Chapter 277: Aiding Korea and Fighting the Japanese (15) People of the Gao Family
After the Japanese affairs were basically discussed, Liu Xin arranged for Kafei to see the intelligence files. However, Liu Xin did not take her there herself. Instead, she arranged for intelligence secretary Gao Qi to lead Kafei to the Secretariat Archives to review.
Gao Qi was born in the fifth room of the Gao family. His father, Gao Wuben, was Gao Jingshi's cousin. He was named Yufu and was a member of the family. He married Li and had a son. Gao Qi was only four years younger than Gao Jingshi, but he still had a son.
He was a nephew, so he always lowered his head when leading Narita Kai, his cousin, for fear of doing something rude.
He had made several speeches at the pre-war military conference during the previous Battle of Yuan Dynasty, and his performance was pretty good. His uncle, Gao Pragmatic, admired him quite a lot and gave him more intelligence work to handle.
Gao Qi was very concerned about Gao Pragmatic's perception of him, so he was also very concerned about his image in the eyes of his cousin. Even though Narita Kai was just a wife and not a royal wife, he still behaved himself with all the etiquette of a junior.
In fact, Gao Qi didn't quite understand the fact that Gao Pragmatic relied on his wives and concubines to handle Jinghua's internal affairs. According to his idea, even if the Jinghua family had a great business, some affairs with far-reaching influence were not suitable to be left to servants, so leave them to Gao Qi.
It's fine if the family is close, so why do you have to leave it to your wives and concubines? The Gao family is not a small family, with as many as six rooms!
From Gao Qi's pragmatic standpoint, even though most of his uncles (Gao Gong's generation) are old, he has five brothers, five cousins, and more than ten nephews, including
There are already seven adult children and nephews - with so many people, are you afraid that no one will be available?
But Gao Pragmatic doesn't seem to see it that way. Although most of his brothers are also highly used by him, even Gao Mengnan, who is the most highly used among them, is only the chief advisor of Siam [Note: the official official title and title is "Chief Advisor to the King of Siam"
, Sukhothai Chao Phraya", here "Chao Phraya" is roughly equivalent to a duke], and is not responsible for military duties.
Gao Jingshi's power in southern Xinjiang is generally quite dispersed. The only person with centralized power is his wife Huang Zhiting. Although Huang Zhiting's power itself has limitations, after all, she is the only one who can transcend "all countries"
People who exercise power at this level can show a highly pragmatic "preference".
Although Southern Xinjiang is the most important area under direct control of Jinghua, it is still considered a "local" after all. However, in the "center" of Jinghua, the power structure is also very "abnormal."
If Gao Mo's position in the "center" of Jinghua is equivalent to the "internal minister", then who is the "chief assistant" of Jinghua? Yes, it is Liu Xin, the secretary-general. In Gao Qi's view, although Liu Xin is not
She is her cousin's uncle's wife and concubine, but the relationship between her and her cousin has always been close and subtle... Maybe except that they have never slept together, there is no difference at all in other aspects.
In this way, apart from the cousin himself, the three most important positions in Jinghua are that one is his woman, one is basically "his woman", and the remaining one, Gao Mo, is still older.
Gao Qi always feels that once Gao Mo can no longer do his job, who will take over the Ministry of Internal Affairs will greatly affect the future power structure of Jinghua. As a relative of the Gao family, and he happens to be the intelligence secretary, he must fight for it.
This position is to prevent the status of the relatives of the Gao family from being inferior to the servants of the sixth room in the future.
Narita Kai also found that the cousin in front of her was extremely reserved towards her, but at the moment she was focused on completing the tasks assigned by her husband, and she didn't know much about the internal situation in Jinghua, so although she felt a little weird, she didn't
Didn't pay much attention to it.
Gao Qi carefully found the corresponding files in the archives of the Secretariat, and ordered people to prepare pens, inks, paper and inkstones, and then withdrew, leaving Narita Kai to study quietly in the archives and make the records she thought were necessary.
Ji expressed her gratitude in a very Japanese manner, and then stayed in the room to study it carefully.
Two flowers bloomed, one on each side. After Ji Feiji left, only Gao Pragmatic, Liu Xin, Meng Guzhezhe and Gao Mo remained silent in the small restaurant. There is no need to mention Gao Mo's habit. As long as Gao Pragmatic did not speak, he
He almost never takes the initiative to speak, and stands aside like a wooden man.
Liu Xin asked: "Let's stop talking about Japan's affairs today. Should I report some of Jinghua's recent important affairs now?"
Gao pragmatic pinched his eyebrows and said: "Let's not be busy with other internal affairs for now. I just heard Meng Gu say that Nurhachi sent someone to contact Jinghua. Is there anything related to this?"
