There are many Chinese and Japanese merchants in Hua Thonburi, and they have a wide range of businesses, and Ping Chou Sheng browses the Chinese shopping streets in Thonburi, which are lined with low-slung wooden houses and are full of various shops. Most of them are run by Chinese, selling all kinds of groceries, from precious Chinese silk fabrics, porcelain, and handicrafts, to cheap daily groceries, to fruits, dried fruits, and even pickles and pickles. It can be said that without the supply of a large number of Chinese daily necessities, these "kingdoms" of Southeast Asia would have lived a semi-savage life.

The Ayutthaya dynasty had a large number of Chinese shili, and the dynasty relied heavily on the industrial and commercial talents of the Chinese, probably because the king of Utong was a descendant of the Chinese, and Siam always treated the Chinese more favorably, allowing the Chinese to live in the city of Ayutthaya, in contrast, the Japanese and Portuguese could only live outside the city.

Because of this relationship, the industry and commerce of the Chinese developed rapidly in the local area, and many people made a fortune, and the ordinary Chinese who were busy in those short and dark shops might be engaged in the trade of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

In the shopping street here, Ping Qiusheng saw several prolific goods, from straw hats, rum, "Australian" sweets, sugar, paper, ...... Almost all of the fist products that cross the group are sold here. However, the quantity is small and the price is very expensive.

Commodities have their own flow, either high quality or low price, and the goods can automatically flow here, indicating that the market for "Australian goods" is broader than he estimated.

Ping Qiusheng felt very excited, there were so many Chinese businessmen, with a lot of capital and manpower, they were simply natural collaborators and fifth columns! The Ming and Qing dynasties had such an overseas foundation, but regarded overseas Chinese as "outcasts", not only did nothing, but even regarded them as enemies, and Zuihou ceded the living space that the Chinese naturally should have in the south of the mainland to the monkeys.

However, Feng Shengyue's words poured cold water on Ping Qiusheng.

It turned out that there were many factions among the Chinese, and they were hostile to each other. Throughout Southeast Asia, relations between the Chaoshan, Hakka, and Hokkien people are fierce, and conflicts erupt from time to time. In addition to the large area, there are also small fellow villagers, and the clan Liliang is also very powerful, each ganging up to squeeze out outsiders, and even colluding with local tyrants to fight against dissidents.

This is not surprising in the 17th century, when modern nationalism had not yet developed. Ping Qiusheng counted on getting help from the local Chinese immediately, and it was not very possible for him to trade with the Chinese merchants, and it was perhaps more realistic to use their business channels to do the key things by his own people.

Ping Qiusheng's group of people only received the warm hospitality of the Qiongshan Gang merchants here, although everyone generally does not regard Australians as Ming people, but since Australians stay in Hainan, they are also considered to be a member of Hainan. Especially in recent years, Hainan businessmen have made a lot of money by selling Australian goods and Southeast Asian products back and forth.

The Qiongshan Gang is not very popular among local Chinese businessmen and does not have much right to speak. It's not a big deal. The local head of the guild invited Ping Qiusheng and others to eat and listen to the play at the Qiongshan Hall, and heard a lot of news at the banquet. The Chinese merchants here are not only very large, but also deep inland. The Chinese merchants were not only big businessmen engaged in import and export trade, but also small traders dealing in firewood, rice, oil, salt, and other commodities, and these small traders went deep into the interior, opened shops in villages and towns that no one had ever heard of, sold goods and purchased local products, and established a fairly extensive commercial network. In Ping Qiusheng's view, these small traders were much more valuable to the Senate than the maritime merchants who sat at the port.

After several days of negotiations, a preliminary trade agreement was reached: on the condition that the Senate would sell weapons to Siam, the ships of Southeast Asian companies granted privileges by the Senate would be allowed to anchor and trade in Thonburi and Pattani. Limited to two large ships at a time. Vessels of Southeast Asian companies are exempt from berthing tax.

Merchants of Southeast Asian companies are free to trade with merchants they wish to trade in the two places. However, it is not allowed to enter the mainland of Siam without obtaining a permit.

Merchants of Southeast Asian companies were free to bring in a wide range of goods, but they had to bring a specified number of weapons per voyage, and they had the right to take whatever they wanted. Imported products are exempt from paying import duties and weapons in accordance with regulations.

Because it was the first time to arrive, the two sides had not yet established enough mutual trust, and Ping Qiusheng did not make a request to open a local warehouse or merchant house, and for the time being, they were not able to set up a point in Siam, and they might not agree to mention it themselves.

The parties are satisfied that such a preliminary agreement has been reached.

