“There are merchants who come to buy furs and hides toward the end of spring?”
“Yes. The most merchants come around the end of winter, but some do come before summer begins as well. Spring is about to start, so it is about time for them to arrive.”
“Is this something all the residents of the north know?”
“Of course.”
Brikal, the head cook, went on to explain that during the harsh winter, beasts also went hungry, so they came closer to human homes than usual.
“Starving beasts are fierce, but they become less cunning, making traps easier to set. In the snow-covered fields, they are also easier to track. It is truly the season of hunters.”
“Oho.”
“In any case, no one can farm or gather in winter, so most people usually go out to chop wood or hunt.”
“And they sell the hides and furs they gathered that way to merchants?”
“Yes. By then, the food they stored for winter is nearly gone, so they have to sell the hides and exchange them for food in order to survive the spring famine season.”
After hearing this much, Aiden could not help letting out a hollow laugh.
‘What kind of damned trade is this...!’
Of course, it was common sense that local products were relatively cheap in their place of origin, but the hides and furs skilled hunters gathered all winter were being exchanged for only enough food to feed a family for a season or two?
‘Look at these bastards.’
Aiden’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
Come to think of it, he remembered something an instructor had once told him when he was studying Korean history while preparing for the civil service exam.
“You learned that the Ming Dynasty conducted tributary trade, right? What does that mean? It means all private trade that wasn’t tributary trade was illegal. So how could the Jurchens and Khitans up north sell horses or furs? That’s right! Smuggling was their only option. And do you think those Chinese Wang merchants paid them a fair price? They cut the price down to one-tenth on the spot. I can’t know for certain, but don’t you think some of that rage might have played a role in Nurhaci rising up and founding Qing?”
Well, it had probably been a take-it-or-leave-it joke, but there were apparently actual records saying that, in the Ming Dynasty at the time, high-quality sable pelts worth more than a cow were bought by Han Chinese merchants for the price of three or four chickens.
The Khitans and Jurchens had not suffered it because they were fools.
‘They probably knew but had no choice. There was no other real method.’
This was different from the modern age, when taking the KTX from Seoul to Busan took less than three hours.
If one walked from Jurchen lands to Beijing, the round trip alone took two months.
And if one went all the way to Nanjing, where goods were abundant?
The round trip alone took a full 150 days.
Even if one hauled furs on one’s head and back along that long road, there was no guarantee of receiving a good price.
As merchants always did, if profit was involved, they would not bat an eye at softening up one or two country bumpkins.
Then what about the livelihood of the families left behind in their hometowns during that time?
‘...That must be why this absurd trade was possible.’
This kind of unequal trade was being reproduced exactly the same way in the north of this otherworld.
The things Aiden had to do were organized in his head in an instant.
Tap, tap, tap.
He drummed his fingers on the dining table a few times, then spoke as though he had finished thinking.
“...It seems I’ll have to send out an official notice.”
“Pardon?”
“An official notice stating that outside merchants who have not received my permission cannot conduct any trade whatsoever in the north.”
He wanted to see what those lowlifes who had been living with straws stuck into these already impoverished northerners looked like.
***
“Hah! Trade is impossible, you say!”
Jenkin faced a situation he had never expected and learned what it felt like for heat to shoot all the way to the top of his head.
“I came all this way because I thought you people might have eaten through all your meager food over the winter and starve to death before harvest season. Yet instead of giving a precious guest a grand welcome, what did you say?”
“......”
Before the merchant Jenkin’s fierce rage, the old village chief bit his lip.
“You have nothing to trade but stinking lumps of animal hide, yet I treated you humanely because you are still fellow imperial subjects. Hah! This is beyond belief!”
Endless insults.
The village chief and the sturdy young men standing beside him clenched fists like weapons, but they could not talk back to the merchant.
‘If not for that food...’
The cart behind Jenkin.
What filled that cart was undoubtedly wheat and barley.
And grain at this time of year was, quite literally, the lifeline of northerners.
“...The newly appointed administrator has forbidden trade with merchants who lack a permit, so as imperial subjects, we have no choice but to obey. Please calm your anger, Master Jenkin.”
That was why the village chief bowed his head.
“Ah. The administrator?”
At the mention that there had been an order from the administrator, Jenkin’s expression immediately eased.
‘So the new administrator wants a bribe.’
Heh.
If so, this was actually something to welcome.
‘Softening up administrators is our merchant company’s specialty, of course!’
Sometimes administrators who had been demoted to the north and did nothing but drink themselves senseless came here, but Jenkin’s family did not particularly like that kind of administrator.
After all, things went well only when officials and commoners cooperated.
‘Heh heh. He hasn’t been in office for long, but he’s already asking for a bribe.’
If things went well, they might even be able to monopolize trade permits for a few of the most profitable villages.
He had already been wondering whether it was time to teach a lesson to a few worthless dregs who had been trying to slip a foot into the northern fur trade over the past few years while calling themselves merchants.
‘This works out perfectly.’
