The Manchu Qing Dynasty's "Xingwei" originally meant "military exercises". This is especially true before entering customs. This time, they even wanted to show off the Eight Banners' military power in front of Huang Hua, so all the soldiers were dressed up to show off the military's combat power.
Huang Taiji secretly watched Huang Hua's reaction from close by - he already knew from the Tang newspaper and memorials that the combat power of the Tai'ao people was far superior to the Ming army. In the conflict on Duozhi Island, the elite Eight Banners of Zhenjiang Fort were left alone. On the island, the Tai'ao people, who were completely disadvantaged in terms of numbers, were defeated. The opponent was not only very powerful with firearms, but also had a well-founded approach and strict discipline during the battle, making them a rare elite.
Looking at Huang Hua now, although there was a look of shock on his face, there was no trace of worry or fear. When Bayala's soldiers were riding and shooting, there was even a contemptuous smile on the corner of this man's mouth.
Huang Taiji always prided himself on the strong combat power of the Eight Banners, especially those who participated in the hunt were elites from each banner, many of whom were Bayala soldiers. In a field battle, a charge of one or two hundred Bayala elite soldiers could kill more than ten times the Ming army and defeat it. It was not uncommon to see one against ten.
Although the yellow envoy was a little frightened by the momentum displayed by the Eight Banners elite soldiers, he seemed to be completely unfazed by it.
This is strange. Could it be that they also have an army with great martial arts? Huang Taiji thought secretly, but he had too little information about the people in Da'ao. He has many spies in Beijing, but the intelligence collected focuses on the military and political aspects, and mainly on news from the court. Although Australian products are very famous in Beijing, Australians have never appeared in the court. Even the disastrous defeat in Hainan Island was just called "Kung Thief". And according to the Di newspaper, although the Kun thieves defeated the Ming army, they were defeated under the city of Guangzhou. Fleeed back to the sea. Huang Taiji couldn't connect the two for a while.
Judging from the twenty soldiers he brought, they looked quite capable. However, apart from their swords, they only had two short muskets on their bodies. They didn't seem to be wearing close-fitting armor, and they didn't seem to have very good riding skills.
He called a valet and whispered a few instructions.
Not a moment. Several horns sounded, and a wild boar rushed out of the bushes, followed by dozens of Bayalas waving their swords and riding horses. He shouted and chased after him all the way.
Driven by the hunter, the wild boar hurriedly headed straight towards where Huang Hua and others were. This wild boar was an old mandrill pig. Heavy weight. It has two yellowed fangs and the mane on its neck is terrifying at first sight.
Although Huang Hua claimed to have "seen everything", when he saw this scary-looking wild boar - he had seen pigs that only had a life cycle of 12 months - it rushed forward aggressively, he immediately panicked. Hands and feet, he couldn't help but take a step back.
The guards near him were all strictly trained in security. The 16 people immediately divided into two columns and lined up in front of him. The first column unsheathed their sabers, and the second column drew out their pistols and opened their guns. He was instantly ready to intercept the wild boar. The other four people were ready to cover the leader's escape once the wild boar broke through the obstruction.
Huang Taiji was not willing to really scare or hurt the Tai'ao envoy. Seeing the wild boar approaching, the nearby cavalry swarmed up and killed the wild boar instantly with arrows and spears.
After the hunt, Huang Hua was sent back to Shenyang by officials from the Ministry of Rites and rested in the post house. The next day, an official from the Ministry of Revenue came to formally negotiate with him on the details of the mutual market.
In the Manchu and Qing trade, the details within the Senate were more controversial than the Manchu and Qing credit issues.
The Manchu and Qing Dynasty's trade credit was very poor in history. They bullied the weak by holding strong positions, and had a strong sense of buying and selling by force. Sometimes it is simply "credit". The Lee Dynasty of North Korea was deeply affected by this, so how to ensure the security of trade and payment by the other party has become an important part of trade.
Setting up fortified trade fortresses is the most appropriate solution. This trade fortress could also be used as a workstation for intelligence activities against the Manchus and a forward base for future armed attacks.
Lushun was once a place they had considered, but Lushun was far away from the core area of Manchu rule and almost isolated from the world. It was good as a military base, but too remote as a trading port.
Therefore, it was finally decided to occupy Zhangzi Island near the mouth of the Yalu River as a fortified trade port. Cargo ships such as T800 will transport the goods here and then be transferred by smaller ships into the Yalu River. Population, horses and supplies obtained from the Manchus could also be temporarily stored on the island.
Zhangzi Island is currently under the control of the Dongjiang Army. However, the Dongjiang Army scattered on the islands has not built walls or other defensive facilities on the islands. They mainly rely on the sea as a natural barrier, which is an obstacle to the Eight Banners who lack naval forces and ships. , but not for Fubo Army. The dispatched force headquarters estimates that Zhangzi Island can be occupied by sending only one company of marines to land.
Since Dongjiang was originally going to be annexed, it was also planned to accept the various Liaohai islands that were originally controlled by Dongjiang.
