That is, a big trade between the Ming Dynasty and the grassland: the tea horse market.
Since ancient times, the most important strategic need in the Central Plains has been to obtain a sufficient supply of horses for the huge standing army. However, China itself produces very few horses, and the horse breeds are not good. After the Yuan and Mongolian armies were driven out of China in the late 1460s,
, the Ming army's urgent and constant need for horses was initially met in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou in southwest China by exchanging various specialized commodities such as tea, salt, and textiles for horses.
For example, the tea-horse market with Tibetan areas is a long-term trade method that began in the Tang Dynasty. However, the dangerous roads in the southwest also brought serious restrictions to the large-scale growth of this trade. After all, horses were concentrated
The area used is not in the southwest, but in the Central Plains region and further north.
In addition, horses were also obtained through barter trade with other countries such as Korea, Japan and even the Ryukyu Islands. Smaller official horse trade with Korea was already taking place in the early part of this century, and from 1407 to 142
In seven and twenty years, North Korea provided a total of more than 18,000 horses to the Ming Dynasty.
The tribute missions of Korea and Japan received five horses of silk for each horse, plus an unknown amount of silver and gauze. The Ryukyu government occasionally exchanged horses for silk, porcelain, and ironware.
Therefore, the reliance on the tea and horse markets in the southwest was short-lived. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the large-scale trade in the tea and horse markets in the southwest was only maintained until 1387, when the northern provinces, especially Shanxi Province, became
A more important source for purchasing horses. The change in policy was partly the result of China's resumption of trade with the steppe peoples, but was accelerated by the move of the imperial capital from the south to the north in the 1520s.
In addition, during several conquests against Japan during the Yongle period, the Chinese army was able to increase the number of its war horses after several victorious battles and by seizing horse ranching grounds on the border.
However, these were irregular harvests. The regular and regular acquisition of horses on the northern frontier was mainly through the exclusive barter trade of tea and horses, and it was the explicit policy of the government to put this tea-horse trade under its strict rules.
Under the control of the Qing Dynasty, barter trade was not carried out at the border with China but in Xining, Hezhou and Taozhou in northwest Shaanxi (today's Gansu), where there were special tea and horse trading departments.
The barter trade takes place every three years and is very large. The official trade quota stipulates that in each tea horse market, 1 million kilograms of tea will be exchanged for 14,000 horses. Most of the horses are provided by nomadic tribes in the Qinghai area.
To raise them, their chiefs were awarded a coat of arms in the form of gold medals. One half of the coat of arms was kept by the court, and the matching half was held by each tribal chief to signify their qualifications to carry out this trade.
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Last year was originally supposed to be a year for trade, but before the trade market had time to start, the Battle of Tumubao occurred, which naturally completely interrupted this official border trade.
The accumulated tea leaves can only be stored in the warehouse until now. You must know that the reason why the trade is conducted every three years is because a part of the tea leaves needs to be stored every year. Only when enough tea leaves can be accumulated.
Start trading.
Moreover, more than 99% of the tea traded with the grasslands is border tea. Border tea is also called border tea. It is named after it is used to supply border ethnic minorities for drinking. It is a pressed tea, which is later known as border tea.
Brick tea as you want, or tea brick.
There are many varieties of tea sold in the border areas. The main varieties include Fu bricks, black bricks and flower bricks from Hunan; green bricks and rice bricks from Hubei; Kangzhuan and Jinjian from Sichuan; and tight tea from Yunnan. Due to historical reasons, the teas of various ethnic groups
The varieties of tea sold at the border are also different. Fuzhuan, black brick, flower brick and rice brick are mainly supplied to Hong Kong, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia; Kangzhuan and Jinjian are mainly supplied to Hong Kong and Qinghai; green brick tea
It is mainly supplied to Inner Mongolia; Yunnan's tight tea is mainly supplied to Yunnan Province, and some is supplied to Japan and Sichuan.
Tea bricks have an advantage, that is, they can be stored for a long time without fear. However, they have accumulated a large amount of funds. The three tea horse markets have accumulated a total of three million kilograms of tea, which is not a small amount. And these tea leaves are very important to the grassland.
For the nomadic people, it is the basis of their survival and the critical material necessary for life.
Brick tea contains a variety of essential vitamins and rare elements for humans, especially theophylline. Ethnic minorities who have lived in pastoral areas, plateaus, water shortages, and without vegetables for a long time use mashed brick tea mixed with milk to make milk tea for drinking.
People who mainly eat meat can eat mutton-free food and supplement water and vitamins. The milk tea residue is used to feed large livestock to avoid death of humans and animals from gastrointestinal bloating due to lack of water, disease and eating habits. Therefore, in pastoral areas there are
"It is better to go without food for three days than to go without tea for one day".
In addition, Zhu Qizhen, with his sharp tongue, deceived Boyan Tiemur into confusion, making Boyan Tiemur convinced that he was really capable of starting the project that should have been carried out last year.
