"Ancestor! Ancestor Shaman, were you able to gather a large amount of salt? Let me taste... Oh! This salt isn’t bitter, it’s even better than government salt?!..."

"Indeed! Ah Li, we can get a lot of this sea salt from the east, calculated in hundreds of jin. So, do the tribes in the west accept this kind of goods? What kind of price can they offer?..."

"They accept! Surely accept! Along the Great River, no tribe lacks salt! I estimate that dozens of jin of salt could be traded for a fine horse from ’Forest People’! Not just the Forest People, but all Jurchen tribes, even the Great Ming’s Liaodong, inside or outside those border forts, lack salt tremendously! Hmm... I shouldn’t say they lack salt, rather they are very poor and can’t afford the high-priced government salt..."

Chief of the Harman Tribe, Ah Li, widened his eyes, looking at the glistening salt in the bag in front of him, as if he had seen real hard currency in this northeastern mountain forest!

In this era’s Northeast, whether the Wild Man Jurchen migrating south from the north, nomads by the river, or Haixi Jurchens farming in the south, or even garrison settlers of the Ming border fortress... Whether Mongols, Han people, or Jurchen, none are without a want for salt!

Of course, the reason for this shortage of salt varies among different tribes. The hunting Jurchen and the pastoral Mongolian tribes cannot produce salt themselves, or the labor and fuel costs of producing salt are too high, surpassing the tribe’s productivity and technical level. Therefore, they can only find bitter saline to use as a substitute in daily life. But the shortage of salt at the Ming border forts is wholly a human factor, a result of government salt policy control.

"Chief Divine bears witness! The Ming Government strictly prohibits private salt trade; those caught would be caned, exiled, or beheaded. In the Liaodong border fortress, the price of one jin of government salt costs over ten cash, more than pork! It’s said that to encourage merchants to transport grain to the border, they are promised salt introduction, then recoup grain transport losses by selling salt at high prices..."

"Perhaps, in the southern salt-producing region, private salt is abundant, and the price isn’t so high... But in Liaodong, salt costing more than ten cash a jin isn’t affordable for many Han people. They may not even have eaten meat a few times throughout the year, let alone save dozens to hundreds of cash! So much so that those border fort garrisons even ask the tribute-giving Jurchen tribes for bitter saline as food..."

"Meanwhile, for our Jurchen tribes, only during tribute at Kaiyuan can we bribe the overseeing officials to procure a few bags of proper government salt to bring out as rewards beyond the border..."

Upon saying this, Chief of the Harman Tribe Ah Li sighed again. It’s said that more than a hundred years ago during the Great Yuan, the court didn’t regulate salt and iron trade at all, whether on the steppe or in Liaodong, all tribes neither lacked salt nor iron. After the Ming’s founding, they began monopolizing salt and iron trade, completely controlling northern salt and iron trade. But when Emperor Taizong was alive, the Mongolian and Jurchen tribes who followed him were generously rewarded, and the ironware and salt needed by each tribe flowed from Han lands

Then after Yongle, the court gradually treated "salt and iron" goods as a silent "weapon," instituting strict embargo and blockades on the vast northern borders. Under such policies, even Han people at the Liaodong border fortress couldn’t afford salt, let alone the impoverished Jurchen tribes...

"Ah Li, you just said that in the southern Great Ming Liaodong Kingdom, one jin of salt costs more than ten cash? How much is one cash worth? How much gold is a jin of salt worth? Calculate it for me; let me see if this ’salt goods’ has any value to smuggle south into the Great Ming..."

"Uh... Ancestor Shaman, selling private salt in the Ming is a capital offense punishable by death! As for how much gold a jin of salt is worth? This!... One tael of gold in Liaodong exchanges six or seven taels of silver. One tael of silver exchanges a thousand or so cash. More than ten cash per jin of salt... So that’s several hundred jin of salt for one tael of gold!"

"What! It takes several hundred jin of salt to equal one tael of gold? Is salt so cheap?! Looks like selling salt in the Ming is less profitable than bringing gold directly..."

Upon hearing this, Zuwaro shook his head in disappointment. His "grand blueprint" for the "Liaodong private salt seller" had completely collapsed before even unfolding. The one thousand five hundred jin of gold he had, at least exchanged for one hundred fifty thousand taels of silver. Compared to this "huge sum," there weren’t many merchants in all of the Ming richer than him; why bother flipping private salt?... But soon, he realized something wasn’t right.

