My life skills in Daming Liver

Chapter 63
Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze in surprise. If the words just now were spoken by a sea merchant from Fuzhou Prefecture, Xiong Wu would only think it was normal. People who have lived at sea for many years will naturally understand this way.

If it was a businessman in Nanping County who said it, Xiong Wu would think that this person has knowledge, and Nanping County also has Paohai, so he must be a smart person with this knowledge.

But Su Zewo was in Changningwei, a dilapidated guard, but he was able to tell the truth about this sea trade route, which was enough to surprise Xiong Wu.

Su Ze sneered in his heart. Xiong Wu, an Arhat foot in Nanping County, knew so much about the pirates in the southeast. His background was indeed not simple.

In the Age of Discovery, there was a very famous triangular trade, in which slave traders set out from Europe to exchange industrial products such as salt and cloth for slaves in Africa, and then passed through the Atlantic Ocean through the central air route, and sent them to America 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 deep-seated reason for the Japanese invasion in the southeast.

The Frangji people, that is, the Portuguese, first arrived 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 by the Spice Islands, to Northeast Asia and sell them to the Wa Kingdom and Ming Dynasty.

After the country of Wa traded for silver, they bought silk, tea, and porcelain from Daming and shipped them back to Europe. This route was quite lucrative, and all maritime merchants along the coast of Daming were involved.

Xiong Wu cupped his hands and said: "Young Master is highly talented, Xiong is showing off."

Su Ze continued: "Then this sea tiger, can we get Cochin candy?"

Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze, and said suspiciously: "Young master wants to sell sugar? Although this cochin candy is cheap, people in Fujian and Guangxi still prefer Minguang brown sugar, and they have to ship it to the north if they want to make money."

Xiong Wu didn't say the rest. If it was just smuggling locally, Changningwei could still get involved by relying on its geographical advantage.

But to smuggle cochin sugar to the north, that's not something a little Changning Wei can do.

With the opening of business routes along the way and various unstable factors along the way, even the local rich will not rashly go north to do business.

Of course Su Ze understands this truth. Today's Ming Dynasty is more like what it was like before Prussia established the Customs Union. Every province and government has local businesses, and it is extremely difficult for foreigners to get involved.

After entering modern times, there are still local chambers of commerce united by township parties, monopolizing certain local industries.

But Su Ze didn't want to go north to sell sugar, all he wanted was to refine black sugar into white sugar for sale.

"I just asked you, can this sea tiger get cochin candy?"

Xiong Wu said: "It's not difficult. The cochin candy Folang machine will bring some with the boat. Zhang Haihu has a boat guide to and from Yuegang. It is not difficult to buy candy."

Yuegang, Su Ze is no stranger to hearing this name. This is a famous smuggling center in the southeast region!

"Funaki?"

Seeing that Su Ze finally had something he didn't know, Xiong Wu finally straightened his back and said:
"Boats entering and leaving Moon Harbor need boat guides. Yuegang only issues [-] boat guides every year. If ships without guides come to the port, they will be expelled by the guards of Moon Harbor. If they enter by force, they will be sunk by the guards."

"How can I get this ship guide?"

"It's not easy. There is a 13-person boat meeting in Yuegang, which is composed of the leaders of the largest maritime merchants in Yuegang and the leaders of the most famous Japanese pirate gangs in the southeast. These 13 people meet once a year to decide what to do. Allocate these three hundred ship guides."

Su Ze was dumbfounded. Is Yuegang still the territory of Ming Dynasty?Did this kind of self-government committee come out?

Seeing Su Ze like this, Xiong Wu felt relieved, and he continued to show off:

"This ship guide is a rare item. It can be sold for thousands of taels of silver. This month, the Yuegang Ship Association will use the money from selling the ship guide to train the townspeople to defend Yuegang. Gun towers defend the port."

"The Yuegang Ship Association said that no matter whether the enemy comes from sea or land, Yuegang can defend for hundreds of days without falling into it!"

Su Ze asked suddenly: "You said that Yuegang can still buy Frang machine guns?"

Xiong Wu was stunned for a moment, he looked at Su Ze suspiciously and said, "Young Master, do you want to buy guns?"

Su Ze laughed and said, "Changningwei has been harassed by Japanese pirates all year round. I heard that this Western cannon is unparalleled in power. I want to see it too."

Xiong Wu looked at Su Ze suspiciously, but did not continue to ask, but said:

"The barbarians in the West are also ungrateful for profit. They also sell heavy military equipment such as the Flang cannon. As long as you have money, you can buy anything in Yuegang. Even Kunlun slaves covered in black have a lot of people selling them. Don't talk about a single cannon."

"However, the price of this Frang machine gun is extremely high, and each one costs 20 taels of silver. Does Changning Wei have the money to buy it?"

20 taels of silver, Su Ze's heart ached for a while, thinking of his fine for fighting with weapons, he paid 32 taels of silver.

Su Ze asked again: "Are there any bird guns for sale?"

"Of course there are. In addition to the local ones in Frangji, there are also those made by our Ming Dynasty. There are also businessmen who transport the bird guns to the Japanese country, and they can make a lot of money! It's just too dangerous for the Japanese pirates to run rampant along the way. .”

"A blunderbuss plus gunpowder costs one tael of silver. The ones made by Da Ming are slightly cheaper, but they are easy to explode and misfire."

A Franc cannon costs 20 taels of silver, and a blunderbuss costs one tael of silver. Su Ze couldn't help feeling that the arms trade is really a robbery.

But this thing is the best-selling commodity in the world today!
And Su Ze was even more amazed at the speed with which the Ming court followed up on technology, that the bird guns made by Daming were sold so soon?

In fact, during the Jiajing period, the imperial court began to pay attention to the manufacture of bird guns. Qi Jiguang ridiculed that the traditional side guns and rockets were too weak in power, far inferior to the accuracy of bird guns, and the bird gun was the first choice for firearms.

In the Wanli period, the imperial court further shifted down the right to cast bird guns, and military and government offices in various places could manufacture them by 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 powerful and short-range, and they are not effective when facing cavalry charges.

In fact, in this era, firearms were at a disadvantage to cavalry. In the military books written by Napoleon later, the troops were divided into riflemen, cavalry, and artillery.

The relationship between these three arms is rock-paper-scissors. Riflemen restrain artillery, artillery restrain cavalry, and cavalry restrain riflemen.

Or build arms?Su Ze quickly gave up this idea, not to mention that selling arms privately is a capital crime, and it also violates the agreement between himself and Lin Baihu.

A workshop that can manufacture bird guns needs various supporting workshops for manufacturing parts. Changningwei certainly does not have this condition at present.

Forget it, let's make sugar, make money to fill our stomachs first.

In the next few days, Su Ze would spend his time farming and teaching in the guard, or give lectures to the Luo Han Jiao and Yan Ding who opened up wasteland.

The imperial examination has risen to Lv3, 45/300, calligraphy has also risen to Lv2, 105/200, and Kaimeng has risen to Lv5, 30/500.

During the period, I went to the barracks to show my face and watched Lin Mojun practice soldiers.

It's a pity that Lin Mojun was wearing a straw hat with a veil. Su Ze didn't see her face, but after watching the Changning Guard's pawn drill, Su Ze felt that his military training skills were just superficial, and his experience in military skills had increased again. Some, raised to Lv2, 65/200.

The days passed day by day, and it was the day when the ghost market opened at the end of the first ten days.

(End of this chapter)