Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 154 Staff Travel ([-])

On May 1633, 5, when Mo Ming was impatient and decided to return to Bordeaux, Castelli, who had just finished church, brought two young people to their residence.

Mo Ming, who was happily chatting about Turkish style with the Armenian businessman Hornician, was stunned for a moment, and then he pleaded guilty and went out to receive Castelli.This person is a student of Galileo, and he has a high status in the Italian academic circle at this time, and has a wide network of contacts. Mo Ming still has to give him enough respect.

"Mo, I'm sorry I'm late." Castelli said apologetically, "I wrote a letter to my secretary, Evangelista, who admires your research results very much. Expressed to me that he wanted to go to the east coast for academic research. To this end, he finished a study in Padua and just returned today. Come, Evangelista, this is Mo, let me meet you. "

After speaking, Castelli moved a young man behind him to his front.

"Hi, I'm Evangelista Torricelli, a student of Mr. Castelli. I'm 28 years old, and I'm currently doing research on atmospheric pressure and mathematics. I heard my teacher talk about your work in Outstanding scientific achievements in all aspects, I think, maybe going to the east coast to study for a while will be very helpful for my scientific career." The "young man" behind Castelli stood up and said friendly to Mo Ming.

"I welcome you on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Natural Sciences." Mo Ming stretched out his hand and shook Torricelli, then looked at another boy behind him and asked, "This is..."

"Ah, I almost forgot to introduce." Castelli smiled annoyedly, and then introduced: "He is Vincenzo Viviani, my friend's child. He is only 14 years old this year, but he is very good at mathematics. He has shown unparalleled talent. I thought of introducing him to Mr. Galilei after a few years, but now I find that it may be more beneficial for him to study on the East Coast, and he himself is very happy to study there. "

"Viviani?" Mo Ming recalled for a long time, but he didn't remember who this person was, maybe he was an unknown person, but he still stretched out his hand and shook hands with this young man, and said with a smile: "The future Mathematician, hello."

The boy may not understand French, but he just smiled shyly.

"Finally, thank you for your help, Mo." Castelli said sincerely, "Mr. Galilei's physical condition does not allow him to travel long distances, and I have to help the teacher sort out the books, so the two of us will not go It's really a pity. To be honest, I really want to go to the east coast to see this legendary place where academic research can be done freely and so many academic achievements. Haha, let's talk about this later. Well, there will be a later date. Help me take care of Evangesta and Vicenzo, thank you very much for your help, goodbye."

After bidding farewell to Castelli, Mo Ming took part of Galileo's manuscripts, as well as Frank, Hornician, Torricelli, Viviani, etc., to Pisa in a carriage, and then rented a boat to Montpellier Eyre's small sailboat, embarked on a journey back to Bordeaux.

South France in May is still calm.Roussillon's Spanish army seems to have suffered some small losses recently, and they all retreated. This also made the journey of Mo Ming and others much easier.

On May 5, when the First Fleet was fighting the British in the thick fog off the Chesapeake Bay, Mo Ming and his party, who were busy with travel and dust, finally arrived in Bordeaux via Toulouse.

The East Bank Republic Commercial Station in Bordeaux is becoming more and more magnificent now.In the past half a year, after Xu Xin hired people to continue construction and construction, a medium-sized warehouse, a temporary residence square for immigrants, and a sturdy castle-like building have been built on the original site.The number of children and hired workers who helped in the commercial station also increased to more than 20 people. Besides them, there were also a few employees from the Ministry of Trade and seven or eight agents from the Intelligence Bureau sent from China.

As soon as Mo Ming arrived at the gate of the commercial station, Sun Heiqi greeted him dog-leggedly, took the rein of the horse, and said, "Master Station Master, you are back, and I am about to report to you."

Mo Ming threw the whip into Sun Heiqi's arms, got off the horse and said, "Quickly report to Minister Xu that there is something important to discuss. In addition, arrange high-quality accommodation for these gentlemen."

Soon, Xu Xin rushed out. After hearing Mo Ming's brief account of the whole story, Xu Xin was both surprised and delighted.Surprisingly, he was a little afraid of the risk of doing business in Ottoman, but happily, a large market with a population of more than 3000 million was beckoning to him.But thinking about it, this is not a big problem. As long as Hornician and his family can open up the market in the Ottoman Empire, we will only collect money and deliver goods, and we will not interfere with everything else, so as to minimize the risk. .

