Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

November 17, the 11th year of Chongzhen, Taiyuan Prefecture, Shanxi.

A heavy snowfall two days ago turned the city of Taiyuan into a desolate white.

As the saying goes, auspicious snow means a good harvest. In theory, snow is good news for Shanxi, which has been plagued by severe drought for many years.

But the people outside the city were not happy at all. They shivered in their leaky thatched huts.

Over the past decade, the Shanxi and Shaanxi regions have suffered repeated disasters, first severe drought, then locusts, then banditry, and then severe drought, locusts, and plague.

At this point, the people who were still struggling to survive had already lost hope in everything.

Of course, this only includes ordinary people. The wealthy families in Taiyuan city are still bustling with music and dance every night.

Half a month ago, Huang Yongfa, the head of the Huang family, took in six concubines at once. It was said that the youngest was not even older than his granddaughter, which caused a lot of discussion in the city.

Some were envious, some cursed; of course, they only dared to say it behind their backs.

Shanxi is adjacent to Mongolia, and many merchants have become rich by trading with the Mongols. Today, Shanxi merchants have become the leading merchants in the entire Ming Dynasty.

The Huang family is one of the big businessmen in Shanxi.

Of course, the Huang family is not the largest family among Shanxi merchants. Compared with the Fan family in Jiexiu, they are nothing.

The Fan family has been doing business with Mongolian tribes since the early Ming Dynasty, and the business has been passed down to the current head, Fan Yongdou, for seven generations.

The current head of the family, Fan Yongdou, is an active person. He not only trades with Mongolian tribes, but also takes the lead in contacting the Manchus, reaping the greatest benefits from the rise of the Manchus.

Even other wealthy families known as the Eight Great Families respected Fan Yongdou when trading with the Manchus.

Fan Yongdou was responsible for contacting the Manchu nobles, while the other seven major households shared the order quota with the Fan family. Of course, the Fan family took the lion's share.

This has been the case for decades. Fortunately, the Fan family will not go too far and has always maintained a good cooperative relationship with other Shanxi merchants.

However, compared with the busyness of the Fan family, the head of the Huang family, Huang Yongfa, can be said to be very proud and contented during this period. Not only does he have many wives and concubines, but his 60th birthday is also coming up in three days.

As people get older, they tend to pay more attention to their birthdays. The Huang family is not short of money, so the 60th birthday was celebrated with great fanfare.

Invitations were sent out from the Huang Mansion one after another. Today, Huang Yongfa learned the news that the heads of the eight major Shanxi merchants, the Jin family, the Wang family, and the Liang family, would all be present in person.

Several other families would also send their key members to celebrate. His own in-laws, the Fan family, were too busy trading with the Manchus to come in person, but Fan Yongdou also wrote a letter saying that he would ask his second brother Fan Yongsheng to come.

It can be said that the Huang family has been given enough face. In addition, there are other Shanxi merchants, as long as they are well-known, will come to celebrate his birthday. Even the prefect of Taiyuan has agreed to come.

Merchants were always looked down upon by the gentry, so the Huang family considered this a great honor.

Huang Yongfa lay leisurely on the recliner. He turned his head and opened his mouth. The pretty maid on his left plucked a slice of orange and carefully put it into his mouth.

While Huang Yongfa was chewing an orange, his hands were groping the legs of the pretty maid dishonestly. The maid didn't dare to disobey, but just lowered her head in submission.

He was probably old and had the will but not the strength. After a while, he found it boring and asked the maid to get out of the yard.

Huang Yongfa was not without worries. For example, a man named Sun Chuanting suddenly came from Zhending Prefecture recently, saying that he wanted to pass through Hanzhong to garrison.

But now the army has been stationed outside Taiyuan city for four days and has not left, which has always made Huang Yongfa feel strange.

I heard that Sun Chuanting was not only granted the title of Earl but also promoted to Governor-General of Hanzhong because of his meritorious service in the war against the Manchus.

Thinking of the Governor of Hanzhong, Huang Yongfa wanted to laugh. It was unheard of that there was a Governor of a prefecture.

However, Sun Chuanting was a commander with 20,000 troops under his command. As a landlord, Huang Yongfa brought a group of business colleagues and prepared generous gifts to visit the governor on the night Sun Chuanting arrived.

As a businessman who was always well-informed, Huang Yongfa was worried at first that Mr. Sun, who never accepted gifts in Shaanxi, would not give him face. However, he did not expect that the visit would go surprisingly smoothly.

Sun Chuanting not only accepted all the gifts they brought, but also had a pleasant conversation with them.

This went on for a few days, and Huang Yongfa would send people to greet them every day, and he also wanted to find out when Sun Chuanting's army would leave.

After all, when the army is on a march, the provincial governments have to bear the cost of food and fodder. It is said that the provincial governments bear the cost, but the provincial governments nowadays have no money, so it is all the merchants and gentry who pay for it.

But it has been four days, and Sun Chuanting has been refusing to set out for the Hanzhong base on the grounds of rest. It snowed the day before yesterday, so Sun Chuanting now has even more reasons.

This really made Huang Yongfa feel troubled, not because of the money. In fact, even if the money was only paid by his Huang family, with his Huang family's assets, it would be no problem to keep supporting the girl.

But Huang Yongfa always felt that something was wrong. Since the imperial court ordered him to garrison in Hanzhong, why did Sun Chuanting stay here?

"Master, this is a letter from Governor Sun." The butler said as he respectfully handed a letter to Huang Yongfa.

Huang Yongfa frowned, and when he took the letter and read it, his brows frowned even more.

"Mr. Huang is very polite. I heard that it will be his 60th birthday in three days. Why didn't I see the invitation?

When Mr. Sun heard that the prefect of Taiyuan was among the invited guests, he was really puzzled by the official's behavior.

Heavy snow blocked the road and the army could not move. Sun was extremely depressed. As expected, the official did not invite him, so Sun prepared his own gifts and went to join in the fun.

If this is the case, please do not be surprised. "

This letter from Sun Chuanting is quite sarcastic. You invited the prefect of Taiyuan but not me. What do you mean?

Let me tell you, I, Old Sun, have nothing to do and feel very depressed. Even if you don't send me an invitation, I will still go to join in the fun. I advise you not to be ungrateful.

Sun Chuanting certainly had the confidence to speak in this way. As the governor-general and a noble, even the prefect of Taiyuan would have to be polite and obey his orders when he met him.

You are just a businessman, how dare you not give me face? Are you tired of living?

"This Sun Chuanting! What on earth is he trying to do?" Huang Yongfa slapped the back of the recliner.

"Do you really think that no one can deal with him? I only need one letter to make him isolated and helpless in the court!

What can he do without me to supply him with food and grass?"

Huang Yongfa was still angry, and the housekeeper dared not say a word.

Of course he had the confidence to do so. The Huang family paid countless amounts of silver to the court officials every year. Without them, the pitiful salaries of the officials in Beijing would not be able to support their expenses.

Not only the Huang family, but also the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants and all their colleagues with larger industries have connections in the court. With money paving the way, how many people can withstand it?

Huang Yongfa sat on the recliner and continued to curse for a while, but finally he looked at the letter in his hand and said to the housekeeper:

"Send him an invitation."

After saying this, he felt unhappy again. His good mood for the whole day was ruined. He muttered to himself:

"Just think of it as sending away the beggar."

……