The land of Liaodong is covered with ice and snow, and dripping water turns into ice.
A sleigh convoy is passing through the Liaoxi Corridor and heading south.
This convoy consisted of hundreds of sleighs, some loaded with supplies, and some filled with women, whose faces were red from the cold, and they all looked miserable.
On a sleigh in the front, there were several men who were dressed more luxuriously. However, in order to keep out the cold, they all wrapped themselves up very much and wore more than one mink hat.
"This damn weather is freezing to death!"
Aixinjueluo Wakda cursed, shrank back, and said dissatisfiedly to the majestic old man sitting in front: "Father, give a gift to Guan Ningjun. I can give it to you when it gets warmer in the next year. Why?"
They are going there years ago, and even you, Father Khan, have to go there in person. They are just some cowardly Han people. If the Eight Banners are strong enough, there will be no need to give gifts. As long as tens of thousands of soldiers and horses arrive, they will kneel obediently.
On the ground, take the initiative to send food, treasures, and beauties.”
"But we are no longer strong. We can only learn from our fathers and ancestors, endure hardships, make offerings to the Ming Dynasty, and humbly submit. And starting from this year, we will give this gift every year until we have the strength not to give it."
Daishan turned his head and said to his son, and then talked about how his father Nurhachi endured the humiliation in front of Li Chengliang.
For example, he recognized Li Chengliang as his adoptive father and served him like a slave.
It was clear that his father, brother, and grandfather all died due to Li Chengliang's alienation plan. With such a heinous blood feud, Nurhaci could only choose to endure it.
He was even willing to become a pawn to suppress the rebellion of various Jurchen tribes, which angered the clan members and all of them vowed to kill him.
This tortuous story was not only heard by Wakda for the first time, but also the eldest son Yue Tuo sitting next to him had never heard of it. He never expected that his grandfather Nurhaci had been a slave of Mingren for so many years and experienced so much.
A lot of hardships.
"No wonder my grandfather wanted to rebel against the Ming Dynasty with the seven hatreds. He just wanted revenge, but he was not willing to continue to be a chess piece." Yue Tuo sighed.
"But it was useless for us. Facing Mingren's repeated defeats, we were reduced to the point where we had to hide and endure, ruining the great situation created by my grandfather."
Wakda lowered his head and sighed, hating that he was now not up to par with the Eight Banners.
"Don't be discouraged. Our conditions are much better than those of our ancestors. They only had 13 pieces of armor in the past, but we have 30,000 pieces! Our ancestors only occupied the land of Jianzhou, but now the land of Liaodong is still in our hands. We
The foundation of the Eight Banners has not been lost. As long as more people are born on one side, we can send troops to Sauron next year to capture more savage Jurchens and restore the number of young people in the Eight Banners to more than 30,000. The next year, we can attack Mongolia and rebuild the Eight Banners in Mongolia, and then go to invade
Looting North Korea...what we lost will definitely be regained!"
Daishan said to them, and the two people who listened nodded repeatedly.
but……
There is always a gap between reality and ideals.
In the past two years, not even a grain of food has grown in Liaodong. North Korea has a large population. This year, more than 300,000 young and strong slaves were captured and sent to the mountains to cut down trees, plant vegetables and graze animals.
, went down to the river to fish for pearls, etc., and did all the work that originally belonged to the Han people. However, in North Korea, they seized very little food and could not eat it for long. On the contrary, it aggravated the food shortage problem and had to come from the south.
The Ming Dynasty imported more grain.
That is to say, it can only be imported from Guan Ningjun.
The problem is that the food sold to them by Guan Ningjun is too expensive.
Apparently the "Oriental Times" said that the current price of food in the Ming Dynasty, even in the food-deficient areas in the north, is only 0.5 silver dollars per stone for high-quality Nanyang rice.
But a ten-foot-long red pine cut down by Korean slaves in the Liaodong forest can only be exchanged for twenty kilograms of grain. It is old grain, coarse grain, and high-quality fine grain can only be exchanged for ten kilograms.
Another major specialty of Liaodong - animal furs, the price is also similar. Better furs can be exchanged for thirty to fifty kilograms of grain, while inferior furs can only be exchanged for three to five kilograms.
Only wild ginseng, Dongzhu, gold and silver can be exchanged for more food, but these are rare items, and even if they can be sold at a high price, they will not have much effect.
This led to the fact that in the past year, although Korean slaves worked hard to cut down trees, more than 100,000 people died of exhaustion, starvation, and were killed by trees. The Jurchen Eight Banners elites also organized large-scale hunting operations many times and obtained various furs.
One hundred thousand.
But the total amount of grain exchanged was 160 million catties and 150,000 silver dollars.
