Mongolian trade was the most profitable trade after clear sea trade, and countless Shanxi merchants made a fortune from it. [No pop-up novel website] The Senate has also been salivating for a long time. However, in the Ming Dynasty, because Mongolia was a border threat and trade controls were extremely strict, there were not many merchants who could really get involved in this trade, and for the Senate far away overseas, it was only a matter of merit.
If you want to do business with Mongolia, you either have to set up a workstation to carry out this business as a Ming merchant, or you can only conduct second-hand trade with the Manchus through the Ming army's border generals. The latter is obviously easier to operate - of course the profit will be reduced, but it is a great advantage in terms of ensuring the safety of personnel and timely payment collection.
The trade with Houjin is naturally related to the Mongolian trade - Houjin's demand for tea is not large, but Mongolia's demand for tea is very large. The Senate's control area is close to several of China's largest Tea-producing provinces, including Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi, all produce large amounts of tea. If sales channels can be opened in this regard, it will be of great benefit to expanding trade share.
The talks came to an end and after all the general details were finalized, Huang Hua made three more requests:
Allocate land for them to open commercial offices in Shengjing; ensure the personal and property safety of Tai'ao merchants and their attendants; and ensure the freedom of navigation of Tai'ao ships in the Yalu River.
These three requests were all approved by Huang Taiji after being announced by the Ministry of Revenue. However, there were preconditions for the approval: all three conditions could be met only after the first mutual market ended.
Opening a business store in Shengjing is equivalent to having eyes and ears in Shenyang, although the business store itself must be closely monitored by the financial department. But radio and secret writing potion are enough to transmit information.
Now that the agreement between the two parties has been signed, Hou Jin placed them in a temple in the city and placed them individually in a house with two courtyards. He also gave him four maids, ten male servants, two grooms, and four rough maids. Zhang Jing, who was specially responsible for sending people, said that the Khan heard that the people of Da'ao liked to have "kids" the most, so he specially sent him from above. Selected from Three Flags Imperial Villa.
Huang Hua couldn't laugh or cry. With so many people at once, where would I let them sleep? There are also food expenses: now the Ministry of Rites allocates salt, rice, meat, wine, etc. on a daily basis per person for their mission. Now that there are more than a dozen people at once, we can’t say that the master doesn’t care about the food.
"Please don't worry, sir. The adults have said it. These students will be given to you immediately. All expenses in Shengjing will be paid by the Ministry of Rites, so I don't need to worry about you." Zhang Jing said with a smile on his face.
After saying hello, he brought a bunch of "gifts" over and kowtowed. Huang Hua saw that all these men and women were well dressed. Except for the four young maids and the leading male servant, who looked slightly better, all of them were sallow and thin. Describe shrinking. The men's scalps were all blue, as if they had been newly shaved. At first glance, it looked like they had been packed up unexpectedly before being delivered.
"Everyone, please get up. No need to kowtow." Huang Hua saw a large group of people kowtowing to him. He was not used to it. He waved his hands and asked, "Well, this, where are they sleeping..."
Although the housing allocated to them was divided into two parts, the entire mission was occupied. A few guards could only take turns sleeping on the porch - acting as guards by the way.
"Just let them live in the corridors on both sides. Being an errand under your old hands is not a great thing."
Huang Hua was speechless. Slaves have no human rights these days, and he has seen a lot along the way. During the Later Jin Dynasty, the country was impoverished and the people were poor. The ordinary officials and soldiers of the Eight Banners had a hard time, let alone being given a life like slaves.
The second gift was a Mongolian horse that he had once ridden. In addition to this Mongolian horse, he also gave ten fine horses as a gift - this was also considered a gift in return for their gifts. According to the Chinese imperial court's traditional custom of "caring for those who are far away" The idea is that the rewards received by envoys from foreign vassals always exceed, or even greatly exceed, the value of the gifts. However, Hou Jin was too poor at this time, and his actions were far less generous than when he later "measured China's material resources." They had to make do with raw materials and horses.
Huang Hua immediately asked someone to seal four taels of silver to Zhang Jing and sent him out. He looked at the dozens of dumb and helpless slaves in the yard.
Although these people were all wearing new clothes, except for a few who had small clothing bags, the others had no luggage at all. It was unclear what kind of life they lived in the past.
Seeing that the master was sizing him up, the group of people cheered and knelt down again. Huang Hua has been in shopping malls for a long time, and his ability to observe people's emotions is first-rate. With a quick glance, he can tell that there is a deep sense of fear in these people's eyes, a kind of fear that a person who has been oppressed and abused for a long time shows when facing a superior.
One of the older male servants saw the new master looking at them, quickly stood up, trotted over and called again:
"Slave Lan Bian, please give your regards to your master! Your master will be your lord forever!"
Huang Hua nodded: "Get up." Then he raised his hand and said, "Everyone, please get up."
