Chapter 53

"Young man, the head of the Li family and our Khorchin tribe have been old acquaintances for a long time. We have been doing business for over a decade, but I have never seen him bring a stranger to our tribe to do business. But today, he specifically brought you here, which shows that your relationship is not ordinary. However, this is not what I am concerned about."

At this point, Zaisang's tone paused slightly. Yueyang was quite startled and looked at the thin old man again, thinking to himself, "This old man is not simple at all!"

After a brief pause, Zaisang continued, "You know, on our vast Mongolian grassland, we lack everything except cattle, sheep, and horses. Salt, tea bricks, cloth, iron, clothing, and grain are all in urgent need. The things you have brought are like a timely rain for our tribe. Now, tell me, what do you need from me?"

Hearing this, Yueyang's heart, which had been slightly tense, relaxed. It seemed that although Zaisang was a shrewd man, he still had the straightforwardness of a Mongolian, which made things easier to handle.

Yueyang smiled slightly and directly said, "Respected Chief Zaisang, my purpose for coming here is very simple. I hope to exchange the fifty carts of salt, fifty carts of grain, fifty carts of tea bricks, and several carts of clothing and iron goods for your tribe's warhorses!"

Upon hearing this, Zaisang's brows involuntarily furrowed, and he asked, "How many warhorses do you want to exchange for?"

Yueyang replied without hesitation, "The more, the better!"

"Originally, you are a person sent by the Ming court!" Zaisang immediately stood up, his expression stern, and sternly questioned Yueyang, "You have a lot of nerve to come to our tribe to buy horses. Aren't you afraid that I will hand you over to the Later Jin?"

Seeing Zaisang's reaction, Yueyang was not the least bit afraid; instead, he laughed, "Chief Zaisang, as a descendant of Genghis Khan, can your magnanimity be as shallow as a stream? Think about it, if I were sent by the court, why would I travel thousands of miles to the Khorchin tribe to buy horses? Are there no horses in the closer Zhaokuchin and Lutuohua tribes? You are overreacting, aren't you?"

Seeing Yueyang's calm and composed demeanor, Zaisang was speechless. Indeed, if the Ming court really wanted to buy horses, they wouldn't have to travel so far to his tribe. There were many tribes in Mongolia that had good relations with the Ming, and there was no need for such a roundabout approach.

"Alright, even if you are not from the court, why do you need so many warhorses?"

Yueyang rolled his eyes at him, "Nonsense, buying warhorses is naturally for forming a cavalry. Do you think it's for plowing fields? To be honest, I have organized a militia in Shanxi. Recently, bandits have been rampant in our country, and we need cavalry to suppress them. I also heard that the head of the Li family is very familiar with you, so I came to the Khorchin tribe to buy horses. Otherwise, why would I come to this desolate place and suffer?"

Yueyang knew that the most important thing in negotiations was to control the momentum and rhythm. As long as he had these two things, he would have the upper hand. Therefore, he adopted a strong attitude from the beginning.

Zaisang's face, however, turned red and then pale. No one likes to be told that their land is desolate, especially when he was the leader of the Khorchin tribe. This was like slapping him in the face, and his expression became even worse.

Zaisang's expression was clear to Yueyang, and he knew that going too far was not good. He softened his tone and said, "Chief Zaisang, you just said that on the grassland, everything except cattle, sheep, and horses is lacking, but we have what you need. What do you need... tea bricks, salt, clothing, even iron pots, chili peppers, spices, and grain, we have them all. You can exchange them with us. To be honest, I have brought a total of two hundred carts of goods. You only need to pay two thousand warhorses, and they will be yours. What do you think?"

"Two thousand warhorses?" Zaisang muttered, calculating in his mind. After a while, he said to Yueyang, "The current price of a warhorse is sixty taels of silver per horse. Two thousand warhorses should be 120,000 taels of silver. Do you think your two hundred carts of goods are worth 120,000 taels of silver?"

"Ha ha..." Yueyang laughed, looking at Zaisang with a playful expression, "Chief Zaisang, do you really think I am a child on my first business trip? Yes, the current price of a warhorse is sixty taels of silver, but that is the price inside the pass and in the Central Plains. Using the price inside the pass here is not appropriate, is it? If the horses on the grassland were so valuable, you wouldn't have to worry about how to survive the winter, would you?"

