Chapter 214 Smuggling Transaction
Today on the grassland, there are conflicts between Ligdan Khan and the Kharchin, Nurhaci and other tribes. The living space of these small and medium-sized nomadic tribes has been squeezed again and again. When things go wrong, the cattle, sheep and furs in the tribes will even be snatched away by larger forces.

As for gold, silver and other treasures, they had absolutely no money. It could be said that they were extremely poor.

So in the context of the late Ming Dynasty, it was not just the people of the Ming Dynasty who had a hard life, but the Jiannu and the Mongols also had a hard time.

Especially those small and medium-sized tribes, which were squeezed and plundered by large tribes, and starvation to death was a common occurrence.

So once they met merchants from the Ming Dynasty, they could only count on their fingers and try their best to use the limited furs, cattle and sheep in their hands to exchange for their most scarce supplies.

But when Wang An announced that the leftover scraps from their daily meals, or the skinned meat of cattle, sheep, foxes, wolves, etc., could also be used for exchange.

These nomadic people are so happy that it’s like New Year’s Day.

Because although life was hard, we could always find some prey on the grassland.

In the past, salt, iron and tea from the Ming Dynasty could only be exchanged for furs, cattle, sheep and war horses. However, furs and other items were in short supply, and it was impossible to exchange too many supplies from Ming Dynasty merchants.

Now, whether it is a fox or a wolf, these prey, which used to be of little use after their fur was peeled off, can now be used to exchange for the salt, iron and tea that they need most.

Not only that, even animal offal can generate value. These wastes that used to be used to feed sheepdogs or were directly discarded can now be turned into salt and iron. How can they not be happy?

It’s just that these Ming people before them were a little strange. They were not willing to give them lard, animal meat, offal and the like directly, and instead wanted to refine these things into fats and oils themselves.

However, the Mongolian people did not have any complaints. Instead, they knelt on the ground in gratitude, shouting that Wang An was the messenger sent by the Eternal Heaven to rescue them.

At this time, not far from Wang An and others, another caravan from the Ming Dynasty was hesitating.

"Boss, Wang An and his caravan are now trading with the Hugetu tribe. Should we skip them and head to the Chahar tribe first so that we can get there first?"

Standing next to Shanxi businessman Xu Mengyuan was an old friend who had followed him for many years. The old friend pointed to a group of yurts not far away and made a suggestion.

Xu Mengyuan shook his head and said, "No, after all, Wang An and his men have obtained documents from the imperial court. They are legitimate officials and businessmen. Although we want to steal his business, we have to prioritize, otherwise it will easily cause trouble."

The clerk said, "But if he makes a deal with Lidan Khan first, will he still want our goods?"

Xu Mengyuan smiled and said disdainfully: "These barbarians on the grassland are just like the dogs in our hometown. They can never get enough of eating shit."

"As long as they have money in their pockets, they will be willing to exchange it for salt, iron and tea. There is no need to worry about lack of business. The only problem is that we cannot take advantage of the shortage of goods and raise the price."

"But..." Xu Mengyuan said here, looking at the Hugetu tribe in the distance with some doubt, and said: "We have done business with Hugetu before, but it has never been as lively as this. Look, almost everyone in the tribe has come out."

"Could it be that these barbarians have suddenly become rich?"

Hugetu was just a small tribe on the grassland with extremely limited numbers of people and livestock, and even fewer of them could be traded with Ming merchants.

In the past, it was the tribal leaders who came forward to negotiate with Ming merchants on behalf of the tribesmen, striving to obtain the best transaction price.

Therefore, although the Hugetu people had a strong desire to trade, the trading scene was very quiet. Basically, there were only merchants and a small number of nobles in the tribe.

But looking at the current situation, almost all the people in the tribe ran out, each holding a variety of goods ready for trading. In Xu Mengyuan's opinion, there was only one way for such a situation to happen, that is, there was a sudden bumper harvest on the grassland, allowing them to hunt a whole herd of bison.

But this kind of situation is rare, not to mention once in a hundred years, even once in ten years.

Xu Mengyuan scratched his head curiously, wanting to know the reason for this situation. Could it be that a miracle really happened in the Hugetu tribe?

"You guys stay here first. I'll go to the tribe and take a look."

Xu Mengyuan turned to the waiter and said, then he took two followers and went to the Hugetu tribe.

As soon as he entered the Hugetu tribe, someone immediately recognized Xu Mengyuan and came up to greet him warmly.

"Oh, it's Manager Xu. It's been a long time since we last met!" said a bearded Mongolian.

"Hugtutabunang, it's been a long time since we last met. It's because our Ming Emperor has stopped giving rewards to the market, and the situation has been very tense recently."

"Well, the salt and tea must have been very accurate during this period, right?"

Xu Mengyuan glanced at the transaction scene not far away and said something inconsistent.

Hugtutabunang also noticed Xu Mengyuan's gaze and said awkwardly, "That's right. The salt and tea in the tribe have been out of stock for a month. When a caravan came from nowhere, the people in the tribe couldn't wait to trade."

"If I had known that Shopkeeper Xu was coming, I would have stopped everyone and waited for you no matter what."

Xu Mengyuan said with a fake smile: "It's okay, it's okay. If people don't eat salt and tea for a long time, they will get sick or even die."

"How can I ask everyone to wait for me just because of our past friendship?"

In fact, in order to obtain maximum benefits, small tribes on the grassland would sometimes cooperate with a specific caravan and only trade supplies with this caravan.

The trading parties bound by the merchant are also willing to offer a price lower than the market price.

But that is based on a regular trading frequency. After all, as Xu Mengyuan said, if the herders on the grassland cannot get salt and tea for a long time, their health will be affected.

Because of Chongzhen's policies, the Ming Dynasty's border guards cracked down on smugglers severely for a period of time.

This resulted in Xu Mengyuan and other caravans from the Ming Dynasty being unable to trade with the grassland for a month or so.

The big tribes are still okay, as they still have some inventory and can even trade with other small tribes.

But for a small tribe like the Hugetu, with a population of less than 500 people, they can only trade to the amount needed to maintain survival and have no way to stockpile goods.

So once the Ming Dynasty ran out of supply, they immediately faced the dilemma of having no salt and tea to eat.

So when Wang An arrived, he was immediately warmly welcomed.

(End of this chapter)