Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 295 Delineating the Northeastern Structure
In the future, Guangshun Pass will be the main entrance and exit for the three parts of the country.

After leaving Guangshun Pass, you must first turn southeast. In later times, you will reach the areas of Meihekou and Huinan, which are the lands of the Hada and Huifa tribes. Then turn northeast to reach the territory of the Ula tribe.

The "Shenyang Hunting Ground", which was later closed for nearly three hundred years, currently belongs to the territory of the Yehe tribe.

The families in Shanxi could not go there for the time being, but Zhu Changluo promised them this grace: in the future, there would be several large towns outside the border, with prefectures and counties established. The children of the families in Shanxi would have many opportunities to become clerks or even officials, and would also become an important team for the Ming Dynasty to digest these territories.

It has been promised that Xifeng will be changed into Jinfeng County, and that they will be given priority in allocating land for building houses and developing commerce.

The branches of various families in Shanxi came here far away from their homelands, both because of the trust the emperor placed in them and for future benefits.

Among the ten people presented to the palace, five had already held official positions, some high and some low. Several people in charge of Changminghao, from the fifth rank to the seventh rank, all had official status.

Although the Northeast is bitterly cold, it also has a large number of precious products.

How much benefit can you get in the future if you can brave the hardships to come here now?
Now they are temporarily settled in Guangshun Pass, but the wealthy families in Shanxi have taken the lead in hiring a large number of workers to build Qingheyi Town on the banks of Qinghe River outside Guangshun Pass.

Being forced to flee and come here to seek food is certainly the suffering of many Jurchen lower classes, but what the Ming Dynasty brought to the three tribes this time is indeed "grace."

The "South Market" of Guangshun Pass is showing signs of prosperity again.

Building houses and shelters provided a lot of job opportunities. As the news spread, more Jurchens, the elderly, the weak, women and children, came here.

They may not be able to do much heavy work, but now it's okay as long as they have a stutter, and the advantage is that the labor force is cheap.

Then, of course, a large number of hired workers brought by various families in Shanxi and bachelors among the garrison troops in Liaodong were organized to get married and start families.

Often one person has to support a small family, while three or five people have to take care of a large family.

Yuan Keli came here and together with Xiong Tingbi, two young and capable people, began to organize these three parts of the survivors.

After sorting out some small families and taking the branches of various families in Shanxi as the backbone, Yuan Keli directly divided the remnants of the three tribes gathered outside Guangshun Pass into many clans and let each family in Shanxi bear the burden.

We found some elders from the Jurchen tribe who could speak a little Chinese, and the three tribes that lacked young and strong people finally had a basic structure.

This was the scene Nurhaci saw when he and his guards arrived at the mountain pass on the south bank of Xiaoqing River.

On both sides of the Xiaoqing River and on the hillsides, there are crowds of refugees, but now they have been divided into dozens of small villages.

A small wall was formed by simple branches piled with snow, and inside there were a large number of simple wooden sheds.

But underneath the snow, you can see a lot of felt cloth.

This is obviously not something that the abandoned elderly, weak, women and children can have.

The areas surrounded by these small villages are currently being built in full swing while the Qing River is frozen.

In the southernmost place, there is a large village with more solid walls and a watchtower.

This was the military camp that protected them, but Nurhaci's attention was focused on the piles of logs on the construction site by the river.

He looked at He Heli and said, "... Could this be the wood that was transported to Fushun Pass?"

He Heli was thinking about something else, and said with a heavy heart: "The Han people are skillful, and they were well prepared this time..."

Building a house certainly requires many skilled craftsmen.

Yuan Keli wanted to exchange wood for food, it turned out that he was making preparations for this place.

Obviously, those who stayed in the three tribes were all the elderly, the weak, women and children, but the Han people still organized so many people and did not stop in this snowy land.

When they saw the Jianzhou Jurchens, some old men and children who were collecting firewood on the hillside were startled and retreated in fear.

Nurhaci looked carefully and saw that it seemed that there were more than ten thousand people doing the same thing in the snow-covered mountains.

