Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 242 Wool's Lure and Mutual Benefit
Huang Laifu laughed and said: "The benefits of the frontier fortress are nothing greater than velvet and brown felt fur. The nobles have been engaged in animal husbandry for generations. Cattle and sheep are called millions, and their animal husbandry is for the people of the frontier fortress. If you don't cut a few wool, graze it on the spot and sell it on the spot. The wool comes from me. And the food can be provided by my town in Shanxi. The Mongols are not good at farming, and the Han people are not good at herding. The two sides cooperate to benefit each other. If your department does not work hard, you can reap the benefits of fishermen. Wouldn’t it be better?”

In Huang Laifu's plan, the frontier grasslands are suitable for raising sheep in enclosures. If they cooperate with the grasslands themselves, on the one hand, they can continuously provide the wool raw materials that Wuzhaibao needs, and on the other hand, they can control the grasslands economically. Say kill two birds with one stone.

Since the Wuzhaibao Woolen Mill was established in Wanli 18, the supply has been in short supply due to the popularity of its products. The annual profit has rapidly expanded from more than 18 taels in Wanli 1 years to nearly 20 taels now.The huge demand for wool has caused the price of wool around Wuzhaibao to increase a lot.

Merchant Soli, the huge profits made more and more Shanxi merchants go out to buy wool, but it inevitably caused all kinds of market chaos, serious tax evasion, Huang Laifu failed to collect many taxes, and the cooperation with the grassland outside the Great Wall was put on the table. Huang Laifu's agenda.

Hearing what Huang Laifu said, the chiefs of the various tribes of the Alta Tribe who were present were really moved, and the third lady said: "Huang Junmen, do you think this mere wool can really make a profit?"

The Alda Department also trades with Daming, but most of the transactions are whole cows and horses, even if they usually receive some horsetail fur, etc., it is a minority.In the past two years, although some Shanxi merchants have been going out to buy wool, etc., due to the small quantity and conceptual problems, this situation has not yet come into the eyes of San Niangzi and others.

Huang Laifu smiled and said: "Madam doesn't know, the wool products of my Wuzhai Fort are very popular in all parts of Daming, and the military fort counties around Wuzhai Fort also benefited a lot from the purchase of Wuzhai Fort's wool. If It is definitely profitable for your department to cooperate with me, and the money will be endless."

He glanced around the hall, and there were some tribal chiefs wearing woolen wool fabric clothes produced in Wuzhai Fort, and some cashmere products produced in Wuzhai Fort were placed on some chair cushions. Aren’t there many wool products from Wuzhai Fort? You can see how popular our Wuzhai Fort’s wool products are!”

He continued: "Think about it, ma'am, each sheep can get at least thirty catties of wool every year, which costs about five yuan. Tens of thousands of taels of silver. A million of them is even worse. There are also sheep dung, mutton and other things that can be sold for money, right? Madame, don’t underestimate these wool, it’s a great wealth!"

In the mainland of Ming Dynasty, the market price of [-] catties of fine wool was about two taels of silver, and Huang Laifu lowered the price to five renminbi.Calculating the huge purchase volume and shipping costs, this price is also reasonable.But even so, I can make a lot of money if I take advantage of it.

Sure enough, hearing what Huang Laifu said, everyone present was very excited. In everyone's mind, wool and other things are very worthless things, usually piled up there to rot, but they didn't expect that they could be exchanged for so much money.

The wool of 1 sheep can be exchanged for [-] taels of white silver. In the grassland, this is a huge fortune, but in the grassland, which tribe does not have [-] sheep? ?All of a sudden, everyone felt a very heartbeat, everyone's eyes were shining, and they talked about each other in surprise, and the hall was as lively as a pot of porridge.

The third lady is also very excited. There are hundreds of thousands of sheep in the tribe directly under her control. If all these wools are sold, how much she can earn.Moreover, Huang Laifu also said just now that if the Mongolian tribesmen do not cultivate and lack food, they can buy from Huang Laifu. If the two parties cooperate, it will indeed be mutually beneficial.

