Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 360: The "Loss" of the Wuqing Marquis Li Family

"What memorial did Zhang Quan submit?" Zhu Chunchen asked repeatedly, "What did he write in the memorial? Is it related to the drop in grain prices? Or is he trying to accuse someone?"

Zhu Jiazhen shook his head and said, "In his memorial, Zhang Quan pleaded with the Emperor to issue an imperial decree ordering the Tianjin Supply Department to send the grain and money supporting Liaodong directly to Gaizhou and Yingkou."

"What!" Zhu Chunchen was so excited that he dropped the silver chopsticks in his hand. The chopsticks hit the wine glass, and the remaining wine in the glass spilled onto the table. Zhu Jiazhen hurriedly wiped it with his sleeve to prevent the wine from sliding off the table and staining Zhu Chunchen's clothes. "How dare he!"

Although the Five Military Commandery had basically been separated from the military command system and only had the functions of managing military registration and selecting generals in conjunction with the Ministry of War, Zhu Chunchen had served in the Left Military Commandery for decades and was familiar with the basic geographical situation of the Liaodong Commandery under the Left Commandery.

Zhu Chunchen knew very well that if the Ministry of Finance followed Zhang Quan's request and sent the grain directly to Yingkou in Gaizhou, then the Military Preparation Office could use the Daliao River, Hun River, Taizi River and other rivers to transport the grain directly to Liao, Shen, and even Fushun, without having to first transport the grain through mountains and rivers from Lushun and Jinzhou to Haizhou and Gaizhou, and then try to transport it later.

In this way, although the shipping costs for the imperial court would not change significantly, the overall grain transportation costs in Liaodong would be greatly reduced. The reduction in grain transportation costs would lead to a drop in grain prices on the market. In this way, both the government and the people would no longer have to pay high prices to purchase grain from caravans traveling by land.

If the military preparation office's lowering of grain purchase prices, resulting in a decline in profits for the Duke's Mansion, was cutting into its flesh, then changing the shipping route was cutting into its thigh. The Duke's entire servant army, as well as Zhu Chunchen's own luxurious lifestyle, depended on this business. How could the trade route be cut off before the war was even over?

"Has the emperor approved it?" Zhu Chunchen asked hurriedly.

Zhu Jiazhen shook his head again. "The memorial found by the Ministry of Internal Affairs didn't contain any directives. But the young man sent to investigate found out that on the very day the memorial arrived at the palace, the palace ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to send someone to Tianjin to summon Li Changgeng, the Minister of Finance, to Beijing to meet the emperor." While this information wasn't secret, it wasn't widely publicized, and one had to actively inquire to find out.

"Has Li Changgeng arrived in Beijing? If so, send someone to contact him. If not, send someone to stake out the Ministry of Revenue." Zhu Chunchen felt that the emperor's lack of direct approval, instead of summoning the ministers to the capital, clearly indicated a lack of understanding of the situation. As long as he could influence Li Changgeng, he could influence the emperor.

However, Zhu Jiazhen once again gave a negative answer: "Li Changgeng has already gone back. He came the afternoon before yesterday and left yesterday at noon."

"Ah?" Zhu Chunchen was startled, then slapped his thigh. "Li Changgeng is gone?"

Zhu Jiazhen smiled wryly and nodded, then asked, "Duke, how about sending someone to Tianjin to look for Li Changgeng?"

"What's the point of looking for him now? Since Li Changgeng is gone, the emperor must have made a decision." Zhu Chunchen rubbed the place where he had just tapped.

"But we don't know what the decision is yet." Zhu Jiazhen said, "We have to find out some information first, right?"

"Okay, I'll send someone to contact Li Changgeng right away to gather information. If the Emperor truly orders him to follow Zhang Quan's memorial, then it'll be just like before." The pain in Zhu Chunchen's leg seemed to calm him down. He swallowed his words and changed his tone, "Let's not rush for now. Let's wait and see. We're not the only ones doing this business. Some have bigger businesses than us, so they should be more anxious."

"Duke, you are wise." Zhu Jiazhen had nothing more to say, so he found another pair of clean chopsticks and handed them to Zhu Chunchen. "Duke, please."

"I don't want to eat anymore!" Zhu Chunchen felt that he was full of anger and urgently needed to find a place to vent.

