Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 735, the beginning of the era of private armed colonization

In September of the [-]th year of Hongzhi, the monsoon and ocean currents in the East Indian Ocean began to reverse, from the original clockwise flow to counterclockwise flow.

Traveling from Nanyang to Tianzhu can just take advantage of this ocean current and monsoon. With smooth sailing, it used to take more than ten days to reach Tianzhu from Nanyang, but now it only takes eight days to reach Tianzhu.

The monsoon is howling, the sea is rough, and a huge fleet is sailing on the boundless sea, cutting the wind and waves, all the way westward.

The scale of this fleet is very large, with more than [-] armed merchant ships leading the way. On both sides of the merchant ships, rows of gun holes are lined up side by side, like the teeth of ferocious beasts.

Behind the armed merchant ships were hundreds of large and small ships. The dragon flags of Ming Dynasty and the flags of major commercial houses were hung on the ships.

On the deck of the 'Guan Yu', Feng Xiang, Zhu Benduan, Hu Xian, and Chen Lin stood together. The sea breeze carried a little bit of coolness, but their hearts were hot and hot.

It's finally time to act.

At this moment, a few people can finally feel a trace of the taste of autumn soldiers on the ancient battlefield.

With [-] horses and a huge follow-up team serving the [-] people, the huge team of tens of thousands headed straight for Ceylon Island.

"There are still two days to reach Ceylon!"

Zhu Benduan looked at the front and said slightly excitedly.

"Don't worry, we can definitely win."

Feng Xiang smiled and said very confidently.

The more he understands the situation on Ceylon Island, the more confident he will be.

Although Tianzhu is very large, it is not a unified and powerful empire like Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, the entire Tianzhu has been composed of countless large and small city-states since ancient times. Just ruled the northern region.

The vast southern plateau is still not unified.

Although Ceylon is no longer on the South Asian subcontinent, it is also deeply impressed by the South Asian subcontinent. A small island is also divided inside. The most powerful Sinhalese are also divided into several countries.

The strength of every country is very weak, otherwise Zheng He would not be able to easily rely on two thousand people and even arrest their king.

In the past few decades in history, the Portuguese gradually conquered the entire gem island with only a few hundred people, which shows that the national strength here is very weak.

"Win, we can definitely win, there is no problem in capturing Ceylon."

"The key is how to manage and rule this Ceylon island after we conquer it."

Hu Xian thought for a while and said.

He is now thinking about how to manage the affairs of Ceylon Island in the future.

"We can learn from the field and the cows. The Sinhalese on the island believe in Buddhism. We can use this to let them be enslaved willingly and honestly mine gems for us."

Feng Xiang thought for a while and said.

"This is a good way, but what I want is how to occupy this island for a long time."

"The geographical location of Ceylon Island is very important. Occupying Ceylon Island, we can use it as a springboard to gradually plot the entire Tianzhu."

"In addition, Ceylon Island is an important hub for east-west sea traffic. Occupying Ceylon Island means that we have mastered this important route."

"So I still want to find a way to rule forever."

"There are Sinhalese and Tamils ​​here, and there are very few Ming people."

"So in the future, we will find a way to slowly move all the people here."

"It is a good choice to sell slaves to plantations in Southeast Asia, and then move our own people to Ceylon Island, so that it can slowly become our place, and we can rule here permanently. "

Hu Xian thought for a while and said.

I chose Ceylon Island at the beginning not only because Ceylon Island was easier to win, but also because of the gemstones of Ceylon Island, and more importantly, the geographical location of Ceylon Island.

Taking the island of Ceylon can be used as a springboard. If you go north, you can gradually erode the entire Tianzhu, and if you go east, you can capture Burma, and if you go west, you can lead to the Middle East, Persia and Africa.

Such a strategic location is too important.

"Sold as slaves to plantations in Southeast Asia?"

"This is a good idea. Now slaves in Nanyang are very expensive. A slave costs more than [-] taels of silver. I heard that Liu Jin has already sold several million taels of silver just for capturing slaves in Java." .”

When Zhu Benduan heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up slightly.

"There are not many people in Ceylon, and the total number is estimated to be hundreds of thousands. The population here in Tianzhu is only large. When Ceylon is captured, we can go to Tianzhu to sell slaves."

"A slave is sold for twenty taels of silver. There are not enough slaves in Nanyang. In the future, just selling slaves will be enough for our Western Union Commercial Bank to make a fortune."

