"Bang! Bang! Bang bang! A barrage of arquebuses echoed through Golconda Castle, and Shahi Sultan ordered his warriors to unleash the muskets brought by the merchants of Nanzhong to test their lethality and, by the way, the protective power of the armor.

As a result, it's exciting.

Within fifty paces, the arquebus penetrated the target with great ease, of course, in the case of a hit. In the same way, the sheep dressed in the armor sold by the merchants of Nanzhong, after enjoying the volley of a volley of firearms, were still bleating there, except for a few unlucky ones who were hit by the firecrackers on the limbs and heads, and the most of the hits were not harmed except for some crater scratches left on the armor.

If the whole army can be equipped with such weapons, then why not deal with the rebel tribes everywhere and the forces of the damned Mughal Empire? The samurai and generals began to imagine in their minds what it would be like to sweep away thousands of armies in the future.

However, the purchase of these weapons, armor, muskets, and artillery required a large amount of gold coins, and the generals all looked at the Sultan with great eyes, hoping that he would make the wisest choice, and there were also those who were relatively wealthy in the family, and secretly calculated that if the Sultan refused to buy these weapons, then he would use his own wealth to buy a batch of armed forces to strengthen himself.

It seems that the civilian ministers, who have always been at odds with the generals, have reservations about the idea that His Majesty the Sultan will take out a large number of precious stones and gold coins from the treasury to buy military supplies. They almost unanimously believe that even if they want to buy it. There was also some bargaining, and he was interested in the idea that the Chinese merchants could pay for the goods with a monopoly on the cotton trade and at the same time promote the cotton seeds they had brought in the interior.

"Your Majesty, the ministers and others believe that it is the best choice to pay for these weapons with cotton, and our Hyderabad is originally a distribution center for cotton and cotton cloth, and cotton is not as abundant as the sea, but at least as abundant as the Guwom River. With these worthless properties. In exchange for goods that could allow the army of His Majesty the Sultan to be re-equipped, we thought it was the best way to do it, and we agreed to do it according to the mention of the merchants of Nanzhong! ”

"And in this way, use the cotton seeds provided by the merchants of Nanzhong. We can also expand the area under cotton cultivation. In the future, more cotton can be exchanged for more armor, swords, muskets, and artillery. Let His Majesty's army win all battles! ”……

Putting aside the loud quarrels and debates of the people in Golconda Castle for their own interests, we set our eyes on Lin Wenbing and the others in the pavilion, since meeting with the Sultan. The officials at all levels here saw that Lin Wenbing and the others were all respectful, lest they would not serve them thoroughly, and offend the sultan who kept calling him "my most honorable friend" and brought trouble to themselves, and even those who were more active-minded knew that among the merchants who came to trade, in addition to the bulk goods, almost everyone had some sporadic goods in hand, and even the sailors and soldiers would have some small items in their bags ready to make a profit, and they might get a lot of benefits from it.

Lin Wenbing is also well versed in this, and now in the pavilion to discuss with several captains and the shopkeeper of the business, no more than twenty percent of the people are allowed to leave the ship to the city for trade activities every day, and take all kinds of goods they bring with them to the market to sell, "It is also good to earn money for the brothers, a wife, or something to go back to honor their parents!" ”

"The rest of the people must move near the boat, and if anything happens, get on the boat immediately!"

Hearing such an order, the whole fleet, whether it was the personnel of all levels of the firm, or the sailors, gunners, and soldiers accompanying the ship, all thundered with joy. Their bags were already stuffed with small mirrors, soap, glass beads, and most excessively, a gunner actually put more than a thousand boxwood combs in his box, I really don't know how he accomplished this feat!

Playing with a ruby that the Sultan used to pay for weapons, Lin Wenbing listened to Lin Shi and several shopkeepers and bookkeepers of the firm and began to calculate the income brought by the Guangzhou's ocean-going trial at the pavilion.

