"Buying a slave?" Zhu Biao frowned when he heard this. He still found it difficult to accept such a thing.
When He Rong saw it, he suddenly became speechless and didn't know how to answer.
Han Du took the initiative to stand up and explained to Zhu Biao: "Your Highness, this Java is rich in products, and there are no Ming people. Uncle Dongguan can't just watch the spices all over the mountains and plains rotting on the trees, right? And these Javanese Highnesses also See, they are lazy to the core, and ordinary methods cannot drive them at all. There is no way to control them as slaves. "
There is nothing you can do about treating people as slaves... In this case, only Han Du can say it with a red face and a heartbeat.
Zhu Biao was knowledgeable and well-read in classics and history, so he naturally knew what a slave was. But he looked at Han Du fixedly for a long time, and finally said nothing. Because even he, Zhu Biao, had no good way to make these natives farm and collect spices and mines without making them slaves.
These people are really too lazy, as long as they stutter, they are unwilling to move.
"Where is the gold mine you mentioned?"
Since there was no way to change the outcome of these natives becoming slaves, Zhu Biao put it behind him for the time being and asked about the gold mine instead.
Gold and silver have moved people's hearts since ancient times, and even Zhu Biao is not exempt from the vulgarity. And since there is a gold mine here, it is necessary to understand how big the gold mine is and how much gold it can produce every year.
He Rong was relieved when he saw that His Royal Highness did not continue to ask about the Javanese people. When His Highness asked about the gold mine, he quickly replied: "It's on a continent not far from here."
As he said that, He Rong glanced at Han Du involuntarily.
Han Du nodded and interjected: "Your Highness, actually the minister knows about that gold mine."
Zhu Biao looked back at Han Du and asked doubtfully, "Oh? You know that too?"
Han Du nodded and explained: "Your Highness, do you still remember? I once chased those people from the Six Families to the continent. In fact, they discovered the gold mine, but after they were pressed for time and mined it for a little bit, they gave up and ran away. I discovered this gold mine while chasing them, and later informed the Governor-General of Java to send people to continue mining."
Zhu Biao nodded slightly, agreeing with Han Du's explanation, and then asked: "How big is this gold mine?"
"It's very big." He Rong replied quickly. Seeing Zhu Biao looking at him, he paused and quickly explained: "What I mean is that a lot of gold is mined every year, and it doesn't seem to be exhausted. . But I don’t know how big it is exactly.”
Daming's attitude towards gold and silver mines is to mine them wherever they are found. If a gold mine produces a lot of gold every year, it can be regarded as a big gold mine. Even if this gold mine may not be able to mine a single grain of gold next year, it is the same.
"Let's go, I'm going to take a look." Zhu Biao made his decision immediately.
"Your Highness? Now?" He Rong looked up at the sky. The sun was setting in the west, and it was already a sunset scene.
"It's too late now. Why don't Your Highness rest for a day and set off again tomorrow morning." He Rong suggested.
Zhu Biao lowered his head with some dissatisfaction and said in a strong tone: "Why rest? Didn't you say it's very close to here? Resting on the boat is the same."
He Rong suddenly didn't know how to answer.
Han Du saw it and spoke to save the situation: "Your Highness, the distance is just relative. It takes two days to get to Dazhou from here, and when you get to Dazhou where the gold mine is, you have to walk for half a day. It’s better to rest one night before setting off tomorrow, there won’t be any delay.”
"Yes, Your Highness, it's better to have a night's rest first." He Rong also smiled appropriately and remonstrated.
Zhu Biao glanced at the two of them, lowered his head and pondered for a while, nodded and said: "Okay, in that case, let's set off again tomorrow morning."
...
Early the next morning, the fleet set off on time.
Also accompanying him were He Rong and the slaves who were captured and prepared to be released to the continent for mining.
After two days of sailing, the fleet arrived near the continent.
Zhu Biao stood on the bow of the ship, holding up a telescope, looking at the black spot from the very beginning, and then quickly extending to the horizon on the horizon to a large expanse of land that could not be seen to the left and right, with a look of surprise on his face.
"Is this a continent? Is it really ten thousand miles big?" Zhu Biao's eyes were full of disbelief.
Han Du smiled and replied: "It's really that big. In the past, Jiang Ming specially sent people to patrol along the coastline. It took ten months to go around."
Zhu Biao was silent after hearing this, and quickly calculated in his mind how far it would be to sail ten months at the speed of a Ming warship. And this is just a circle around the continent.
Thousands of miles in size, worthy of its name... Zhu Biao nodded in confusion.
After docking, it was already night, so Zhu Biao had to spend the night on the boat and wait until tomorrow to board the mainland.
The next morning, the group arrived at the gold mine.
As soon as Zhu Biao arrived outside the gold mine, he saw a high wall made of wood, tightly surrounding the entire foothills. A huge village gate blocked the only small road, with government soldiers patrolling back and forth standing above it.
He Rong handed the captured Javanese to the guards of the mine and asked them to arrange for these Javanese to mine gold mines. He himself accompanied Zhu Biao and walked around the gold mine to check.
