Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 815 My third uncle became a Buddha in Mongolia?
Although Cao Gan's status has been getting higher and higher these years, but because he has been opening up business routes everywhere, he has not been pampered, so his old riding skills have not fallen, and the time to return to the capital is fully half earlier than Gao Pragmatically expected.

Since Cao Gan came back in a hurry, Gao Yushi had to hold his feet temporarily and ask carefully how the tribute exchange market had been doing in the past ten years. This was also a necessary homework before he went to Mongolia.

Facing the problem of Gao Yushi, Cao Gan had already prepared for it - under Gao Yushi's command, he was first known as a Mongolian expert. This is his housekeeping ability, how could he not pay attention to it?

According to Cao Gan, since Longqing and Wanli, there have been as many as ten exchanges between Ming and Mongolia.

There are three places in Datong, namely Deshengbao, Xinping, and Shoukou; there is only one place in Xuanfu, but this place is important and has a large transaction volume, which is Zhangjiakou; the one in Shanxi is called Shuiquanying; the one in Yansui There are three places in Ningxia, namely Qingshuiying, Ningxia Zhongwei and Pingluwei; two places in Gansu, namely Hongshui Biandukou and Gaogouzhai.

These mutual markets are under the jurisdiction of the frontier generals.At the same time, whenever the market opened, the Ming court and the Mongolian nobles jointly dispatched troops to act as market guards to maintain market order. In Cao Gan's words: "Let each Zhilu chieftain send one person to be the leader, and command three hundred barbarians. , stationed outside the border. Each town ordered its own road deputy officer and other officials, and each commanded five hundred elite officers and troops stationed in the market."

The market of the mutual market is generally located at the side wall, surrounded by high walls, like an "urn city", with gates inside and outside the customs, and the gates can be opened and closed.

According to the old system of the Ming Dynasty, where various ministries trade with each other, walls are built to regulate the market, which is called the market circle.There are high-rise buildings in the "city circle" for the officers and soldiers stationed in the market to look out.

Cao Gan said: "Every time the captives enter the market, the few are forty or fifty, and the many are more than a hundred horses. They all go to the urn city, and the gates are sealed." Then the mutual market trade was carried out.This is how the mutual market is set up.

The transaction date of the mutual market is mostly in January.However, Cao Gan also said that when the mutual market first opened, the annual trading date was often less than one month.

Gao Wushi asked about the specific situation, and Cao Gan introduced: "During the fifth year of Longqing, the date of Datong's Deshengbao Mutual Market was from May 28 to June 26; the date of Xinping Mutual Market was from July [-] to July [-]. Four days; Xuanfu Zhangjiakou City is from June [-]th to June [-]th. Afterwards, with the prosperity of the mutual market, the trading days continued to be extended, and finally it was only one month."

Gao Wushi nodded. This is very in line with Daming's style. He was timid at first, but later found out that it was profitable, so he naturally put face aside first—at least the poor Nine Sides don't have morals.

Cao Gan continued to introduce, saying that in the mutual market, the price of general commodities was set by the Yaren (Yaren), and the imperial court demanded that the subordinates not bully the Mongols, but the price of horses was set by the Ming court.

The specific price is that one high-quality gelding horse is priced at 12 taels, and the actual price is more than [-] taels of silver when it is matched with Duan cloth official goods; one middle gelding is priced at [-] taels, and the real value is more than [-] taels of silver. ; One gelding horse is priced at eight taels; the real value of the goods is more than six taels of silver.

This price is much cheaper than back then!Gao Yushi still remembered that ten years ago, Cao Gan told him that a top-quality gelding was worth at least 20 taels, and it was not easy to get the goods. Only he could get them at that time.

Unexpectedly, after ten years of development, not to mention the fact that beef and mutton in the capital have continued to be cheaper than pork, and even the price of horses has dropped. No one can deny the credit for this mutual market.

The court’s principle of setting prices is high and pragmatic, but they know it: "Make sure that the merchants are beneficial, and the price is not a loss"-that is, to make both Mongolia and Han benefit, the so-called win-win situation.

Cao Gan also corroborated this point. He said that for example, merchants of the Han nationality usually buy old clothes and miscellaneous goods, each worth seven or eight taels of silver; Reduced, the rate is huge, and the far and near are jubilant.

Due to the relatively reasonable price, the leaders of the tribes in Mongolia "grew more and more, went to the market more and more, and sold more horses", which led to more and more horses in the mutual market.

Cao Gan even gave an early statistical data: in the fifth year of Longqing, 6850 horses were traded in Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi; In the second year of Wanli, it increased to 7845 horses.In the first four years alone, the number of horse transactions almost tripled.

As for later, since Cao Gan went to the northwest to open trade routes, there is no specific data, but he said with certainty that it was "increasing every year".

Of course, this is only the case of horse transactions in the above three mutual markets. If the number of horse transactions in other mutual markets is also included, it will be an even more impressive figure!

Gao Wushi nodded, and thought to himself: From this we can see that setting prices reasonably can promote the development of mutual market trade. Just thinking about slaughtering people is not enough. Although Mongolians don’t read books, they still lose money when they do business. , that must still be seen... Sure enough, doing business must insist on "win-win".

