Daming: I help my wife be the empress

Chapter 612 Changes in Zhangjiakou, Everyone Feels Big Money

Zhangjiakou Railway Station is built on the southeast side of Zhangjiakou Fort, some distance away from Laiyuan Fort where the horse market is located.

At this time, as a Mongolian businessman, Hardan couldn't even leave the horse market, let alone go to the area of ​​the railway station.

Therefore, even though he was in awe and curious about the train, Hardan couldn't go there to find out what happened, and could only infer one or two from the population of the Daming merchants in Mashi.

There should not be too obvious an intention to inquire.

Before Hardan came, he had heard that Zhangjiakou had many Jinyiwei spies.

The most important thing is that a large number of Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou were convicted of treachery and treason before, beheaded beheaded, exiled, and ransacked their homes.

Therefore, now the Ming merchants in Zhangjiakou are worried about being misunderstood by the court as collaborating with the enemy and traitorous to the country. Not only are they very tight-lipped about some news, but they will also take the initiative to report Mongolian merchants who are suspected spies.

Before Hardan, several Mongolian spies from the Eight Banners dispatched by the Qing Dynasty had been involved in this situation, and Hadan did not want to make the same mistake.

After Yaoyao worshiped the train, Hardan followed a group of Mongolian businessmen into Laiyuanbao (horse market).

As a spy, Hardan is not a novice. Three years ago, he had visited the Zhangjiakou Horse Market several times pretending to be a businessman, and even disguised himself as a Han Chinese, and went deep into the Xuanfu to investigate.

Now entering Laiyuan Castle again, Hardan suddenly found that the architecture and every aspect here are very different from his impression, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the changes are earth-shaking.

First of all, the streets are much cleaner than before.

In the past, mule and horse manure was everywhere on the streets of the horse market, and some stalls were also everywhere, random and messy.

Now that I have just entered the section of Laiyuan Castle, I can't see any stalls at all.The accompanying Mongolian merchants all carried dung bags on the back of their horses, and before entering the fort, they let the horses defecate and urinate, and there were almost no horses that defecated on the street after entering.

Of course, horses are not like people, and the situation of urinating and defecating on the street cannot be completely eliminated. If it does happen, a petty official will come and grab the owner of the horse to fine him, and then quickly clean up the excrement and urine.

The cleanliness of the horse market made the dirty Mongolian businessmen even more ashamed.Be careful when walking and doing anything.

Hadan looked secretly angry, but he had to imitate the demeanor and appearance of other Mongolian businessmen.

After that, he paid more attention to the ground and the houses on both sides of the market.

He found that the ground of the horse market was paved with some kind of stone slabs, but it looked seamless.He even stabbed and scratched it quietly with a dagger, and found that this kind of stone slab was harder than ordinary stone.

Many houses on both sides of the street are newly built, the lowest is two floors, and some are as high as three floors, and they are basically brick and stone buildings, unlike the previous wooden buildings.

In various shops, there are some novelty products that were rarely seen in the north before.

You don't need to go in and look, you can know a lot of things by listening to the yelling of the guys in those shops.

"Glass mirrors, the glass mirrors I produced in Daming can clearly see people, and it's cheap, only 300 taels a side!"

A palm-sized piece of glass mirror costs 300 taels, which is still cheap—well, in Hardan’s memory, this kind of glass mirror originally made overseas is completely regarded as a rare treasure in the north, and now 300 taels is indeed very cheap up.

No, several powerful merchants in the same trade were moved and went to ask the price.

Hardan knew very well that if this kind of glass mirror was sold to Mongolian nobles, the price would probably double.

"Songjiang cotton cloth is much cheaper than last year, five taels of silver a piece!"

"Iron pots, high-quality iron pots, if you have the proof of purchase from the imperial court, hurry up and buy them!"

"The price of reed salt is greatly reduced! Coarse salt is only [-] yuan per catty, and refined salt is only [-] yuan per catty!"

