Just when the two political envoys were in a dilemma, Kong Tai's previous act of giving Franco cannons and arquebuses to Chen Jin had a miraculous effect - Chen Jin, the governor of Liangguang and the governor of Guangdong, made a move......

The Guangdong Provincial Government Secretary and the Yamen only have the right to be in charge of Guangdong's finances, taxation, and civil affairs. There is no right to make a decision on whether to approve Beihaiguo's purchase in Guangzhou.

However, the Governor of Liangguang was able to ......

As the governor of the Ming Dynasty and Guangzhou, Chen Jin did not directly manage local government affairs. But because it was a minister sent by the imperial court (the governor of the Ming Dynasty was not a local permanent official, but equivalent to a minister of the imperial mission, and generally held the position of the imperial history of the right capital. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty Liangguang Governor, who was mainly responsible for suppressing the uprising of the mountain people in Guangxi, and the governor's palace was generally located in Wuzhou, Guangxi), was on behalf of the emperor. Therefore, Chen Jin can "make a decision" on some difficult matters that are difficult to handle.

Of course, this kind of "impromptu decision" of the right to send a mission cannot be granted to the Beihai State to obtain the qualification of tribute. This is because "making decisions on the spot" can only be used to deal with some difficult problems temporarily, but it cannot form a regular rule. In other words, this right is one-time, has no coherence, and cannot be used as a reference for dealing with similar issues at a later date.

However, for the Beihai Mission, there is no need to qualify for tributary trade all at once. All Kong Tai wants is to be able to obtain the qualification to purchase in Guangzhou this time.

Chen Jin has just received Kong Tai's gift and is thinking about how to repay the other party. Kong Tai begged to come to the door, and after repeated consideration, Chen Jin decided to use the governor's imperial power to temporarily grant Kong Tai and his party the right to purchase in Guangzhou Mansion.

Of course, Kong Tai and others purchased in Guangzhou, not in the name of the tributary state, but in the name of the cooperative merchants of the camp of the governor of Liangguang.

Chen Jin, the governor of Liangguang, issued an official letter stating that he had met Kong Tai, an "overseas businessman", through the introduction of the Chinese, and had "purchased" 10 Franc cannons and 100 arquebuses from him for 2,000 taels of silver. In addition, Governor Chen Jin, in the name of Qincha, granted Kong Tai and his entourage the right to buy a single purchase in Guangzhou as a reward for this gun transaction......

In fact, Chen Jin received 10 Fran cannons and 100 arquebuses this time, without paying a penny. However, in the official document, the camp of the governor of Liangguang "spent" two thousand taels of silver...... Needless to say, the two thousand taels of silver naturally went into Lord Chen's pocket......

You must know that before trading with the West, the silver of the Ming Dynasty was still very rare. Two thousand taels of silver is definitely an astronomical amount.

How to say it, in this era, the annual salary of the Ming Qipin County Order is 45 taels of silver. 2,000 taels of silver, equivalent to the salary of the "county magistrate" of the Ming Dynasty for 44 years.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty could spend money to buy a diploma. During the Jingtai period, civilians (as long as they were not "lowly" such as merchants, craftsmen, and musicians) could donate 800 stone rice to buy a place for a Guozijian to go to school. In the Chenghua period (that is, the reign of the recently deceased Emperor Hongzhi and his father), it took 100 stone rice to donate a prisoner. And how much is 100 stone rice worth? only 50 taels of silver.

But what can a prison student do after graduation? Although it is not the right path of the imperial examination, it is impossible to confer such a formal official as the county order. However, state and county officials can be conferred on them. And what is the position of the state and county Zuo Er? Generally, they are adjutant officials such as state governors, county officials, and chief bookkeepers. Until now, he is equivalent to a big guy at the level of deputy county magistrate...... Moreover, if you do a good job, it is not without the opportunity to correct the county order......

50 taels of silver can buy a diploma that can be a deputy county magistrate, and the gold content of this diploma is far less than that of Huaqing and Jingda......

And 2,000 taels of silver can buy 40 diplomas as deputy county magistrates during the Chenghua years...... This Nima is definitely a huge amount of money......

Of course, the late Ming Dynasty will not mention it. Because the huge silver mines in Mexico and Peru in the Americas and the Iwami Silver Mine in Japan produced a large amount of silver into the Ming Dynasty every year, resulting in a flood of silver at the end of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, the cabinet bosses in the late Ming Dynasty generally started with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver...... For example, Zhang Juzheng is already relatively incorruptible. After his death, he was liquidated by Wanli and raided his house, and copied out 20,000 taels of gold and more than 100,000 taels of silver...... And that's just cash, not counting the land that was bought for money, which is the big one......

But that was the end of the Ming Dynasty, and in this era, because the massive amount of silver from the Americas and Japan had not yet been obtained, silver was still very valuable in the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, the minister has a wealth of more than 10,000 taels of silver, which is definitely a lot of money...... And Chen Jin got two thousand taels of silver through this operation, which can be regarded as a big profit......