Thinking of this, the third lady said to Huang Laifu with a smile all over her face: "What Huang Junmen said to the Hanmeng family really speaks to the concubine's heart. The cooperation between the two parties is indeed mutually beneficial, but..."

She remembered something, and said: "It's just that after the wool is cut, how will the two sides trade with each other? You know, there is no place for mutual trade in Shanxi Town in the trade centers between Tianchao and our ministry."

Beginning in the Longqing period, Daming opened up trade with various grassland ministries. In the Wanli period, there were as many as ten mutual markets between the two sides. In Datong Town, there were Desheng Fort, Xinping Fort, and Shoukou Fort. In Xuanfu Town, there was Zhangjiakou Fort. In Liaodong Town and Yansui Town, there are mutual markets.However, in Shanxi Town, there is no place for mutual market, and all merchants who trade with each other have to go to other border towns.Extremely inconvenient, especially in the context of the massive wool trade right now.

Therefore, it is imperative to open an official market in Shanxi Town.The ideal place for Huang Laifu is Shuiquan Yingbao.In this area, in addition to the official market, Huang Laifu may allow the civilian market, but it must be under strict management, prohibited items, tax evasion, which Huang Laifu will never allow.

At that moment, Huang Laifu smiled and said: "Madam, don't worry, I can report to the Holy Monarch and propose to set up an official market in Shanxi Town. And there is no limit on the number of mutual markets per year. At that time, both parties can trade as they like!"

In Daming, the trading dates of the border towns are mostly in January. For example, the dates of the Datong Deshengbao Trading Market are from May 28th to June 26th, and the dates of Xinpingbao Trading Market are from July [-]rd to July. On the [-]th, the mutual market in Xuanfu Zhangjiakou Fort will be from June [-]th to June [-]th.

But in reality, once a year, once a month, the mutual market time is far from meeting the needs of both parties.Therefore, Huang Laifu decided that the trading date of the mutual market between the two parties is not limited to the number of times. Of course, this requires Huang Laifu to lobby Emperor Wanli.

He also said with a smile: "Not only that, the merchants in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty only need to obtain the notice and license issued by the mansion of the general soldier in Shanxi Town to go out for trade. The merchants of the tribes in the frontier fortress only need to have the edict issued by the mansion of the general soldier of Shanxi Town And license, you can also enter the customs trade!"

Guanzhao is the entry-exit certificate issued by Ming frontier fortresses to the people going out of the customs. The license is Huang Laifu's idea, which is similar to the tooth post system and city registration system in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, so that the Han and Mongolian merchants in the border trade pay taxes according to the regulations and prevent them from tax evasion.As for the edict, it is the entry certificate for the Mongols, Jurchens and other Hu people outside the customs in the Ming Dynasty.In the Tang Dynasty it was called Guosuo, in the Song Dynasty it was called Yin, and in the Qing Dynasty it was called Tickets.

Notices and imperial edicts are favorable means to strictly control the exchanges between Han and Hu people, etc., and licenses are related to Huang Laifu's wallet, so he must strictly implement both.

After hearing Huang Laifu's words, San Niangzi and the others were even more delighted. In this way, the trade between the two parties will be more convenient.Moreover, after listening to Huang Laifu's various words, it seemed that he was confident about many things. No governor of Daming Border Town dared to promise these things, but Huang Laifu made such a vow, and everyone couldn't help but look at him differently.

San Niangzi asked: "Dare to ask Huang Junmen, what is this license? I understand the imperial edict, and the license forgives my ignorance!"

Huang Laifu explained, and everyone present had a strange feeling in their hearts. As a general, this Huang Laifu knew so many things about merchants. Is he a general or a merchant?A patriarch tentatively said: "Huangjunmen, there is a shortage of iron outside the Great Wall. I wonder if Huangjunmen can allow ironware to be freely traded in the mutual market?"

