Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 167 Mutual Market
It took Cheng Ji and Yang Menglong three full days to transport all the goods across the river, and one boat capsized and two mules were lost.The lost mules belonged to Yang Menglong, and he didn't care about the loss. He didn't even ask the boatman to pay for it, so he rushed straight to the side wall with the goods.

There is a department store market on the side wall, which is open once a month for three days.During these three days, Mongolian and Han people can come here with their goods and trade under official supervision.Originally, the border market was only open once a year, and only two days at a time, but the cycle of once a year was obviously too long, and the Han people didn't care, but the Mongolian people couldn't stand it, and their life was much more difficult than the Han people.Especially in the early spring, when there is a lack of food, it is even more embarrassing. If there are surplus livestock that can be sold, they drive the livestock to the ancient tea-horse road every day, begging the frontier army to let them trade in the market, and one cow is only exchanged for one or two stones of rice. Beans, a sheep can only exchange one or two liters of miscellaneous grains, and if there are not so many livestock, they will pick up a load of firewood, or hold a leather ponytail in their hands, or even take off their leather clothes to exchange things. Feel pitiful.Later, at their request, the imperial court opened the border market once a month. On the day of the mutual market, the Han people brought miscellaneous grains, tea, cloth, salt, iron pots and other daily necessities, while the Mongolian people brought cattle, sheep and horses. Come to fur ponytail, exchange needs.This kind of trade is beneficial to both parties. The Mongols can exchange their surplus livestock for their urgently needed daily necessities, so naturally they don’t need to start a war for this—robbing also costs money. It would be unlucky to lose one's life because of the washbasin; the border of the Ming Dynasty was peaceful for a long time because of this, and the most important thing is that a large number of high-quality war horses can be obtained through this method, which saves a lot of expenses for the country.The same war horse would have cost two or thirty taels of silver to raise one in the Ming Dynasty, but in the border market, it could be bought for seven or eight taels of silver, saving more than half.And the war horses exchanged in the border market every year are not one or two, but ten or twenty thousand. Calculated in this way, this number is very scary.

Unfortunately, like everything else, as the Ming Dynasty gradually collapsed, the mutual market system ceased to exist.Not to mention that Mongolia has turned to Jianzhou, and the relationship between the two sides has deteriorated sharply. Just one after another of rogues is enough to kill the trade in the border market. Many merchants' goods were robbed halfway, and even their lives were lost. Who would dare to come?Soon, the tea-horse trade market in Yulin ceased to exist in name only, and everyone returned to the state of being at war with each other in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and both sides complained endlessly.When Yang Menglong and Cheng Ji came to the market, they saw dilapidated buildings and dusty ground. Yang Menglong called out, "This is the tea-horse trading market? Are you mistaken? Why is it worse than a beggar's den?"

Cheng Ji said: "It has not been opened for many years, so it is naturally dilapidated. The situation in Shanxi is much better than here, but the water there is very deep, and foreign merchants like us can't stand there. Hold your feet, just make it up."

Yang Menglong muttered: "This place is completely different from what I imagined...cough cough cough..." A gust of wind blew over, and the muttering guy took a mouthful of sand, choked and coughed, and was quite embarrassed.

Although the building of the market is dilapidated and there is not even a soldier guarding the market to maintain order, but since it is here, business still needs to be done, let's make do with it.Yang Menglong and Cheng Ji directed everyone to display the goods and prepare for the transaction.It didn't take long before the business came to the door, but the first batch of customers were not Mongolians, but local people.They ran over to buy food from Cheng Ji with some scraps of silver and copper coins—this guy still left three hundred shi of food, which was only sold after being transported to the border.Things like cloth and salt were also in high demand, and everyone rushed to buy them, and the market quickly became lively.In the midst of the commotion, suddenly there was a lot of smoke and dust, the sound of hooves thundered, and the border residents shouted: "The Mongol Tartars are here! Copy the guys!" There was not much panic, and everyone looked excited. Knives and guns are all over the place looking for guys, ready to start filming.The aggressive folk customs at the border once again showed up. If the people in the inland heard that the Tartars were coming, they would probably cry for their father and mother, right?

Many people even took out their crossbows and climbed onto the wall, ready to condescendingly shoot the Mongol in the face. Seeing this situation, the sound of hooves stopped immediately. Yang Menglong poked his head out from behind a wall to see, and the smoke and dust filled the air. Among them, a group of Mongolian herdsmen drove hundreds of horses with bright coats and well-proportioned muscles, as well as a large number of cattle and sheep, and the leader shouted: "Old men, don't be afraid, we are from the Burqin Department, and we are here to exchange things." , not to rob!"

