bullyxtreme Chapter 76 The most valuable thing is demand.
Chapter 76 The most valuable thing is demand.
Chapter 77 The most valuable thing is demand.
Chapter 076 Shuangchengwei East City. With the start of Chen Ying's proxy war, Chen Ying was originally very worried that the Suna tribe would directly attack Shuangchengwei. However, the problem is that the Suna tribe did not attack Shuangchengwei.
This was mainly because, when Suna came to capture the Haixi Jurchen near Xingkai Lake in the north of Shuangchengwei, Suna's eldest son, Suksaha, accompanied the Jurchen nobleman Aisin Gioro Handai, who led three or four hundred men to attack the Duogu tribe near Xingkai Lake. The Duogu tribe was a small tribe with only six or seven hundred people and had no ability to resist.
After only half a battle, the entire Dogu tribe was wiped out. The old, weak, women and children were either killed or forced to surrender. Among them was Dogu Helen, the daughter of the Dogu chieftain Shiburen, who was considered the most beautiful woman in the Dogu tribe.
Not only in the Dogu tribe, but also in neighboring tribes, Helen had countless admirers. Helen actually means otter in the Jurchen language.
After Helen was captured, a warrior named Bujandai, who admired Helen, raided Suksaha's temporary camp. Suksaha, Suna's eldest son, was beheaded by Bujandai. Bujandai then led dozens of his followers and escaped with the rescued Helen. Upon learning of this tragic news, Suna was furious and rallied his forces to pursue Bujandai.
In fact, Suna's vanguard was less than thirty miles from Shuangchengwei City. Fortunately, Chen Ying was lucky. More than half a month later, Chen Ying was no longer worried because the Dengzhou Navy transported more than 5,000 immigrants from Dalu Island to Vladivostok. When Su Mei learned that Chen Ying wanted to develop a base in Shuangchengwei, she keenly realized that Chen Ying had a very big ambition.
These 5,000 young and strong craftsmen were selected from Dalu Island. Most of them were military households from the Liaodong Army of the Ming Dynasty. They could not only work, but also fight.
Along with these 5,000 military households came a large amount of equipment, especially artillery. Originally, Chen Ying planned to establish an artillery division for Dalu Island, with a total of 50 consecutive thunder cannons and two three-inch heavy cannons.
Immediately after these reinforcements arrived, Chen Ying wrote to Su Mei, asking her to organize a team to arrive in Vladivostok ahead of time and to establish a shipyard there.
Although Daelu Island has already built ships, the problem is that Daelu Island is just an island with extremely scarce resources. It has almost no raw materials and needs to be transported from outside, making it highly dependent on North Korea. If the historical timeline were to continue, North Korea would soon fall to the Jurchens.
North Korea will definitely cut off cooperation with Daegu Island. Without raw materials, the nearly 100,000 people on Daegu Island will starve and become a burden for Chen Ying.
Vladivostok has a temperate climate, is surrounded by mountains and hills on three sides, and has Golden Horn Bay as a natural harbor. The key is that its area is too large to be compared with Dalu Island.
Before coming to Shuangchengwei, Chen Ying did indeed intend to rely on Dalu Island to develop basic industries. However, the problem is that now there is a better option. He really did not expect that after the rise of the Jurchens, they would abandon the Far East and only use the territory of the Haixi Jurchens as a hunting ground, often coming over to raid it.
Chen Ying was very familiar with history. In the next period of time, in order to stabilize the internal situation, Nurhaci would first attack the Khorchin and devour the Khalcha Mongols. It was not until August of the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, after the Battle of Liuhe, when Sun Chengzong was dismissed from office and Gao Di took over, that Nurhaci would launch a new offensive.
This period of more than a year was a development period for Chen Yinghao. He decided to quietly enter the village and establish Vladivostok first. Vladivostok is backed by Liaodong and has a large amount of natural timber that can be used. More importantly, there is no Dongjiang Army here, and even fishing in the sea can yield a large catch.
Just as Chen Ying was transferring personnel and supplies to Shuangchengwei and along the Vladivostok line, the leaders of various departments of the Shuangcheng Mutual Trade Alliance arrived in Shuangchengwei with the heads they had captured, naturally wanting to exchange them for supplies with Chen Ying.
In the East City Guard's Mansion, Chen Ying sat at the head of the table, with a long table in front of him piled with battle reports and lists of spoils from various tribes. Meng Gun, Hamutai, and dozens of other leaders sat on either side, all beaming with joy.
As Chen Ying looked at the battle reports, he realized that the leaders of the various Haixi Jurchen tribes were mostly uneducated and illiterate. Judging from the handwriting, these battle reports were written by translators.
Actually, none of that matters. What matters is that they actually killed more than 4,200 people in total, of whom only 873 were truly elite soldiers. The rest were the old, weak, sick, and disabled, used to make up the numbers.
