Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 101 Kowtowing by the Bandit Chief (Part [-])
After Liu Ting left, Gao Wushi smiled and said, "If my guess is correct, the way to make money in Bailixia is probably in the north?"

Cao Gan was taken aback: "You... how did the young master know?"

This "Young Master" was called out without Liu Ting present. Gao Yushi was quite satisfied in his heart, but he was even more satisfied with Cao Gan's reaction.

It seems that my estimation is correct. The business that Bailixia really depends on for a living is really trading with the Mongols.

Gao Pragmatism is not like some ministers in the imperial court who firmly oppose any business and trade with the Mongols.In Gao Pragmatic's view, the Ming Dynasty's trade with Mongolia was not only profitable, but also because Ming Dynasty had a huge economic volume that completely crushed Mongolia, it was possible to achieve the goal of using economic means to control Mongolia's ministries, so he not only supported trade with Mongolia Trade, and hope to greatly expand the scale of this trade, until the Mongolian ministries form a serious economic dependence that "leaves Ming Dynasty and cannot live at all".At that time, Mongolia is said to be a subject of the Ming Dynasty, so why not?

This is the mindset that Gao Yushi developed as a small political figure in his previous life: if it can be solved by economic means, political means should not be used; if it can be solved by political means, military means should not be used.

I insist on having the ability to kill you, but at the same time I insist that I will never fight until the last moment.After all, in such a thing as war, it is inevitable that there will be too much loss first, and accidents will inevitably occur second.

"Sun Tzu's Art of War: Conspiracy Chapter" said: "In the method of using troops, the whole country is the top priority, followed by breaking the country; the whole army is the top priority, followed by breaking the army; the whole brigade is the top priority, followed by breaking the brigade; The death is second; the whole army is the highest, and the second is to break the army. Therefore, it is not a good man who wins a hundred battles; it is not a good man who is good; a soldier who surrenders without fighting is a good man."

Using economic means to gradually control Mongolia, so that Mongolia can gradually be used by me, isn't it more cost-effective than spending a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to conquer Mongolia?Besides, even if Mongolia is conquered, can the Han people go to Mongolia to build a city on the left and a city on the right?How much effort did the Han people spend to maintain the Mongolian grasslands that are not suitable for farming?

Unless the productivity and military revolutions have reached the level of later generations, Gao Yushi insists that using Mongolia to control Mongolia is a good way to achieve long-term stability.

What's more, the Mongols can not only turn enemies into friends with the Han people, but they can even become comrades-in-arms with the Han people: you must know that there may be wild boar skins that will jump out to cause trouble in the future, and Mongolian friends need to send troops to cooperate with Ming Dynasty—of course, now Not friends yet.

When Cao Gan asked this question, Gao Yushi laughed, but he did not answer him. Instead, he continued to ask: "You trade with the Mongols. What do you sell, and what do they sell? Or, do you barter?"

Gao Wushi's question made Cao Gan a little excited, and said, "The Mongols need a lot of things, such as silk, silk, cotton, needle thread, comb, rice salt, candy, woven cloth, and otter skin. , sheepskin boxes... I like everything, I want everything.” After a pause, he continued: “As for us, our collection is quite generous, including horses, cows, sheep, mules, donkeys and horsetails, sheepskins, We also take fur coats and these."

Gao Yushi was a little surprised: "Why do we still have otter skins for sale? Mongolia doesn't have any?" It must be said that Gao Yushi's understanding of wild animals is not very good, and he thought that there should be plenty of animal skins in Mongolia. , and the leather-making technology is also very advanced.

"Otters mostly inhabit rivers and lakes. It's not that there are no otters in Mongolia, but there are much fewer than us. Besides, they live nomadicly on weekdays, but they don't often hunt otters and the like. Winters in Mongolia are quite cold, and otter skins are very useful to them, and we Han people are skillful in making leather, which is exquisite and durable, so the Mongolians like to buy otter skins from us Han people, especially Mongolian nobles, they all like otter skins.” Cao Gan. explained.

