Zhu Fuyuan reported the current situation to Yan Maoda. [Full text reading] Dachang's local operations do not require the shopkeeper to be good at management: every month Wu Yujia's steward will bring the slaves and farmers in the manor to transport rice, wood and coal. Carry away various sweet products and groceries from the warehouse. The volume of transactions between the two parties is huge.
"Wu Yujia made a lot of money because of this business." Zhu Fuyuan said with a bit of envy, "He made a lot of money from our candy."
Vo Ngoc Giap bought the crude brown sugar from Dachang at a price of 8 Spanish silver dollars per stone, and then sold it to Laos, Siam and the Dutch, selling it for 10 to 18 Spanish silver dollars per stone. As for white sugar and rock sugar, the profits are even higher. As for other goods shipped from Leizhou: including "Australian goods" manufactured from Lingao and various daily groceries purchased from the mainland. They are all local favorites.
Zhu Fuyuan felt unbalanced when he saw that Wu Yujia could make a lot of money by buying his own goods and reselling them. It is suggested that more merchants and sales channels should be expanded - it is best to expand to retail channels, lest all the benefits go to the Wu family.
"It's not a busy matter." Yan Maoda said, "How is the arrival of the rice?"
"Here we are, the rice we negotiated last year has been shipped." Zhu Fuyuan said hurriedly, "It's Wu Yujia's manager who wants to raise the price again."
Yan Maoda frowned when he heard that Wu Yujia once again asked for a price increase for rice. This is the third time in the past six months that Wu Yujia has asked for an increase in rice prices. Rice is a strategic material for Lingao, and Vietnam is currently Lingao's main rice supplier. The price increase not only requires more exchange goods, but also means that there may be some problems in the supply channels.
"Why do you have to increase the price again? There must be a reason." Yan Maoda said, "Is it possible that someone in charge is causing trouble?"
"He didn't dare - the business between us and Wu Yujia is a big deal, and the manager doesn't have the guts to do anything reckless." Zhu Fuyuan said, "The manager said that because the Zheng family is going south to attack the Ruan family, they are recruiting troops and food everywhere. Wu Yujia Of course, we also get a lot of food and salary. It is said that in order to get enough rice, the farmers in the Wu Yujia Manor were almost starving to death. Last spring they ate gruel, but this spring they actually had to eat chaff." Zhu Fuyuan said, "I heard that some farmers can no longer survive and are planning to leave the manor and flee."
The war Zhu Fuyuan mentioned was the Later Civil War of the Later Li Dynasty. This war started in 1627 and lasted for almost more than a hundred years. Between 1627 and 1672, seven large-scale battles broke out between Zheng and Ruan. What the senators encountered was the Second War from 163o to 1633. The Nguyen family made full use of the turtle flow strategy and built a group of fortresses under the guidance of the Portuguese, which severely damaged Zheng's army heading south. A strategic stalemate formed.
This situation will inevitably lead to a large number of farmers being forcibly recruited as soldiers. In the agricultural society of the Middle Ages, farmers were the most important productive forces, and farmland lacking labor force could not produce enough food.
"It's really bad." Yan Maoda thought to himself that it seemed difficult to expect Wu Yujia to be able to supply large quantities of food for a long time. If they did not intervene in the Civil War between the Later Li Dynasty and the Li Dynasty, it would have lasted at least 50 years according to the historical trajectory.
"When there's a war, it's hard to get food." Zhu Fuyuan said nervously. He has worked here for the Australians for more than a year and knows that the main purpose of the Australians setting up a base in Haiyang is to buy food. If food is too expensive and difficult to buy, we may not continue to open warehouses here. The good job that I finally got was about to go to waste.
"The price of rice depends on him." Yan Maoda said after careful consideration, "How much grain can he deliver every month now? Is there any sign of decrease?"
"No rice has been shipped in the past month. It is said that the government has confiscated a lot. There is not enough rice stored in the manor." Zhu Fuyuan said, "And there will be a spring famine in the next three months. If we can survive the spring famine, we should be able to have a normal supply of food."
Zhu Fuyuan added: "Can we slow down the speed of transporting sugar? Now we have more than 10,000 stones of sugar stored in the warehouse..."
"It doesn't matter," Yan Maoda said, "you can tell Wu Yujia's manager tomorrow that there is no rice and ask him to transport more coal in exchange for it."
"Exchange coal?" Zhu Fuyuan was surprised. In his opinion, this was a very uneconomical thing. Although the price of coal is very low, it is really difficult for him to understand when he sees Australians buying boatloads of dirty and smelly firewood - whether it is Guangdong or Vietnam, firewood is cheap and plentiful. Rich people can still use good hardwood charcoal. I really don’t understand why Australians buy so much black coal.
"Yes, since he doesn't have enough rice at the moment, he will exchange the sugar in stock for coal and wood." Yan Maoda waved his hand, "Don't be too tired, we will do it right away."