After discussion, the two parties finally reached an agreement: the mutual trading location between the two parties was located on Duozhi Island in the Yalu River in front of Zhenjiang Fort. The interval between trades is tentatively set at six months, and the frequency can be increased if necessary.
Among the commodities traded on each other, Lingao sells: salt, paper, cotton cloth, Chinese patent medicines, iron farm tools, armor, and bows and arrows produced in Jeju Island. As for the food and artillery that the Manchus strongly requested, "further discussion" has been put on hold for the time being. Huang Hua estimated that selling siege artillery was not a big problem, but the possibility of selling food was extremely low. After all, the cost of transporting grain is too high, and the number of people they need to feed is increasing. Even if one stone of grain can be sold for ten times the profit, it is really not worthwhile for the Planning Institute.
Generally speaking, the goods needed by the Manchus were similar to the estimates of the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Commerce. They mainly focused on necessary daily necessities and weapons for the people. Many of the goods listed in the catalog that the commercial departments believed were likely to be sold were all excluded. , including commodities that were once considered possible sales: sugar, chili sauce and liquor were all passed directly. This can not help but make Huang Hua a little disappointed.
The two sides had some disputes over the payment from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Keishinro Tobe wanted to persuade Huang Hua to mainly accept ginseng and fur as means of payment. From a trade perspective, ginseng and fur are both hugely profitable products. The prices in the customs market are very high and the profits are considerable. A pound of ginseng was only 16 taels of silver even according to the "forced selling price" imposed by the Manchus on Li Chao by the Qing Dynasty. When it reached the pass, it was at least 50 taels per pound. But the export quantity of this thing is limited after all. Although the trade between the Manchus and North Korea could often export more than 1,000 kilograms of ginseng at a time, the mutual trade between them was not frequent, and it probably took one or two years to save so much dried ginseng. Furthermore, the consumer group of this kind of luxury product is very small. Once a large amount of it is imported, the price will inevitably plummet, and the so-called profit will not be that big.
As for the Ministry of Health, it expressed concern about the import of furs - the furs of common fur animals exported from the Northeast such as minks, otters, and foxes are likely to become vectors of plague. Simple deerskin, wild boar skin, etc. are acceptable.
Therefore, Huang Hua's response to this was: The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty would either pay gold and silver directly, or if it was insufficient, they could use other special products to pay for it. Ginseng and fur cannot account for too high a proportion and can only be used as supplements. He proposed that the Manchus should mainly pay population and horses as compensation. You can also use honey, wild products and wood as supplements.
After the two parties roughly agreed on the trade types, they started discussing the price of the goods. Since the nobles of the Eight Banners have always regarded the captured lives as "rare goods to live in", they all set high prices for prisoners who wanted to redeem themselves. After Bingzi's chaos, Li Chao was forced to send hostages to Shengjing and set up a North Korean pavilion. The Korean Pavilion often had to redeem relatives and friends who had been kidnapped by officials of the Li Dynasty. The Eight Banners nobles often offered high prices. It was common for a prisoner to ransom one hundred taels or even three to five hundred taels. Sometimes, even if the Korean embassy has no intention of redeeming people, the Eight Banners' relatives will force the Korean embassy to redeem people. The price is naturally ridiculously high.
Now that Huang Hua wants to trade, the other party's price will inevitably affect his own price. If the other party sells a prisoner for 50 taels and a horse for 500 taels, then he will also have to sell salt for 10 taels per catty.
After a lot of discussions about setting prices and paying back on the spot, the two parties finalized the price of each commodity one by one. Huang Hua made some concessions on certain products, but he refused to give in on the armor, the flagship product sold by Lingao: he insisted on selling the full-body armor at 200 taels per set and the simplified half-body armor at 150 taels.
The Ministry of Commerce believes that this price is not expensive. Considering the defensive effect and light load that these armors can achieve, it is impossible to find a second supplier in this time and space. Although the Manchus themselves were able to produce armor of quite good quality, in terms of cost, establishing a large number of low-tech blacksmith shops relied on labor-intensive full-time production, which took a lot of man-hours, and the cost was probably cheaper than buying it from Lingao. Not much. Not to mention the huge difference in quality. Industrial batch products often enjoy dual advantages in cost and quality over handicraft products.
In addition to the basic goods exported by Lingao, the Manchu Qing Dynasty also required Lingao to provide large quantities of iron pots and tea leaves. Indicates how much you are willing to buy. Huang Hua knew that this was the Manchu Qing's demand for Mongolian trade. The Ming Dynasty had long-term trade control over Mongolia and strictly controlled the influx of iron tools. The Mongolian tribes were so miserable that arrowheads could only be made from bones. The easy-to-carry iron pots that herders needed every day became a rare and valuable trading commodity.
As long as there are iron pots and tea leaves, enough horses can be obtained from Mongolia. It is much easier for the Manchu Qing Dynasty to obtain horses from Mongolia than it is to fight with swords and guns to capture the population. (To be continued...)
