In the list of goods obtained by the Lin brothers, there is one commodity that must be purchased in large quantities: salt.

The land of Fujian has always been short of salt, especially in the four prefectures of northern Fujian, the foothills are extended, the transportation is inconvenient, the local production is insufficient, and the salt has to rely on foreign transportation to make up for the shortage since ancient times.

Ironically, Fujian, which was short of salt, had evolved from the process of cutting (boiling) salt to the advanced process of drying salt in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. However, this is useless, spring, summer, autumn and winter can run to see the rain at any time in Fujian, relying on the sky to eat salt is destined to hit the streets, occasionally encounter a year of drought...... Ahem, everyone has gone to flee the famine.

There are also huge conservative groups in the middle: Lianghuai Salt Merchant, Yanzheng Yamen, Haoqiang, Yanchang, Yanding...... And so on and so forth. Vested interests are reluctant to overturn the huge rules for the distribution of salt profits, even if a fierce person like Xu Guangqi tries to promote salt drying in Shandong a few years later. Until the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Lianghuai Salt Farm was still using the ancient method of boiling salt to produce salt.

......

Funing Prefecture, where the Lin clan is located, belongs to a remote state and county in northern Fujian, and it has never been easy to eat salt. Fortunately, now that the salt law has collapsed, there is no king law in the eyes of local tyrants like the Lin family, and every time the Lin Baoquan brothers go to the sea to Hangzhou, they always have to bring some salt goods back. Whether it is official salt or private salt, whether there is salt or not, the Lin family will not refuse to come - as long as the ship returns to Funing Prefecture and says that it is official salt, it is official salt.

From the first glance of the salt on the manifest, Lin Baoquan determined the main goods on the return trip in the future. What Lin was most afraid of before setting off was that the red hair of the big man was the same as the Francois in Taipei, with only silver and no goods.

Now that the red hair has been replaced by a Chinese-speaking man, and there is more salt on the manifest, Lin Baoquan is quite satisfied with this.

What made him even more satisfied was still to come: Professor Luo had turned into a robot cat today, and as soon as Pu met, he took out a bunch of gift packages for the Xing'an Ping, or friendly merchant ships.

The first package is the Nautical Package: first, the Hung Yen Ping can return early.

The robot cat said: "At present, there is a fleet in Dayuan that will soon depart for Hangzhou, and the Xing'an Ping can go home with a group on the way, and there is no need to wait until May or June to return." ”

If it is said that the fortune boat can start from northern Fujian and cross the strait by taking advantage of the north wind in winter; Then the Hung Yen Ping had no ability to return to the other side of the strait against the wind. When the wind is headwinded, the ship needs to maneuver at various angles on the sea, and if you play this in the strait, you will lose your way in the first hour after the night comes.

The Hung Yen Ping arrived in March, and according to custom, the Fu ship had to wait until the southeast monsoon was strong in May and June before returning to the strait. And Professor Luo made it very clear today: the fleet that crosses the crowd can carry the Fu ship to the coast of Zhejiang, so that the Xing'an Ping can quickly return to northern Fujian with reference to the landmark.

This plan really surprised the Lin family. When the brothers learned that the fleet of these people actually had the ability to observe the sky and measure their positions, they couldn't help but be overjoyed - in this way, the Xing'an Ping could catch the tail of the north wind season and make another trip.

The nautical pack isn't over yet.

From Brother Lin's previous statement on sea routes, Professor Luo had already heard the helplessness of the Ming maritime merchants in this era about unfamiliar routes.

As early as the early Ming Dynasty, maritime merchants could still use crude nautical survey tools such as star-pulling plates and compasses to support the field. However, under the brain-dead policy of the Zhu emperors wave after wave of banning the sea and sealing the boats, hundreds of years have passed, Westerners have invented various measuring tools that do not need to look directly at the sun, while the Ming merchants have degenerated to the realm of using naked eye radar, which is really ironic.

In response to this, Professor Luo launched a measurement package: including a nautical chart, a quadrant, and an electronic watch.

The charts were revised, with rough depictions of the southeast coastline and several key cities along the way, and then longitude and latitude numbers were marked above the heads of these cities. Those who use this chart can calculate the bearing relationship between their own ships and several large cities on the sea.

Of course, nautical charts are meant to be used in conjunction with quadrants. The quadrant is a mold produced by the kiln area - brought by later generations, and the kiln area is cast with copper water.

The quadrant was invented by the British navigators, the greatest invention of this era, and at the beginning of the 17th century, when the various quadrants were carried forward in the hands of the colonists.

The quadrant, which can measure latitude relatively accurately without looking directly into the sunlight, not only saved the world's one-eyed dragon captains, but also drove all the previous latitude-measuring nautical instruments into the garbage heap, just like an arquebus eliminates a knife and axe.

You don't need this to cross your own fleet, you have Minnie gun-level sextants, and machine-gun-level electronic sextants. The sextant was not invented until the 18th century, and it is now the standard configuration of ordinary sand boats, and the pilot ship is equipped with an electronic sextant to produce data in seconds.

In this way, the Hung Yen Ping was able to raise the level of latitude measurement to the same level as the European colonizers, and in addition, in the measurement of longitude, the technology of the Hung Yen Ping was superior to that of the colonists: electronic watches.

