I

  Chapter 783 780【Rise of Khalkha Mongolia】

  Fei Ruhe returned to Beijing to report on his duties, with three hundred soldiers by his side.

  After a few years, Fei Ruhe was quite moved to experience the prosperity and prosperity of the south again.

  He had been stationed in Datong before. Although people's livelihood recovered rapidly, compared with the areas south of the Yellow River, the population was still too sparse. After all, Shanxi had been in a drought for ten years and was repeatedly ravaged by bandits from the Northwest, officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and Manchurian Tartars.

  Hearing that Xu Ying was in charge of Jiangsu, Fei Ruhe stopped in Yangzhou.

  The guards were not allowed to enter the city at will, and the soldiers were left stationed outside the city. Fei Ruhe only brought a few personal guards into the city.

  Xu Ying heard that Fei Ruhe was coming, so she hurried to meet him, and the two met on the street.

   "Haha, Lao Xu, you have become a great official of the frontier." Fei Ruhe laughed before he got close.

  Xu Ying smiled and said jokingly: "You are a general who leads the army. On the way to report on your duties, you will meet with a provincial chief in private. You will be impeached in the Ming Dynasty."

   "Whoever wants to impeach, let him impeach. I can't even come to see my old friends?" Fei Ruhe didn't care about that.

   This guy has been in Shanxi for several years, and he belongs to the absolute emperor of the land. Local officials worship him as an ancestor. His temper must have grown, and he was not afraid of anything, and even wrote a letter to ask a brother of his family to go to the border of Shanxi to start a fur business.

   Violation, but not illegal.

  He did not use his soldiers to do business, and he paid taxes normally. But his clan brother was able to prosper in business, and he had to borrow Fei Ruhe's power and influence.

   This is very similar to Gan Tangshu letting her in-laws run a business, the difference is that Gan Tangshu has illegal operations attached to it.

For example, colluded with the Jiangsu Salt Affairs Department to close down a Shanxi salt merchant, and then transferred the Shanxi salt merchant’s salt sales license to his in-laws at a super low price (there are quotas for salt industry licenses in each province, and the approval of the Ministry of Commerce is required to issue additional licenses. Cabinet signature). Moreover, his in-laws did not have a transport fleet, so it was impossible to meet the qualifications for salt transportation. At the beginning, they had to hire a transport team from outside.

  Fei Ruhe was much smarter. He didn't touch the Yanzheng, nor did he touch the Tianzheng.

   Don't underestimate the fur business, it's very profitable!

  In the Ming Dynasty, high-grade furs were considered luxury goods. In particular, the fur of sable, sea otter, and lynx is forbidden for common people to enjoy. The Ming court reiterated the ban four times. It wasn't until the Longqing period that leather goods from the grasslands increased due to the tribute paid by Alta, and the price dropped slightly, but the rebellion of the Tartars caused the price of leather to skyrocket.

  Even now that Mongolia and Northeast trade routes have been opened, and the price of fur goods continues to drop, if you want to buy a piece of sable fur in Nanjing, the price is at least three hundred taels or more. Excellent quality sable fur can easily cost five hundred taels, and it is possible to sell for thousands of taels of silver, and even if you have money, you may not be able to buy it.

  The bulk of the fur trade is still dominated by sheepskin, and the amount of precious fur caught is too small.

  In order to make up for the gap in the market for high-end goods, many Mongolian tribes racked their brains and focused on the most vicious cat in the world—the cat cat.

  In the past few years, the price of the fur of rabbit cats has also been raised, and the price starts at least two hundred taels of silver when transported to Nanjing.

  In addition, Taiwan Island and Hainan Island, the fur trade is also extremely prosperous. Taiwan sika deer, Qiongzhou Eld's deer, have been hunted in large numbers. In later generations, this is an act of destroying the ecology, but in today's world it is beneficial to the development of the frontier.

  For example, the capital of Heilongjiang has not yet been established, and merchants are the first to respond. Because the most precious fur can be obtained in the Heilongjiang and Songhua River basins, and the sable and sea otter skins come from there. Well-informed businessmen have already gathered in Liaoning, just waiting to follow the army to Harbin to open a trading post.

  Walking all the way to the back house of the chief secretary's yamen, Fei Ruhe called someone to fetch a gift: "This is agate (rabbit cat) fur, for my younger brothers and sisters."

  Xu Ying glanced at it. This fur is extremely exquisite. It needs at least three pieces of rabbit skin to make, and the labor cost will not be cheap. The price in the southern region must exceed one thousand taels. He quickly waved his hand and said, "The gift is too expensive, I can't accept it."

Fei Ruhe smiled and said: "I heard that you became the official butcher of Jiangsu before you arrived in Yangzhou. What are you afraid of? When I return to Nanjing, I will give His Majesty a gift list. Let His Majesty take a look at which ones you choose. Don’t worry, I won’t cause trouble for you. Old friends can’t give gifts when they meet?”

  Xu Ying still shook her head: "I accept the favor, but the gift cannot be accepted."

   "You people are really boring!"

  Fei Ruhe murmured, and did not treat himself as an outsider, walked into the living room and sat down.

  Xu Ying personally made tea for Fei Ruhe and asked, "Is the situation outside the Great Wall unstable?"

Fei Ruhe said: "There is nothing on the Shanshan side. Li Zicheng is fighting with other ministries. Across the Gobi desert, the Khalkha Mongolia in the north of the desert can't fight. The northern grasslands of Hebei and Liaoning, let's call it Modong Mongolia, are now But it was very lively, Khalkha Mongols called."

