"Not right now. ()" Chang Shide said. "It's too time-consuming to explain. Print them a passbook or something like that, and write down the amount, so that the sugarcane farmers can have an idea, and it will be easier to call them for a meeting later. ”

Wen Tong smiled and said, "Good idea, how did you come up with it?"

"Look at those who sell health care products, it's KAO free medical check-ups to pull people. If you don't give a little favor, who will listen to your nonsense? ”

"But how do you print this passbook? It also has to be used many times to be able to write on it. Wen Tong hesitated, "Do you want to ask Lingao for help?" ”

Liao Daxing said: "This thing is not difficult to do, it is nothing more than a compromise for the sugar sugar farmers." You can do it by finding a paper shop. ”

“？” A few people looked at Liao Daxing in unison. Chang Shide asked: "There are also passbooks in the local area?" ”

Liao Daxing was a little confused and said, "Yes, every shop has an excerpt." As he spoke, he took out a fold from his sleeve and handed it over, Wen Tong opened it and looked at it, which recorded the date and amount of the transaction in small letters, and it was also stamped with the private seals of both parties.

"This is the grain store that brought us grain."

"Okay, that's it." Wen Tong said happily, "Let's order 3,000 copies first." ”

Liao Daxing was startled, as soon as he opened his mouth, there were 3,000 copies, and there were not so many paper shops in Leizhou. Busy said: "There are not so many goods, according to the small view, such a fold is too big." This fold is not often used, or immediately order some, the size of the smaller can be, this is fast, the price is low. ”

And so it was settled. Several people discussed the arrangements for the opening day together. Wen Tong's big head is the matter of mobilizing silver. He had already inquired that the annual output of sugar here was more than 200,000 stones. It is estimated that most of the sugar will still be purchased by Haiyitang's sugar store, and on his own side, he can probably collect 20,000 stones. That's about 50,000 taels of silver. When Guangzhou Station arranged for the Wei Dart Bureau to be set up in Leizhou, it deposited 10,000 taels of silver locally. Wen Tong came to Leizhou and brought another 3,000. But the money was almost all spent on building infrastructure, relocating migrants, and befriending the government. The only thing that can be used is 10,000 taels in Guangzhou.

This amount is also too far off. Guangzhou Station is willing to give full support, saying that 100,000 taels of silver can be allocated at any time, but Daming has no exchange agency, and the silver has to be sent thousands of miles away, which feels really unsafe.

Several people thought for a long time and didn't come up with a suitable way, and on this day, Chang Shide took Liao Daxing to the county town to go shopping and relax. This is his only hobby besides training female slaves: wearing silk and satin, and striding through the dirty streets. His unusual height, physique, and fair skin all flashed to the side in awe—it felt good to be a big guy. Chang Shide quickly discovered a phenomenon when he was shopping - Xu Wen The prices here are very high!

In the past, Liao Dahua procured food for the immigrants, and when he reported the bills, it was all two taels and one stone. Chang Shide once thought that Liao Dahua was suspected of making profits in the middle, but after a few months, he found that although the price of grain fluctuated, it never fell below two taels, and it was showing a gradual upward trend. Although there is only one Qiongzhou Strait with Lingao, the grain price of Lingao did not exceed one or two or five yuan at the highest time.

In addition to grain, the price of everything here is higher than that of Lingao, from firewood, ironware, cloth to ordinary daily life altars and jars. It was even more evident when they carried out the construction work a second time. Moreover, there are very few copper coins in circulation here, a large number of them are made of silver, and the small payment is made of a kind of silver beans that seem to be specially minted, which aroused Chang Shide's great interest. Although he did not study economics. The basic economic principle is still clear - silver here is clearly depreciating compared to Lingao.

"Shopkeeper Liao," Chang Shide asked Liao Daxing, "Xu Wen's rice price is so high?" ”

"You're asking the right person." This topic is poking at Liao Daxing's itch, "The little one used to work in the grain store, not only this Xu Wen, but also Haikang, the price of rice is frighteningly high!" Suixi is better. The reason is simple: growing sugarcane is profitable. Everyone destroyed the paddy fields to grow sugarcane, and there was not enough food to eat, so they had to transport it from other places, and the price naturally went up. ”

"That's right." Chang Shitong nodded.

