Chapter 122: Ming Dynasty's Trade

If it weren't for the title of Left General, he might not have been able to suppress the aristocratic families in the Jinyiwei.

Thinking of this, Zheng Shiyi secretly looked up at Chongzhen and couldn't help feeling a little puzzled.

He had been standing there for a quarter of an hour, but Chongzhen still didn't say a word. He just lowered his head and kept reading the memorials and reports from the border over the years.

Just as he was thinking about his own things, Chongzhen, who was sitting on the imperial desk, suddenly spoke. Zheng Shiyi was so frightened that he quickly collected his thoughts and straightened his body.

"Lord Zheng, I have an important task to entrust to you, but it is a matter of great importance, and the person in charge must keep it a secret. If it is leaked, it will be ruined immediately!"

Chongzhen stared at Zheng Shiyi, speaking in a gentle but serious tone, "The person in charge must be bold and careful, and he must have a few capable people under him. Do you have confidence, my dear?"

Zheng Shiyi was slightly startled, and before he could guess what the task was that Chongzhen had entrusted him with, he quickly bowed and said, "I am not a man who speaks without restraint, and I have a few trustworthy men under my command. Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will not hesitate to die regardless of the dangers!"

"Very good," Chongzhen showed appreciation and pointed at the memorial report on the imperial desk: "These are the conditions of the nine border ports' trade with the Tatars over the years since the 46th year of Wanli. I have discovered a very interesting situation."

Zheng Shiyi immediately realized that this trade was related to the mission Chongzhen mentioned. His brain was spinning rapidly, and he followed Chongzhen's words and asked, "Your Majesty, please enlighten me!"

Chongzhen was so annoyed that he smiled but said nothing. He looked at Zheng Shiyi meaningfully, and after a moment he asked, "How much do you know about the border trade?"

Zheng Shiyi immediately realized that this was a test from Chongzhen.

If the answer is good, the task will fall on him. If the answer is not good, Chongzhen will definitely look for another candidate from the Jinyiwei.

By then, he would definitely miss the position of commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Therefore, Zheng Shiyi did not dare to neglect it and quickly recalled all the information about the trade. After a moment, he concluded: "As far as I know..."

"Since Emperor Taizu, our dynasty has established border trade, but the Tatars were determined to destroy us, so border trade was intermittent and sometimes stopped. It was not until the Longqing Peace Agreement that it became a regular practice.

Thirteen large and small markets were opened in the western part of Xuanda for the purpose of trade, including horse markets, tea markets, wood markets, etc. There was a big market between the chiefs of various tribes once a year, and small markets where border residents exchanged what they had and what they needed were often held. The barbarians traded cattle, sheep hides and horse tails for our salt, rice, cloth, ceramics and other items, and our officials collected taxes to use as rewards and appeasement.

However, the Mongolians have not received the grace of our Celestial Empire, and instead of repaying our kindness, they have repeatedly cut off our borders and harassed our people. Therefore, when Your Majesty first ascended the throne, you issued an order to "abolish all their rewards," and thus all the nine border trade ports have been closed. "

Zheng Shiyi spoke a lot and talked about the probability of mutual trade since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

After finishing speaking, Zheng Shiyi looked at Emperor Chongzhen cautiously again, trying to judge from Chongzhen's expression whether the other party was satisfied with his answer.

However, Chongzhen had a blank expression on his face, and it was unclear whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied, which made Zheng Shiyi feel uneasy.

Fortunately, Chongzhen was silent for only a moment, and then said: "What you said is true, but it has little to do with the interesting things I found."

Zheng Shiyi asked cautiously, "I am a dull-witted minister. I really didn't find anything interesting in the trade..." Chongzhen suddenly sneered and tapped the pile of memorials on the jade table, saying, "It's interesting to say that I just happened to find that most of the trades set up in Xuanda, Ji, Shanxi, and Shaanxi are run by Shanxi merchants. Even in the tribute trades between the court and the Mongolian tribes, most of the gifts they need are actually purchased from Shanxi merchants!"

"Although Shanxi merchants have geographical advantages, Shaanxi, Gansu, Liaodong and Northern Zhili also have their own advantages, and they are not necessarily worse than Shanxi."

"Could it be that the merchants in these places don't know how to do business and can't see that there is profit in border trade? My dear, what do you think?"

As the acting head of Daming's first intelligence agency, Zheng Shiyi had heard about the fact that Shanxi merchants almost monopolized the border trade.

According to rumors, Shanxi merchants not only sold contraband items to Mongolian tribes in Zhangjiakou Fort and other places, but it was also heard that some powerful Shanxi merchants directly organized caravans to bypass the ports designated by the court and traded large quantities of contraband directly to the Tatars in the form of "private markets."

Zheng Shiyi was also curious about this and ordered the Jinyiwei to collect information and files on this matter.

However, the people sent out seemed to have touched some invisible net. Either there was no clue to track them down, or they were inexplicably attacked by some big shots.

Without the emperor's explicit order to investigate, although Zheng Shiyi was the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was not a meddlesome person and naturally would not pursue the matter relentlessly.

Moreover, in his opinion, these Shanxi merchants were nothing but cunning and greedy businessmen who made huge profits by selling contraband items such as iron pots and salt.

It is businessmen's nature to pursue profit. Although it is shameful, it is not a big deal.

Moreover, since these Shanxi merchants are able to do these businesses, they must have already made arrangements with everyone, as can be seen from those bigwigs who are secretly trying to pressure them.

Since no one asked him to do this, Zheng Shiyi certainly had no reason to ask for trouble and offend others for no reason.

But now, Your Majesty seems to be very interested in these Shanxi merchants?
While trying to figure out Chongzhen's thoughts, Zheng Shiyi replied, "Border markets are very profitable. It is said that these Shanxi merchants are willing to spend money. The officials at various banknote gates, passes, and even border markets have all accepted their benefits.

Therefore, they took more care of Shanxi merchants and suppressed merchants from other places. With the collusion between officials and merchants, over time, only Shanxi merchants were seen in the border markets, and no merchants from other places were seen. This kind of perversion of the law has made the officials very angry! "

After Zheng Shiyi said this tentatively, he immediately knew that he had guessed right.

Because Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction, and at the same time said with indignation: "The mutual trade was originally the national policy of our dynasty to appease and contain the Tatars. We can reward or punish if we open it, but these Shanxi merchants were destroyed in one fell swoop!"

"The northern barbarians fear that the Ming Dynasty will cut off their access to tea, salt, beans, rice, and other products, so they dare not invade our borders. Also, because they do not sell ironware and armor in the trade, they are too weak to invade the Ming Dynasty."

"However, these merchants were obsessed with profit and disregarded the laws of the court to make private transactions, which led to the Northern Barbarians becoming more powerful! What's even more hateful is that the Eastern Barbarians often colluded with the Mongols and used the name of the Northern Barbarians to obtain cloth, beans, rice, salt and other items from our dynasty!"

"And these Shanxi merchants, knowing full well that the enemy is a major threat to our dynasty, aid the enemy for their own selfish interests! They even smuggle ironware, iron materials, armor, weapons and gunpowder to them. Such behavior is no different from the Eastern Tartars, and they are no longer the people of our Great Ming!"

(End of this chapter)