Vorowon was quite ambitious, and he was interested in the "Australians" or, as the Akito put it: "the Bearded People". In particular, rumors of their possession of formidable force.

He took a keen interest in the two ships that the Southeast Asian company had sailed on. Although he did not visit the ship for safety reasons, he managed to get closer to the other ships, and from the outside, the two ships were not much different from those of the Chinese merchants, except for the slight differences in the layout of the deck and the masts. Even a "land man" like Wo Luo Weng knows that these two ships are ordinary Chinese ships, but after the transformation of the Australians, the traces of transformation are still quite obvious, especially the new and old materials.

Armament was one thing he was particularly interested in. The rise of the Tai has a lot to do with their emphasis on force. The military of the Tai people, the administration of the Khmer people, and the industry and commerce of the Chinese were among the three pillars that made up the Ayutthaya dynasty. The average Chinese merchant ship was rarely equipped with artillery, and only those ships of the British, Dutch, and Portuguese were equipped with artillery. But the two ships with the "nine-dan flag" had guns on their decks: black, short, and thick, not much like the Western guns he had ever seen. Obviously, once this artillery is fired, the huge projectiles it fires will cause even more serious damage to the enemy.

Among other things, he was interested in the "arquebuses" that the sailors were equipped with. Wo Lo Tai was familiar with arquebuses: the Burmese, the Ayutthaya rivals, used arquebuses extensively, while Siamese arquebuses were largely imported. Since the Australians were able to equip their sailors with this weapon generally, it was clear that they had enough guns.

Through the opportunity of his men to bring water and food to the ships, Vorowon was able to obtain more details: for example, the pistol was more beautiful in appearance, had a high finish, etc., and the pistol did not seem to have an arquebus: because the sailors who carried the arquebus never carried an arquebus, which the arquebusier wrapped around their body was originally a distinctive feature of theirs.

Although he was eager to get a feel for the power of this new weapon, he never came across the right opportunity. It wasn't until a banquet that he took the opportunity to ask for a glimpse of the power of the gun, and Ping Qiusheng immediately took care of people and met his request.

When one of the Special Detectives' top marksmen smashed a clay pot a meter away with a shot from a Jr-marked high-precision Mini rifle, all the natives present were stunned by the range of the arquebus, which could reach 50 paces away at best, and what it could hit was pure luck. It's unheard of to be hit at such a distance.

Vorowon offered to buy the weapon, which was naturally refused, but Ping Qiusheng suggested that they buy artillery: to show that he was right, he ordered his ship to shell an island in the bay.

The sound of 68-pound iron shells falling on the reef was staggering, and the reef fragments flew and smoke rose into the air. This suggestion was immediately agreed to by Voloon. He immediately asked the Southeast Asian company to bring one of these cannons and accompanying ammunition for the next voyage, as well as to provide gunner training.

As for the price, he didn't even ask, only said that he would pay for whatever goods the Australians needed, and it was obvious that the arms trade was a lucrative industry.

Two weeks later, the fully loaded fleet began to return home, and this time Ping Qiusheng brought all kinds of goods and sold out. All 1,500 Type 1631 machetes were sold to Vorowon. The main force of Passeton is probably around the number of people, and the annual consumption of 1,000 after all the refitting is gained, and the needs of the people must be taken into account.

According to the discount, a 1631-style machete 1 tael, plus Australian sugar and various groceries, a total of nearly 30,000 stone of rice was exchanged. Some of them were carried away with the fleet, and some of them were left in the warehouses of the local Qiongshan Gang merchants, waiting for the ships to be transferred.

In addition to his busy work, Ping Qiusheng from time to time said to Quark that he was not at peace here, and the Senate was in great need of rice and minerals here, and if he was interested, he could also set up a trading station here, even if it was for the Australians, by the way, it was equivalent to making a trade window for the British East India Company, although the British East India Company preferred Pattani.

For Wo Luo Weng, Ping Qiusheng did not trust. Quark also had great ambitions, but he was first and foremost a businessman, thinking about making money, and his credibility as a businessman was recognized by the Senate. And on the premise of seeing huge benefits, Woloon is likely to do what he did against Japanese merchants back then.

Ping Qiusheng also announced to the local Chinese and Japanese merchants here: the rice, potash ore and timber here are as much as there are in Lingao. As long as the merchants here are willing to serve the Australians, they can directly transport the goods to Lingao or Sanya, and they can get a good reward. He also didn't want Quark to monopolize the trade here, after all, when he freed up, this place would be the territory directly under the Crossing Group, and it was not reassuring for anyone to control the grain.