"The big shopkeeper, the gems are a total of 1,127 pieces, which are emeralds, rubies, diamonds, jadeites and other items, these things are not sold at a price in Hue, but they are shipped north to Guangzhou, Nanjing, Beijing and other places, which is the one in the hands of the big shopkeeper, sold to the princes and nobles, rich businessmen, and there is no big problem in changing the number of Guangzhou!"

There was such a huge profit on this trip, and the people present looked at each other, and they were all ecstatic. This is only about half of the payment, if the Sudan side can accept the payment with cotton, with the current production capacity in the south and central regions, it must be able to immediately turn cotton into cotton yarn, into cotton cloth and sell to various places, and the profits obtained in it will be even more lucrative!

Several people divided the gems according to the type, each with calipers and scales to measure the size and weight, respectively, respectively, with muslin sewn bags into the bag one by one, the mouth of the bag tightly sealed with fire paint sealed the four corners, and then affixed the seal, several shopkeepers and Lin Wenbing, Lin Shi and others signed on it.

When it was time to hold the lamp, Lin Wenbing stood up and stretched his waist for a long time, ready to order the people of the pavilion to light the lamp, but at this time he heard a noisy sound in the courtyard, which seemed to be the voice of the group of people in his caravan who went to trade in the market.

What happened?

A few people suddenly became alert, could it be that their own people went out to do small business and were calculated? Or did you clash with the locals? Lin Shi immediately grabbed the long knife and fire gun on the side, casually pulled off the dragon head on the short fire gun, and checked the flint sandwiched on it.

However, a few shopkeepers were very calm, pricked up their ears and listened, and there seemed to be no other sound, all of them were shouting and scolding there, and occasionally there were a few sobs and crying.

"Big shopkeeper, it's okay, it's not like there's a big deal." A few people were talking, and they quickly put these gems and other things into the cage and stored them, and then opened the door to the courtyard to meet the group of people who had returned from business.

In a courtyard full of Turkic architecture. The moonlight cast a shadow over the courtyard, and a group of people gathered in a circle, in which several sailors and soldiers who went to trade in the market during the day squatted on the ground and held their heads in their hands, and let out a whining cry from time to time.

"What are you crying about?! Like a! What happened?! ”

The captain of a lucky ship could clearly see that it was several gunners on his ship, who happily asked for leave in the morning to go to the street to sell the goods they had brought, and did not want to come back crying at night. Even if there is a big grievance, a few big men are urinating in this public, how can this not be annoying?

"Head, they're being bullied!"

A sailor who accompanied him briefed the crowd.

But it turned out. The gunners scraped together money from Hue to buy small three-inch mirrors and glass beads and the like. I was going to go to the street to exchange some silver and buy some silverware, copperware, cinnamon, pepper, etc., and sell them back, but some people even thought that if they were lucky. You can buy a small diamond or two to go back to or show off to your acquaintances. Or exchange some money to put a share in the sea ship office. But. A few people had just been looking for a shop on the street when they were targeted.

"A general of the Sultan's command, whom we met yesterday in the Sultan's palace, ordered us to be taken to his house. We say that we will buy all our goods, and the price will be as we open, but the payment for the goods will not be made in gold coins and silver dollars. You have to pay for it with something else. ”

At first, they thought they were going to exchange some pearls, precious stones, spices, and the like, but they thought they had met a nobleman, so they nodded in agreement. However, the general took the goods, and ordered a parchment document to be taken out, saying that the land from a certain place had been transferred to them, and the payment for the goods had been paid! ”

"What?! We are merchants! What do you want to do with the land of Rausch here?! Hearing this, the people present were all in an uproar, this is clearly a robbery! Can you still bring the land here on a ship and bring it back?

"They were reluctant at first, but their arms couldn't reach their thighs, and under the eaves of people, how could they not bow their heads? Not only were all the goods taken from them, but they also went to the mosque to go through the formalities of transferring the land, which is now in their names. These guys think that this trip is in vain, how to exchange the money of relatives and friends after they go back? So I was wronged here. ”

"This is the land you got in exchange?"