He looked at the blazing bonfires in the small villages from afar, thinking about something.

The tens of thousands of disaster victims did not cause too much headache for the border officials of the Ming Dynasty, and everything was in good order.

When he was in a heavy mood, a group of elite soldiers came towards him from afar from a larger military camp on the south bank of Qinghe River.

Xiong Tingbi appeared in his sight, and after they had communicated with each other, he rode forward on horseback.

Nurhaci also went to meet them with only a few people.

"The governor has come as ordered, so please set up camp here. Once the Yehe tribe arrives, we can discuss how to deal with the current situation."

“…It’s not convenient to camp here.”

"The river is frozen. If you want water, you need to get ice and snow to cook. Could it be that the governor is still worried about another war?"

Xiong Tingbi gave him a meaningful look and turned back.

Nurhaci silently ordered the guards to set up camp on the mountainside.

He was on a high ground, and the Ming army seemed to have no concern at all about him swooping down to attack.

This seems like arrogance, but Xiong Tingbi has a point: Now that it has come to this, what does Jianzhou really want to do to the Ming Dynasty?
This time we came here to fulfill the first step of the Ming Dynasty's promise: the imperial edicts of the various Jurchen tribes will now have a legitimate ownership.

From then on, the Ming Dynasty only recognized the Jianzhou and Yehe tribes.

This certainly helped Nurhaci to further integrate the powerful people he had conquered, and he also hoped that the Ming Dynasty would fulfill its promise regarding iron trade.

Let them do the dirty work, and don't let them just fill the void with human lives. They must make their swords sharper.

They exchanged the land of the three tribes for this. Two days later, the Yehe tribe, which was closer, also came, but it was Buyanggu who came.

"Where's Nalinbulu? Is he too old to walk?"

Buyangu snorted at the murderer of his father, but didn't say much.

After Nalinbulu returned to the tribe from the Ming Dynasty, he was indeed seriously ill.

He trudged to Ming Dynasty in his old age and returned to the tribe with a heavy mission. It was not easy to convince so many powerful people in the tribe.

Now, Buyanggu has presided over the mission to the Hada tribe and has taken over the power of the tribe.

Yuan Keli and Ma Gui were both there. After looking at the two families, they said, "It's freezing cold, so let's settle things as soon as possible. Your tribes are busy with many things. Your Majesty's order, both departments will receive it!"

Nurhaci and Buyanggu both knelt down in the tent.

The content of the decree was high-sounding. It was clearly a plan of the Ming Dynasty, but it was said that Jianzhou and the Haixi Jurchen tribes were fighting endlessly, causing the people to be displaced and travel thousands of miles to the border of the Ming Dynasty to seek food.

Out of compassion, the Ming Dynasty sternly admonished the Jianzhou and Yehe tribes to cease fighting.

In order to avoid further disputes, the Ming Dynasty withdrew the imperial edicts originally given to the Hada, Huifa and Ula tribes, re-established military guards to garrison the three tribes, and divided the territories of the two tribes.

The original 1,498 imperial edicts have now been changed to 1,300 based on actual conditions, with 800 for the Jianzhou tribe and 500 for the Yehe tribe.

The two tribes paid tribute and traded with the Ming Dynasty, each set up border markets, and did not interfere with each other.

These had been agreed upon during the pilgrimage, and Nurhaci and the Yehe tribe both accepted the order and expressed their gratitude.

Originally, the four Haixi tribes had a total of 999 imperial edicts, but only 300 of them nominally belonged to the Yehe tribe, and the remaining 699 belonged to the Hada tribe. This was why the Hada tribe was originally stronger and became the target of attack from both sides among the Jurchen tribes.

After several changes, the Jianzhou tribe actually controlled most of the imperial edicts.

Now the total amount has changed. The number of imperial edicts from the Jianzhou tribe has decreased, while the number of imperial edicts from the Yehe tribe has increased, but Nurhaci was not dissatisfied.