Hearing what the patriarch said, everyone's ears were pricked up, and even the third lady showed attention.The lack of iron outside the Great Wall means that in the mutual transactions between various ministries, even iron pots are sold for one tael of silver, and the supply is in short supply.Therefore, the various ministries of Mongolia outside the Great Wall also very much hope that Daming can liberalize the trade of ironware.

However, after hearing the chief's words, Huang Laifu's face darkened, and he said: "The imperial court has its own laws, and ironware and other items are still forbidden to be traded. As the commander-in-chief of the imperial court, how can I make a mistake?"

In order to prevent the Mongols from buying iron and using it to smelt iron weapons to invade Daming.When the Ming Dynasty traded with each other in various towns and frontier fortresses, it was strictly prohibited to export ironware, that is, iron pots, which were banned from the beginning.Since then, Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda, has asked: "I have found out that the cities of Kaiyuan and Jianning in Liaodong have entered the market with wide pots. The pig iron in the wide pots is not smelted and fried. It has been practiced for a long time, and this can be practiced. And the borderline of Xuanda is found out. The mountains are dangerous and far away, iron pots are fresh, and wide pots are often used, that is to say, according to Liaoyou's guards, it is easy to enter the market with wide pots, and it is easy for merchants."

That's why the Ming court allowed Guangdong iron pots that cannot be smelted to enter the mutual market. However, nitrate, copper and iron, armor, and weapons are all strictly prohibited in the mutual market, and are strictly prohibited from entering the mutual market.

But despite this, there are no official markets in Shanxi Town, but where the side walls meet, there are many private markets among the people and Mongolian tribes.It can be said that the profits from the trade between the two sides are very rich.With huge profits, all merchants and people in Ming Dynasty flocked to it.Not only were all kinds of goods traded, but also the iron goods that were not allowed to be traded by the Ming government. Merchants, residents of all villages and cities, and even generals from all sides also took the lead in violating the ban and trading with the Mongols privately.

This is not allowed by Huang Laifu. The barbarians outside the Great Wall are capricious, turning their faces like flipping books, and have no faith at all.This is related to the safety of his Shanxi town. For these violators, he will meet and kill one of them in the future, no matter whether he is an official or civilian army general.

Hearing what Huang Laifu said at this time, with a firm expression and no room for discussion, the patriarch couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, and the third lady also scolded him for his excessive language. Such uninteresting words.

However, despite such a small episode, the atmosphere in the hall is still lively, everyone is talking about the good prospects of the current market and asking Huang Laifu about various matters.Huang Laifu also answered every question and talked with everyone.He described a bright future to everyone. At that time, the ministries will sell wool, and the money will flow to improve the lives of the Mongolian people. The land in various places will also be reclaimed, and there will be no more worries about food shortages outside the Great Wall.Hearing that, all Mongolians were very happy.

And from the conversation, the Mongolian people also felt that Huang Laifu was different from the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty they had seen in the past.

Only the head of the Badyan tribe, Badyan, was unhappy. He squinted at Huang Laifu and said, "Huang Junmen, I dare to ask one thing. Since the Han people came out of the village, the men, women and children in my tribe have been running to the Han people. Let’s go to the farm, what’s Huang Junmen’s opinion on this?”

Huang Laifu didn't like this man either, he said coldly: "As the saying goes, wolves eat meat, dogs eat shit. Those who are capable eat meat, and those who are not have to drink vegetable soup. You should think about it for yourself, why? All the people in your tribe have gone outside, but the Han people in the farms don’t run into your tribe? You are incompetent, so don’t live here!”

Xieyancha was furious, and the chiefs of the tribes in the hall saw that they were about to make trouble again, so they hurriedly smoothed things over, the third lady also scolded Xieyancha, and Xieyancha had no choice but to hold back his anger and sit down.

(End of this chapter)