The use of electronic watches is well thought out, because electronic watches are not afraid of being lost.

Every six months or so, this waterproof electronic watch, which only has the simplest dual chronograph function, will have a power outage and must go back to the big staff to replace the battery. In this case, even if a hostile force or a colonizer gets it, it will be fine, and the natives of the 17th century could not understand the circuit board, this step is too big, and it is already a split...... On the contrary, mechanical watches should control the number of outflows, and the natives can understand the gears and mechanical structures.

"I wonder how much these gods cost?" After listening to Professor Luo's description, Lin Baoquan asked this question for the first time. At the same time, Lin Baoan, who was overflowing with excitement, asked another question: "Is there a master to teach the Fa?" ”

Professor Luo laughed and stretched out his five fingers: "The policy support price is 500 taels of silver for a set." ”

When Lin Baoquan heard this number, he didn't blink: "I want it." ”

At this time, Professor Luo turned his head to Lin Baoan and said, "In the afternoon, I will arrange for the teacher to go to the sea to teach the Fa, and the teaching will be guaranteed." ”

......

Once the first bundle has been opened, the second bundle is next: Weapons.

The two brothers were taken to a remote warehouse filled with Dutch weapons captured during the Merchant's War.

Professor Law first recommended the Dutch arquebus to the brothers. For the Lin brothers, there is no reason to refuse the same style and good craftsmanship: this thing can be of great use to defend against pirates on the ocean, or to defend against thieves, pirates and mountain people.

Professor Luo smiled and sold 30 arquebuses to them. Next is the artillery, what is left in the warehouse, now there are only about 10 iron cannons of different sizes, and the larger copper cannons have been pulled away and smelted in the kiln area.

The bronze cannon with all aspects of performance is the best blast of iron cannons, but there is only one intolerable drawback: price. At the beginning of the 17th century, a bronze cannon cost at least four times as much as an iron cannon, and in a few decades, with the development of steel smelting technology, the cost of a bronze cannon would be as high as seven times that of an iron cannon.

The Age of Discovery, in full swing, and the Thirty Years' War in Europe, made all weapons of war evolve at the fastest pace. At this time, Europeans are in the process of replacing bronze cannons with increasingly mature cast iron cannons.

These trophy guns in the warehouse have already reflected this trend: among the Dutch guns obtained from the merchant houses and naval training ships after crossing the crowd, the 8-pounder and 10-pounder guns that are more difficult to smelt are bronze cannons, which are the so-called "half-snake guns", while the remaining iron cannons, the "small snake guns" that do not even have the qualification of "half-snake guns", are all under 6 pounds in caliber.

Most of these guns were made in England, and the craftsmanship was quite perfect: the barrel of the gun was smooth, the lugs, the gun mount, the reinforcing hoop, the raised davit at the tail of the gun were not missing, and the gun body had inscriptions, patterns and cross flag patterns, and the products were quite exquisite.

The advances in European weaponry spawned by the Great Voyage and the Thirty Years' War are clearly reflected in these artillery.

"It's all good stuff, and the workmanship is very good." Professor Luo stroked the smooth cast iron cannon body at the moment, and almost said something about this thing, killing people and setting fire to their homes......

"This thing is not easy to handle on the ship, it is cheaper to ask one or two people to go back to the town house." Lin Baoquan stroked his long beard lightly and said with a smile.

My family knows their own affairs, and the design of the "V" shaped bottom and no ribs of the Fu boat was originally not used to rattle the cannons. Lin Baoquan had seen the earth cannon fire on the Fu ship, with neither the accurate head nor the range, and the gun position could only be placed on the center line of the bow - using the keel to counteract the recoil.

Professor Luo can understand what Boss Lin meant: it is difficult for artillery to exert its power without professional operation. For the sailors on the Fu ship, it was a bit reluctant to complete a series of steps from ranging to launching when facing the enemy, in the wind and waves and the constantly shaking bow of the ship.

"Well, if Boss Lin is willing to let his subordinates go, he might as well send a few over. Hehe, go to Dayuan Island to practice with the army for a few days, be whipped for a few days, and keep the guns in the future. ”

As soon as Lin Baoquan heard that there was still a commission training business, he hurriedly didn't have a word to come down, so he ordered two four-pounder cannons and prepared to take them home to the town.

After the double package was opened, the customer was very satisfied: the package solved the biggest risk after going to sea - the problem of positioning, and the problem of second-level pirates was also greatly alleviated because of the arrival of dozens of arquebuses.

Lin Baoquan made a rough calculation and found that the money earned on this trip was actually filled back unconsciously......

Although salt and iron are coarse goods, the price of salt is much higher. In Jianghuai, one or two cents of silver can buy a pound of coarse salt, and even in the coastal areas of Funing Prefecture, it has never been less than eight pounds a catty.

As for the She people in the inland mountains, they want to eat salt...... Take out ten points, that is, a penny of silver, and want to exchange it for a pound of coarse salt in the hands of these coastal tyrants of the Lin family, it is all delusional, and fighting rice and catties of salt is not a legend in northern Fujian, but the norm.

The ship of iron and raw silk brought by Lin Baoquan was offset by the salt and guns that crossed the crowd, and the Lin brothers, who were originally worried that they could only bring some silver home, had to worry about the lack of value of the goods.