New World 1620

January 1621, 1, Thursday, the 21th day of the twelfth lunar month, New Year's Eve.

Although the community committee wants to do everything possible to create a lively scene for the first Lunar New Year after time travel, so that 499 residents (including a new baby) can get together and enjoy a good meal, but the heavy snow The mud that was created in the community square was finally giving up.

The committee had no choice but to celebrate the holidays separately, and the committee members went door to door in groups of two to greet each other, and expressed the concern of the community management for the residents by visiting and delivering New Year's goods.In Su Zining's words, the actions of the leaders to be close to the people lasted until the evening, and it is likely to reach a climax on the first day of the new year.

Festive music was playing from the loudspeaker in the community square.Across the long distance, coupled with the partial sound insulation effect of the house, I always feel that the sound has changed in my ears, but this atmosphere makes the entire Manhattan community beaming.

Those with families naturally closed their doors to enjoy the rare reunion since the catastrophe. There are only about [-] households that can live such a comfortable life.And more single men and women, according to the distance of their interpersonal relationship in the past few months, formed temporary teams one by one, and got together to eat, drink and chat.

Today, in Su Zining's house, a dozen or so young men and women gathered together, making this brick-and-wood "villa" much crowded after an expansion.

Everyone generously bought a lot of New Year’s goods from the community store with their own salary, and the limited supply of beer, ham and other food sent by the community committee. Except for no electrical appliances, the spacious living room looks as if at first glance. There is no big difference from the previous world.

Hundreds of sets of imported assembled furniture sorted out from the ruins of the pier were put down by the community committee with special benefits before the festival.The amount of furniture was not enough for every resident to own, which led to some private complaints, but the community committee immediately compensated with other materials, so that the residents who did not get furniture were silent.

The living room decorated with modern furniture seems to be very western style, but several pottery fired in the grass pottery kiln of the Yi nationality are obviously placed in the corner, which makes the living room look a lot weird.

Those gathered today are basically the companions who are about to go to Europe together.In addition to the three armed police officers assigned by the community committee and a two-person medical team, the six men and two women who took the initiative to apply formed the final "Chinese American Republic" business delegation for the European tour.

Their task was to transport no less than 1621 tons of urgently needed industrial and agricultural raw materials from Europe to Manhattan settlements throughout 5000.

Measured only from the straight-line distance on the map, the distance from Manhattan to the port of Portugal on the European continent will not exceed 3000 nautical miles.Theoretically, if sailing in a straight line, a sail Galen sails at an average speed of 4 knots, and it only takes about twenty days.But in fact, due to the problems of ocean currents and wind direction, ships often need to adjust their course countless times at sea and stop for supplies along the way, resulting in the actual sailing time being almost double the theoretical value.

The long shipping time will inevitably lead to many accidents. Storms, pirates, diseases, and even lost course are commonplace, and the loss of materials is inevitable.Therefore, to achieve the material delivery target of 5000 tons, it means that the actual transportation volume may have to increase by an additional 20%.

How much transport capacity is required for the monthly material delivery of more than 5000 tons?According to the calculation of You Qi, the chief engineer of the shipyard, at least 15 ships of 500-ton sail Galen are needed.

The tonnage of the Mayflower is only 180 tons. In this era, although large three-masted military Galen warships with thousands of tons are no longer rare, most European ocean-going sailing ships in this era are mostly below 500 tons. or even lower.

The transportation of 5000 tons of materials a year, if placed in modern times, is just a matter of a freighter, but placed in the Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century, it was a very labor-intensive and labor-intensive task.One can imagine the difficulty of trade transportation between the two continents of Europe and America.

In the room, the live show is Zhou Kemin's only personal item, an accordion.This musical instrument that Zhou Kemin has followed since his college days, even on board the customs ship, is considered an extremely rare item in the entire Manhattan community.

While eating snacks, the young people hummed along to the accordion, while surrounding Su Zining, watching Su Zining read a list.

