Su Ze held the rudder of Chang Ningwei's lucky boat, and the lucky boat broke through the waves and rode the wind.
Lin Mojun stood next to Su Ze. He was only sailing offshore. Su Ze's [Navigation] skill had no bonus and was only Level 5, so his operation was still a bit rusty.
But it was enough for offshore navigation. After Lin Mojun was sure that Su Ze could drive the fortune ship, he stopped watching Su Ze steer the ship.
Lin Mojun was no longer surprised by Su Ze's incredible learning ability. Maybe he was a real genius in this world. Even Su Ze who farmed was second only to Lin Qishu. He could only drive a boat, but Su Ze could Learning is also normal.
The target of this voyage is still Dong'ao Island. As the most important overseas base of Changning Guard, Su Ze wants to visit Dong'ao Island.
Lin Mojun talked about the changes on Dong'ao Island these days.
"Now Toao Island has become a transit point for Ryukyu missions. Ryukyu ships often board Toao Island to rest before heading to Fuzhou Port."
"The news won't leak, right?"
"No, there are so many islands in the outer sea. The only people who can master the navigation charts are the leaders of the thirty-six families of the Fujian people. Ordinary sailors only know that they have docked on an island, but they don't know which island it is."
Lin Mojun added: "The goods we want to transport to Fuzhou will also be loaded on Dong'ao Island."
Su Ze nodded and asked: "Isn't the imperial court paying tribute every year? Why do you think this means that Ryukyu merchant ships often go to Fuzhou?"
Lin Mojun smiled and said: "This Eunuch Tao is also a smart man. Although the tribute is once a year, he allows Ryukyu ships to enter Fuzhou many times, but only waits until one year is up before sending all the tribute to the capital. "
"It's just that merchants in Ryukyu are not allowed to trade privately, they can only trade with the Shipping Department."
"What's the profit from trading with Shipping Company?"
Lin Mojun said: "The price was greatly reduced, and the price of the silk silk given in return was also greatly increased, but the goods in Ming Dynasty are really in short supply, so there is still some profit."
Su Ze finally understood the terrifying commodity competitiveness of the Ming Dynasty.
In this era, the whole world really wants to do business with Ming Dynasty.
Not to mention the neighboring countries of Japan, Korea, and Ryukyu, the countries in Southeast Asia are also eager to pay tribute every day.
The Portuguese even thought of many ways to do business with the Ming Dynasty, and even pretended to be a tributary country and came over to do business actively.
There was nothing we could do about it. Only the Ming Dynasty could produce silk, porcelain, tea and other products in the world. The high profits of these three products were also the reason why Japanese pirates continued to be banned in coastal areas.
Another thing can also illustrate the terrifying trade capabilities of the Ming Dynasty. Just after the Longqing Switch, 70% of the silver produced by the Japanese pirate Shijian Silver Mine every year flowed into China. Through maritime trade, the Ming Dynasty quickly transformed from a silver-poor country. It became a silver-standard country with silver as its basic currency.
It can even be said that before the opium trade, the great powers that used strong ships and cannons to open up the Qing Dynasty market also discovered that they always bought more and sold less when trading with China, and that trading with the Qing Dynasty was a loss-making business.
This was the terrifying trade ability of the Ming Dynasty. After the opening of Fuzhou Shipping Company, which actually conducted overseas trade under the guise of Ryukyu tribute, the once deserted Ryukyu Island immediately became the trade center of East Asia.
Lin Mojun talked about Changningwei’s current industry:
"Our main products exported overseas are black tea, citrus and ebony plums."
"The main products sold to Fuzhou are cotton cloth, medicines, spices and dyes."
The most important commodity exported overseas is of course black tea. Not only Westerners, but also countries in Southeast Asia are now in love with black tea. This kind of tea that does not deteriorate during sea transportation has conquered many people who originally did not like it with its strong and sweet taste. Tea drinker.
This year's tea reserves have already been sold out, and orders for next year's tea have already been paid in advance.
After receiving the order, the tea gardens in Wuyi Mountain also transformed rapidly. In the past, only Su Ze's tea garden and Xiong's tea garden made black tea. Now, seven or eight tea gardens in Wuyi Mountain have expressed their willingness to make black tea next year, and then entrust Su Ze to do so. consignment.
Su Ze is not stingy with the technology of making black tea. The nature of tea is a product that determines that the profits of tea cannot be swallowed by Su Ze alone.
Manpower is needed to take care of a tea garden, and it takes several years for a new tea plantation to produce tea. High-quality tea gardens are in the hands of families who have been tea farmers for generations.
This is also the reason why the Cai family deliberately planned to seize the Xiongjia Tea Garden. Few people would sell a tea garden with stable production, and the time cost of building a new tea garden was too high, and the places suitable for growing tea in Wuyi Mountain have long been used. People occupy it.