   "The Mongols in Mobei have the strength to go south?" Xu Ying was quite surprised.

Fei Ruhe said: "Monan and Modong Mongolian tribes were divided and ruled by the Manchurian Tartars, and now they have fought against each other for many years. The Tartars control. The seven tribes of Khalkha, originally headed by the Tuxietu tribe, and the Chechen tribe were hit hard by the Tartars. Tuxietu Khan Gonpo took the opportunity to annex the Chechen tribe, and surrendered the other six tribes by force. Unify Mobei After that, Gonpo expanded to the east and south."

   "In the east, Gonpo annexed Alukorqin (the Hulunbuir area)."

   "In the south, the Bahrain Department has been annexed, and the Jalut Department is also under attack. Jalut Mongolia has been fighting with Horqin, and under the enemy's back, it simply surrendered to Gonpo."

  Mobei Mongolia can be roughly understood as Outer Mongolia.

  During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian left wing of Khalkha moved southward to the Xilamulun River Basin in the Daxingan Mountains, known as the "Five Divisions of Nekhka". After years of melee, there are now only two parts left in Bahrain and Zarut. Among them, the territory of the Bahrain Department can reach as far south as Chifeng, which already borders Datong China. And the territory of Zalut Mongolia is already adjacent to Tongliao in the south and borders Horqin Mongolia.

   During the Jiajing period, the Khalkha right wing who stayed in Mobei gradually unified the entire Outer Mongolia region. And distributed to seven sons to govern, called "Seven Divisions of Wai Khalkha".

  Now, Tuxietu Khan Gonpo, the leader of the seven tribes of Wai Khalkha, took advantage of the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the gap between the Datong Army's northward march, and has begun to expand frantically. Inner Kalkha Mongolia, with only two tribes left, was already besieged by other tribes, so they simply turned around and joined Gonbu's command. Anyway, they were a family a hundred years ago.

Fei Ruhe continued: "Gunpo was still a little afraid of things, so he took the initiative to condemn the envoy to go south, asking for the canonization of the Emperor of Datong. But the envoy walked halfway, and Gonpo died of illness. He died on the way to conquer Nenghorqin. His son Chahunduo Erji succeeded to the throne, proclaimed himself 'Waqilai Tushetu Khan with both faith and strength', threatened to avenge his father, and said that he would be the Great Khan of all Mongolia."

   "Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers." Xu Ying commented.

  Although the old Khan Gonpo of Khalkha Mongolia is expanding aggressively, he still knows fear in his heart. When it was about to border on China's territory, an envoy was immediately sent to request canonization.

  But this new Khan, Chahun Dorji, is purely a stunned young man, who doesn't take China seriously at all, and directly shouts that he will be the sweat of all Mongolia. Based on this slogan, China must also send troops to fight!

  However, then again, Khalkha’s new Khan, Chahundorji, is indeed very capable in military affairs.

  Historically, among so many sons of Kangxi, only one was given a Mongolian name. It was also named by Da Yuer himself, Aixinjueluo Saiyinchahun. Saiin is the religious khan name of Chahun Dorje, and Chahun comes directly from Chahun Dorje's name. Da Yuer had two intentions in doing this. One was to hope that his grandson could be as strong as Chahun Dorji, and the other was to remind Kangxi to be vigilant against the expansion of Chahun Dorji.

  Fei Ruhe said: "I'm going back to Beijing to report on my duties this time to discuss the use of troops on the grasslands. Not only do I need to fight wars, but I also need to appease the various ministries. I need to send many envoys to the north."

  The expansion of Khalkha Mongolia has been stuck in the Yinshan line in the west, and it has almost reached Chifeng and Tongliao in the east. In any case, the court cannot sit idly by.

  Fei Ruhe said again: "This Khalkha Mongol has colluded with Luocha ghosts, and Tuxietuhan has a dragoon guard beside him!"

   "It should be hit hard!" Xu Ying said.

   Actually, it’s not that serious.

   Khalkha Mongolia and Russia had been in contact more than 20 years ago. The relationship between the two parties is very complicated. On the one hand, commercial exchanges continue to deepen, and on the other hand, territorial disputes are becoming increasingly serious. Buryat Mongolia, whose land was invaded by the Cossacks, is a subsidiary force of Khalkha Mongolia.

  The Russians, who are expanding eastward, have purchased a large amount of fur and war horses from Khalkha Mongolia, and have become Khalkha Mongolia's largest foreign trade partner. At the same time, muskets and gunpowder were sold to Khalkha Mongolia. They even sold a few small cannons, the kind used on Cossack ships, with barrels as thick as calves.

  After chatting about the military for a while, Fei Ruhe said again: "My two sons were all eliminated by the Imperial City School. What about yours?"

  Xu Ying said: "One son and one daughter are all studying in the Imperial City School."

   "Damn it, it's maddening to compare people to people!" Fei Ruhe said angrily.

  Xu Ying persuaded: "Don't worry about it, my daughter is about to be eliminated. The Imperial City School is full of child prodigies, and it's very normal that they can't compete."

  Fei Ruhe suddenly laughed again: "Hey, Zhang Tieniu's sons and daughters are worse than my pair of sons and daughters. I don't feel ashamed to have him at the bottom, and I can play with him next time we meet."

  Xu Ying suddenly came back to her senses: "If you appease all the tribes in the grassland and attack Khalkha Mongolia together, do you need to appease Li Zicheng?"

   "That depends on what His Majesty wants," Fei Ruhe said, "It's been a few years, and everything has faded away. It's not easy to have a Han Chinese force in Hetao. In my opinion, it's better to appease."

  (end of this chapter)