"Sulphur, saltpeter, brass, mercury, canvas... horses, cows, pigs, sheep, crop seedlings and seeds..." Su Zining read dozens of things in a row before stopping to catch his breath, then shrugged his shoulders With a bitter face, "There are still people... a large number of bankrupt artisans or contract slaves in Europe."

The densely packed list of imported goods almost filled a page, which were carefully screened and filtered items in urgent need by various core production departments in the Manhattan community.

"And Europeans? What if we attract all the other Europeans?"

The one who spoke was one of the two women on the European trip, the self-proclaimed fashionista, fashion designer, makeup artist and gourmet Yang Wenwen, a tall lady with a sharp mouth.

The reason for her going to Europe is extremely awkward, because the European chef on the Mayflower has already died, and she happens to be the best person who can solve the problem, and she claims to know a little Spanish.

"Now there are only a few thousand Europeans in North America. If there are so many people who can colonize North America, we still have a foothold? Do you know how high the survival rate of Europeans who colonized North America in the 17th century was in the first three years?" Su Zining laughed Laughing, he raised a finger with a relaxed expression, "At most [-]%, or even [-]%."

Although they knew that Su Zining was very knowledgeable and unlikely to make up random things, everyone still couldn't believe it, especially Yang Wenwen's eyes widened with an incredulous expression.

"Just in the southwest, hundreds of kilometers away from us, at the mouth of the James River, the so-called New England Virginia area, the British established the first permanent colony 'Jamestown' in 1607, until 1609 when the population There were more than 500 people, but in the spring of 1610, there were only 60 people who could still breathe." Su Zining curled his lips, but his expression was not very sad, but a bit joking. Died of dysentery, died of malaria, died of smallpox, died of gold panning, died of Indian conflicts... in any case."

"Unless it is absolutely necessary or poor, Europeans have a bad impression of North America, but we are in urgent need of all kinds of labor, especially artisans, and Indians can only do rough work at present." Yan Xiaosong added on the side, and then opened the A bottle of beer, filled a glass for Su Zining, "We came here with a small modern pier, and we used to taste the gutter oil Sudan red melamine dyed steamed bun preservative... It can be said responsibly that our body's resistance is weaker than before. This era is a legend of invulnerability!"

puff!Several people spit out the beer in their mouths, and they all looked at Yan Xiaosong with bitter expressions.

"Okay, the community committee has finalized the final plan, and the sailing time is set to be a week later, that is, the 29th." Su Zining folded up the list of supplies and spoke calmly.

For Zhou Kemin in the corner, the sound of the accordion stopped abruptly, and the young people present fell silent for an instant.

If there is no such time point, maybe they can still fantasize about romantic sea trips and the European continent exuding natural fragrance and classical style all day long.Now, when the real feeling is getting closer and closer, almost everyone is beating a small drum in their hearts, especially Yang Wenwen, whose face is a little pale.

"Then...then when will we go back to Manhattan..." Ren Changle, 26 years old, former accountant of a private logistics company at the wharf port of Y City, was holding a beer glass and his throat was a little dry.

On the day of the catastrophe, Ren Changle, who was the only one who stayed in the company's position at that time, was the object of condemnation by the army of migrant workers led by Dong Jiunan.After crossing, he was still often mocked by dock workers in the community.

The disharmonious relationship between people forced the young accountant to choose to get as close as possible to a popular figure like Su Zining, and he also took the initiative to apply to become one of the business representatives on this trip to Europe, responsible for the account management of material transactions.

Su Zining did not answer this question, but turned to the "instigator" Yan Xiaosong with a smile.

"Well... the plan is this. We have arrived in Europe. In addition to establishing a trade transfer point at Heroes Port in the Atlantic Azores, the first stop in Europe will be Lisbon in Portugal."

Yan Xiaosong took out a map from his pocket and spread it on the table, and a bunch of heads quickly moved over.