Of course, Su Ze didn't want to be like the Cai family and snatch other people's tea, so he could only continue to promote the technology of cooperative black tea production and bring more tea gardens into his industrial alliance.
As long as you control the channels, that is, the way to sell, you will definitely make money from the black tea business.
However, this is only temporary. Taiyuan Island also has a lot of places suitable for building tea gardens. It will also be an important oolong tea production area in later generations. As long as Taiyuan Island is developed, the entire tea trade can be controlled.
Tea is making money, and citrus and plum have become top products. Su Ze is still a little surprised.
After hearing Lin Mojun's explanation, Su Ze was not surprised.
During Zheng He's voyages to the West, Chinese captains had already discovered that septicemia could be prevented by using tangerines and ebony plums.
All experienced captains in East Asia will purchase citrus and plums when they go to sea to supplement the vitamins they lack during sea voyages and avoid the occurrence of sepsis.
Fujian itself produces tangerines and plums, and Changningwei just bought these agricultural products and sold them to Ryukyu.
In addition to tea, Su Ze is more concerned about cotton tea.
He asked: "How is the sales of our Changningwei's cotton cloth?"
Su Ze also knew that Changningwei's industry was now huge. He had just returned to Changningwei and saw several large weaving workshops. Under the leadership of Lin Xianyang's sister-in-law, Lu, Changningwei had become the largest cotton textile base nearby.
The cotton supply in Beishan Village alone is no longer enough. Fortunately, there are many places to grow cotton in Fujian. After Su Ze was elected, Changning Wei sent people to discuss cooperation and reached long-term cooperation with several surrounding cotton-producing villages. protocol.
Lin Mojun said: "Sister-in-law Lu said that if it is difficult to sell the cotton cloth with the name Changning Wei Cotton, let us bring the cotton cloth to Fuzhou and put it on the name Songjiang Cotton. It will be much easier to sell."
Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, this Lu family is really talented, Songjiang cotton is famous all over the world, and only under the banner of Songjiang cotton will the big families in Fuzhou Prefecture be willing to buy it.
"Where's the cotton raw material?"
Lin Mojun said: "It's still not enough, but according to what you said last time, it was a waste to let the Japanese pirates caught at sea jump into the sea. Now they are settled on Dong'ao Island to open up cotton fields."
Su Ze remembered that he did mention this matter in the last communication, but he didn't expect Lin Mojun's mobility to be so high.
Dong'ao Island is only two or three days away from Changning Guard, and soon Su Ze saw the observatory, the landmark building on Dong'ao Island.
This time I came to Dong'ao Island, it was completely different from the last time Su Ze came.
The pier built by Lu Dawang has been restored, and berths have even been added on this basis.
On the outermost island of the lagoon, a lighthouse was built in a Western style. Lin Mojun mentioned this lighthouse in his previous letter and it was built at the suggestion of Captain Alfonso.
It was already approaching dusk, and the lights on the lighthouse were lit. The light of the flames, reflected by the mirror, guided the course of the lucky ship.
As the pilot ship sailed out of the port, Lin Mojun also asked people to raise torches and sign flags. The pilot ship also lit up its lights to guide the lucky ship into the port slowly.
Su Ze boarded the pier. At this time, the thatched house in the early years had been upgraded into a wooden house, and Lin Mojun transformed Lu Dawang's castle tower into the appearance of Baihu Mansion, and changed it to the one she lived on the island. A place to stay temporarily.
Following Lin Mojun into her Baihu Mansion on Dong'ao Island, Su Ze felt a little guilty for no reason, but when he saw Lin Mojun acting calm and generous, he felt relieved.
The next day, Lin Mojun took Su Ze to visit Dong'ao Island.
"Uncle Zong Yuan was left in the Fuzhou Shipping Company by Eunuch Tao. Recently, Fuzhou is working hard to build ships to Shanghai. The shipyard is now managed by Lin Xianlu, a disciple of Uncle Zong Yuan."
From the first day he landed on the island, Lin Zongyuan built a dry dock on Dong'ao Island in accordance with Changningwei's dry dock standards.
Su Ze met Lin Xianlu. He remembered that when Lin Xianzong was in charge of the shipyard, he was a young man who didn't like to talk.
But when talking about shipbuilding, Lin Xianlu was a little talkative.
"Mr. Su."
"Are you the same generation as Brother Xianyang? Just call me Brother Aze."
"Aze, brother Aze, the master went to Fuzhou. Now the shipyard is mainly engaged in two tasks. One is to repair the ships returning from sailing."
Su Ze nodded. Ships suffer losses when sailing. The reason why shipping and coastal ports are so important to maritime countries is because ships need regular maintenance.
