I heard Wang Shuo say: "I heard that the Mongolian and Tibetan people in Haixi mostly eat beef and mutton as their staple food, and after a long time, there are worms in the intestines, which are infected with diseases and cannot be cured.Therefore, it is necessary to buy tea from the Central Plains to eliminate the oiliness and insects in the body, otherwise there is a fear of life.Dare to ask the boss, this matter is serious" Qi Tingji smiled slightly: "Seriously."
Everyone in this frontier knows it, and the imperial court knows it.Therefore, the imperial court opened a tea horse market in the frontier and set up a tea horse platform, which is also for this reason. ”In his heart, he was thinking, he had nothing to inquire about, why did he want to use tea to control Tibetans and Gushi Khan like the imperial court, and heard him dispatch Wang Shuo to continue: "No wonder, recently Haixi Shitaiji sent people to ask me when the tea and horse market will be opened, and Tibetans from the south also came to inquire. ”He asked, "Why is this tea and horse market closed, because Lu Wenbin attacked Qinghai" Qi Ting admonished: "This is not."
The tea horse market has been closed for more than a year.Qinghai does not produce tea, and the tea must be transported from Bashu, which is called Sichuan tea.Sichuan tea is bitter and unpleasant, the Western Regions have requested many times, and the imperial court has ordered to mobilize delicious tea from Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to transport it, called lake tea.However, the distance is long, the transportation is difficult, and the transportation is not allowed to be sold privately, so it must be handed over to the tea horse yamen.Layers of exploitation, meager profits, so businessmen are reluctant to travel far away.The imperial court was helpless, and exchanged Jiangsu and Zhejiang salt for tea according to the regulations.Merchants brought tea leaves, took tea here, and exchanged tea for imperial salt for profit after returning.In this way, there are southern tea merchants who are willing to transport it. ”In ancient times, the imperial court regarded the salt industry as a public patent and did not allow smugglers.Salt sales must have a special salt guide issued by the imperial court, and then merchants can buy salt from the official family according to the amount of salt in their hands to sell.This salt introduction is also valuable, and there are countless people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who have become rich and wealthy by reselling salt, this Wang Shuo knows.Wang Shuo continued to ask: "It is reasonable for this tea to be replaced with salt, why did the tea and horse market be closed" Qi Tingji explained: "This is a long story, the imperial court has the meaning of using the tea and horse market to control Zhufan.The exchange of Zhufan for tea is not to exchange as much as you want, but to exchange what you want.Instead, according to the population of each province and the amount of tea required, the market is opened at a fixed time every year.Zhufan must hold the talismans issued by the imperial court, and exchange them for quantity.One talisman can only be exchanged for a certain amount of tea.This talisman is held by half of the Fan side and half by the imperial court, and the two sides of the talisman are allowed to be exchanged when the market opens.This decree later became the seal of many Xiaofan.With the talisman, everyone recognized him as the leader, which shows how much influence this tea has on Zhufan.The populous state of Fan has more talismans and more exchanges, but it is just enough or even lacking.If there is more, I am afraid that there will be a surplus, and it will not be easy to control in the future.Moreover, the imperial court stipulated that only good horses were allowed to be exchanged for tea, and other items were not allowed to be substituted, the purpose was also to control the number of good horses in the Fan State, so that it could not accumulate too many good horses for rebellion.Because of this, Zhufan often suffers losses and dares to be angry when exchanging it, otherwise he will not be eligible to exchange for tea if he is received by the imperial court.The southern tea merchants worked hard to transport the tea, but when the market was not open or the amount of tea used by the imperial court in exchange was enough, they could not sell it, and could only rot and throw it away, and could not exchange it for tea.As a result, a large number of tea leaves rot in vain every year.Therefore, most of the tea merchants were reluctant to make such a loss-making and insecure livelihood, and after a long time, no one did this business, and the tea and horse market was forced to close. ”Wang Shuo asked: "Then, the tea merchant transported the tea and secretly bought and sold it on the territory of Zhufan" Qi Tingzhi smiled: "How can the imperial court allow private sales on this border, there are side walls, and there are guards on the side walls."
Only where there is a tea horse market, there is a secret door above the side wall, and the secret door is opened when the market is open.Even if there is a caravan bypassing the side wall, this land is not peaceful, horse bandits and robbers are everywhere, nine times out of ten they have been robbed and have lost their money, it is difficult to say if they come back to save their lives, who would dare to sell it privately" Wang Shuo couldn't help but ask: "In this way, without the tea and horse market, how can these times continue to live" Qi Tingzhi sighed: "The nobles of the Fan State will organize armed caravans and secretly go to the mainland to buy some tea, or climb over the snowy mountains from Xifan to the body to be poisoned."
The tea obtained in this way is as expensive as gold, and the nobles still enjoy it, and the ordinary people can only live and die. ”In fact, Qi Tingzhi relied on his own power to buy off the soldiers, secretly went out of the border wall, and privately trafficked tea to Gushi Khan and the Tibetan Living Buddha for profit, he didn't say anything.The reason why his Qi family has an unusual relationship with Haixi Zhufan is also related to this smuggling of tea.Wang Shuo also knew from Lu Yinchang that he was selling tea privately, otherwise he would not have come to him.After a deep sigh, Wang Shuo asked again: "If I reopen this tea and horse market, what does the old man think?"
Qi Tingzhi thought about it: "It's not impossible to reopen it."
It's just that our Lord Tea Horse Dao King here has been back in Beijing for more than a year, and the imperial court's decree has not come. ”: