Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1439 It's a matter of human effort
Because Gao Yushi sent new instructions temporarily, Cao Yu and others unanimously decided not to accept Shuerhaqi's request to surrender before the battle. with swords" banner.

Jinghua's book and sword flag is a cross of two swords on the left and right, with the tip of the sword facing upwards, pointing obliquely at the sky, and an ancient book in the form of bamboo slips hangs in the middle of the intersection of the swords.

Gao Yushi has always declared to the outside world that the meaning of the book and sword flag is "defending literature with military, and defending military with literature". In fact, this is for the civil servants of the current era-including the internal school of realism.As for the true meaning, Gao Wushi only told Liu Xin, and even Huang Zhiting didn't know.

"The two swords point to the army and the sea; the ancient scrolls point to the Chinese civilization."

No matter what the meaning of the Shujian Banner is, at least one thing is certain. Everyone should understand when facing the Shujian Banner: the appearance of the Shujian Banner on the opposite side means that Jinghua's powerful threat of force has been directed at him forehead.

Liaodong people, no matter Han Chinese, Jurchens or Mongols, have a deep understanding of Shujian Banner.Whether it is the military power played in the Battle of Southern Liaoning, or the riches and wealth of "all Liao boats and vehicles, nine out of Jinghua", it all means Jinghua's strong strength.

At this moment, even though Gao Yimin only brought three hundred cavalry and not even a single cannon, the deterrence given to Hetuala by the Shujian Banner is no less than that of the nearly ten thousand cavalry from the three tribes of Cao Yu, Qi Jin, and Ma Chengxun. army.

Although the Ming army is strong, it has always been limited by military pay, and Jinghua... no one thinks that it will be short of money.If you offend the Ming army, you may not die, but if you offend Jinghua, you will definitely not live!This is something that all the Liaodong Jurchen ministries are well aware of.

None of them dared to say that they did not need to trade with outsiders, and the ultimate target of trade must be Daming.Jinghua controls the trade logistics in Liaodong. Except for Li Chengliang who can maintain a certain degree of independence by relying on his family business that he has worked hard for many years, no other business or businessman can do without Jinghua.

Otherwise, not to mention how to face the possible suppression of Jinghua, even if it is just a sudden increase in trade costs, it is enough to make them succumb—others have lower costs than you, how can you do this business?
In the case of "all Liaozhou vehicles, nine out of Jinghua", Jinghua's water transport trade costs are higher than any land transport.If you don't use water transportation, the logistics cost will more than triple, and this business can still be a fart!

The only possibility is that you can monopolize a certain product, and you are the only one in Liao who is the only one to operate it exclusively. Then you can ignore the competition of peers - because there are no peers.Otherwise, it will all depend on Jinghua's wink.

Nurhachi originally started to do things with the idea of ​​monopolizing the ginseng trade, but it is obviously still far away. North Korea, the Dong'e tribe, and the Changbai Mountain tribe are all ginseng producers.

Among them, North Korea has a separate trade line, which is the line that crosses the Yalu River and enters southern Liaoning; the Dong'e tribe can trade in Kuandian and other places; the tribes of Changbai Mountain, Haixi Wula, Huifa and other tribes pass through Yehe's caravan Purchase to sell ginseng.None of this is out of Nurhachi's control now.

At the same time, the many supplies needed by the Jurchen ministries are absolutely inseparable from Jinghua.For example, the simplest and indispensable salt, after Gao Pragmatically reorganized the Liaodong Salt Field, has and only has one source in the Liaonan Salt Field. Originally, North Korea also produced salt, but unfortunately North Korea’s salt production level is not good enough. Not only is the quality poor, but the price is also high. Buying North Korean salt is far worse than buying Liaonan salt.

The same is true for ironware. Jinghua's household ironware such as farm tools and iron pots are also hard currency in Liaodong. Now even private blacksmiths still have to find Jinghua to buy raw materials.

If it is said that Jinghua’s monopoly in southern Xinjiang has something to do with controlling the political power, then its monopoly of salt and iron in Liaodong is basically a commercial capital crush.But having said that, of course there is also the relationship of imperial power here.

For example, the Liaodong Salt Farm, His Majesty the Emperor, because the original Weisuo Salt Farm was theoretically owned by the Emperor, so after the restructuring, he took a stake in it.The fault was that the Liaodong Salt Field was full of drawbacks, and the imperial court was in a terrible headache. Otherwise, the joint management between Gao Yushi and the emperor might be spit out by the officials.

But when all these things are settled, Jinghua's special status will be established.With the emperor standing behind him, what can the merchants below do?Liaodong is not Jiangnan, and the so-called "merchant class" has no right to speak at all. The one with the most right to speak may be Li Chengliang, but Li Chengliang himself is also an official and businessman, not to mention a general. Don't dare to spray the emperor.

