Cui Jingrong raised his right arm, put the sleeves of his wide official robe on the case, and leaned forward slightly.
Zheng Haizhu could even see the peacock tail near the upper right corner on the chest patch of a third-grade civil servant on the edge of the table.
This feudal official, who straight away expressed his dislike of Western learning, slightly changed his sitting posture, which relaxed the atmosphere in the hall a bit.
But Zheng Haizhu stopped talking about his property in Nanzhili, not to mention the qualifications he had accumulated in Beijing.
In front of powerful ministers with whom you have no friendship, do not appear to be stronger than the other party.
"Gaining a sense of accomplishment" is the most important thing to abandon when dealing with this group of civil servants in the late Ming Dynasty.
Zheng Haizhu then just lowered his head, like a student approaching the master. After answering a round, he humbly waited for the superior to speak.
Cui Jingrong was actually a little curious about this woman.
She was not a eunuch. She came to a bitterly cold place in the twelfth lunar month of winter to serve as a supervisor. But they are not just businessmen doing business with each other. Otherwise, what would be the point of meeting him as the governor through Ye Xianggao's letter of recommendation?
Ye Gong was solitary and honest. Even if this woman was a celebrity in the imperial court, Ye Gong would not be able to open a branch at the border for her to ask for the privilege of living and paying taxes.
The governor's official time is very valuable, so Cui Jingrong asked: "Tell me the truth, what are you doing here today?"
"Please ask Cui Dutai to give you an official document and appoint me as an envoy to accompany Unger and his party back to the royal city of Lin Dan Khan."
"Oh?" Cui Jingrong squinted his eyes and said, "You want to be Zhang Qian? The imperial court is already on good terms with Lin Dan Khan, so there is no need for Zhang Qian."
Zheng Haizhu didn't mean to shrink back: "Dutai, in my humble opinion, I, the Ming Dynasty, together with Lin Dan Khan, have more potential than when the Han Dynasty conquered the Western Regions. Can I borrow Dutai's pen and ink to use it?"
Cui Jingrong signaled the servants on the left and right to move the chairs to the opposite side of the case, spread paper on the case, and gave water to grind the ink.
Zheng Haizhu took up the pen and first determined the location of the capital, and then moved northward to draw the general areas of Houjin in Liaodong, Horqin in Mongolia, Khalkha in Mongolia, Datong in Xuanfu, and Chahar under Lin Dan Khan, and then made further estimates. Proportionally, since Chahar crosses Khalkha, it forms a crescent shape, which is Lake Baikal.
Finally, Zheng Haizhu drew an animal in the northwest direction of these figures.
Cui Jingrong asked in surprise: "Is this a bear?"
"Yes, it represents a country called Rakshasa, which the Westerners call Russia. Tutai, since the time of Emperor Jiajing, the French people have traveled far and wide to invade our Guangdong. Later, the Dutch Red Hairs were Rush to our Minhai. Dutai, although the juniors are committed to learning Western firearms techniques and hiring Western artillery technicians, they never think that in today's world, Westerners are Bodhisattvas with embroidered Buddha's heart. They After someone has guns, ships and horses, he will definitely expand his territory. The same is true for Russia. Its Grand Duchy of Moscow, after unifying the small countries a hundred years ago, began to invade eastward, fight the Mongols, and occupy the northern products. Fertile soil for furs and timber.”
Speaking of this, Zheng Haizhu picked up his pen again, drew a large circle in the northeast of Jianzhou Jurchen, Liaodong, and explained: "Cui Dutai, I believe that this Russian bear is actually a group of bloodthirsty and easy-to-kill people. Wild wolves, they will go all the way east, killing the Jurchens until they reach the seaport."
"Like the Mongols and Jurchens, do they have cavalry that are skilled in bows and horses?" Cui Jingrong asked with a stern face.
Zheng Haizhu said: "Their cavalry are called Cossacks. They are not only skilled in bows and horses, but also have muskets."
Cui Jingrong raised his eyes and stared at this little woman who could almost be his granddaughter: "Do you want Khalkha and the Jurchens to turn their horses' heads and face this, this Russia?"
