Chapter 2308: New weights and measures, huge sea trade (Part 2)
Ban Gu's "Book of Han. Lvli System" records that: One thousand two hundred millet weighs twelve baht, two of which are two, sixteen two of which is a jin, thirty jin of which is a jun, and four jun of which is a stone.
In other words, one stone in the Han Dynasty weighed one hundred and twenty kilograms, but the weight of a kilogram in the Han Dynasty was also different in different periods.
Western Han Dynasty: 258.24 grams per catty;
Eastern Han Dynasty: 222.73 grams per catty;
Generally speaking, weights and measures during the Han Dynasty were still relatively chaotic.
Therefore, after Ying Hao proclaimed himself emperor, he changed the units of measurement and gave Da Qin new weights and measures.
Da Qin adopted the measurement units of later generations, with 500 grams as one kilogram, 1000 grams as one kilogram, 100 kilograms (50 kilograms) as one stone, and one ton = 10 stones = 1000 kilograms = 2000 kilograms.
In other words, a large cargo ship in Daqin with a load capacity of 5,000 tons can transport 50,000 shi of cargo when fully loaded.
The largest cargo ship that the Han Dynasty could build before had a cargo capacity of only 5,000 to 6,000 shi, but now it has reached an astonishing 50,000 shi, which is ten times higher than before.
This is already a qualitative leap. Without major technological breakthroughs, it would never be possible to complete such a huge leap in a short period of time.
The total weight of cargo carried by Da Qin's 141 warships was about 6.5 million shi.
It also took Da Qin a full two months, and it took another month to transport all the supplies onto the ship.
Among the 6.5 million shi of supplies, grain and grass alone accounted for 1.5 million shi, and once this grain and grass came out, the grain depots of the three states of Qingyou and Hebei were completely emptied.
The daily provisions for the 8,000-man fleet are not small. Apart from the provisions for daily consumption, the provisions that can be sold are only 500,000 dan, and they are only sold to the Nanman family.
In addition to grain and grass, other items include weapons, armor, horses, ceramics, glass, wine, books, cloth, jewelry and other various goods.
As long as Ye Qingmei can sell these goods, he can get at least seven to eight times, or even ten times more than the value of the goods. Once he returns successfully, he will bring back 30, 40% of the country's total income to Daqin, or even It's 50 fortunes.
Daqin will still make a lot of money from such a large-scale overseas trade, even if it only takes place once a year.
Great Qin was the first to trade with the Nanman, because the transaction with the Nanman included war horses. These war horses had been floating at sea for twenty-one days. Even if there were veterinarians to treat them, many of them still got sick, and they had to be moved ashore as soon as possible.
"General Gonggong, the transaction volume between you and us this time is: 50,000 steel knives, 50,000 spears, 5,000 shields, 20,000 pairs of leather armor, 5,000 iron armor... 500,000 dan of food and grass, And 1,600 war horses..."
As soon as Ye Qingmei finished speaking, Gonggong exclaimed: "Six hundred war horses? So many? This is more than what was said before."
At first, the Nanman people only wanted to buy a thousand war horses. After all, they couldn't afford more. But now Daqin has brought 1,600 horses, which is a full 600 more horses. Let Gonggong go and collect these horses. Let's compare money.
Ye Qingmei couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "General, are you afraid that you can't afford it?"
Gonggong nodded: "With the gold and the value of the goods I brought, I'm afraid I can't afford this war horse."
"General, don't worry. After Zhu Envoy's argument, His Majesty the Emperor of our country decided to give Nanguo a friendly price, considering that the two countries are allies. The average price of horses has dropped. The previous price was enough to buy a thousand and a half. Hundreds of war horses.”
Hearing this, Gonggong was overjoyed and asked: "What about the extra hundred horses?"
"Of course it is a gift from His Majesty the Emperor of Qin to the King of Nanman."
"Your Majesty the Emperor is generous, and I, the Southern Barbarian, are the most hospitable. This friendship will never be forgotten."
Nanman and Daqin accounted for the largest proportion of transactions among the major forces.
Among Da Qin's one hundred large cargo ships, the Nanman family alone had to take twenty ships. And Ruan Yue and other Annan's ten local forces combined only traded forty ships of goods with Da Qin. .
In other words, just from Annan, the first stop of sea trade, Daqin can handle nearly half of the cargo shipped off the ship.
Since the transaction volume this time was so huge, three million stones of various materials could not be transported in a short time.
The Nanman Ruan Yue and other major forces in Annan mobilized 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers to move from day to night, and then from night to day. They moved non-stop day and night. It took ten days to move all the goods from Transported off the ship.
"Sir, in addition to the Southern Barbarians, Ruan Yue and other ten factions have purchased a total of equipment for about 200,000 troops, including 5,000 war horses, 40,000 leather armors, and 5,000 iron armors.
Now two-thirds of the war horses on the ship have been sold, three-fifths of the weapons and equipment have been sold, and two-fifths of the ceramics, glass and other goods have been sold.
Half of the supplies have been sold. "
Zheng He reported with excitement. He couldn't help but be excited. After all, this was too much than the amount of wealth.
How much is Da Qin's total national income per year? And their first transaction this time accounted for at least 23% of it.
No wonder His Majesty attaches so much importance to sea trade, it is indeed profitable.
The situation of the major forces in Annan is no better than that of the Southern Barbarians. They definitely cannot afford to buy goods directly with money. Therefore, in addition to paying with gold and silver, most of them use goods for goods, using high-purity gold, silver, copper, iron and other ores. , as well as all kinds of medicinal materials, jade, agate, pearls and other items for payment.
After these ores were transported back to Daqin, gold and silver were naturally extracted and used directly.
Luxury goods such as jadeite and agate can also be sold to wealthy families after being processed by Da Qin.
All in all, the value of the traded items will increase several times, or even ten times, after passing through Da Qin's hands.
After Ye Qingmei looked through the account books compiled by Wan Zhenghe, she said seriously: "The amount of this wealth is too large. I am not worried about continuing to sail with this wealth, so it is best to send it back to the country as soon as possible."
Qi Jiguang, Zheng He, and Magellan all nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Ye Qingmei ordered: "Lao Mai, you lead a thousand naval troops to escort these funds back to Qingbei. My envoy, Zheng He, and General Qi Jiguang will continue sailing with the remaining people. "
Magellan heard this, although he was a little disappointed that he could not continue the voyage, but someone had to take on this task, so he readily accepted the task.
After another three days of moving, after loading all the wealth and supplies from the transaction onto the cargo ships, Magellan led a thousand sailors to escort twenty cargo ships full of wealth and supplies on their return journey.
(End of chapter)
