Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 570 Meeting Gift

"I, Zhou Waigou, pay my respects to Jirgalang Taiji!" Zhou Sen said his nickname with a flattering smile and bowed to Jirgalang. His back was bent so much that he seemed to want to knock his head directly to the ground.

Jirgalang chuckled and nodded, then stumbling over his words in Chinese, "So it was a gift from you, sir. I haven't thanked you yet. Thank you."

"Jirgalang Taiji is truly flattering me," Zhou Sen bowed again. "As long as you like it."

"You Han people are so polite and particular, always saying such awkward things! Yanwei, I have always regarded you as a close brother." Amin said with fake anger.

"I dare not, I dare not! There is a difference between the high and the low. How dare I overstep my bounds?" Zhou Sen knelt again. "I am just a commoner. How can I call myself a brother to such a noble prince as you?"

"You are such a jerk! Hurry up and get up." Although he was scolding her and showing dissatisfaction on his face, Amin was still happy in his heart. Amin liked the Chinese word "Wangye" very much.

"Thank you, Prince Amin." Zhou Sen bowed again and stood up.

Amin then said to the other three smugglers who were still kneeling on the ground, "The three of you should stop kneeling on the ground and get up."

Zhou Sen also urged, "Hurry up, hurry up, Amin Beile is honoring you, why don't you say thank you?"

"Thank you, Prince Amin." The other three people also bowed.

As the three of them stood up, Amin looked at the unfamiliar smuggler. "Yanwei, why haven't I seen this guy before?"

"Oh! Oops! I forgot to introduce him to you," Zhou Sen slapped his forehead, putting on a self-blaming and fawning look. "Amin Beile, this is my eldest sister's son. His surname is Huang. Amin Beile, you can just call him Donkey Egg."

"Eldest sister's son," Amin bowed, smiled, and looked up at Donkey's drooping face carefully. "Is he your eldest nephew?"

"He's hardly my nephew," Zhou Sen said, a look of pain slowly forming on his face. "This kid has an older brother. Last year around this time, Xiong Manzi was sent to Liaoyang to build a building. He was exhausted. What a damned bastard."

"Build a building?" Amin turned his head. "What building?"

"That's the west gate tower of Liaoyang City. Didn't the gunpowder depot in Liaoyang explode two years ago? A cloud of fire filled the sky, and most of the city gate collapsed, completely destroying the gate tower. If the Jin army had been able to reach Liaoyang during that time, they wouldn't have needed to attack the city, but could have simply rushed in through the gap," Zhou Sen said with regret. "It's a pity it's been repaired recently."

Amin also remembered it. He smiled silently and said, "It was last year, right? I remember it was March."

"Oh, look at my stupid brain!" Zhou Sen's pupils shrank, and he slapped his head again, "It was last year, it was last year."

"Your nephew is quite strong," Amin said, walking over to Donkey's side, gently squeezing his arm and shaking his hand. "He's quite plump and strong, and his hands are covered in calluses. I'm afraid he must have been in the army, right?"

"Yes. I was a soldier." Donkey Egg didn't dodge and let Amin touch his body.

Beside Amin, Jirgalang's expression changed slightly, and his hand moved slightly closer to his waist.

"This kid isn't very promising, and his brain is quite dull, except for his brute strength," Zhou Sen hurriedly explained. His speech quickened, but his tone remained calm, and his expression remained perfectly controlled. "When Xiong Manzi first arrived, he was indeed forcibly conscripted into the army for a while. But he wasn't stupid enough to eat the meager military rations and then sneak away without even fighting a single battle."

"Hey, a lot of people ran away." Donkey Egg turned his head to look at Amin, and smiled innocently, revealing two rows of yellow teeth. "Before running away, I stayed in Yongdian for a while."

"Who are you joking with?" Zhou Sen seemed to be furious. He rushed forward and slapped Donkey's head. "Kneel down for Lord Amin!"

"Oh!" Donkey Egg shuddered at the slap. "I kowtow," Amin said, holding Donkey Egg's shoulders and grinning, "Why kowtow? You're a nice guy, I like you. This is our first meeting, and I don't have much to give you. I'll give you this deer antler knife that I've carried with me for many years as a gift. Don't mind it being old." With that, Amin pulled out the knife he had used to cut up otter meat not long ago.