Divided by the Jurchen population of 100,000 and the more than 200,000 young Korean slaves, the per capita ration is more than 500 kilograms, which is enough to eat. There are also a lot of silver coins, which can buy a lot of salt, iron, sugar, and clothes.
Products like these make the lives of the Jurchen people acceptable.
But it's still far worse than before.
In the past, not only was there enough grain to satisfy one's needs, but there was also a large amount of vegetables, meat, and snacks such as preserved fruits. Now, one can only eat more grain, which has a single source of energy and unbalanced nutrition.
A mere 150,000 silver dollars is spent on just buying some goods from Xujiazhuang. The average person cannot buy a set of clothes or a piece of soap. The standard of living has dropped greatly, not to mention the use of glass mirrors, bicycles and other luxuries. What kind of life is there?
The luxurious life is not even as good as that of an ordinary Xujiazhuang citizen as introduced in the "Oriental Times".
The land of Liaodong is too bitter and cold.
In terms of food and other basic livelihood necessities, they relied too much on Guan Ningjun and were exploited too much in terms of price.
Of course, they didn't want to take a detour to Mongolia, contact Shanxi merchants again, restore the original grain transportation channel, and cultivate eight new Shanxi merchants. However, the Mongolian rebellion cannot ensure the safety of more than a thousand miles of grain routes. Secondly, the Hou Jin Dynasty
They have no money. With an annual income of more than 100,000 silver dollars, how much food can they buy? Do Shanxi merchants value this little money?
The most frightening thing is that it is said that the Guan Ning Army sent people to the grasslands this autumn and began to approach the Mongolian ministries to purchase their cattle, sheep and horses, and to purchase large quantities of wool to establish commercial cooperation.
, not only made the Mongolians richer, but also had the effect of attracting them. If this continues, the Mongolians may defect to Guan Ning's army and the Ming court.
This is unacceptable and intolerable.
Therefore, as the representative of the Great Khan of Houjin, he took his two sons to personally deliver gifts to Guan Ningjun. Firstly, it was to improve relations and reduce the price of grain exchange. Secondly, it was to paralyze Guanningjun and facilitate the resolution of the Mongolian issue the year after.
, otherwise Mongolia will really run away.
…
The twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month.
Guan Ning Jin Defense Line, below Songshan City.
Let Fan Wencheng enter the city as an envoy to report the waiting process.
Daishan, the great Han Dynasty of the Later Jin Dynasty, observed with his own eyes that the Songshan City in front of him had obviously become much taller. A large amount of cement was used to build a large number of sentries, archery towers, bastion-style turrets, and countless artillery pieces were installed, even on the city walls.
There are concrete roads and soldiers wearing plate armor can move quickly on bicycles. Once an enemy situation arises, they can quickly respond and provide support.
The city wall is tens of miles long and connects to Jinzhou City in the west, forming a complete and insurmountable line of defense. The Eight Banners elites with less than 30,000 people cannot break it even if each of them died three times.
But at this time last year, this line of defense was not so complete, the city wall was not so high, and the Ming court did not specifically allocate funds, and even significantly reduced the military expenditures allocated to Guan Ning's army.
In this case, where did Guan Ning's army get the financial and material resources to build this line of defense so strong and complete?
A flash of lightning flashed in his mind, and Dai Shan thought that he must have made a lot of profits from Daikin, so he could be so generous and build such a good line of defense, and it may not be for military purposes. Passing through this line of defense
After completely blocking the Western Liaoning Corridor, if Daijin wanted to buy food and other supplies, it would have to turn to Guan Ning's army, which was equivalent to monopolizing this trade route.
Thinking of this, Daishan was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood. Daijin worked hard to cut down trees and hunt, desperately exchanging food for money, but in the end he got such a shackles.
soon.
The Songshan City Gate opened, and the sleigh convoy entered the city.
…
City Lord's Mansion.
Inside the meeting hall, which is magnificently decorated and warm as spring inside.
Wu Xiang, the commander-in-chief, sat on the official hat chair directly above the head.
Tiger general Cao Wenzhao sat on the chair covered with tiger skin on the left, and Wang Yinghui sat on the soft chair on the right.
Holding hot tea in their hands, they looked at Daishan, the great Han Dynasty of the late Jin Dynasty, and his sons Yuetuo and Wakda, standing at the foot of the court. The three of them bowed with their hands bent, their waists bent deeply.
Wu Xiang and Wang Yinghui nodded slightly, showing satisfaction and pride.
Only Cao Wenzhao snorted coldly and said: "You Jianzhou barbarians, why don't you kneel down when you see me?"
kneel?
