The Manchus originated from the White Mountains and Black Waters and lived by hunting. After entering the customs, many of their past customs were not discarded, such as their obsession with fur goods.
The emperor of the Qing Dynasty would require the garrison outside the customs to hunt wild animals in a planned manner every year. Later, even the Mongolian palace also joined in this hunting activity.
Every year, a certain amount of top-quality fur goods must be paid tribute to the Forbidden City. Once the tribute falls short in a certain year, the emperor will even issue a special edict to reprimand him!
What is good from above must be followed by those below!
The preferences of the emperor and princes and nobles directly affected the officialdom, and the officialdom directly affected the people. This led to the emergence of a very large fur trade market in the Qing Dynasty.
The main cargo of trade between the United States and the Qing Dynasty in the early days was not opium at all, but the top otter skins in North America!
At its peak, the United States exported more than 20,000 otter skins to the Qing Dynasty every year. For these skins, otters in the Atlantic Ocean of North America were almost killed!
At that time, sea otter skins purchased in the United States for one or two dollars could be sold for a hundred dollars when shipped to Guangzhou. Such huge profits made hunting teams throughout North America go crazy.
It can be seen that the popularity of fur goods among the people in the Qing Dynasty was very popular at that time!
Especially those who are officials, if they don’t have a few good fur goods to support the scene in winter, even their subordinates will look down on them. In Manchu people’s eyes, the real good fur goods are equated with the ferocity of the prey!
No matter how precious, soft and warm fox skin is, it is still for women. Men can still get wolf skin, bear skin or even tiger skin!
Like the black wolf skin in Li Tuo's hand today, six pieces of skin were spliced together to form a large fur cloak that goes past the knees. When you put this thing on your body, no matter how strong the northwest wind is, it can't be blown through. This is called warmth.
After all, Isiha was a Manchu and understood some of the old rules in the Eight Banners. As he put a large cloak on Li Tuo, he said, "I heard from my ancestors that adult male wolfskins are spiritual..."
"It's just a benefit to lie on it and sleep without rheumatism... Once it's late at night, if someone walks near you, you can feel the fur on the wolf's fur standing on end!"
"Ouch! So evil?" Li Tuo suddenly became interested.
"Haha... these are the rules passed down by the old people. To be honest, I have never experienced it, and I don't have such a good wolfskin at home..."
A clerk in Shuntian Prefecture, who all had ears with organs, liked it when he heard the two adults chatting about wolf skins. Without saying a word, he took this wolf skin cloak from the list, which was worth at least four hundred taels. It's been crossed out. From now on, the Saronga family will never have this good leather item!
While they were talking, there were government servants carrying boxes of loot for Li Tuo to look at, and the clerk who was writing the paper bent down beside Li Tuo and whispered his name.
"Han jade belt buckle... a set of nine pieces... sea water pattern..."
"Huh? Han jade! Hahaha... If Salonga still has a Han jade belt buckle, why would he steal something... You can tell at a glance that this thing is a late Ming Dynasty imitation!"
"Oh... Mr. Li is so knowledgeable. I will change it now... a set of imitation Han jade belt buckles..."
"Below is a Bafang Japanese plum vase..." After looking at Li Tuo, he showed no interest. The clerk waved the treasure and moved it down, followed by sets of treasures and displays.
"A pair of silk-wrapped golden phoenixes... a quartet of inkstones... two shark skin scabbard knives in Jintunkou... some calligraphy and painting..."
Sure enough, he was a centipede. The Saronga family had ruined his fortune like this, and he still had many valuable exhibits. This shows how greedy his father was back then.
Boxes after boxes of calligraphy and paintings, jewelry, displays, farm accounts...even the opium paste hidden in the study were unearthed, and the furniture, including good wood, was registered one by one.
But strangely enough, Li Tuo didn't pay much attention to anything else except for commenting on the black wolf-skin cloak at the beginning.
This makes the subordinates unable to guess the adults' preferences. What kind of treasure does Li Tuo want to covet? How come there are so many of them? Do you think they all look down on you?
But just when everyone was relaxing, an open box and cage was brought over. Inside were some tattered calligraphy and paintings, as well as fan covers and so on.
"Miscellaneous calligraphy and painting, fans, fan pendants... a total of thirty-eight items..."
"Wait...fan?" Li Tuo's half-closed eyes suddenly opened, "Bring it to me and let me take a closer look!"
The little official who wrote the pen never imagined that the dignified imperial envoy would actually take a fancy to these dusty rags: "Sir... these are all rags taken from the warehouse, there is nothing good..."
"Talk! Are you talking too much?" Isiha glared at him, and quickly ran over to hold the cage in front of Li Tuo. "My lord, please take care of it yourself!"
Li Tuo's hands quickly looked through the cage, as if he was searching with purpose, especially since he opened almost every fan and looked at it carefully.
It wasn't until he reached the bottom of the box that he pulled out a simple and shabby folding fan from a sapphire blue fan cover. After opening it, Li Tuoxi couldn't help but slap his thigh with joy.
The paper on the fan has turned yellow, and on it are two glaring shrimps from among the water plants. It is such a simple fan, but the signature is the big Chinese character Tang Yin.
"Ouch... Tang Bohu's fan? Sir, do you still like this? The Liulichang boy will give you a hundred of them!"
"How can any of Tang Yin's shrimps open their eyes? It's fake at first glance..."
Li Tuo had no intention of talking nonsense to these servants. He stuffed the fan back into the fan case, then stuffed it into his sleeve and kept it close to his body. Then he glanced at the clerk who was writing.
"Fan? What fan? Did any of you see the fan?"
"Hey...yes, yes...what my lord said is that there is no fan..."
With one stroke of the pen, Tang Yin's fan completely disappeared.
After Li Tuo found what he wanted, he didn't care about the other things. Instead, he asked his men, "Do you have any information about those teams? Haven't you caught Salonga yet?"
"Lord Qi, I've searched all the casinos, opium dens, brothels, etc., but I really can't find any sign of Salonga? Why did this guy fly away?"
While he was talking, a subordinate from the Nine Admirals and his team rushed in, their heads covered with sweat and steaming up.
"Your Excellency, I went to Shaanxi Lane to search for Salonga, but I didn't find him but got a piece of news... Salonga recently hooked up with Xiao Huangying from Cuiliu Tower. This couple often went to Caochang Alley for private meetings. , there is a small house in Saronga over there!"
"The little Huangying from Cuiliu Tower? The one who is famous for singing? Isn't it said that he only sells his art but not his body?" asked a guard.
"Nonsense, they are all for deceiving outsiders, and they are not for sale? As long as you give enough money..."
Li Tuo had no time to pay attention to these gossips, "What? Caochang Alley? Isn't that just two alleys away from here? This Salonga must have heard the news and hid!"
"Bring me that little yellow warbler! Catch him quickly..."