"···"

When he heard the price of salt, Hadan, who was calm at first, couldn't hold back.

Like him, other Mongolian businessmen looked over one after another, and then gathered around the salt shop.

There are always only three hard currencies for trade on the prairie, salt, tea, and iron, among which salt is still ranked first.

Without iron, the herdsmen are just living in trouble, which is nothing.Without tea, at most it is easier to get sick, which is nothing.But if there is no salt, people will die.

Most of the salt in the Monan Grassland comes from Yanchi in Shaanxi or Luyan in Hebei. The price is not too expensive, but it is definitely more expensive than the price in Daming.

In Hardan's memory, Da Ming's crude salt sold to the grasslands cost at least [-] to [-] renminbi a catty, and a catty of refined salt and fine salt cost more than [-] renminbi, or even hundreds of renminbi.

Why is the salt in this shop so cheap?

Is it private salt?
Or is their salt too poor quality?

Hardan first ruled out the first possibility - this horse market is full of Ming officials, officers and soldiers, no one dares to buy or sell illegal salt here.

But when he looked through the crowd, he found that the quality of the reed salt sold in this shop was not only not bad, but even better than before. No matter the coarse salt or the fine salt, the quality seemed to be very good.

"Why are you selling such good salt at a lower price than before? There shouldn't be any problem with this salt, right?" A shrewd Mongolian businessman asked the question in other people's minds.

The second storekeeper of the shop came out and said with a smile: "Friends from the grasslands may not know that our Ming Dynasty's salt administration has been reformed, and now the production of salt has increased greatly, and the quality has also improved, so the price has naturally come down.

We merchants of the Ming Dynasty all pay attention to the word "sincerity" when doing business. You have sold the horses, cattle and sheep, many leather goods, and herbs we need from the grasslands. Naturally, we will not be stingy to sell low-priced salt to the grasslands. "

A group of Mongolian merchants did not really believe the words of the two shopkeepers, but it is true that the price of good-quality salt is very low.

So they didn't think too much about it, and immediately bought it one after another—salt is a hard currency in the grasslands, they buy it at a low price now, and sell it at the current price when they go back, won't they make a profit?
Seeing so many Mongolian merchants buying salt, the shopkeeper and the shop assistants laughed from ear to ear.

They know that the price of Changlu Salt Field has also become cheaper since the reform of Huai Salt.

Leaving aside the ex-factory price, in the Mainland, coarse salt costs only five yuan a catty, while refined salt only costs twenty yuan.Only when it is sold to merchants other than Ming Dynasty, it is not bound by the price of the salt industry company.

They get the goods at the wholesale price of the factory, and the price is lower, so the selling price seems to be lower than before, but in fact, the profit has not only not decreased, but has increased.

Big money.

Hardan mixed in the crowd, cautiously listening to various information.

However, the more he knew, the more despair he felt, and he felt that Daqing might really be doomed.

When he was about to leave the horse market in three days, Hardan also found out an important news - the Ming Dynasty was indeed preparing to send troops to attack the Qing Dynasty, maybe after the spring planting, or after the autumn harvest, the exact time was beyond his ability to find out .

However, when he left Laiyuan Castle and went to the grassland with the team of merchants, listening to the laughter of his companions, Hardan didn't pay much attention to this important information.

He was thinking, or just be a real Mongolian businessman like this.

Now the Ming Dynasty not only did not close the horse market because the Mongols followed the Jurchen invaders a few years ago, but opened the horse market in northern Xinjiang to expand the scope and volume of trade.

This makes the life of the Mongolian herdsmen in the past two years not as sad as imagined.

Many Mongolian businessmen traveling with him even feel that life is much better now than in the past few years.

I heard that the county magistrate Chen in Zhangjiakou is calling on businessmen to jointly set up felt factories and wool spinning factories with the government. By then, the cheapest wool in herdsmen's homes will become valuable.

If serious grazing can lead a good life, I am afraid that most Mongolians may not be willing to live a life of blood licking.

　Second more.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)