"Just as I was thinking about this," Zheng Haizhu said, "since I entered Xuanzhen, I asked the Mongolian traders that the areas where fur products are produced in Outer Khalkha have not yet been occupied by Russians. My plan is to increase the number of fur products outside the customs." Locations for mutual trade. For example, the Guihua City between Zhangjiakou and Lindan Khan's royal city. Another example is that Shanxi merchants traveling outside the customs said that there were actually Ming and Mongolian caravans gathering hundreds of miles north of Chahar. This place is called the trading city. At present, the Fushun Mutual Trade in Liaodong has stopped, and there are many Jurchen caravans passing through Horqin to Zhangjiakou. Since they cannot collect a few taels of tax money from them, and they are afraid that spies will sneak into the border at will, Why didn't the imperial court simply guide them to Guihua City and Maishei City? Anyway, even the Shanxi merchants in the Ming Dynasty have always had the habit of going out to do business. They took the West Exit, the East Exit, and even Beihai. Could it be that they were used to the ice and snow? But the Tatars can't go to those territories? Outside the customs, hundreds of miles away from our border wall, the Mongols and Jurchens gradually relied on the mutual trade of tea, horse, sugar, salt, fur and wood, and even gradually changed from traveling merchants to residential merchants. Cities were built one after another. Commander, please think about it, when the Cossacks invade, will the Mongols and Jurchens have to fight with them?"
Cui Jingrong tightened his lips and listened quietly, but his heart was filled with waves.
He believed what this woman said about "Rakshasa" and "Cossack" because in the past two years, the Ming people and Shanxi merchants who traveled outside the customs also began to bring back some news about Transkarkha. According to the caravan, in the Transkarkha and Junggar areas, knights who were more ferocious and cruel than the previous Turks appeared. While using long swords and spears, they could also charge on horseback and use fire tubes. They called themselves "Kasa Ke". ".
Cui Jingrong estimated that this was the "Cossack" Zheng Haizhu mentioned.
The white-haired governor stared at the poorly drawn bear on the paper and said meaningfully: "Perhaps, these Rakshasa people you mentioned, because of those mutual markets and caravans, it is easier to understand that there is a vast ocean in the northeast, and it is faster. The earth found its way to the Jurchen..."
Zheng Haizhu smiled: "That would be better. I am also curious, which is the Tatar's foot bow or the Cossack's musket."
After all, Cui Jingrong is not a foolish young man. He listens to the wind and it rains, and he has a bright future.
He still said with a serious face: "Lin Danhan has our border market in Zhangjiakou, and he comes to ask for market rewards every year, just because he is used to it and doesn't like to bother."
Zheng Haizhu said: "So, I want to go there in person to see how Haar is doing."
"I can give you a document check, and it will be cheaper to enter and exit customs. But, won't the Mongolians find it strange?"
Zheng Haizhu then explained everything about how he first got close to Lin Danhan's reward envoy and promoted black tea.
Cui Jingrong snorted: "You have a big idea and your actions are faster than the soldiers attacking the city. I heard from the people who stayed in Xuanzhen that General Ma, who Long Live the Lord asked you to accompany, has already gone to Shangshan Castle. Already?"
Before Zheng Haizhu left the capital, he had naturally inquired about Cui Jingrong, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, who had a good relationship with Zhao Menglin, the then commander-in-chief of Xuan Dynasty. But he also knew that Cui Jingrong would ask this question today, so he said frankly with fear: "Zhang The general and Ma Xianglin should have seen Dutai first, but because they heard that the Tatars had two banners coming to seize the west and Mr. Zhao went north to defend the fort, they did not dare to stop and hurried to Yehuling. Went. Zhang Shenjiang and the Shenjiying Erlang allocated to him by Long Live Lord brought the machine guns, but the matchlocks and a few cannons were still left in Xuanzhen. Please inspect them."
Cui Jingrong curled his lips: "Is it the cannon from your firearms factory, or is it a cannon that one of Xu Hanlin's church members got from the Frankies? If it's the latter, don't use it."
Zheng Haizhu didn't care too much about how this third-rank minister was so prejudiced against Xu Guangqi. At any rate, the other "China-only" diodes were just talking nonsense, while Cui Jingrong was at least sixty years old and still guarding the country for the Ming Dynasty.
What's more worth making a mark in my heart is that Cui Jingrong seems to have a very upright temper. Maybe he will be easier to deal with in the future. After all, it is difficult for people to guess what is on the mind of an official who is deep-tempered and does not show his emotions or anger, and it is more difficult to make friends with and guide him.
On the other side, Cui Jingrong saw the panic on the face of the woman who was choked by him. He felt relieved and immediately waved his hands and said: "Don't worry too much. When I asked General Ma, I didn't blame you juniors for not knowing etiquette. I've just heard about his bravery for a long time and wanted to meet him soon. General Ma, you can't bring many people with you this time, right?"
"If we go back to the governor, there will only be ten Shili servants."
Cui Jingrong didn't show any expression on his face, but he was making calculations secretly.
A month ago, when he heard that Ma Xianglin was going to be sent to the Xuan Mansion, Cui Jingrong, a veteran border official, immediately realized that Ye Xianggao had given him a big gift.
The top priority is how to get such a capable Sichuan army from Shanhaiguan.
I heard the woman across the desk say in a searching tone: "This junior is here to announce the university, and the side affairs here should not be underestimated. I am willing to go to the fortress as an envoy, but can I ask General Ma to escort me? One ride?”
