Chapter 63 Yuegang Ship Meeting
Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze in surprise. If the words just now were said by a maritime merchant from Fuzhou Prefecture, Xiong Wu would think it was unusual. People who have been making a living at sea for many years will naturally understand this way.
If a businessman in Nanping County said it, Xiong Wu would think that this person is knowledgeable. There are also people in Nanping County who have such knowledge. He must be a smart person.
But Su Ze, who was nestled in the rundown guardhouse of Changning Guard, was able to tell the truth about this set of sea trade routes, which was enough to surprise Xiong Wu.
Su Ze sneered in his heart, Xiong Wu, an Arhat from Nanping County, actually knew so much about the southeastern Japanese pirates. His origin was indeed not simple.
There is a very famous triangular trade in the Age of Discovery, in which slave traders set out from Europe and exchanged industrial products such as salt and cloth for slaves in Africa. Then they passed through the Atlantic Ocean through the Central Sea Route and were sent to the Americas to be exchanged for sugar, tobacco, gold and silver. Return to Europe.
In Northeast Asia, there is actually a triangular trade.
This triangular trade can also be said to be the underlying cause of the Japanese rebellion in Southeast Asia.
The Francois, also known as the Portuguese, were the first to arrive in Northeast Asia. Along the way, the Portuguese occupied the "Spice Islands" in South Asia and obtained the origin of spices.
From then on, the Portuguese began to transport their own industrial products, the spices produced in the Spice Islands, to Northeast Asia and sell them to Japan and the Ming Dynasty.
After exchanging silver in Japan, silk, tea, and porcelain were purchased from the Ming Dynasty and shipped back to Europe. The profits of this route were quite huge, and all the maritime merchants along the coast of the Ming Dynasty were involved.
Xiong Wu cupped his hands and said, "Xiangong is so talented, Xiong is showing off."
Su Ze continued, "Can this sea tiger get Cochin candy?"
Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze and said doubtfully, "Xiangong wants to show off." Selling sugar? Although this Cochin sugar is cheap, the people of Fujian and Guangzhou still prefer Fujian and Guangzhou brown sugar. If you want to make money, you have to transport it to the north." Xiong Wu did not say the rest.
If it is just smuggling locally, Chang Ningwei relies on Geographical advantages can also be mixed.
But smuggling Cochin sugar to the north is not something that a little Chang Ningwei can do.
With the opening of trade routes and various unstable factors along the way, even local wealthy people would not rush northward to do business.
Su Ze certainly understands this truth. Today's Ming Dynasty is more like what it was before Prussia established the Customs Union. Each province and every government has local business, and it is extremely difficult for outsiders to get involved.
After entering modern times, there are still local chambers of commerce united by township parties that monopolize certain local industries.
However, Su Ze didn't want to go north to sell sugar. He just wanted to turn the black sugar syrup into white sugar and sell it.
"I'm just asking you, can you get Cochin sugar with this sea tiger?"
Xiong Wu said: "This is not difficult, the Cochin sugar Buddha Lang machine will bring some with the ship, Zhang Haihu has a ship guide in and out of the moon port, if you want to buy sugar? Difficult."
Yuegang, Su Ze was familiar with this name. This was a famous smuggling center in the southeast region!
"Ship guide?"
Seeing that Su Ze finally had something he didn't know, Xiong Wu finally straightened up and said,
"Ships entering and leaving Yuegang need a ship guide. Every year, Yue Port only issues three hundred ship guides. Ships without ship guides will dock at the port. , you will be expelled by the guards of Yuegang. If you enter by force, you will be sunk by the guards." "
How can I obtain this ship guide?"
"This is not easy. There is a boat club of thirteen people in Yuegang. They are the largest in Yuegang. Composed of several maritime business leaders, as well as the leaders of the most famous Japanese pirate gangs in the southeast region, these thirteen people meet once a year to decide how to distribute the three hundred ships' guides." Su Ze was dumbfounded, is Yuegang still the territory of the Ming Dynasty
? ? Has this kind of autonomous committee been created?