Zhu Fuyuan said "yes" several times. Seeing that Yan Maoda was speechless, he immediately presented the warehouse's account book. Yan Maoda accepted it first - auditing was Cheka's business, but as a superior supervisor, he also had to do a good job of self-examination. He was going to look at the account books on the way to Hongji.
"This is Bei Kai." Yan Maoda introduced Bei Kai to Zhu Fuyuan, "He will be the commercial representative in Vietnam from now on. If you have anything, you can report it directly to him."
Bei Kai is based in Hong Gai, but as the senior business representative, he will also have leadership over Haiyang and the future commercial stations and warehouses in the coastal areas of Vietnam.
Zhu Fuyuan glanced at this dark little man - he looked similar to those Vietnamese, but he was also taller? However, he has been working as a waiter for many years and has long understood the principle of talking less and executing more when it comes to personnel arrangements for his employer.
"How was it last time I asked you to inquire? Is there any specific details?" Yan Maoda asked.
The last time Yan Maoda came to Haiyang, he specifically told Zhu Fuyuan: He must investigate clearly the ownership of the Hongji area: does it belong to a certain manor owner, is it the salary land of an official of the Li Dynasty, or is it official land without an owner?
"The villain went to inquire specifically. Hongji and the Jinpu mentioned in Chang'an are all terra nullius. They are either mountains or tidal flats. Farming is not allowed and no one cares about them at all."
"What are the procedures for buying land from the government here?"
Zhu Fuyuan smiled bitterly and said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult. The businessmen of the Ming Dynasty are very fat here. Even buying a piece of land to build a warehouse will cost a lot of money. Spending money is the second best thing." He paused, "If it grows, I must buy it. , we have to first draw the boundary of the land and draw the map. I’m afraid it will cost a lot of money for the villain to run around again..."
"No need. We'll talk about it when we get back." Yan Maoda thought that he might not need to spend money to buy it, use force as a backing, and mine it on the spot. The Northern Li Dynasty had no intention of mobilizing an army to deal with him at the moment.
Yan Maoda and his party did not stay in Haiyang for long. After checking the warehouse and understanding the basic situation of the local area, the Zhennan unloaded the goods there and set sail south again to Hongji.
Haiyang is about 60 kilometers away from Hongji. Zhennan can reach it in about 10 hours of sailing. Because it is sailing along the coastline, and Hongji is in Yalong Bay, where there are many islands and reefs. In order to avoid running aground on the rocks, Zhang Dascara decided not to go there at night. The boat trip starts early in the morning and arrives at the right time in the evening.
The Zhennan set sail early in the morning, and Zhang Dascara made observations with the theodolite in a decent manner, and drew the route on the chart. Unfortunately, his arithmetic skills were really poor. He spent a long time pushing and moving a navigation slide rule around. Finally, he dropped it, cursed "bird" and went back to the back of the poop to look at the needle path of the compass.
Fortunately, this area is a route he often takes. It is a place where you can sail with your eyes closed. Under his command, the Zhennan began to sail south.
The Zhennan sailed smoothly under the command of Zhang Dascara. The Chinese-style hard sail fully demonstrated its superiority in adapting to "winds coming from all directions" when sailing in coastal areas with complicated wind directions. Although the boat was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, it never stopped.
Bei Kai looked at the beautiful scenery along the coast from the poop and felt that it was worthwhile to study Vietnamese for more than half a year - this land was so attractive. If he could become the governor of North Vietnam in the future... Bei Kai's mind couldn't help but fly to those slim Vietnamese women he saw in Haiyang yesterday.
Bekay is one of the less proud elders in the Senate. His past career led him to eventually join the Postal and Transportation Committee, but he knows nothing about transportation, and Lingao's postal system has not yet been formally established - let alone even if it is established immediately. , he, a postal employee who has been advertising in the post office, has no research on postal business.
He is not a eloquent person, and he is unwilling to get involved in politics. Therefore, he is a marginal figure in the Senate. However, the expansion of the Time Travel Group itself and the scarcity of the number of veterans gave the soy sauce veterans enough opportunities to come forward.
Just when Hai Linfeng was wandering around thinking about the Vietnamese woman, the ship's bell suddenly struck rapidly. Bekai was startled and saw sailors and marines pouring out from below the deck. Some were holding Navy Type 29 machetes, and some were holding short-barreled Mini rifles. Several sailors rushed to the poop and quickly took off the tung oil cloth cover, revealing the dark typewriter inside. Someone quickly opened a nearby iron box and took out the dark spare cartridge inside.
"What's going on?" Bekai was shocked. He saw that all the gun jackets of the six carronade guns on the deck were taken off. Is this a posture for war?
"Report: There are ships fighting in the direction of 7 o'clock. We are on alert first." Zhang Dascara rushed to the poop and explained.
"A pirate?"
"It should be." Zhang Dascara was not nervous, "Don't worry, sir, this kind of thing happens often in this area. The fishermen and pirates here can't tell the difference. Our ship is big and well-guarded, so they don't dare to use their brains. ". ..
