Chapter 21 2. Merchant trade is convenient

After the Mongols retreated beyond the Great Wall, they were in a more isolated state than before the Genghis Khan period, and Mongolia's trade with the Ming Dynasty and other countries and regions almost completely stopped.Due to nomadic life, the former residences of artisans and farmers have become grasslands.However, their needs for food, textiles, and metal products such as iron were indispensable.Although their way of life has been greatly regressed, since Mongolia has ruled the Central Plains for a hundred years, the influence of the Central Plains cannot disappear immediately, and the long-term living habits cannot be changed immediately.For example, what they eat is "food and millet", not all meat and milk; what they wear is "clothes", "the rich are embroidered", "the food is the most sweet, and the clothes are the most brocade", among other things. The chief chief is more proud of "clothes and brocade embroidery".However, none of these items were produced in the grasslands. In order to live, they had to seek them from the Central Plains or other areas.Its method is nothing more than "to plunder or get it easily".Even when they were at war with the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols secretly traded with the soldiers guarding the border, "you get fur with axes, sheep elbows with iron, and horsetail flint with tin earrings."It illustrates the inevitability of commodity exchange.

Of course the Ming court understood this situation, and had always strictly controlled trade with Mongolian and other ethnic minorities.It used trade both as a means of controlling Mongolia and other minorities, and as a means of softening it.On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty needed a large number of horses for border defense, which made trade with Mongolia and other regions imperative. During the Hongwu period, there were very detailed regulations on the trade of border areas.Ma Wensheng said: "My great ancestor, Emperor Gao, pacified the world, ruled the four barbarians, showed him his prestige, cherished him with virtue, everyone obeyed him, and paid tribute every year. He ate tea, iron pots, bronze utensils, grosgrain, etc. , It was only given in plain text, and Xu ordered the people of Gegai Fan to come to various places to trade and buy at four o'clock, and officials were appointed to manage them. At that time, the law was strict." All private trade without the permission of the imperial court is strictly prohibited. The above-mentioned prohibitions in the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" are complicated and overlapping, reflecting the degree to which the Ming court attached importance to this issue.The Ming people believed that these regulations were to control the export of strategic materials, and also to reduce disputes caused by trade. All the things the Mongols needed were in the hands of the court, so they could "manipulate opportunities."

At the beginning of Zhu Di's ascension to the throne, in order to show generosity, trade with various ethnic groups in the northern frontier seemed to be slightly relaxed.In November of Renyin in the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu (the fourth year of Jianwen), Zhu Di sent an envoy to write an imperial edict to Wuliangha, Tatar, and wild people, saying: "I will inherit the throne of heaven today, and the world will be one family, and both at home and abroad will be effective. Duty tribute. The chiefs of the various tribes near the border have the sincerity to return, and I use them. I specially ordered a hundred households to lose their homes and send them to you. They will live in the border and live in Yongan. Business and trade, one Those who want to come to pay tribute should come with the envoys." At the same time, due to the "Battle of Jingnan", the horses in the world were very worn out, and there were only more than 23,700 horses in the whole country.In order to consolidate the political power and border defense, Zhu Di paid great attention to horse administration. On the one hand, he "supervised the administration strictly, and carefully raised herds", and at the same time banned private horse breeding; on the other hand, he strengthened trade with horse-producing areas and bought a large number of horses.

One kind of transaction is an indeterminate location, and the price is determined by the official: In the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu (the fourth year of Jianwen), Renchen, in September, "Shaanxi's Xingdu Division played, and returned to Kegusi in Ningxia City, please ask the official market to use it for capital and side use. The superior obeys it. The order has a division to pay for it. Top horses: four pieces of silk and six pieces of cloth; middle horses: three pieces of silk and five pieces of cloth; dismounted horses: two pieces of silk and four pieces of cloth; colts: one piece of silk and three pieces of cloth. ".