The rules of tribute trade had long since changed, and it was no longer possible to obtain a stable reward of twenty taels of silver for every imperial edict.

In addition to being used to distribute rewards to the various tribes under his command, the greatest function of the imperial edict was to enable him to conduct trade in border markets.

How much profit can be made depends purely on how much supplies can be brought, and the number of imperial edicts is not that important.

There were fewer imperial edicts, but as long as the Ming Dynasty could keep its promise, Nurhaci would rather digest the two young and strong tribes he conquered this time and devote his energy to building a country and becoming king.

If you can reach that point, you won’t need to rely on imperial edicts.

For the Yehe tribe, the number of imperial edicts they actually controlled increased from 300 to 500, which certainly reflected the Ming Dynasty's intention to support them.

The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty actually intervened in the disputes among the Jurchen tribes, stopped Jianzhou's next move against the Yehe tribe, and gave the Yehe tribe a chance to breathe.

After Yuan Keli finished reading the decree, he sat down and said, "Let's talk about the details of the tribute trade that you are all concerned about. Your Majesty has decreed that ironware is allowed. But the quantity and price must be agreed upon. Ordinary iron pots, plows and hoes, and fine iron must be exchanged for gold, silver and copper."

Nurhaci's mood sank: "Master Yuan, my clan is poor and weak, I am afraid it is difficult to collect so much gold, silver and copper."

"It is a blessing from heaven that we can lift this ban. The emperor and his ministers of the Ming Dynasty all know what you want the iron for. How to get the gold, silver and copper to buy it? You can only figure it out by yourself. Profiting from tribute trade is one way."

Nurhaci remained silent.

Nowadays, the main thing is to use the products of various tribes to exchange for some necessary daily necessities from the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, it was still possible to exchange for some smuggled ironware, but since the replacement of the governor and the general in Liaodong in the first year of Taichang, this has become increasingly difficult, and has almost disappeared in the past two years.

The daily necessities obtained were enjoyed by the dignitaries in the tribe, and of course the rest were sold to the various tribesmen. Overall, it was still a profit, and in this way, the tribe was provided with financial resources other than Alban's.

But if only gold, silver and copper can be used to exchange for a large number of iron tools, it means that the number of Albans must be increased so that the tribe can obtain more goods. First, they can exchange for the necessary living materials from Ming merchants, then exchange for some gold, silver and copper, and then exchange for these iron tools from Ming.

Everyone is short of gold, silver and copper.

But ironware is more important. Men without plowshares and women without needlework and thread are the effects of the Ming and Joseon bans on Jurchen trade.

Although they had been able to purchase some ironware from the Ming Dynasty and the Korean border troops in the past, it was far from enough for the Jianzhou tribe, which had already begun to unify.

Seven years ago, Nurhaci had made up his mind to speculate iron, open gold and silver mines, and make bricks and tiles in Jianzhou.

This matter is progressing slowly.

Apart from these methods, the only option left is to rob.

Nurhaci looked at Yuan Keli: Is the Ming Dynasty using this method to urge them to act faster?
The Yehe tribe went to the west to rob the Khorchin, Kharchin and Doyan tribes, while the Jianzhou tribe went to rob the wild Jurchens and Korea.

The gold, silver and copper that were snatched at the cost of the lives of the tribesmen were exchanged for iron hammers to make new swords and arrows, which were further consumed on the battlefield.

Nurhaci listened to the noisy construction site in the north and made up his mind silently.

After all, North Korea has many skilled craftsmen.

He did not dare to plunder the people of the Ming Dynasty openly, and even had to send Han people back repeatedly to express his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

But since the Ming Dynasty has adopted a new attitude towards Korea, which it once helped, there is no need to worry about it.

If they can’t defeat the Ming Dynasty, can they still defeat Korea, which is in the midst of civil strife?
I am afraid that when spring comes and flowers bloom, the Ming army will officially take action in Xuanda and the north of Jiliao.

Jianzhou cannot stop!
(End of this chapter)