Author: Our special guest author Yang Kining
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, the "imperial grace" of the Great Qing Dynasty, which is not worth forty mink skins</h1>
On September 7, 1689, the Qing Dynasty's Minister of The Interior, Soetu, and the Russian Imperial Minister Golovin, on behalf of their respective governments, signed and sealed the Treaty of Nebuchu, the first border treaty between China and Russia. After the signing was completed, Golovin was very excited. To know that at that time, the Qing army had an absolute advantage on the battlefield, and it was backed by the rear of the motherland, and the logistics supply was much more convenient than the Russians who crossed the entire Siberia to be transported to the front.
Hard power was obviously not enough, forcing Golovin to make an "off-the-plate move", it turned out that before the final negotiation, he had a clear understanding of the Chinese bottom card set by Kangxi Ye through the purchase of intelligence, so he had already won the negotiation.
So who "helped"? It turned out to be a foreign missionary accompanying the Qing army, namely Zhang Cheng (French) and Xu Risheng (Portuguese) as Chinese translators.
Speaking of these two people, that is really a standard familiar face in the history of the Kangxi Dynasty. All were European missionaries who came to China, took the Chinese name into the court of the Qing Dynasty, and were trusted by the Kangxi Emperor for many years, and before the negotiation of the Nebuchu Treaty, the Kangxi Emperor also specially awarded them three pins to wear, which was really "Emperor Grace Haodang". In a number of Qing palace dramas that have created new ratings, there are also touching plots of these two "foreign ministers" wading through mountains and rivers to risk death to deliver medicine for the Kangxi Emperor, who was infected on the front line. How could such two people with extremely high "loyalty" be pulled into the water by the Tsarist side?
According to the Russian archives, it was at the time of the most stalemate in the Nebuchadn negotiations that Golovin came into contact with the two men, that is, to "open the joints." And these two "foreign ministers" who were called "chaste and simple" by Kangxi also reacted very simply, half a sentence did not say anything, first opened their mouths to ask for benefits, and then put out the "negotiation bottom line" and the disk on the Side of the Qing Dynasty. With this "righteous help", Tsarist Russia suddenly reversed the passive situation at the negotiating table and finally signed the Treaty of Nebuchu with the Qing Dynasty. As a result, the Tsarist Government and the opposition cheered at the time, recognizing as "a great victory for Moscow's diplomacy."
Golovin, who handled this matter, returned to Russia and received a gold medal, and then was promoted to field marshal, which was very beautiful. So what did the two "Great Qing Yang Ministers" who helped him at the moment of negotiation and provided core information get? Of course, this favor was "not a white gang", in Golovin's words, he returned to the two, but it was the "grace of the Great Monarch" of Tsarist Russia- forty mink skins.
Many friends in later generations who are not familiar with the history of ancient trade often wonder when they see this place: How can forty mink skins be more important than the "imperial grace" of the Qing Dynasty, and can these two people sell out the national interests without pressure? In fact, these forty mink skins were really a lot of money at that time. At that time, the nickname of mink in Europe was called "soft gold", forty mink skins? It was like a pile of gold in front of you.
Moreover, from the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the reason why Tsarist Russia sent a "expedition" to the northeast land. Even after the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchu, it was still not dead-hearted, and throughout the three centuries of the Qing Dynasty, it seized the opportunity to "bite" a piece of Chinese territory. The important reason for this is also because of the huge interests behind this mink-mink trade.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > ii, the "fur road" of Tsarist Russia</h1>
In the seventeenth century, mink skins were called "soft gold", and the best place for mink skins in the world was the Daxing'an Mountains in northeast China. The mink here "is known as the best in the world." And this place is also the "self-reserved land" at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.
And the value of mink skins, the Qing Dynasty is not unfamiliar. For example, Hong Chengzuo, the "loyal minister of daming" who was captured by the Qing army, originally went on a hunger strike, and Emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty personally draped the mink on him, and this Lord Hong fell to his knees on the spot, tearfully shouting "The Lord of the True Destiny Of the World". A piece of mink skin was exchanged for a future Qing "third-class light vehicle lieutenant", which was of great significance.
Group photo of cabinet ministers of the Qing Dynasty
More importantly, the commercial value, the mink trade between the northeast and the interior, flourished during the Jiajing period. In the words of Zhao Shizhen, an expert on firearms in the Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci's firearms equipment was basically exchanged for mink. An important reason for the rise of the Elite Soldiers of the Eight Banners is also "to make a fortune by using the benefits of our (Ming Dynasty) mink ginseng." Therefore, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it also established a "tribute mink system" in the northeast, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to the northeast every year to collect mink skins for royal consumption and resale.
But at this time, the Qing Dynasty could not imagine that the precious sable skin also stimulated the crazy expansion ambitions of Russians thousands of miles away.
In the European fur market at that time, mink was a valuable hard currency. The expanding Tsarist Russia regarded it as a treasure. From the end of the Ming Dynasty, Tsarist Russia introduced various "tax exemption" and "reward" policies to encourage Russian merchants to go to the East to find mink skins. Groups of Russian "expeditions" were also red-eyed and went deep into the Heilongjiang River Basin to "buy" mink skins.
