When Guiying was in trouble, Chongzhen was listening to the border trade accounts of the inner government. At the beginning of the year, after it was determined at the merchants' congress that the border trade company monopolized the import and export trade in the northwest, several tea merchants from the Inner Government, the Sihai Commercial Bank, and Shaanxi decided to set up a border trade company in partnership.

However, due to the fact that the spring tea had already come out of the mountain at that time, the time for selling tea was urgent, and it was impossible to continue to negotiate the articles of association of the company, so the three parties decided to pay 30,000 taels each to complete this year's border trade business, and then decide the proportion of capital contribution and the company's articles of association.

Tian Changhao, a tea merchant in Shaanxi, was temporarily appointed as the principal of this year's tea trade because he had done many tea and horse transactions and was familiar with the ethnic customs of Tibet, Gansu and Ningxia.

With the support of the Inner Government, Tian Changhao purchased 7,600 quintals of green tea and black tea from various tea-producing provinces through post stations and ships. Among them, Wuyi tea accounts for almost half, nearly 3,000 quintals, borrowed more than 1,100 quintals of Hanzhong tea, and more than 3,000 quintals of tea from other provinces.

These teas are the cheapest in Wuyi tea, only 3 taels per load; Anhui pineapple is the most, close to 55 taels per quintal; On average, each quintal of tea is about 4 taels, and the price of black tea is slightly lower than that of green tea.

Of the 7,600 quintals of tea, nearly 1,500 quintals were sold to Korea, Japan, and the Ryukyus. The remaining 5,600 quintals of tea were divided into three caravans of different sizes along with a large amount of cotton cloth, silk and other daily necessities. All the way to Qinghai-Tibet, all the way to Outer Mongolia, the largest road was personally led by Tian Changhao, from the Hexi Corridor to the Hami area.

In addition to the caravan to Outer Mongolia, because of the chaos on the steppe caused by Lin Dan Khan's westward migration, many herdsmen who lost their tribes became horse bandits who intercepted trade routes on the steppe, and lost a lot of property. The other two caravans were quite stable on the way.

First, Qinghai-Tibet and Hami have not seen such a large Han caravan for a long time, and the tribes and towns in both places want to establish long-term trade relations with this caravan. In addition, the caravan had been warned before the trip that the caravan was not for profit, but to explore the business conditions of various places and lay the foundation for the future development of trade routes here, so the prices of the goods given were very fair.

Second, due to the care of the inner government, the guards brought by these caravans not only included privately hired family members, but also a team of veterans of the border army with considerable combat effectiveness. The team is also equipped with a lot of military standard equipment, and the average small tribe simply can't help these powerful caravans.

For the big tribes that occupy one side, a caravan that can often bring them goods from the interior is a goose that lays golden eggs, and they will not be willing to drive the caravan away from their territory in such a violent way. For example, if there were no Han caravans of all kinds of leathers in these tribes, in addition to making a few pieces of leather armor and tents, they would have to be thrown into the warehouse to become moldy.

The tea, cotton, silk, porcelain, medicinal materials, ironware, etc., transported from the Han region, are all daily necessities that are in short supply in these places. 40 catties of tea can be exchanged for a middle horse, and an iron pot can be exchanged for a cow, which is the best proof of the lack of materials on the grassland.

As for Hami and Kashgar, although the Central Asian countries were rich, silk, porcelain, tea and other goods were not produced, or the products were inferior and could not be compared with China, and the rich and noble families in these places were particularly sought after from China, on the one hand, for their own use, and on the other hand, for the purpose of selling these Chinese goods to Central Asia and even Europe further west.

Therefore, the three caravans traveled thousands of miles, and although the road was difficult, the profits were quite lucrative. In the case of tea, the average price of tea purchased is only 4 taels per quintal, plus tariffs of 1 tael per quintal, the cost is 5 taels per quintal. However, the average price per quintal is about 16 taels per quintal, and the further away you are from China, the more expensive it becomes.

Taking Hami as an example, Hami is 1,300 miles away from Suzhou, and Suzhou is 1,400 miles away from Lanzhou, and the price of tea in Hami is as high as 24 taels per quintal, and porcelain and medicinal materials are also 4-5 times that of the mainland.

At this time, the south of the Tien Shan, including Hami, was under the rule of the Turpan Khanate. The ruler of the Khanate, known as Abdullah, appointed his brother Sulitan as Turpan Aqimu to administer the Turpan region, while he himself was fighting against the Oirat Mongol alliance north of the Tien Shan Mountains in the northwestern valley for land in the Ili valley and Lake Balkhash.

Although Suritang welcomed the arrival of the Chinese merchants, he refused to allow them to continue their advance to the west, especially beyond the Tianshan Mountains. The caravan had to sell most of its goods in Turpan, leaving a few people to set up shops, and then returned to Daming.

According to the information brought back by Tian Changhao, not only was the Turpan Khanate at war with the Oirat Mongol Alliance, but the Oirat Mongol Alliance was also at war with its own suzerain, the Khalkha Zasaktu Khan (Alatan Khan Dynasty), trying to seize the pastures and independence in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains.

The better leaders in the Oirat Mongol alliance were Gushi Khan, the leader of the Hoshot clan, and Harakura, the head of the Dzungar tribe of the Khoros, and the ruler of the Alatan Khan dynasty was Alatan Khan II Ombu Erdeni.

The intelligence gatherers in the caravan also gathered several unconfirmed information from the market that the Khalkha Zasaktu Khan was still clashing with the Russians in the west.