"No, no! Ah Li, you just said, salt isn’t cheap, most of the Ming commoners can’t afford salt... They can’t even save up a hundred cash throughout the year? So wouldn’t they have to work sixty or seventy years, two lifetimes even, and still not save up one tael of gold?... Impossible! This powerful Ming has millions in its army, ironware everywhere, how can its commoners be so impoverished?"

"Ancestor Shaman! Ordinary Ming commoners have no hunting ground or forest, no livestock or mounts, and cannot leave the garrison’s protection. They can only farm a few acres of land. If they can pay the court’s tax requirement, survive the court’s labor assignments, endure the tax collector’s miscellaneous fees, they’ve already burned incense in gratitude! As for saving one tael of gold? I fear that most Han in Liaodong have never seen one tael of silver in their lifetime! And for a few taels of silver, many wouldn’t have access even if willing to commit murder and robbery..."

"Chief Divine bears witness! Now you can see, this bag of one hundred jin of gold, one hundred thousand taels of silver, if brought to the southern Liaodong, will make so many border troops greedy, willing to do anything..."

Chief of the Harman Tribe Ah Li showed a bitter smile, as this "Wild Man Shaman" holding great sums clearly misunderstood the strength of the Ming Government’s tax-collecting ability and the true value of this bag of gold. Honestly, such control over commoners by the Ming Government is untouchable by the Mexica Alliance or Kingdom of the Lake; they can’t even get close! 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

And for us Jurchen chiefs with official titles, no matter how much the border army secretly extorts, the Ming court at least treats us kindly; it doesn’t impose taxes. But for those rootless Han commoners, the court’s exploitation leaves not even a single coin; selling their children and daughters, they must pay their due tax and multiple miscellaneous fees!

Currently, within Haixi Jurchen tribes, Jianzhou Jurchen tribes, and Mongolian Duoyan Three Guards, how many Han refugees from Han land are there? Wasn’t it the court that forced them to flee, unable to survive? We Jurchen tribes even in poverty don’t pay taxes to the court, nor owe the court any money! And the rapid Sinicization, productivity growth of Shushu Jurchen tribes’ villages is largely influenced by these Han refugees’ integration...

"Chief Divine protect! This powerful southern Great Ming is truly like the divine spirit of a Smoke Mirror, enigmatically changing continually!..."

After the long conversation, Zuwaro shook his head, genuinely reflecting. He was unaware that he was peering into the largest and most complex ruling machine of this era, governing the largest nation in the world. Undoubtedly, this is a truly powerful empire, regardless of any internal hazards, thriving in the flourishing period of the Ming Empire!

And where will the empire’s future lead? Just how much influence will he, a golden hummingbird from the Eastern Sea, flap its wings and create? At this moment, no one can predict, even Xiulote His Majesty of Divine Revelation couldn’t foresee...

"Come, Ah Li! Join me southward to the Kingdom’s Divine Kutadai Port! There is a peaceful camp, a harbor for potatoes and salmon... There will also become a new homeland for all your Harman Tribe people, for all the Gummy People tribes!"

When the early snow of September fell from the sky of Nurgan. Three Kingdom longships loaded with more than a hundred Kingdom warriors, packed with two hundred members of Shushu and Jurchen Tribes, set sail southward to the Kutadai Port camp.

On the shore, Maha Agudah donned a tiger skin, carrying a stone hammer, watching the longships of his brother tribes depart. And Priest Kui Huo dressed in fiery red fox skin, stood beside Agudah, like a fox borrowing a tiger’s power. As for on the longship, Zuwaro wore a feather crown, dressed in newly made ceremonial dress from beaver skin. Chief of the Harman Tribe Ah Li wore a roe deer antler hat, wrapped in roe deer skin clothes, with hands tucked inside sleeves.

"Hoo! Hoo!..."

The cold northern wind blew across the vast forest sea of Outer Northeast, from the North Mountain of the Outer Xing’an Ridges to the Great River’s Great Xing’an Ridge. Tigers roared in the mountain forest, seeking winter prey. Foxes tread lightly behind them, a mouthful would satisfy their hunger. Beavers busied themselves by river and sea, building their increasingly large nests. A roe deer cautiously followed behind, curiously looking around.

That’s White Mountain Black Water Forest, Outer Northeast, the peaceful home of all "animals." And the most serene winter is about to arrive~~