There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 99 Dowry and Betrothal Gift

Early May, the first year of Jiaqing.

"It's finally here."

Nie Lin and Chen Xinghuai got off the boat at Chenglingji, then changed to a carriage and slowly arrived at Yuezhou City.

Because they had informed them in advance, a team of officials was already waiting at the city gate. When they saw Nie Lin and Chen Xinghuai's carriages arriving, they hurried to the city to greet them and at the same time sent someone to the military camp to report the news.

Not long after, Nie Yu, who was busy training soldiers in the military camp, returned to the general's mansion with a flintlock rifle in his hand.

By May, with the support of seamless steel pipes and technical drawings, the Han army's flintlock rifles had entered mass production and were placed on two parallel production lines with cannon casting.

The flintlock rifle in Nie Yu's hand was the first newly made musket in Yuezhou Firearm Workshop. The production time and address, as well as the name of the craftsman who made it were engraved on the barrel.

In addition to the mass production of flintlock rifles and artillery, Nie Yu is also trying to promote the development of rockets. Of course, they cannot be the rockets of later generations. At most, they can be regarded as the ancestors of rockets, but they are sufficient for use in current wars.

There is no need to think that the primitive rocket is very high-end. At best, it is just a large-sized rocket. It has existed as early as the Ming Dynasty, but it is not powerful enough. The Han army used granulated gunpowder and white sugar technology, and it could barely compete with modern rockets in power.

The General’s Mansion, main hall.

"Meet the General!"

Nie Lin and Chen Xinghuai stood together and bowed to Nie Yu.

Nie Yu raised his hand and smiled, "No need to be so polite. You have come from afar, so just rest well in Yuezhou Prefecture for a few days and then make other arrangements."

"I will obey the general's order!"

The two of them quickly bowed in response.

They came here by boat specially from Jingzhou this time, so of course it is impossible for them to just stay in Yuezhou for a few days.

Previously, Feng Xiuyong and other civil officials had jointly advised General Nie Yu to get married and start a family as soon as possible. Now that he has been living in peace for a few months without any major wars breaking out, the Jingzhou government has also begun to consider looking for a family for marriage.

This had already been communicated in advance via telegram, so Nie Lin was not in a hurry at this time. He took out a scroll and handed it over.

"General, this is a portrait of a daughter of the Chen family. Please take a look!"

"Ah."

Nie Yu felt somewhat helpless. He could also understand that he was rebelling. He had no control over this matter of marriage. It was only natural for him to find someone of equal status to help manage the household affairs.

He took the scroll and glanced at it. The painting was quite good and he could tell it was of a beautiful woman. He looked down and saw there were no bound feet. That was fine, he could accept it.

Nie Yu quickly put away the scroll. He had never seen the real person, so there was no point in looking at the portrait now.

Looking at Chen Xinghuai who came with him, he was obviously a little uneasy.

Isn't that uneasy?

As a wealthy and powerful family in Jingzhou, their Chen family took the lead in surrendering to the Han army that day. Even he, the eldest son of the Chen family, was promoted to the regent of Jingzhou in a short period of time. Now his younger sister is going to marry a general of the Han army soon. The Nie and Chen families are officially married.

From now on, the Han army and the Chen family will be integrated into one. Since the Chen family has climbed onto the Han army's big ship, it is not surprising that they will be on the list of the pseudo-Qing nine clans elimination game.

Nie Yu just smiled and didn't speak first. Since the two families decided to get married, and he wanted to marry the other party's younger sister, the "bride price and dowry" had to be put on the table for discussion.

After chatting for a long time, Chen Xinghuai became a little impatient and took the initiative to mention, "General, before I came to Yuezhou, my father specifically asked me to tell you that my Chen family has some friendship with the Huizhou business group in Anhui."

The "dowry" was thrown out, and it was heavy when it was thrown out!
Nie Yu's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Is Patriarch Chen still related to the Huizhou merchants?"

Chen Xinghuai heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing Nie Yu's reaction. He said, "When my father was young, he worked with the Huizhou merchants in the Huai salt, cotton cloth, rice, and pawnshop trades. The Huai salt business was the best. The largest Huai salt stall in Jingzhou City today was established by the Chen family in partnership with the Huizhou merchants."

After hearing this, Nie Yu understood. Don't listen to Chen Xinghuai's lofty words, but to put it bluntly, the Chen family in Jingzhou is just the comprador of the Huizhou merchants in the Huai salt market in Jingzhou.

Originally, the Chen family might have continued the comprador business for a long time, but the Han army occupied Jingzhou, turning it into a place where rebels abounded.

Those Huizhou merchants naturally thought that their comprador Chen family in Jingzhou might have disappeared. Even if they were still there, they would have been plundered by the rebels. The Huai salt market in Jingzhou was finished.

Nie Yu asked, "Can the Chen family still find the Hui merchants?" Chen Xinghuai nodded. "Of course. As long as we can send someone out, my father will find them. And the general doesn't have to worry about the Hui merchants being afraid of our Han army. Those guys have always been greedy. Not to mention being traitors... ahem, even smuggling and bribery, which are equally punishable by death, are not new to them."

Hearing this, Nie Yu's mouth curve could hardly be suppressed. He didn't expect that just by getting married, he could actually get the trade channels of Huizhou merchants.

People who are not familiar with the term may be confused when they hear the word Huizhou merchants. They may have heard of Huizhou merchants, but at most they only think that they are businessmen from Anhui. To be honest, it is true that Huizhou merchants are indeed business groups from Huizhou, Anhui.