The next morning, Lin Wenbing and his entourage, under the guidance of the general secretary and the pavilion post, searched the direction of the title deed, and without much effort, they found the land that had been used to exchange the sailors' goods at the mouth of the Gistena River (now called the Krishna River). Two small Hindu temples nearby have become iconic buildings, and looking around, the land is not bad, and Mr. Xu bent down to grab a handful of dirt and put it on his nose to sniff, "Good land!"

"It's too close to the sea, once there is a big wind and waves on the sea, and the sea water pours in, everything planted on this land will be finished!"

"There is also an advantage, it is close to Haikou." Lin Shi came out with such a sentence out of nowhere.

"This place is close to the sea, I also saw it just now, the amount of water in the river, the flow speed, should be able to accommodate the boats." Lin Shi threw a branch into the river, so that everyone could watch the speed of the branch.

"Lao Lin, you mean, we can build this place into a warehouse in the future?" One of the shopkeepers of the Han Yuan firm had a light in his eyes and looked around with some excitement.

It was not far from the river bank and the mouth of the sea, and it was completely within the range of the twelve-pounder gun, and it was a fortress where a trading station was built, a wall was built, and a fort was built, and the river could be used to maintain a navigable connection with the outside world.

"Since we have put forward the trade request for weapons for cotton with Sudan, then, it is impossible to come only once in the future, and everyone knows that cotton is to be graded, sorted, and packaged, which requires a huge site and warehouse, I want to say, these boys, who seem to be unlucky, are actually our lucky stars, this is God knows that we have to buy land here in the future to build a commercial station, so with the help of that greedy general's hand, give us a piece of land to build our commercial station!"

"That's right!"

Lin Wenbing also agreed with Lin Shi's statement, "And there is another benefit here, behind it is the plain that the two big rivers have impacted, and there is a large area of arable land." In the future, we will lure the locals here to plant cotton for us, and if the land around us is planted with cotton, be good! Ladies and gentlemen, think about it, at that time we stood at the head of the city and looked around at the vast white cotton fields one after another, and the fields were not cotton peaches! It's silver dollars one by one! ”

After imagining the future prosperity of this place, they simply ordered people to spread mats on the ground, and sat on the ground like the sultans and princes, and brought wine, food, and fruits, and sat around them. Discuss the construction of the commercial station here.

The four or five "landlords" stood aside, expecting Ai Ai to encourage each other. I came forward and wanted to say something, but I didn't dare.

"You guys, don't be too uncomfortable. Let's discuss it, and this land will be bought by the firm. Let's go back to the Sultan and ask one of them to stamp it. Things are even more solid. That's the price of the land! ”

"It's all up to the big treasurer!"

"That's it! We're all up to the big shopkeeper! ”

The sailors were busy saying all kinds of New Year's greetings. I hope my commander won't be too ruthless.

Lin Wenbing and the others looked at each other, bowed their heads and discussed, "That's it!" We can't afford to let you lose too much. We'll give each of you a knife made of iron and steel, how about the price?! ”

A sword made of iron and steel was sold to the Sultan for a thousand gold coins. These sailors never dreamed that their small mirrors and glass beads were defrauded in exchange for such a piece of land, but in the hands of several big shopkeepers, they exchanged so much money, a thousand gold coins, even if they returned to Hue to pay taxes, they could exchange more than 20,000 silver dollars, and the next time they went to sea, they would have the capital to purchase goods!

As one of the origins of cotton, Shahi Sultan was no stranger to this crop, and under his rule, countless commoners used guò to grow cotton, spin and weave cloth in exchange for cash, pay taxes, and even a large part of his treasury was used to cover taxes. Every year, a large number of merchants come to India to buy cotton textiles and sell them to Europe through the Guò Arabian Peninsula, and during the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, a large annual cloth market is held in Jidah and Mecca, where most of the fabrics sold are still produced in Egypt and India. The Dutch and British, who arrived in Asia to buy spices, realized that they could exchange Indian cotton textiles for spices. The Dutch also exported Indian indigo-dyed blue plaid cloth to Africa to buy slaves and send them to the New World, where the blue Indian cotton cloth worn by slaves came to be known as the "cloth of sorrow."

