I

The sixth year of the beginning of the Republic of China, 4344 in the lunar calendar, and 1647 in the AD.

As soon as the Korean envoys left in Kaichun, the envoys of the Yeerqiang Khanate arrived. These guys from Xinjiang set off in May last year and arrived in Nanjing after walking for more than half a year.

They came not only to pay tribute, but also to do business.

The tea-horse trade with China has always been regarded as the "golden road" by the Yeerqiang Khanate. Whoever dares to block this golden road will be attacked by the Khanate, and even if he can't win, he will have to fight hard.

Since Daming is dead, then establish diplomatic relations with Datong.

The Zun Datong New Dynasty was the suzerain state, and paid tribute once every two or three years, and received some silk and other rewards by the way. The tribute trade is still secondary, what is really important is the tea horse trade, exchanging Xinjiang horses for tea in the pass!

Ma Hemu was a diplomat of Shihaul, the Yeerqiang Kingdom.

He escorted hundreds of camels and many special products from Xinjiang. Half of the camels were tribute, and the remaining half were vehicles, carrying goods rewarded by the Chinese emperor back home.

As early as the Wanli period, the Yeerqiang Khanate stopped paying tribute and did business directly with the frontier army and merchants in Gansu.

This time the tribute was resumed because the tea horse trade was cut off, the Datong Army no longer bought Xinjiang horses, and the Han merchants did not buy horses either—horses that qualified for size would be forcibly purchased by the imperial court, and coupled with the long distance, they could not make any money at all. to what money.

In northern China, people's livelihood is in decline, and Ma Hemu thinks it's nothing more than that.

When they arrived in Henan, they gradually became prosperous. Entering Anhui and Jiangsu, Mahemu became more and more shocked. Arriving in Yangzhou, Ma Hemu was so frightened by the bustling city that he couldn't speak.

Nanjing is like a kingdom of heaven.

When Ma Hemu walked in the Forbidden City, he thought of King Khan's palace and felt like a little country lord.

"Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor of Shang Kingdom!"

Ma Hemu knelt down on his knees, this was his voluntary, originally he only had to bend down to salute. Not only did he kneel down, but he also dropped his body to the ground, so that he could show a gesture of surrender.

"Excuse me, and give me a seat." Zhao Han enjoyed the feeling of all nations coming to court.

Mahemu Xie En sat down.

Zhao Han said softly, "Your Chinese is pretty good."

Ma Hemu said: "There are often Han merchants who come to Yeerqiang to do business. I used to be a merchant and came from a poor background. Because I did a good job in business and could speak Chinese, I was awarded the title of Shihaul by the Sudan of our country. The official position of Haul is responsible for dealing with other countries."

Zhao Han immediately sensed something was wrong: "In this Ye'erqiang country, can a businessman with a low background be an official?"

Ma Hemu replied: "The sultan is a wise monarch. He appointed civil servants to replace local lords. Officials of the Khan court, regardless of their origin, can be officials if they are capable."

Another mighty king!

Zhao Han inquired carefully, Ma Hemu answered patiently, and finally asked about the situation: the Yeerqiang Khanate is in its heyday.

When the Yeerqiang Kingdom was first established, it was a nomadic country, and everything was Mongolian. Gradually began to live in animal husbandry, and then developed into agriculture and animal husbandry, and the manor economy and commercial trade became the country's leading. Local power is controlled by Burke (similar to the governor), and Sudan is short of recruiting soldiers, because the population is also controlled by Burke.

Now this Abdullah Khan subdues local forces by force and replaces local lords with civil servants. Those who were disobedient were thrown on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Many died on the way back and forth, and those who were able to return happened to die of illness.

Even his own son was pushed out of the center of power and sent to Kashgar to be the governor.

Of course, it is this operation that will capsize Abdullah Khan in the gutter.

In the near future, the son will return from Kashgar, forcing his old father to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and die of illness in the capital of India on the way back. As for the Yeerqiang Kingdom, it fell into a split, with the Black Mountain faction and the Baishan faction acting independently.

The Black Mountain Sect and the White Mountain Sect belong to the Sufi sect in Islam.

The Sufis in Ottoman and Persia were crazily suppressed by the rulers. Most of the Persian female slaves sold to China were followers of the Sufis.

But in the Mughal Empire of India, Sufism was the state religion.

The second Mughal emperor, who was killed by an Afghan general, fled to Persia. It was with the support of the Sufis that he was able to restore his country.

The Yaerqiang Khanate in Xinjiang also had Sufis as the state religion.

However, the Sufi sect in Xinjiang split into two sects, the Montenegro and the Baishan. At this time, the Yeerqiang Kingdom belonged to the Montenegro Dynasty.

Abdullah Khan drove his son to Kashgar, and his son took the opportunity to support the local Baishan faction. Then he united with the lost nobles, raised troops under the banner of religion, and successfully drove the old father to Mecca for pilgrimage, and then established the Baishan Dynasty.

Success is also religion, and failure is also religion.

The old father was expelled by religious forces, all the reforms of the old father were over, and the nobles failed to regain power. Instead, the head of the sect became the local power. Therefore, the Baishan Dynasty is also known as the era of Hezhuo (Prophet) rule.

The large and small Hezhuo rebellions suppressed by the Qing Dynasty were all Hezhuo of the Baishan faction.

Historically, Zhungeer was able to destroy the Yeerqiang Khanate because of the religious division within the Yeerqiang. Zhungeer first supported the Montenegro faction and raised troops to attack the Baishan faction. After the victory, he killed the Yeerqiang Sultan, allowing the Baishan faction and the Montenegro faction to continue to fight and consume.

