Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 178 Immovable as a Mountain, Step by Step (Part 1)

Huang Taiji's invasion of Datong was not just for the purpose of entertaining monkeys.

This guy also delivered a large quantity of goods to the eight imperial merchants!

He had robbed countless furs, cattle, sheep, and horses. If they were to be traded in the old way, they would have to be taken to Changbao, north of Zhangjiakou.

Not only does it take eight or nine hundred miles to travel this route, but it's also difficult to make transactions.

The furs they looted alone would require countless horse-drawn carts to haul, along with cattle, sheep, and horses; the city of Zhangjiakou couldn't even hold them all.

Such a big deal would not only waste a lot of manpower and resources on both sides, but also require a lot of money to be bribed to the garrison in Zhangjiakou. They just took the money and turned a blind eye; they're not blind.

They want people to turn a blind eye to all that furs, cattle, sheep, and horses; who knows how much money they'd have to bribe them for that.

Therefore, he simply took the goods and headed south from Guihua City, directly attacking the heart of Datong Town from Pingluwei. The border troops of Datong Town were already so frightened by them that they hid inside the city's fortresses. No one knew how much goods they sent to the eight imperial merchants, saving them the money they had to keep in the dark.

This makes it easier to do big business.

Upon hearing that Huang Taiji had already led his army into the country, Fan Yongdou immediately led a caravan loaded with a large amount of valuable goods and rushed over in person.

At this time, less than a hundred miles north of Shuozhou City, the valley where the former Pinglu Guard Jingping was stationed was already filled with camps and cattle and sheep everywhere.

The border troops stationed at Jingping were already terrified and had fled. The cavalry, carriages, cattle, sheep, and horses brought by Huang Taiji filled the mountain valley within a radius of more than ten miles.

As the sun set, the long procession of carriages from the eight imperial merchants finally emerged from the valley on the eastern side of the mountain.

Fan Yongdou had seen his share of grand occasions, but this was the first time he had ever seen so many cattle, sheep, and horses.

They're going to make a fortune now. The cattle, sheep and horses that Huang Taiji seized are all very cheap. A horse can be exchanged for goods worth five or six taels of silver, a cow for goods worth three or four taels of silver, and several sheep for only one tael of silver.

Their prices are based on market prices, not costs. If they were based on costs, the price would be halved, and the profit margin would be similar to that of overseas trade.

This is also why they disdain overseas trade.

Overseas trade was too troublesome. Not only did it require building a large number of ships, but it also required hiring a large number of pirates, smoothing things over with the Maritime Trade Office, the navy, and the coastal garrison, and it took a lot of time to deliver goods. The costs were extremely high.

It's so convenient for them to do business with the Later Jin. They just need to bribe those corrupt border generals, then they can just send the goods by horse-drawn carriage in a few days. After that, they can just take the valuable goods back with them.

The horses used to pull these carriages can be directly exchanged with the Later Jin, so they only need to build some carriages, which doesn't cost much at all.

As he was wondering how much money he could make on this trip, a troop of cavalrymen in red-edged white armor came to meet him.

The young man leading the group greeted them from afar with a cupped hand, saying, "Uncle Fan, it's been a long time! You've finally arrived."

This young man is Hauge, the eldest son of Huang Taiji. In the Later Jin Khanate, people usually start leading troops into battle at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Hauge is not even twenty yet.

Fan Yongdou repeatedly cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your Highness is too kind. How could I trouble Your Highness to come and greet me personally?"

My father has said it many times: you have to be polite to us.

Hauge returned the greeting with a bow, saying, "Uncle Fan, please come in, please follow me."

After saying that, he turned his horse around and signaled Fan Yongdou to follow.

Fan Yongdou quickly followed him, riding straight towards the Khan's tent.

Huang Taiji was already waiting for him in his tent.

Fan Yongdou strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Greetings, Great Khan."

Huang Taiji nodded slightly, then raised his hand and said kindly, "Yongdou, you've worked hard. Please sit down."

Fan Yongdou quickly sat down cross-legged behind the small table on his left.

Huang Taiji then asked with concern, "Yongdou, you haven't had dinner yet after all this journey, have you?"

