Chapter 1769: Men! Seize Them All for Us!

When the pack-litter came to a stop, Fan Yongdou also set down the letter in his hand, lifted the curtain of the litter, and looked out. He saw that his litter had arrived outside a tumbledown fortress — this fortress was called Xinghe City, the seat of the Xinghe Chiliarch's Office under the Kaiping Forward Garrison, which in turn was under the old Beiping Regional Military Commission. It had long since been abandoned by the Ming dynasty and become territory occupied by the Uriankhai Mongols of the steppe.

No — Fan Yongdou suddenly caught sight of several men in Embroidered Uniform Guard uniforms loitering at the main gate of Xinghe City, and only then remembered that this Xinghe City now belonged to the Great Ming again!

This really was a wonder!

The Great Ming, which had clearly been declining to its very limit, had suddenly produced a young Emperor who could fight. Relying on more than ten thousand household retainers of the Son of Heaven, raised on capital-region land and silver seized from confiscated estates, he had actually defeated both the Khutuktu Khan and the Tiancong Khan. And he had opened up new territory beyond the frontier — not only recovering the lands of the three prefectures of Ying, Xing, and Hui, lost for who knew how many years, but also, under the name of two myriarchies of the imperial ordo directly subordinate to the Son of Heaven, recovering the territories of the Kaiping Forward Garrison and the Xuande Garrison!

Of course, Fan Yongdou did not believe the Great Ming's revival could last long. The young Emperor could fight, but that could not change the situation of the Ming sliding downhill day by day. And how much wealth could he have? How many tens of thousands of imperial household retainers could he support? Twenty thousand at most, probably.

With that little strength, the young Emperor would be doing well just to maintain a three-way balance among the Northern Yuan, the Eastern Jin, and the Southern Ming.

And a three-way balance was certainly most advantageous to the Fan family of Zhangjiakou.

This trip to Mount Mameng to pay respects to the Great Khan of the Later Jin had brought Fan Yongdou quite substantial gains! Besides receiving a generous reward, Fan Yongdou had also successfully opened up a smuggling route from Zhangjiakou to Mount Mameng that could bypass the Ming-controlled areas!

In addition to this route, the Fan family also possessed a trade route from Zhangjiakou to the Tumed Plain, which likewise could bypass the Datong Garrison firmly controlled by the Ming army, and could even bypass most of the territory of the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo.

With these two trade routes, the old Fan firm need not worry about failing to profit from war!

If this time he could also ingratiate himself with the Uriankhai Grand Princess, doing business among the Ming, Yuan, and Jin would be even easier in the future!

Just as Fan Yongdou was letting his imagination run a little wild, a familiar voice suddenly came to his ear: "Is that Manager Fan?"

Fan Yongdou stuck his head out to look — it turned out to be Wang Dengku, who ran a business in Beijing.

"Ah, Manager Wang!" Fan Yongdou hurriedly crawled out of his pack-litter. Only after coming out did he notice that near his own litter and camel train there was another party of carts and horses, which also looked to have just arrived. Wang Dengku must have come over from there!

"Manager Fan was also invited by the Grand Princess?" Wang Dengku came up, cupped his hands in greeting, and then asked with a smile.

"Indeed," Fan Yongdou said with a smile. "Manager Wang is also a guest of the Grand Princess?"

Wang Dengku smiled and nodded: "Not just the two of us — there are also Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yongfa, all prominent figures inside and outside the passes! They arrived a bit earlier than us and have already gone into the city. Let's go in too — we mustn't keep the Grand Princess waiting."

Fan Yongdou nodded repeatedly. "All old acquaintances, all our own people!"

The trade beyond the passes was not something the old Fan firm could swallow alone — beyond the passes was like overseas: without some armed force in hand, no one could expect to do business in peace. Relying on the old Fan firm's own hired fighters was not quite enough, so several families had to band together and form a merchant guild.

Of course, the merchant guilds that worked beyond the passes could not compare with the maritime merchant guilds of the south, such as the Yiguan Party or the Sea Sand Gang. The latter could actually fight the Ming navy — and win! The former could only deal with small-scale horse bandits; when they ran into large bands of brigands, they had to pay protection money. Eight families banding together was merely a bit more bargaining leverage in dealing with all sides.

As Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku talked, they walked toward the south gate of Xinghe City. The city gate stood wide open, and the guards were several Mongols wearing Embroidered Uniform Guard uniforms — the reason they wore Embroidered Uniform Guard uniforms was to tell everyone that the master of the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo was the Emperor of the Great Ming!

