Located in the Xuefeng Mountain area of Wuling Mountains in western Hunan, Hongjiang is surrounded by towering mountains. Although it's a small place, it was once the origin and prosperity of ancient Xiang merchants in Chinese commercial development history, cultivating a thriving and active Hongjiang merchant group.

  Hongjiang Merchant Group originated in autumn, matured at the end of Tang Dynasty and flourished during Ming and Qing Dynasties.

  However, success is not accidental, and the timing, location, and people are all important. First, Hongjiang is a strategic location on the "Water Silk Road", a golden waterway that connects Chengdu in the southwest to Myanmar and India through Guizhou and Yunnan. Hongjiang is at the "bottleneck" of this waterway, where goods from the southwest cannot be exported to Myanmar and India without passing through it. In addition, Hongjiang is also a land transportation hub, known as the "Gathering of Five Dragons", which refers to five ancient roads that converge here. Among them, the Xiang-Qian Ancient Road is the most important one, which connects Hongjiang directly to the borders of Yunnan and Guizhou. Therefore, Hongjiang is considered a strategic location that connects seven provinces: Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hubei, Sichuan, Shanghai, and Hunan.

  Here's a digression: what is referred to as the "Five Dragons" specifically refers to five ancient trade routes.

  The first ancient road starts from Dawan Tang, passes through Xindian to Qiancheng (formerly Longbiao County). The total length is 30 kilometers, mainly earth roads, and some sections are paved with bluestone slabs, which can be extended to Guizhou Qiandongnan, Kunming, Myanmar, and India.

  The second ancient road also starts from Dawan Tang, passing through Wangjiatianzi, Xiaojia, Dongyue Temple, and Yanjiao to Huitong County. The total length is 60 kilometers. It can also be extended to connect with southeastern Guizhou, Kunming, Myanmar, and India.

  The third ancient road starts from Changzhai, passes through Longchuangtang, Yinxingjie, Liangshanjie, Baomutang, Caozhai, and reaches Dongkou, which can be extended to Baoqing, Changsha and Hankou. The total length is 152.5 kilometers, with some sections paved with bluestone slabs.

  The fourth ancient path starts from Luobo Bay and passes through Shawan to Anjiang. The total length is 30 kilometers, with some sections paved with bluestone slabs.

  The fifth ancient road starts from Old Street, passes through Frozen Green Pingyu Liangwan to Huangmao, Mati Slope, Ruoshui, Tuanhe and arrives at Huitong, Jingzhou.

  Secondly, the Hunan merchants, the Hongjiang merchant group, had already formed the "Five Prefectures and Eighteen Guilds" by the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty. During the Jiaqing period (1796-1820), they dominated the timber market, with the Baoqing guild alone having an annual trade volume of tens of millions of silver yuan. Later, they expanded their influence to Hankou and built a specialized dock - Baoqing Dock. In the late Daoguang period (around 1848), they also built the Baoqing Guild Hall in Hankou. After a long and fierce commercial war with the Huizhou merchants over the control of the Baoqing Dock, which lasted for eight years, they finally emerged victorious with the support of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army. Due to the shift of trade routes northward, the Hongjiang merchant group moved the transshipment point for foreign trade from Hankou to Shanghai and Hankou. As a result, Hunan became an important hub for the distribution of imported goods such as cotton yarn and cloth, which were transported by civilian ships from Hankou to Changsha and then sold throughout Hunan province. In return, Hunan's agricultural products, handicrafts, and local specialties such as rice, tea, and firecrackers were shipped from Changsha to Hankou for export. Changsha was already a famous rice market in the early Qing dynasty, and its tea was also transported through Hankou to open up the sales channel to the southeastern provinces. The province also traded with Zhejiang salt merchants and exported goods through the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Therefore, Hunan merchants were very active in Hankou, such as Liu Linxiang and Zhu Zigui, who set up tea houses in Hankou and became wealthy tea merchants. Today, the most famous commercial street in Hankou, Hanzheng Street, was formed on the basis of the original Baoqing Dock, and the vast majority of old residents on Hanzheng Street are descendants of the Baoqing merchants.

