How could Shanxi merchants regard Baotou as the first choice for later commercial miracles? Historically, the exchange of needed goods between Mongolians in Monan, Mobei and Han areas in the Central Plains has never stopped. Although there was once a border ban policy of the rulers, it could not be strictly stopped. Generally speaking, the period of harmonious coexistence is relatively prosperous, and the war years tend to shrink. In the Ming Dynasty, Mongolia had a horse market besides Gong Shi, which allowed Mongolian and Han people to conduct folk trade in designated places. In addition, the Ming government also implemented the Salt Opening Law (that is, laws and regulations to encourage businessmen to transport grain and grass to the border towns and give salt the right to transport and sell). The huge business opportunities behind this series of policies have been keenly smelled by hardworking, business-oriented and kind Shanxi people. Shanxi people are good at managing money and doing business with a long history. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, it is recorded in history books. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi merchants had already ranked first among the three major business gangs in China-Jin Gang, Hui Gang Gang and Chao Gang, and made great achievements. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi merchants took advantage of the policy and became the mainstream group doing business in Mongolia (including Baotou), mainly engaged in the trade of trafficking in grain and salt. In the Qing Dynasty, there were three main forms of trade: one was Gong Shi; The second is the grassland market; The third is border trade. Shanxi merchants in Mongolia are also called Mongolian merchants, and their business scope is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is commerce, such as tobacco, wine, sugar, tea, satin, cloth, fur, livestock products and other daily necessities; The second is the financial industry, such as banks, banks and pawn shops. The two complement each other and make high profits. Shanxi Merchants Bank in Baotou once occupied an important position in the modern economic and financial history of China, which directly promoted the development of domestic commodity circulation and foreign trade. Shanxi businessmen's business in Baotou, Mongolia is based on the needs of herdsmen's life and production and the characteristics of animal husbandry, and they go door to door directly. Generally, the items that herders need are sold on credit in spring and summer, and then these items are converted into livestock or fur and credited to the account. In autumn and winter, the interest on livestock products and credit sales will be charged, and the fattened livestock will be collected. Large Shanxi merchants mostly do business on credit, while small Shanxi merchants mostly buy and sell by retail. Trade areas can be roughly divided into three roads: one is in today's Mongolia; All the way to Inner Mongolia; All the way to Ningxia, Xinjiang and other places. Baotou was a famous commercial city at that time. According to Zhang Gui, a professor at Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, in the Qing Dynasty, there were thousands of Shanxi businessmen who went from Xikou to Baotou outside Xikou. Among them, a group of Shanxi merchants who dominated the Baotou business gang lasted for a long time and had abundant assets, which were well known to the people. They once created the glory of Shanxi merchants' culture in Baotou and developed the western border of Inner Mongolia, which is the historical witness that the old Baotou changed from village to town. The firm founded by Liang, a native of Dingxiang, Shanxi, is the oldest in Baotou, with a history of more than 250 years. During the Kangxi period, Shanxi merchants began to barter with dragon seals, and exchanged daily necessities for Mongolian livestock, fur and medicinal materials. In the early years of Qianlong, the earliest industry and commerce in Baotou Village was Lv Mengxing. Liang opened a blacksmith's shop, which specializes in playing horseshoes, knives, hunting gear and bows and arrows for Mongols. "With the sudden increase in the population of Baotou Village, people's weddings and funerals are becoming more and more frequent. Liang founded and bought a pair of rosewood car poles. It was like sitting in a BMW today. Even the Baotou patrolman went to Sarazzi Hall to work, and the duke of Tomb-Sweeping Day had to rent this car pole when he went out. For example, Hao Yue Grocery Store has a full range of goods, from groceries, cloth, silks and satins to iron willow sticks, which soon became the first of the six major grocery stores in Baotou. During the Daoguang period, Yueru had more than 30 clerks, and there was a record of exchanging money with Yueru in Guangxu's existing business books. " Professor Zhang Gui introduced. At the end of Qianlong period, a man named Zhi in Shanxi opened a Yong Synthetic Store in Baotou, which specialized in purchasing Hetao grain, and then transported the grain and groceries to the residence of Mongolian people by camel team, and then replaced them with fur and livestock. At the same time, the wise family cultivated this land, which is called the eternal synthesis land. After the completion of Baotou city wall, the permanent compound occupied almost half of the land in the city wall, and now the permanent compound lane in Donghe District is a small part of the permanent compound. Shop assistants must also learn farm work. The common people said, "If you want to live in Yonghe, you should learn to drain ditches first." Because the northern part of Baotou City is high and the southern part is low, whenever the rainy season, the rain from Beiliang will fall down the slope to irrigate the farmland, so the land in this area is fertile and the harvest is good. Yongchun synthetic business is booming and popular. In the 29th year of Daoguang (AD 1849), Yong Cheng became the richest man in the area. As can be seen from the existing ancient title deeds, Zhi bought many properties and opened a perpetual pawnshop. Hard footprints are everywhere on the vast grassland. With regard to the scene of Shanxi merchants in Baotou doing business in Mongolia and traveling door to door, in the article Longxi Road written by Baotou writer Liu Lu, they described their own jingle, which was more vivid and concrete: they learned to walk on the grassland in Mongolian, far from their hometown of New Generation State.

