Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 390 Layout
"Abu! Eji!"

With a clear shout, Tengger ran into the tent. Although the little guy was less than five years old, he was as strong as a calf. He ran very fast with a wooden sword in his hand. Behind him, Wang Hai followed with a smile.

When he ran closer, Tenger threw himself into Tana's arms, giggling. At this time, Agudamu, who was sleeping soundly beside him, was awakened by the noise. He opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. When he saw his brother not far away, Agudamu grinned, and two lines of crystal saliva flowed down the corners of his mouth. He stood up shakily, although he could not walk well, stretched out his hands to Tenger, and mumbled something in his mouth.

"Why are you sweating all over, kid?" Tana touched her son's forehead lovingly and couldn't help but blame him.

"I'm learning skills from Uncle Wang Hai." Tengger laughed and posed with the small wooden sword in his hand, looking very proud.

As he fiddled with it, Agudam's eyes lit up even more. Because he couldn't walk properly, he simply crawled up on all fours. Needless to say, this kid was no worse than his brother. He crawled very fast and reached Tenger's side in a few steps. Without hesitation, he reached out to grab Tenger's small wooden sword.

"Oh, you, I can't let you play with this." Tenger quickly hid the small wooden sword to the side to prevent Agudam from taking it. His younger brother was a little devil. Although he was not very good at speaking, he was very destructive. He would not let go of anything fun or attractive. He would grab it first without thinking.

Moreover, this little fellow will never let go of something he has grabbed, and will often put it in his mouth and chew on it for a few times. He will never give up until he is satisfied. If you take it away from him at this time, he will cry so loudly that it can almost break the sky.

Tenger had suffered losses before. Several of his favorite toys were broken by his younger brother Agudamu. Even if they were not broken, they were full of his teeth marks and could not be used anymore. With this experience, why would Tenger give his favorite knife to Agudamu?

Seeing that his brother Tenger hid the small wooden sword aside, Agudamu became even more excited. He crawled on the blanket and stretched out his hand to grab forward, shouting in an unknown language from some planet, and dancing with joy to get the small wooden sword in his hands.

Looking at the two little guys playing and fighting, Zhu Shenzui couldn't help but laugh. He reached out and hugged Agudamu, then stuffed a rattle into his hand.

The sound of the swinging rattle immediately aroused Agudamu's interest. For a moment, he seemed to have forgotten Tenger's small wooden sword. He sat in Zhu Shenzui's arms and played with the rattle with great interest. After playing for a while, he opened his mouth and started to bite the rattle, as if it was some delicious thing.

"Eji, look at your brother, he's gnawing at his food again, and his saliva is all over his body, it's really disgusting..." Tenger looked at Agudamu with some disgust, and couldn't help but say to Tana.

Tana couldn't help but find it funny. How old is this kid and he already dislikes his younger brother? When Tenger was the same age as Agudamu, he was also a little devil, drooling and stuffing anything he caught into his mouth. If she hadn't been watching closely, he would have almost stuffed Zhu Shenzhu's musket into his mouth and chewed it. Tana was so scared that she hurriedly snatched it away, but Tenger was still unaware and cried loudly when he saw that the thing in his hand was gone.

Smiling and shaking her head, Tana wiped the sweat off Tengger's face with a handkerchief and asked him how his martial arts training with Wang Hai was going.

When his mother asked him this, Tengger raised his chest proudly and said that he learned very quickly. Uncle Wang Hai said that he was a natural warrior, and as long as he continued to learn like this, he would become the most powerful warrior in the tribe when he grew up.

At that time, he will protect Abu and Eji like an eagle on the grassland. No matter what kind of enemy they are, they will not be able to hurt them as long as he is there. As he said this, Tenger glanced at his younger brother who was immersed in chewing a rattle in his father's arms, and added that it was the same for his younger brother. Although he was a little devil, he was his younger brother after all, and he, as an older brother, would protect him.

"Good boy, good boy!"

Tana happily hugged Tengger and kissed him on the forehead. Then she looked at Wang Hai who was standing beside her, her expression full of admiration.

Wang Hai smiled and nodded. Zhu Shenzui arranged for Tenger to be his teacher. Since Tenger was three years old, the little guy began to practice martial arts with Wang Hai every day. Wang Hai was a very dedicated teacher. He did not give Tenger any leniency just because he was a young master. He was even very strict. In just one year, as Tenger grew up, he did learn a lot from Wang Hai.

Apart from Tenger, when Agudamu grows up, Zhu Shencui will also send him to Wang Hai to learn. He hopes that his two children can thrive and become heroes on the grassland. Of course, in addition to Wang Hai teaching them martial arts and archery, Zhu Shencui, as a father, will also patiently teach them other things, such as reading and writing. Although these two children will most likely stay on the grassland in their lives, as Zhu Shencui's sons, Zhu Shencui has high expectations for them, especially the eldest son Tenger, who is the Taiji of the tribe and the Wanhu of the Mongolians. On this vast grassland, Zhu Shencui hopes that he will be as dazzling as the sun in the future and become a remarkable figure.

