The price of horses has not yet reached its peak. The court has increased the number of horses purchased from Right Mongolia, and a number of corrupt officials have been severely punished, which has reduced the price of horses to below fifteen taels.
With the recovery of Guangning, border trade between the left-wing Mongolian tribes will resume, and the prices of horses, cattle and sheep will be lowered again, which is also a good thing for the Ming Dynasty.
The best war horses are a little more expensive and are used by flying cavalry; the requirements for dragoons are not high, as long as they can be ridden to travel; ordinary pack horses can also be used for baggage and artillery carts.
If the Ming Dynasty estimated the value of silk, cloth, iron pots, and even mirrors and traded them with cattle and horses, it would be a sure win.
But the Mongols did not think they were at a disadvantage. These were necessities of life for them, and in their eyes, cattle, horses, and sheep were not that valuable.
Therefore, opening a horse market was a win-win situation, as both sides benefited from it. Although the Ming Dynasty held the initiative and often used it as an economic tool to coerce the Mongol tribes, closing the horse market would undoubtedly anger the Mongols.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce is obviously somewhat prejudiced against the situation of the Mongolian tribes, believing that high-end luxury goods are not suitable for them and that daily necessities are the mainstream.
But they obviously underestimated the wealth of the Mongolian nobles. They could drive over hundreds of cattle and horses without causing any harm, so what was wrong with buying a big mirror?
Poverty limits people's imagination, and this statement applies equally to ancient and modern times.
For an ordinary person who could earn twenty taels of silver a year, he was already considered well-off; but those rich and powerful who lived a carefree life in brothels spent money without batting an eyelid.
Dong Xiaoyuan's redemption fee was three thousand taels of silver, equivalent to more than 1.8 million yuan; Chen Yuanyuan asked for ten taels of silver for a song, which was 6,000 yuan; and in the end, she was bought out by the father-in-law of the emperor for 50,000 taels of silver, and this was a preferential price given to the emperor's relatives!
The Mongolian Taiji ordered his followers to go back and sell the cattle and horses at market prices, exchange them for silver dollars, and buy the mirror, and there were still two heavy bags of silver dollars left!
The manager's eyes widened. He had never imagined that Mongolians could buy something so high-end. He had to report this immediately and try to get a few more delivered before the next market opening.
I made at least 150 or 160 silver dollars from just this mirror. What a bargain! How much less profitable was it than selling silk, cloth, iron pots, etc.?
"We can afford it." Bumbutai quietly moved over, looked in the mirror, and quickly retreated. After being surprised, she curled her lips and said something deliberately angry, "Look at how arrogant that guy is. He looks like a big fool."
Hailanzhu smiled, took the girl's hand and walked forward, worried that she would act alone again.
Dalhan followed, sighed, opened his mouth, but said nothing.
The sisters' father, Buhegui, was a Beile of the Khorchin tribe and held the title of Zaisang, which was equivalent to a prime minister. Such a position naturally meant a great fortune.
At that time, the taiji in the Mongolian tribes were nobles, equivalent to lords. In addition to military service, herders had to pay them livestock and livestock products, and undertake various chores.
In addition to these incomes, the Mongol taijis also received rewards from the Ming Dynasty. Using rewards to control chieftains and manage the Mongols was a consistent policy of the Ming court, and it was very attractive to the Mongol nobles.
Of course, to receive the reward, there were not only quotas but also the obligation to abide by the agreement with the Ming court. The reward was usually given in the form of silver, cloth, rice, etc., and the recipients included various Mongolian nobles such as the chieftains, taijis, tangbulangs, and bijis.
It can be seen that the political system of the Mongolian tribes is quite similar to the chieftain system. The lowest-level herdsmen, whether they are free people, subjects, or slaves, are forced to stay in designated pastures, are ruled by nobles at all levels, and are subjected to layers of exploitation and enslavement.
For ordinary herdsmen, let alone mirrors, even essential daily necessities are carefully calculated and they dare not easily waste the horses, cattle and sheep they have raised with great effort.
Iron pots are a must-buy, cloth comes second, and tea and salt come third; silk and porcelain are what the nobles can afford; as for food, the Ming Dynasty sells it uniformly according to tribes, with a fixed quantity, and individuals are not allowed to sell it.
Despite the various regulations and restrictions, the Mongols were quite satisfied with the horse trade. The reason was that the prices were fair, much more affordable than previous mutual trade.
The Mongols found it a good deal, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce profited, and the imperial court reaped the greatest benefits. All three parties were satisfied, with the only ones likely to resent it being the Shanxi merchants who had previously monopolized border trade.
It was also because the imperial court was too relaxed about border trade and left it all to the Shanxi merchants to monopolize. Not only was the imperial court's tax revenue low, but the Shanxi merchants cheated the Mongols and made dirty money, which also caused resentment and dissatisfaction among the Mongols.
It is still run by businessmen, but the supervision and control are now stronger than ever. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce dares not evade taxes and often responds to calls to contribute to the court.
At the same time, this also prevented officials from intervening in border trade and engaging in corruption. Gao Huai's rebellion against Liao, for example, stirred up ethnic conflicts during border trade, leading to serious consequences.
Profiting from border trade and maintaining peace on the border were not the only goals. The more long-term plan was to attract impoverished Mongolian herders to naturalize and unite the various Mongolian tribes to divide and rule them.
While others took one step at a time, Zhu Youxiao took one step at a time and looked three steps ahead. He was already planning the political and military direction after the pacification of Liaodong.
If you do business in a good way according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, peace will naturally continue; if you are greedy, we can beat you to a pulp even if we want to.
After the Liao Dynasty was pacified, the more severe the attack of mad cow disease on Lindan Khan became, the better, as it was just the right help for the Ming Dynasty to deal with the nomadic peoples.
Of course, few people knew about the Emperor’s ambitions, and even fewer knew that the Little Ice Age was a fatal blow to the northern nomadic peoples.
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