"That's not it!" Liao Daxing said, "Sugarcane is water-intensive, fertilizer-intensive, and labor-intensive, and once sugarcane is planted, no one has the ability to plant paddy fields anymore." ”

"Where does the food come from?"

"From the sea, the north road comes more. This sea thing may not be, if you encounter pirates, or if you are caught in a storm, you will lose a lot if you drift away, and since it is not easy to transport, it will naturally be expensive. ”

Liao Daxing didn't say anything about Chang Shide, and lowered his lips. smiled: "Actually, the little one still has a thought, but I don't know if it's right-"

"Let's talk about it."

"The little one thinks that the key is that there is too much silver in Leizhou-"

Chang Shide stood on his feet, glanced at him, and felt quite surprised—he thought that the ancients did not understand this truth, and would directly equate precious metals with wealth itself.

"Makes sense!" Chang Shide suddenly looked at this guy from the former grain store differently.

"Yes," Liao Daxing saw that the proprietor's expression was full of approval, and hurriedly added a few words, "There are more than 200,000 stone of sugar to be shipped out of this Leizhou every year, and the silver flowing in is four or five hundred thousand taels. There is too much silver, and department stores are naturally expensive. ”

"Yes, it's expensive, but sugar is something everyone wants." Chang Shide groaned, he seemed to see a solution in the dark.

"Shopkeeper Liao, what do you say about the income of the sugar sugar farmers?"

"Not bad, isn't it? Anyway, it's much better than growing rice! ”

"Hmm." Chang Shide asked another question, "Has there been a boat here that has been to Champa?" ”

"What are you going to do in Occupy the city?" Liao Daxing felt strange, "There is no one in the local area who does maritime trade. ”

The outline of Jihua in Chang Shide's mind gradually became clear, and he patted Liao Daxing's shoulder with some excitement, "Go, go back." ”

That night, he couldn't wait for the contact information transmitted to Guangzhou through the carrier pigeon, so he directly wrote a superstitious letter and instructed the Wei Dart Bureau: take a boat to Lingao early the next morning. This matter requires the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chang Shide's Jihua is very simple:

Since silver is not worth much in Leizhou, it is not worth it to buy sugar with cash.

Because there is too much silver in Leizhou, everything is expensive. It is a good deal to use a kind of goods that everyone needs and the price is still very high. This kind of thing is rice.

If the rice is transported from the North Guangdong Road in the traditional way, the sea route is too long. Various risk factors are significant.

So his idea is: to transport sugar from Leizhou to Vietnam for sale. Vietnam does not grow sugarcane, so the price of sugar will be very high, and the price of rice in Vietnam has always been cheap. The rice exchanged for granulated sugar was then paid to the sugarcane farmers at the price of rice in Leizhou as the purchase price. This is tantamount to earning a double profit,

However, when it comes to trade with Vietnam, Chang Shide does not know Vietnam's trade rules, nor does he know the sea conditions along the coast of Vietnam, let alone the local rice and sugar prices in Vietnam, so it is obviously risky to rashly organize ships to Vietnam.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not dare to slack off when it received this letter, and hurriedly reported it to the Executive Committee, and all departments immediately became operational. The Intelligence Committee soon announced that this plan was feasible, and that the Portuguese had sold Chinese sugar to Vietnam for eight taels per stone! This market is twice as high as the purchase price of the British in Guangzhou! The windfall profits of the maritime trade made everyone unbearable. Instructed the Executive Committee to immediately open the door to Vietnamese trade.

"It's time that Vietnam's rich resources can't sleep any longer." At the enlarged meeting of the Executive Committee, fanatics instigated, "Turn it into our raw material base and market!" ”

"Expedition by force!"

"Where the cannons go, trade opens the way!"

"Let's set up a few cannons on the coastline of Vietnam and completely enslave a country!"

"It is better to establish this trade route in Vietnam as soon as possible." Ma Qianzhu was not very interested in the trade between sugar and rice, but he had long coveted Hongji's coal.

In this way, Jihua, who opened up trade with Vietnam, was decided. Considering that the political situation in Vietnam at this time was relatively chaotic, with the confrontation between the North and the South, and the Dutch and Portuguese behind them, the Jesuits also had a kick in it, and there were many interests involved in all aspects. Zuihou decided to enter in a more low-key manner.

