Seeing Langbai Ao gradually approaching, you can already see the Portuguese-style houses on the island with a telescope. There are many shops on Langbai Ao Island, and there are lively scenes everywhere.
"Why do these Franji people have to stay here?"
Langbai'ao is not a very big island. From Lin Mojun's point of view, the island's environment is not good. She really doesn't understand the Franji people's obsession with trade.
Su Ze said: "Do you know how much profit the Franji people made from the complete Far East trade at one time?"
Lin Mojun shook his head, and Su Ze stretched out two fingers.
Lin Mojun asked tentatively: "Twice?"
"Twenty times."
Lin Mojun also exclaimed.
Su Ze said: "If there is a profit of 10%, businessmen will rush in; if there is a profit of 20%, businessmen will flock in; if there is a profit of 50%, businessmen will take risks; for double the profit, businessmen will dare to Trample all human laws; with three times the profit, businessmen dare to commit any crime and even risk hanging."
"And the profit of the entire East Asian trade is twenty times. This is not only crazy for the Franji merchants, but also for the entire Franji."
“Every April and May, Folangji’s large sailing ship sails from Goa to Langbaiao loaded with cloth, cotton, clocks, and gunshots, waiting to sell the goods in the market in Guangfu and buy silk from our country, the Ming Dynasty. "
"Wait until the monsoon comes in July, and then transport raw silk and weapons to the Japanese country. Wait until the northeast monsoon blows again in October, and then return to Macau."
"Because of the impact of the monsoon on the route, the Falangji people need a resting place like Langbai'ao to wait for the monsoon and prepare goods."
Lin Mojun asked: "These are also in the book?"
Su Ze smiled and said: "Of course not, Captain Alfonso told me this."
"Entering port!"
The lookout on the mast shouted, interrupting the conversation between Su Ze and Lin Mojun. Under the leadership of the pilot boat, the New World finally docked into the port.
The port conditions at Langbaisha were not very good. When Lin Mojun and Su Ze landed on the island, they discovered how crowded the island was.
All kinds of people can be seen at the port, including the Folangji people wearing funny cylindrical trousers, the Tianzhu people with turbans on their heads, the dark-skinned Kunlun slaves, and all kinds of Lin Mojun. past race.
The entire port is a market. When merchants see big ships like the New World docking, they swarm in like sharks.
Seeing Su Ze get off the boat, those businessmen who could speak Chinese were even more happy, while those who were not proficient in Chinese were sad. Doing business in the land of the Ming Dynasty was completely a seller's market, and there were very few merchants in the Ming Dynasty. They are willing to learn the languages of other countries, and many Ming businessmen even explicitly only do business with businessmen who speak Chinese.
But seeing a big ship like the New World, the merchants were still unwilling to give up, and they all gathered around Su Ze.
"Quiet!"
Su Ze shouted, and sure enough, everyone around him became quiet. He raised his hand and said:
"I am Su, a merchant from Yuegang, and the goods I brought are tea."
Su Ze had already learned about the trading methods of Langbaiao from Yuegang merchants. If the owner of the ship carrying goods wanted to trade, he would sell his goods directly at the port. Once the goods were sold, they could be taken away directly.
When they heard that it was tea, these merchants became even more excited. You must know that tea in the Ming Dynasty was not easy to buy.
Since the discovery of the Eastern sea routes, tea has become increasingly popular in the West.
Not only the West, but also the Japanese countries were very eager for Ming Dynasty tea. This was a business that was sure to make money without losing money.
Su Ze asked people to take out the tea cans. Seeing the exquisite wooden shell and porcelain tea cans, these businessmen couldn't take their eyes away.
But the tea leaves that Su Ze escaped from the tea can were surprising.
The dark tea leaves do not have the beauty of green tea at all. Could it be that they are spoiled tea leaves?
Just when the businessmen thought that Su Ze had overturned, he took out a large bowl and brewed it with boiling water. He poured the red tea soup from the bowl into exquisite small tea cups, and then handed it to the surrounding businessmen to taste.
The aroma of black tea floated, the red tea soup was clear, and the expressions of the businessmen present varied.
Western businessmen prefer black tea. They can't get used to the bitter taste of green tea. They like the sweet and mellow black tea very much. Some people asked Su Ze about the price on the spot.
