"There is no problem with the slaves. I was even afraid that she lowered the price and deliberately increased the price by 100,000, for a total of 600,000 slaves. But unexpectedly, she agreed immediately without any hesitation." Shi Si said this. A little bit worried. After all, the extra 100,000 yuan was caused by his opening his mouth. If Han Du pursued it, he would inevitably be punished.
It was clear that he had to pay the price on the spot, but Shi Si never dreamed that the woman would not counter-offer at all and directly agreed.
Fortunately, Han Du did not blame Shi Si, but just smiled and said: "It's not bad. There are one hundred thousand more slaves. According to His Highness the Crown Prince's wishes, I can give you ten thousand."
When Shi Si was teased, he immediately lowered his head with a wry smile: "Master Marquis, please stop teasing me. What should I do with these 10,000 slaves? Just feeding and drinking them is hard."
Han Du crossed his hands together, leaned back on the chair, and looked sideways at Shi Si, "Don't look down on these 10,000 slaves. If they were shipped back to Nanyang, they would make a fortune. There is such a shortage of slaves in Nanyang. I think you also know how high the price of slaves in Nanyang has increased now?"
"Sky-high price!" Shi Si became excited instantly. Not to mention anything else, even his Shi family was very short of slaves. The Shi family has deep roots in Old Port. Since the other three families were destroyed, all the inheritance left by the three families, such as houses, land, shops, etc., have all fallen into the hands of the Shi family.
Just imagine, the Shi family's land has more than tripled in an instant. How tight will the manpower be?
The entire Nanyang Thirty-Third Governor's Mansion is short of people. Even if each Governor's Mansion has captured all the savages everywhere, there are still not enough people to farm the land. Now the most profitable business in Nanyang is not mining, but farming, growing sugar cane, spices, and rubber, each of which can bring very generous returns.
In the past, the average price of slaves fluctuated around ten guan, and there were cheap ones and even several guan. But now, if a person goes to Nanyang and wants to buy slaves, if the price is ten or twenty guan, no one will pay attention to you at all. Nowadays, the slaves in Nanyang start with at least fifty guan, and the good ones can even exceed 100 guan.
As for what kind of slave is good and what kind is bad, there is only one criterion, and that is whether you can farm. The better your farming skills, the higher the price. As for other things, there is not much difference between men and women, age, beauty and ugliness.
Sometimes even an old man can still get a good price in the slave market as long as his land is cultivated well. After all, although he can't do it himself, he can still teach others how to farm and let others learn to farm.
Shi Si's heart was pounding, he rubbed his hands and asked quickly: "Master Marquis, is it feasible to transport slaves from here to Nanyang?"
"Of course it's not feasible now, but it will be feasible after we build a port and a governor's palace along the way."
Shi Si suddenly nodded in understanding. As long as the sea route was opened and merchant ships could travel between Tianfang and the old port, there would certainly be no problem in transporting slaves.
Shi Si immediately looked at Han Du happily, "So, does the Marquis accept these 600,000 slaves?"
"Accept, why not accept?" Han Du nodded and agreed directly.
He raised his head casually and asked, "What about the other conditions? Has the slave girl agreed?"
The happy expression on Shi Si's face suddenly froze, and after a few awkward breaths, he bit the bullet and said to Han Du: "As for the land, the slave girl said that she can cede part of the Mamluk Dynasty's territory to us. "
This is not unexpected by Han Du. Perhaps many people think that ceding territory is a shame and a great humiliation. But this also takes time. Now Faraij has become a female slave. If she is still unwilling to give up her territory, then she will have to be a slave for the rest of her life.
"So, she agreed to our conditions? How much land was ceded on both sides of the coast?" Han Du was somewhat satisfied with Shi Si. In just a few days, he was able to negotiate a result with the slave girl, which is an amazing skill.
"She did agree to cede the territory, but I'm afraid it's a little different from what we thought." Shi Si said while observing Han Du's attitude. Seeing Han Du frown, he suddenly felt excited.
"Just tell her what happened after she talked to you." Han Du waved his hand and said.
"It's the Marquis." Shi Si quickly continued, "According to her, only part of the land on both sides of the Red Sea is occupied by the Mamluk Dynasty, and the other parts belong to other kingdoms. She can't make a decision. So, She changed the conditions a bit. She agreed to use the Red Sea as the boundary and cede all the eastern territories to us. I calculated that these territories are about the same size as we requested."
Han Du was surprised. Needless to say, he knew that Shi Si's request must be to increase his own standards, or even double or triple it. Otherwise, he would not be able to negotiate with the female slave.
