northern capital's defeat in court politics; southern capital, represented by Hu Xueyan and Sheng Dehuai, backed the Xiang and Huai military factions, replacing the Shanxi merchants as the new red-topped merchants.

War never ceases, capital never sleeps?

Or

Capital never sleeps, war never ceases?