The merchants who traveled between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, as well as those engaged in the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Nanyang, frowned. They were not sure whether this kind of tea would be favored by the locals, and these Chinese businessmen themselves did not like black tea very much.
But even if you don't like black tea, Su Ze's exquisite tea cans and wooden boxes can still be a lucrative business when shipped to Japan or Europe.
More and more businessmen were surrounding Su Ze, and the anxious businessmen had already begun to make quotations.
Su Ze made a quiet gesture and said:
"If you want to buy my tea, you need additional product transactions."
"I need books from the West or Japan, any book is fine!"
"I also need ambergris! If you have ambergris, you can trade it first!"
Su Ze not only described it in Chinese, but also in the native language of the merchants present. He repeated it ten times in different languages. The merchants present looked at him in astonishment.
The businessmen present were often proficient in several languages, but they had never seen a businessman like Su Ze who could speak ten different languages at once.
Moreover, many languages are very rare and these businessmen cannot speak them more than a few times a year after going to sea.
[English skill +1, Lv5, 45/1000]
[Malay language skill +1, Lv2, 2/200]
Su Ze expressed his needs in these different languages, naturally not just to show off.
In addition to improving language skills, it was more important to describe the ambergris clearly to the merchants present.
Su Ze knew that another important reason why Guangfu officials tolerated the Portuguese landing was ambergris.
The year before last, that is, beginning in the 32nd year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing, who was very fond of practicing Taoism, didn't know what happened, and began to buy ambergris in large quantities.
Almost all coastal areas were mobilized to buy ambergris with huge sums of money.
The Guangdong Haidao Yamen came into contact with the Folangji people in order to purchase this special spice produced at sea from them.
This year it was even more serious. The emperor forced coastal areas to pay tribute of 100 kilograms of ambergris. He also said: "Ambergris is a common thing. You must look for it carefully."
They even sent imperial envoys to Guangdong and Fujian to search for him, offering a reward of one thousand and two white taels per catty to buy him at a high price!
Although Emperor Jiajing's order to purchase ambergris stated that it was for use in sacrifices at the Ancestral Temple, and to ask for blessings from his ancestors to eliminate foreign enemies as soon as possible.
But Su Ze, who was familiar with medical science, knew that the value of ambergris as a love medicine should be the truth that Emperor Jiajing collected nationwide.
In fact, some people in Guangdong have been seeking ambergris from overseas businessmen for a long time. However, they did not understand the language and could not describe it clearly, so they have never been able to buy it.
Suze described ambergris in their native language, and immediately a Malay businessman raised his hand and said, "I have it!"
The businessman immediately sent his men on board the ship, and soon took out a wooden box wrapped in silk and brought it to Su Ze.
Su Ze opened the silk, and Lin Mojun came over, wanting to see what this legendary spice looked like.
I only saw an irregular lump in a wooden box. As soon as I opened it, I smelled a faint fishy smell, but underneath the fishy smell was a rich mixed fragrance, like woody or sandalwood. , and a hint of floral and fruity aroma.
Is this ambergris? Lin Mojun has also seen the Deer King's treasure house, and naturally has seen good things. In terms of scent alone, ambergris is indeed very unique, far superior to other spices.
After the Malay businessman took out the ambergris, two businessmen immediately understood what Su Ze was describing, and they also ordered their men to get the ambergris.
[Identification of ambergris successful, valuation skill +50, Lv3, 20/300]
[Identification of ambergris successful, valuation skill +50, Lv3, 70/300]
[Identification of ambergris successful, valuation skill +50, Lv3, 120/300]
Three prompts popped up, Su Ze put away the ambergris, and then asked the sailor to move the three-point black tea to the dock.
The three businessmen immediately began to check, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong, they immediately asked their sailors to move onto the ship.
Su Ze said again in various languages that he would stay in Langbai'ao for a few days. If these merchants acquired ambergris, they could still come to him to trade.
Everyone took note of the appearance of the ambergris and prepared to ask the merchants they knew.
Weighing the three pieces of ambergris to nearly five taels, Su Ze felt quite happy.
Lin Mojun couldn't stand his look and said: "Even if it is worth a thousand gold, yours is only five hundred taels of silver. I have never seen you so happy after handling a thousand taels of silver before?"