Donkey Egg was about to reach out to take it when Zhou Sen slapped him again. "Damn it, how dare you take it!"

Donkey Egg retracted his hand, pouted, and lowered his head with a look of grievance.

"Yanwei, what are you doing?" Amin glared at Zhou Sen, then forcefully thrust the small knife with the antler handle into Donkey's hand. "Take it!"

"Hey," Zhou Sen had no choice but to put on a panicked look and urged, "Why don't you thank me for the reward?"

Donkey Egg took the knife, gently pulled out a little, and examined the grease-covered edge. "What a fine knife! Thank you, Prince Amin, for your reward." Donkey Egg tucked the exposed blade into his arms, then took a half step back, knelt on both knees, and kowtowed firmly to Amin.

"Get up." Amin looked away, smiled, and nodded, then waved towards the only guest seat. "Yanwei, please sit down."

"Thank you, Amin, for the invitation!" Zhou Sen bowed deeply. Amin turned back to the main seat opposite and looked at Zhou Sen. "Yanwei, what good things have you brought me this time?"

Before Zhou Sen's butt even touched the cushion, he stood up again. "I remember you said last year that the Khan liked to drink loose tea from the south, so I've been keeping an eye on it. Recently, a caravan went to Liaoyang and brought two carts of good tea that could be placed in the Jinglüe Yamen. I found a way to use my connections to get some. Now I'm offering it to the Khan and Amin Beile." Zhou Sen reached into his arms, pulled out a gift list, and made a presentation. "Three pounds of the finest West Lake Longjing tea from Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The Khan will have two pounds. Please be a little humble and use one pound. In addition, there are five pounds each of Tiger Hill tea from Suzhou, Nanzhi, and Red Rock tea from Wuyi, Fujian."

"Yanwei, so generous!" Amin's eyes lit up immediately. "It must have cost a lot, right?" He didn't know much about tea, and he had no idea where all those places Zhou Sen was talking about were. But these unheard-of place names and the description of "being able to go to the governor's office" still moved him deeply.

In this regard, Amin's thinking was simple: the more magnificent the house, the better the things used in it. Before the Ming and Jin wars broke out, he had visited Liaoyang several times, and any government office he picked out there was undoubtedly superior to the Khan's Palace in Hetuala.

"You're being too polite to say you spent so much. I, Zhou Waigou, owe my current wealth entirely to the support of the Khan and the other beiles. I'll certainly do it if I have the chance to repay them," Zhou Sen said with a smile. "In addition to this batch of tea, I also asked someone to help me get two boxes of jade and gemstones from Beijing. One box was mined in Yunnan and Guizhou, and the other box was brought in by Westerners from places like Ceylon and India. They're all top-quality goods, large enough for plaques and small enough for inlays. I'm not fortunate enough to meet all the ladies in person, so I can only ask Beile Amin to express my gratitude on my behalf."

"Then let me thank you for your kindness on their behalf." Amin winked at Ledutai.

Ledutai immediately understood and took two steps forward to accept the gift list. He subconsciously glanced down and noticed that the gift list was written in both Chinese and Mongolian. With the Mongolian text, Ledutai quickly understood how rare and valuable this gift was.

But in reality, Zhou Sen was just talking big and writing nicely. Zhejiang Longjing, Nanzhi Huqiu, and Fujian Rock Tea were certainly all genuine, but they were by no means top-quality, nor would they be considered worthy of the premiership. The tea in Xiong Tingbi's cups was imperially gifted, top-notch tea. Aside from being aged a bit for transportation, it was practically identical to the tea used by the cabinet.

As for jewelry, the misinformation was even more misleading. After the Longqing Emperor opened the sea, Westerners, primarily Spanish and Portuguese, began importing a steady stream of gemstones mined in places like India and Sri Lanka into China. The finest of these gems were the top-quality tributes to the imperial family, such as the rubies, sapphires, and emeralds buried with the late Emperor Wanli in the Dingling Mausoleum. The lowest of these were the unpriced scraps.

Zhou Sen's gift to Amin wasn't quite as shabby as that, but it wasn't much better either. Aside from a few larger jade pieces, Zhou Sen had acquired only the kind of common goods you could easily find in ordinary shops. They looked impressive, but they weren't actually that expensive. The contents of the two small boxes combined wouldn't even fetch two hundred taels of silver. If he could fetch twenty or thirty decent mink pelts, that would cover the cost.