Vietnam's trade with China was as follows: A fee of 1,000 taels per year was paid to enter the ports of North Korea. The Southern Dynasties opened a city exclusively for Chinese trade. The location chosen by the crossing group is the Li Dynasty in the north, which has not only rice but also coal, and is relatively close to Hainan and the Leizhou Peninsula.

Although the attempt to use it as a container ship failed, the advantages of a wide hull and a large amount of cargo are still obvious to all, and the characteristics of shallow draft are more suitable for wharves with shallow water depth and lack of port facilities in this time and space. As for the slower speed, it is not too much of a problem - to the Hung Kai area of Vietnam, the sailing boat will not take more than two days.

The "Big Whale" came to Leizhou. A thousand stone of red sugar was loaded into the port of Hai'an, and in order to ensure the safety of the ship, four 12-pounder howitzers and an infantry platoon were temporarily carried on board - both as bodyguards and coolies. It was Chang Shide himself who commanded this operation.

As for the necessary translation, neither Lingao nor Leizhou could solve it - although it was close, no one had ever been to Vietnam to do business. Guo Yi originally tried to find one among the maritime merchants in Guangzhou, but the familial and closed nature of the maritime group made such recruitment completely ineffective. zuihou, they thought of the Jesuits in Macau, this organization has many tentacles, and they go anywhere. Zhang Xin rushed to Macau to find Lu Ruohua.

With the help of Lu Ruohua, Zhang Xin recruited a down-and-out pirate leader in Macau, named Zhang Da Scarla, this person is a black fat man with a big Scara on his face, so he got this nickname, as for what his real name is, even he can't remember it clearly. It was originally under the hands of Yang Liu and Yang Qi, and after the defeat of the two Yangs, Zhang Da Scar, who had a lot of savings, ran to Macao - the old pirate who had suffered a lot of serious injuries and had a faint pain in his scars every rainy day began to feel powerless, and wanted to live comfortably in seclusion, but he did not expect that the white pigeons were released in Macao, and the money was swept away. He had been a thief for many years, did not know how to make a living, and soon lived on the streets, living on the help of the Jesuits. Later, he was simply baptized into the church for two meals of gruel a day, and he was considered a member of the church.

Although Zhang Dascara is no longer good at fighting and killing, after all, he is an old fur seal who has been in the game for many years, and he is very familiar with the sea routes in various parts of the South Seas, and he speaks several languages, including Vietnamese and Malay.

Zhang Xin felt that this was a suitable candidate at a glance, and hired him on the spot, saying that he didn't need to be born and die, just translate, twelve Spanish silver oceans a month. Zhang Da Scarla, who drank porridge and drank so much that he faded out of the birds, immediately got on their thief ship.

When the big whale was about to leave at the dock on Hai'an Street, Chang Shide took care of Wen Tong: "Lao Wen, I will go, let alone ten days." Now that the house is almost finished, don't wait any longer. You can arrange to buy sugar locally first. We have ten thousand taels of silver to spare. It should be enough to support me when I come back. ”

"Okay," Wen Tong shook his hand tightly, what a comrade haode, not only came up with such a haode idea, but also took the initiative to ask Ying to go to the unfamiliar Vietnam to engage in trade and create a new situation. When I turned my head to look, I saw Ah Xiu waiting to get on the boat with a basket on his back, thinking that this person was really incorrigible.

Chang Shide unceremoniously occupied a single cabin, making Ah Xiu a small comfortable nest. Then he waited comfortably for the ship to arrive at Xialong.

After two days at sea, the ship finally—

Lost!

"Where is this?"

"It should be in Halong Bay." Lelin took the sextant and said hesitantly—he was the temporary captain of the ship.

"What do you mean by should!" Finally broke out in the pain of seasickness, and this person was selected for the trade mission to Vietnam purely because he looked like Vietnamese. Since yesterday, the Big Whale has entered a relatively calm bay, and there are many small islands in the bay, which is a bit picturesque. But I just don't know where Hongji should go.

Lelin's calculations of latitude and longitude have been in such a state of great oscillation that the ambassador of his error cannot believe his measurements. Someone was already muttering that a local helmsman should be hired instead of having his second knife in command of the ship.

"You take the helm." Master Chang De Zuihou kicked Le Lin away and called Zhang Dascara to drive the boat. (！ )