"It is indeed true." Liu Xin said: "And I just received news about this matter yesterday - Nurhachi recently contacted Beijing and Liaoyang and proposed that he is willing to lead his troops to participate in the battle against the Japanese troops in North Korea."
Gao pragmatic pondered for a moment and asked, "What does he want?"
"He seems to have a Han staff officer under him. His words are very obscure, but the meaning is relatively clear: he hopes to obtain agency rights for North Korean ginseng trade after this war is over."
Gao Pragmatic was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help laughing: "Ah ha, he has some ideas. He also wants to monopolize ginseng?" Then he shook his head and said, "My previous layouts were just to prevent him from monopolizing ginseng.
But this guy still hasn't given up on trade. He's not even satisfied with Manchuria and wants to get his hands on Korean ginseng. It's really unreasonable."
Regarding this matter, Meng Guzhezhe, who had been quiet until now, actually had something to say. She said cautiously: "Sir, speaking of this matter, my brother also sent news that Nurhachi has taken over the second part of Changbai Mountain (a total of three parts,
Nurhaci took over the Yalu River and Zhusheli tribes, and the remaining Nayin tribe defected to Ye He (remaining independent but accepting Ye He's protection), and has probably mastered about 80% of Manchuria's ginseng output."
The "about 80%" mentioned by Meng Guzhezhe is basically within the range of a highly pragmatic estimate, because the Changbai Mountain area was originally one of the main ginseng producing areas in Liaodong. The three parts of the Changbai Mountain area originally accounted for nearly half of the output, and Nurhaci's original control area accounted for
Most of the half remains.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Now he has two of the three Changbai Mountains, and the remaining Nayin is the smallest among the three, and the output is of course lower. In this way,
Taken together, it is not surprising that Nurhaci accounts for 80% of Liaodong ginseng production.
However, occupying 80% of the output was not the most urgent thing that Meng Guzhezhe wanted to tell Gao Pragmatic at this time. She then mentioned a more important issue: "After Ye He followed his husband to conquer the Yuan Dynasty, Nurhaci significantly reduced the sales of ginseng. My brother
It is said that the ginseng received by Ye He was at least half less than in previous years."
When Gao Pragmatic heard this, he immediately knew that the situation had changed. It seemed that Nurhaci had already figured out the method of boiling and drying, and a very important item in the methods used to suppress him in the future was lost.
There were many pragmatic ways to suppress Nurhaci in the past. One of the simplest and most economically effective ways was to wage a time war on the ginseng trade. This starts with the preservation method of ginseng.
The digging process for ginseng is very complex and requires rinsing with water after being dug out. Therefore, it is prone to mold and deterioration in humid climate conditions. Previously, most Jurchens had not mastered a storage method for ginseng that could be stored for a long time without rotting or deteriorating.
, so if it takes a long time to dig out, mold and deterioration are inevitable.
Naturally, this kind of washed and moist ginseng weighs very little when weighed. If it can be sold in time, it will naturally make more profits. But the merchants of Ming Dynasty are not fools. They took advantage of the weakness of wet ginseng that it is easy to mold.
Try to keep the price as low as possible when purchasing.
Especially under the hint of Jinghua, the commercial overlord, they either "pretended not to want the market" or "delayed it because of the humidity." As a result, the ginseng nestled in the hands of Nurhachi Jianzhou Zuowei may rot in large quantities at any time.
The worst time he was punished was when he lost more than 20,000 kilograms of meat at once - that is, when Nurhaci captured the Yalu River and Zhu Sheli and was later economically sanctioned by the Ming Dynasty.
However, once Nurhaci mastered the boiling and drying method, this method, which had been the best in the past, became ineffective, because from now on, ginseng could be stored for a long time.
However, Gao Pragmatic had expected this matter. After all, this matter was recorded in the second volume of "Records of Emperor Taizu Wu of the Qing Dynasty": In the past (nǎng), the people of the Ming Dynasty were sold to the Ming Dynasty and soaked with water. The people of the Ming Dynasty found it too wet.
The people of the country were afraid that the water ginseng would not last long, so they sold it in a hurry and the price was low. Taizu wanted to cook it and dry it in the sun, but the kings and ministers refused. Taizu did not want to show favor to others, so he boiled it and dried it, and slowly sold it, and the fruit fetched twice the price.
often.
It is not difficult to see that Nurhaci’s method is actually not difficult. There are probably two points: first, blanch it in boiling water, which may have a sterilizing effect and prevent the growth of mold; second, the storage time of ginseng after "boiling and drying"
It is longer and can be "sold slowly", so in history, the Ming Dynasty's suppression of Nurhaci in the ginseng trade lost its effect.
