On the fourth day after leaving the customs, as soon as he set up camp, Zhu Youzhen saw herdsmen coming from all over the camp and gathered outside the camp. Zhu Youzhen immediately ordered the herdsmen to be summoned into the camp, and the baggage troops brought out drinks to entertain the herdsmen.

With the development of overseas trade and the development of the sugar industry, coconut wine imported from Southeast Asia and sugar cane wine, a by-product of the sugar industry, have become the main supply of wine in the northern market. Liquor made from rice, glutinous rice, and wheat has begun to withdraw from the low-end liquor market due to the imperial court's prohibition order.

However, the coconut wine from Southeast Asia is of different quality due to the craftsmanship of the craftsmen, so people prefer to choose the sugarcane wine produced in Guangdong with more stable quality. This also caused a large backlog of coconut wine, and this time Chongzhen asked the logistics department to include coconut wine in the army's daily consumables list, hoping to consume these accumulated coconut wine.

However, he soon discovered that these coconut wines, which were despised by the people of the Ming Dynasty, had become a good thing to shorten the distance between him and the Mongolian herdsmen. After two bowls of coconut wine, the Mongols began to rejoice. So soon after leaving the customs, he ordered the logistics department to send more coconut wine, and planned to hold a big event outside the customs.

After the dozens of herdsmen who had been summoned to the camp drank two bowls of wine, Zhu Youzhen said to them: "I entertained the warriors of the surrounding tribes to compete with the soldiers in the past two days, just to have some fun during the journey, not to select warriors to join my guard force, as rumored to be. ”

The emperor's words poured cold water on the heads of the rushing Mongols, and the room fell silent. Looking at the Mongolians with a lost face, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but say again: "But most of you are from the 36th Department of Guanmen, and you shed blood for my Ming Dynasty last year, I can't let you return disappointed like this, otherwise it won't hurt the hearts of the Mongolian tribes who are loyal to my Ming Dynasty."

However, letting you come to compete with the soldiers again and again will not only make my soldiers tired, but the selected personnel may not be convinced.

Therefore, I decided that on the 15th of the next month, at the Rehe camp, a Naadam conference will be held to test the three contents of archery, horse racing, and wrestling. The winner of the contest will become my bodyguard, and at this conference, I will select 300 warriors to form a Mongolian warrior battalion.

Now, would you like to be my messenger and deliver this news to the tribes of the steppe on my behalf? ”

These Mongolian herdsmen suddenly became happy, although they did not get the opportunity to compete with the warriors under the emperor's command, but it is also a good thing to be able to serve the emperor, after all, those people have been rewarded by the emperor for doing nothing before, since they can serve the emperor, they will not be without rewards.

Sure enough, after seeing that these herdsmen agreed, Zhu Youzhen asked the guards to take out cotton cloth and wine and reward them, and also asked them to bring a message to the patriarchs of the various tribes, asking them to also arrive at the Rehe camp on the 15th of the next month and come to Jin to see him.

On October 5, Chongzhen and his entourage finally arrived at the fork of the Rehe River, and Wednesday's fears quickly disappeared. Compared with the investment in Rehe Castle and Tunken Village, the emperor was obviously more concerned about the construction of the castle and whether the Han immigrants in Tunken Village could take root, and whether the self-defense forces in these villages were combative.

After hearing that the emperor had sent an invitation to the surrounding Mongol tribes on his way to Rehe, preparing to hold a Naadam conference on the 15th and convening the leaders of the tribes to join the alliance, he seemed to understand the emperor's intentions, so he began to actively prepare.

The plan for the exercise that he had originally envisaged was also adjusted a little, and he was ready to demonstrate the strength of the Ming army to the Mongolian troops participating in the congress during the Naadam conference. After Wednesday told Chongzhen his thoughts, he immediately obtained Chongzhen's approval.

Zhu Youzhen soon discovered that he seemed to have nothing to do for the time being before the Naadam conference. Su Ran, the chief designer of the Rehe Castle, quickly suggested to the emperor that there were many hot springs in the upper reaches of the Rehe near the mountains, and he might as well go to soak in the hot springs to relieve the fatigue left by the long journey.

For such a good suggestion, Zhu Youzhen naturally would not refuse, so he took Hailanzhu Shi Ran up the Rehe River to find the hot springs that Su Ran said.

Just when Chongzhen was busy soaking in the hot springs, Tian Hongyu in Shenyang finally reached a commercial agreement with Dolgon and Dahai after difficult negotiations.

Tian Hongyu made concessions on grain trade in exchange for Houjin's concessions on soybean trade. As a result of Huang Taiji's order, soybeans were included in Houjin's grain reserves, and the number of exports could not exceed 750,000 stones, in response to the Ming state's grain embargo policy on Houjin.

Although soybeans can be eaten as food, they taste really bad, and no one wants to be a staple food for three meals a day unless they don't have a choice. But soybean for the Ming Dynasty now, is an extremely important oil crop, soybean meal after squeezing oil is the main source of livestock feed, in order to ensure that the soybean market does not undergo drastic changes, Tian Hongyu suggested that rice in exchange for soybeans, so that both sides in the food control will not suffer.

