"I'm afraid Jiannu will be in big trouble this time."
Chongzhen said with a smile: "Even if we win in the end, we will probably have to shed our skin."
Zhu Cijiong said thoughtfully: "Father, so Chuangni's men are not all idiots. Apart from Li Yan who knows how to fight, there are actually people who know how to use profits to win over the Mongolian tribes."
"Zuo Maodi said that this person's name is Gu Junen." Chongzhen said solemnly, "He is the most visionary planner under Li Zicheng. His farsightedness is even better than that of Li Yan. It is said that the Pseudo-Shun directly sent troops to Beijing before, and it was not from the Pseudo-Shun.
Obedience to the prime minister comes from Niu Jinxing, but it comes from this person's plan. Niu Jinxing just took advantage of this person's great achievements."
Zhu Cijiong said again: "Father, we cannot take it lightly."
"That's natural." Chongzhen smiled and said, "That's why my father tried his best to promote trade between the Ming Dynasty and Pseudo-Shun. This is not only to make money, but also to make the Mongolian tribes in the Western Regions live a good life.
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Zhu Cijiong smiled and said: "Then one day my Ming Dynasty cuts off the supply of goods, and the Mongolian tribes in the Western Regions cut off the source of luxury goods, and they will vent their resentment and even anger on the hypocritical heads."
Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "But that is a matter of the future."
"Hey, that's not right." Zhu Cijiong said suddenly, "Father, my Ming Dynasty can control the Mongolian tribes in the Western Region through tea, silk, porcelain and other luxury goods. Can't Gu Junen see it? If Gu Junen can see it, then he can
Why not tell Chuang Ni the pros and cons?"
Chongzhen said: "How do you know that Gu Junen didn't tell Chuang Ni?"
Zhu Cijiong said: "If Chuang Ni knew the pros and cons, how could he promote the trade of luxury goods?"
"Silly son, this is the general trend, or a conspiracy!" Chongzhen said with a smile, "Chuangni and Gu Junen knew that promoting the luxury goods trade was a poisonous wine, but they still had to drink it obediently, because the silk produced in our Ming Dynasty,
Tea and even porcelain are irreplaceable. There is only this one in the world and there is no other."
Speaking of this, Chongzhen suddenly remembered another big thing.
At that moment, Chongzhen turned around and ordered Gao Qiqian: "Gao Banban, go and invite Xia Yunyi."
"Old slave, take the order." Gao Qiqian responded, and went to invite Xia Yunyi over.
Xia Yunyi came to Chongzhen, bowed to Chongzhen as usual, and then paid homage to King Ding.
"Pingsheng." Chongzhen raised his hands and asked again, "Xia Yunyi, I remember that you are from Huating, Songjiang, and you are from the same hometown as Xu Jie and Xu Ge Lao, right?"
"Back to your Majesty, I am from Huating, Songjiang."
Xia Yunyi said: "We are still old friends with Xu Fuyuan, the great-grandson of Mr. Xu Ge."
Chongzhen added: "Songjiang is a good place. Not only are there many famous people, but they also produce cotton."
Xia Yunyi was a little confused when he heard this. He thought to himself: What does the Holy Spirit mean by this? He came to chat with me during the march? Why did Songjiang cotton suddenly come up again?
However, Xia Yunyi responded: "Yes, Songjiang cotton is the best in the world. Not only the Ming Dynasty, but also the Japanese and Western barbarians cannot weave such good cotton, so businessmen from Western barbarians and Japanese barbarians often come to Songjiang."
When it comes to buying cotton cloth, I sometimes buy millions of pieces of cotton cloth at a time."
Chongzhen asked again: "Songjiang should produce a lot of cotton cloth, right?"
Xia Yunyi said: "Statistics were made during the Wanli period. There are more than 200,000 household textile machines in Songjiang Prefecture, which can weave more than 20 million pieces of various Songjiang cotton cloths every year! In good years, it can even reach 40 million pieces!"
Zhu Cijiong next to him was stunned when he heard this. How many cotton cloths are there?
Chongzhen added: "What I'm more curious about is why other places can't weave cotton of the same quality?"
Xia Yunyi said: "Firstly, because the local cotton in Songjiang is good, and secondly, because the skills of Songjiang weavers are good, there are few cottons from other prefectures that can compete with Songjiang cotton."
Chongzhen said: "We in the Ming Dynasty are not the only ones with unique skills like Songjiang cotton."
Xia Yunyi said: "Yes, in addition to our Songjiang cotton, there are also silks from Shu in the south of the Yangtze River, porcelain from Jingdezhen, and tea from Huguang, Fujian and Zhejiang. They are all unique treasures that are the best in the world."
Chongzhen added: "These rare treasures were given to us by our ancestors, and we must keep them."
Hearing this, Xia Yunyi finally had some taste. Is this why the Holy Emperor called him here?
Chongzhen did not pretend to be sophisticated and played a riddle with Xia Yunyi, but directly made it clear: "Xia Yunyi, I plan to set up a shipping department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be responsible for managing the trade between the Ming Dynasty and overseas."
"The Municipal Shipping Division has two main responsibilities, one is to collect customs duties, and the other is to strictly investigate smuggling."
"Our Ming Dynasty can relax the maritime ban and welcome all overseas merchants to come to trade, but whether they sell foreign goods to our Ming Dynasty or purchase goods from our Ming Dynasty, they must pay tariffs."
"As for the tariff standards, you can discuss it with the Chamber of Commerce later and then report it to me."