Xiong Wu felt relieved when he saw Su Ze like this. He continued to show off:
"This ship's guide is a rare item. One guide can be sold for thousands of taels of silver. This month, the Yuegang Boat Festival will use the money from the sale of the ship's guide to train the villagers." To bravely defend Yuegang, they also purchased Franco machine guns from Franji and built gun towers to protect the port." "The Yuegang Shipping Association said that regardless of whether the enemy comes from the sea or land, Yuegang can defend Yuegang for a hundred days! Su
Ze suddenly asked: "You said you can still buy Folang machine guns in Yuegang?"
Xiong Wu was stunned for a moment. He looked at Su Ze doubtfully and said, "My young husband wants to buy cannons?"
Su Ze laughed and said, "Chang Ning Wei I have been harassed by Japanese pirates all year round. I heard that the power of this Western artillery is unparalleled, and I want to see it."
Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze with suspicious eyes, but did not continue to ask, but said:
"This Western barbarian is also unjust for his own benefit. Important military weapons such as the Fo Lang machine gun are also sold openly. As long as you have money, you can buy anything in Yuegang. Even the black Kunlun slaves are sold by a lot of people, let alone a mere cannon."
" However, the price of these Folan cannons is extremely high, each one costs twenty taels of silver. Does Chang Ningwei have the money to buy it?"
Su Ze felt distressed for twenty taels of silver, thinking that he had to pay thirty-two taels of silver as a fine for fighting with weapons. Two, if I had known this, I would have been more gentle during the fight!
Su Ze asked again: "Are there any blunderbuss for sale?"
"Of course there are. In addition to the local ones in Folangji, there are also those made by our Ming Dynasty. There are also merchants who can make a lot of money by transporting blunderbuss to Japan. Oh! Japanese pirates are rampant along this road, which is really too dangerous."
"A bird gun plus gunpowder costs one or two silver. The Ming Dynasty made it slightly cheaper, but it is easy to explode and misfire." A
door A Fo Lang machine gun cost twenty taels of silver, and a gun also cost one tael of silver. Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, the arms trade was indeed robbery.
But this thing is the best-selling product in the world today!
And Su Ze was even more surprised at how quickly the Ming court followed up on technology. How quickly could a gun made by the Ming be sold?
In fact, during the Jiajing period, the imperial court had begun to pay attention to the manufacture of bird guns. In "New Book of Jixiao", Qi Jiguang ridiculed the traditional side guns and rockets for being too weak and far less accurate than bird guns. He preferred bird guns as the first firearm.
During the Wanli period, the imperial court further devolved the right to cast muskets, and military and political offices in various places could manufacture them themselves. The proportion of firearms installed by the Ming army was actually not low.
It's just that the firearms of this era are still weak and short-range, and are not very effective when facing cavalry charges.
In fact, in this era, firearms were inferior to cavalry. In later military books written by Napoleon, the troops were divided into riflemen, cavalry and artillery.
These three arms have a rock-paper-scissors relationship, with riflemen restraining artillery, artillery restraining cavalry, and cavalry restraining riflemen.
How about making arms? Su Ze quickly gave up the idea, not to mention that privately selling arms was a capital crime, and it also violated his agreement with Lin Baihu.
A workshop that can make muskets requires various supporting workshops for manufacturing parts. Changning Wei definitely does not have this condition at the moment.
Forget it, let’s make sugar, make money to fill our stomachs first.
In the next few days, Su Ze spent time farming and teaching in the health center, or giving lectures to the Arhats and Saltmen who were opening up wasteland.
The imperial examination has been raised to Lv3, 45/300, the calligraphy has also been raised to Lv2, 105/200, and the Kaimeng has been raised to Lv5, 30/500.
During this period, he also went to the military camp to show his face and watched Lin Mojun train his soldiers.
It's a pity that Lin Mojun was wearing a veiled straw hat. Su Ze didn't see her face, but after seeing Chang Ning Guard's soldiers training, Su Ze felt that his military training skills were just superficial, and his experience in military skills had increased. Some have reached Level 2, 65/200.
The days passed, and it was the day when the ghost market opened at the end of the first ten days.
(End of chapter)