This word made the young and arrogant Wakda stand up immediately and said angrily: "You know better than to bully others too much. I am a wealthy person who cannot be insulted!"
Oh! Cao Bianjiao, who was standing aside, pulled out his knife and smiled expectantly.
"Don't be rude!"
Putting a hand on Wakda's shoulder, Daishan pushed him down, shook his head at him, then raised his hands and said to Wu Xiang and others: "You are arrogant and ignorant of etiquette. Don't blame the three adults. I am Dajin."
You don’t want to kneel down, but if you, my lords, insist on your request, I can kneel down, Old Khan, but how about doubling the amount of food you can get in exchange for Daikin’s wood and fur?”
"Forget it, food is precious and is worth much more than your simple kneel down."
After listening to Cao Wenzhao's words, Yue Tuo and Wakda felt their veins bulge again and clenched their fists tightly, feeling endless humiliation.
Daishan added: "Three gentlemen, Lao Khan came here this time, firstly, to stop the war between Ming Dynasty and Jin Dynasty and turn the war into friendship, and secondly, to cooperate better with Guan Ning's army, so I gave you a big gift.
, I just hope that we can improve our relationship and never fight again."
After speaking, he took out a gift list from his pocket, handed it to Fan Wencheng next to him, and asked him to read aloud:
Three hundred wild ginseng plants.
Twenty-five pounds of natural gold.
Three hundred beauties from North Korea.
Eighteen bearskins.
Thirty tiger skins.
Nineteen top quality white fox skins.
Dongzhu half a dendrobium (one dendrobium = five buckets).
and several other rare and rare treasures.
The total value is no less than one hundred thousand silver dollars.
It can definitely be called a heavy gift, a generous gift!
After hearing this, Wu Xiang, Wang Yinghui and others relaxed their brows and felt happy.
Even the hostility on Cao Wenzhao's face dissipated a lot, and he had to nod slightly.
Can.
This gift is quite worthy.
Let people see sincerity.
"Give me a seat, give me a seat for a few of you."
Wu Xiang immediately became polite, except for the traitor Fan Wencheng, and let Dai Shan and others sit on the chairs. His attitude was quite warm and friendly.
After communicating for a while.
Daishan made a request straight to the point, hoping that the price of the grain provided by Guan Ningjun could be lowered, at least by 50%, so that the five-foot-long wood sent by them could be exchanged for ten kilograms of grain, and the ten-foot-long wood could be exchanged for ten kilograms of grain.
If you exchange it for thirty kilograms, the fifteen-foot-long one can be exchanged for about fifty kilograms.
And this request is not too much at all!
Daishan said: "Sir, we have also read the "Oriental Times". Now the price of food in the Ming Dynasty has plummeted, from 3 silver dollars per stone to 1 silver dollar, half a silver dollar per stone. The price of food has dropped at least three times! But for us
It is unfair that the food we received in exchange for wood and fur has not changed. We hope to exchange for more food and other materials, or settle in silver dollars in the future, and allow us to use silver dollars to purchase various materials in the market of Songshan City.
.”
Hear these reasonable requests from him.
Wu Xiang looked at his nose and heart, drank tea and pondered for a moment, and said: "This matter is not easy to handle. It is okay to sell the grain in small quantities. If it is sold in large quantities, it will be suspected of collaborating with the enemy. If it is taken by ginseng, I will wait for you."
Everyone’s heads will fall to the ground.”
Wang Yinghui said: "There are only one hundred thousand Jurchen tribesmen. Why should we eat so much food? The maximum is 200 million jin per year. Any more will not be enough. This is a rule that cannot be broken. However, the gift you gave today is quite heavy. We will give you some soap."
Please give me a glass mirror and toilet paper as a return gift. We Han people are hospitable and we won’t treat you badly if you give more in return.”
Cao Wenzhao, who was sitting on the tiger leather chair, rolled his eyes and suddenly said: "It's not impossible to reduce the price of food by 30 to 50% for you, but there is a condition!"
"What conditions?"
Yue Tuo was startled and immediately asked, among the three generals of the Guan Ning Army, Cao Wenzhao, who has always been the most hostile to them, is the one who speaks best?
"Liaodong Peninsula."
Cao Wenzhao grinned: "Give us this land, completely withdraw from Fuzhou, Gaizhou and other places, and the price of food can be reduced by 30%."
The anticipation on Yue Tuo's face solidified instantly.
Wakda said excitedly: "Impossible! You have already firmly controlled the Western Liaoning Corridor. If you take away the Liaodong Peninsula, wouldn't our Dajin be blocked in both directions? Will we be even more controlled by you? This is absolutely impossible!"
