choke element

Chapter 293

"Six died the day before yesterday, and 25 died yesterday; there was another armed fight this morning, and more than a dozen died." Yila Chucai was very calm: "It has been chaotic for several days, tomorrow at the latest, it is time to come out." It worked out."

"These sea merchants are indeed fierce and rebellious. But, Jinqing, are you just watching?"

"Otherwise?" Yila Chucai picked up the cup on the table and took a sip of light wine: "These people are not the people under Ding Haijun's rule. Only then can we arrange a meeting... Don't worry Jie Shuai, we will talk tomorrow!"

"I see." Guo Ning nodded slightly.

When Yila Chucai first defected to Guo Ning, he was still a little bookish.But in the past few months, he has been exposed to more and more practical affairs and encountered more and more difficulties. When each difficulty was finally resolved, Yila Chucai became an increasingly calm and sophisticated people in power.

The strategy of Ding Hai's foothold in Shandong is largely based on the calculations of Guo Ning and Yila Chucai.Among them, Guo Ning focuses on the judgment of the general direction, while Yila Chucai is responsible for the specific implementation of the plan.

In the past few months, the military and agricultural aspects of the Ding Navy have already seen initial results, relying on the implementation of the military household shady household system.Excluding the genus of mulberry and hemp, under the direct control of the military government, military households are responsible for planting wheat, millet, bean, and beans with more than 170 million mu of land. In addition, there are more than ten pastures and pastures for growing alfalfa and horse feed.

Relying on the low-cost advantage brought by a large number of refugees, the military government used the method of labor relief to dispatch civilians, repaired more than [-] water conservancy facilities in time, and bore water to irrigate thousands of hectares of fields.

If there is no large-scale drought, such large-scale reclamation and cultivation will inevitably bring a bumper harvest on the day of autumn harvest.Once the grain production is effective, there will be a source of land rent and taxation, and the army will also have a foothold.

Now that agriculture has stabilized, the next thing to pay attention to is business.

Ding Haijun was able to gain a foothold quickly, firstly by robbing the local powerful clan in Laizhou, and secondly by kidnapping the fourth prince Tuo Lei and blackmailing the Mongolian army, but these two things did not last long.

If a regime wants to gain a firm foothold, it cannot rely on looting alone.What's the difference between that and a bandit?
Guo Ning strives for strong soldiers, strong armor and sharp blades, let alone relying on the artisans controlled by himself.The military government takes care of everything, big and small, and it must not be able to manage it.

Therefore, besides workers and peasants, commerce is indispensable.

In this regard, the three states of Denglai controlled by Guo Ning have inherent advantages.

For hundreds of years, the Shandong area, especially the eastern coastal area of ​​Shandong, has been one of the transshipment centers of trade in various countries.

For example, when King Kong was rising, he traded horses with the Song Dynasty, and the port where the horses were transferred was in Laizhou. Today, many of the pastures that Guo Ning set up in Laizhou are relics from that year.

For another example, in the early years of trade between Goryeo and Song, the largest trading port was Laizhou.Later, the territory of the Song Dynasty was reduced to the south of the Yangtze River, and the ports of trade between the two parties also moved southward. However, the ports in the three states of Denglai were still the places where the fleet must pass through for supplies.

During the decades of peace between the Jin and Song Dynasties, Jiaoxi Market in Mizhou was the most important maritime trade hub between the two countries.The special products of the Song Dynasty were continuously imported from Mingzhou, Yuezhou and other places, and merchants made huge profits here. Dajin's annual income in this market is as high as 15 to 20 guan.

Generally speaking, the commodities traded by the Song state in the Southern Dynasties included tea, spices, silk fabrics, medicinal materials, kapok, ivory, etc., while the merchants in the Jin state exchanged horses, furs, ginseng, and northern pearls.

Under special circumstances, such as a catastrophe in the Song and Jin Dynasties, or a country that adjusted the price of salt, grain and salt would also become lucrative commodities.

Of course, food and salt must be smuggled.The scale of private smuggling business must also be larger than that of official channels, which is a matter of course.

In the Mizhou area, the imperial court counted on the Jiaoxi market to grind their teeth and suck blood to supplement the increasingly embarrassing center, so they often dispatched capable officials to crack down on smuggling.As a result, Song's sea smuggling fleet continued to move northward.

As far as Guo Ning and Yila Chucai have found out, there are many private ports in the three prefectures of Denglai from the coast to the north, from Jimo County in Laizhou to Mouping and Wendeng counties in Ninghai Prefecture, and then to Penglai County in Dengzhou. The private ports of Laizhou Sanshan Port and Haicang Town also rely on private smuggling trade to collect money.