In July of the seventh year of Yongle, in Yiyou, "Chen Mao, the uncle of Ningyang, Ningxia, was ordered to guard: there are silk cloth banknotes in the official money, which can be exchanged for horses with the newly attached Tatars. Good horses should not be stingy, and those who are inferior should be increased as appropriate." A great deal of trade came in the form of tribute.The envoys or merchants of Mongolia and other ethnic groups went to the border or went to Beijing to pay tribute to horses and local goods, and the imperial court rewarded them in the form of rewards, or directly gave the value of the goods.There are prices for horses and square objects, and fixed rewards. If the rewards are not enough, the contributors will be dissatisfied.This kind of tribute is actually a transaction between the leaders of various ethnic groups or businessmen and the Ming court.In this kind of trade, Zhu Di's policy is "Huairou Yuanren, rather thick than thin".Not only the value of the goods, but also generous rewards.There are endless records of Mongolian and other ethnic groups coming to pay tribute to horses and square objects.for example:

"In November of the first year of Yongle, Bingzi, the leader of Wuliangha, Ha'erai, sent 230 people including Tuohusi and other subordinates to pay tribute to the horses. He ordered the Ministry of Rites to give money and clothes, and reward the value of the horses. Every horse on the horse Fifty ingots for banknotes, forty-five ingots for middle horses, and thirty ingots for dismounted horses. Each horse is still one with the inside and outside of the color coin." In April of the second year, he was ugly, and the conductor Xiao Shangdu waited for Ziwu Liangha to return.The Tatar leader Tuo'er Huocha, Ha'er Jiai and other 294 people followed him and waited to pay tribute to the horses. Duoyan guards... each commanded thousands of households and other officials, and bestowed royal seals, crowns, and platinum banknotes on clothes.Tuo'erhuo inspected the words, there are more than 800 horses staying in Beijing, and he is willing to change clothes.Order the military governor's mansion and the Dapu Temple after the Beijing trip to pay the price for their horses."

"Three years and March, 1898, fifty-five people from Haciwen and other Tatars came back and paid tribute horses. Order the Ministry of Rites to reward them as usual." "September Gengzi, the Duolun ground Tatar Nahaci and others came to pay tribute to the horses, and gave them silver banknotes and colored coins." In the Northeast and the Western Regions, the Ming Dynasty also established a tributary relationship with the local ethnic minorities.This is one of the methods used by the Ming Dynasty to control the East and West to suppress Tatar and Oala. "The west wall of the Liao border is close to captives, and there are many products outside the country, such as mink fur, ginseng wood, wood fish and fresh fish."However, during the Hongwu period, the trade management of Liaodong was very strict, so that "everyone on duty is not allowed to import pine hazels and other things to cross the sea. Violators will be divided into two catties, three or five. .The leaders of Nvzhi and Wuliangha often went to the mainland to pay tribute to horses.During the Yongle period, three fixed horse markets were set up in Guangning, Kaiyuan, Liaodong, and the market was opened regularly for trade. It was also stipulated that the Nvzhi tribe paid one tribute a year, and each tribute was 1,000 people, and Wuliangha Sanwei paid two tributes a year. Three hundred people paid tribute, and there are 1,600 people who go to the mainland to pay tribute every year, but the actual number is more than that.There is also a quota for the rewards given by the imperial court to the "Yi people" who come to pay tribute.In addition, the imperial court also spent a lot of money on Yan rewards and welcoming posts.These measures have strengthened the ties with various ethnic groups in the Northeast.It consolidated the northeast frontier, and also weakened and contained the Tatar invasion forces.

In the northwest, the Ming Dynasty established a tribute relationship with the local ethnic groups at the beginning of Yongle, and they were very generous. In the eighth month of the fourth year of Yongle, Renzi ordered Song Sheng, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Province, to say: "People from Fanguo and other tribes in the northwest, who come to trade with each other, send more than ten people, and at least two or three people, to the court. I will personally caress them." Tell him to return to the country and declare his favor." The intention to use trade relations as a means to win over minorities is clear.

The tea horse trade with Xifan was an important part of the Ming Dynasty's trade with ethnic minorities.The Hezhou area is the gateway to the Western Regions, and only by controlling Hezhou can the road to the Western Regions be unimpeded.Xie Jin, a Hanlin scholar in the Yongle period, said: (Hezhou) Good horses come out and spread all over the world.First of all, the people, merchants, barbarians and barbarians sold each other for profit, or killed each other.But Chinese goods are expensive.The products in China are based on tea... First, Emperor Taizu Gao benefited from it, and set up tea horses in Hezhou, where the tea from Bashan was transported every year.The official tea people were able to exchange horses.The Yi people also know that there are laws, taboos and fears, the wind of killing will die down, and the evil of tea is also less.In a few years, the horses in Hezhou were like chickens and dolphins, and the Yi people also came and went to seek knowledge and practice faith. Those who served as ministers were not only offering tea and horses.