The scene here is not much different from other gold mines. There are also people mining rocks and washing the sediment with water in order to find gold. The only difference is that the workers are almost all captured Javanese slaves, while the soldiers from the Governor's Mansion patrol the mines back and forth to monitor the slaves.
We walked to a remote place, where there were no Javanese slaves panning for gold. On the contrary, there were more than a dozen people dressed as soldiers digging gold mines and panning for gold. Although there were only seventeen or eight people, they cooperated with each other tacitly. Both the speed of digging gold mines and the efficiency of gold panning were much better than those of those. The Javanese slave is much taller.
Zhu Biao looked back at He Rong, frowning and waiting for his explanation.
When He Rong saw it, he suddenly looked flattering, laughed dryly and didn't know what to explain.
But Han Du laughed and explained to Zhu Biao: "Your Highness, this relies on mountains to eat mountains, and relies on water to eat water."
"Ahem." Han Du paused deliberately before continuing to explain: "These soldiers from the government have traveled thousands of miles to come here, aren't they just for some yellow and white things? We always have to leave some thoughts for them."
"Yes, yes, what Marquis Zhenhai said makes sense." He Rong had an excuse and hurriedly leaned over and said to the prince: "These soldiers are guarding these golds, and if they can't get any of them, then I'm afraid they won't be willing. Like. Now, if they go down and get some by themselves, as long as they can make those slaves obedient and not delay the gold mining, I won't be able to rebuke them and just turn a blind eye."
"You are quite considerate of them." Zhu Biao looked at He Rong with a smile and then said.
Seeing that the prince did not blame him, He Rong felt relieved and sighed: "I can only rely on them overseas. When I eat meat, I have to leave some soup for them. But your highness, don't worry, everything they get is theirs. I I will not take any more from their hands. Not only them, but also the soldiers who drive the Javanese to collect spices. As long as they can complete the tasks assigned by the minister, they will allocate some themselves and collect some spices themselves. I won’t talk about them above.”
"It is indeed not easy to leave your hometown and come thousands of miles away." Zhu Biao nodded, "Okay, I won't pursue this matter. But as you said, you don't want to share their advantages. In addition, Let them not be blinded by money, but they must not dig gold mines and neglect the supervision of Javanese people."
"Yes." He Rong immediately replied loudly: "Your Highness, don't worry, I have stipulated that they can only have eighteen people digging at a time. If it is less than 20% of all the soldiers here, there will be no problem."
With He Rong's guarantee, Zhu Biao felt relieved.
"How much gold can be dug here every year?" Zhu Biao still asked the question that everyone is most concerned about.
Without thinking, He Rong blurted out the reply: "Last year it was seventy-nine thousand, eight hundred and sixty-five taels. This year there are more people, maybe even a little more."
Nearly 80,000 taels of gold a year, this figure made Zhu Biao stunned for a moment. This was the first time he heard of such a huge output.
"There are so many?" Zhu Biao asked in surprise.
He Rong nodded and replied: "I dare not lie, last year's gold has been delivered to the capital, and it is confirmed to be correct."
Zhu Biao frowned after hearing this. Such a large amount of gold was shipped to the capital, and he, the prince, was not aware of it. But then he thought about the unimaginable amount of property that the Thirty-Third Governor's Mansion of Nanyang paid to the palace every year, and he was instantly relieved.
"Let's go back." Zhu Biao glanced at the gold mine one last time, nodded and left.
This is just a gold mine. Although there are high walls and stockades made of wood, everything is very simple. There are also some crude wooden houses that provide shelter from the wind and rain, not even houses.
It is impossible for Zhu Biao to stay here for one night, only the flagship is his place to stay.
After returning to the ship and resting for the night, we set off again the next day to return to Java.
Han Du had been thinking about what Zhu Biao said. When he found an opportunity, he approached Zhu Biao and asked with a smile: "Your Highness, we have been in Nanyang for a few months and have seen everything we need to see. Is it time to go back?"
"Go back?" Zhu Biao asked back.
Han Du was stunned for a moment, feeling that something was wrong with Zhu Biao's attitude, and felt inexplicably panicked. But he still said bravely: "Yes, doesn't His Highness want to come to Nanyang to see it? Now that we have visited Nanyang, it's time to go back."
"Why are you in such a hurry to go back?" Zhu Biao asked with a frown instead of agreeing to Han Du.
Seeing this, Han Du just gritted his teeth and said: "Your Highness, I promised Anqing before I came out that I would go back in a few months. I will never delay more than two years like last time. I don't want to break my promise!"
"Of course I will go back, but not now. Let's go to Old Port first. As for Anqing, I will explain it to you after I go back." Zhu Biao did not agree to go back and found a reason to block Han Du's words.
Han Du wanted to say something else, but seeing Zhu Biao's firm attitude, he finally had no choice but to agree: "Okay, let's go to Old Port first."
Anyway, you have to pass through Old Port when you go back. Maybe you are overthinking... Han Du can only comfort himself in this way.
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