"It doesn't matter if you don't give it, we will send troops to get it ourselves."
Cao Wenzhao smiled disdainfully and said: "Now our Guanning Army has 70,000 elite soldiers! All of them are equipped with plate armor and alloy knives from Xujiazhuang. With only 30,000 troops, we can conquer Gaizhou, Fuzhou and other places. I don't know how big you are."
What can Jin do to stop you? You Jurchens are young and strong. Do you still have 30,000 people now? Are you going to die?"
For the Liaodong Peninsula, Cao Wenzhao and others are bound to win it, because the coal mine, iron ore and other resources on the peninsula are very rich. Once captured, it will be an important financial source and can bring a lot of income every year, so regardless of Daishan and others
Whether people agree or not, Guan Ningjun will take action next year!
"That's too much! How can we, the Eight Banners elites, be afraid of a mere 30,000 Guan Ning army? Don't even think about taking away the Liaodong Peninsula!" Wakda said with a look of sadness and indignation.
"Shut up, you bastard!"
Daishan scolded him, and then said to Wu Xiang and others: "My lords, Fuzhou, Gaizhou and other places can be considered to be given to you. However, can the price of food be reduced by 50%? Thirty percent is still too little.
"
"No, I'll give you a 40% discount at most. If there's too much food, how can you stop? Just don't starve to death." Cao Wen ordered.
"Okay, 40% means 40%, Lao Khan, I agree!"
Daishan closed his old eyes and gritted his teeth.
In this way, Hou Jin achieved the goal of lowering grain prices at the expense of abandoning the Liaodong Peninsula.
Then they had no intention of staying any longer, so they skipped the dinner and hurried back home in the afternoon. Of course, they brought the soap, glass mirrors, toilet paper and other return gifts given to them by Guan Ningjun, which were not many in number.
It can fit on a sled cart, but the value is said to be over 150,000 silver dollars.
On the way back.
Yue Tuo and Wakda both had faces full of pain and helplessness. They felt deeply powerless. Dajin was too weak. If there were one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand soldiers in hand, Wu Xiang, Cao Wenzhao and other Ming people
How dare Commander-in-Chief An do this? How dare he be so arrogant and tough?
"Don't be discouraged. After the spring of next year, I will find a way for you to pass through North Korea and send you to Xujiazhuang in the south of the Yangtze River to directly cooperate with Xujiazhuang. You two must no longer be reckless and unruly. If you can meet the important people in Xujiazhuang, you will immediately
Kneel down and acknowledge your master, saying that Jurchen would rather be the dog of Xujiazhuang than the slave of Guan Ning's army!"
Daishan looked gloomy and warned his two sons.
"Yes, Father Khan!"
"My son, I will keep it in my heart!"
Yue Tuo and Wakda said.
…
The other side.
In Songshan City, at the banquet in the evening, extremely hearty laughter sounded.
"Hahaha!"
"The descendants of Nurhachi are nothing more than that. I thought they would be strong and strong, but I didn't know that each generation is not as good as the last."
"Hou Jin is really at his wits end. Young men with less than 30,000 yuan are still trying to make waves. One grain can kill them. When our financial strength becomes stronger, it is better to simply destroy them and make Liaodong's
All resources are in our hands!" Cao Wenzhao said with high spirits.
"Don't be careless!"
Wu Xiang's mind was always clear and he said: "After giving up the Liaodong Peninsula, the Houjin route will be blocked. We will definitely find a new way out. We must not give them this opportunity. In this way, the gifts they sent will contain
Send people to Xujiazhuang to deepen the relationship with Xujiazhuang. As long as Xujiazhuang trusts us, Jianzhou Jurchens can only be obedient and obedient. In front of us, they will always be slaves.
.”
This statement immediately received support and approval from everyone.
"Yes, that makes sense."
"We can't let Houjin Jurchen have a relationship with Xujiazhuang, otherwise how can we make a profit from it?"
"For a fifteen-foot-long piece of high-quality wood, Xujiazhuang offered 3 silver dollars each to buy it in unlimited quantities. We only had to pay 30 kilograms of old grain, which is a price difference of dozens of times. This year, we made more than 500 yuan just from the wood.
Ten thousand silver dollars, if Hou Jin has a connection with Xujiazhuang and sells the wood without us changing hands, how can this happen?"
"Mr. Wu is still mature and prudent. Part of this gift must be given to Xujiazhuang to continue building good relations. Anyway, it is a gift from Hou Jin, and there will be more next year and the year after that!"
"The good relationship with Xujiazhuang must be maintained. As for Houjin, just continue to do business with us honestly!"
"..."
82 Chinese website This chapter has been completed!