Cui Jingrong had an idea and said sternly: "Let him join us. Zhao Menglin's Shangshan Fort will not be unable to defend the Tatars without General Ma. General Ma just wanted to see what the terrain is like on the way to Lin Danhan's royal city. No matter how knowledgeable our civil servants are about military affairs, we are not as good at military affairs as they are. Let him note down the places outside the wall where fortifications can be built and additional troops can be stationed."
"Remember the instructions from the governor."
After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Chang Zhongxin, a Shanxi merchant, greeted him diligently.
Entering the mule cart, Zheng Haizhu smiled and said: "Mr. Chang, the governor agreed that I should go see Lin Danhan. What do you think of the thoughts I explained to you that day?"
Chang Zhongxin said in a loud voice: "If you can get your wife to drive you around in the house, you can't ask for it."
Zheng Haizhu asked Chang Zhongxin to go to Mongolia with him because he wanted to use his eyesight as a Shanxi merchant to collect information on the circulation of money in commercial transactions along the way.
In the late Ming Dynasty, with Jiangnan, Lianghuai and Shanxi as examples, the transformation of land capital into commercial capital was not only a concept, but also a practice.
Shanxi's land involution is on the verge of reaching its limit. A large number of male surplus laborers do not enter silk weaving workshops like those in Nanzhili, but become small businessmen and work at the docks in and outside the customs.
The further transformation of commercial capital into financial capital is simply inevitable.
Zheng Haizhu traveled to this world and saw "banks" and "cabinets" in Jiangnan. He also used banknotes to give gifts or withdraw money, but those were more like bank depositories that charge handling fees, not so much. Operating a lending business is not a financial enterprise in the later sense.
Compared with Jiangnan, Shanxi's trade route ecology is more conducive to the emergence of "ticket accounts".
Therefore, Zheng Haizhu chose the Chang family, who had the ability to escort, and took him with him to start research. He wanted to let the Chang family test the waters of the Shanxi merchant ticket business, which had only begun to develop in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
Mongolians and Russians do not yet have the concept of silver currency. Trading horses for tea and silk, or even obtaining furs through direct plunder, are behavioral characteristics of Mongolia and Russia.
In the upcoming international trade from Siberia to the Far East, if the Ming Empire can dominate the business rules in advance, on the vast grasslands and in later border trade cities such as Kyaktu and Manzhouli, financial companies with Ming people as their owners can be opened - engaged in The "ticket number" for exchange and deposit lending business.
Zheng Haizhu briefly discussed the basic concepts of ticket numbers with Chang Zhongxin along the way. After arriving at the inn, he told Chang Zhongxin a few words about preparations for leaving customs and ordered him to leave.
Xu San closed the door and looked out through the crack in the window. Then he turned around and gave Zheng Haizhu some hot tea. He lowered his voice and talked about another plan of the trip: "Madam, let our people find out the whereabouts of the Mongolians." , let the news go?"
Zheng Haizhu heard the excitement in his voice.
"Xu San, things must be done this way. But we have to calculate the time accurately." Zheng Haizhu leaned on the back of the chair, closed his eyes to rest, and warned slowly.
"Madam, don't worry. From Ji Town to Xuan Mansion, all my brothers have stepped on it. The handwritten letter that Madam asked General Ma to write was also sent to Jizhou personally. General Ma's lieutenant burned it after reading it."
Zheng Haizhu sneered: "Jin Song must be thinking that as long as the Tatars don't attack the city and his own people don't have to fight to capture the west, he doesn't care if the Sichuan army gets out and suffers or if a few people die in the encounter. "
"General Ma's lieutenant also said so, so they should have been wandering outside the border wall of Ji Town in the past few days, just waiting for us to give the news and pounce immediately."
"Well, it shouldn't take long," Zheng Haizhu rubbed his temples. "The Mongols and Jurchens are taking everything they can and grabbing everything they can. They are all eager to go home for the New Year."
She paused and then asked: "Where is Zaohua? Are you outside the customs or in the city now?"
"She is in Zhangjiakou. When Unger and we go out, we will pass by Zhangjiakou. Do I want her to come and see Madam?"
"No," Zheng Haizhu said lightly, "Zhangjiakou is not the place where she and I should meet."
Finally, he asked Xu San with concern: "Has she endured hardships in Mongolia for half a year?"
Xu San said with relief: "Madam, don't worry, we brothers will take care of her. Besides, with her arrogant skills, when she was running a small business, some unscrupulous men would occasionally try to take advantage of her, and she would beat her to the point of almost annihilating her descendants. "
Zheng Haizhu smiled: "Okay, this time, if she makes a bold move, she can go east. When spring comes next year, the owner of the Zhenglan Banner will be able to use the gift we have prepared for him."
(End of chapter)
