Xing, Zhongxing, Xing; Qian, one of the eight trigrams, represents the sky.

In the second year of Xingqian, Qingming will pass, although at this time, the snow in the north and south of the river has melted, but in the north of many sunny slopes, you can still see a little snow, under the mottled snow, the grassland that has been withered yellow has returned to green again at this time, and the mottled snow is dotted among them, just like a flock of sheep on the grassland.

Although the wind from the north was still a little chilly at this time, in the endless grassland, those herders were already busy grazing their sheep on the grassland, and when they walked through the snow, they couldn't tell where the snow was and where the sheep were.

Hundreds of yurts dot the fertile pastures, and a fort rises high on the riverside, which contrasts with the yurts on the side. A young officer at the head of the city was holding a telescope, observing his surroundings from time to time.

However, in just one year, the wind and sand on the grassland in Saibei blew Zhu Xiangyu's scholarly anger clean. Now on his body, he can no longer find the appearance of that handsome boy, his face is dark, and he looks no different from an ordinary officer.

Compared with the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River, the grassland is not only barren, but also the life here is undoubtedly boring, since there will be no beauty of the Qinhuai River here, let alone the lingering compassion of the talented and beautiful woman, everything here is monotonous. For Zhu Xiangyu, who is stationed here, not only did he not know that just a few months ago, during the Spring Festival, his uncle was awarded the title of Zhongyi Bo - he was the only civil official in the Xingqian Dynasty to be awarded the title of Bo, and it was "loyalty" with a special meaning.

For all this, Zhu Xiangyu didn't know that for him, there was only this endless grassland and daily routine drills and patrols, and of course, the wine and conversation with the herdsmen on the grassland.

It's been a whole year!

In the spring of a year ago, he was ordered to enter the grassland - the Mongols on this grassland were not able to resist their march at all, and nearly eighty percent of the forty-nine banners of the twenty-four departments of Inner Mongolia were all requisitioned by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and those left behind were old or disabled or young, so naturally they could not resist the entry of the Ming Dynasty. The prince of the Horqin tribe directly chose to pay tribute.

In the past year, the garrisons stationed in Mongolia have built hundreds of strongholds in Inner and Outer Mongolia - these strongholds are commercial, and among these strongholds, only a few of them have garrisons, but they symbolize the rule of the Ming Dynasty here. Of course, what the Ming needed was not the taxes here, but the rule of the land.

It's just that this boring life makes the officers stationed here feel a little anxious.

Zhu Xiangyu, who did not catch up with the Battle of Shanhaiguan at the beginning, took the initiative to ask to be transferred to Mongolia-Kulun with the pride and ambition of sealing the wolf Juxu. They came here to Kulen in order to convey the emperor's thoughts on Mongolia - in order to show the "great righteousness" shown by the Mongolian tribes in the anti-Qing Dynasty, the Xingqian Emperor specially issued a decree to build a defensive city for the Mongolian tribes of Beyler, and for its largest living Buddha Jebtsundamba "Aoersu", that is, palaces, palaces. As the largest living Buddha in the Khalkha Department, Jebtsundanba Hutuketu is stationed in Xi, "Aoersu" is a mobile place, the location is not fixed, and it is nomadic in the grassland.

A palace is a reward for him, and Zhu Xiangyu and a brigade of infantry are escorting craftsmen to come, and according to the plan, after the palace is completed, they will continue to be stationed here.

Once upon a time, Zhu Xiangyu thought that when he came to Mongolia and came to this territory of "Western Captives", he should have made military achievements, but it has been more than a year, let alone military merits, and he has not even had the opportunity to show the Mongols on the steppe the power of firearms and artillery.

The twenty-four departments of Inner Mongolia paid tribute to the imperial court, so that the Ming Dynasty recovered the entire Inner Mongolia grassland without a single soldier. The Khalkha Three Khans on the outer steppe also seemed to accept this fact extremely obediently, and obediently paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty according to the "Nine Whites" tribute agreed with Huang Taiji that year, and offered a white camel and eight white horses every year. Faced with the palace rewarded by the Ming Emperor, they naturally did not refuse.

