Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 687 The Unimaginable Fur Trade

Wang Yuanfang and Lu Qi didn't know that the "Discovery" among the two British ships opposite was the boat of the famous "Captain Cook" back then, and George Vancouver was a trainee officer under Cook. .

Briefly speaking, after some tentative contacts, Vancouver finally confirmed that the other party was the mysterious group of "Seres" he had heard about in India.However, he immediately realized that the sudden appearance of this group of people would have a major impact on the situation in the northwest region of the North American continent.

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Spain claimed long-term sovereignty and navigation rights in the Pacific Northwest of North America.When the famous "Captain Cook" came to North America for an expedition 15 years ago—that is, in 1778, the Spaniards who learned the news quickly sent their ships northward to build a bridge on Nootka Island in the northwest of Vancouver Island. The permanent stronghold of Fort San Miguel.After that, British merchant ships who came here for fur trade were seized many times, which almost led to war between the two countries.

In order to resolve the dispute, Britain and Spain signed the "Nootka Treaty" three years ago, and signed a claim treaty on the seizure of ships in February this year.

In the first treaty, Spain agreed to transfer all the islands and related buildings, including Nootka Bay, to Britain.The parties also agreed that neither party would establish new institutions on any of the islands off the east and west coasts of South America occupied by Spain.Both parties reserve the right to land and construct temporary structures on the coast and islands for fisheries-related purposes.Furthermore, the above clause is valid only if there are no establishments by subjects of any other state in the coastal area concerned.

In the history of another time and space, it was precisely because of the signing of this treaty that it foreshadowed the century-long dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands between the United Kingdom and Argentina.You must know that Argentina later was only the governorship of the Rio de la Plata under the rule of the Kingdom of Spain.

In this way, the British extended their tentacles into the northwestern region of the North American continent, and also promoted the maritime fur trade in the Pacific Ocean.This is a huge triangular trade network connecting the Pacific Northwest coast, China and the Hawaiian Islands; it provided sufficient capital for the transformation of New England from an agricultural society to an industrial society, made Hawaii famous, and made Guangzhou famous in international sea trade. increasingly prominent position.

Let's put it this way, the purchase price of a complete piece of sea otter skin in Northwest North America is 6 pence, and one pound is 240 pence, which is converted to 0.0445 taels of silver; when it arrives in Guangzhou, the purchase price soars to 72 pieces Mexican silver dollar - 85 taels of silver, even up to [-] taels in good condition.

More than 600 times the profit, the profit of the Pacific fur trade is so high!

Otherwise, why would the Russian businessmen in Eastern Siberia prefer to betray the Queen and serve Beihai Town?And the British would rather take the risk of going to war with the Spaniards, but also must get the stronghold of Nutka Island?
However, for the Qing Dynasty, the fur trade not only allowed the emperor and the dignitaries to get more sea otter skins, but also allowed the Guangdong Customs, which is called the "Nanku of the Son of Heaven", to receive more tax money, nothing else. After all, the Qing Dynasty "The treasury is abundant, the world is rich"
On the northwest coast of North America today, Spaniards, Russians, British, and Americans come and go.Well, now the Sires have suddenly put a foot in, and even forcibly occupied the Golden Gate Strait.

Captain Vancouver really wanted to ask the other side's commander, if you are so reckless, aren't you afraid of the Spaniard's revenge?
Don't look at the decline of the Spanish Empire, but their strength in the Americas is still huge, and even Britain dare not provoke them easily. The huge financial expenditure caused by the war alone is not in the interest.Furthermore, there are too many places in northwestern North America where no flags are planted, so there is no need to use force if you can negotiate.

But he didn't know that if Beihai town dared to come to North America, it was already ready to go to war with Spain.As long as there is Zhao Xin, the "transportation captain", it will be useless for the Spaniards to come!
What's more, as soon as North America starts fighting, Zheng Wenxian's fleet will immediately bombard Manila and impose a naval blockade on it!

When the Northern Navy took down Bacheng, due to the underestimation of the situation of the Chinese in Southeast Asia in advance, and the huge power of the VOC still exists, Zhao Xin and Deng Fei had to suspend the plan to send troops to Manila after repeated discussions.

When Marquina, the governor of Manila at the time, heard the news, he was afraid that Beihai Town would come over because of their massacre of Chinese 30 years ago, so he immediately sent a special envoy to hand over the olive branch, not only bringing a compensation of [-] Mexican silver coins , He made a verbal apology for his behavior back then, and stated with certainty that he would guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of the local Chinese.