Then Gao Wushi also made some discoveries from some details he asked Cao Gan. For example, from the perspective of the composition of commodities in the mutual market trade, the necessities of life and means of production began to play a major role. Although luxury consumer goods are in his It is also growing under strong advocacy, but its overall proportion has been declining.

At present, the commodities in the mutual market are mainly horses, grain, and cloth, and of course there are many other commodities in addition.

The commodities imported by the Mongolian side were mainly grain, cloth, silk fabrics and other handicraft products; the commodities imported by the mainland of the Ming Dynasty were mainly livestock products, including war horses used as military supplies, rough horses used as means of transportation, and farm animals such as cattle used as agricultural production materials. , mules, etc., of course, the beef and mutton as food is indispensable-this is why Beijing's beef and mutton are cheaper than pork.

Cao Gan said that in the mutual market, the Han people "exchanged satin, silk, cotton, needle threads, machine tools, combs, rice salt, candy, saucloth, otter skins, sheepskin boxes, etc., with the Mongols for horses and cattle. , sheep, mules, donkeys, horsetails, sheepskins, leather jackets and other things”.

In addition, he also mentioned that at the beginning of the mutual market, in order to prevent the Mongolians from smelting iron weapons, the Ming court banned the export of iron pots necessary for Mongolian herdsmen's life. This caused great inconvenience, and the Mongolian side complained a lot .

Later, at the request of Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda at the time, he said: "We found the cities of Kaiyuan and Jianning in Liaodong, and entered the market with Jinghua thick iron pot. The pig iron covered by this pot is not smelted and fried. It has been practiced for a long time, and this can be followed. And It was found that Xuanda has a long and dangerous journey along the mountains, and iron pots are rare, and now that there is such a pot, it is time to follow the Liaoyou's guard rules, and use this pot to enter the market, so that merchants and barbarians can easily."

The "Jinghua coarse iron pot" mentioned by Wang Chonggu is a cheap pot specially introduced by Jinghua. The iron quality is relatively poor, and it is usually the kind that is eliminated when making other tools, and it is used to make iron pots and sell them to Jurchens , Mongolia, and it turns out that this stuff is surprisingly easy to sell—for the Mongols and Jurchens, this pot is usable and cheap, and these two points are enough.

So the Ming court allowed Jinghua crude iron pots to enter the mutual market, but still listed nitrate, copper and iron, armor, and weapons as prohibited items and strictly prohibited them from entering the mutual market.Of course, this is normal, just like it is impossible for the Yankees to sell the aircraft carrier to China.

Cao Gan also introduced that among the mutual markets, there are both "official markets" run by the Ming court and "civil markets" run by private merchants. What is doubtful is that Jinghua, the first person to eat crabs, is also a giant in terms of commercial volume, and now he naturally controls the civilian market in various trading locations.

The "official market" mainly trades silk and horses; while the "civil market" trades many types of commodities, in addition to the most mainstream cloth and silk pots, there are also needles, threads, combs, grates, rice, salt, candies, etc. .

In fact, when the mutual market was first opened, the "official market" exchange accounted for a larger proportion. After all, at that time, "the border gangsters were afraid, did not dare to trade, captured the market, and quarreled and resented. This year, it is appropriate for officials to deal with it. If the side gangsters see profit, people will be happy to follow."

An important feature of the "official market" is that the official came out of the "market base" and traded with Mongolian merchants and people.

The "market book" of the Ming court was mainly issued by the Taipu Temple, an institution that manages the horse administration. The specific quota was "more than [-] yuan in the annual market book of each side, which is absolutely indispensable."

But what if the transaction volume is too large and the "market capital" is insufficient?Then "please borrow the guest's salary", or "please send the horse's price of silver to the Ministry of War", or even "the offal and silver of the dead horses and friends of each battalion will be fully charged to the market".

After the Bian general received the "market book", he sent a commander and merchants to buy goods from the origins of various commodities in the interior, and then transported them back to the mutual market to trade horses with Mongolian merchants.

This high pragmatism is known, because Jinghua not only controls the private market to do business, but also is a supplier. He has read the "financial report" that Gao Guoyan handed over to him.

Cao Gan was very proud of the rapid development of the civilian market, and said that "the merchants will gain the benefits of captive goods every year, and the source will come from the source."

Gao Wushi smiled and praised him a few words - he really deserved the praise for his contribution to this matter.

However, this kind of civilian market run by private merchants, even if Jinghua dominates, is still a new thing in the development of Mongolian-Chinese trade in the Ming Dynasty.

According to Cao Gan: "Since the fifth year of Longqing, when the northern captive paid tribute, a market has been established. Every year, the market is exchanged. The satin cloth is bought from the south of the Yangtze River, and the skins are exchanged in Huguang. Calling merchants from all over the world to make them trade with each other is the beginning of the people's city."

In other words, the governors of the Nine Borders initially recruited "Sifang merchants" to trade with the Mongols because the capital of the official market was insufficient and they could not trade so many Mongolian goods. So Jinghua quietly took away the dominance of the city.