The obedience of the three Khalkha Khans naturally prevented the outbreak of war, and also made Zhu Xiangyu find that he had no place to use.

The fortress built after arriving in Kulen was more of a post station and bazaar than a military fortress – in fact, it was also the result of trade between the merchants and the Mongols, and many of the strongholds were themselves commercial bazaars. Han Chinese merchants from all over the world, as well as Mongolian herdsmen, came here to trade.

Tea bricks, cloth and iron pots have been the most indispensable commodities on the grassland for thousands of years. Mongolian herdsmen can't dispel meat without tea, have no clothes to wear without cloth, and can't cook tea and stew meat without pots. And those merchants from the Guannai brought these necessities to the grassland at the same time, they also obtained the "silver" on the grassland - wool.

Once upon a time, wool was just a worthless waste to the grasslands, and it was useless except for making felt, but now, wool is the most valuable silver on the grasslands. In the past, only the army wore military uniforms made of woolen fabric, and most of the people were still wearing loose cotton jackets, but now there are many people who imitate the soldiers to wear woolen clothing, and the woolen cold-proof jackets and sweaters worn in the clothes are warmer than ordinary cotton clothes, lighter and thinner, and more popular with people. Because of this, the demand for wool in Kannai is increasing day by day.

It is precisely because of the high domestic demand for wool that the price of wool on the grassland has also risen wildly. Despite the fact that Kulen is located in the heart of Mongolia and that spring has just begun, the caravan has not yet arrived in the steppe, so the price is still the price before the heavy snowfall. However, the merchants who had spent the winter in the colony had begun to buy wool, and in addition to buying or bartering tea bricks, cloth, iron pots, and silver dollars, they also bought a large amount of the herdsmen's wool on credit. These merchants knew that after the passage of the trade route, the price of wool would definitely skyrocket, after all, wool had not doubled last year, and it would only rise even higher this year.

Driven by profits, more and more merchants came to Montigo from Shanxi, Beizhili and Northeast China to buy wool. And the grandfathers and marquis of various Mongolian tribes will regard wool as their life, after all, wool is the foundation that supports their luxurious life.

Compared to ordinary herdsmen, these Mongolian princes did not need to think about trade routes at all, the herdsmen would hand over the wool to them, and the government had already arranged a market for them, all they had to do was collect the wool and give it to the chartered trading firm, the Northern Trading Company, which had the trade concession. Then just wait a few months to collect the money - the silver notes issued by the comptoirs will take three to six months to be cashed, and if they need the money urgently, there is no problem. You can sell the bank, but of course the bank only needs to withdraw a "little" fee.

The trading houses first bale the purchased wool locally, and then transport it all the way to the woolen factories in the mainland, where they become woolen wool and woolen yarn. The final woolen yarn will flow into various places and be woven into thread clothes and trousers by women, and the wool will be dyed into various colors by dyeing factories and sold all over the country, especially in the northern regions. Of course, a small part of them will flow back to the steppe and become the clothing of the Mongol princes and nobles. Of course, at this time, the value of these woolen yarns has far exceeded their original value. Of course, the Mongolian princes preferred silk to woolen wool and woolen yarn, but in winter, they still chose wool, after all, woolen tweed is warmer.

One thing is for sure, in just two years, the wool trade from several years has swelled rapidly, it has prospered the steppe at the same time, but also made the Mongols on the steppe more closely connected with the Han people, they need the Han people's tea bricks, silk, cloth, iron pots, in the past except horses they have no goods to come up with, and now, wool has given them an additional barter channel, but also let those Mongolian princes get a stable income, and this income can allow them to live a luxurious life, Let them be able to exchange silver for the luxury goods of the Central Plains, and indulge in it, and enjoy a luxurious life in the palace built for them by the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, as far as Zhu Xiangyu is concerned, he is not very aware of the importance of the wool trade to the Ming Dynasty. I only vaguely felt that whether it was the imperial court, the merchants, or the Mongol aristocracy, they attached great importance to this trade. And his mission here is not so much to show the existence of the Empire's power here, but to escort the wool merchants of the steppe.

actually became a bodyguard of the dart bureau......