The Russians, having conquered the Siberian Khanate, were clearly not satisfied, and they tried to venture south into the warm Kazakh steppes rather than into the cold mountains and forests of Central Siberia to the east, which was clearly the cause of the conflict.

In addition, there was news that the Oirat Mongol alliance had split, and the leaders of the Turghut tribe and Orlek had moved to the steppe to the west with their own tribes and some small tribes totaling 50,000 accounts.

Although the caravan to Outer Mongolia suffered a little setback in the early stage, after entering the territory of Outer Mongolia, it was protected by the Khalkha Mongol chieftain. Because Outer Mongolia was far away from the Ming Kingdom, it was isolated from the tributary trade by Monan Mongolia. In addition, the distance is too long, and the cost of transportation is too high, so the average caravan is reluctant to go there.

After all, the grazing areas of the various parts of Outer Mongolia are even more erratic, and it is obviously not a good business to find a nomadic tribe with no fixed place to trade in the vast grassland. Therefore, the Central Plains commodities needed by Outer Mongolia were obtained from the Later Jin of Southern Mongolia or Liaodong. These goods changed hands all the way, which was naturally high and unacceptable, and only a few leaders could use them.

In particular, the Alatan Khan of the Khalkha Zasaktu Khan was at war with the Oirat alliance north of the Tien Shan Mountains, and he needed all kinds of supplies from the caravans. Therefore, Zasaktu Khan not only ordered the tribes passing through the caravan to protect the safety of the caravan, but also ordered the caravan to book the supplies needed for the next year after the transaction was completed.

The Mongol tribes of Mobei Khalkha were not an independent unit, and although they were nominally subordinate to Lin Dan Khan, they were not completely subordinate to Lin Dan Khan's orders. Since Dayan Khan, Outer Mongolia has been under the rule of the leaders of the three major tribes, Ashhaydarhan on the right wing of the Khalkha and Nuo Nuo and Wei Zheng and Amindural on the left wing, which are the three major forces that control the feudal territories of the Khalkhas.

Lin Dan Khan's westward migration and Later Jin's attack on the Chahar tribes in Liaohetao caused many Mongols to flee to Outer Mongolia and take refuge in Shuolei Jinong, although this Shuolei * Jinong was Lin Dan Khan's brother-in-law, but in addition to the expansion of power, he couldn't help but want to call himself the king of Khan.

After receiving many desert Mongol escapees, the power of Shuolei * Jinong developed rapidly around the Krulun River. As a result, the western part of Outer Mongolia was under the control of the Saktu Khan, the middle was under the control of Tushetu Khan Gunbu, and the eastern part gradually became the sphere of influence of Shuolei * Jinong.

However, the expansion of Shuolei*Jinong's power also aroused the dissatisfaction of the leaders of the left-wing Mongol tribes, especially Hongtai Jiqiuketu, who was originally in the same position as him, and the two clashed from time to time over the Mongol fugitives who fled to Monan.

As for the current Tushetu Khan Gunbu, he is a more indecisive figure. Further north, there are the Buryats, the Mongols known as the forest tribes, who live around Lake Baikal. They have a large number of high-quality furs, and the quality of sable fur is particularly outstanding.

However, they prefer to exchange these furs for tea and cotton cloth, 8 sable skins for 10 catties of tea or two cotton cloths, but mink skins of this quality cost 42 yuan a piece in Zhangjiakou, and it is even more valuable if it is in the capital and Jiangnan.

In addition to mink skins, there are also ferrets, squirrel skins, red fox skins and other animal skins, and almost every kind of animal skins shipped back to Daming has a hundredfold or even hundreds of times the profit. As a result, although the caravan suffered some losses along the way, its profits were far higher than those of the other two routes.

The trade routes to Qinghai and Tibet were relatively uneventful, although the regime of the Dizangpa Khan, who now ruled Tibet, was in serious opposition to the Gelug sect, which was close to the Mongol power, because of its support for the Karma Kagyu sect. However, under the skillful maneuvering of the 4th Panchen Lama Lobsang Qu Jian, there was no bloodshed.

Regarding the arrival of the Daming caravan, especially the leader of the caravan also carried a letter from Chongzhen to invite him to Beijing**, Panchen Lobsang Qu Jian couldn't help but pay no attention to it.

However, after weighing it for a long time, Panchen Lobsang Qu Jian finally did not accept this invitation, but he sent his disciples and cronies Sonam Raoden to Beijing, first, to go to Beijing for himself**, and to explain why he can't go to Beijing now.

After listening to these reports, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly, this is really a chaotic century, and both the East and the West are in a melee. The colonizers in the Americas were the most relaxed, and they were still happily playing the game of the conquistador.

Although the information sent back by the caravan was not good, the benefits obtained by the three-way caravan from going abroad to do business this time were indeed surprising. The goods brought out by the 3rd caravan were about 250,000 yuan, but the income when they returned reached 2.5 million yuan, which was almost 10 times more.

However, half of the profits still come from the skin of Siberia, and the profits of the other two roads are only 3-5 times. The cost of the caravan trip was about 150,000 yuan, and after deducting 5% tariffs, the final trade profit reached an astonishing 1.96 million yuan.

The other two border trading companies established this year did not add up to more than a quarter of its profits. Although there were factors that affected the trade routes of these border trading companies because of the war between the Chahar Department and the right-wing Mongol and Ming armies.

But the most fundamental reason is that the other two border trading companies still stick to their traditions and do not go beyond the traditional business routes to explore new business opportunities in unfamiliar areas.