Feng has a better understanding of the situation in Tianzhu and Ceylon. When it comes to slaves, he is invigorated, as if he has seen a new way of making money.

"Our major commercial companies are opening plantations here in Nanyang. There is no shortage of land, but there is a shortage of manpower. Whoever has more manpower can open up more plantations."

"This slave trade is indeed a good business."

Zhu Benduan thought for a while and nodded in agreement.

There is a big problem in the development of the Nanyang region, which is a serious shortage of manpower.

Large and small plantations sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Commercial firms from Ming Dynasty and plantation owners spread like a virus on the large and small islands in Southeast Asia. Everyone kept enclosing and occupying land.

Up to now, everyone quickly discovered one thing, that is, there are not enough manpower.

The islands and land were occupied, but no one went to cultivate the plantations.

People who migrated from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty would basically reclaim their own fields. The Ming court strongly encouraged immigrants, and each person could be rewarded with dozens of acres of land. When a family immigrated, they would have hundreds of acres of land. Also come to cultivate a plantation for you?

There is no way, everyone can only think of using slaves, using slaves to cultivate plantations and grow sugar cane.

So much so that the former slave hunting team on the northern grasslands also quickly moved to the Nanyang region.

These professional slave catchers searched for natives in the primitive jungles on various islands in the South Seas, caught them, and sold them to plantation owners.

There are also some people who go to North Korea and Japan, using various methods, whether to deceive or coax, in short, for one purpose, to get people to Nanyang.

Koreans and Japanese are the most popular among Nanyang planters.

Because these Koreans and Japanese are very obedient, as long as they are fed and given some wages, they work very seriously and do things very carefully, and they don't even need supervision.

For the Koreans and Japanese, life in Nanyang is much better. Although it is also tiring, they eat three meals a day in Nanyang, and they also eat fish from the sea. At the end of the year, they can still get money. This life is much better than they were in North Korea and Japan.

The serious shortage of manpower also suddenly restricted the economic development of Nanyang plantations, which made the major commercial banks and plantation owners also frown.

The slave trade is also booming again.

Chen Lin on the side didn't finish speaking, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Whether it's Zhu Benduan, Feng Xiang, or Hu Xian, they are all scholars, and they all have fame.

Now when it comes to slavery to others, their faces won't blush. These scholars are very powerful. No matter what comes into their mouths, the dead can be said to be alive, and the alive can be said to be dead.

The most shameless are these scholars.

"Forget it, it's still Yinzixiang!"

Chen Lin shook his head slightly. They went to sea for money, and they went to sea for money. It seemed that there was no difference in essence.

As for enslaving these barbarians, it seems that there is nothing wrong with it.

It is their honor to be enslaved by the Ming people and to do things for the Ming people. Following the Ming people, they can know propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame, and are gradually educated, turning from barbarians into civilized people.

Thinking of this, Chen Lin couldn't help but blush again.

I seem to be very shameless.

Unknowingly, he was led astray by these literati. Turning people into slaves can still be said to be so righteous. It is estimated that these shameless scholars are the only ones.

But thinking about it, it seems to be true.

The fleet sailed mightily in the Indian Ocean, and two days passed in a flash.

"Clang~clang~"

"I found land, I found land~"

On the 'Guan Yu', the watchman on the mast rang the bell and shouted excitedly downwards. Suddenly, the people on the whole ship came to the deck in a hurry, and took out their binoculars to look out. ahead.

Indistinctly, the outline of the land can be seen where the water and the sky meet.

Soon, the outline became clearer and clearer, gradually expanding in the field of vision, and then gradually occupying the entire field of vision, a huge land appeared in the field of vision.

"Finally arrived in Ceylon!"

Hu Xian put down his binoculars and looked at Ceylon Island in front of him. This is the east side of Ceylon Island. The terrain is very high and steep, which is not suitable for ships to berth. They have to go around to the southwest of Ceylon Island. go.

The southwestern part of Ceylon is plain and has a natural high-quality harbor, where is the ideal place to anchor.

"Our first battle is finally here!"

"Fight for two months to take Ceylon Island. When the Chinese New Year arrives, we will bring back the largest and most beautiful gemstone in Ceylon Island and present it to the emperor!"

　When ancient science and technology fail, manpower is the most important, so the slave trade will inevitably rise~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)