However, Deng Fei didn't ask for compensation at that time. He felt that if he accepted it, he would be sorry for the souls of the 31 Chinese.We must know that since the [-]st year of Wanli, the Spaniards have carried out five massacres against the Chinese in Manila, and this account must be recovered!

He calmly warned the envoys in Manila to let them take care of themselves, but if there is any more oppression of the Chinese, the North Navy will bombard the city of Manila.

It's different now, the Dutch are gone, West Borneo is nominally in their hands, and Europe is also at war because of the French problem.There will be another two or three years of transition period. When the situation in West Java and India is stable, the Northern Navy will have enough troops to occupy the Luzon Islands and completely drive the Spaniards out of Asia!

Of course, the Tampakan gold-copper complex mine that Zhao Xin has coveted for a long time naturally has to be obtained.

A day later, the Discovery and the Chatham reached Monterey.George Vancouver immediately asked to see California Governor De Alilaga. The main task of his trip was to implement the territorial handover issue in the "Nootka Treaty" with the other party.Unexpectedly, the arrogant interim governor not only did not see them, but also refused them to go ashore. The reason was that the official responsible for the docking was not there, and my uncle had no time. No, we will wait until next year.

Faced with the Spanish side's prevarication, George Vancouver's nose was so angry that he said that the treaty had been signed for two years and it was still delayed, and he did not take the British Empire seriously.In a fit of anger, he deliberately let the Spaniards stumble, and didn't mention anything about encountering the Thor. After completing the supplies, he took the fleet to Hawaii for the winter.

Two days later, Governor De Alilaga finally saw Lieutenant Desola and Brother Verez who rushed back from Santa Clara to report. When he learned that San Francisco had been invaded by a group of Orientals , was shocked immediately.He immediately summoned the army, and decided to lead the army to go out in person, advancing by land and water, and driving away the guys of unknown origin.

On the other hand, when Lu Qi and the others came to the Golden Gate Strait on the seventh day, his "good deed" of releasing those Indians began to ferment.Because Li Shitu saved trouble, an outdoor emergency blanket was distributed to those Indians who were sent back, and they returned to the tribe gleaming with silver, which immediately aroused great interest from the Indians.

In the past, when the Spaniards came, the most common thing to do was to fool them with necklaces made of glass beads. After a long time, the Indians were not so easy to deceive.

But this thing is different!Putting it on, the whole body is shining, not to mention, it is light and warm, and you can sweat on your head when you stand in the sun for a while.

So the nearby Miwok tribe came to the fortress with animal skins and various prey, some even brought a piece of torn blanket fragments, babbling and gesticulating, asking for this by name.In fact, since the Spaniards have colonized here for more than ten or twenty years, many of these tribes can speak Spanish.

In fact, simple communication between different groups of people does not necessarily require how proficient in each other's language.Especially when doing business, you can often understand what's going on with a little gesture.

"Sinae! Sinae!"

Facing more than a dozen Miwok people wearing fur or feather cloaks, conical sea otter fur hats, and shell necklaces around their necks, Lu Qi, wearing a mask, first pointed to the red flag of the Northern Navy on the flagpole , then patted his chest, and gestured to those members of the Overseas Corps, indicating that we are from Seres.

"Chochenyo! Chochenyo!" Well, this is a tribe from the East Bay.

"Ramaytush! Ramaytush!" Katata's tribe also came, including her father.

"Tamyen! Tamyen!" This is from a tribe in the Santa Clara Valley.

Although there are only three tribes in total, each tribe is divided into dozens of villages, which means that almost all the Miwoks around the Golden Gate Strait have come.

Seeing the piles of furs brought by the Indians, Lu Qi grinned and almost couldn't make a sound, thanks to the fact that he was wearing a mask.He thought he would make a lot of money this time, not to mention the silver ones, we have both gold and silver ones!Gold for summer heat, silver for warmth.

Let the whole family of the tribal chief get a piece of gold, and when they get out of the tent, they will be covered with golden light, which will show their identity and status.

Although the outdoor emergency blanket is easy to use, it is easy to be scratched by branches, weapons, etc., or it will dissolve if it is stained with saline water, so you have to buy it again at that time, which is a huge profit.In the end, the price he negotiated with the Indians was that one silver emergency blanket would be exchanged for five sea otter skins or one bison skin, and one golden one would be doubled.

In order to make up for the little uneasiness in his conscience, Lu Qi decided to invite all the Indians to have a free meal in the open space outside the fortress. Sea fish stewed in an iron pot is served casually, and rye noodles and steamed buns are full.

