The curtain of the carriage was lifted up, and Yang Yue leaned into Yang Yuanzhao's carriage and traveled continuously, especially on the dusty Loess Plateau. Everyone was gray. Even Yang Yue, who focused on dressing, was no exception. She looked like an international student and more like an ordinary person.

"Cousin Ji!" Yang Yuanzhao looked at Yang Yue in surprise and asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

"Brother Yuan Zhao, we won't go to Taiyuan today, we will go to my house to rest!"

"But, wherever Taiyuan?"

"I have asked someone to book a ticket. It's tomorrow afternoon. We'll have a night off, and we can hurry up?"

Yang Yue's family is in Taiping and Taiping, which is just a small town in Shanxi. In the history of the late Qing Dynasty, this town is quite famous. In this small town with only dozens of villages, four great masters were born. Taiping is the source and hometown of the four great masters. A large part of the glory of Shanxi merchants was created by Taiping. The Yang family is in Taiping Nanzhao and belongs to the large clan in Taiping.

The horse team began to turn at a fork in front of the road, left the official road, and walked on a small road, which was a small road, but it was built better than the official road. The neat bluestone roads were compacted in the roadbed, and the center was filled with three-dimensional soil. The year-round passage made them perfectly integrated and appear relatively flat.

The caravans involved were all from the Old Yang family. Yang Defa, the chief manager of the caravan, was Yang Yue's fourth uncle, the direct family of the Yang family, Yang Yue's father and four uncles. After they started their business 20 years ago, they began to grow up and form a huge Yang family and accumulated huge wealth. They bought the Yang family compound that had been sold long ago.

The history of the Yang family courtyard can be traced back to the Kangxi period. Once, the Jin merchant family, as the imperial merchant family, moved out or declined over the long years. The hundreds of years of feudal dynasty depended on the will of the superiors. Often, the rise and fall of a family can be brought about by the order of the ruler. As the master of wealth, the Jin merchants are the first to be affected.

"Taiping is here!" With the shouts of the guys, it seemed that the entire convoy was filled with excitement. It was the feeling of getting home. After hundreds of kilometers of arduous journeys, they finally arrived at their base camp. Yang Yuanzhao, who was very curious about the ancient town of Taiping, also opened the curtain of the carriage. What caught his eye was an antique late Qing Dynasty building, with elegant layouts, shops inside and outside, lively crowds, and the most eye-catching thing was the three-story tall loft in front, this is the most iconic building in Taiping.

There was a sign written on the ancient shop on the third floor. Yang Yuanzhao identified it and said, "Yu Family Piaohao!" He realized for a while that this should be the general number of the Wei Family Piaohao. There is no reason why the Wei family can be unique among the four great masters and be hailed as the leader of the four great masters. Even in later generations, the financial industry was one of the largest categories of super rich people and world-wide companies. In many countries, the financial industry still contains countless invisible rich people.

The Shanxi merchants who once made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty's entry into the pass became the money bag of the Qing Dynasty to a certain extent. In addition to the initial preferential treatment and subsequent suppression and extortion, the Shanxi merchants occupied a smaller and smaller position in China's territory, but the piaohao became the industry that Shanxi merchants were most involved in.

The tradition of Shanxi merchants, from the original ordinary merchants to transportation, commercial wholesale, and then to the piaohao. Shanxi's piaohao once became the central bank of the Qing government. When the central government could not even provide funds, the piaohao could easily take out millions or even more funds. This is also the root cause of the enduring popularity of Shanxi merchants.

Taiping can be said to be the core of the four great masters. In addition to the Wei family, the Yang family and Liu family all have general accounts in Taiping. The caravan did not stay too much in Taiping Town and were eager to return home. After more than half of the carriages were separated, the remaining carriages began to quickly go south. It was like a night of wealth and wealth. After the Shanxi merchants made their fortune, they often met in the villages to build bridges and roads, build ancestral halls, and open schools. Therefore, from Taiping to Nanzhao, there were large roads paved with blue bricks, which was much faster.