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Qinghua Garden is the most valuable asset of the Wuqing Marquis Li family. This garden stands in stark contrast to the more modest residences of the Chengguo Duke's mansion. Its vast grounds, stretching ten miles in radius, draw spring water from the West Mountain to form its own lakes. Nestled between these man-made lakes, small and large, are pavilions and terraces, along with a wealth of unusual rocks sourced from renowned stone-producing areas such as Lingbi, Taihu, and Jinchuan. It's a breathtaking sight, a scene of misty waters and jagged rocks, a breathtaking spectacle. It's the most renowned garden in the capital, and even the best north of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers in terms of water resources.

And right here in the beautiful and clear Tsinghua Garden, the second son of Marquis Wuqing, Young Master Li Guorui, was enforcing family rules on Li Laicai, the leader of the Li family caravan who had just returned.

Although it was a family rule, Li Guorui would never whip anyone himself. He just lay half-reclining on a reclining chair made of Qiongzhou Huanghuali wood, silently listening to the sound of the whip hitting people.

After the servant who was enforcing the family law finished whipping, Li Guorui held the receipt in his hand, waving it while asking, "Tell me, why? Why is it only this little?"

Li Laicai endured the beating without a sound. He knew he must not scream while being whipped. Otherwise, Li Guorui would probably do it himself. From the moment Li Guorui took up the whip, the so-called family rules ceased to exist. The more you screamed, the more he whipped you.

Li Laicai, who was kneeling on the ground, kowtowed to Li Guorui first, then he just lay on the ground, suppressing his instinctive groans and slowly said: "Young Marquis, calm down. Don't get sick because of my incompetence."

"Stop talking nonsense." Li Guorui crumpled up the receipt and hit Li Laicai on the head. "Let's get down to business!"

"I will go to Haizhou to sell it." Li Laicai kowtowed again, but he was interrupted by Li Guorui as soon as he started talking.

"Didn't I tell you to go to Guangning to sell goods? What the hell are you doing in Haizhou?" Li Guorui wanted to kick Li Laicai, but he couldn't get up from the recliner after moving a bit, so he just let it go. He looked like a fat maggot squirming on a recliner.

"Hiss~~~" Li Laicai felt like there was a fire burning on his back. "Guangning can't be sold at a high price."

"You are kidding me!" Li Guorui said sternly, "You can do business with the Tatars, but you can't sell it at a good price!" In the 45th year of Wanli, the Khan of the Chahar tribe, Borjigin Lindan Batur, had sent heavy troops to plunder the border many times but to no avail. He could only follow the story of Altan Khan and repeatedly asked the two chiefs Huang and Mo to send their trusted envoys to seek a truce with the Ming Dynasty by "begging for mercy with humble words, knocking on the gates to offer money, returning people, and swearing blood" in order to pray for the right to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

From then on, Guangning became the Ming dynasty's gateway to the Mongols in Liao territory. Merchants with permission from the imperial court or local authorities could legally trade with the 30,000 households of the Left Wing Mongols. The Tatar embassy currently awaiting an audience with the emperor in Beijing also entered the Ming dynasty via Guangning.

"Young Marquis, it's really not worth the price!" Li Laicai quickly explained, "Last winter, the Tatar tribes in northern Liao caused a great disaster. The Tatar merchants were only willing to use their silver to buy grain, not cotton cloth and brocade."

At least during this period, Li Guorui's business arrangements differed significantly from Zhu Jiazhen's. Zhu Jiazhen only arranged for the Zhu family's caravans to sell grain in Haizhou, while Li Guorui had different caravans sell a variety of goods, including grain, in different locations. As long as it was a major city, there would be a Li family caravan.

For example, Li Laicai's caravan carried not only grain but also cotton cloth and brocade. They carried these goods, hoping to sell them to Mongol nobles in exchange for silver awarded to the Chahar tribe by the Ming court. This silver, totaling 40,000 taels, was paid monthly on an annual basis. Every month, Tatars would come to Guangning to collect the silver. After receiving it, they would often exchange some of it for pots, pans, salt, tea, and other goods. The rest would be taken back and distributed by the Great Khan, Ligdan Batur, along with the pots, pans, salt, and tea they had previously exchanged.

However, after a heavy snowfall, the Mongol tribes suffered heavy losses. Many low-ranking tribesmen, deprived of aid, were forced to venture into Liao territory to beg for food from the Ming. Even those nobles, who could receive silver from Lindan Batur, were only willing to spend money on food to protect their own people. They were unwilling to purchase cotton cloth and brocade, which were beautiful but inedible.

"Even if the Mongols don't buy cotton and brocade, it shouldn't be so little money!" Li Guorui said anxiously.

"Oh!" Li Laicai began to tremble as he heard Li Guorui's increasingly hostile tone. "Young Marquis, cotton and brocade can't be sold at a high price in the inner market."