After playing with the child for a while, Zhu Shenzhui saw that Agudamu in his arms had fallen asleep again, so he gently put him down and covered him with a thin blanket to let him continue to sleep. Then he nodded slightly to Tana, who gave him a reassuring look. Zhu Shenzhui got up and walked out of the big tent. When he got outside, Wang Hai followed him out.

"How is the situation over at Zhenlu Fort?" After walking to the side for a while, Zhu Shenzui came to a slightly higher hill. He climbed up the hill, looked into the distance, and asked at the same time.

"My Lord, everything is normal, but..." Wang Hai sighed softly, "The appetite of the Ming Dynasty is getting bigger and bigger, and the profit this month is not as good as before."

"There's nothing we can do about it." Zhu Shenzhui did not show any surprise. In fact, after Zhou Anmin handed over the border trade matters, the border trade on the Ming Dynasty's side was no longer in his hands.

The person in charge on the Ming side now is Tian Ergeng's man, a greedy guy. He was okay at first, but his greedy nature was revealed not long after he took office. He kept raising the prices of Ming goods in bilateral trade and lowering the purchase costs for the Mongols. As a result, the bilateral trade seemed to have not changed much in terms of amount, but in fact the profits on the Mongolian side were reduced a lot.

The extra profits all went to the Ming Dynasty, which actually went to him. It is unknown whether all the money was handed over, but it is likely that most of the difference was swallowed up by the person who handled it, which is obvious.

"Recently, due to the situation in the Ming Dynasty, many other tribes are dissatisfied, and some tribes even intend to stop trade. Master, what do you think...?"

"Let's follow the rules. If they really want to stop the trade, there is nothing we can do. We have been cooperating and we cannot force them to do so. Besides, who would want to do a business that loses money? There is no such way of doing business in this world." Zhu Shenzhu shook his head and continued, "As for us, we will maintain it as long as we can. Even if we let them take advantage of us, it is worth it. As long as we get the materials we need, it doesn't matter if we pay a little price."

"I understand, master." Wang Hai nodded in response. Compared with other tribes, the Tengger tribe still has an advantage. Not only is it one of the leading parties in bilateral trade, but more importantly, it has a backup plan on the Ming side.

Although the trade with the Ming Dynasty is no longer completely under his control due to Zhou Anmin's departure, don't forget that there is still a Hengtong Trading Company in the Ming Dynasty.

The current Hengtong Trading Company is no longer the Hengtong of the past. In the past few years, Hengtong first engaged in smuggling and later developed bilateral trade. Its development has been extremely rapid, especially the latter. In just two years, Hengtong integrated the trade routes of the Ming Dynasty and expanded rapidly through a series of means such as winning over, alliance, and annexation.

In addition to the profits from bilateral trade and the large-scale purchase and storage of materials, the most important thing is that Hengtong has completed the primary layout in finance. This layout is the silver bills and financial institutions created by Zhu Shenzhu using Hengtong. Although the leader of the bilateral trade on the Ming Dynasty side has changed, the way of trade has not changed. Hengtong's "silver bills" have become the default currency for both parties. Not only that, in the private commercial channels on the Mongolian grasslands and the Ming Dynasty, this thing also plays the role of currency.

There was Baochao before the Ming Dynasty. It was the official currency. It is still in use today, but it has lost its practicality as currency and has become a means for the official to exploit and profit from the people.

Silver notes have been around for a long time. Shanxi is full of merchants. In order to facilitate transactions, some wealthy merchants have made securities similar to silver notes for use in large-scale transactions. However, the scope of use of this kind of securities is very small, and it is only used in special circumstances. Moreover, it is a kind of credit certificate, which is completely guaranteed by the commercial credit of wealthy merchants and has not yet reached the level of real circulation.

But now it is different. Hengtong started planning a few years ago, and took advantage of the opportunity of bilateral trade to integrate most of the merchants in Shanxi and surrounding provinces, and then issued this kind of silver bill with physical objects and gold and silver as collateral. And took advantage of the prosperity of bilateral trade to promote this kind of silver bill. With the development and continuation of trade, this kind of silver bill has been recognized by everyone, and its credit has been truly confirmed.

Although Zhu Shenzhu was not a genius in finance, his concept of finance was only based on his understanding of it in books and some exposure to it in daily life. However, compared with the businessmen of this era, the knowledge Zhu Shenzhu understood and mastered was much more advanced than them.

In addition, Kang Youfu was a business genius. He quickly figured out the operating model of this financial method. He also learned from it and made adjustments according to the actual situation. It can be said that Kang Youfu made an indispensable contribution to the completion of Hengtong's financial layout.

(End of this chapter)