"Your Majesty, please resume the tea-horse trade!" Ma Hemu said.

Zhao Han nodded and said, "Since my Datong court is the suzerain, the trade between the two countries should resume naturally."

Ma Hemu was overjoyed: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Zhao Han picked up the jade seeds on the desk and played with them: "Kunshan jade is pretty good, and you can send more tributes in the future."

"Follow the order!" Ma Hemu was even more happy.

Kunshan jade is Hetian jade, which has been famous all over the world as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties. But the Kunshan jade at that time was produced in the Qilian Mountains and had nothing to do with Hotan, Xinjiang.

Hetian jade was developed in the Ming Dynasty, and it was sold under the guise of Kunshan jade from Qilian Mountains.

Gold grows in Lishui, and jade grows in Kungang.

Kunshan jade is sought after by literati, not only for its quality, but also for its rich cultural connotations.

Emperor Zhao praised the quality of Hetian jade, which is equivalent to rectifying the name of Hetian jade, and there is no need to pretend to be Qilianshan jade in the future. That is: Hetian jade in Xinjiang is also a decent Kunshan jade, and it is also something worn by gentlemen.

Ma Hemu estimated that he had read many classics of the Han family, and Emperor Zhao knew them all.

This guy is a businessman himself. After returning to Xinjiang, he plans to immediately take out all his property, buy as much as he can, and sell it to Datong to make a fortune.

Ma Hemu thanked En and left the palace, waiting for the gift from the court.

The Datong New Dynasty will definitely not be taken advantage of. As much as the vassal state pays, it will basically give back as much, and it will keep some profits.

Of the two boxes of Hetian jade, one box was retained by the royal family, and the other box was thrown to the imperial court department for auction.

Government auctions are definitely prone to corruption, and private merchants make profits based on their connections.

But it doesn’t work without an auction. For example, this time the Yeerqiang Kingdom paid tribute to dozens of camels in addition to Hetian jade and other special products.

In Daming, there is a royal zoo, and camels can be raised. The giraffes, elephants, tigers, leopards inside... Most of them are tribute from the vassal state. Some animals were even raised from Zhu Di's time until the end of Ming Dynasty, and their children and grandchildren had no worries about food and clothing.

This way of feeding costs a lot of money and food, not only to raise animals, but also to support the breeders.

Sometimes there are more breeders than animals!

Outside Nanjing, the commercial, financial and diplomatic departments jointly held a tribute auction.

"Camels from the Western Regions start at ten taels per head, and the first batch of ten will be auctioned. This material is powerful enough to walk, and it can withstand heat and thirst when on the road..."

"I pay eleven taels!"

"I'll pay eleven and a half dollars!"

"I'm out..."

Ma Hemu looked at the auction scene dumbfounded, and the tribute was actually sold just like that. This is different from what he read in the book. The book said that the Chinese emperor was very generous, and the tribute trade would definitely make a lot of money.

"This is the Kunshan jade produced in Hetian in the Western Regions. Regardless of whether it is beautiful or not, His Majesty likes it very much. For this tribute, His Majesty wants nothing else but a box of Kunshan jade..."

The emperor likes it?

The merchants suddenly laughed, this can be used as a publicity stunt, and some guys have already made up their minds to go to Xinjiang to buy goods.

With the favor of Emperor Zhao and the cultural connotation of jade coming out of Kungang, the price of Hetian jade in Xinjiang will definitely rise. This is what Zhao Han wants to see. After all, Xinjiang is too remote and there is not much land that can grow food. There must be some treasures worth sending troops to.

If you want to go to Myanmar in the future, you can fry jadeite first.

Jade these days is nothing more than broken stones. It was only introduced to China at the end of Ming Dynasty, and now it is only accepted by a few people.

Of course, Myanmar is not easy to play.

It is easy to win a few battles. If you want to occupy the whole of Myanmar, it may not be easier than completely destroying the Qing Dynasty.

It is not only a matter of terrain and climate. At this time, Myanmar is called Toungoo, which belongs to the hegemony level of Southeast Asia and is the strongest feudal dynasty in Myanmar's history. Moreover, like the Yeerqiang Kingdom, it is now ruled by a wise monarch and belongs to the heyday of the strongest dynasty.

The king of Burma called Talong, similar to Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty.

His father, Anabilon, was in charge of war and expansion, a bit like Kangxi's case. Not only recovered all the lost land, but also recovered the Portuguese colonies, and greatly increased the country's land area.

After he succeeded to the throne, he immediately stopped the war, conducted a census, registered households, reformed the tax system, and distributed idle land to farmers.

Of course, prosperity must decline, and the next successor will soon be obsessed with pleasure, fatuous and incompetent.

"I pay eighty taels!"

"Eighty-five taels!"

"..."

The auction of Hetian jade is still in progress, and this thing will be fired up in the future.

When merchants are frantic, what should the common people do?

Inside and outside Nanjing, tens of thousands of urban residents have immigrated in recent years. As long as beggars dare to take to the streets and are not severely disabled, they must be listed as immigrants and thrown to the north to slowly farm. The lower class citizens, who have also been immigrated in large numbers, have almost wiped out the unemployed group.

Ma Hemu is walking on the streets of Nanjing. He will go back and report to Sudan that there are no poor people in China's capital. Even coolies on the wharf can afford noodles, which is unimaginable in Yeerqiang.

This country is not to be messed with, so let's engage in trade in peace and security from now on.

(Let me take another chapter to sort out my thoughts. Today, Kawen ran to read a novel, Xiaobaiwen, and he was fascinated by it all at once. The title of the book is "Three Hundred Years of Immortal Cultivation and Suddenly Discovered to be a Martial Arts".)