The Rise of the European Emperor

After thinking about the pros and cons, Marin was surprised to find that using Sauron mercenaries to help him fight in the North American jungle was much better than eating Cossacks.

Cossacks are the kings on the grasslands, but their combat effectiveness in the jungle is actually mediocre. The Cossacks of later generations were able to defeat the Saurons in Siberia, relying on the sharpness of their firearms and their ability to scare people.

Although the Saurons are brave, most of them have never seen the market. The Sauron people in the Heilongjiang area are alright. They have fought many battles with the Manchus and have seen a lot of knowledge. The Saurons in Siberia and the savages in the north of the mountain have no knowledge at all. Even the barbaric Jurchens call them savages, which shows how savage and ignorant they are. But savage and ignorant people are not afraid of your fierceness, because they are more fierce than you. However, the fire gun that made a loud noise that they had never seen before stunned them. Therefore, a few hundred Cossacks could conquer a large area of ​​territory in Siberia, but when it came to the territory of the Qing Dynasty, the Cossacks of Tsarist Russia were repelled in Yaksa.

In many cases, the Cossacks of Tsarist Russia actually hid in strong fortresses such as Yakutsk, and used muskets and artillery to counterattack the counterattacks of the savages in the northern mountains, instead of defeating the locals head-on in the jungle.

However, if the Saurons serve themselves, they must be the one with firearms, and they can completely abuse the Indians. In addition, they can ride Sauron's horses, can quickly shuttle through the forest, and can also speed up the process of conquering the North American jungle.

It is said that there are more than 100,000 Saurons now. If you count the northern mountain savages further north of Sauron and the savage Jurchens to the east, there are hundreds of thousands. Moreover, in addition to the Saurons, Marin can also hire the savage Jurchen who is close to the sea to the east. If these people were not hired by Marin, they would be captured by Nurhachi and died as cannon fodder in a few decades. They might as well hire them to help him clean up the North American jungle.

Marin planned to bring in even the horses adapted to the jungle when hiring those Saurons, so that the Saurons could fight in the North American jungle.

Don't need too many, as long as you can hire thousands of Sauron jungle cavalry from Sauron's Ministry, and with the help of Haidongqing, it won't be too easy to abuse hundreds of thousands of Indians in the North American jungle.

As for whether the Saurons would get out of control, Marin was not worried. As long as the Saurons didn't change their habit of drinking strong alcohol, they couldn't do without themselves. After all, Beihai has a lot of Erguotou, which is very attractive to the Saurons...

Marin believed that the Manchus would be able to control the Saurons for three hundred years without any problems, let alone themselves.

...

In addition, in addition to recruiting Sauron mercenaries, Marin also planned to take the opportunity to set up a castle at the former site of Yongning Temple as an important trading base.

What does Marin want to trade in that bitter cold place? Of course it is the famous mink fur! Of course, wild ginseng is also a trade target.

How valuable are mink fur? In places like Daming where prices are very low, mink fur can be sold for more than a dozen taels or even tens of taels of silver. In Europe, mink fur is even more expensive.

In Europe, a good ordinary mink can be sold for 100 shillings, which is about 20 gold coins. With the current European gold and silver exchange ratio, 20 gold coins are about 22.9 taels of silver, which is about 23 taels of silver, which is more expensive than the price in Ming Dynasty.

It's not that expensive, though. Because, since the Ming Dynasty lost its actual control over Nurgan Dusi, the price of mink fur has risen rapidly.

Because it is difficult to communicate with the northeast region, the price of mink fur has risen very high. However, according to Baigeri and others, mink fur is very common in the Sauron area. A small tribe of two to three hundred households can hunt more than a thousand mink furs a year. In the entire Sauron region, it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of mink fur produced a year.

However, since there is no way to sell these mink furs to Daming, most of them can only be left idle. Or, sell it to Mongolian nobles or nearby Haixi Jurchen at a low price in exchange for horses, bows and arrows.

As for the relationship between the Jurchens and the Saurons, it's a complicated one...

In fact, the Jurchens also relied heavily on hunting mink fur to trade with Liaodong and Daming, and the main source of mink fur in the Ming Dynasty was the supply of Jurchens from the Liaodong Horse Market.

However, the Liaodong Horse Market mainly collects horses as national strategic materials. At this time, the Liaodong horse market was still under the official control of the Ming court, and had not yet become a place for private free trade in the Wanli period. Therefore, the government-run horse market, because of the rigid mechanism, only accepts horses, and often restricts the purchase of products such as mink and ginseng, which can only be used as incidentals. After all, because of the hostile relationship with Mongolia, the Ming Dynasty relied heavily on the war horses of Liaodong, which was also a basic national policy. As for the trade of mink fur and ginseng, it is secondary.

Only a small number of rich merchants with background connections can buy mink fur and ginseng here. There are also merchants who are not afraid of death, sneaking across the border and sneaking into the northeast jungle, exchanging mink fur and ginseng with the Jurchens for huge profits.

Because of their contacts with the Ming Dynasty, the Jurchens started hunting mink early in order to obtain mink fur. But over a long period of time, the number of minks in the Jilin area and the northeastern area of ​​Liaodong, where the Jurchens were entrenched, has been greatly reduced. Then the mink trade started further north in the Heilongjiang area, and even further north in the Outer Northeast. After all, there is no chance to trade with the Ming Dynasty, and there is not much demand for mink fur. Moreover, even if the local Saurons got mink fur, they would have no way to sell it.

Because there is no way out, the mink fur obtained by the Saurons can only be sold to the Horqin tribe of Mongolia in the west, or the Ula tribe of the Haixi Jurchen in the south. These two tribes are also relatively wealthy and powerful because they control the mink trade in the Sauron area.

