Cao Gan didn't expect that Gao Jingshi actually knew about the private market, but thinking about this young master Gao - no, it should be said "his young master" now - was astonishingly intelligent, so he didn't lose his temper at all. He was just a little surprised and said : "The young master is absolutely right. Xiao Xiao has been leading people abroad to meet with various Mongolian ministries in the private market all year round, and has made a lot of profits. This is why Xiao Xiao has taken over Bailixia in just a few years, and has pulled Bailixia to nearly a thousand people. The reason for the large-scale cavalry. Originally, the small cavalry brought to Bailixia from Bazhou only had about three hundred people. After the battle, the total number of Bailixia cavalry was less than five hundred."
Gao Pragmatic nodded and said to himself that he has a good eye for people. This Cao Gan is indeed quite capable. With the help of private market Mongolia, he not only secured the top spot in Bailixia, but also expanded his team in a few years. times. What is particularly worth mentioning is that this team is also a horse team, which is even more rare.
You know, Bailixia is a mountainous area, which is not suitable for raising horses. Most of the fodder, bean cakes and even eggs required for raising horses must be purchased from outside. How much financial resources are needed to support this? From this point of view, it can be seen that the Bailixia Thief Private Market hosted by Cao Gan must be quite large.
So he asked: "From this point of view, the scale of your private market is quite large. But as far as I know, thirty-one years after Jiajing, the horse market in the north was closed, and the imperial court strictly ordered not to trade with Mongolia... Could it be that the army won’t investigate you because you don’t sell iron?”
Cao Gan said with a smile: "How could the border army check me? Without me, the Xuanfu frontier army would have lost nearly a thousand horses a year! Master, I am not just bragging. If I hadn't gotten myself into trouble yesterday, I would have just gone to As soon as I ran around Xuanfu, it was as safe as if I had returned to Baili Gorge. Not to mention Liu Wei's son, even if he led his troops and horses to chase him, the Xuanfu border troops would only tell him that he had never been there. Xuanfu!"
Gao Pangshi was really shocked this time, but he tried his best to remain calm on his face and asked, "Oh? The Xuanfu border army... because of your relationship, can they get nearly a thousand more war horses every year?"
"That's natural." Cao Gan said this with a proud look on his face: "Thirty-one years after Jiajing in the North, the government horse market completely stopped. If we in the Ming Dynasty want to get Mongolian horses again, we can only buy them in the Ming Dynasty. Buy it in the private market. But if the border army comes forward on its own, it will not be able to buy good horses. After all, the Mongols are not brainless fools. Among the livestock they are usually willing to sell to the border army, there are few horses in the first place. Not only are there few but also They are all bad horses and weak horses. They can barely be used to carry things and pull carts, but if they are used to ride in battle, they are simply looking for death."
Gao pragmatically and sensitively discovered a big problem in this passage, and hurriedly asked: "The border army also does business with the Mongols? Didn't you say that the border army is still quite strict in inspecting iron items when they leave customs?"
Cao Gan laughed and said: "Master, why do you think the border army is stricter about the iron trade? I am already a subordinate of the master now, so I don't dare to deceive the master about this matter: Why is the border army so strict?" The reason for strict inspection of ironware coming out of customs is that they themselves are the big sellers of ironware to Mongolia! Let me put it this way, the ironware flowing into Mongolia from the Ming Dynasty, whether it is finished product or iron ingot or iron block, comes from the border army At least 90% of what leaks out of your hands!"
Gao pragmatic gasped, and his spine felt a little chilly. For the first time, he felt that he couldn't control his expression. He asked with a cold face: "The border army acted so wantonly, could it be that no one from the Nine Border Governors and Fu noticed it? "
"Master, how can this be a matter of awareness or not?" Cao Gan shook his head and said: "Young man is quite familiar with Xuan Mansion. If you are not afraid of breaking the rules, those frontier soldiers are really not as good as our Bailixia thieves. , even the little ones don’t know what Emperor Zhu is thinking. If the big soldiers under his command had only relied on that little military pay, they would probably have died of hunger a long time ago. How could he possibly be able to withstand this and that even if he looks like this? What did you just say? Ask Jiubian, I don’t know how small other places are, and I don’t dare to say nonsense, but at least in Xuanfu and Datong, as far as I know, no matter whether it is the governor or the governor, they have no control over the border troops. They all knew what they were doing, but they didn't dare to say it, let alone report it - if there was a riot among the officers and soldiers of Xuanda, the court would not be able to stop the situation without killing everyone! What's more, it seems that No one can guarantee what a Mongolian hero like Anda Khan would do once he knew about the civil strife in Xuanda! I'm afraid that by then, another Gengshu Rebellion might not be able to stop it."
Gao Pingshi really didn't know that Xuanda had become like this!
Xuanda, the gateway to the capital! And the Xuanda Border Army is actually the main monopoly force in iron smuggling! It’s no wonder that the capital’s defense is full of loopholes. If I were An Dahan, I might even want to attack the capital!
Fortunately, although Anda Khan was a talented man, he did not think that Mongolia still had a chance to take over the Central Plains. Therefore, he only asked the Ming Dynasty to open up the official market. Otherwise, if he was ambitious, I am afraid that the entire northern region of the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed. It's going to be a complete mess! Although Qi Jiguang is capable, he is only the commander-in-chief of Ji Liao, and he still has to watch the Mongolian left wing (i.e., where the Chahar tribe and the "Great Yuan Dynasty" are located). Moreover, the serious Qi family army under his command is only a few thousand in size, even if he is covered with blood. It's iron. How many nails are there?
No wonder in history, after the Hannaji incident happened a year later, Wang Chonggu and Fang Fengshi advocated peace as the most important thing. No wonder Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng insisted that I pay tribute!
Gao Jingshi took a deep breath and asked: "The reason why you have been able to operate in the Northland for many years, and your base is even located near the capital without fear of being suppressed, is this because of this?"
"That's natural." Cao Gan, once he made up his mind to join, was quite open-minded and had no intention of concealing anything. He said, "If it weren't for the fact that the young master's identity is true, it may not be unusual. The young master also knows that Mr. Gao Ge is in the court. Status... Young Master, think about it, since I dare to lead hundreds of cavalry to chase Liu Xian and his son in the suburbs of Beijing, how can I not have any credibility?"
Hearing this, Gao Pangshi felt a sense of fear in his heart, and thought to himself: There are very few reliable troops in the Ming Dynasty. No wonder decades later, Xuanda's troops were known as the "Nine-sided Elites", but they were actually capable. They were transferred to the hinterland to suppress the peasant army. When they encountered wild boar skins, they just gave them food. The roots had rotted away for who knows how many years!
He sighed and changed the topic slightly: "The Mongols are unwilling to sell horses to the border army. I can understand the reason, but don't they know that you will resell the horses...or transfer them to the border army? Yes. Okay, are you going to resell those horses to the frontier army or give them to the frontier army?"
"Of course it's for resale. Where can I afford to give it away?" Cao Gan said hurriedly: "Master, horses at the level of war horses are not cheap. Even at the price of a small one, a medium-sized gelding will cost about eight taels, and a top-grade one will cost around eight taels." The price of a gelding is about ten taels, nearly a thousand horses a year, which is nearly ten thousand taels of silver, and this is only the cost price!"
