Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 509 Monan Mongolia
The north wind howled, and the yellow sand swept across. Even in April and May, the weather in Monan had improved, but even worse.

"Bah, the weather in Monan is getting worse and worse."

Pulling back the curtain, Buzar walked into the yurt, quite upset.

"Taiji, last year the Manchu rewards were reduced by half, and now the big guys are dissatisfied!"

Walking in, I saw a stove built with stones in the middle of the room, and the charcoal fire inside was glowing yellow. The iron pot hanging on the beam above was emitting white steam.

On the other side, a big man with a big shoulder and a round waist said dissatisfiedly: "There are fewer and fewer iron pots, and there is no more tea. How are you going to live these days?"

"Without tea, I can't even swallow meat."

There were a lot of dissatisfaction, but Buzar acted as if he hadn't heard it, and directly picked up the meat in the pot, cut it up with a knife, and ate happily.

The smell of meat was overflowing, and several muttering men swallowed their saliva.

In the Monan Grassland, even aristocrats cannot eat meat every day. The daily diet of ordinary herdsmen is mainly based on goat's milk and horse's milk, mixed with a lot of wool.

Buzar's tribe is not big, only more than 2000 tents, but it is also a medium-sized tribe in the Chahar tribe, so he was named Beizi by the Manchu people, and he was entrusted with the Eight Banners.

Due to the proximity to Datong, the tribes of Buzar prefer to exchange things with the Han people. Tea, silk, salt, and ironware are all their passions.

Especially tea, which relieves greasy, is an indispensable thing for nobles and even ordinary herdsmen.

Seeing that the mutton was ripe, Zaer sprinkled another layer of coarse salt, and this was the time to cut off the meat and taste it carefully.

After a long time, he seemed to hear the swallowing sounds of his subordinates before he said, "I understand what you mean."

"The Qing people can't provide what we want, so we can only ask and grab it from the Ming people."

"Qing people are hard to deal with, but Ming people are also hard to provoke!"

Zarbu felt a little helpless.

Since being incorporated into the Eight Banners, they can only have a certain amount of troops. There are only seven or 800 people under their command. They don't have all the weapons, and it is difficult to fight a beacon tower.

Especially last year, many soldiers and horses went south and suffered heavy losses, which made the tribes in Monan tremble with fear, and the Ming people seemed to be even more difficult to deal with.

"But, Beizi, after the winter, the horses and sheep have lost a lot of weight, and there are not many tea bricks. If the Ming merchants don't come, I'm afraid this year will be a disaster."

After entering the main pass, the Qing Dynasty strictly prohibited merchants from entering and leaving the grassland at will, and only the eight major families who were canonized as imperial merchants could do so.

After withdrawing from the customs last year, the Manchu ban became a joke, but Monan, without Shanxi merchants, couldn't recover for a while.

At the beginning, Shanxi merchants violated the ban and transported a large amount of firearms and grain out of the customs. In theory, they were only sold to the Mongols, but in fact it was the Manchus who benefited.

Because as early as after Lin Dan Khan's death, Monan Mongolia was under the control of the Qing Dynasty.

This is also the reason why Shanxi merchants can become imperial merchants only in Shanxi.

Now it is the new Ming who controls Shanxi, and has a deep understanding of Monan Mongolia, so the trade ban has been in place since last year.

As a result, the Mongolian tribes in Monan became disgusted. Although the Qing Dynasty could transport some supplies, it was a drop in the bucket and far less than the scale of the Shanxi merchants.

Zarbu gritted his teeth and said, "If we do this again, we can always grab something when we go south."

And just when a group of nobles were unwilling to reconcile and were discussing important matters silently, a caravan came to the vicinity of their tribe.

This is a large-scale caravan. Its manpower is conservatively estimated to exceed a thousand people, and there are two to three hundred guards in leather armor, which can be described as strong and strong.

"Father, can we do business this time?"

The young son was riding a horse, looked at the fierce patrolling guards, and at the scholar who was holding a piece of paper and kept writing and drawing, he couldn't help curling his lips, puzzled.

In fact, not only nomads like to go south in autumn, but even Shanxi merchants like to do business in autumn.

As a result, the autumn is high and the horses are fat, and the cattle and sheep are in a prosperous and fat state, and the value is better.

Secondly, it is natural that autumn and winter are coming, and the Mongols must hoard supplies. They belong to the passive side, so naturally they will pinch them with their hands and let them be at their mercy.

And spring and summer are the seasons for cattle and sheep to fatten up. After a winter, they are skinny, so it is naturally a good time.

"Doing business at this time, I have to do it!"

My father looked at the grassland, then at the fierce guards, and at the scholars who were writing, drawing, and recording something.

That's a map, a map built by relying on stories, legends, business routes, etc., the Monan map.

"Remember, never provoke the court again." Father said quickly, with a look of fear on his face.

But soon, more greed appeared on his face.

On the grasslands, Shanxi merchants can exchange a piece of tea brick for a good sheepskin, and a piece of coarse cloth more than 20 feet can exchange for a cow.

Shanxi merchants bought iron pots from Taiyuan for three to five cents each, and sold them to Mongolians for a few cents in Mongolia; bought wooden bowls in Taiyuan for 20 renminbi each, and sold them to Mongolians for six or seven renminbi.

The tribes along the way rejoiced at the arrival of the Shanxi merchants, and the long-awaited goods healed their hearts, but they did not expect that this would be the beginning of their future suffering.

At this time, Buzar got the news that many Ming merchants from outside the tribe had arrived and brought a large amount of goods.

"Mingshang is here!" Buzar excitedly said.

In a blink of an eye, he left the yurt and came to the tribe.

Sure enough, the thousands of caravans brought a large amount of goods, such as salt and tea, which were indispensable, were also full, full of the desire of the Mongols.

Buzar also exchanged hundreds of tea bricks without hesitation. Even if he couldn't drink it himself, he couldn't resell it to other tribes.

The nobles led oxen and horses in exchange for a large amount of daily necessities, such as cloth, porcelain and other luxury goods.

Due to scarcity, the prices of cattle, horses and sheep will naturally be lowered. As long as they return to Taiyuan, Shanxi merchants will earn several times, or even ten times their wealth.

However, the few Ming people in the team looked around, constantly checking and inquiring, and wanted to know the situation of the tribe.

Buzar became wary and said to the merchants: "Don't inquire about the affairs of the tribe. You are here to do business. Don't let our tribe drive people away."

The Shanxi merchants hurriedly explained, which relieved the tension.

Buzar was not idle either. While exchanging things, he inquired about the situation: "Did you really drive the Qing people out of the pass?"

"Of course, the Holy Son of Heaven is in court, and Beijing is also back. In addition, there was a war last year, and you Monan also participated in many people!"

Buzar was dumbfounded for a moment, feeling unhappy.

Mingren got up again, and he didn't know when he completely overwhelmed the Manchurians. When will this day be a head!
(End of this chapter)