It should be noted that this was the elite force of nearly three Niru (military units), while the entire Jurchen people only had about 220 Niru. They actually managed to wipe out three Jurchen Niru in this way.
In Yuan Chonghuan's so-called great victory at Ningyuan, only about 500 enemy soldiers were actually killed. The Jurchens themselves admitted that this number was definitely an understatement. Chen Ying was very pleased; if things continued this way, the Jurchens would definitely feel the pinch.
More importantly, these tribes will gradually build confidence, and they will use this method to make money.
"Lord Chen, your method is brilliant!"
Meng Gun wiped the wine stains from his mouth, his eyes gleaming with excitement: "The Gualecha tribe did as you said, only raiding the camp without firing a single shot, and they got 157 heads without firing an arrow! Those idiots from the Plain Blue Banner probably still think their men have fled!"
Hamutai grinned from ear to ear: "I did it even better over there. I targeted a small tribe of a few hundred people, wiped them all out, slaughtered all the men, and brought back all the women, children, cattle, sheep, and horses. Lord Chen, some of those women were actually quite pretty—"
A young chieftain interjected, "Hamutai, make sure there aren't any Jurchen spies among the men you brought back!"
"rest assured!"
Hamutai patted his chest and said, "I personally interrogated them. They are all legitimate Haixi people, captured by the Jurchens and enslaved. Now that they are back, we are overjoyed!"
Chen Ying raised his wine bowl, gesturing for silence: "Gentlemen, I am very satisfied with the results of the past few days. Four thousand three hundred and seven thousand heads, plus the cattle, sheep, and people we've captured, are enough to make the Jurchens ache for a while. But—this is just the beginning. The Jurchens aren't fools; they will soon find out about Shuangchengwei. Then, they won't send just a few hundred scattered soldiers, but tens of thousands of the main force of the Plain Blue Banner. Gentlemen, are you prepared?"
The hall fell silent. The leaders looked at each other, their excitement fading and replaced by solemnity.
Meng Gun gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Chen, since we dare to take action, we are not afraid of them! The Gualecha tribe has been oppressed by the Jurchens for years, how many of our people have died under their swords? We've already paid the price!"
"That's right! The Xibe tribe isn't afraid either!"
"Fight them!"
Chen Ying raised his hand to suppress the crowd's excitement and said in a deep voice, "In a direct confrontation, we are no match for them. But in this forest, we have advantages they can't match: we are familiar with the terrain, adept at concealment, and move like the wind. As long as we don't clash with them head-on, we can wear them down little by little, just like we have these past few days."
Meng Gun asked, "Lord Chen, what about—the head?"
"You are free to exchange whatever you want!"
Chen Ying laughed and said, "I have prepared a large amount of goods, including sharp swords, sharp spears, sturdy armor, snow-white salt, and a large quantity of supplies. You can have whatever you want, including the cattle you captured..."
Sheep and horses can also be brought back to Shuangchengwei; I will purchase them at the agreed price!
The next morning, the trade market opened in the open space between the east and west walls of Shuangchengwei.
Although it was called a trade market, it was more like a military supply depot unilaterally set up by Chen Ying. One hundred and fifty four-wheeled carriages were lined up in a row, fully loaded with goods that the Shahewei Workshop had been working overtime to produce in the past few months.
The snow salt was packed in paper bags and piled up like a small mountain. The swords, spears, and arrows made of fine iron gleamed coldly. Hundreds of brand-new plate armors hung on wooden racks, their metallic sheen gleaming coldly in the sunlight. There were also bundles of cloth, boxes of tea, and even several truckloads of canned mutton transported from Dalu Island.
But what attracted the attention of the tribal chiefs the most were the weapons displayed in the most conspicuous positions: the Tang Dynasty broadswords that could cut through iron like mud, one sword for one head; plate armor that could withstand heavy arrows, one suit for five heads; and fine iron arrowheads, one hundred for one head.
"This knife—can it really cut through iron?" A young leader who had joined later squatted in front of the stall, his eyes fixed on the horizontal sword, his hand reaching out and then withdrawing.
Chen Yongren, standing next to Chen Ying, drew his knife and casually tossed an iron nail into the air. With a flash of light, the nail snapped in two, the cut as smooth as a mirror. He handed the knife over: "Try it yourself."
The young leader took the knife, his hands trembling with excitement. He found a discarded piece of armor and slashed down hard. The armor shattered with a crack, and he jumped up on the spot: "Exchange! I'll exchange! I have twenty-three heads!"
"You can exchange them for twenty-three swords, but since it's our first day of business, I'll give you a discount: twenty-three heads, and I'll give you one sword for free!"
