Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1343
The commercial department considered again and again, except for the Hongyi cannon it most desired, probably only the armor could really impress Huang Taiji and sell his kidneys.

According to the notes of the Ming Dynasty, Houjin’s smithies outside Shenyang City stretched for several miles, and they all made armor and weapons for the army.Although the elders are skeptical about whether this matter is of general significance, it is a fact that Houjin has strict requirements on the quality of weapon manufacturing.

Obviously, although the industrial system under the control of the Senate is primitive according to modern or even modern standards, it had incomparable quality and cost advantages in the 17th century.It is not a problem to manufacture armor with better protection, lighter weight and lower cost than Manchu armor.

Roughly speaking, the armor that the Senate is preparing to export is a plate armor made by a stamping process with movable joints.This kind of armor could be manufactured in ancient society, but limited by material properties and processing methods, skilled craftsmen need to spend a lot of man-hours to manufacture it, so the cost is high and the range of equipment is limited.

The industrial system of the Senate has advantages in both materials and production.Continuous stamping technology can mass-produce and standardize the nail pieces of each part, and then cooperate with simple manual assembly to manufacture a large number of finished products.Moreover, the improvement of the quality of steel makes the armor plate itself unnecessary to be too thick, and the armor is lighter.But the protective performance is better than all the various armors currently equipped by both the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Arms trade has been a lucrative black-hearted business since ancient times. The Senate has always wanted to be an arms dealer in the 17th century. At the beginning, it considered exporting the artillery factory to Li Luoyou. Later, some people in the Senate questioned "improper export of productivity and technology". was stifled, so arms exports are limited to finished products, and they must be finished products with generational differences.

Standard spears, machetes, and half-armored Nanyang-style flash cap muskets are all products of this guiding ideology.As for the smoothbore gun, it is currently controversial and has not yet been included in the list of exportable guns.

Originally, the Senate tried to use Li Luoyou as a white glove, but after long-term observations, the Foreign Intelligence Service came to the conclusion: Although this person did smuggling business with Man Qing and made a lot of ignorant money, but such things as selling arms He was determined not to do it.

Everyone has their own feelings and bottom line.Li Luoyou is probably that kind of person.Although his smuggling of goods for the Manchu Qing was essentially aiding the enemy, he must have something to comfort himself with, otherwise it would be difficult to be worthy of his "conscience".

Li Luoyou's non-cooperation forced the Senate to send Huang Hua to fight in person.

Huang Hua's mission was very dangerous, so dangerous that many veterans questioned whether he could come back after he went, and whether it was necessary to send a senior to take such a big risk in the trade with Hou Jin.But Huang Hua himself repeatedly stated at the hearing that this is his personal wish, and he is willing to take this risk, even if it costs his life.

"Furthermore, even if the two countries do not fight each other, I am the merchant who brought them urgently needed goods. Why did they kill me?" Huang Hua was full of confidence.

Even so, the Foreign Intelligence Service was still very uneasy about his first mission.The Foreign Intelligence Agency once considered that he would lead a business group to Shenyang by himself simply as a "businessman".However, considering that most of the Manchurian officials in the post-Jinzhong were from rough backgrounds, they were proud of being brutal and arrogant, and because of the hard life in the past, all of them were very greedy.In history, when the son of Joseon was a hostage in Shenyang, he was constantly blackmailed by Manchu officials and his subordinates, which made Li Chao miserable.Every time the Manchu and Qing missions and business groups went to the North Korean market, they behaved like bandits on the way, so that Li Chao had to exempt the taxes of the five Anzhou cities that passed along the road as compensation for the local officials and people—if it weren’t for Huang Taiji This far-sighted ruler is somewhat restrained, and he can do anything without a bottom line.

Even if Huang Taiji and other high-level Manchu officials could realize the importance of Huang Hua, there is still the possibility that the vulgar middle- and lower-level officials and aristocrats would rashly kill and rob business groups because of greed for wealth.Therefore, it was finally decided to use the "public to public" model for trade instead of directly sending a business group there.

Since the Spring Festival, Huang Taiji has been staying in Shengjing to handle government affairs.Did not go to the siege-hunting was not only a pastime for the upper class for the Manchu Qing regime, or the "coach sergeant" of the more powerful and upright, but also an important national economic income.The large amount of meat and fur obtained from hunting is indispensable for Hou Jin.

He was born in 1592. He was in the middle age at this time. Although he had begun to gain weight, he had a strong figure and was very energetic. His face was flushed and his eyes were bright.His career is entering a prosperous stage.

When Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, the Houjin regime had actually fallen into recession. The economy mainly relied on looting, and large-scale slavery manors were reversed in history. Coupled with the severe cold of the Little Ice Age, agricultural production plummeted.The upper class was turbulent, and the middle and lower classes were unable to obtain a satisfactory distribution of spoils. Even the armored men who died in battle were only given a few bloody clothes from the dead as compensation. They were dissatisfied and their combat effectiveness began to decline. Under the rule of the old wild boar skin, it has become unprecedentedly intensified. Even the hardcore traitors Li Yongfang and Fan Wencheng who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in the early days were almost executed, and all Han officials were at risk.