"After arriving at Hero Port, we will leave two people behind. You, Ren Changle, and you, Huo Qian, the two of you will be stationed there as the first batch of business representatives for our future European trade transfer point. Shipping will replace a group of people from Manhattan." Yan Xiaosong said, and the two young men who were named quickly took out their notebooks and began to write down.

"The materials we ordered from Europe will be transported to Port of Heroes under the control of Portugal using the shipping capacity provided by the seller, where the warehouse must be established before the summer. At the same time, our fleet from North America will be able to ship directly without entering the European continent. Obtain raw materials and unload our industrial products at the same time. The way of running both ends at the same time will save us a lot of sea transportation time."

Huo Qian, the most honest among them, nodded quickly.Before the catastrophe, he was a courier. Although he had no special expertise, he was very organized and quick in doing things. Moreover, as a veteran, after being equipped with basic self-defense weapons, he could still take care of Ren Changle, who was helpless. .

"...after Lisbon, we will invent reasons to gain the trust of the Portuguese aristocracy, and then sell a batch of our profit-making products. The merchandise we will carry will include: 200 sets of high-end glass wine sets that are currently unmatched in Europe , 20 sets of French cosmetics, 200 sets of stainless steel kitchen utensils... Even if these things were placed in our previous society, they would be at the level of art."

After Yan Xiaosong finished speaking, he proudly touched his chin, which had no obvious beard, and smiled wickedly.

"After establishing a relationship with the local nobles in Portugal, we will use their contacts to obtain the craftsmen and sources of raw materials we need, and open our first door to the European market. Then hire their ships to deliver the ordered items to Azov Your hero port."

Yan Xiaosong circled the territory of Portugal on the map with his hands, and his heart was full of enthusiasm.

"But the goods are delivered to the Azores, how do we send them back to North America?"

The questioner was Zhu Xiaoli, a former police officer of the Economic Investigation Team, a retired special forces soldier who was responsible for the safety of European personnel.On the day of the catastrophe, Yan Xiaosong was the first to pull him out of the ruins, so his relationship with Yan Xiaosong was extremely strong.

"This is the key to the next step. When we arrive in Lisbon, after completing the first phase of the mission, I, Yan Xiaosong, Yang Wenwen, Yuan Xinyi, Zhou Kemin, and you, Zhu Xiaoli, will be divided into two groups. We will continue to take the Mayflower to the Netherlands. , because it is closer to the core battlefield of the 30-year war in Europe at this stage, there is a large influx of craftsmen who have gone bankrupt due to the war or refugees from the German region, and they can easily obtain the European technicians and contract slaves we need, and more importantly, there can be more Great opportunity to buy a boat and hire an experienced crew! Others do activities locally in Portugal."

Su Zining took Yan Xiaosong's words, and extended his finger to the famous low-lying country on the coast of Western Europe-the Netherlands, which currently rules the world's maritime trade and is known as the "sea coachman".

"Yeah! I like Holland! Windmills, wooden shoes!" Yuan Xinyi, a 24-year-old female translator, stared at her eyes.

"Well, there are feces all over the street, human traffickers, and beggars with sores all over their bodies." Su Zining threw a sentence casually.

Yuan Xinyi froze for a moment, then slowly lowered her head in frustration.

As more and more plans were launched one by one, everyone changed from cautious and restless to extremely excited again.Even the few young people who did not participate in this voyage clenched their hands excitedly.

"Well, cheers to our trip to Europe!"

"cheers!"

Fiery passion rippling in a wooden house on a cold New Year’s Eve night, a group of young people who in the former society had little opportunity to leave their residence a hundred kilometers away expressed their inner feelings amidst beer and quarrels Pride.

It's just that during this process, Zhou Kemin didn't say a few words from the beginning to the end except for playing the accordion and drinking.

It's midnight, and the Lunar New Year is here.In the square, a few committee members whose noses were about to come out from the cold lit a string of firecrackers improvised with black powder. The sound of crackling firecrackers pierced through the empty winter night, awakened the creatures in the forest, and resounded throughout the Hudson On both sides of the river...