However, the private port itself does not receive much money.They can't collect taxes, at most they rely on supplementary drinking water to get some bits and pieces of benefits.The Jurchen Muke Aluhan, the subordinate of Xu Xuan, the secretary of affairs, used to dominate Haicang Town and the private port, but he was still poor in the end.

So, where did the money go?Who earned it?
In the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, the relatively large-scale smuggling fleets were all standing behind big figures unknown to outsiders.They made a lot of money.

The same is true for the Kingdom of Jin. Almost all the fleets that obtain supplies from private ports along the coast of Shandong and then transfer them to Zhongdu for sale belong to the giant merchants in Zhigu Village.Behind the giant businessman, there are noble people with big gold standing.They also made money.

Fortunately, most of the giant merchants in Zhigu Village now maintain a good relationship with Ding Haijun. When Zhigu Village faced the threat of the Mongolian army, some merchants even chose to go south to Shandong for refuge.

After Guo Ning took control of the salt fields in the three states of Denglai, he could even get a share of the smuggling of grain and salt by virtue of local production.

Previously, taking advantage of Hu Shahu's rebellion and the death of the clan kings one after another, Guo Ning had done a lot of harm in Zhigu Village.The fleets owned by many giant merchants are now controlled by Guo Ning.

Those fleets, which were originally used by Guo Ning to transport troops and refugees, once went deep into Jinan Prefecture along the Xiaoqing River.At this time, the boatmen can finally return to their old jobs and travel to and from the waters between Zhongdu and Shandong.

Recently, I heard that the Mongolian army has been stationed under the city of Zhongdu for more than four months. It is gradually showing that the veterans of the division are tired, and they have begun to gradually withdraw their troops to the grassland.

As soon as the Mongols left, the business of Daxing Mansion in the central capital and even the entire Dajin would soon resume.Those nobles who were trapped in the city and terrified for a long time probably also wanted to spend a retaliatory consumption.

According to the customs of maritime trade, when the southeast wind blows in early summer every year, it is the time when the fleet of the Song people in the Southern Dynasty began to go north.And in March and April, merchants came to Shandong Qianzhan to make preliminary preparations for the transaction.

Therefore, in the past half a month, many nobles in Zhongdu have used various channels to ask Ding Haijun about the deal.

The Ding Navy is naturally positive about this.

This is not only out of the military government's goal of making money and prospering the place.From the perspective of the external environment, Guo Ning was completely acting like a traitor in Shandong. The matter of beheading Shandong's inspector Ao Tun Zhongxiao and the interview with Yang An'er had already spread to Zhongdu.Why until now, the Central Capital has turned a blind eye?
Of course, there are sighs of being beyond reach, and difficulties that have to be tolerated.Another important reason is that there are too many people who make money from coastal smuggling.

As long as Dinghai can guarantee everyone's fortune, it doesn't matter if everyone keeps their eyes open for some things.Over the years, there have been more than one incidents where the eyes of the court were opened and closed.

At the end of February, Yira Chucai sent people to many private ports in Sanzhou to issue a statement, inviting businessmen who were originally scattered everywhere to go to Sanshan Port to meet the new host.

Once we get to know each other well, we can make a fortune hand in hand.Secondly, Ding Haijun is a big merchant in Zhigu Village, so there is no need for him to run around in various private ports to act as thieves like in the past; when it comes to business negotiations, he can put it under the city of Laizhou and talk openly.

These smugglers all came from the Southern Song Dynasty, but they were not in the same group.They are not good men and women, they used to be scattered in various private harbors, but now they are gathered in one place, and they are constantly in conflict with each other.Yesterday, there was a fierce fight, and someone set fire to the boat, causing several military forts in the surrounding area to be on alert, and troops were sent to suppress it.

The dispatch of the army caught Guo Ning's attention. Today he came here to take a look. He also wanted to urge Chucai to urge the merchants to stop quickly so that everyone can make money.

Hearing from Chucai Yisa, Guo Ning was very happy to start formal negotiations tomorrow.

Then he asked again: "Then, last time we talked about, we need to find a usable one among the maritime merchants of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty... Can Jinqing gain anything?"

"I didn't see any suitable ones at first, but after the sea merchants have been fighting each other for the past two days, I have someone to choose. What about Jieshuai? We have to pick out the available people?"

"Yes, yes. In the next few days, it will be decided."

(End of this chapter)