Tea border trade, so this is the main reason why Boyan Tiemur agreed to trade with Zhu Qi Town.
The most important factor why Zhu Qizhen left the eunuch guarding Datong Town instead of killing him was that although this guy was the eunuch guarding Datong Town, he had a large amount of tea supply resources in his hands.
This news was quietly reported to Zhu Qi Town by Qianhu Yin Zuochu, the Jinyi Guard of Xuanfu Town. This eunuch guarding Datong was greedy, but he was also good at making money. His nearly ten years in Datong Town were not in vain.
, they fought openly and covertly, and plundered skillfully, and mastered a large amount of tea supply resources.
It is precisely for this reason that his financial resources can be regarded as one of the best among the eunuchs in foreign towns in the world. It is for this reason that he was able to spend more than 200,000 taels of silver for his stepson to go to the Xuan Mansion.
Trade, and if you raise your butt, you can take out two to three hundred thousand taels of silver and give it to Zhu Qizhen to express his frightened confession.
Zhu Qizhen, who had grasped the situation, was furious at first, his eyes almost turned red with hatred, and he wanted to take everything Guo Shun had in his hands. But fortunately, Yuan Bin reminded Zhu Qizhen from the side,
Now is not a good time to kill the goose that lays the eggs.
After all, Zhu Qizhen is not the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor in charge of the country, but just a supreme emperor. Now, he is just supervising the civil and military affairs of the border towns of Xuanfu. If his hands reach outside the Xuanfu, it will
It's really eye-catching.
The important thing is that I am afraid that the civil and military ministers who originally stood on Zhu Qizhen's side will become vigilant, and may even turn to those who are eager to put aside the power in order to prevent the expansion and expansion of Zhu Qizhen's power.
Zhu Qiyu, who was suppressed by Zhu Qi to death, united.
Because everyone is afraid that an incident like the Battle of Jingnan will happen again. It is not just a struggle for imperial power, it is a struggle between two political groups. Therefore, the ministers will definitely not stand with Zhu Qizhen when the time comes.
aside.
Even killing this possibility in advance would definitely be bad news for Zhu Qizhen.
And to keep the life of Guo Shun, let the guarding eunuch who is extremely powerful in Datong border town, has abundant resources and strength, but also has the leverage for Zhu Qizhen to hold tightly, in that case, it is equivalent to
Zhu Qizhen could secretly reach out to the Datong border town.
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In this way, Zhu Qizhen's power can expand outwards without revealing anything. Moreover, after passing Yan Shun, the resources obtained can also give Zhu Qizhen a greater advantage when dealing with the grassland.
and more say.
Because, as a person from the future, with the memories of future generations, and always paying attention to international current affairs, military world and other things, the grassland strategy considered by Zhu Qizhen is not only military, but also economic.
Economic strategy is no less terrifying than the trauma caused by war, but it is long-lasting and has a slow onset. However, the damage caused may even exceed the impact of war.
However, economic strategy can only be a auxiliary strategy for the poor nomads. However, the use of economic means can not only have a destructive effect, but also obtain extremely generous benefits. Why not do such a good thing?
After thinking about it, Zhu Qizhen quickly came to a conclusion, so he secretly sent his confidant Qian Zhong, who was also the uncle of the country, to Datong quietly to meet Guo Shun secretly and tell him.
Zhu Qizhen's will was the supreme emperor.
And Guo Shun is not a fool, otherwise he would not have been able to collect such huge profits in ten years. Not only did he cover the sky with one hand in Datong, but he also expanded his business to Gansu Town, cloaked in public guise and doing private business.
Business. From a businessman's perspective, Guo Shun is fully qualified to become the CEO of a multinational group.
After hearing the Emperor's meaning and information conveyed by Qian Zhong, Guo Shun also made a secret calculation. In the end, Guo Shun discovered that even if he did not stand on Zhu Qizhen's side, his end would be very likely*
**Not much better than Yan Shun and others.
After all, the stepson Guo Rui is in the hands of the Supreme Emperor. He can easily manipulate himself if he wants to, and even manipulate himself to the point of confiscating his family and exterminating his family. After all, Guo Shun knows the past very well.
Zhu Qizhen, and now Zhu Qizhen has made him feel that he can no longer treat things according to the past thinking mode.
And if you are willing to stand on Zhu Qizhen's side and work for him, as long as Zhu Qizhen doesn't make a mistake, your position in Datong will still be very stable. Moreover, although you may make less money in the future, but
With the Supreme Emperor Zhu Qizhen as his protective umbrella, he no longer needs to worry too much about many things that he used to be afraid of doing, so that he can live a more nourishing life.
Therefore, after only thinking about it all night, Guo Shun made the best choice and decided to serve Zhu Qizhen and be driven by him. The first thing Zhu Qizhen asked him to do was to deal with him, even
This is extremely beneficial to Gansu border towns...
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***:Updated to, crawling and crawling quietly and obscenely...
