Chapter 222: Open up mutual markets and establish a trading city
“However, for cattle and horses, a few and dozens are fine, but if there are hundreds and thousands of them, it is quite inconvenient and there is no fixed point for both sides to trade. When you drive thousands of cattle, I will take dozens of carriages to deliver them in the wilderness. Therefore, it is best to set up a certain point, which is the trading city mentioned by Jiao."
Jiao Li continued: "This city can be built as one or multiple cities. It is located at the junction of Da Qin and the Xiongnu. It facilitates the trade between Da Qin and the Xiongnu and sells what they have to each other."
In fact, it is to allow the Xiongnu to open their trading ports, but There was no unequal treaty because it was not necessary. It was inherently unequal. With the productivity and technological advancement of Great Qin, it was inevitable that Great Qin would dump goods on the Xiongnu.
Touman asked: "Who should build this city, and how should it be governed?"
Jiao Li said: "If there is a city, which party it belongs to will be governed by that party. If there is no city in the chosen place, Da Qin and the Xiongnu will build one together and it will be governed by both parties."
This aroused the interest of a Xiongnu leader and asked: "How to govern together?"
Jiao Li said: "The laws of this city were negotiated between Da Qin and the Xiongnu. Of course, if the Shanyu and other leaders do not want to manage this city, they can also entrust the city completely to Da Qin, and the wealth you will receive every year will not be less. . ”
For Touman and the Xiongnu leaders, this is a novel model, but if both sides really manage the city together, Da Qin will have an advantage.
The purpose of building the trade city was not only to allow the Qin to trade with the Huns, to seize the Xiongnu's goods and turn them into resources for the Qin to grow, and to weaken the power of the Xiongnu, but also to control the Xiongnu through economic means, corrupting and poisoning the Xiongnu. The power class used these cities to influence the Huns.
After the establishment of these trading cities, Da Qin's various commodities will impact the Xiongnu's already weak economic system, causing the Xiongnu to embark on the path of "making is worse than buying" in many aspects: Da Qin's things are so good, why should we bother to make them ourselves? Wouldn't it be better to just trade cattle and sheep with Da Qin?
In this way, the Xiongnu will gradually become a large-scale livestock breeding area of Da Qin. Except for cattle and sheep, everything else must be purchased from Da Qin.
And the trading city must use Qin coins for settlement in the future. As time goes by, the wealth held by the Huns will naturally be gradually converted into Qin coins.
Currency is actually worthless and can neither be drunk nor eaten. If the Qin Dynasty wants to attack the Xiongnu, it only needs to ban the circulation of Qin coins held by the Huns, and many Xiongnu can be killed overnight. Man assets fracture.
Of course, for a nomadic people, these economic means are useful, but they will not be that useful, because their real assets are livestock such as cattle and sheep.
Only the cattle and sheep grazed by the Huns were enough. Not being able to use Qin coins would only cause them to lose part of their wealth. They could not buy anything from Da Qin. They would still have food and drink, and they would not be destroyed immediately.
But when the trade city is established, Touman and the Xiongnu leaders will definitely get involved. They will most likely monopolize the goods traded by Qin to the Xiongnu.
For example, salt was sold to Xiongnu civilians at high prices, and then the wealth seized from the Xiongnu civilians was used to purchase Daqin luxury goods for them to enjoy.
They will be corroded into fat maggots that parasitize on the Xiongnu and suck blood, constantly sucking the Xiongnu’s people’s fat and anointing for themselves to eat, drink and have fun. And it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. This is human nature. Once the Xiongnu leaders get used to using all kinds of good things from Da Qin, it will not be easy to get rid of them. At that time, they will have to suffer the Xiongnu. Common people, I haven’t picked up the glass wine set I’m interested in yet.
The Xiongnu civilians will be sucked into skin and bones by them, accumulating more and deeper resentment against the Xiongnu ruling class.
Moreover, these trading cities will also become a place for the Huns to learn about the Great Qin. When they know how powerful, prosperous, advanced, and civilized the Great Qin is, they will look back at their own Xiongnu and see those blood-sucking people. How would you think of them as human chanyus and leaders?
Or become "What Huns? Mr. Li Nian said that the Huns are also Chinese. I hope we can return to China. What's the problem if I become a Qin citizen now?", "Although I miss the Huns very much, but Da Qin is my home", "Da Qin is happy, I don't miss the Huns anymore", "Da Qin and the Xiongnu are really different, the air is so sweet, full of civilization and power"...
Or become "Chan Yutou Wouldn't it be better for people to have such a talent?", "Great Qin is the most advanced and powerful country in the world. Only by learning from Great Qin can we get rid of backwardness and become strong", "We must abandon everything that the Xiongnu had and completely transform the Xiongnu. Only then will there be a future"...
There will be unforeseen consequences for the Huns. "The Huns are hopeless on their own and must bring in power from outside. Da Qin is the elder brother, so why not ask Da Qin to govern the Xiongnu?" idea.
No matter which one it is, it will aggravate the loss of talents and wealth of the Xiongnu, cause huge divisions among the Xiongnu, and lead to unrest.
Jiao Li continued: "When trading in these cities, it is necessary to stipulate what items cannot be sold. For example, crossbows should be prohibited items."
These words stopped Touman and some others. The Xiongnu leader wanted to buy weapons from Da Qin. In fact, Li Nian thought that the weapons could be sold, but he had to wait until Da Qin's army updated its weapons to ensure its own firepower advantage before selling the obsolete weapons to others.
Today, the sale of weapons is still strictly prohibited. Not only weapons cannot be sold, but also metal products, ores and other items exported to the Xiongnu must be strictly controlled.
“It is also necessary to set the prices of various goods and collect taxes. Part of the taxes collected will be used to manage the city. If there is a surplus, it will be shared between Qin and the Xiongnu.”
This made Touman and the Xiongnu leaders understand what Jiao Li meant when he said, "You will receive no less wealth every year." It turned out that there was indeed wealth distributed to them.
Not only will this be obtained through the collection of taxes, but also the benefits generated by their monopoly on trade with the Qin people. How much will that be?
I’m afraid it will be a shocking amount. With so much wealth, wouldn’t they be able to buy whatever they want? As long as the people of Qin dare to sell, everything Emperor Qin uses can be enjoyed!
Touman and the Huns leaders seemed to have seen the benefits that could be obtained from the establishment of the trading city, but they did not think about where the goods came from and who produced the goods?
Wealth does not appear out of thin air. They obtained such huge wealth, so who suffered the loss?
However, even if Touman and the leaders knew the answers to these questions, they wouldn't care. They are just commoners of the Huns and are not worth caring about. Aren't the commoners also their property?
Moreover, they fought their lives for the Huns, shed blood for the Huns, and did things for the Huns for so many years. What happened to their enjoyment now?
Then play music, then dance!
(End of this chapter)