The people of Yulin cursed back: "The grandson is afraid of you!" Put the guy away.The Mongols breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down, driving the livestock into the market. More than 20 Mongolian men with machetes stayed outside the market and stood guard with the soldiers of Wuyang Guard. It seemed that they wanted to maintain order— ——There are not many opportunities for mutual markets. Mongolians are more afraid of border markets being closed than Han people, so they are more active in maintaining order.The man who shouted was Duo Sang. As soon as he entered the market, he went straight to Yang Menglong's side and shouted: "Mr. Yang, I drove all the livestock over!"

Yang Menglong went up to meet him, punched him, and said, "I saw it! There are so many horses!"

Duo Sang said: "That is, we took out all the good horses... This is our patriarch!" He pulled Yang Menglong to a well-dressed old man and introduced him to him.

Yang Menglong looked at the old man. He was about five or sixty years old. His face was covered with wrinkles. A leather coat made of otter skin looked gorgeous, but it was also damaged. The handle of the machete at his waist Inlaid with a huge gemstone, it is dazzling, and it is the most precious thing on him.According to Mongolian etiquette, the old man pressed his right palm on his left chest and bowed deeply, saying: "Old man Chalun, I have met the son of Tianchao."

Yang Menglong said in his heart: "Cha Lun? I thought your name was Cai Lun. I was so scared!" He returned the gesture and said, "Yang Menglong, I have met the leader of the Cha Lun clan." He pulled Cheng Ji over and said, "This is my partner. , Cheng Ji, he is a grain merchant, he has a lot of grain on hand, and the price is fair, if you need grain, you can find him!"

Dosang said: "Yes, patriarch, I saw with my own eyes that there are hundreds of shi of grain, enough for us to survive the whole winter!"

There was a gleam of light in Cha Lun's eyes, and he bowed deeply to Cheng Ji, and said: "Because too many young and strong people died on the battlefield in my Burqin department, the cattle and sheep have declined accordingly, and a large amount of food is urgently needed." Help, and ask this young man of the Celestial Dynasty to be merciful and save the lives of thousands of people in our tribe!"

Cheng Ji said: "The patriarch of Chalun is welcome. Cheng came here to do business. As long as the business is fair, there is absolutely no reason to drive away customers. Patriarch, please come here!" He said "please" to his stall. gesture.Patriarch Chalun walked over with a few people. He didn't even look at the porcelain and silk. He just focused on checking the food. When he saw the snow-white flour, the white rice, and the yellow millet, he salivated and began to bargain. .It's not that they don't like the exquisite silk porcelain, they really can't afford it, and besides, they can't eat it in winter, so they might as well buy food.What they exchanged for food were some precious furs, such as wolf skins, fox skins, and otter skins. These skins could be sold at a high price in the interior.In order to exchange for more food, the Chalun patriarch simply picked off all the gems on the scimitar—it is said that there are also some gems and rough jade in the goods they used for trading, which were picked up during grazing Back, these things are not of much use to them, and now they have all taken out.

Yang Menglong circled around the herd of horses and cattle, especially the horses, the more he looked at them, the more greedy he became.Xue Siming used the most critical eyes to pick and choose among the horses, and he was in charge of finding faults.But I have to admit that these steeds are indeed very good, each of them is up to the standard of war horses, the autumn fat is well caught, and they are extra energetic, he can't find any faults.Every time he picked a horse, someone would take it there, register it, and then take out the corresponding tea bricks or tea leaves and hand them over to the Mongols. A transaction was considered complete.Cheng Ji also negotiated the price. The precious furs were put on his carriage, and the stones of rice noodles were poured into leather bags and put on the Mongolian horses. Everyone was happy and harmonious.

More and more Mongolians came to hear the news. In the market, the cattle blew and the horses neighed, the sheep ran wildly, and the shepherd dogs barked wildly. It was very lively.On the contrary, there are very few Han people who come to trade. There is no way. Shaanxi has been suffering from drought for years, and the poverty is getting worse.The goods brought by Yang Menglong and Cheng Ji were sold by carloads, and the fur and gems behind them were also accumulating more and more, and the herd of livestock was getting bigger and bigger.After a rough calculation, Yang Menglong got 150 high-quality war horses, 500 buffaloes, and more than [-] goats in just one day's transaction. The harvest is rich.He laughed so hard that his mouth was sour. The money of the Mongols is really easy to earn. A few catties of salt can be exchanged for a cow, and a few pieces of cloth can be exchanged for a horse. Sheep?It's only worth a pot!It's simply huge profits, drug trafficking is not so profitable!
The Mongols also laughed so hard that their mouths were sour. They had never seen such a talkative Han businessman. It’s fine if they don’t put sand in the tea and grain. They are also very talkative. In the past, two sheep could exchange a pot. Here, one sheep can be exchanged for one bite, and the delivery is very happy. If it is for you, it is for you. No matter how high the price is, where can you find such merchants?

In the harmony, both sides made the most objective evaluation of each other: stupid!

(End of this chapter)