The Mongol gate guards checked the invitations of Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku, then let them pass — admitting only the two of them and blocking their accompanying escorts.

The two men naturally raised no objection. They told their escorts to wait outside, then entered Xinghe City together.

Inside Xinghe City there were practically no buildings at all. Within the circle of earthen walls was a large stretch of flat ground — originally there had been houses and government offices here, but after the Ming left and the Mongols entered, in order to make it convenient for nomadic tribes to enter the city periodically and camp (usually to pass the winter), the Mongols had simply leveled all the buildings inside the city, to make it easier to pen livestock and pitch yurts.

By the time Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku entered the city, many yurts had already been pitched inside, and the air was thick with the stench of livestock dung — there were no trees on the Mongol steppe, so there was no firewood to use; cow dung was the fuel the Mongols commonly used. But that smell...

Breathing in the acrid odor, Fan Yongdou thought to himself: This Uriankhai Grand Princess has been steeped in the smell of cow dung since childhood — it's probably impossible to wash off. The young Emperor can actually hold her in his arms to sleep — isn't he afraid of the stink?

While pondering this treasonous question, Fan Yongdou had already arrived with Wang Dengku outside a great golden-domed tent. Guarding the tent were several Mongol warriors in iron armor — presumably the Grand Princess's personal guards. They stopped Fan and Wang, first checking their invitations, then searching their persons, and only then letting them enter the tent. One of the Mongols, apparently their leader, also told the two of them that Her Highness the Princess was currently worshipping the Buddha and could not see them for the time being, but that the young steward Jaisang was inside the great tent and they should go pay their respects at once.

The two men entered the great tent and found that a banquet had already been laid out. Mongol serving women in brightly colored clothes were carrying in platter after platter of mutton, cheese, flatbread, strong sorghum liquor, and other Mongol delicacies. Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, Huang Yongfa, and the others who had arrived earlier than Fan and Wang were already seated cross-legged behind low tables, and in the seat of honor at the head of the tent sat a great Mongol nobleman who looked far too young for his station — splendid robes, a towering frame, an expansive manner — conversing in fluent Mongolian with the several profiteering merchants.

Jin Liangyu, who was closest to Fan Yongdou, now took the initiative to introduce both sides: "Young Steward, my lord, allow this humble one to present these two: Fan Yongdou of the old Fan firm of Zhangjiakou, and Wang Dengku of the Wang Dengku firm of Beijing — both are great merchants famous inside and outside the passes!"

"Manager Fan, Manager Wang — this young master is the young steward Jaisang of the Uriankhai Myriarchy Ordo. He is the Grand Princess's cousin."

"We pay our respects to the Young Steward!"

"We kowtow to the Young Steward!"

Fan Yongdou and Wang Dengku hastily kowtowed to the young steward.

"Rise, rise," the Mongol nobleman called the Young Steward said with a genial nod. "Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, you have come at just the right time. I have something to ask you, and everyone else present as well."

"Ask away, Young Steward!"

"We will tell you everything we know."

"Yes, yes."

The eight great profiteers all put on a cooperative front.

The Young Steward said with a smile: "Good, good. Then I shall ask — do you maintain dealings with the Great Jin?"

What did that mean?

The eight profiteers were all stunned for a moment.

"Not at all, no such thing."

"Young Steward, how would we dare have secret dealings with the Jurchen!"

"Don't misunderstand, don't misunderstand," the Young Steward said, waving his hand. "I am no Ming official, and the Uriankhai Myriarchy and the Doyan Myriarchy never prohibited merchant caravans from entering or leaving the Jianzhou border. It's just that I have relatives who were captured by the Great Jin, and I want to spend money to ransom them back. If you have connections, I will certainly put in a good word for you before the Grand Princess."

The Young Steward's words sounded quite sincere. He even referred to the Jianzhou Jurchen as the Great Jin, and the two myriarchies under the Uriankhai Grand Princess's jurisdiction had indeed not imposed any trade blockade.

Fan Yongdou felt this was an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Grand Princess's cousin, so he said with a smile: "Young Steward, this humble one does indeed have some connections. This humble one is a relative of Fan Wencheng, the favored man at the side of the Great Khan of the Later Jin!"

Once he had spoken up, the other profiteers present also expressed one after another that they had some dealings with the Jianzhou Jurchen and could help.

The Young Steward smiled and nodded, and when he spoke again it was suddenly in Chinese: "So you are all traitorous merchants in league with the barbarians, selling out your country. There is no running away today. Men! Seize them all for Us!"

(End of Chapter)