The grassland is barren, and the stones change step by step. ......

Learn Mongolian to string people, buy and sell.

Good mentality, hard work, help Mongolian villagers make a living.

Catch lambs, tie calves, and concentrate on business.

Live wherever you go, and your hometown is your accommodation.

When you enter the door, say hello first, say hello and drink your tea politely. ..... Shanxi merchants in Baotou generally use barter to do business in Mongolia, mainly taking sheep and brick tea as the measure of transaction value. The usual conversion standards are: 1 mule and horse equals 12 sheep 1, 1 bull equals 32 sheep 1, 1 brick tea equals 1 sheep 1 or 3 sheepskins. However, in actual transactions, there are naturally situations of unequal exchange. For example, 1 sheep can be exchanged 1 bottle of white wine. For some big firms, Shanxi merchants in Baotou tried their best to maintain their goodwill, insisted on putting reputation first, advocated that "a gentleman loves money and has a good way to get it", and opposed taking despicable means to defraud money. According to Zhang Gui, a professor at Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, in the second year of Daoguang (AD 1822), Fuyixing in Baotou was opened. Fu Yixing went to Monti with a dragon seal of 50 taels of silver, and exchanged tea, cloth, hookah and sugar for cattle, horses, camels and sheep. During the Xianfeng period, Liang, a native of Shangqu Village, Daixian County, Shanxi Province, came to Baotou with his father Liang Mao at the age of 16, and Liang was an apprentice in Fuyi. Because Liang is diligent and capable, he has worked as an accountant, general manager and manager in Fuyixing. During the Tongzhi period, Fuyixing reached its peak, with more than 120 employees in the store. Ren Liang, general manager of Baotou City Wall Repair. Liang has a shop, a mill, a warehouse and a livestock pen in Dongmen Street, Donghe District. During the Guangxu period, there were accounts related to Fuyixing in the accounts of Baotou merchants. Dragon stamp, founded by Shanxi merchants, is also called a trip to Mongolia. Around 1920, there are more than 40 Mongolian tours in Baotou. Mongolia mainly buys cattle, horses, camels, fox skins, lynx skins and minks. , mainly in Inner Mongolia Mongolian inhabited areas to buy hides and fluff. The main products shipped to Mongolian residence are cloth, raw tobacco, brick tea, grain and oil, saddle, coral jade ornaments and so on. Mongolian trade and fur trade are brother industries. The fur line is the middle line. Mongolian banks transport furs and livestock to fur shops and livestock shops for profit. Fur shops and livestock shops sell them at a profit. Mongolian banks buy grain and daily necessities from Luhe Grain and Goods Bank, and then sell them door to door in Mongolian ethnic areas. Mongolians go to Mongolian settlements to do business, often bartering things, and some can get credit. According to Mongolian customs, buying and selling varies with the seasons. Lunar calendar 1 February to the following year1month is the sales period. Various small leather goods are purchased in February and March, cashmere is purchased in April and May, camel hair is purchased in May and June, cattle and horses are purchased in July and August, and sheep, camels and goats are purchased in September and October. Buy cotton and goat skin between heavy snow and light snow. Big firms don't pay cash to open coupons, so they call it money stickers, and herders pay cash in Baotou. Deyuantang, Fuyisheng, Xieshengxi and Fengshengtang run by Shanxi merchants set up Zhuangkou in Hetao every September to buy livestock from herders. There are temples all over Mongolia Banner, and there are more than 10 in Zhonggong Banner (now Urad Zhongqi). The largest temple is called Zhao, with nearly a thousand lamas. The food and daily necessities needed in the temple are also exchanged with the livestock of Mongolian Baotou merchants. Old Baotou, the legacy of Sanjin, once described it as follows: "Businessmen used to be many Jin people, and they were loyal and loyal, so there is still a legacy of Sanjin." Although there is a huge intersection of property, it is only provided for a short time. There is no contract and no middleman, and it is not pleasant to taste it in time. If you