Ordinary Jurchens certainly don't understand the twists and turns here, but Nurhachi is obviously not an ordinary Jurchen. He has worked under Li Chengliang for several years, so he understands a lot about these things.

Therefore, when the Shujian Banner appeared outside the city of Hetuala, Nurhachi was stunned and stood speechless, his face ashen.

For a moment, Nurhachi even wondered whether Gao Wushi planned to completely take over Jianzhou and use Jianzhou as a ginseng planting base for Daming—or Jinghua.

Shu Erhaqi, who had accompanied him to inspect the defense with a blank face, was also dumbfounded when he saw Shujianqi, and his eyes rolling randomly showed that he was also confused and couldn't figure out what happened unexpectedly.

Why did Jinghua suddenly intervene?The attack on Jianzhou is an official action, and this battle is not against Jianzhou's borders. Jinghua's interests are not damaged, so why are they here?

Nurhachi also paid attention to Shuerhaqi's expression. Seeing that his own brother also looked very surprised, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.He was worried that the appearance of the Shujian Banner was the result of Shuerhaqi's collusion with Jinghua, but it doesn't look like it now, and it seems that Shuerhaqi didn't know why.

"Dou, have we had any disputes or conflicts with Jinghua recently?" Nurhachi asked in a low voice, frowning deeply.

Shuerhaqi shook his head: "I still want to ask you, Ahhun. Our department is not strong enough, so how dare we conflict with Jinghua? What's more, Jinghua always sells at clear prices. Although the things they sell are more expensive, they charge for participation and so on. , the price is still fair, and they don’t play tricks on the scale, how can our department have any conflicts with them?”

Nurhachi also shook his head, and said: "There is no business conflict between me and Jinghua, and the goods I gave them recently are all top-grade. I don't think this is the reason for this. I suspect that they want to win Jianzhou. Monopolize the ginseng trade by itself."

Shuerhaqi looked surprised: "Monopolize the ginseng business by yourself? Ah Hun, I don't agree with this, they also monopolize the ginseng business now... Whether it's us or Ye He, or Hada, Dong E and other departments, or even North Korea, who can bypass Jinghua? It means that Uncle Li can keep some private markets in Tieling, Kuandian and other places, get some from the private markets, and the rest are not controlled by Jinghua? How can they monopolize it!"

He paused, and before Nurhachi questioned him, he continued: "Besides, the matter of collecting ginseng is unusual. Although Jinghua has a large number of people, they have no experience in collecting ginseng. I don't believe they will let Han people go to the old forest to dig ginseng."

Nurhachi's eyes wandered, he was silent for a moment, and suddenly said: "They don't have to dig by themselves, as long as they set the purchase price, someone will naturally go."

Shocked, Shuerhaqi whispered, "Ahhun means that Jinghua intends to replace us?"

"Why not?" Nurhachi squinted at him: "Without us people, Jinghua's purchase price can be significantly reduced, and even after the reduced price, Zhushen (ordinary Jurchen) is still higher than us reward them."

Shuerhaqi became a little uneasy, and seemed to be talking to himself, and also seemed to question Nurhachi: "How could this happen? It doesn't make sense. If Jinghua does this, it won't be afraid that all the states will be rebelled, and Liaodong will be disturbed."

Nurhachi said solemnly: "The matter has come to this point, it is useless to say these things. How powerful was the Koroma law back then, didn't the Ming people kill them as soon as they said they would kill them? I see that the Ming people just wish that I will be leaderless in Jianzhou forever, so that they can oppress them .”

Koromafa means grandfather in Manchu, and Nurhachi here of course refers to Wang Gao.

After hearing this, Shuerhaqi also fell silent. After a while, he stared blankly at the book and sword flag on the side of the Ming army camp outside Hetuala City, and murmured: "Then what can we do? With how many people in the state, how could it be possible to resist Daming?"

How many people does Jianzhou have?Gao Yushi was also very curious about this question at the beginning, so he really understood it after he took the post of Governor of Liao Dynasty.

As I said before, Jianzhou Jurchen is one of the three Jurchen ministries, and its members are mainly Jurchens under the jurisdiction of the [-] Households of Huligai, Wuduolian, and Tuowen established in the Songhua River Basin in the Yuan Dynasty.They probably began to migrate southward at the turn of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Among them, the Jurchens of the Huli Gai tribe, led by the chief Ahachu, migrated to Fengzhou in the upper reaches of the Huifa River. When his grandson Li Man lived, they continued Moved south to the Hun River Basin.

In addition, the Jurchens of the Wudulian tribe, under the leadership of the chief Meng Ge Timur, migrated to the northern border of today's North Korea. Later, because they did not want to submit to the Joseon Dynasty established by Li Chenggui, they were forced to move to the Hunjiang area and defected to Hu Ligai, who was already living there.