However, although Jinghua produces a lot of goods, it is not a "world factory" and cannot produce all things. Therefore, the merchants in the civilian market, such as Cao Gan, said: "Satin cloth, fox fur and other groceries come from Suzhou, Hangzhou, Huguang, and the When it arrives at the private port of Tianjin, our Jinghua Trading Co., Ltd. transports it to Shikou.”

Everything in the world has a corresponding connection. The reason why the trade volume of Tianjin Private Port has been rising all the way is closely related to the growing trade between Daming and Mongolia.

Gao Yushi asked about business tax again. He was the first to bring this up to Gao Gong on his own initiative, but he only mentioned an idea at that time, and didn't ask in detail how to operate it.

Cao Gan then introduced that in the current mutual market trade, the Ming court levied a relatively slight commercial tax on traders and people from Mongolia and Han in accordance with the tax regulations. Harvest silver for rewards."

The so-called "used as a reward" here means that after the end of the mutual market each year, the Ming court rewarded a certain amount of silver and other items to the Mongolian market guards who abide by the rules. Chief, to reward the barbarian chieftains, one catty of beef per day, five grains of corn, one catty of wheat flour, one bottle of seasonal wine, seven cents of vegetable oil, salt, sauce vinegar and horse grass silver, two cents of rice charcoal and silver, all given Spike silver and business tax".

At the same time, there are certain rewards for the city guards on the Han people's side.Therefore, the market guards of both Mongolia and Han have the enthusiasm to maintain the order of the mutual market, so that the trading activities can be carried out smoothly.

As for the specific tax rate, Cao Gan said that it is too complicated, and it is almost determined according to different product classifications. It would be too troublesome to explain in detail, but if you put it simply, it is what Gao Yushi called "ultra-low tax rate".

Another very important phenomenon is that after the rise of the Mongolia-Han mutual market trade, Mongolian herdsmen felt that the mutual market only opened once a year, and the cycle was too long, so they often came to the entrance of the mutual market in groups and asked to open a "small market".

Especially in the spring every year, those poor herdsmen lacked food, and "they became more and more embarrassed. Every time those who had livestock went to patrol the border, they asked for official power. One cow was worth more than rice, beans and stones, and one sheep was easy to get a few buckets of miscellaneous grain. Animals may carry a few buckets of salt, one or two buckets of rice beans, one load of firewood, and two or three liters of rice. They may take off their fur coats, or hold their furs and ponytails, each of which is easy to fill with miscellaneous grains. They are thin and hungry, and in a state of poverty. , people on the border share pity for him."

Therefore, in the first year of Wanli, the imperial court decided by Gao Gong to allow the establishment of "small markets", also known as "moon markets", in Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu and other places.

Regarding the details of the "small market", according to Cao Gan: "The small market is once a month, and each time is no more than three or two days. The captives are outside the entrance of the city, and the officers and soldiers are inside the entrance of the city. It is no different from a confrontation. The barbarians trade with each other with sheepskins, horsetails, planks, and grains. There are no exotic goods and different products. The annual tax silver is no less than two or three hundred taels, and no more. Four, 300 taels, all of which will be used for rewards and other items.”

That is to say the following points: First, the opening date of the "small market" is once a month, and each time is only two or three days. Generally, the market opens two or three days after the fifteenth of each month, allowing Mongolian herdsmen to come to trade Second, on the opening day of the "small market", both Mongolia and Han sent troops to maintain market order and ensure the normal progress of trade; third, the commodities traded in the "small market" were mainly food and other daily necessities for people.

In the "small market", Mongolian herdsmen exchanged commodities such as cattle and sheep, skins, horsetails, felt fur, salinity, firewood, and wood from Han merchants for grain, rice, cloth, pots, tillage tools, wool, and other daily necessities. For department stores, "cattle, more than rice, beans and rocks; sheep, miscellaneous, several buckets; no livestock, several buckets of firewood and salt, one or two buckets of Yimi beans, two or three liters of Yimi for one load of firewood."

There may have to be a fourth, that is, Gao Gong asked the "participant and garrison officer" stationed in the "small market" to preside over fair trade, "collect tax money according to the amount", and "customs officials get taxed goods as rewards."

Since the "small market" is convenient for the livestock products produced by Mongolian herdsmen to go to the market in time and trade nearby, in exchange for the food, cloth and other daily necessities they urgently need, the impact on the social economy of the Mongolian area is greater than that of the "big market" which opens once a year. "To be more extensive and far-reaching, Cao Gan said that the Mongolians are very grateful to Gao Ge, and think that he is a living Buddha.

He took out a portrait and said, "Master, please take a look. This is the best-selling 'Gao Wenzheng Gong Statue' in the public market. It is even called the 'Gao Bodhisattva Statue' in the Mongolian folks. It is often bought by Mongolians and kept at home." Worship."

Gao Wushi was stunned. He took the portrait and opened it to look. It was indeed the appearance of Sanbo in the painting, but the majesty of Sanbo was not shown in the painting. good man.

This... my third uncle became a Buddha in Mongolia?

(End of this chapter)