Gao Wushi thought about it again, and asked, "You don't sell those iron pans?"

Cao Gan shook his head and said, "I can't say that the price of something like an iron pot is not worth it, but the government and the frontier army will sometimes check it. The villain thinks that doing other business can support the people of Bailixia anyway. , there is no need to break the ban for a few iron pots, attract the attention of the government, and ask for trouble."

Gao Wushi praised: "Okay, your idea is very smart." Then he asked: "But I heard that the official market doesn't open often... Are you taking the route of the private market?"

In fact, the direct trade between the Mongols and the Han people has not been broken at all. Let alone the Ming Dynasty, during the Yongle period, Arutai started the "tributary trade" with the Ming Dynasty. Gong, take it as usual."This kind of "tributary trade" belongs to the official trade, mainly due to the request of the Mongolian feudal lord.They hope to get double rewards through tribute, and obtain high-end products such as silk and satin that they cannot produce themselves but want to enjoy.

This kind of "tributary trade" is a commercial activity of a different nature from the mutual exchange of goods and needs among ordinary people, which is not the same as the exchange activities between nomadic and agricultural economies.Didn’t Marx say, “The interrelationships among nations depend on the productivity of each nation, the division of labor and the degree of development of internal communication”.The "tributary trade" in the early Ming Dynasty was a trade method that was compatible with the social and economic development of Mongolia at that time.

Around the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the social economy of the Mongolian region developed.In the 16th year of Chenghua, Dayan Khan, known as the little prince in "History of the Ming Dynasty", eliminated the situation of separatism and melee within Mongolian society.During the Jiajing period, "the little prince was the most prosperous and powerful, with more than 40 people in charge, a lot of livestock and goods, and a little tired of soldiers, so he moved to the east and was called a barbarian, and there were many tribes in the northwest." "Over the years, I have been adopted by the filthy. In addition, I have a new life, and the sun is nourishing and the moon is resting. Even the tribes of the little prince, Ji Nang, and Alta can reach [-]. yeah".

It can be seen that the development of Mongolian animal husbandry production and population growth during this period, on the one hand, enabled them to exchange more livestock products as commodities, and on the other hand, they also experienced the situation of "many tribes and insufficient food".Under such circumstances, Mongolia will inevitably develop a strong demand for foreign trade in order to exchange its own livestock products for grain and other daily consumer goods produced by the Han people.When this requirement cannot be met, the Mongolian rulers can only launch wars in an attempt to open the door to trade with the Han people. The "Gengxu Revolution" is actually a microcosm of this type of war.

During this period, although there were frequent armed conflicts between Mongolian and Han rulers and inter-ethnic wars intermittently, trade activities spontaneously emerged among the people, known as "private markets" in history.

The "private market" is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, it has appeared as early as the Hongzhi period. Under the "huge profits", merchants and people will flock to them. "Merchants from far and near mostly use iron goods to trade with captives, and residents of villages and cities also take the lead in breaking the law."Although the Ming court issued a series of bans in an attempt to ban the "private market", trade activities between Mongolian and Han people were the inevitable outcome of the social and economic development of the Mongolian and Han peoples, and could not be smothered by the Ming court using the coercive power of the state.

This is not the case, how could Gao Gong take the opportunity to promote the big event of "I Da Tribute" in the coming year?It can be seen that there are various foundations for doing this. As long as the Ming court has a politician who can truly stand on the ground and look at the problem, it will definitely follow the trend.

The private market is a concrete manifestation of this foundation.

　Cao Gan: "Master, I have written so many chapters of soy sauce, and today I am finally going to show the importance!" Gao Wushi: "Kneel down and call Young Master." Cao Gan: "I want to complain about the title of this chapter, which is Serious slander on my prodigal son's return!" Gao Wushi: "You first kneel down and call the young master."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)