Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 130 The enemy is only three steps away, a thousand miles away.
In ancient times, the fastest mode of transportation was not horses, but ships.

"Departing from Baidi City amidst colorful clouds at dawn, I returned to Jiangling a thousand miles away in a single day." "Starting from Meihua in Fujian in the south and Liujiahe in Taicang in the north, reaching Zhigu, the distance from north to south is no more than five thousand miles, and the round trip takes no more than twenty days." As long as the wind and water are favorable, the speed of water transport is beyond imagination; even a horse running itself to death on land could not catch up.

Because he got entangled with Zheng Zhilong for too long, Zhu Youjian missed the boat on his maritime shipping plan.

September is the time when the north and south monsoons are intertwined, with the wind direction shifting erratically from southeast to northwest. The Ming Dynasty's hard-line sailing ships could sail against the wind, precisely because they were designed to cope with such complex and changeable wind directions. However, sailing against the wind in a zigzag pattern was ultimately a detour, and their speed could not match that of sailing with the wind.

Zheng Zhilong initially didn't want to accept the imperial court's orders. The Grand Canal was a money-losing business, and even if he switched to sea freight, how much profit would he make? He was used to doing big-money business, making hundreds of thousands of taels of silver per trip, and he looked down on the emperor's poor appearance.

But considering that he had just been granted amnesty, he would definitely refuse if the emperor asked him to fight against the Jurchens; but he could give him face if it was just about transporting grain.

Zhu Youjian did not accept Zheng Zhilong's grain for free, nor did he pay for the transportation. He was afraid that if he treated Zheng Zhilong as a laborer, people would dare to smuggle his grain. Therefore, he ordered grain from Zheng Zhilong. No matter where he got the grain from, as long as it was transported to Tianjin, he would buy it at a price of 1.2 taels of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure).

Fujian is not a major grain-producing region, and the price of rice in Jiangsu and Southern Zhili was 0.8 taels. Zheng Zhilong thought that 50% profit was not enough, so he went to Annam and bought a batch of rice for 0.5 taels and brought it back. He even got into a fight with his good brother Liu Xianglao for this.

Actually, shipping grain by sea is not an easy business. If it were really profitable, people would have done it long ago. The north produces less grain than the south, so theoretically, there should be a huge price difference between the two. However, because the north is poor, this disadvantage is compensated for, resulting in lower prices for goods and services in the north, and thus, grain prices are more evenly matched.

High grain prices only occur in places like Liaodong, where wages are paid out in ways that lead to inflation. The North is poor, lacking both silver and resources, which leads to a strange phenomenon:
The South has abundant resources, but it has no desire to transport them to the North. Only when it is under the pressure of the imperial court will it reluctantly transport some.

From Zhu Youjian's perspective, the price of grain in Beijing was less than one tael of silver, and he was already losing a lot of money by purchasing grain at 1.2 taels. However, silver was worthless and useless; grain was the foundation. Losing a little was acceptable, but having grain gave him peace of mind.

The transport capacity of the Grand Canal is limited, and sea freight may not be very cost-effective, but it can be used as a supplement to transport capacity and is worth investing in.

Zhu Youjian could not directly collect grain from the capital, as such large-scale operations would affect grain prices in a region. The reason why grain prices in Beijing were low was that grain production in the capital region was relatively stable at the moment, and the harvest had just been completed, so grain prices would naturally be lower. In addition, there was a large amount of grain transported by canal, so there would be some grain flowing into the hands of the people no matter what.

Grain prices fluctuate greatly from year to year and from place to place. It is not easy to make money in the legitimate grain business. Only by taking advantage of natural disasters and man-made calamities can one make a fortune.

For ordinary merchants, transporting grain from the south to the north lacked motivation and was extremely risky: the grain might be released and the price would drop, resulting in huge losses; or it might be robbed by pirates on the way, leading to complete financial ruin.

But none of this mattered to Zheng Zhilong. Pirates? He was currently the strongest pirate in East Asia and even the world; he was the only one robbing others. Grain prices? The emperor had already set a price target for him. As long as the emperor didn't trick him, he could make a profit.

Zheng Zhilong's first batch of one hundred Fujian ships arrived in Tianjin, carrying 100,000 shi of grain and earning 70,000 taels of silver. However, the grain wasn't the main prize; the one hundred ships were the real prize. The Dengzhou and Laizhou navies wanted them! Zheng Zhilong was surprised that the court paid so readily, as he had thought the emperor would renege on his promise.

The trade in silk, porcelain, tea, and sugar is limited. The emperor is worried sick about transport capacity, while these people are worried sick about the goods themselves. Zheng Zhilong has a large and wealthy family, so the probability of his ships being empty is even higher. If he could consistently make money in business, he wouldn't need to resort to outdated methods like kidnapping and extortion. Therefore, this business is still profitable.