But I didn't expect that the slave girl would agree directly? Just need to change the scope?
Handu had to sit up straight and asked impatiently: "Where are the territories of the Mamluk Dynasty east of the Red Sea, and how many are there?"
Shi Si quickly took out a sheepskin from his arms and said, "This is the territory map of the Mamluk Dynasty that she drew. Please take a look at it."
Han Du took the sheepskin and asked with some confusion: "Why use sheepskin? Isn't there paper?"
Shi Si quickly explained: "I gave her paper at first, but she didn't agree, saying that the territory map is so sacred that it must be drawn on sheepskin."
Sheepskin is just sheepskin, Handu just thinks it is Faraji's own habit. Opening the sheepskin, Han Du only glanced at it, and a light flashed in his eyes.
The territory of the Mamluk Dynasty was very much like a fish, with its head and body on the African side, occupying the entire territory of ancient Egypt. The smallest part of the territory is the closest point between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. From here to the east is the tail of the territory. It's just that the fish tail is very small and does not match the size of the body.
In general, the territory that Faraji was willing to cede to Handu accounted for about a quarter of the Mamluk dynasty.
The size of the territory is not the key. The key is that this part of the territory has its own part on the shores of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, but it is a little narrow and long. It looks like a fish tail and a boomerang.
Han Du did not expect that the territory of the Mamluk Dynasty would be like this. At first, Han Du just wanted to control the Red Sea. But now with the territory given by Faraij, Handu has new ideas. By controlling this territory, the Ming Dynasty could not only control the Red Sea, but also intervene in the Mediterranean Sea. With the strength of the Ming Navy, the entire Mediterranean Sea can be easily leveled.
In such an important strategic location, that woman from Faraij took the initiative to send it away without even thinking? Han Du smiled coldly. Sure enough, women are women, short-sighted and only focused on the present. She was probably driven crazy by the slave life, and now she just wanted to hide in the house and tremble.
"Master Marquis, Master Marquis?" Seeing the constant changes in Han Du's expression, Shi Si sneered at one moment and was fierce at the other, calling tentatively.
"Huh?" Han Du suddenly came back to his senses and looked at Shi Si.
Shi Si swallowed and asked cautiously: "What does the Marquis think of her condition? If the Marquis does not agree, then I will continue to talk to her."
You might be able to talk about some benefits if you continue talking, but it's not necessary. With such an important strategic location, what kind of bike do we need? The bigger the territory, the better. The desert is big enough, but no one has been interested in it since ancient times. The key is to see what kind of role this territory can play, and with this territory thrown out by Faraiji, Handu can't even find a reason to refuse.
"No, let's let the land be decided like this. You go back and tell her that as long as she is willing to cede all these lands to the Ming Dynasty after the restoration of the country, then the Ming Dynasty will keep its promise and help her." Han Du looked a little excited and waved his hand. Continued to ask: "Where is the gold? How was your discussion with her?"
"Please forgive me, Lord Marquis." As soon as Shi Si heard this, he quickly apologized to Han Du.
Han Du raised his eyebrows, knowing that something must have happened. "Didn't you guys reach an agreement? Let's talk about what happened first?"
Shi Si sighed, "As the Marquis expected, this slave girl was extremely resistant to the compensation we proposed. I asked her to compensate three million pounds of gold, but she bit her to death and only had 600,000 pounds. She was willing to use the other gold. We can pay with other things, but if we only want gold, she won’t be able to get anything out of it.”
Han Du thought for a moment, stood up and walked around a few times. Looking back at Shi Si, "How many times have you talked to her about gold?"
Shi Si stood up quickly and replied with a wry smile: "As the Marquis can see, she promised the slaves and the land very happily. But when it comes to compensation, she is very reluctant. I have been talking to her almost all the time these days. He talked about gold compensation, but there has been little progress, so he had to report it to the Marquis."
Han Du nodded after hearing this, and then said to Shi Si: "I know, I have worked hard on you, and your reward will be given to you when the time comes. Go down first."
"Thank you, Lord Marquis." Seeing that the matter was not handled properly, not only was he not punished, but he was rewarded, he left happily.
Han Du pondered for a moment and went out directly to find Zhu Biao. She told him what happened in detail, "...that's what happened. The key to the problem now is that she seems to be unable to get the gold and wants to use other things to offset it."
"Then what does she want to use as a deduction?" Zhu Biao asked lightly.
Han Du shook his head, "This Shi Si hasn't talked to her in detail yet. After he couldn't continue the conversation after only talking about it here, he had no choice but to come to me."
7017k