The ban on tea and horses in the imperial court is very strict, "although they are honored, they are not forgiven."In the 30th year of Hongwu, Ouyang Lun, the captain of the consort, committed a crime of private tea, and was given to death.The chief envoy and the officials did not say anything, and he was sentenced to death. His family members were all punished, and the tea goods were not admitted to the government.Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Isn't it beneficial for me to patrol and ban the export of private tea! It is inevitable to control the barbarians." During the Yongle period, the tea-horse trade relationship with Xifan was still maintained.

In February of the third year of Yongle, Zhu Di talked about the prohibition of carrying private tea, cloth, silk and green paper out of the customs. The edict, its prohibition may be stricter than that of the Hongwu period, probably because "the control of the barbarians and the emperors has to be controlled"? On Renchen in October of the fifth year of Yongle, He Fu, the commander-in-chief of Gansu and the governor of Zuo Dudu, said: "The old banned weapons are out of the country."Recently, it has been heard that there are people who are vending outside the barbarians, and this side will lose the pass of the pass defense, and it is now necessary to strictly prohibit the agreement. In February of the sixth year, Wuzi, He Fu played that most of the guards in Liangzhou went out of the country to market horses privately. In June Bingshen, He Fu, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Province and the governor of the left, said: "It was forbidden to trade silk and silk with foreign barbarians in the old days."Than heard that the army and civilians tailor clothes and return to Yima, greedy for profit is illegal, and I even affirm the order. In the same year, the sergeants and sergeants of the gatekeepers were ordered to try their best to patrol and arrest them, and they were not allowed to disclose the private sales of satin, cloth, silk, tea and green paper. In addition, the goods enter the official.There are those who can surrender themselves and be exonerated. In the 15th year of Yongle, it was issued again: the country's weapons are used to resist foreign aggression. Recently, there are villains who are greedy for money and go out of the country privately. The ban was severe.The so-called "trade of merchants and merchants can be done anywhere" is carried out under the strict control of the imperial court. Tomorrow in Shunzhong, Ma Wensheng, who used to be the governor of Shaanxi as the deputy capital of the right, said: "The four barbarians come to pay tribute, and they admire the sincerity of Huahua; those who are favored by the court, are gentle and far away. What the previous generation did is also the story of our court... Emperor Taizongwen's martial arts were magnificent, and his mighty vibrating desert, barbarians and barbarians, who would not come to pay tribute, gave colorful satin clothes, and the next feast was very rich, so that they would be full. Market exchange, to a certain extent, meets the living needs of ethnic minorities, and is also conducive to strengthening the ties between various ethnic groups and the stability of border areas.The imperial court thus obtained a large number of horses. However, Tongong also brings many new problems.In the words of a tribute envoy from the Western Regions: Most of the envoys from the Western Regions were Jiahu, who pretended to be tribute, and borrowed the power of the company to pursue their own interests. Some of them were poor and helpless, and they often served as servants, or bought others to pay tribute, that is, they were called tribute envoys. Pass to the station.The tribute items were laboriously transported to the capital from Gansu, and the cost of wine, food and beans at each post was quite a lot.Compared with the capital and rewards and rewards, the profit is several times.In this way, Huren Muli, the road of communication, tribute to Wuxuyue.There are no less than thirty or forty people in one mile, waiting for the officials, and when they are tired of menstruation, they will hinder the abolition of agricultural work, especially Moss.Compared with his envoys back, he will return with the trade goods he obtained.There is a company on the way, and there are more than a hundred vehicles for transportation.There are not enough males and females.Wherever it goes, the momentum is like wind and fire.To humiliate post officials and whip civilian husbands.The officials and the people thought that the imperial court recruited people from Huaiyuan, and they dared not compete with them.It is harassment, beyond words. The tribute envoys in the Northeast also had similar problems. In the imperial court, the "Siyi coming to the court" was regarded as surrender or Xianghua; and the "Siyi" did not regard the imperial court's rewards as weak payment from the beginning.After Yongle, political corruption and national power declined, Wuliangha and Tatars even invited and added tribute by force.Not only can Gongshi not be able to caress the border, but it has become the source of disaster.After orthodox Chenghua, there were endless disturbances.Zhang Xuan quoted Zhang Tao from the Ming Dynasty in "Xiyuan Wenjianlu", saying: "Today there is a lack of tribute, and the moon will make up the tribute. Today the reward will be replaced, and tomorrow the reward will be supplemented. Before the blood is stuffed, the mouth is dry, and the horse's hiss will follow." Yang Jisheng, a member of the Ministry of War, even said bitterly: "I can't restrain him, but he can fool me."