"Another task is to build the Clippers according to the drawings of the Azer brothers."
Lin Xianlu took Su Ze to the depths of the dock. Su Ze saw a medium-sized ship in the style of a clipper ship.
It is said to be a medium-sized ship, which is according to Su Ze's standards. It is a ship with a material of 300 tons. In fact, the draft is almost the same as that of the Fu ship that Su Ze took. When converted into tonnage, it is about 100 tons.
"This is a scale replica of the 'Flying Dutchman' that attacked Toao Island that year."
"The master has calculated that the outer plating of a clipper ship has the greatest load-bearing capacity when traveling long distances. Therefore, the outer plating of this ship is made from the decks of dismantled sunken and damaged ships, and they are all made of high-quality wood! "
After talking about the boat, Lin Xianlu was no longer taciturn, but started to talk a lot.
"But there are still two problems."
Su Ze also knew that the clipper ship was not that easy to build, and waited for Lin Xianlu to talk about the problems he encountered.
"The first is the sail. If you want to be able to sail at high speed and smoothly on the sea, you must have a large sail, and the sail must be strong enough. It needs to be woven at once instead of spliced together."
Su Ze nodded. He didn't think it was difficult to build a ship before traveling through time. He even felt that he could build a modern fast ship immediately as long as he talked casually.
But after actually getting in touch with the shipbuilding industry, Su Ze realized that it was a high-tech industry.
Needless to say, wood processing and ship construction, even sails, are one of the most high-tech industries in the world today.
The best place for sails in this era is actually India.
Yes, Indian cotton is now losing ground to European cotton. Even some traditional cotton textile countries such as France have issued restrictions and bans that do not allow the import of Indian cotton.
Lin Xianlu said with confidence: "But this problem should not be big. Lu's sister-in-law is already studying how to weave larger canvas."
Mr. Lu is really talented in textiles. After Su Ze manufactured the loom, Mr. Lu was able to repair the loom.
Su Ze was naturally very happy when he heard the news. His weaving skill level was very low. Now he had many things to do, and it was strange for a grown man to have such poor weaving skills.
"The second problem is the mast. It needs strong and durable masts made of high-quality wood to withstand the wind. The master said that we should think of a way in Fuzhou Prefecture. It would be best to import some high-quality wood from Nanyang."
Su Ze patted Lin Xianlu's shoulder and encouraged him to keep working hard.
Clipper ships do not have strong cargo-carrying capabilities, but their sailing speed is extremely fast and can reach 15 knots using sail power.
Some well-designed clipper ships in the later period could reach speeds of 20 knots.
What is this concept? The speed of battleships during World War I was generally 15 knots.
If you can take a clipper ship, the sailing time from Dong'ao Island to Shanghai can be shortened to five days. After going to Jiangnan in the next year, Su Ze can also take a clipper ship to quickly travel between Fujian and Jiangnan.
After visiting the dock, Su Ze followed Lin Mojun to the Cotton Manor in the center of the island.
"In fact, it is not good to grow cotton on the island. Once there is a storm, it must be covered with tarpaulin immediately. The changing weather at sea often requires rush harvesting."
It is already November, and the cotton fields have naturally been harvested, but some people with Japanese pirate haircuts can still be seen plowing and turning the soil.
"Only a small number of these are real Japanese, and most of them are Ming people who have shaved Japanese pirate hairstyles. However, as long as they are from Japanese, they are Japanese pirates, and it doesn't matter which ethnic group they are from."
Lin Mojun said coldly, Su Ze only saw a few crooked hoof supervisors holding whips, supervising the Japanese prisoners to work.
"As long as you can work for five years, you can grant land on the island, but with the way they are, it is estimated that few people can live beyond five years."
Su Ze looked at Lin Mojun and saw her cold tone, but he thought that she was the one who could take the lead in fighting the Japanese pirates. If Ci was not in charge, Lin Mojun was a qualified commander.
It turned out that the people working in the cotton fields were not Uncle Hei but Japanese pirates. Su Ze had a strange feeling of confusion.
He nodded and said: "In the future, Damuan Island will be developed. The climate there is warmer, and plantations can be opened on the island."
"careful!"
Lin Mojun hugged Su Ze and rolled to the side of the road.
At this time, a group of seabirds flew over, and only saw bird droppings falling like white raindrops, and the Japanese working in the fields were all drenched.
Realizing the distance between the two, Lin Mojun immediately rolled off Su Ze.
Su Ze also awkwardly changed the subject and asked, "Where do these seabirds come from?"
"These are sea ducks, and they are all gathered on a nearby island. We call it Sea Duck Island."
"Hai Ya Island? Let's go see it!"
(End of chapter)
