Chapter 1,466 White mountains and black waters, iron weapons replaced by human beings!
"Chief Maha, who is as brave as a tiger and has a head like Zandahan! Do you really want to exchange the prisoners of this village? For good things made of iron?"
"Haha! The ancestors witnessed it, of course!..."
"What price?"
"Um…"
Maha Aguda on the boat turned around and chatted with Zuvalo for a few more words, with obvious surprise on his face. Is such a transaction price too generous for Beidi? After arguing for a while, he felt a little meaty.
He looked towards the shore in pain and yelled.
"Good price, if you miss it, it's gone! A warrior who can fight, exchange it for an iron pot! An ordinary warrior, exchange it for an iron axe! A Yu Ding who cannot fight, exchange it for an iron spear! An extra woman or child,
Replace it with three iron arrows, or half an iron spear!..."
"…!What!"
Hearing this, the three Wu Zhe chiefs looked at each other with disbelief on their faces. With such a price, either they had eaten too many mushrooms from Fangshan Mountain, or they had eaten too many mushrooms from their own mountain! Anyway, one of them must have had a brain problem!
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Ming Dynasty has implemented a strict embargo on iron items from Mongolia and Liaodong. Iron items from the Han region have been strictly prohibited from flowing into various parts of the northern region, leaving the vast northern Xinjiang in a state of severe iron shortage.
In the tributary trade, faced with the strong demand for ironware from various Mongolian ministries, the Ming Dynasty also offered outrageous prices.
According to the official pricing of tribute goods, an iron pot can be exchanged for a high-quality horse, or a high-quality horse can be exchanged for two treasure coins at a low price. An iron ax can be exchanged for a cow, or four or five
Sheep. As for iron spears and iron arrows, the same is true. The price has increased at least eight times, and the quantity is limited. You can change it if you like!
This kind of official iron trade with a limited amount and impressive prices was due to the empire's strong wariness against the northern tribes. On the one hand, the Ming Dynasty would rather reward the tribes who came to pay tribute with more valuable cloth and wine than to reward iron tools. On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty would rather reward the tribes who came to pay tribute.
, it is the tribute transaction link in the middle, with all parties passing hands and kickbacks one after another. In addition, the army and officials at the border must leave enough space for the lucrative private trade.
With such huge profits, the smuggling business of later generations of Shanxi merchants was naturally widespread in this era, but the scale was much smaller. Once caught smuggling salt and iron into northern Xinjiang, the consequences would definitely be severe punishment.
You lost your head! Of course, just like sea trade, behind northern smuggling, there are also many frontier big shots who have the survival needs of the border people. No matter how many people are killed, there will always be people who are not afraid of death. The root cause is prohibition.
endlessly…
"The captured warriors and warriors can be exchanged for rare iron pots and iron axes?!... Chief Maha of Zandahan, do you keep your word?! Don't go back on your word!"
"Ha! I, Maha Aguda, never go back on my word! This iron ax is given to you by me, Maha Aguda, just as a friend!"
After saying that, Maha Aguda took an iron ax from Zuwaro. He took a deep breath, swung his arm violently, showed his magical power again, and threw the ax towards the shore.
It was thrown dozens of steps!
"Ho! Come on!"
"Ah! What a great strength, what a great strength! What a great chief of Maha Dahan!... Hey! This iron ax is better than the old axes captured before!... Change
!We agreed, let’s exchange it! Someone, go and bring over all the newly captured prisoners!…”
Wu Zhe Aguda held the iron ax and personally inspected the sharp edge and the thick back of the axe. Surprise appeared on his face. Soon, the three chiefs of the Wu Zhe tribe in the forest showed almost no hesitation, let alone any
After making a counter-offer, he agreed immediately. The ancestors witnessed it! This kind of exchanging prisoners for iron tools is such a great opportunity. If you miss it, it will be gone!
You must know that the vast inner and outer Northeast, like the Mongolian grassland, is in short supply of iron tools! An iron pot and a few iron axes are all heirloom treasures of small tribes. As for iron armor, the only choice is to work as a dog for the Ming Dynasty.
Only the true tribe of mature women can have it!
Although the so-called "Thirteen Iron Armors Raid the Army" is not comparable to the Ming Dynasty's border troops, in this era, in the eyes of the Jurchen tribes everywhere, it is not shabby at all!
Of course, there is definitely no shortage of iron ore in the Northeast. However, the source of iron supply is completely controlled by the Ming army, and there is a special supervisory army to supervise it. The center of the Ming Dynasty artificially reduced the scale of iron smelting in Liaodong.
Large-scale iron yards can only be found in Liaodong Town at the moment. For example, in the Anshan area, there is the "Ten Mile Iron Mountain" and the "Six Guards Iron Yard", but the scale is compared to the Yuan Dynasty. "Far less than ten.
One or two".
As for the Liaodong border wall, there are indeed some sporadic iron ore mines. However, the embargo on salt and iron in the North is a national policy of the Ming Dynasty and has been implemented for nearly a hundred years. The Ming Dynasty adopted clear mining ban measures and strictly prohibited the development of these iron ore mines.