Their "acquisition" was a complete disaster for the compatriots of all ethnic groups in the northeast: the conventional "operation" was to capture the leaders of the indigenous tribes, and then take them hostage and demand that the tribes hand over the mink skins. Once they encounter resistance, they will slaughter the village in a frenzy. For example, from 1642 to 1645, the Boyakov bandits of Tsarist Russia plundered 400 mink skins from the Heilongjiang River Valley. The Qing ShiLu describes these people as "snatching mink skins, plundering villages, plundering populations, and wantonly committing many evils."
Under this plunder, the volume of fur trade in Tsarist Russia also increased in a straight line. At the beginning of the 17th century, Tsarist Russia could exchange mink skins sold to Europe every year for more than four hundred thousand rubles. By 1644, the year of the "Clearance of The Customs", the income from the mink trade accounted for more than ten percent of the revenue of the Tsarist Russian government. Behind every penny is the blood of compatriots of all ethnic groups in the northeast.
Huge mink yields also stimulated the expansionist ambitions of Tsarist Russia. Soon, they will not be satisfied with this kind of "small fight" "acquisition". In the words of Golovin (the one who signed the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar), "The occupation of the vast area of the Heilongjiang River Basin would bring the monarch enormous economic and political benefits." They began to build fortresses in the Heilongjiang River Valley, forcibly enslave local tribes, and frantically collect mink skins as "taxes", and the city of Yaksa was one of the important strongholds.
What is more serious is that such plunder by Tsarist Russia led to the slaughter of tribes in the Heilongjiang River Basin or the oppression of Tsarist Russia, and the Qing government's local "mink tribute system" was also undermined. Many tribes, unable to tolerate Tsarist aggression, had to move south in large numbers. The Heilongjiang River Basin in northeast China is suddenly facing a "vacuum". For the newly established Qing Dynasty, this was not only a matter of "collecting a few mink skins", but also a huge threat to national sovereignty and national defense and security.
After the intolerable Qing government launched two self-defense counterattacks and severely taught the Russian invaders a harsh lesson, a piece of the "Nebuchu Treaty" was exchanged for nearly two centuries of peace on the northeast border. However, although Tsarist Russia has no temper for the time being on the matter of "using force", it is "entrained smuggling" for the "mink trade".
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the Treaty of Nebuchu, the mink trade suffered a lot</h1>
In fact, if the Qing Dynasty could see the huge "international trade profits" behind the mink trade, use the "mink" as a means to "counter" Tsarist Russia, and even take this as an opportunity to develop the northern economy. In the northeast of the Qing Dynasty, not only will the defense be consolidated, but the economy and population will also be greatly developed. Mink has brought disaster to the northeast, but it is also a strategic opportunity.
Unfortunately, the Qing Dynasty did not see this, and still only regarded the "tribute system" as a means of rule. On the contrary, the Tsarist Russia side has taken a farther view of this matter. During the negotiation of the Treaty of Nebuchu, he took smuggled goods on the matter of "mink trade" and proposed "allowing Russian merchants to trade mutually." On the side of the Qing Dynasty, it felt that this matter was not too big, and it agreed without thinking. Thirty-nine years later, the Treaty of Kyakhta added another clause: no taxation.
In this way, it brought about an aggressive and strange thing: according to the law of the Qing Dynasty at that time, the private merchants in the interior could not go directly to the northeast to buy mink, but the Russian merchants could come in and buy mink skins with the "Nebuchu Treaty", and later did not have to bear taxes. The mink they processed could not only be sold to Europe, but also sold to the mainland at a higher price. In the nearly two centuries that followed, through this "fur road", Tsarist Russia earned money all year round, giving Russia a great blood replenishment that was busy expanding.
On the other hand, the Qing Dynasty, which ignored the mink trade, although "eating small losses" in exchange for the stability of the northeast. But the economic population of the northeast, especially in the Heilongjiang River Basin, has been growing slowly for many years. By the thirteenth year of Jiaqing (1808) of the Qing Dynasty, the population under the general of Heilongjiang was only more than 130,000. After seeing this and the other, we know that more than half a century later, the painful frontier crisis in northeast China has long been coming.
After the Second Opium War, Tsarist Russia ceded large areas of land from China through unequal treaties. The Qing Dynasty practiced the "mink tribute system" in the northeast for more than two hundred years, and it also became more and more extinct. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was finally completely abolished.
The importance of economic construction and strategic vision for national defense and security, that once valuable northeast mink, has carried many lessons and memories.
References: Chen Yongxiang", "On the Changes in the Structure of Jurchen Commodities in the Middle and Late Ming Dynasty", Li Fengfei," "The Tribute Mink System and the Northeast Governance Policy of the Qing Dynasty", Yuan Canxing," Yuan Canxing," "The International Conflict Caused by the Qing Dynasty Mink Skins," Yang Modi," "The Influence of the Tribute Mink System of ethnic minorities in the Northeastern Frontier of the Qing Dynasty and the Invasion of Tsarist Russia," Park Shangchun, "The Mink Endowment and Trade in the Northeast of the Qing Dynasty," Guo Yemin's "Envoy to the Great Qing Negotiations Who Sold Himself to Russia, < the "Inner Ghost" behind the > of the Treaty of Nebuchu," and Li Lianli's "Mink!" The Qing Dynasty entered China because of its strength, and Tsarist Russia attacked Turkey on the left and the Right because of its strength, and so on
Further reading:
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