If it weren't for the nearly BUG Huang Taiji inheriting the Khan throne, the future of the Manchu Qing in the history books is likely to be just a short-lived local regime.

After several years of hard work, he has saved the Houjin regime from the brink of collapse. Although the situation of the country's poor and poor people has not been fundamentally improved, it is much stronger than the situation of relying on killing people to maintain food supply .

A few years ago, he sent troops into the customs for the first time and got rich rewards. Not only did he get loot and a large population, he eased the shortage of national resources and the complaints of the soldiers of the Eight Banners, and he also found out the details of the Southern Dynasty.Daming is nothing more than that! For the first time, the idea of ​​"restoring Dajin and drinking horses in the Yellow River" entered his mind.

In the political strife among the upper echelons of the post-golden era, he successfully cut off the power of heavyweight opponents such as Amin and Mang Gurtai. Baylor sat sideways.He has truly become the Ninth Five-Year Master.

Huang Taiji at this moment is at the stage of his life when he is beginning to buy glory, so no matter in action or in conversation, he has shown full confidence and complacency.

However, he still has many problems to face right now.Externally, although he has seen through the nature of the Southern Dynasty's strong outsiders and middle-ranked officials, but the centipedes are dead but not stiff, and it will take time to drink the horses of the Yellow River.In the east, although the Dongjiang army was weak after killing each other, it was still lying on the side of the couch; North Korea secretly communicated with the Southern Dynasty; in the west, Chahar Mongolia has not yet completely surrendered.

Internally, the lack of national use has always been a lingering shadow for him. Although the farmland system is no longer practiced and the grain production situation has improved somewhat, it is still difficult to harvest more grain in the bitter cold land.The price of food has always been very expensive, and he is the man of heaven. Every meal can eat Liaoyang green planted in Tuokesuo (Huangzhuang) outside Shengjing City-a high-quality upland rice. only when you can enjoy it.As for the ordinary people who waited below, they didn't count on eating miscellaneous grains, and they even used weeds as food.For this reason, they had to spend a lot of money to buy grain from Shanxi merchants, and the price was more than ten times that in Guan.The gold and silver treasures obtained from the robbery in the pass were quickly lost to the hands of Shanxi merchants.

Apart from food, there is almost no shortage of daily necessities in the country, and everything is expensive.Even the most basic food such as salt sauce is difficult to guarantee the supply: Jurchen can't make salt, and after the supply in the pass is cut off, it depends on North Korean merchants to transport and sell it, not to mention the high price, and often out of stock.So much so that it is a classy person to be able to eat salt sauce.

The national use cannot be solved, the people's livelihood is difficult, and my grand plans and great achievements are just phantoms in the water.Huang Taiji has been troubled by this recently.

It would be a good way to enter the customs and plunder again, but the current situation is still unstable. In addition to foreign aggression, although Mang Gurtai has resigned from the "Big Baylor" Lord and has been demoted to the ranks of Zhu Baylor, his family is very powerful , there is always the danger of a comeback...

While contemplating, I sent a memorial from the Ministry of Finance.He opened it, but reported the various situations in the trade between Yizhou and North Korea this time.Trading with North Korea was one of the most important sources of income for the Houjin regime. Not only did Houjin depend on North Korea for many of its commodities, but it also needed to trade with Mongolia for good Mongolian horses through re-export of North Korean goods.Therefore, Huang Taiji was very concerned about every transaction with North Korea, and personally inquired.

However, North Korea was very indifferent to the mutual market with Houjin. On the one hand, Li Dynasty always regarded Daming as Zhengshuo, insisted on the distinction between Hua and Barbarians, and was unwilling to form an alliance with Houjin; Keep the strong bullying the weak, buy strong and sell strong.Sell ​​expensive and buy cheap, and even ask for "credit." During the first trade with North Korea in 1629, a North Korean businessman transported [-] shi of grain to sell, but as a result, [-] shi was "gifted" and only [-] shi was sold.

Of course Huang Taiji was aware of the various "actions" of his officials, but he turned a blind eye to it-the small court of Houjin was too embarrassed, and could only squeeze the soft persimmon of North Korea with his fists.

A few days ago, the caravan he sent to North Korea had just returned from Uiju.I brought 1600 catties of ginseng and asked for 16 taels a catty. North Korea only offered 9 taels, and the price difference was 11200 taels.This price is too far from his expectations.He also hoped that the silver would be able to buy more goods back.

What makes him even more displeased is that the goods bought from North Korea are often used as second-best goods.A piece of cotton cloth is shortened into two or three pieces and sold, and six or seven pieces of paper are removed from a roll, which is difficult to find without careful inspection.

(End of this chapter)