Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1482, Winter City of Ming Dynasty
Winter City, the capital of Northwest Province.

With the arrival of winter, the whole land seems to be frozen. The cold current from the North Pole ravages the land, with heavy snow and cold wind.

Lin Tong carried a load of honeycomb briquettes and walked in the snow with difficulty. The snow here is too heavy. Often when it snows, even the door can be blocked tightly for you. Walking in the middle becomes extremely difficult.

Fortunately, this is the city of Winter City. The snow on the road is cleared every day, and it is not as thick as the outside. Otherwise, there is no way to walk in the snow.

"hu~hu~"

After finally returning to his home, Lin Tong also breathed out a lot of cold air.

It was too cold.

Lin Tong is from Huguang, Daming. He grew up in the warm south. Last year, he accidentally killed someone in a fight, and was sentenced to exile in this winter city.

Coming from the warm south to the cold winter city in the extreme northwest, he couldn't remember how he spent last winter, and almost froze to death here.

"Drink some hot tea to dispel the cold~"

Seeing Lin Tong's return, Lin Tong's wife quickly brought a cup of hot tea and said caringly.

"Hmm~"

Lin Tong looked at his wife with a smile all over his face, and then looked at her belly, which was already bulging and was about to give birth soon.

His wife's name is Popova, and she knew it was not a Han Chinese name when she heard the name. Popova was a Slav, and was later plundered by the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate as slaves and sold to Daming, and then went through a lot of troubles. When she came to Cold Winter City, she was bought by Lin Tong and became his wife.

Winter City is far away from the mainland of Ming Dynasty, and it is extremely cold. Few Ming people have been willing to emigrate here. In order to consolidate the rule of the Northwest Province, the imperial court also exiled a large number of prisoners to Winter City.

Since ancient times, most of the offenders were men. Among the prisoners sentenced to exile in Winter City, ninety-nine out of one hundred were men. After a long time, there was naturally a great demand for women.

Therefore, as a large number of prisoners came to Cold Winter City, a large number of slave traders also saw this business opportunity, and sold a large number of female slaves to Cold Winter City, and sold them to these prisoners as wives and concubines.

Very profitable.

Because it is very close to Europe, very close, especially to Eastern Europe.

Not only did a large number of slave traders buy slaves from the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, but now the people of the Kazan Khanate also saw that plundering slaves could bring huge benefits, and they also actively participated in the war against Eastern European Slavs. from the plunder of men.

A large number of slaves passed through the nearest Winter City from the Kazan Khanate, and then sold to various parts of Daming. The slave trade has become a new pillar industry in Winter City.

The price of buying these slaves from the Kazan Khanate is very low, and if they are transported to Cold Winter City and sold for dozens of taels of silver, they can make a lot of money.

As for saying that many people worry that these exiled prisoners have no money.

There is no need to worry about this, because there is the support of the Ming court.

No one here in Northwest Province is willing to immigrate here, they can only exile prisoners, but they are all exiled male prisoners, it is definitely not an option to continue for a long time.

Therefore, the government in the Northwest Province also applied to the court for such a policy. When every prisoner exiled here in the Northwest Province buys a female slave, the court will give an interest-free loan and subsidize one-third the price of one.

It can be said that this is an extremely favorable policy.

One-third of the money for buying female slaves is paid by the court, and the remaining two-thirds will be returned to you as an interest-free loan. In a word, the government here only hopes that you will buy more and more people. the better.

Because the imperial court needs more people to consolidate Daming's rule over the Northwest Province, and to match these exiled prisoners with female slaves, on the one hand, these prisoners can settle down here and let them live here with peace of mind.

On the other hand, it can also reduce conflicts and conflicts between prisoners. If they were all criminals, these people were all criminals and aggressive. If they are put together, they will not be overthrown, and they will die. people.

But it's different to match these prisoners with women. If you feel angry, go to the bed and find your own woman to use. Making more dolls is more effective than anything else.

With a woman, a child, and a home, even if the conditions in Winter City are more difficult, the prisoners can slowly settle down and increase the population here.

Such a policy is clearly very effective.

Even though there are a large number of exiled prisoners gathered here in Winter City, many of them used to be local hooligans and aggressive people, but after arriving here, they have gradually improved a lot. Great changes have taken place in three years.

"Whoo~"

After taking a sip of hot tea, Lin Tong took a long breath, as if the coldness in his body disappeared all of a sudden.