For Jenkin, who intended to use the fur trade as a stepping stone to enter the heart of the empire within a few years, there was no ally more reliable than an “official who understood reason.”
‘Furthermore, if the lord’s castle itself buys the furs on our behalf...’
Naturally, they would be able to drive the purchase price down even further, and they could also greatly reduce the number of mercenaries they hired in case these violent and ignorant northerners got any strange ideas.
If he profited here and profited there...
‘A windfall!’
After finishing his calculations, Jenkin turned around without another glance.
“To the lord’s castle. I must meet the new administrator.”
“Yes, Caravan Master!”
Naturally, the merchant offered no farewell at all to the village chief or the residents.
His mind was filled only with thoughts of how he could reduce the bribe he would have to give the administrator.
***
Neiiiigh—!
“Hyah!”
It was only a short distance from the village to the lord’s castle.
“What is your business?”
“I have come to meet the administrator.”
With the carriage window half-open, Jenkin tossed out his identification token.
‘No matter when I see it, this castle is a wretched mess.’
Perhaps because it had no proper master, it was desolate beyond belief.
No wonder, of every three administrators assigned here, two went mad and one disappeared.
“I have come to receive a trade permit, so inform the administrator.”
“...Yes.”
“Tsk, tsk. Look at the state of him.”
Watching the aide head toward the office, Jenkin clicked his tongue without even trying to lower his voice.
A short while later, the aide returned, and the gates of the lord’s castle opened wide.
Creeeak.
“He has ordered that you be shown in.”
Jenkin’s expression eased at once.
He had been worried that, despite being demoted, the man might have a stiff neck just because he had once been an official from the central government. But it seemed the newly arrived administrator was indeed someone who understood reason.
However, ten minutes was enough to shatter that confident expression.
“You need a trade permit?”
The newly appointed administrator was much younger than Jenkin had expected.
‘He’s handsome.’
He even had a rather polished face.
‘Was he demoted because of a romantic scandal?’
In the mind of the miserly merchant who knew only money, an adultery scandal was instantly completed from beginning to end.
‘If that’s the case, he’ll be even easier to handle.’
A young man who could not overcome his desires.
Grin.
Jenkin had to strain to drag down the corners of his mouth, which kept trying to rise.
“You must have gone through great hardship to come all the way to this barren land.”
Jenkin took out the lighter of the two pouches he had prepared in advance and quietly placed it on one side of the administrator’s desk.
Clink!
The faint sound of coins striking one another rang out.
“What is this?”
Even after seeing the pouch, Aiden asked back with a calm face.
“Haha! It is nothing much. It is merely my small sincerity toward those who work so hard for the north. Please accept it.”
“Ah. Thank you. I’ll put it to good use.”
The pouch went straight into the drawer like a clean goal.
“Haha, then when might the permit...? It would be best if it were issued immediately. As you know, with merchant company business, today’s price is different from tomorrow’s, so time is gold.”
“Ah, that is true. You said you needed a trade permit.”
Aiden handed a document to the smiling Jenkin.
“Haha! So quickly...”
Jenkin, who had thought the document was the permit, flipped through it with an expression that said he had no idea what was going on, then looked back at Aiden.
“What is this?”
“You said you needed a trade permit, didn’t you? If you submit a business plan, the permit will be issued after review. First, please fill out that document.”
“...What did you say?”
Displeasure spread across Jenkin’s face.
What was he trying to pull after taking a bribe barely a minute ago?
‘What is this? Is the money not enough?’
But if that was the case, had he not failed to even check inside the pouch?
“Administrator. I am but a dull-witted merchant, so it seems I have failed to properly understand the will of someone who handles affairs of state. Could you please explain it to me slowly? I have never heard of a document like this before.”
“Exactly! I’m also utterly dumbfounded by how the previous administrators handled their work. Good grief.”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t that how public office works? Procedure, administration. If we’re going to ignore all of that completely, then why do public offices exist? Why do officials exist? Don’t you agree?”
“......?”
Jenkin’s expression had now clearly stiffened, but Administrator Aiden merely shrugged and added an explanation in his usual businesslike tone.
“For the business items section, you cannot just vaguely lump everything together as furs or hides. You understand, right? Instead of abstract words, please clearly write exactly what kinds you intend to trade. Items like this can cause unnecessary disputes.”
“......?”
“And on the second page, make sure your tax payment plan is clear as well. Ah, right. The employment status section is newly established this time, and if you look below it, you’ll see the notes, correct? You must hire northerners for at least twenty percent of the jobs created through your trade, all right?”
“What in the world is that supposed to...!”
Jenkin felt as though the world before his eyes was spinning.
Trade business overview?
Detailed trade plan by item?
Tax payment plan and estimated profit report?
List of local employees and wage plan?
“Goodness, right. I almost forgot the most important thing.”
Aiden playfully thumped his own head with his fist, then took out one final document and handed it over.
“Bribery, collusion, exploitation, corruption.”
Their eyes met in midair.
“You know those aren’t allowed, right?”
It was an Integrity Agreement Compliance Pledge.