As in China, there are many areas where so-called capitalism has emerged because of the development of the textile industry, and as recently as the Coromandel Coast, near the port of Madras, where Lin Wenbing and others anchored, almost entire villages were dedicated to textile production. The buyer provides the worker with raw materials and cash advances to provide a certain amount of cloth for a specified period of time. The cotton spun on the hand-spinning wheels of the farmer's house was transported by caravans drawn by steers to the workshops in coastal towns and ports, where it was woven by hundreds of hand-looning wheels and then exported to Europe. Doesn't that sound familiar? Similar to the germ of capitalism that appeared in the Ming Dynasty of China as described in the history books?

The Sultan and his ministers and generals were all too familiar with cotton, a heat-loving, light-loving, drought-tolerant, stain-resistant crop suitable for growing in loose and deep soils.

Cotton, a shrub-like plant, grows up to 6 meters tall and generally 1 to 2 meters tall when cultivated in tropical regions. The flowers are milky white and turn dark red shortly after flowering and then wither, leaving behind small green capsules called cotton bolls. The cotton boll contains cotton seeds, and the hairs on the cotton seeds grow from the skin of the cotton seeds and fill the inside of the cotton bolls. The bolls crack open when ripe, revealing soft fibers. The fibers are white to white with yellow in the middle, about 2 to 4 cm long, and contain about 87-90% cellulose. This white or white with yellow fiber is what countless people have pursued across the mountains and seas - cotton.

"I have consulted with my ministers, and have agreed to pay for your goods with cotton, my distinguished friend, but your request for a monopoly on the cotton trade in my country is unacceptable to us. We can only allow you to obtain cotton in my country through legal means of trade. This is my answer to your first request. ”

Regarding the monopoly of the cotton trade in the Telugu region, it was originally a lion's mouth-opening behavior of asking for a price, and Lin Wenbing and others had long been mentally prepared for the Sultan to make such a reply, and they were even more prepared for the consequences than this. But it was a surprise to get such a result.

Moreover, in the past few days, many of the Sultan's ministers and generals have made contact with the merchants of the south through various means, and the two sides have reached an agreement that in the territories of these people, Jagil and Chamindar, that is, according to the hereditary and non-hereditary nature, the merchants of the south can obtain the final harvest by distributing seeds, renting land for cultivation, etc., or the lords will distribute the seeds to the farmers, and then sell the harvest to the merchants of the south. Lords will be rewarded with their favorite merchandise and gold.

The cotton seed brought by Lin Wenbing was the island cotton that Shouhan spent a lot of money to get from the Portuguese - also called long-staple cotton, which is a cotton native to South America. Bright color, long fiber, high strength, suitable for spinning high-count yarns.

"As long as you have Island Cotton. Use the fruit to dismount the loom machine. But for workers who are not particularly stupid, it is not a problem to spin out 60~80 yarns! ”

As the buckets of cotton seeds were taken away by the lords, Lin Wenbing's ears couldn't stop ringing the words of Shouhan.

"Your Majesty, as your friend, I assure you that your army will have the finest military equipment. However, in order for the trade between us to proceed smoothly, I would like you to allow us to purchase a few plots of land in your territory for the construction of docks, berths, storehouses, and the necessary fortifications for the protection of these facilities. ”

On the map that the Sultan had ordered to take, Lin Wenbing selected three places in Madras, Maslibata, and the mouth of the Megil Bednam in Hyderabad, and drew three circles here with cinnabar.

"In these three places, we need to build commercial stations and buy the goods we need!" (To be continued......)

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