After the Japanese affairs were basically discussed, Liu Xin arranged for Kafei Ji to see the intelligence files. However, Liu Xin did not take her there. Instead, she arranged for the intelligence secretary Gao Qi to lead Kafei Ji to the secretariat archives to review.
Gao Qi was born in the fifth room of the Gao family. His father, Gao Wuben, was Gao Pragmatic's cousin. He himself was called Yufu and was a member of the family. He married the Li family and had a son. Gao Qi was only four years younger than Gao Jingshi, but he was a nephew, so he kept his head down when leading Narita Kai, his cousin, for fear of being rude.
He had spoken at several pre-war military meetings during the previous Battle of Yuan Dynasty, and his performance was pretty good. His uncle Gao Pragmatic admired him quite a lot, and gave him more intelligence work to handle.
Gao Qi was very concerned about Gao Pragmatic's perception of him, so he was also very concerned about his image in the eyes of his cousin. Even though Narita Kai was just a wife and not a royal wife, he still behaved himself with all the etiquette of a junior.
In fact, Gao Qi didn't quite understand Gao Pragmatic's reliance on his wives and concubines to handle Jinghua's internal affairs. According to his idea, even if Jinghua's family had a big business, some affairs with far-reaching influence were not suitable to be left to servants, so leaving them to Gao Qi. It's fine if it's within the family, so why do you have to leave it to your wives and concubines? The Gao family is not a small family, with as many as six rooms!
From the pragmatic standpoint of his cousin Gao Qi, even though most of his uncles (Gao Gong's generation) are old, he has five brothers, five cousins, and more than ten nephews and cousins, including There are already seven adult children and nephews - with so many people, are you afraid that no one will be available?
But Gao Pragmatic doesn't seem to see it that way. Although most of his brothers are also highly used by him, even Gao Mengnan, the most highly used among them, is only the chief advisor of Siam [Note: the official official title and title is "Chief Advisor to the King of Siam" , Sukhothai Chao Phraya", where "Chao Phraya" is roughly equivalent to a duke], and is not responsible for military duties.
Gao Jingshi's power in southern Xinjiang is generally quite dispersed. The only person with centralized power is his wife Huang Zhiting. Although Huang Zhiting's power itself has limitations, after all, she is the only one who can transcend the level of exercising power at the level of "countries", which shows the high pragmatic "preference".
For Jinghua, although Southern Xinjiang is the most important area under direct control, it is still considered a "local" after all. However, in Jinghua's "center", the power structure is also very "abnormal."
If Gao Mo's position in the "center" of Jinghua is equivalent to that of "internal minister", then who is the "chief assistant" of Jinghua? That's right, it's Secretary-General Liu Xin. In Gao Qi's view, although Liu Xin was not his cousin's wife or concubine, the relationship between her and his cousin had always been close and subtle... Maybe except that they never slept together, there was no difference at all in other aspects.
In this way, apart from the uncle himself, the three most important positions in Jinghua are that one is his woman, the other is basically "his woman", and the remaining one, Gao Mo, is still older.
Gao Qi always feels that once Gao Mo can no longer do his job, who will take over the Ministry of Internal Affairs will greatly affect the future power structure of Jinghua. As a relative of the Gao family, he also happened to be the intelligence secretary, so he had to compete for this position, lest his status as a relative of the Gao family would be inferior to that of a servant in the sixth room in the future.
Narita Kai also found that the cousin in front of her was extremely reserved towards her, but at the moment she was focused on completing the tasks assigned by her husband, and she didn't know much about the internal situation in Jinghua, so although she felt a little weird, she didn't Didn't pay much attention to it.
Gao Qi carefully found the corresponding files in the archives of the Secretariat, and ordered people to prepare pens, inks, paper and inkstones, and then withdrew, leaving Narita Kai to study quietly in the archives and make the records she thought were necessary. Kaiji expressed her gratitude in a Japanese style, and then stayed in the room to study it carefully.
Two flowers bloom, one on each side. After Ji Feiji left, only Gao Pragmatic, Liu Xin, Meng Guzhezhe and Gao Mo remained silent in the small restaurant. Needless to say, Gao Mo's habits were that as long as Gao Pingshi didn't say anything, he almost never took the initiative to speak and stood aside like a wooden man.
Liu Xin asked: "Let's stop talking about Japan's affairs today. Should I report some of Jinghua's recent important affairs now?"
Gao pragmatic pinched his eyebrows and said: "Let's not be busy with other internal affairs. I just heard Meng Gu say that Nurhachi sent someone to contact Jinghua. Is there anything related to this?"