"I'm going to cook~"

Popova spoke in Daming dialect, which she was not very proficient in yet.

"No~ No, I'll come, I'll come, you rest~"

When Lin Tong heard this, he quickly stopped, and helped Popova to rest on the chair, while he started to get busy.

Popova was about to give birth, with such a big belly, he couldn't bear to let her be busy, and he would do his best to do everything by himself.

"It's okay, it's okay~ I'm fine."

Popova is not so squeamish, and feels that it is not good for men to do these things.

"No, no, you are the most important thing in the family now, and my son can't be exhausted."

Lin Tong was very domineering and led Popova to sit on the chair by the fireplace and said, "Eat more raisins. I heard that it is good for the baby and can make you smarter."

"Hmm~"

Popova nodded happily, and looked at the busy Lin Tong while eating raisins. She was still very satisfied with her current life.

From being caught as a slave trader to Cold Winter City at the beginning, I was uneasy and full of fear for the future, and now, I am slowly getting used to everything and life here.

Although this is only the most remote and bitterly cold place in Ming Dynasty, it is specially used to exile criminals.

But the lives of the Ming people here are many times better than those of the Slavs.

Even the prisoners have their own houses here, and the design of the houses is very good. With the fireplace and kang burning, it will not be cold at all.

There is no need to worry about food. Rice, flour, meat, etc. from Hezhong, Nanyun, Western Regions, and Central Asian provinces are not expensive, and you can eat whatever you want, and they are delicious.

Thinking of the past in her hometown, Popova was very worried every winter, because there was very little food in the house, and the food she ate was unpalatable black bread, horse bread and the like, and the clothes she wore were also very poor. Little, very cold.

Cold and hunger are the deepest memories in her previous winters, as if branded in her bones.

But here, even though it is still cold, it is very warm inside the house. There is no need to worry about food at all, and the food is much better than before, and I live a life without worrying about food and clothing.

My man treats me very well, and loves me very much, unlike Slavic men, who are very vulgar, rough, and beat women at every turn.

Daming men are much more civilized in comparison, they think it is useless to beat a woman, she has never been beaten since she was bought by Lin Tong, and after having a child, they are even reluctant to scold themselves.

What is there to be unsatisfied with such a day.

What's more, here in Winter City, there is no need to worry about the war.

In my hometown, I have to worry about the Crimean Tatars coming to the south all year round. Sometimes I am afraid of being robbed by the Tatars in my sleep when I sleep, and I live a life of fear.

Feeling the warmth from the fireplace, smelling the food cooked by Lin Tong, and touching his big belly, he was full of happiness.

"Okay, okay~"

"Eat, eat~"

Lin Tong quickly prepared the meals. The fragrant rice and the copied bacon whetted the appetite.

While having dinner with Popova, Lin Tong also looked out at the heavy snowfall, thinking about what business he would do to make money next year.

There are three main industries in Winter City, one is the fur industry, because it is located in the vast Siberian Plain, with extremely vast forests and grasslands, rich in various high-quality furs.

Therefore, the fur business here in Winter City is very popular. Whenever it is summer, a large number of fur merchants will flock here, waving their money to buy fur wantonly, and then resell it to the Beijing and Tianjin areas for a profit. Very amazing.

The other is grain trading. Winter City’s dimension is too high and the weather is too cold. There are very few crops that can be grown. Currently, only potatoes can be grown. Therefore, there is a great demand for grain, and a large amount of grain needs to be transported from the southern provinces every year. come over.

In addition, there are a large number of minority tribes in the Northwest Province, and they also have a great demand for food. In winter, these minority tribes living on the vast Siberian plains will exchange their fur for food.

Most of the food in Winter City was actually exchanged by these minority tribesmen. As for the exiled prisoners, they couldn't eat much food.

The third business is the emerging slave trade. Going to the Kazan Khanate to sell slaves to Winter City, the profit is also very high, and the development is very fast, but the capital demand is relatively large.

Because to go to the Kazan Khanate once, at least you have to bring a lot of goods there, and then buy a lot of slaves to come back. At least tens of thousands of taels of silver are needed for a random trip.

"Perhaps we can take advantage of this winter to bring some food, salt, tea, sugar, etc. to the various tribes to do business in exchange for their furs."

After much deliberation, Lin Tong also made a decision.

(End of this chapter)