During the heyday of Huizhou merchants, business almost became the "first-class livelihood" in Huizhou, with more than 70% of adult men engaged in business.

But what really brought great fame to the Huizhou merchants was actually another less relevant and famous name - the Yangzhou Salt Merchants.

That’s right, the Yangzhou salt merchants who were as wealthy as a country were actually Huizhou merchants, all Anhui merchants.

Since the Chenghua period of the early Ming Dynasty, Hui merchants officially entered the salt industry. Through various means, they successively defeated the salt merchant groups in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, successfully seized Huai salt, and rapidly expanded and grew with Huai salt as the center.

From the middle and late Ming Dynasty to the first year of Jiaqing, the development of Huizhou merchants reached its peak. No matter the business groups they belonged to, the scope of trade, or capital wealth, they always ranked first in the country.

The Hui merchants not only monopolized the domestic Huai salt business, but also engaged in overseas trade and exported tea to places as far away as Japan, Siam, Southeast Asian countries and Portugal.

At the end of the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty's overseas tariff surplus was 85 taels of silver each year, and among the export commodities, tea from Huizhou merchants was the top trade oligarch.

Let’s talk about the famous Yangzhou salt merchants, also known as the Yangzhou Hui merchants. Their accumulated wealth could be exchanged for 40 million taels of silver, which was almost 60% of what the Qing Dynasty treasury recovered in one year.

There was even a case where a top-tier merchant among the Huizhou merchants sold more than half of the total Huai salt in the country.

Such terrifying commercial capital can almost be compared with the red-top merchants of the Qing Dynasty, the Shanxi merchants, but it disappeared quite quietly. The reason is simple and abstract. The Qing Dynasty used the Hui merchants as ATMs and tools to plunder people's wealth.

Historically, when Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River, they asked Huizhou merchants to pay for the money they spent and the gardens they built, and they successfully drained the money out of several Huizhou merchants.

This is not the end. At the end of the Qianlong period, that is, now, the White Lotus Rebellion broke out, which seriously shook the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule. The Qing Dynasty had no money and could no longer squeeze any money from the people, so it had to squeeze the Hui merchants dry.

The taxes and donations imposed on Huizhou merchants became increasingly heavy. During the Daoguang period, Daoguang was so poor that he simply asked Tao Shu, the Governor-General of Liangjiang and in charge of the Lianghuai salt administration, to eliminate the long-standing malpractices in Huai salt and reintroduce the "piao system".

Afterwards, the First Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion broke out, turning Huizhou into a wasteland. At the same time, foreign capital was introduced, and Huizhou merchants lost their monopoly position and suffered repeated heavy blows, from which they never recovered!
"General, my father said that as long as you agree, he can immediately send people to contact the Huizhou merchant group for our Han army and introduce Huai salt." Chen Xinghuai saw that Nie Yu had been silent and thought he was weighing the pros and cons, so he quickly threw out all the chips his father gave him.

Contacting the Huizhou business community and introducing Huai salt were the entire "dowry" given by the Chen family.

Because the Han army's current territory has been isolated by the surrounding Qing-controlled prefectures and cities, all merchants trafficking in Huai salt, Sichuan salt, and Guangdong salt are prohibited from entering the territories of Jingzhou, Yuezhou, and Lizhou.

It’s not that the salt from other provinces can’t really be imported, but the river channels have all been blocked, so they can only take the land route. The price of salt has risen to an outrageous level after crossing the mountains and hills, and the salt transported is not enough for consumption.

This kind of salt trade war was not invented by the pseudo-Qing officials, but had been used by the Central Plains dynasties since the Han and Tang Dynasties. They used salt and tea to control the nomadic peoples of the grasslands. There was even an ancient Tea-Horse Road in the southwest and other places, where tea was exchanged for high-quality horses.

Nie Yu was not worried about the salt shortage. He had a mall. If there was a real salt shortage, he could buy salt from the mall as an emergency measure. It was cheap and clean enough.

Nie Yu smiled and said, "I'm very happy that Patriarch Chen has such a thought. I just happened to have a new artifact here, so I'll have Chen Fuzheng bring it back to Patriarch Chen. This is also a small token of my appreciation."

As he spoke, he took out a clear glass goblet.

Authentic 9.9 yuan, free shipping, excellent quality, and excellent condition.

As soon as the cup was taken out, Chen Xinghuai was stunned for a moment. He recognized at a glance that it should be a glass product, because he had a glassware at home that was given to him by the Hui merchants.

The glass vessel was quite large, but had a simple shape and was amber in color (the same dull color as a syrup bottle). I had never seen or heard of such a transparent and colorless glass vessel.

No, it should be said that transparent and colorless glassware was not possible in ancient times. The color of ancient glassware was almost completely random because the craftsmen could not figure out and control the glass firing process. The glassware fired under the same set of processes might be two completely different colors.

Now Nie Yu took out a transparent glass goblet, which was almost equivalent to taking out a rare treasure. Its craftsmanship might not be the most advanced, and it didn't even have delicate patterns carved on it.

But its transparency and colorlessness are unique. There is no other glassware in the world that is so clear and transparent.

Chen Xinghuai stared blankly for a long time before he said, "General, this item is very valuable. My father..."

Nie Yu waved his hand and said, "Don't say anything. If you want to give it to Patriarch Chen, then I'll give it to you. It's just a small item. I have it here."

"???"

(End of this chapter)