Huang Taiji actually didn't want to make such an exchange, because in the Northeast, the value of rice is four times that of soybeans, and those who can care about the taste are the upper class people of Houjin, but for the common people at the bottom, it is already the greatest wish to be able to ensure that they do not go hungry.

On the surface, everyone did not suffer a loss in exchanging grain for food, but in fact, the total amount of grain in Houjin still decreased, which is not a good thing for the civilians at the bottom. However, when it comes to the welfare of the middle and upper echelons of the Houjin Dynasty, even those Han officials who are firmly on his side support the exchange of rice for soybeans this time. Unable to defy the will of the entire Later Jin ruling class, Huang Taiji eventually acquiesced to the trade of soybeans for rice.

After the soybean trade crisis is resolved, the most important negotiations between the two sides are mainly two points, one is how to distribute the trade benefits negotiated between Amin and the company to the flags; The other is how to distribute the management power and economic interests of Yingkou Port.

According to the proposition of Sihai Trading Company, the treatment given to Amin by the company was to ensure the stable supply of soybean trade, and now that the soybean trade has been greatly reduced, the benefits given by the company to Amin will naturally be abolished. If the powerful people of Houjin want to benefit, they have to renegotiate.

However, Huang Taiji and Dolgon obviously don't see it that way, they think that although Amin has been imprisoned, the benefits promised by the company to Amin cannot be invalidated, and must be completely transferred to the person or flag designated by them. After several failed negotiations, Tian Hongyu could only say that he accepted the article proposed by Houjin in principle, but Houjin must ensure the full implementation of the content of the other agreements, otherwise they would not be able to fulfill this article.

After Dolgon replied to Huang Taiji, he agreed with Tian Hongyu's statement. As a result, Amin himself received preferential treatment in trade, and was divided among the three of Huangtaiji, Yuetuo, and Dolgon. And the benefits that Amin won for the blue flag, the two yellow flags accounted for half, the red flags and two white flags accounted for 30%, and the blue flags only retained the original 20%.

As for the ownership and disposal of Yingkou Port, after Tian Hongyu promised that the company would sell pig iron to Houjin at a price of 200 yuan per ton, no more than 1,500 tons a year, the management power of Yingkou Port has been retained in the hands of the company. As for the tax rate of the Yingkou market, it was raised from 15 taxes to 12 taxes, 20% of the tax was reserved for the company, and the other 8 transactions were given to the Houjin treasury.

For the sale of pig iron to Houjin, it is not that Tian Hong is motivated by profit. Although this was Dolgon's private inquiry, whether the pig iron could be sold had already been approved by Chongzhen.

When Houjin was still distinguishing the types of pig iron by its physical properties, Daming had already begun to reclassify steel according to the method of chemical analysis. Due to the new understanding of steel and the continuous expansion of the production capacity of domestic iron-smelting plants, Daming's comprehensive control of steel exports has become an export restriction on steel, wrought iron and black-hearted cast iron.

Therefore, Dolgon offered to buy iron ingots, but Tian Hongyu only declined a few times, and succumbed in the face of the other party's rising high price. The price of pig iron in the Daming market is 65 yuan per ton, but the pig iron produced by several iron factories in Tangshan, Xishan and Shanxi cannot get this price if it is not a government-run workshop, because these iron factories have the most advanced technology, pig iron has low phosphorus and sulfur content, and the quality is better, and the market often pays a premium of 70 yuan per ton.

In other words, Dorgon offered three times the price for iron, which was enough for the merchants to go crazy. Tian Hongyu didn't want such a big benefit to fall into the pockets of others, and controlling Houjin's iron supply channels was also a request put forward by Chongzhen, so the two sides finally reached an agreement, not to mention that the company also retained control of Yingkou Port.

Nearly 20 days of negotiations have also made both sides somewhat familiar. Dahai and Dolgon felt that although Tian Hongyu was a bit shrewd in business, he was still good in dealing with people. Therefore, after signing the trade agreement on October 5, Dolgon had the idea of befriending Tian Hongyu, and kindly reminded him to leave Yingkou when he returned.

Dolgon's gesture made Tian Hongyu finally make up his mind, he thanked the other party for the reminder, and at the same time took advantage of the fact that no one around handed Dolgon a letter and said: "An old man in the capital asked me to send a letter to Baylor, and I was a little hesitant before I didn't know whether to give the letter to Baylor. But these days, I think you can still be friends, Baylor. ”

Dolgon, who was stuffed with a letter in his hand, was a little stunned, although he was precocious, but after all, he was still younger, and some things were not reacted quickly enough, so he couldn't return the letter at that time, so he watched Tian Hongyu just turn around and leave quickly.

After hearing Tahai's shouts behind him, Dolgon, who had come to his senses, quickly stuffed the letter into his sleeve pocket, and then turned and walked towards Tahai.

That night, at dinner, he heard that his second brother Dorgon was still in his study, so Dorgon hurried to call Dorgon out for dinner.