The caravans traveling to Liaodong, Xuanda in Shanxi, or even northern Shaanxi usually referred to their transactions with the Tatars and the places where the transactions took place as "outer markets", and correspondingly, they also referred to their transactions with other Ming people as "inner markets".

"Bullshit! These things are in great demand even in the mainland. How could they not be sold at a good price?" Li Guorui became more and more suspicious that the damned servant in front of him had embezzled his money.

Li Laicai felt uncomfortable whenever he thought about this. He felt like he had been struck by some terrible misfortune. "Young Marquis, the delegation sent by His Majesty to Liaodong to reward the troops brought a large amount of cotton cloth and silk. Officers at all levels in Liaodong received them, so there was no need to buy more fine fabrics."

The rewards in kind given by the emperor were not particularly large, but they were enough to overwhelm Liaodong in a short period of time, as the high prices of high-quality fabrics were based on "supply exceeding demand".

"Visiting the troops?" Li Guorui was visibly stunned. "When did it happen?"

Li Laicai wanted to point his finger at Li Guorui and scold him for not gathering enough business intelligence. But when the words came to his lips, he could only choose his words carefully, saying, "Young Marquis, this matter should be kept secret. I only learned about it because I happened to meet the diplomatic corps."

"I'm asking about when," Li Guorui didn't appreciate Li Laicai's kindness, or perhaps he didn't realize that Li Laicai was trying to make amends for him. He took advantage of the handrail to stand up and kicked Li Laicai down. "What the hell are you talking about!"

Li Laicai couldn't remember the exact day, so he quickly knelt straight on his knees and kowtowed profusely. "When I leave the customs, when I leave the customs!"

Li Laicai felt very aggrieved. When he met the imperial envoy on the road and learned that the envoy brought not only silver but also clothing materials, he immediately realized the seriousness of the matter. He forced the caravan to speed up and reach Guangning in the shortest time. However, long before he arrived in Guangning, the news that the envoy was rewarding the troops had spread throughout Liao. It was impossible to sell silk and cotton cloth at the price Li Guorui expected.

"What about the food?" Li Guorui lay back down, which made Li Laicai feel a little relieved. "Didn't you say that the Tatars were willing to buy food after the disaster? Why can't the food be sold at a high price?"

"My Lord," Li Laicai said, "this is why I want to go to Haizhou."

"What do you mean?" Li Guorui rubbed his leg, as if the kick he just gave Li Laicai had injured him instead.

"Every market in every city has the same price. If you sell grain in Guangning, you'll only get three taels of silver per dan. It's the same no matter who you sell it to." Li Laicai almost wanted to spit in Li Guorui's face. "But in Haizhou, it can be sold for three taels and five cents."

After that rare and unusual grain price spike, Liaodong, under the coordination of the Jinglüe Xingyuan and the direction of the Xunfu Office, began implementing strict official pricing and flexible grain purchase and sale systems. This system encouraged merchants to ship grain to Haizhou and even further north and east. Strict tiered pricing controls were implemented throughout Liaodong. In Liaoxi, no city could buy or sell grain at a higher price than Haizhou.

Generally speaking, due to Liaoxi's proximity to the interior of China, grain prices were lower than those in Haizhou. Therefore, this policy was almost exclusively triggered in Guangning, and it was the Mongols who triggered it. When the Mongol tribes arrived in Guangning to buy grain, armed with recent rewards and years of accumulated silver, the Tatars were surprised to find that grain prices had not risen significantly due to their need for winter food after suffering a disaster, but instead remained at a stable level of three taels of silver per dan.

This was intended to maintain tiered pricing and was also a gesture of goodwill from the Liao government towards the powerful Mongol tribes. After all, the entire Chahar tribe had only received 40,000 taels of silver from the Ming last year. Even if their savings were added to this and used entirely to purchase grain, it wouldn't have a significant impact on the Liao region. It could be considered a disguised form of disaster relief for the Mongols.

But this was a difficult situation for Li Laicai. His fine fabrics were being sold at a low price due to the emperor's bounty, and his grain was being held back by the Liaodong government. He walked all the way in fear, but in the end, as he had expected, he was whipped and kicked by Li Guorui.

"Hmph!" Li Guorui vaguely realized that this "loss" was actually his own fault. Something had changed, and he hadn't detected it beforehand. Li Guorui still insisted. "Three taels and five cents? The price of grain in Haizhou is at least four taels!"

"Young Marquis, it's only three taels and five cents. I came back with Zhu Hui from the Cheng family. You can go to the Duke's mansion and ask."

(End of this chapter)