[C.E. 1776, April 28, Breeze, 4th Section]

[East longitude: 356.6, North latitude: 57.7, Black Harbor, Elgin, Scotland]

[Specialties: whiskey, woollen fabrics, beef]

[Today is a special day for the nascent Drake Chamber of Commerce]

[We have our first permanent port, Elgin Harbour in Scotland]

[It's just that in Mr. Pidick's official documents, it's called Port Elgan]

[No matter what her name is, we have opened the market, so that this small chamber of commerce with a total number of three people, a standard Kirk type and more than 400 pounds of capital has officially stepped onto the track of development]

[The exquisite porcelain of the mysterious Orient is indispensable]

【Missing the East】

[When can I go back and see?] 】

[It's 1776, and it's nothing to hear people shouting that Lord Yang is just a money rat braid, which is too ugly......]

[Getting back to the point, it's time for the Chamber of Commerce to consider the next direction of development]

[For offshore trade, triangular trade is a good model]

[With Elgin as the fulcrum, the other two corners, where should I choose? ] 】

In the dim light of the oil lamp, Lorraine wrote his nautical diary on the swaying waves.

A nautical diary is the basic homework of every captain of a seagoing ship.

When they are at sea, they record the direction of the wind and the currents. When they were in the port, they recorded the warp and weft, and the specialties.

Of course, daily experiences and reflections are indispensable.

And because of the existence of this important information, no matter what the era, the nautical diary is a captain's most valuable privacy and treasure, and its value is even greater than their own charts.

The captains also protected the contents of the diary the most.

In addition to carrying them with them and keeping them secret, they often use secret words for key information when writing their diaries.

Lorraine's secret language is pinyin, and the pinyin of the flower font is mixed in the same script of English, and his diary has not been deciphered, at least in contemporary times.

After writing the diary, Lorraine closed the notebook, put it away in the secret cabinet of the captain's room, and shook off the charts of the North Sea and the Cantabrian Sea on the bed, and was stunned by the list of lots sent before nightfall.

This is the privilege of the auction VIP to know the details of the auction two days in advance and decide whether to attend or not.

Lorraine thus had the opportunity to familiarize himself with the rules of the auction.

Elgin's auction will be held over two days, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, for special commodities and in the afternoon for bulk goods.

Lorraine's spices and pewter are also on this list.

The 470 catties of spices were auctioned in units of 50 catties in nine auctions, and in the afternoon session, 14 pieces of pewter were separately tendered in the morning session.

According to Lorraine's own estimates, the goods would bring him between two hundred and thirty and two hundred and seventy pounds after tax, which was not a high amount from the point of view of a non-capital business.

He was struggling to sell his porcelain from stock.

It's depressing.

Old Barry didn't have a lot of porcelain in his hands, there were only seven sets in total, but each one was actually a high-end tea set.

Three sets of cloisonné, two sets of doucai porcelain, and two sets of blue and white porcelain, tea sets of this level of craftsmanship can naturally be taken out and sold, and they can easily be sold for a high price of more than two hundred pounds.

But judging from Mr. Pidick's reaction, it is clear that these things are more effective as gifts, and when they are exchanged for gold pounds, they are really tyrannical, and cows chew peonies.

But Lorraine was short of money.

It is necessary to open an exchange, to buy ships, to recruit sailors, to realize the benign entry and exit of goods, and to leave enough funds for the operation of the chamber of commerce, so as to form a capital chain......

He scratched his hair irritably: "Damn, poor is poor, it's a big deal to stay in the auction house for a few more months!" Before the Eastern Route was opened, this kind of good goods used one piece, one less! ”

"What's one less for one?" Henna interjected inexplicably.

Lorraine looked up and saw that she was wrapped in a robe as she had done in the daytime, only in the dead of night, with her veil removed, her delicate face unflaunted, her emerald eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

Lorraine smiled and shook her head: "It's time for the changing of the guard?" ”

"Yes." Henna nodded, "Pierce is still young, his post is for an hour, and then you." ”

"I'm not going to abuse him." Lorraine beckoned Henna in, "The auction will be in two days." Elgin's specialty is whisky, and I'm ready to fill the tank and sell spirits in the snow and ice of Scandinavia. ”

"Selling alcohol?" Henna tilted her head, "You have a route to Black Harbor in Norway?" ”

"Nope. So for the first auction, we had to get the chart first, and with it, we had the next anchorage point......"

……

Two days went by in a flash.

On April 30, the Black Market Auction in Port Elgin was held as scheduled in the small theater at 42 Blossom Street.

A horse-drawn carriage gathered like a fish, and hundreds of merchants gathered in groups of three or five.

Today, Lorraine wore a proper tuxedo, a wig, a top hat, a folded pure black umbrella in her hand, and her pointed scalp shoes were shiny and shiny.

He jumped out of the carriage outside the theater and turned around, showing the back of his hand like a real gentleman.

Henna was stunned for a moment.

She was wearing a light black gauze gown today, covering her hair and her pretty face.

Appropriate folding of yarn creates layers of shades for the smock, which can not only subtly cover the peculiar robe inside the syrup, but also make the graceful posture loom and evoke reverie.

Her big eyes, hidden behind the light veil, flickered at Lorraine, until she saw Lorraine's smiling and encouraging gaze, and then a coffee-colored plain hand poked out from under her coat and gently rested it on the back of Lorraine's hand.

Such a wonderful scene naturally attracted the attention of passers-by.

A strange young gentleman from England holding a young, light-brown-skinned African woman......

Judging by her complexion, she seems to be Egyptian, could it be a mixed descent of Carthaginian or Macedonians, a member of the noble royal family?

They held their breath as Lorraine took Henna in her arms and approached the Pidicks.

Madame Pidick held out the back of her hand to Lorraine with a feather fan, and Lorraine greeted Madame with her chin head, and her slender fingers hooked Madame's fingertips, brought them to her lips, and made a kiss gesture about a centimeter apart.

Henna's big eyes began to flicker again, and she wondered whether to follow the example of Madame, and handed her hand to the half-hundred-year-old man opposite.

She wasn't very willing......

Lorraine saw her entanglement, turned her head intimately, and whispered, "It's good to pay respects, the girl doesn't need to kiss her hand." ”

Henna breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to Mr. Pidick.

Mr. Pidick laughed heartily, "Little Mr. Drake, every time we meet, you always surprise me. Who are you around? ”

"Henna, henna. Yesla, she is the lookout of the ship, my most trusted companion. ”

"Langcai, female appearance!" Mr. Pidick complimented, "Your box is at number seven, next to me. I hope you've found your goal. ”

"I did." Lorraine made a gesture of invitation to Mr. Pidick, "I hope the competition will not be too fierce for a while." It would be a shame if the asking price was too high. ”