After saying this, Chongzhen continued: "The key point I want to tell you today is the second point, smuggling. Not only must we strictly investigate foreign and Chinese businessmen who evade tariffs, but we must also strictly investigate those who try to steal silkworm cocoons and tea seedlings."
Once discovered, the businessmen who brought Ming Dynasty away will be killed without mercy for any reason."
It is actually too late to ban silkworm cocoons.
Because of sericulture, silk reeling technology has already spread to Central Asia and Europe.
But tea was transplanted to India by the British during the Manchu period.
After saying this, Chongzhen added: "As well as the techniques of silk reeling, weaving, embroidery and porcelain firing, they are not allowed to be leaked to Western merchants, and foreign merchants are also prohibited from visiting the workshops."
The traditional crafts passed down from our ancestors must be kept highly confidential.
Xia Yunyi said solemnly: "I understand, I will return to Beijing to establish the Municipal Ship Department."
"You should go back now." Chongzhen said again, "Besides, let Xia Wanchun come over and lead the troops in your place."
The total 270 Huating soldiers in Huating were recruited by Xia Yunyi when he returned to his hometown. Now that Xia Yunyi left, naturally they had to be led by Prince Qin from Huating, and this was none other than Xia Wanchun.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading!...
At the same time, in the palace of Prince Rui far away in Beijing.
Dorgon was discussing matters with Hong Chengchou, Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo.
When it comes to fighting, we naturally have to rely on the Eight Banners nobles, but when it comes to using our brains, those Eight Banners nobles are not enough. Even dozens of them tied together can't compare to the three of Hong Chengchou.
There are many other Han people who are resourceful, but Dorgon cannot trust them.
Dorgon trusted Hong Chengchou, Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo the most. Hong Chengchou especially had the most trust in him. Every time he encountered a problem, he would always call in Hong Chengchou's staff.
For example, this time, Dorgon encountered difficulties again.
Dorgon said: "Three gentlemen, the Qing Dynasty is going to be in trouble."
Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng, Ning Wanwo, looked at each other and asked, "May I ask Master, what's the trouble?"
Dorgon said: "Not long ago, our agents scattered in the grassland returned news that in the name of Sanggar, the Pseudo-submissives were secretly cooperating with the Khalkha and Chahar tribes to form an anti-Qing army.
Alliance! Not only that, even the Junggar tribes are in frequent contact with the Pseudo-Shun, and they might even join forces."
Fan Wencheng said: "Master, there is no need to worry about this matter. Hypocrisy cannot make an alliance."
Ning Wanme also smiled and said: "When the late emperor was here, Lin Dan Khan made an alliance, but in the end it was a basin of loose sand and was easily defeated by the late emperor with thousands of elite cavalry."
"But this time is different." Dorgon said solemnly, "This time, in order to please the Mongolian tribes, the Pseudo-submissive opened the horse market. The Mongolian tribes can exchange cattle, sheep and horses for the tea, salt, ironware, and silk they urgently need.
Even porcelain, and there is no limit, you can have as much as you want! So all the Mongolian tribes are a little ready to make a move."
"Is there such a thing?" Hong Chengchou and the others couldn't help being stunned when they heard this.
If this is the case, things will be difficult to handle. How can hypocrisy have such courage?
The Central Plains Dynasty has always imposed a strict blockade on the nomadic peoples in the north and set up horse markets, but strictly limited the total trade volume, and only tribes that were respectful to the Central Plains Dynasty were eligible to trade in the horse markets.
But this time, the hypocrite actually relaxed the restrictions and allowed the Mongolian tribes to exchange urgently needed supplies?
After a long while, Hong Chengchou said: "Master, this kind of thing really cannot be underestimated."
Dorgon said: "Today I came to see three gentlemen, just to ask if you have any good countermeasures?"
Hong Chengchou said: "The most effective countermeasure is that our Qing Dynasty also provides tea, silk, salt, porcelain and other materials to the Mongolian tribes. It is a pity that we cannot provide the most precious tea and silk."
Upon hearing this, Dorgon's face fell, because the Ming Dynasty completely cut off the trade between the two countries.
As long as they are found to be Qing court merchants or Shanxi merchants, not only will they not be able to buy goods, they will also be beheaded.
So now, the Qing court and Shanxi merchants have a huge amount of money, but they can't buy a piece of silk, a tea brick or a piece of porcelain produced in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, smuggling still exists.
However, the amount of smuggling was too small, and the price was also ridiculously high, so it was obviously not feasible to buy silk, tea and porcelain from the black market and then trade them with the Mongols.
Fan Wencheng said: "Nan Ming is obviously targeting our Qing Dynasty."
"No." Ning Wan and I also said with a wry smile, "The Pseudo-Shun can buy anything from Nanming, but only our merchants from the Qing Dynasty cannot buy it. This is to help the Pseudo-Shun win over the Mongolian tribes."
Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "Master, there is no solution to this matter."
This is a conspiracy, and the Ming Dynasty wants to block you economically.
Dorgon said: "In this case, the alliance between Pseudo-Shun and the Mongolian tribes can only be broken up by force."
"I'm afraid that's the case." Hong Chengchou said, "But fortunately, the strength of the Mongolian tribes is extremely limited. Even if they collude with the Puppet Shun Gao Yi Gong Tribe and Li Yan Tribe, there is nothing to fear."
Fan Wencheng said: "I, the warriors of the Eight Banners, can defeat Mongolia once, but I can defeat them twice."
Dorgon said: "Since we have decided to send troops, we should do it sooner rather than later, as early as spring!"