However, the iron rule of scarcity always applies. These teas and gems are not worth much in the capital, but they are truly rare goods in the Jin Kingdom. Without smugglers like Zhou Sen who put in the effort, Amin really wouldn't be able to see them. When Ledutai held the gift list in front of Amin, Amin's eyebrows and beard immediately curved with satisfaction. "Great, great! Such a generous gift, I don't know how to return the favor."

"Why would Amin Beile say anything in return?" Zhou Sen said, still fawning. "As long as you can truly benefit from it, that's good enough."

"Ah! No matter what, gifts still have to be returned." Amin collected the gift list, replied to Zhou Sen in Chinese, and then said to Ledutai in Jurchen: "Ledutai! Go and get the prepared gifts for Brother Tuobo!"

"Yes." Ledutai responded, turned and ran out of the tent.

Soon, he arrived at Amin's desk, carrying a small leather suitcase. "Second Prince, I've got the stuff." Le Dutai was about to put it down when Amin stopped him. "What are you doing here?" Amin nodded toward Zhou Sen, then picked up the fine porcelain cup on the table and took a sip of milk tea.

This milk tea is made from green brick tea produced in Huguang and goat milk, with a little salt and sugar. In the whole cup of milk tea, only the freshly squeezed goat milk is produced in Jin State.

Before the Ming-Jin War, the Jurchen tribes were still able to obtain large quantities of green brick tea, salt, sugar and other products at relatively low prices through normal trade channels. However, after Nurhaci rebelled, the Jurchen tribes could only rely on middlemen such as Mongolian tribes and smugglers to obtain these things at higher prices.

Ledutai came to Zhou Sen holding the box, and Amin's voice also floated to Zhou Sen's ears at the right time: "There are one hundred pearls in it, and some of them are of very good quality. The Ming Kingdom is rich in products, and I don't have anything else to repay you. Please bear with it for now."

After that, Amin changed his tone and said to Ledutai in Jurchen language: "Open the box."

"Yes." Ledutai responded and opened the box.

As early as the Yongle period, the Jurchens of Jianzhou and Haixi began to pay tribute to the emperor with freshwater pearls called "Dongzhu".

Later, the Ming Dynasty established horse markets in Kaiyuan and Fushun. The Jurchens went to these places to exchange their pearls for ironware, cloth, and grain. By the Wanli period, even though there were already numerous jewelry shops selling pearls, a single high-quality pearl could be worth ten taels of silver, its value comparable to its weight in gold.

Before Nurhaci unified the Jurchen tribes, conflicts often erupted over the control of prime pearl-diving waters. Before he formally launched his rebellion, Nurhaci repeatedly bribed Liaodong officials with pearls, including the tax inspector Gao Huai, the general Li Chengliang, and the provincial governor Zhao Ji.

When the box was opened, Zhou Sen's eyes widened. The top few Dongzhu pearls were of such excellent quality, they could be called top-grade. In the past, pearls of this quality would have been brought to the capital by envoys paying tribute to the emperor.

But Zhou Sen was still a seasoned businessman, and he quickly calmed down. His merchant instinct told him that Amin was willing to give beads of this quality as a return gift because he couldn't make any more money with them.

In the past, Jurchen tribes often offered tributes of the finest oriental pearls and other rare goods, such as top-grade ginseng, pure silver, and sable furs, to the emperor, proving their loyalty in exchange for the imperial certificates necessary to enter the horse market. This was the highest profit these high-end goods could fetch. When Nurhaci's father was burned to death, the Ming dynasty compensated him with thirty such imperial certificates.

Now, the Ming court had severed official trade channels with all Jurchen tribes, and the Liaodong government's blockade policy was tightening under the full efforts of the officials in charge of the provincial governors. Without market access, these top-quality Dongzhu pearls and various Jurchen specialties had degenerated from being sought-after goods to mere entertainment.

After figuring this out, Zhou Sen started to act cool. "Thank you very much for the reward from Prince Amin." He stood up and bowed to Amin respectfully but not excitedly.

"Yanwei, you look a little disappointed." Zhou Sen's emotional control was so good that when he turned to look at Amin, his face seemed to be filled with only flattery and respect, without any joy. "Why, you don't like it?"

(End of this chapter)