I definitely didn't eat it.

Fan Yongdou nodded repeatedly and said, "The Khan summoned me urgently, so I dare not delay. If I stop for dinner, I won't be able to make it today." You businessmen certainly know how to talk.

Huang Taiji nodded slightly and said, "Yes, that's perfect. I haven't had a chance to eat either. Bring on some grilled meat skewers."

Soon, someone brought in two large plates of fragrant grilled meat skewers.

Huang Taiji didn't bother with formalities. He picked up a large bunch of meat and said, "Come on, Yongdou, have a taste. It's all freshly slaughtered beef and mutton, with cumin and spice powder added. It's pretty good."

After saying that, he immediately started playing.

Upon hearing this, Fan Yongdou quickly picked up a skewer and began to savor it.

I must say, the aroma is so enticing, it makes you want to stomp your feet.

So delicious.

Legend has it that these kebabs were specially devised by Huang Taiji to reward his troops.

This doesn't mean that all kebabs were invented by Huang Taiji, but rather that this kind of kebab that smells so good it makes you want to stomp your feet was invented by Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji ate several skewers and felt a bit full before calmly asking, "So, Yongdou, what has your young emperor been busy with lately?"

Our little emperor is like he's mentally ill!
Fan Yongdou explained in detail: "I heard from my master that the young emperor doesn't care about anything else, he just focuses on building ships, factories, cloth, silk, porcelain, glass, mirrors and the like in the capital, and he's really into it."

They initially thought the young emperor was just as amusing as Tianqi, but who would have thought that the young emperor would quietly seize all the overseas trade?

Now, the Imperial Treasury will probably earn twenty to thirty million taels of silver every year. Our young emperor is extremely wealthy and doesn't even care about the meager tax revenue from the Ministry of Revenue.

Did the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty have time to engage in overseas trade?
Upon hearing this, Huang Taiji frowned slightly and said, "Didn't you say last time that you wanted to let those rebels cause some trouble? Didn't the rebels cause any trouble?"

Sigh, our little emperor is really out of his mind!

Fan Yongdou shook his head slightly and sighed, "How could there not be trouble? Gao Yingxiang led more than 100,000 troops to Guangping Prefecture in Beizhili, and Zhang Xianzhong also led more than 100,000 troops to Luzhou Prefecture in Nanzhili."

The problem is, our young emperor just doesn't care about these rebels. On Gao Yingxiang's side, our young emperor only mobilized more than 100,000 troops from the Beijing garrison to block them. On Zhang Xianzhong's side, our young emperor only mobilized dozens of warships and more than 10,000 musketeers to block them in the river.

Once Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong fled back to Shanxi and Henan, our young emperor abandoned them and didn't even bother to mobilize a large army to suppress them.

Your little emperor is truly a bit unpredictable.

However, the Ming army's musketeers were truly formidable.

Huang Taiji nodded slowly and said, "Your young emperor has more and more musketeers under his command. We need to make more cotton armor and cast more cannons to defend against this kid. You need to send us more pig iron."

You still want to forge cannons?
Upon hearing this, Fan Yongdou pondered, "We don't lack pig iron, but it takes too many horse-drawn carts to transport it. I wonder how many horses the Khan will give us in return this time?"

I knew you guys needed a Malaysian to pull a cart.

Without hesitation, Huang Taiji said, "I have prepared 10,000 strong and good horses for you, which is enough for pulling your carts. The key is that you must find a way to mobilize troops from the capital and even Liaodong, otherwise the situation will be too unfavorable for us."

It's not that we haven't tried to find a solution.

The problem is, our little emperor is like someone with a screw loose, he just won't take the bait.

Upon hearing this, Fan Yongdou cautiously said, "Great Khan, our master has come up with a new method this time. Why don't you take your men and wander around Datong Town a bit more and wait a while?"

You want me to keep performing like a monkey, right?

Sure, I don't have anything else to do these days anyway.

Huang Taiji nodded slightly and said, "Well, then I'll wander around here a bit more. You should also think of some ways to deal with the rebels."

This is a series of elaborate schemes. Once our young emperor falls into the trap, the rebels will cause him unbearable trouble.

(End of this chapter)