Su Ze shook his head and said, "It's not about money. This ambergris is something that can't be exchanged for money. It's of great use to me!"
"Great use? What use?"
Su Ze shook his head and said: "Keep it secret!"
Lin Mojun rolled his eyes.
Su Ze added: "Do you know how this ambergris is formed?"
Lin Mojun once heard a businessman talk about this thing. She recalled: "Dragon spits?"
After saying that, Lin Mojun felt a little disgusted. Dragon's saliva?
Su Ze shook his head and said: "Actually, it's not dragon's saliva, but the stones formed in the intestines of sperm whales."
At this moment, Lin Mojun almost threw the brocade box in her hand. She asked, "You said it was whale feces?"
Su Ze shook his head and said: "That's not accurate. The main food of whales is giant squid. The body of squid has hard jaws. These will not be absorbed by the intestines of sperm whales. They will accumulate and wrap up in the intestines to form stones. When they accumulate to a certain size, will be expelled."
"Ambergris is lighter than water. When merchants at sea or coastal fishermen found it, it was rumored to be the spittle of a dragon."
Lin Mojun said disgustingly: "That's not as good as dragon's saliva!"
Su Ze laughed and said: "It takes hundreds of sperm whales to form one ambergris. And ambergris floats on the sea, and the chance of being discovered is not high, so it is so precious."
But no matter how precious it is, Su Ze doesn't think it has much value.
Emperor Jiajing spent hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to buy ambergris. You must know that in the 33rd year of Jiajing, the Ministry of War only had 1.2 million taels of silver.
In other words, the emperor spent one-tenth of the country's military expenditure to purchase sperm whale poop?
This was not unusual in the Ming Dynasty. In addition to ambergris, the Ministry of Household Affairs also purchased winter beads, sandalwood, rare medicinal materials and alchemy materials, which cost more than 200,000 taels a year.
Even if they didn't like spices, emperors could always develop other hobbies.
After King Yu, the good son of Emperor Jiajing, ascended the throne, he spent 200,000 taels of silver at a time on the Aoshan Lantern Festival, which was the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival.
Emperor Jiajing's great grandson Wanli even rewarded his harem and relatives, which cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year. The pearls and jewelry purchased by the harem were also close to this amount.
The coastal seaside yamen were exhausted in order to help the emperor collect ambergris. Even the fishermen on the seaside were mobilized to go to sea to search for ambergris. As a result, countless fishermen died in the sea. The coastal fishermen were killed because of Emperor Jiajing's search for ambergris. Escapes are even more common.
Of course, Su Ze did not collect ambergris to please the emperor. The ambergris was just part of his plan.
Su Ze checked his skills. The [Buying] skill had been raised to Level 3, 17/300. He was going to make a large-scale purchase in Langbaiao and raised the [Buying] and [Valuation] skills to Level 5.
After shutting down the system, Su Ze asked Father Pierre:
"Do you, the Society of Jesus, have a church in Longpai O?"
Father Pierre shook his head and said: "There is no church on Langbai'ao. There is only one church on Shangchuan Island next door. It is the church left by His Excellency Xavier, the Pope's envoy to the Far East. Behind the church is the tombstone of this gentleman."
Xavier? Su Ze looked at Father Pierre in surprise and asked, "Are you talking about the bishop who preached in Japan?"
Father Pierre was already used to being surprised by Su Ze's erudition. He nodded and said, "Your Excellency Xavier is not a bishop, but according to what you Easterners say, he has gone to Japan many times to preach. He visited Hirado and Kyoto, and also paid homage to Japanese kings and Japanese generals."
"Does your Excellency have any manuscripts left behind?"
Su Ze knew that Western missionaries, like the literati of the Ming Dynasty, were very keen on recording diary manuscripts.
Before traveling through time, Su Ze often had to deal with these historical materials.
This Xavier was the first Portuguese missionary in Japan. He also visited many places. His manuscripts were of high value to Su Ze's research on Japan.
Father Pierre immediately said: "The relics of Lord Xavier are all in the church on Shangchuan Island."
"How far is Shangchuan Island from Langbai'ao?"
"It's not far, it only takes an hour by boat, but we can't go now."
"Why?"
"The Ming Dynasty closed the pier in Shangchuan, so you can only go up secretly at night."
"Then go at night!"
(End of chapter)