Because there were not many tableware, the cooking team decided to dig a field stove in the open space, and then bring the pot over and cook directly.Unexpectedly, when an Indian saw the iron pot, he let out a scream, and then a group of people surrounded him.Everyone stared at the big iron pot held high by the cooking soldiers, and some people even reached out and touched it a few times, and their eyes suddenly shone.

The cooking soldiers who were surrounded in the middle were stunned and said, do you still want to eat?
Several Indians wanted to see Lu Qi immediately, and they decided to take this too!

Lu Qi talked and gestured for a long time, and finally let these people understand that it is okay to buy this, and we will talk about the price after eating.

So a group of Indians squatted by the earthen stove, staring at the cooks as they cooked, for fear that the iron pot would grow legs and run away.But they were soon swallowed by the aroma of the oil, and watched curiously as the cook greeted them with a handful of green onion and ginger and a handful of peppercorns in the right.

After the large pieces of salmon were put into the pot, the cooking soldiers poured a few bags of dried vegetables made by Beihai Town and a pot of chopped potatoes into it, turned them a few times with a large wooden spoon, and then closed the lid and started gurgling.

As the old saying goes, stew meat on low heat, and stew fish on high fire.Mixed with spices and vegetables, the fish quickly becomes fragrant and makes the surrounding Indians salivate.

Katata's father Baibai finally couldn't bear it anymore. His name means "woodpecker" in Miwok language.This guy got up and walked to the stove, raising his hand to lift the lid.The cooking soldier had been prepared for a long time, stretched out his hand and pressed it tightly, and then shook his head at him.

Bai Baixin said that I would eat raw fish as usual, and the cooked meat would be rotten, so he nodded and gestured for eating.

Unexpectedly, the cooking soldier still shook his head, he didn't care about anything else, the potatoes were not yet ripe, raw ones were poisonous.When something happens, he will be in big trouble.

One of the two kept shaking his head, and the other kept nodding. The other Indians thought that the two were really interesting, and they all laughed.

On the other side, Lu Qi was also thinking about how much the iron pot should be sold for.You must know that large-scale iron products are relatively expensive in this time and space, not to mention that the ones brought this time are all for personal use and spares, and there are not many in stock.So how to price a firewood pot with a diameter of 60 cm?
After thinking for a while, Lu Qi, who had been dazzled by the high profits, finally made a decision.

More than 20 minutes later, when a group of Indians devoured the steamed buns and scooped up the little meat and vegetables left in the iron pot with their hands, Lu Qi appeared.

He pointed to the iron pot with a little vegetable soup left, stretched out his hands, and then turned it over twice—thirty sheets of otter skins, and there were only two bites—these two bites for cooking the Indians.Quickly take it away, you don't even need to wash it!
After completing the transaction with the Indians of several tribes, Lu Qi asked Li Shi to announce something to his subordinates. In order to reward everyone for their hard work, Lu Qi decided to give each of them five furs from the trade. Sea otter skin; those who are willing to discount can also send it to their subsidy account according to the CIF price in Guangzhou, which is 1750 Beihai silver dollars.Now the soldiers of the Overseas Corps were all smiling, earning a few years' salary at once.

When the "Jaguar" left two months later, the cabin was full of more than 2000 pieces of sea otter skins and more than 500 pieces of bison skins, but the smell of disinfectant was so shocking!

When Zhao Xin learned the story from the telegram, he thought it was really bad, the gadgets he bought wholesale for eight yuan a piece turned out to be huge profits.It seems that letting Lu Qi go to North America is the right move. Without saying anything, another [-] cards will be shipped over, plus [-] iron pots of various sizes!

The news spread like the wind among the various tribes of the Indians. In the spring of the following year, Lu Qi simply opened a bazaar east of the Golden Gate Fortress.

In the following years, this kind of thing known as the "Chinese magic carpet" by countless people has spread almost all over the entire North America, and the chiefs of all major Indian tribes are proud of having a golden "magic carpet".The most exaggerated thing is that some fur merchants actually took this thing to Guangzhou, sold it at a high price of 300 taels, and properly exported it to domestic sales.

During this process, Beihai Town, except for hunting animals for meat, almost never fired a single shot, and unknowingly became the largest fur dealer in the Pacific Ocean.

　In the Pacific fur trade, China's greatest impact on the Americas was the import of cinnabar, which quickly replaced the early red pigment and was widely used by coastal aborigines.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)