The court opposed it, and public sentiment was outraged. Others' arguments also held merit, and Zhu Youjian found it difficult to refute them. Therefore, he did not continue to bring up the matter of selling grain to the Jurchens in court, but he could do it secretly. It wasn't really that easy to starve the Jurchens to death; there were plenty of smugglers. If he couldn't fight them, he could join them; if he couldn't stop them, he could personally intervene.

Rather than letting the Liaoxi military governors and Shanxi merchants profit, it's better to pocket the money themselves. Selling grain carries the suspicion of aiding the enemy, but the profits can be used to develop themselves. Huang Taiji wouldn't care how many slaves starved to death in Liaodong. This isn't just a few percent profit; it's tens or even hundreds of times the profit!
Zhu Youjian wrote to Yuan Keli and Mao Wenlong, telling them to handle the situation and try to raise more money to subsidize the army.

Mao Wenlong was truly astonished. He had been impeached for smuggling more than once or twice, but this time the emperor had given him free rein. He even suspected that someone was forging an imperial edict to find an excuse to kill him.

Yuan Keli also found it absurd, because that had always been their mindset. But upon closer examination, the emperor's idea wasn't entirely without room for maneuver.

They could even go to extremes, like King Goujian of Yue who offered ripe grain to Wu to exhaust them, by poisoning the grain. After all, it's smuggling, it's hostile, so they wouldn't be afraid of the other side getting sick from eating it and coming after them.

Yuan Keli replied to the emperor, reminding him that "the defenses of Jizhou are weak and isolated, and it is advisable to station a large force there." This was something he had already said during a court audience before he came to Liaodong to oversee the region. Unfortunately, at that time, due to lack of funds, nothing could be done. Now that there are some funds available, it is time to consider strengthening the defenses of Jizhou.

Actually, the possibility of the Jurchens bypassing the Yanshan defense line and attacking was not unseen by anyone. During the Tianqi era, the Jurchens launched a probing attack, but it was repelled.

Minister of War Zhu Xieyuan was also aware of the situation, but it was the same problem: the national treasury was empty before, so there was nothing that could be done, and even knowing the situation was powerless. Now that the summer and autumn harvests had filled the treasury, he selected elite troops from various border towns and gradually transferred them to reinforce the Jizhou garrison. Now, the Jizhou garrison has 30,000 troops.

When Zhu Di launched his northern expedition, the Beijing garrison would be sent out for a stroll every few days. Later, when Emperor Daojun was defeated by Altan Khan, he frantically increased the military strength in the capital region. At its most extreme, he once mobilized 240,000 troops to guard the capital.

In contrast, Zhu Youjian was much more open-minded. Apart from his own palace, the entire capital was practically undefended. He even dared to send the only elite troops of the Beijing Garrison out of the pass to fight, because he was certain that his enemy was either within three steps or a thousand miles away, with no middle ground. Three thousand men were enough to deal with these loud but timid officials.

The Ming Dynasty was transparent to the Jurchens. What was discussed in the court would reach Nurhaci and Huang Taiji's desk within a few days. However, the court's understanding of the Jurchens was very limited, and it once relied on the relays of Korean envoys or merchants. Huang Taiji misjudged the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Now that the Ming Dynasty seemed to be doing well, he was anxious.

Originally, he used Amin's defeat at Pi Island and his own victory over the Chahar tribe to increase his prestige and suppress Amin. However, later the Ming Dynasty also defeated Ligdan Khan, and even killed him more ruthlessly. After the Ming court finished fighting, it tried to win him over. Now the Khorchin tribe is not very obedient. They feel that their enemy, the madman who forced them to believe in "Yellow Sect", has been driven away.

After Ligdan Khan's younger brother, Juntu Taiji, succeeded to the Khanate, he converted back to their traditional shamanism and worshipped the Eternal Heaven. They were originally one family, and now there was no reason for them to fight. It could be said that these people were forced to submit to the Jurchens by Ligdan Khan, and now their reasons for submitting were no longer sufficient.

As for marriage alliances, they were merely supplementary clauses to cooperation, never the basis for it. If the Ming emperor hadn't objected, they would have preferred a marriage alliance with him. Huang Taiji wanted to launch a second campaign against the Chahar tribe, but this time the Khorchin tribe refused to follow, as they considered themselves one family with the Chahar.

Seeing Huang Taiji's setback, Amin stood up again. Huang Taiji never had absolute power or enough prestige. Although he was the Khan of the Jianzhou Khanate, the power of the Khanate was shared by the four Beile.

Amin mocked Huang Taiji, saying that if he hadn't been stopped and Huang Taiji had completely conquered Korea, the situation would be completely different now. Huang Taiji could have seized more grain from Korea and traded with the Japanese, engaging in maritime trade. Faced with this predicament, Huang Taiji, after careful consideration, decided to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty!
(End of this chapter)