"Thank you, Master!" Lan Bian stood up immediately, his movements clean and neat. His behavior reminded Huang Hua of soldiers involuntarily.
"Who are you……"
"Slave Lan Bian was originally an errand at the Zhenghuang Banner Imperial Manor. This time, Baylor specially asked the slaves to take them to serve under the master."
Huang Hua saw that he was of medium height, well built, and powerful in his movements. He was completely different from the thin and timid appearance of the other male servants. He knew that he was probably a small leader among the slaves. Fighting.
This person came to serve him, and he was probably the An De spy that Baqi gave him. Huang Hua already had a sense of vigilance in his heart. He was usually wary of others, but on the contrary, he was particularly affectionate:
"Since you've followed me, as long as you act with integrity, I won't have to praise you."
"Thank you for your grace, Master!" Lan Bian quickly called me again, "If you have any orders, please ask for your instructions!"
"Let's solve your food and accommodation problem first..."
Although Huang Hua didn't trust Lan Bian very much, this person was obviously a small leader among the slaves. He should be familiar with the local situation and could be used as a source of basic information. So he had to try to win over him. Immediately, the caregiver arranged accommodation for these slaves respectively.
"There are no more empty rooms." The sergeant leading the team frowned, "How about I ask the brothers to squeeze in and free up a few more rooms?"
"You already have three people in one room, how can you squeeze in?"
Liaodong is a bitterly cold place, and keeping out the cold relies on a heated kang or brazier in the room, so the room area is not large. The main room is slightly better, but the side room is quite cramped. It's not enough to live in two soldiers, but now there are three people living there. If we squeeze people into the kang, we won’t be able to sleep anymore.
"If that doesn't work, just sleep on the ground - there's a fire pit in the house, so you won't freeze."
"The ground is heavy with charcoal, and the air is even worse when there are too many people." Huang Hua shook his head, "You move a few people to the main room to sleep."
There are three main rooms, and the middle one does not have a heated kang, so it cannot be lived in at all. People can only live in the warm pavilions on both sides. Now Huang Hua lives on one side, and his two orderlies live on the other.
"I'll sleep in the same room as the orderly, and you can move two more people in. Let's put up a few bunks in the main room and light a few more braziers - it's always warmer than outside."
But there were as many as twenty new slaves, and men and women were different and could not live together. No matter how Huang Hua and Sergeant arranged the arrangements, they still couldn't arrange them all.
Seeing that "Mr. Huang" had no "instructions", Lan Bian quickly took a step forward and said, "Master Huang, there is no need to worry, except for a few girls who are fragile. Please ask the housekeeper to arrange for them to go out." , as long as we have a brazier, we can live on the porch without any problem..."
Huang Hua shook his head: "Liaodong is a bitterly cold place. You won't freeze to death if you live in a corridor."
"The weather has warmed up now, just have a brazier..."
"How is this possible? None of you are very strong. What if you get sick?" Huang Hua said naturally, "Let me think of a solution."
Lan Bian wanted to say something more, but when he saw that Huang Hua's words were sincere and not casual, he stepped aside and said nothing.
Huang Hua asked people to go talk to the Houjin officials who were receiving them, and finally found an abandoned palace filled with debris, and managed to arrange everyone there. Huang Hua asked the soldiers to free up two rooms with hot pots for the maids to live in. The others helped clean the house, clear out the debris, and paper the broken windows one by one. They also got a few braziers from the temple and bought some Charcoal makes a fire. The house was cold and empty, and the brazier had poor heating effect. Huang Hua stood in this empty and tall palace for a long time without feeling any warmth on his body. Then look at the slaves, all of them hunched their necks and stamped their feet in greeting.
Huang Hua saw it strangely. It looked like they were all wearing new cotton-padded clothes - they were quite thick and shouldn't be so cold. He walked into a slave and grabbed his collar.
The man was shocked and didn't know what the new head of the family meant. He was so panicked that he quickly knelt down.
"Don't kneel down. Let me see what you are wearing." Huang Hua said.
After taking a closer look, I realized that these people were all wearing new clothes, but they were actually patchwork pieces of rags and then dyed again. At first glance, it looks neat and bright, but in reality, the stitching is rough and crude. The filling inside is just reed catkins. Only a small boss like Lan Bian has a tattered sheepskin coat. It was okay when I was working just now, but when I stopped, everyone was shivering from the cold. Huang Hua took a closer look and saw that the frostbite on everyone's hands was swollen to a high level, and some had already ulcerated.
"The Qing Dynasty is really extremely poor." Huang Hua said and ordered the sergeant, "Tell everyone to take out the spare training uniforms and cotton vests for these new brothers to wear!"
"yes!"
In addition to their uniforms and coats, the guards also have a spare uniform of thin cotton-padded jackets and cotton vests. Not long after the sergeant came over, he led someone to get some clothes. Distribute it to the new slaves one by one. (To be continued...)
