"Ancestor Shaman, the Ming Dynasty’s Liaodong Border Army is very powerful, but it is different from our tribal army. The deployment of the Ming Border Army requires ’money and grain’, and a lot of ’money and grain’! Once the army sets out, the expenditure is unimaginably huge! The Ming Border Army may only dispatch a few thousand people, but the number reported to the court is often doubled. Whether it is provisions or equipment, commanders at all levels, quartermasters, and military supervisors all take a cut..."

"The two incursions during the Chenghua period reportedly cost several million taels of silver each time, depleting the court’s reserves for two or three years... The first sweep was in the third year of Chenghua, and the second in the fifteenth year of Chenghua, which was fifteen years ago. The second time was especially costly, and the Chief Eunuch Wang Zhi, who was in charge of military supervision, took an unknown amount... And this was only the sweep of the Jianzhou Jurchen near the Songhua River, with logistics from Liaodong spanning merely one or two thousand li..."

"Twenty-seven years ago, after hearing about the first incursion into Jianzhou, my father even submitted a memorial to Emperor Xianzong requesting the dispatch of a large army to sweep the lower reaches of the Great River... The memorial was directly withheld in Liaodong Town. The then Liaodong Chief Soldier Zhao Sheng summoned my father and gave him a harsh reprimand!..."

Chief Ali of the Harman Guard sighed, pointing to the location of the Jianzhou Jurchen, from the midstream of the Heilongjiang River turning to the Songhua River, and then to the upper reaches of the Songhua River. The position of the Harman Guard and the Nurgan Metropolitan Authority is still four to five thousand li north of the Jianzhou Tribes!

If all this is added up, from Liaodong Town to Nurgan, from the Songhua River to the Huntong River, the transportation of logistics alone would be at least six thousand li! In the barren northern Forest Sea, it is impossible to get any food supplies from local tribes. All supply materials must be transported by vehicle and ship from the rear. To maintain such a long logistical route, how much money and grain would the court need to spend for even a few thousand troops? The "losses" and "disappearances" in between would be unimaginable!

"At that time, Liaodong Chief Soldier told my father that the Jilin Shipyard was about to be abolished, and no new ships would be built. The shipwright workshop would either be abandoned or relocated inland. As for the Jilin Shipyard area, it would be handed over to the Jurchen guards attached to the empire. The naval fleet on the Huntong River would be greatly reduced, with the remaining forces moved to the upper reaches of the Songhua River; there would never be new ships added, only less and less..."

"And Liaodong Chief Soldier also gave my loyal Harman Tribe an opportunity, which was to relocate to the just-swept domain of Jianzhou. But after seeing the tragic state of Jianzhou Jurchen, my father, filled with fear, dared not stay too close to the court’s border army and could not bear to leave the ancestral land passed down through generations... Alas! If only we had seized the opportunity back then and moved the entire tribe south..."

"Oh, Chief Divine with the blood-red eyes! Twenty-seven years have passed, and the once-mighty court naval forces on the Huntong River have probably ceased to exist completely! Without such a logistical transport naval force, it is almost impossible for the Ming Dynasty to support the logistics of thousands of troops when campaigning far away in the lower reaches of the Great River..."

With that, Chief Ali of the Harman Guard sighed. Since two to three decades ago, when the court decided to abandon the Jilin Shipyard, the tributary rule over the mid-lower Huntong River has essentially ended. Without the Jilin Shipyard, there are no large ships. Without a fleet of large ships to maintain logistical supplies, the Ming Army cannot sustain a military presence in the lower reaches of the Great River.

Reportedly, there was a sharp internal conflict within the court over whether to abandon or maintain the Jilin Shipyard. Ultimately, the "Chenghua Account Book" presented by the civil officials prevailed over the "Yongle Book" presented by the eunuchs. The reality was, the court could not afford the military expenditure, at least tens of thousands of taels of silver each year, to maintain the tributary-garrison system of the middle and lower Huntong River!

In fact, according to clear records, by the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, only 422.8 million acres out of the 8.357 million acres of land in the thirteen provinces of Ming could be taxed, roughly half left. The recorded official land tax of Ming at that time was about 16.8 million stones, with one stone of rice worth approximately 0.6 taels of silver, equivalent to about 10 million taels of silver for 16.8 stone grains. The total commercial tax and salt tax amounted to just over one million taels. The final corvée and native tribute discounts amounted to less than two million taels. Combined, these were over 30% of the land tax, amounting to 3 to 4 million taels.

Yes, during the revival period of Hongzhi, the thirteen provinces of Ming with over a hundred million people had an annual revenue of just over 13 million taels! The commercial and salt taxes accounted for only just over one million, about 7%. Amazingly, this was already the peak of the annual revenue of Ming!

By the Wanli Period, the land tax equivalent in silver would fall to 5 million taels. By the Chongzhen years, it was enough to make the frugal Chongzhen Emperor cry...

So, where did the Ming Dynasty’s money go? No one could say for sure. In any case, the court was short on money, necessitating the abolishment of border garrisons, the need to cut border army pay, and to save money as much as possible...

"Holy Emperor above! Although the Ming Army has withdrawn, for us distant tributary garrison tribes willing to continue tribute, there are still generous rewards!"

"During the Xuande period, my grandfather used to tribute frequently, almost annually, to Liaodong Kaiyuan. Just by presenting two horses and two bundles of mink fur, he would receive several times the reward. Not only were there common colorful clothes, silk, and liquor, but as a loyal tribe tributing for generations, he could even receive ironware, and once even acquired a treasured family iron armor..."

"However, from sixteen years ago, that is in the fourteenth year of Chenghua (1478), after I assumed the position of Chief of the Harman Tribe, I have gone to tribute five times, following the three-year tribute tradition. Over these years, the Wild Man raided everywhere, interrupting routes, and breaking garrisons, making tribute difficult and dangerous! Yet the court’s rewards were still generous; even my Commander’s copper seal and the Ming Army armor I’m wearing were given at the first tribute in the fourteenth year of Chenghua..."

"Alas! By calculation, following the three-year tribute tradition, if my Harman Tribe still exists, it would be time for tribute again come spring the year after next! The court’s rewards, as long as they can be brought back, would be quite a bounty. But the real harvest is taking the tribal fur stock to the flourishing grand market of Kaiyuan to trade with the Han fur merchants... That could indeed bring prosperity to the entire tribe!"

"Ali, what are you saying?! The spring the year after next, it’s time for the Harman Tribe’s triennial tribute? The grand market of the City-State ’Kaiyuan’ in Great Ming Liaodong Kingdom? Very prosperous, with everything there?"

Upon hearing this, Zuwaro’s eyes sparked with an idea.