And after Nurhaci rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, he also conquered and controlled the Ula tribe early in order to control the acquisition of mink fur from the Sauron tribe in the north of the Ula tribe. Because the mink fur trade was very profitable at that time. As long as you have mink fur in your hands, it is equivalent to having a mine at home, and you don't have to worry about no smugglers from the Ming Dynasty coming to trade.

In the Ming Dynasty, being able to wear a mink coat was definitely a symbol of cow ratio. Many people like to show off their wealth with mink fur coats, even in hot weather. The wonderful book "Jin Ping Mei", which was written in the reign of Long Wan, also records a certain process of fighting for wealth. It mentioned that Li Ping'er had a mink fur coat worth 60 taels of silver, which made Pan Jinlian very jealous. When leaving Ximen's house, Pan Jinlian even stole the mink coat. At that time, buying a maid was only four or five taels of silver. A mink fur coat can buy more than a dozen maidservants... And if it is a sable fur coat, the value is even more immeasurable...

...

In addition, the reason why Tsarist Russia sent Cossacks to expedition to Siberia was not for land at all, but to collect mink and sell them to Western European countries.

According to historical records, during the Tsarist Russia period, before the 19th century, one-third of its fiscal revenue depended on reselling mink fur from Siberia. Because Tsarist Russia is located in a place of bitter cold, and there is nothing that Western European countries value. Only mink fur from Siberia is favored by Western European countries.

Therefore, Tsarist Russia sent the Cossacks to the East, not for any land, but for the mink trade. After all, people in the world had no concept of territory at that time, and Siberia could not farm, and mink fur became the most important pursuit of the Tsarist Russian authorities. Even the Battle of Yaksa was not caused by the land, but to compete for the origin of mink fur. Because, to the east of Lake Baikal, the Xing'an Mountains and Da Xing'an Mountains outside the road were important mink producing areas at that time.

Tsarist Russia relied on the resale trade of mink fur, and the Qing Dynasty also attached great importance to the supply of mink fur. Therefore, the two sides had a fight in Yaksa. At that time, neither side felt that the frozen soil there was of any value, but only valued the mink fur there.

The final result of this battle was that the Manchu Qing kept the mink fur production area south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains. Tsarist Russia, on the other hand, controlled the Beishan savage activity area north of the Outer Xing'an Mountains, as well as mink producing areas such as the Nerchinsk region.

After that, Manchu Qing and Tsarist Russia each made their own mink fur. Even, because of the excessive demand for mink fur in the Qing Dynasty, mink fur was imported from Tsarist Russia. Tsarist Russia also needed tea from the Qing Dynasty, and was willing to exchange some mink fur. And the important trading port at that time was called Chakta...

...

Marin intends to control the Yongning Temple area, where he intends to buy mink along the Heilongjiang River. Then, sell it to Daming or Europe.

He was worrying that he didn't have any goods that Ming Dynasty people would like. It was also a good choice to set up a trading point for buying mink fur at Yongning Temple in Temple Street by sea.

As for the commodities traded with the local Saurons, the savage Jurchens, and even the wild people of the North Mountain, Marin also plans to use woolen wool and sweaters made of European coarse wool as the main products.

Marin has already planned to engage in the industrial revolution and is preparing to intervene in the wool spinning industry. However, he doesn't have much fine wool, so he can only temporarily buy cheap coarse wool. The wool and sweaters made of coarse wool are of average quality, durable and warm. They are absolutely needed by the Saurons, Jurchens and Beishan savages living in the bitter cold.

In addition, ironware, iron pots, swords, bows and arrows are also important exchange materials. As long as there are these things, there is no need to worry about not being able to exchange enough mink fur from the Saurons, Jurchens, and Beishan savages.

After switching to mink fur, it is a good choice whether it is shipped to the Ming Dynasty to be sold there, or shipped back to Europe to sell at a high price.

According to Bai Geri and others, every year in the area where Sauron's headquarters is located, tens of thousands of mink furs can be produced in total, and there are thousands of rare sable furs alone. But because there was no way out, they had to be sold to the Mongolian Horqin tribe at the southern foot of the Greater Khingan Mountains, and the Hercynian Jurchen Ula tribe to the east of Horqin. Later, after the rise of Houjin, it took action against the Ula tribe very early in order to snatch mink fur resources. At the same time, during the period of Huang Taiji, the Horqin tribe was conquered and the monopoly of mink fur resources was completed.

In addition, the five people also told Marin that if a purchase point is set up at Yongning Temple in Nurgan City, not only the mink fur of the Sauron people can be purchased, but also the mink fur of the Beishan savages north of the Outer Xing'an Mountains can be purchased. As long as you are willing to send a boat to the coastal area in the north of the mountain in summer, you can harvest at least a few thousand mink furs...

Marin's saliva almost flowed down when he heard it. You know, mink furs cost at least a dozen taels of silver in Daming. However, when exchanging with the locals, ironware and cotton robes worth one or two taels of silver can be exchanged. Moreover, those who sell mink are also grateful. Because there is no market for mink fur in their hands.

In this way, if they can monopolize the mink fur trade in the Outer Northeast, at least tens of thousands of mink furs can be harvested a year!

What is the concept of 10,000 mink furs? If transported to Daming, it can sell at least a hundred thousand taels of silver! That's still common, not counting the price of those sable furs. If those high-value sable furs are included, the total value should exceed 200,000 taels of silver. And the materials needed to exchange these mink furs are at most 10,000 to 20,000 taels...

"This deal is worth it, it's done!" Marin wiped the saliva that almost flowed from the corner of his mouth, and made up his mind.