This is precisely the duty of the military......

Although this responsibility is diametrically opposed to the education he received, Zhu Xiangyu had to accept this task, which is the value of his existence here.

"Actually, if this trade on the steppes can continue for a long time, maybe it will be a good thing......

Even as Zhang Huangyan's nephew, Zhu Xiangyu didn't know that wool was a tool for the imperial court to collect Mongolia, he only knew that wool was very important - at least to support the military expenses of thousands of officers and soldiers stationed in Mongolia, and without the existence of wool trade, garrisoning Mongolia would become a "loss-making business".

After the snow melted, a caravan would come to Mongolia, and as Zhu Xiangyu pondered his future, a long caravan had already bypassed a mountain in the south. This is a caravan from the Guannai, different from the old camel caravans, now these caravans are in horse-drawn carriages, along several trade routes into Mongolia, those four-wheeled carriages often carry several tons of goods, whether it is the Mongols need tea bricks, cloth or iron pots, or the princes need silk and all kinds of luxury goods, are transported by these caravans, compared to the Guannai, they can often get more than 300% of the profit, and this is not the whole of the profit. Among these caravans were many small traders, who would drive their camels to the interland of the steppes to trade with the small, remote tribes, who could make more than double the profits in Kulendo.

Profit drives people from all over the country to come here, and many of them are setting foot on this land for the first time.

This is a convoy of hundreds of carriages, when the convoy has not yet arrived at the fortress, Zhu Xiangyu has already seen from the various flags in the convoy that they are a temporary convoy together.

"Xu Damao, you take two people over to have a look, ask them where they came from, and then ask them if they have brought the latest newspapers."

Compared with where the caravan came from, Zhu Xiangyu was more concerned about whether they had brought newspapers, let alone new newspapers, even if they were old newspapers, it didn't matter, after all, since the heavy snow closed the road, the grassland lost contact with the mainland, and he didn't know anything about what had happened in the past six months, and it was because of this that he seemed a little anxious.

"Okay, tell the big guy, this Cullen City is here, our set is between the fortress and the palace, but try to get as close to the fortress as possible......"

Sun Tiangong, who was driving the carriage, said as he deliberately admonished.

"Don't forget that we discussed something on the road, and we pressed it by two!"

They came here in the cold wind before the snow melted, just to make a little more money before the people on the grassland knew the gross price, and the merchants have been profitable since ancient times, and the same is true for these people who have come here from thousands of miles.

"Okay, Shopkeeper Sun, look over there, our cavalry is coming!"

Just when Sun Tiangong was talking about the price reduction, the sharp-eyed people over there had already seen the cavalry coming from afar, and the cavalry were wearing red military uniforms, and when they came on horseback, people only saw three galloping red dots, but despite this, people also knew that this was the official army of the Ming Dynasty, and only the official army of the Ming Dynasty would wear red military uniforms.

"Appeal ......"

In front of the convoy, Xu Damaole stopped his horse and smiled at the long-lost mainland businessmen.

"Where are you from?"

"Back to the military master, I came from Zhang Heng."

"Zhang Heng? That road is harder than the road in the northeast. ”

"But no, this journey is really not easy, there is no way, isn't it all for a little silver, military master, this, it's not in front of us, right?"

Sun Tiangong asked tentatively, of course, he didn't forget to hand over a bundle of tobacco leaves, tobacco leaves are also rare in the grassland, but for these garrisons, no one will make their money. It is often directly "honored" on a few bundles.

"Hmmm......"

Putting the tobacco leaves under his nose, Xu Damao took a deep breath and said with a smile.

"This is a good thing, if you come half a month late, we will run out of food."

He did not refuse the "bribes" of the merchants, and after they settled down, he would naturally send some tobacco leaves, tea bricks and other things to the "labor army".

"You were the first to come here, how about the newspapers? Our chief is looking forward to you bringing newspapers all day long. ”

"Bring, bring,"

Hearing that it was the first batch of businessmen to come over, Sun Tiangong immediately said with some excitement.

"From October to this month, not a single newspaper has been left behind......"