The twenty-three heads delivered were not the old, weak, sick, or disabled ones, but rather all young heads. This must have been an ambush of a Jurchen reconnaissance squad.
A group of people immediately surrounded them, shouting out their own needs.
"I want armor, and fifty severed heads. I've gathered enough; I can trade them for it—"
"Ten sets!"
"Arrows! Arrows! I still have over a hundred left, replace them all with arrowheads!"
"Salt! Give me ten bags of salt first—"
Meng Gun stood not far away and couldn't help but sigh to Hamutai beside him: "Old Hamutai, what do you think Lord Chen is after?"
"We'll trade his heads for his sword and armor, then go kill the Jurchens and trade their heads back—isn't that a losing proposition for him?"
Meng Gun's problem is actually the problem that Chen Yongren is most concerned about.
He really didn't know what Chen Ying was after. What use was such a bloody head?
Chen Ying was watching the soldiers under his command pickling heads with lime: "Losing money? How could it be losing money?"
Do you know how much silver you could get for each of these heads if you sold them to the Liaodong army?
"How many?"
"The imperial court rewards fifty taels of silver per head, but the officers in the Liaodong army don't care about the silver at all. What they want is this: promotion. A head can get you a white armor, and a soldier can be directly promoted to a fifth-rank commander. Think about it, those veterans who have spent their whole lives on the frontier, don't they want to exchange a head for an official position? Those wealthy merchants, don't they want to buy a head to secure a future for their sons? These Jurchen heads I have are hard currency in Liaodong!"
Chen Yongren gasped, looking at Chen Ying with a hint of awe in his eyes. Chen Ying's actions were indeed quite shrewd. He hadn't learned anything from Chen Ying in vain. He used the Jurchen heads to establish contact with the Liaodong army. Once they became familiar with each other, he could sell their weapons to the Liaodong army.
Chen Ying said calmly, "War cannot rely solely on passion; it also requires calculation. With their swords and armor, the Haixi Jurchens can kill even more Jurchens; the more the Jurchens are slaughtered, the less they will care about this side; if we stabilize this side, we can continuously provide them with heads; by sending the heads to Liaodong, they can gain more support. In this cycle, our strength will grow, and the Jurchens' power will weaken. This is the true long-term strategy."
This barter market, where heads were exchanged for goods, lasted for three days. Tribal leaders led their men in and out, exchanging mountains of heads for cartloads of swords, spears, and armor, and herds of cattle and sheep for bags of snow, salt, and tea.
Chen Ying's accountants were so busy they barely had time to breathe, recording each account at lightning speed.
By the evening of the third day, as the last tribe departed satisfied, Chen Yongren, who was in charge of the inventory, ran to report to Chen Ying: "Godfather, the inventory is complete. We collected a total of 5,431 heads, of which 1,089 were from elite soldiers, and the rest were from the old and weak. The goods we exchanged included 1,352 swords, 237 suits of armor, over 600 spears, over 23,000 arrowheads, over 8,000 catties of salt, over 3,000 bolts of cloth, and over 2,000 catties of tea. In addition, we purchased cattle, sheep, and horses with grain—over 1,200 cattle, over 7,000 sheep, and over 600 horses."
Chen Ying laughed and said, "This deal is done. There will be even more heads to come!"
Chen Yongren was taken aback: "More heads?"
Chen Ying nodded: "These swords and armor will make the various tribes dependent on us. They'll get used to our swords and armor, and they'll keep coming to us to exchange them. Over time, this source of income will be completely in our hands. As for these heads—you underestimate them. The Liaodong army isn't lacking silver, it's lacking merit. The head of an elite soldier can turn an old soldier into a centurion or chiliarch, and can allow a merchant's son to buy an official position. This demand is stronger than any amount of silver."
"But how do we transport it there? How do we sell it?"
"Someone has already come to talk to us."
Chen Ying smiled slightly and said, "Yesterday, the secret envoys sent by Ma Shilong arrived. They are willing to exchange military horses, provisions, or anything else we need for them."
Chen Yongren's eyes lit up: "Then wouldn't we be—"
"It's still early." Chen Ying waved his hand. "This is just the beginning. The real battle is yet to come when the Jurchens realize what's happening. But at least for now, we have bargaining chips to negotiate with the Liaodong army. With these chips, Shahe Guard will no longer be that dispensable peripheral garrison."
He patted his adopted son on the shoulder: "Remember, the most valuable thing in this world is not money, not goods, but human relationships, needs, and having something that others want. Now, we have that."
On the other side, Mangultai finally noticed a clue: "The Xibe tribe is excellent! Damn it, I won't swallow this insult until I wipe out the Xibe tribe—gather all the banner soldiers of the Plain Blue Banner and crush the Xibe tribe for me!"
P.S.: Happy Lunar New Year's Eve everyone!
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