  As for Zhu Zhida, he is indeed a legendary figure, and his story is not only inspiring but also a legend. It's worth mentioning that, like most members of the Hongjiang Chamber of Commerce, Zhu Zhida is not from Hongjiang, nor is he even from Hunan Province.

  In June 1853, when the Taiping Army occupied Anqing in Anhui Province during the third year of the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, Zhu Zhi's mother took her three sons to flee from the "Long-haired Bandits" and escaped from Jing County in southern Anhui to Hongjiang in Hunan.

  The mother and four sons, after fleeing to Hongjiang, had no stable life, and relied on selling a northern-style fried snack called "youtiao" to make a living. Later, when they really couldn't make ends meet, they sent their three sons to become apprentices. Zhu Zhida was the eldest son, who went to work as an apprentice in a silk thread shop. His mother was frugal and thrifty, and after several years, she accumulated some capital and opened a small store, initially only selling silk threads. Due to her good management, her capital increased, and she gradually expanded her business to include fabrics, satins, and eventually even money shops and oil stores. By the first year of the Republic (1912), Zhu Zhida owned over 70 stores in Hongjiang, almost monopolizing all industries except for barbershops and bathhouses, which were considered lowly businesses. At that time, the gold signboard of his oil store was called "Zhu Zhida", famous far and wide.

  Zhu Zhi's oil company not only set up its headquarters in Hongjiang, but also set up branches in Hankou, Zhenjiang and Nanjing, with hundreds of employees. During the holidays, people who came to Zhu's house to pay their respects were endless. The Zhu family not only had a large number of shops, but also acquired thousands of hectares of good land, extending to Qianyang and Huitong.

  After Zhu Zhi became rich, in order to leave a way out for his future generations, he took out a large sum of money and built 360 shops. He then rented these shops to merchants who were doing business at no cost, on the condition that when his family fell into decline and his descendants had nothing to eat or wear, each household would take turns providing them with food.

  Ye Zuwen took a sip of tea and continued: "Apart from Zhu Zhi, the Hongjiang Chamber of Commerce has three other big families, Zhang's family, Liang's family, and Liu's family. Wen Zheng, among them, the Zhu, Zhang, and Liang families are traditional tung oil tycoons, monopolizing the tung oil, pig bristles, and timber industries in western Hunan. However, over the past twenty years, the Liu family has risen to prominence, and their head, Liu Qishan, is a bold and astute man. This old fellow not only dominates the opium trade but also made a big profit from tung oil trading last year. I reckon that among the four major Hongjiang merchant families, his power and influence are currently the greatest."

  Wang Zhenyu listened carefully, not interrupting, when Song Haomin suddenly left and returned to the room after a while, handing him a letter. Song Haomin didn't say anything and went back to his original position, Wang Zhenyu took a closer look and found it was a letter from He Jian, who he had sent to investigate in Hongjiang, Fenghuang and Changde areas.

  Wang Zhenyu looked at the two letters in his hand and suddenly felt that there was a necessary connection between them.

  Zhu Zhi's letter was plain and unremarkable, except for the polite greetings and praise for Wang Zhenyu's reforms in Jingzhou Prefecture. It is truly admirable that this old predecessor has the audacity to flatter Wang Zhenyu as the greatest sage of the past 2,000 years. For merchants, Wang Zhenyu's reforms were no different from giving them a glimmer of hope and a way out.

  Zhu Zhi said his business has developed in Huitong County under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou Prefecture, hoping to get Commander Wang's care and definitely have a thick reward (Wang Zhenyu checked the envelope twice, didn't see the legendary silver ticket, suddenly depressed, is there such a thick reward?).

  Finally, Zhu Zhi Da also wished our Wang Zhenyu good health and progress in his studies!

  This Hong Shang big shot wrote hundreds of words, but Wang Zhenyu couldn't see anything useful in them. Of course, it's not that there was nothing at all - at least this letter represented an attitude, perhaps Zhu Zhi's personal one, or maybe the entire Hongjiang Chamber of Commerce's attitude.

