A year later, Boris Johnson once again led the fleet to NSW. This time he still brought a lot of saltpeter and cotton, but more importantly it was a lot more silver than before.

From silver bars and ingots to large quantities of silver dollars.

The British East India Company had already experienced the beauty of NSW, where there was not only silk and porcelain, but also wonderful rhubarb.

For Chinese, rhubarb has always been a kind of medicinal herb, which has the effects of attacking stagnation, clearing dampness and heat, purging fire, cooling blood, removing stasis, and detoxifying. But in Europa, rhubarb is a treasure coveted by many elites.

Matteo Ricci once wrote: "Herbs are abundant in China, while elsewhere they are only imported." Rhubarb and musk were originally brought in from the West by the Saracens, and after spreading throughout Asia, they were exported to Europe at almost unbelievable profits. A pound of rhubarb here costs a dime, but in Europe it costs six or seven times as much nuggets. "Whether the rhubarb and musk were originally brought in from the West by the Saracens is not to be said, but the high profits are absolute.

Moreover, the history of Europeans eating rhubarb is not recent, and the long time can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty. Ever since Zhang Qian hollowed out the Western Regions and the Western Han government took control of the Hexi Corridor, merchants on the Silk Road have been busy, bringing spices, precious stones, gold, furs, and woolen fabrics from Central and West Asia to the East, and silk, porcelain, and medicines from China to Persia, including the concocted rhubarb. The caravan passed through Asia Minor to the current Ottoman Empire, and sailed through the Bosphorus into Europe, where the Europeans called the rhubarb from the sky the rhubarb of the sky. After the Song Dynasty, the Southern Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road arose, China's goods raw silk, silk, porcelain, medicine, etc. were transported by merchant ships to Nanyang and then transported to Tianzhu, and then flowed into Tianfang from Tianzhu and then entered Europe, and the rhubarb that took this road was named Tianzhu Rhubarb, and China got rhino horn, ivory, agarwood, gems and other valuables from this maritime Silk Road.

What's more, it's not just Europeans who need rhubarb? Tianzhu, like the nobles of the Tianfang world, needs rhubarb to make their excretion smooth.

In all carnivores, before they can drink tea to relieve greasy and supplement vitamins, rhubarb is their main tonic and the best medicine for clearing the intestines, removing fire, treating toothache, laxative and detoxifying.

In addition to silk and porcelain, the port of Xinzhou is the most attractive to Europeans is rhubarb, a load of rhubarb, although the value of the high is distressing, but think of the profits after they are shipped to the West, that can also make people crazy.

But even Zheng Zhilong can't open up the supply of rhubarb to Europeans, because in the current environment, it is very hard for him to take out 30,000 catties of rhubarb every year, so how can he open up the supply?

In particular, the high-quality Sichuan rhubarb and Northwest rhubarb are obviously white silver, but they can only be looked at.

Now Zhang Xianzhong is in a mess in Sichuan, although he controls most of Sichuan and Shu on the surface, but there are many uprisers in the prefecture and county, and his investment in Sichuan is not stable. As for Li Zicheng, I am afraid that there is no rhubarb in the eyes of this master.

Zheng Zhilong plans to withdraw from tea now, first tying tea with rhubarb, so that Europeans can understand what it is - they are addicted to meat and cheese, and they must not be sick with tea.

Then slowly open the market.

There were also decades between the Europeans' exposure to tea and the British people's large-scale demand for tea.

And Zheng Zhilong had a regret in his previous life, how to say it? That is, Europeans like to drink tea, it seems that only John Bull. He didn't know whether he was right or wrong, but he felt that it was because China's influence on Europe was too weak.

If in this time and space, he can reach into Europe early, and his children and grandchildren will gradually deepen their brand and influence on a global scale, tea can completely crush coffee.

After all, Europeans were introduced to coffee later than tea (isn't it surprising?). ）。

The saltpeter and cotton that Boris Johnson brought from Tianzhu were worthless, and a large bag of cotton could not be exchanged for a piece of silk, and a load of raw silk could easily dry up a ship's of cotton saltpeter.

In order to make money, the British could only come up with more precious metals to buy Chinese commercial goods.

"Sir, we have counted your goods, here is a list of all the goods, please take a look. If there are no problems, please sign. Our company will make follow-up arrangements. Ensure that the loading and unloading, transportation, warehousing, tallying, consignment, customs declaration, inspection and other work of the goods are completed in the shortest possible time. ”

The man spoke Latin, who was not very fluent, and Johnson barely understood what he meant. After reviewing the list of goods, I happily signed my name on the power of attorney.

The man put away the power of attorney, smiled kindly at Johnson, and turned away.

He's got a lot more ahead of him.

But it is precisely because of these things that he is busy with that the British are willing to pay a lot of money to hire their company to do things, right?

"This is the commissioning company?"