But there is a problem here. Historically, Nurhaci seems to have developed this method around 1605. If he has mastered it now, it means that this technology has been advanced by about thirteen years, but I don’t know why - maybe
It is precisely because Gao Pragmatic's suppression was more severe than in the original history, which in turn forced Nurhachi to study in advance and succeeded.
Gao pragmatic explained his conclusion, and Liu Xin said after listening: "In this case, the agency rights of Korean ginseng cannot be handed over to Nurhachi, otherwise we will be equivalent to staking the enemy."
Gao pragmatic nodded lightly, but couldn't help but frown and said: "But now that North Korea is fighting fiercely, there will definitely be a big problem with the supply of Korean ginseng. The output of ginseng will have declined. If Nurhachi does this again,
The price of Liao ginseng is bound to rise sharply - it is a certainty that his profits will increase."
Nurhachi was identified by Ye He and Baylor as the enemy who killed their father. Meng Guzhezhe also hated him deeply. He was very unhappy when he heard this and became angry and silent.
Liu Xin glanced at her, pondered for a while, and said to Gao pragmatically: "Do you think...can we restrict the purchase of ginseng?"
"It can be restricted, but it won't have any good effect. It will only encourage smuggling." Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "You have to know that we are not in the era of the rule of law. There are many ways to smuggle. Once the court orders restrictions, the entire
Liaodong will become a gathering place for smugglers, and the court will not be able to catch them."
When he said this, Liu Xin also understood. The current situation is indeed incomparable with that of later generations. The border is so long that the court cannot afford to block a few important crossings, but smugglers have countless paths to take, and they can go there in small pieces.
smuggling.
Moreover, the imperial court restricts the purchase of ginseng, but the demand for ginseng will not decrease accordingly, which means that the price of ginseng will increase because it is more rare. This in turn increases the profits of smuggling and stimulates more unscrupulous businessmen to smuggle -
—It’s a vicious cycle.
Gao pragmatically said: "Theoretically speaking, if you want to suppress the price of ginseng at this time, you can either rely on publicity that ginseng is useless, or increase the supply of ginseng. Even if the former is implemented, it will not be effective overnight, and the latter... at least
This will only be possible after northern North Korea is recovered."
In this case, Liu Xin had to think of another way, so she asked: "Nurhachi wants to send troops to North Korea... is it possible to take advantage of it?"
Gao Pingshi heard the elegant meaning of Xiange and raised his eyebrows and said: "Are you saying that the imperial court promised him first, but then refused to admit it after the war? But this is not possible. The imperial court is a imperial court after all, and credibility is always important."
"Then what if we ignore his proposal?" Liu Xin said: "How about fighting hard on the battlefield and trying to regain the ginseng production area in northern North Korea early, and then start a price war with him?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "It's not that easy. The imperial court has decided to deal with the Cao Army and Yang Yinglong first. The Korean affairs can only be decided by Li Rusong for the time being. The large-scale dispatch of troops will not happen until at least the spring of next year."
Meng Guzhezhe couldn't help but ask: "Why not directly send troops to eliminate Nurhachi?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Uh... Gao Pragmatic was a little speechless, and thought to himself: I can't tell you that keeping Nurhachi is just so that the Jurchens will never have an overlord, right? If now
Now that Nurhaci is gone, Ye He will no longer have any constraints in Manchuria. Then won’t I have to point my sword at your two brothers?
At this time, Liu Xin smiled and said: "Everything has its priorities. Now North Korea is in danger, and the Ming Dynasty has just fought a big war. How can we use the left guard of Jianzhou at this time?
Besides, the court is still a court, and it cannot be punished without teaching. Although Nurhachi is not a good person, his current actions have not reached the point where he must be punished.
In addition, his request to go to war this time is, to a certain extent, a gesture of goodwill to the imperial court. At this time, whether the imperial court accepts it or refuses it, at least it cannot turn against him, right?"
Her words were fair and just, and Meng Guzhezhe could only remain silent after hearing this. Gao pragmatically thought about it, and suddenly said: "It is indeed unrealistic to conquer Nurhachi now, but if it just makes Nurhaci unlucky, then it can be imagined
Find a way."
As expected, Meng Guzhezhe's eyes lit up, and Liu Xin laughed and said: "I know that our Marquis hates to see 'people of my Gao family' being wronged the most... What, what kind of mirrors are going to be used by the Marquis to deceive Nurhachi?"
Send troops and fight head-on with the main force of the Japanese army?"
Meng Guzhezhe heard her talking about "I am a member of the Gao family" very seriously, and couldn't help but think of what happened before the meal. His face suddenly turned red, and he lowered his head and did not dare to speak.
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