Not only abandoned
Many iron farms were built in the Yuan Dynasty, and the surrounding mature Jurchen tribes were strictly monitored and no mining was allowed! Further north, the barbarian tribes in the Heilongjiang Basin had insufficient population and technology, and were not equipped to search for iron ore and smelt iron ore.
ability…
"Nurha! Daimin! Go there in person and tell the tribe not to rush to looting! Hurry up and bring the prisoners who are still alive!... Finally, I met the chief of Dahan Dahan. I will exchange as many iron weapons as I can.
How much!...Hurry! Go quickly! Get the iron quickly, don't let him regret it!..."
"Okay! I'll go right away!..."
"Yes! Let's go now... No matter how much we get in exchange, we will share it equally!..."
"Da da da!"
The clatter of horse hooves hurried away, and thirty or forty wildling cavalry turned their horses. They were as skilled in equestrian skills as the Mongols, but they were not able to ride and shoot like the Mongols. The strength of the wildling Jurchens was mainly shock cavalry and infantry shooting.
…
"The chief said! Don't rob us yet! Bring over all the prisoners who are alive and able to move around! All of them! Men and women, old and young, bring over!..."
The village of Ha'er Man tribe only had an outer wall, and there was no inner fortress. As hundreds of barbarian warriors poured in, the shouts of killing in the village quickly subsided. Then,
The messy looting, distribution of spoils, and capture of prisoners.
The Har barbarian tribesmen didn't cry, they just looked numb, accepting the winner's treatment, whether they were dead or alive. The tribes in the north were like this. Death was so common that there was no room for sadness at all. Everything was just for
alive.
"What! The old one is gone? Damn it! Who told you to take action so quickly!...Bring the injured here too! What? The ones who can't walk are all gone?...What a bunch of idiots, a bunch of stupid roe deer!..."
This is the cold and vast white mountains and black waters, and it follows the harshest natural laws. In the annexation of the savage tribes, there has never been any tenderness, respect for the old and love for the young. They are just like the wind and snow here, cold and ruthless. That's all.
In a few quarters of an hour, the prisoners who were too old to work and those who were injured and unable to move were all turned into cold corpses, without even leaving their clothes.
"Quickly! Drive everyone out! Stop dragging! Those pieces of broken leather, where are the iron tools that matter!..."
After a few more minutes of tossing, driven by the savage warriors, the remaining one or two hundred men, women and children were all driven out of the village. Many of them had their clothes taken away.
Just like this, they stumbled, stained with blood, and ran half-naked to the river beach. Dozens of cavalry were escorting them from behind, just like herds of deer during hunting, driving them towards the river.
At this moment, neither the "herds" of deer nor the "hunters" who were driving people were shouting loudly, they were as quiet as the forest in the distance. This indifference to life, this habitual cruelty,
This is the tradition of the North for thousands of years, even among the same race!
No matter in Mongolia, Jurchen or Qinghai-Tibet, there is no so-called "Confucian morality" in Han Dynasty. Because of the harsh natural environment and tribal fighting, there is no condition for such a rich and stable culture and thought to survive and continue!
Inside and outside the Ming Dynasty's border wall, there are two completely different worlds, incompatible with each other from soul to life tradition. But once the northern tribes are allowed to break through the border wall and bring their accustomed cruelty into the wealthy Han land, it will be unimaginable for the south.
Doomsday and disaster...
"Ah! My people! My village!..."
On the long boat, Ali, the chief of the Harbarian tribe, was heartbroken. He saw that the village he had inherited from generation to generation was breached, and the tribe's population was either killed or turned into slaves. He looked at the more than a hundred remaining tribesmen, among the savages.
Driven by the cavalry, they ran half-naked towards the river beach. From time to time, some people fell down, but quickly got up, running towards unknown death or hope.
Soon, the two groups of wildling cavalry reunited again. The sun by the river had already set, and it was almost time to set. The three chiefs of the Wuji tribe personally led people to count the prisoners before facing the mooring.
The long boat shouted at the "silly" Maha Aguda.
"Great Chief Maha of Zandahan! These newly captured prisoners have been brought here! There are five warriors worth iron pots, twenty warriors worth iron axes! There are also twenty warriors worth iron spears.
Yu Ding, a hundred women and children worth iron arrows!…”
"Ancestor! There are so many useless prisoners, especially those women and children...Do you want them all? Do you have so many iron tools?..."
"Haha! I want it, I want it all! One hand for the people, and the other for the iron weapon! ... One hundred and twenty women, children and Yu Ding, no need to look at it, I will give you fifty iron spears and one hundred and twenty iron arrows. You give the warriors and
Bring the warriors forward and let me send two of my cronies to take a closer look...whether they are real warriors and whether they are worth the price of iron axes and iron pots!"
"Okay! Come here, bring the bow! Let them open the bow and show it to you!..."