"Yes, it is this kind of all-in-one commission company, they are run by Chinese, have close ties with the Xinzhou Port official, and can help us handle everything in the shortest possible time." In the past year, this kind of company has grown from its birth to a monopoly of nearly seventy percent of the customs declaration business, which is simply a barbaric growth.

The British East India Company's Grand Ptan at the New South Wales Merchant House said so. Originally a high-level businessman in Batavia, he now switched to the side of the British, and it was only natural that he would become the head of the merchant hall. After all, he is not Dutch, but Swede.

With the completion of the first phase of the project in NSW, the calves also spent a lot of money to get two storefronts from NSW, which were combined into the current commercial hall.

The British East India Company, which is famous in Mumbai in Tianzhu, is now located on First Avenue in Port B of New South Wales, which is nothing at all. All around is a collection of signboards, which obliterate the signboard of the British East India Company.

Boris Johnson doesn't bother with spending money, it's worth every penny. Thinking of what happened to him after he entered the port of Xinzhou last year, he was looking for a translator, looking for a warehouse, and waiting in line for official personnel, and he was too busy. But now he can not only directly enter the port of New South Wales, without continuing to stay in the Cisse Islands, but also completely get rid of those complicated things, and can directly devote himself to the purchase and selection of goods, and even bargaining with merchants, which really has a sense of relief!

Coming ashore from the wharf, there was already a horse-drawn carriage waiting, and Johnson and Kuichi rode the carriage to the merchant house.

The Port of New Walnut is really lively, but it is still as clean and orderly as ever.

Even though the streets are crowded, no one will run to the driveway to show their presence, so the carriage is still very smooth along the way.

After getting out of the carriage, Johnson, who walked into the merchant house, saw the glass at a glance, piece by piece, the glittering glass, which blinded his eyes.

He never seemed to have seen so much glass in his life.

"It's really a masterpiece, and it's a miracle, isn't it?" In a short period of time, the Chinese changed from importers of glassware to exporters, and God knew what was happening.

In the studio on the second floor, Johnson looked at a Western-framed floor-to-ceiling mirror, and he was heartily complimented.

"Yes, this miracle happened right in front of us."

As far as I know, in New South Wales, the factories where Chinese produce glassware are in New South Wales. But he didn't dare to make a small movement in the shadows, and he knew with his toes that the place would definitely be watched tightly by the Chinese.

Not being able to eat mutton is not a disaster, but causing a commotion is a disaster.

"Compared to us, the Chinese are selling quite cheaply, and although they have only been on the market for less than half a year, they have already earned Zheng Zhilong a lot of silver. The kings and nobles of the South Seas bought it like crazy. Especially this kind of large full-length mirror and floor-to-ceiling mirror, I really don't know how the Chinese make it. ”

In the 17th century, glass mirrors were no longer the preserve of the Venetians. At the beginning of this century, the British replaced wood with coal as the fuel for firing glass, and then used flint as a raw material to introduce lead oxide to make lead crystal glass with high refractive index, large dispersion and easy engraving. But a mirror body that is so large and flat is still uncommon.

"This is green tea, it's beautiful."

Johnson looked at the glass in front of him, green tea leaves churning in the water.

"Yes, the Chinese think that green tea should be drunk when the weather is hot. That can refresh the mind, clear away heat and relieve heat, eliminate food and phlegm, get tired and lose weight, anyway, there are many benefits. And black tea is drunk in winter, in addition to refreshing fatigue, it can also warm the stomach. "At the beginning of this century, the Dutch were the first to ship Wuyi black tea to Europe, and a few years ago they brought black tea to England. However, the volume of this trade is very small.

European merchant ships only brought some tea with them, so the price of tea in Europe was extremely expensive, and there was a saying of "throwing three silver pieces to drink a cup of tea", and their consumer groups were mainly concentrated among the royalty, nobles and other upper-class figures. Even when black tea was first introduced to Britain, there were some scholars and doctors who opposed tea drinking, which also affected its popularity.

As soon as he spoke, someone came to hand him a pot of milk tea, "But seriously, I still prefer milk tea." ”

This drink, which is made with fresh milk, tea leaves and sugar, is more suitable for the same appetite than green tea and black tea.

"Would you like a drink, chilled, chilled? Perfect for drinking at this time. ”

"If you add some pearl balls and coconut pulp, it tastes even better."

Johnson picked up the glass, looking like he wanted to taste the green tea, and the churning heat made him hesitate for a moment before putting down the quilt again.

Then he took the iced milk tea, drank most of it in one go, and sighed comfortably, "This tastes really good." Now I'm longing to see the pearl balls and coconut flesh sooner. ”

"So you agree?"

"Why not? With milk tea, I believe that tea will soon become popular in Europe. We now continue to wait and see, that is, to push the gold coin into the arms of the Dutch. ”