"This is indeed the case." Liu Xin said: "And I just received the news yesterday - Nurhachi recently contacted Beijing and Liaoyang and proposed that he is willing to lead his troops to fight against the Japanese troops in North Korea."
Gao pragmatic pondered for a moment and asked, "What does he want?"
"He seems to have a Han staff officer under him. His words are very obscure, but the meaning is relatively clear: he hopes to obtain agency rights for North Korean ginseng trade after this war is over."
Gao Pragmatic was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but laugh: "Ah ha, he has some ideas. He also wants to monopolize ginseng?" Then he shook his head and said, "My previous layouts were just to prevent him from monopolizing ginseng. But this guy still hasn’t given up on trade. He’s not even satisfied with Manchuria and wants to get his hands on Korean ginseng. It’s really unreasonable.”
Regarding this matter, Meng Guzhezhe, who had been quiet until now, actually had something to say. She said cautiously: "Master, speaking of this matter, my brother also sent news that Nurhachi has taken over the second part of Changbai Mountain (a total of three parts, Nurhaci took over the Yalu River and Zhusheli tribes, and the remaining Nayin tribe defected to Ye He, remaining independent but accepting Ye He's protection), and probably has control of about 80% of Manchuria's ginseng output."
The "about 80%" mentioned by Meng Guzhezhe is basically within the range of a highly pragmatic estimate, because Changbai Mountain was originally one of the main ginseng producing areas in Liaodong. The three parts of Changbai Mountain originally accounted for nearly half of the output, and Nurhachi's original control area accounted for Most of the half remains.
Now he has two of the three Changbai Mountain tribes, and the remaining Nayin tribe is the smallest among the three, and its output is of course lower. Putting it all together, it is not surprising that Nurhachi accounts for 80% of Liaodong ginseng production. .
However, occupying 80% of the output was not the most urgent thing that Meng Guzhezhe wanted to tell Gao Pragmatic at this time. She then mentioned a more important issue: "After Ye He followed his husband to conquer Yuan Dynasty, Nurhachi greatly reduced the sales of ginseng. My brother It is said that the ginseng received by Ye He is at least half less than in previous years."
When Gao Pragmatic heard this, he immediately knew that the situation had changed. It seems that Nurhaci has figured out the method of boiling and drying, and a very important item in the methods used to suppress him in the future has been lost.
There were many pragmatic ways to suppress Nurhaci in the past. One of the simplest and most economically effective ways was to fight a time war in the ginseng trade. This starts with the preservation method of ginseng.
The digging procedures and techniques for ginseng are very complicated, and they must be rinsed with water after being dug out. Therefore, it is easy to mold and deteriorate in humid climate conditions. Previously, most Jurchens did not know a way to store ginseng that could be stored for a long time without deterioration. Therefore, moldy deterioration was inevitable if the ginseng was dug out for a long time.
Naturally, this kind of washed and moist ginseng is very heavy when weighed. If you can sell it in time, you will naturally make more profits. But the merchants of the Ming Dynasty were not fools. They seized on the weakness of moist ginseng, which is prone to mold, and tried their best to lower the price when purchasing it.
Especially under the hint of Jinghua, the commercial overlord, they either "pretended not to want the market" or "postponed because they were too wet". As a result, the ginseng nested in the hands of Nurhaci's Jianzhou Zuowei was likely to rot and deteriorate in large quantities at any time. The worst time it suffered was when more than 20,000 kilograms of ginseng rotted at once - that is, when Nurhaci took over the Yalu River and Zhusheli. Later, he was economically sanctioned by Ming Dynasty.
However, once Nurhaci mastered the boiling and drying method, this method, which had been the best in the past, became ineffective, because from now on, ginseng could be stored for a long time.
However, Gao Pragmatic had expected this matter. After all, this matter was recorded in the second volume of "Records of Emperor Taizu Wu of the Qing Dynasty": In the past (nǎng), the people were sold to the Ming Dynasty and soaked with water. People in the Ming Dynasty postponed the delay because of the dampness. Chinese people are afraid that water ginseng will not last long, so they are selling it in a hurry and at a low price. Taizu wanted to cook it and dry it in the sun, but the kings and ministers refused. Taizu didn't care what others said, so he boiled and dried the fruit, then slowly sold it, and the fruit fetched double the price.
It is not difficult to see that Nurhaci’s method is actually not difficult. There are probably two points: first, blanch it in boiling water, which may have a sterilizing effect and prevent the growth of mold; second, the storage time of ginseng after "boiling and drying" It is longer and can be "sold slowly". Therefore, in history, the Ming Dynasty's suppression of Nurhachi in the ginseng trade lost its effect.