In just over an hour, a huge village appeared in front of him. It looked like it was about a few square kilometers, leaning against a Tushan Mountain. On the Tushan Mountain, there were no caves unique to Shanxi, but some gardens were created. Under the Tushan Mountain, there were endless houses with blue bricks and tiles, stretching for several miles.

"Brother Yuanzhao, our Yang family has lasted for several generations. Now all of the clans live here. The most central one is our Yang family's courtyard!"

Yang Family Courtyard, Yang Yuanzhao later heard of many such courtyards. The Yang Family Courtyard does not seem to be as famous as the Qiao Family and the Wang Family, but looking at the pomp in front of him, he really amazed that the mansion with a history of more than 200 years is embodied in the depth of history. After generations of construction, these houses were basically sold when the Yang Family was not prosperous. Since the old man of the Yang Family started his business 20 years ago, he spent a lot of financial resources and connections to take back the old house step by step, renovate and build it, forming this mansion with more than 300 different courtyards in a continuous stream, which is also the foundation of the Yang Family in Nanzhao.

Yang Yue led Yang Yuanzhao forward slowly. The entire Yang family courtyard was divided into three parts: the East Courtyard, the West Courtyard and the Xiaoyi Temple. The Xiaoyi Temple, as the Yang family's ancestral hall, will not be opened until the New Year's Day worship or major events. Generally, it is closed and closed to a huge courtyard, which looks a little quiet and mysterious. The East Courtyard and the West Courtyard, as the main body of the Yang family courtyard, are divided into five alleys and five forts. The layout of the five courtyards is divided into five types of dragons, phoenixes, turtles, and tigers. All the rough styles of the Ming Dynasty, can be seen with exquisite stone carvings and murals almost every step. There are already historical scars on many murals, but after the Yang family made their fortune, they began to build and renovate these murals and stone carvings. If you don't look carefully, you can hardly see them.

He slowly walked into the core of the Yang family, almost changing the scenery, and the thick ancient wind blew.

"There is the Red Gate Fort there!" Yang Yue pointed to the core of the entire building, with the dragon-shaped carving as the basis, and said, "That was my uncle's residence!"

Hongmen Castle (Dragon) is the core. It is located in the center of the entire building complex, closely next to Xiaoyi Temple. It lives in the Yang family's large house. They are the legitimate branch and bear the heavy responsibility of protecting the ancestral hall. The Yang family has three bedrooms, so they live in Chongning Castle, which is separated by a wall from Hongmen Castle.

The architectural style of Chongning Fort is generally similar to that of Hongmen Fort. The building is leaning against a high slope, with yin and sunny embracing the sun, the fort walls are towering, the courtyards are uneven, simple and rough, and is close to the style of the Ming Dynasty.

It took about an hour to walk along the way, which was almost an approximate courtyard, but Yang Yue could tell me something. Finally, after crossing the bridge, he came to the main courtyard of Chongning Fort. The entire Yang family courtyard and the five main courtyards were all three-in-one courtyards, with various sanitation yards around it, which looked particularly unique.

Yang Yuanzhao had no time to watch TV series in his previous life because of his busy work. He occasionally glanced at him, but felt the luxury of the Shanxi merchants mentioned on TV. He was really in this scene. As a guest of honor, he was welcomed into the Yang family and found that luxury was no longer expressed. The red lanterns were hung high, and the night was not falling, which reflected the bright lights of the entire Yang family. The Yang family compound covered a huge area, with dozens of different gates. The main gate was the most important in the old era. Unless it was a distinguished guest, the main gate would not be opened. Even the gate of Chongning Castle would not be opened at any time.

Yang Yue said embarrassedly: "Brother Yuan Zhao, let's go from here!"

Yang Yuanzhao didn't care. He didn't know the rules of the big family, but he also knew that there must be many places he didn't know about with such a big house. It was just about entering the house, walking through the main entrance and following the side entrance. There was not much difference.

Just next to the main entrance, there was a towering gate slightly lowered. At this time, the door was wide open. A middle-aged man who looked very ordinary but extremely imposing was standing in front of the door. Behind him was a middle-aged beautiful woman, and seven or eight servants were standing beside him.
Chapter completed!