"Humph, but you don't have to be so ruthless in your pricing. You want to exchange two hundred carts of goods for our two thousand warhorses. Do you think these warhorses are just blown in by the wind..." Zaisang haggled with Yueyang without backing down.

After nearly an hour of argument, they finally reached an agreement. Yueyang exchanged two hundred carts of goods for 1,300 warhorses from the Khorchin tribe and agreed to conduct another transaction in two months.

After seeing Yueyang off, Zaisang happily returned to his tent and started drinking mare's milk wine. Soon, the tent's door curtain was lifted, and Wudamu, looking excited, walked in.

Without looking up, Zaisang asked, "Wudamu, how is it? Have you seen those goods?"

"Chief, I have seen them all. The goods brought by that young man surnamed Yue are all of the highest quality, especially the salt. I have checked, and it is all top-grade refined salt. This kind of salt is only affordable by the rich in the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty. I have calculated that if these refined salts were sold separately, each pound would be worth at least two taels of silver. Now, fifty carts of refined salt amount to ten thousand pounds. There are also tea bricks, iron pots, and grain. Our tribe's winter supplies will be much more sufficient now!"

Zaisang nodded and asked Wudamu, "Wudamu, do you think it is worth exchanging 1,300 warhorses for these things?"

"Of course it is!" Wudamu replied without hesitation, "1,300 warhorses are not a big deal for our tribe. Besides, the number of cattle, sheep, and horses that die from the cold every winter is sometimes more than this!"

However, Wudamu soon raised his own doubts, "Chief, but I feel something is not right. If this young man has such good things, why would he sell them to us so cheaply? Aren't the merchants from the Ming the most cunning? When have they ever done a losing business?"

Wudamu laughed, "This is where the young man is cunning. He is showing his sincerity to us. He also told me that this business is just the beginning, and he will buy more horses from us in the future. If that's the case, we can have a long-term cooperation with this young man!"

"Chief... This... This is not good!" Zaisang's words made Wudamu hesitate, "Chief, if we get too close to the merchants from the Ming, the Great Khan of the Later Jin will not be happy if he finds out."

"What's not good about it!" Zaisang was unhappy, "Isn't the Later Jin also very close to the Shanxi merchants? Where do the Later Jin get their grain, iron, and intelligence from if not from the Shanxi merchants? Are they allowed to do business with the Ming merchants, but we are not allowed to sell things? Look at what Dai Shan is doing this time. Asking for warhorses is one thing, but he even wants to form an alliance through marriage! In Han terms, he wants both the person and the wealth!"

Mentioning this, Zaisang felt a bit uncomfortable. The current Great Khan of the Later Jin, Huangtaiji, was implementing a policy of allying with the Mongolian tribes and forming marital alliances with them. However, due to the growing power of the Later Jin, they sometimes handled things in a domineering manner.

For example, Huangtaiji had already formed two marital alliances with the Khorchin tribe. Eighteen years ago (1614), Zaisang's sister, Borjigit Zhezhe, married Huangtaiji and is now the Empress. In 1625, at the age of thirty-three, Huangtaiji married Zaisang's thirteen-year-old daughter, Borjigit (a bit too young), Bumbutai, who later became the famous Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Now, at the age of forty-one, Huangtaiji sent Dai Shan to sound out the possibility of marrying Zaisang's eldest daughter, Hailanzhu, as a concubine. This made Zaisang unhappy.

Damn it, I have already given you a sister and a daughter, and now you want to take my only and most precious eldest daughter. Do you think you are the only man in the world? What annoyed Zaisang the most was that if you want to marry my daughter, at least give me some dowry. You don't even send dowry, and you want to get something from me. Do you really want to take and eat from me?

Thinking about this, Zaisang felt a bit choked. Wudamu, standing beside him, also understood Zaisang's feelings. Even clay has a bit of fire. You, Huangtaiji, send people to eat and drink, and now you want both the person and the wealth. Do you really think our Khorchin tribe is your vegetable garden, where you can pick vegetables whenever you want?

Thinking about this, Wudamu couldn't help but say, "Yes, if we marry our eldest daughter to that young merchant, perhaps our tribe will no longer have to worry about winter supplies in the future."

"Hmm... What did you say?"

As soon as Wudamu said this, Zaisang suddenly lifted his head and glared at him...

PS: I have to say one more thing, the Brazilian team is really bad, Brazil is garbage!

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