But there is a problem here. Historically, Nurhaci seems to have developed this method around 1605. If he has mastered it now, it means that this technology was advanced by about thirteen years, but I don’t know why - maybe It is precisely because Gao Pragmatic's suppression was more severe than in the original history, which in turn forced Nurhachi to study in advance and succeeded.
Gao pragmatic explained his inference, and Liu Xin said after listening: "In this case, the agency rights of Korean ginseng cannot be handed over to Nurhaci, otherwise we will be equivalent to setting up an enemy."
Gao pragmatic nodded lightly, but couldn't help but frown and said: "But now that North Korea is fighting fiercely, there will definitely be a big problem with the supply of Korean ginseng. The output of ginseng will have declined. If Nurhachi keeps doing this, The price of Liao ginseng is bound to rise sharply - it is a certainty that his profits will increase."
Nurhachi was identified by Ye He and Baylor as the enemy who killed their father. Meng Guzhezhe also hated him deeply. He was very unhappy when he heard this and became angry and silent.
Liu Xin glanced at her, pondered for a while, and said to Gao pragmatically: "Do you think...can we restrict the purchase of ginseng?"
"It can be restricted, but it won't have any good effect. It will only encourage smuggling." Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "You have to know that this is not an era of rule of law, and there are many ways to smuggle. Once the court orders restrictions, the entire Liaodong will become a gathering place for smugglers, and the court will not be able to catch them."
When he said this, Liu Xin also understood. The current situation is indeed incomparable with that of later generations. The border is so long that the imperial court cannot afford to block a few important crossings, but smugglers have countless paths to take and can smuggle in pieces.
Moreover, the imperial court restricts the purchase of ginseng, but the demand for ginseng will not decrease accordingly, which means that the price of ginseng will increase because it is more rare. This in turn increases the profits of smuggling and stimulates more unscrupulous businessmen to smuggle—a vicious cycle.
Gao pragmatically said: "Theoretically speaking, if you want to suppress the price of ginseng at this time, you can either rely on publicity that ginseng is useless, or increase the supply of ginseng. Even if the former is implemented, it will not be effective overnight, and the latter... at least It will only be possible after northern North Korea is recovered."
In this case, Liu Xin had to think of another way, so she added: "Nurhaci wants to send troops to North Korea... is it possible to take advantage of it?"
Gao pragmatic heard the elegant meaning of Xiange and raised his eyebrows and said: "You mean that the imperial court promised him first, but refused to admit it after the war? But this is not possible. The imperial court is a imperial court after all, and credibility is always important."
"Then what if we ignore his proposal?" Liu Xin said: "How about fighting hard on the battlefield and trying to regain the ginseng production area in northern North Korea earlier, and then start a price war with him?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "It's not that easy. The imperial court has decided to deal with the Cao Army and Yang Yinglong first. The Korean affairs can only be decided by Li Rusong for the time being. The large-scale dispatch of troops will not happen until at least the spring of next year."
Meng Guzhezhe couldn't help but ask: "Why not directly send troops to eliminate Nurhachi?"
Uh... Gao Pragmatic was a little speechless, and thought to himself: I can't tell you that keeping Nurhaci is just so that the Jurchens will never have an overlord, right? If Nurhachi is gone now, and Ye He has no constraints in Manchuria, won't I have to point my sword at your two brothers?
At this time, Liu Xin smiled and said: "Everything has its priorities. Now North Korea is in danger, and the Ming Dynasty has just fought a big war. How can we use the left guard of Jianzhou at this time?
Besides, the court is still a court, and it cannot be punished without teaching. Although Nurhachi is not a good person, his current actions have not reached the point where he must be punished.
In addition, his proactive request to fight this time was, to a certain extent, a gesture of goodwill to the court. At this time, whether the court accepts or rejects it, at least it cannot turn against him, right? "
Her words were quite clear and fair, and Meng Guzhe could only remain silent after hearing this. Gao pragmatic thought for a while and suddenly said: "It is indeed unrealistic to conquer Nurhaci now, but if it just makes Nurhachi unlucky, then we can think of something."
As expected, Meng Guzhezhe's eyes lit up, and Liu Xin laughed and said: "I know that our Marquis hates seeing 'people of my Gao family' being wronged the most... What, what kind of mirrors are going to be used by the Marquis to deceive Nurhachi?" Send troops and fight head-on with the main force of the Japanese army?"
Meng Guzhezhe heard her talking about "I am a member of the Gao family" in a very serious way, and couldn't help but think of what happened before the meal. His face suddenly turned red, and he lowered his head and did not dare to speak.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Lao Xi of Altay", "Cao Mianzi", "Lu Senah" and "Kseelek" for their monthly support, thank you!