"Mr. Xu, let me make it clear that I want goods from the East Coast. Whether it's sabers, cannons or cotton cloth, I need them all. Please feel free to let me and my family sell them. I will give you a reasonable price. "Hornician said, adhering to his usual direct character.

"In principle, the goods on our east coast are open to all countries." Xu Xin promised, "Let's not talk about other things, how about this delivery method? As far as I know, those in the Tunisian port of your country in North Africa Ships do not have the ability to sail in the ocean. However, my country's current ocean shipping capacity is extremely tight. The sea route from Dongfang Port to Izmir is extremely long. The entire voyage will last for more than four months, and the shipping cost will be unbearably high. "

"This... please ask your country to undertake the shipping task." Hornician said with some embarrassment, "It is true that our merchant ships can only sail near the Mediterranean Sea, and are not resistant to ocean waves, especially for ocean routes. I don’t know anything. So please ask your country to undertake the shipping task, and we will make a little price concession as compensation. What do you think, Mr. Xu?”

"Hmm..." Xu Xin pretended to ponder for a while, then nodded and said with a sigh: "The market of the Ottoman Empire is extremely vast. To tell you the truth, the commercial sector of our country is still very interested in it. How about it?" , I will communicate and coordinate with the domestic transportation task, and strive to squeeze out some more transportation capacity. It's just this price..."

It is true that the China East Coast Republic is currently under tight shipping capacity. Professional ocean-going transport ships include two Dutch flute-shaped ships that are currently under construction on the berth of Zhenhai Shipyard.But the problem is that the current shipping capacity is not very tight. Many customers come to pick up the goods, which not only saves a lot of shipping capacity for the traveler, but also reduces all shipping risks.

The trade with Ottoman must be delivered to the door by the East Coast Republic itself, but it may not be without benefits.As we all know, the oriental commodities transited through the Ottoman Empire are several times as much as Western Europe through the African route. On the return journey, the transport ships are filled with Chinese silk, porcelain, tea, Indian gems, dyes, spices, Turkish local handicrafts, Raisins, dates, camels and other commodities, you can make a fortune when you return to La Plata and Brazil.

Xu Xin is very clear about the gains and losses in this, and what he said is just the outburst of a businessman's nature.

The next two people were talking about the prices of various commodities. Mo Ming frowned, but he quickly thought of a key question, so he asked: "I have a question, where is our transport ship going?" A route? I mean the Atlantic route from Porto Orient-Recife-Canary Islands-Izmir, or some other route?"

"Other routes?" Xu Xin and Hornician asked doubtfully almost at the same time.

Mo Ming spread his hands and said, "I'm just putting forward an idea. The Atlantic route will pass through the waters controlled by Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Venice and other countries. The situation is extremely complicated. In case any country shows hostility to us, Our route is very likely to be cut off. Moreover, pirates are extremely rampant on this route, and there is no small risk without military escort."

"Then what do you think we should do? Are there other routes?" Xu Xin also felt a little drummed when he heard what Mo Ming said.Nowadays, there are many people who are jealous of the East Coast, not to mention Spain, which has fought against the East Coast Republic.The attitude of the Dutch towards the East Bank is not very friendly either. One is because the East Bank supports Brazil's position, and the other is because they are both commercial competitors.In addition, not to mention the attitude of the British. As a life-and-death competitor in the textile industry, Xu Xin hardly saw any hope of reconciliation between the two parties. This was a fundamental contradiction and irreconcilable.

Looking at it this way, this so-called Atlantic route is really dangerous and fragile.The importance of overseas markets to the East Coast does not need to be repeated. In order to maintain this fragile route, how much will the East Coast Republic have to pay?

"Let's change our thinking." Mo Ming said, "Isn't it okay to take the African route? Starting from Dongfang Port, sail eastward, bypass the Cape of Good Hope, and then go north along the coast of Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique and other places), cross the Horn of Africa and enter the Red Sea , and finally docked at the port of Suez in the Ottoman Empire to unload. I call this route the African route, which is not much farther than the Atlantic route, and there are no miscellaneous countries and forces in the middle, and there are almost no pirates, so it is very suitable for us. "

"Mr. Hornician, if our merchant ships unload at the port of Suez in your country, would you and your family accept it?" After hearing this, Xu Xin also felt that this route was very good, so he hurriedly asked.

"Of course." Hornician nodded and said with certainty: "It's just that I still need to organize a camel caravan in Suez to transport goods to the ports in the Mediterranean Sea, which adds a lot of expenses. I hope you can face up to this a little."

"No problem, it's all about the details." Xu Xin said with a smile on his face.

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(End of this chapter)