go back on your word, and everyone guards against each other, there will be no deal. City trade is fair and honest, but it is only responsible for selling teeth or cheating. dajia, a wealthy businessman, is dismissive. "At that time, the integrity of Shanxi merchants doing business in Baotou can be seen from these evaluations. The formation of this kind of honesty benefits from the strict rules and regulations of Shanxi merchants and their dedication and entrepreneurial spirit. They recruit apprentices, adhere to standards, select talents and use their abilities in practice. In addition to doing chores, disciples should practice abacus and brush calligraphy for three years, and retain sages after starting. The boss tested his apprentice in a strange way. For example, on the first day of New Year's Day, the boss deliberately poured a bag of money on the hall master to let the disciples rob the money, and the one who robbed the most money became the object of dismissal, while the one who took the least money or even nothing may become the object of reuse in the future. This method seems clumsy and ridiculous, but it is also a local creation of Shanxi merchants. No one in the number is allowed to take family members, borrow for a long time or for a short time, misappropriate the property of the people in the number or engage in other businesses, engage in prostitution or take opium, give gifts to the shopkeeper, fight, sow dissension, collude for selfish ends or disobey the dispatch, and all of them will be removed from the list. No other company will use those who are fired. Some firms also stipulate that apprentices who have been in the dock 10 must learn the common sense of doing business for three years, and also learn to memorize business routes and accommodation places for three years at the front or back camp counters. Therefore, almost all Shanxi businessmen who do business in Mongolia can speak Mongolian, are familiar with local customs and habits, and have developed superb skills of riding horses, watching livestock mouths and estimating meat, which provides conditions for them to sell and buy livestock products door to door in the cold winter and summer seasons. Professor Zhang Gui from Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology can tell many stories about the honesty of Shanxi businessmen. During Guangxu period, Niu Bangliang, a native of Dingxiang, Shanxi, aged 13, carried a load of rapeseed all the way to Baotou Town. Mingyuantang, an apprentice of a fur shop. In the 19th year of Guangxu (A.D. 1893), Xing Baoheng, Zhang Shiying and Ding Xizhen from Zhou Qi, Shaanxi Province set up Guanghengxi in Baotou and hired Niu Bangliang as the manager. Niu Bangliang is well managed, and Guanghengxi made a profit of 52,000 silver in the first three years. 1902, Guanghengxi had capital120,000 taels of silver and documents 100. He bought 40 mu of land in Yongquan Lane and built shops, guest rooms, kitchens and warehouses. The fur exported by Guanghengxi accounts for more than half of Baotou's total output. 19 18, Guanghengxi's capital reached 502,000 silver, replacing the monopoly position of Dashengkui, the largest Mongolian businessman at that time. Niu Bangliang is well managed in the store, and his management is very strict. Every day before dinner, you have to go through the lobby, that is, the business personnel report the market and transactions of the day. Niu Bangliang also personally patrols the night in the store every day. Guanghengxi is considerate in service and pays attention to integrity. 19 16, a fire broke out in Guanghengxi, which destroyed the goods stored by customers. Niu Bangliang personally counted them one by one according to the thin books, and then compensated them according to the price, which made Guanghengxi have a good reputation as a "treasure house that does not leak needles." This is the valuable business ethics and integrity of Shanxi merchants in Baotou in an invincible position in the business world. It was with such Confucianism that they won the market and made great contributions to the prosperity of Baotou at that time. The true portrayal of the business career of Shanxi merchants in Baotou once again proves that great wealth depends on goodness and great victory depends on virtue. "Professor Zhang Gui thinks.