There is also a saying that after Ahachu accepted the Jianzhou Weiguan of the Ming Dynasty, he sent someone to recruit Timur, the fierce brother.

In any case, Mengge Timur accepted the post of commander of the Jianzhou Weidu in the Ming Dynasty in 1406 AD, and moved to Fengzhou in about 1411 AD.Probably in the same year, Jianzhou Wei was split into two parts by the Ming Dynasty, and Mengge Timur was reassigned as the commander of the Jianzhou Left Guard Capital. This is the prototype of the Jianzhou Jurchen in the future.

During this period of time in Fengzhou, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Jianzhou Jurchen was very friendly, and Meng Ge Timur was also respectful to the Ming Dynasty.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. By 1435 AD, the Ming Dynasty's policy towards the north changed from offensive to defensive. The representative event was the revocation of the Nuer Gandu Commander.

Before that, in 1433 A.D., Mengge Timur and his eldest son Agu died in a battle with the Udiha people with seven surnames, and their tribes were also defeated, from thousands of households to five hundred. household.

The main reason why Jianzhou Jurchen failed in this battle was the intervention of the Ming Dynasty and North Korean troops. According to the "Records of King Sejong of Joseon", the Korean army alone killed more than 500 Jurchens, making Jianzhou Jurchen "It was scattered in all directions, and there were not many survivors."

After the Jianzhou Zuowei struggle for seal incident, after the mediation of the Ming Dynasty, Jianzhou was re-divided into three guards. Dong Shan held the left guard seal, Fancha led the right guard, and Li Manzhu still lived in Jianzhou Guard.This kind of mediation is certainly due to internal struggles in Jianzhou, but at the same time, it can also be seen that Daming adopted a divide-and-conquer strategy in order to prevent the Jurchen from becoming stronger.

Among the three, Dong Shan was the most powerful, and he quickly developed the left back into the most powerful of the three backs, so he swelled up without any accidents, and he committed side offenses, which aroused the attention of Da Ming. Because of his suspicion, he took advantage of the opportunity of Gongma's visit to Bianshi to capture and kill him.

In September of the same year, the Ming army contacted the North Korean army and launched a surprise attack on Jianzhou Zuowei, killing thousands of Jurchens and looting their savings for many years.In this war, the neighboring Jianzhouwei was not spared, and Li Manzhu and his eldest son Gunaha were also killed together.

This is the third time that Jianzhou Jurchen were jointly purged by Ming and North Korea. The first two occurred in 1433 and 1467 AD.Subsequently, the Ming Dynasty and North Korea encircled and suppressed the Jianzhou Jurchens twice in a row in 1478 and 1479 AD, and carried out devastating damage to the area to ensure that the Jurchens in the area remained in awe of the Ming Dynasty and did not think they were wings at every turn. Get tough and commit side plunder.

During the 45 years before and after, the five purges of the Jurchens in Jianzhou have greatly reduced the Jurchen population in this area.According to the records in "Shizong Shilu", in 1552 AD, that is, in the 31st year of Jiajing, when the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty were talking about the affairs in the Northeast, they said that the Jianzhou Jurchen "has not turned back for five or 60 years."

It can be seen that after these five purges, the Jurchen population in Jianzhou dropped sharply, which indeed kept the border stable, while the Jurchen population in Jianzhou did not gradually recover until the Jiajing and Longqing years.

But don't think how powerful this recovery is. In fact, in the 31st year of Jiajing, the three guards of Jianzhou added up to just over 3000 people, and the number of their strong men was no more than [-].

In the period of Wang Gao, the Jianzhou Jurchen began to stand up again. Of course, the more important thing is that Wang Gao actually unified the three parts of Jianzhou, which led to the inclusion of the Jurchens who were not included in the statistics, so the population gradually increased. It is estimated that there are about [-] to [-].

However, Wang Gao swelled up again. He was beaten by Li Chengliang in the two battles of Gulzhai, and Jianzhou Jurchen lost more than 5 people. In fact, the population under Nurhachi's current rule is roughly [-], and the maximum is about [-].

With a population of more than 6 to [-], he has integrated seven to eight thousand troops. From this, two things can be seen.One is the advantage of the Niu Lu system that all the people are soldiers, and the other is the abundant profits of the ginseng trade.

But the ordinary Jianzhou Jurchens are still afraid of Daming, and the fear caused by being repeatedly purged by Ming is not easy to dissipate. It can be said that apart from Nurhachi himself, no one from Shuerhaqi to Nurhachi thinks that they can really resist Got Daming.

After listening to Shuerhaqi's words, Nurhachi took a deep breath, looked at the brother of the compatriot, and said: "Dou, when you and my brother read Han books together, there is a sentence that I don't know how you understand it."

Shuerhaqi asked casually, "What are you talking about?"

"It's man-made."
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(End of this chapter)