  Wang Zhenyu shook his head, apart from sighing that Jiang was still as spicy as ever, he didn't say anything else.

  Then he opened He Jian's letter and suddenly brightened up. The meaning of the previous letter was also understood by Wang Zhenyu at once.

  As his subordinate, He Kui's letter can be understood more clearly.

  The letter mentions that Hongjiang is a major commercial and taxation hub in Hunan, with annual revenues of over 10 million yuan from timber alone, and tung oil reaching as high as 40-50 million yuan. After the opium trade took off, the region's annual commercial tax revenue approached nearly 100 million yuan, accounting for 40% of Hunan Province's total.

  Another place with heavy commercial tax is Changde. He Jian said that he has already sent someone to Changde and will report back as soon as there is any news.

  Hongjiang accounts for 85% of the province's commercial tax and 60% of the total tax revenue in Changde.

  It is so important that Tan Yankai can be left unattended, but Changde has been occupied by Wang Zhenya, who was as famous as Wang Zhenyu during the Xinhai Revolution. Therefore, Tan Yankai established the Fifth Military Reserve District in Hongjiang, directly under the jurisdiction of Changsha, and appointed Zhou Zefan to go to Hongjiang to serve as the commander of the Fifth Military Reserve District, with a very clear purpose, which is to guard the province's financial lifeline.

  This week, then Fan said that there is still some origin, he and the recent Hunan military big man Cheng Qian is a classmate who stayed behind. For this position, Cheng Qian even agreed to Tan Yankai's plan to cut off most of the Xiang Army.

  The Fifth Reserve District Headquarters is stationed in Hongjiang, with a force of 9 battalions and approximately 2,000 men. At the same time, there are ten county defense bureaus within its jurisdiction that are under its command.

  According to He Jian's investigation, the army under Zhou's command has as many as 7,000 soldiers and horses, which is currently the largest in western Hunan. Wang Zhenya, the defender of Changde, ranks second with 6,000 men, while Wang Zhenyu ranks third with 4,000 men (the top three, the giant sweat).

  He also mentioned a person named Shen Zongsi, from Fenghuang, who allegedly followed Luo Rongguang to defend the Dagu Fort during the Boxer Rebellion and lost his future due to defeat. When the Xinhai Revolution broke out, this man relied on the prestige of his clan and successfully planned and organized the Fenghuang Uprising.

  As Tian Jia's master was absent, the entire spear technique had actually fallen into this person's hands.

  He Kai quickly shifted the topic back to Hongjiang. Not bad, he has a strategic vision and can actually guess the boss's expansion intentions.

  The current Hongjiang is making life difficult for Zhou Zefan, the newly appointed Jingbei commander. As soon as he took office, he directly allocated 40 million yuan in military aid to the eight major business factions.

  This has infuriated the merchants, as since the Qing dynasty, officials have never dared to speak loudly to the Chamber of Commerce. Now that the revolution has succeeded, the officials are acting arrogant, and this newly appointed official is opening his mouth to demand 40 million, knowing that the annual commercial tax is only around 10 million. This outrageous act is equivalent to collecting half a year's worth of commercial taxes in advance, and it doesn't even exempt them from paying the original amount due.

  Businessmen immediately stopped work, and some merchants even began planning a market strike.

  It's normal, after all, to close the market is a basic right. Who would have thought that Zhou Zhenfan, who studied abroad, didn't learn anything else, but mastered the art of violence? He directly ordered his soldiers to stand in front of the shops, and if the owners didn't open their doors, they would be forced to do so by his men. The merchants couldn't resist, and under Zhou's intimidation, they obediently paid their taxes. It seemed like the matter was resolved smoothly, but Zhou's rough behavior had sown seeds of hatred in the hearts of the Hongjiang merchants.

  Looking at Zhu Zhida's letter again, Wang Zhenyu knew that the seed had sprouted.