It is also considered Kong Tai's luck, in exchange for the Qing Dynasty's Liangguang Governor, although he has more real power, he is already a permanent local magistrate, and he is no longer the emperor's Qincha, so he has no right to "make a decision on the spot". Therefore, Chen Jin gave a great convenience to the Beihai State Mission.

Not only that, Chen Jin also sent several officials from the Governor's Mansion to assist Kong Tai in going out to procure. It's called surveillance, but it's really helping. Chen Jinbai got 10 Franc cannons and 100 arquebuses, and also took the opportunity to make 2,000 taels of silver, which was naturally very face-saving.

If Kong Tai is allowed to purchase by himself, as a foreigner, he will not be like a foreigner in later generations who will be an uncle in Huaxia, but will be looked down upon by the arrogant Ming businessmen. Perhaps, if you sell someone someone a tael of silver, you will dare to offer you a high price of 5 taels.

However, with the help of the servants of the Governor's Palace, those merchants did not dare to mess around. At least, don't dare to ask for a price......

After this convenience, Kong Tai and Sconda, two people who knew Chinese, with the assistance of the officials of the governor's palace, began a frenzied procurement in Guangzhou......

The first thing that Kong Tai acquired were the seeds of the oil tung tree and the seeds of the lacquer tree......

The products of these two trees are definitely strategic materials for the Beihai country, which is engaged in great navigation. Why? The tung oil extracted from the fruit of the tung tree belongs to the materials urgently needed for shipbuilding.

Currently, the shipbuilding industry in Europe uses olive oil and linseed oil when processing wood. However, they are far less effective at treating wood than tung oil, and the cost is still very high.

After Marin owned the Americas, there was actually no shortage of wood for shipbuilding, and shipbuilders were also being trained in large numbers. However, the oil necessary for shipbuilding is in short supply.

Moreover, after the wood is treated with tung oil, it can not only be waterproof, but also has a great ability to prevent corrosion. For the manufacture of wooden boats, tung oil is definitely the best choice among oils.

Similarly, sumac also plays a significant role in shipbuilding. If tung oil is mixed with lacquer from the lacquer tree, the waterproof and anti-corrosion effect of the ship is better.

But on the contrary, there is no tung oil in Europe, no sumac, and no ...... in the Americas These two plants are only found in Huaxia and nearby countries......

At present, the paints used in Europe are a mixture of various precious raw materials, which is very expensive and expensive......

Therefore, the reason why Marin was in a hurry to open the trade route of the Ming Dynasty was not necessarily to pay more attention to silk and porcelain, which were the main events of trade, but to pay special attention to the introduction of tung oil and lacquer trees. Only with large quantities of low-cost tung oil and lacquer can Marlin be able to mass-produce ships in the Americas at low cost, forming a ship sea and killing all nautical competitors......

It just so happens that the southern part of North America is also a subtropical region, which is very similar to the climate of southern China where tung oil and lacquer trees grow, and can be planted on a large scale. The premise is – you have to have seeds......

In order to purchase enough tung oil seeds and lacquer seeds, Kong Tai directly erected a big sign - "a large number of tung oil seeds and lacquer seeds are purchased at a high price, and the purchase price per catty of seeds is 1 tael of silver"......

This news directly suppressed the merchants in Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty - Nima, one or two pounds of silver!

You must know that in Daming, one stone of rice is one hundred or dozens of catties, and the price is only half a tael of silver. And this goods buy tung oil seeds, and the price of one or two silver is one catty, which is simply wronged......

As a result, many people began to look for tung oil seeds and sumac seeds to exchange for a lot of money......

……

At the same time, Kong Tai also played a banner and bought moso bamboo seeds on a large scale......

This suddenly thundered the Ming Dynasty people in Guangzhou - Nima, this kind of thing, and someone buys its seeds, isn't it everywhere? When it rains in spring, bamboo shoots can sometimes grow tall overnight......

However, when everyone went to find moso bamboo seeds, they encountered a problem - moso bamboo generally only blooms and bears fruit once in its lifetime, and the cycle is several decades...... Therefore, even if moso bamboo is everywhere, it is very difficult to find moso bamboo seeds......

Because, moso bamboo generally blooms once in 60 years, and then bears seeds. Once it blooms and bears seeds, the body of the moso bamboo may wither and die.

Therefore, the bamboo shoots of moso bamboo are easy to find, and the seeds are really difficult to find......

Kong Tai raised the purchase price of bamboo seeds to 10 taels of silver a catty, but he did not receive it. Unlike tung oil seeds and lacquer seeds, they have harvested hundreds of catties each.

In the end, after a high-priced reward and many inquiries, Kong Tai learned that there was a hermit in a bamboo forest in the north of Guangzhou, because he loved bamboo, and by chance he collected a few catties of bamboo seeds.

But when Kong Tai personally came to the door to buy moso bamboo seeds, he was closed......

It turned out that this hermit uncle himself was indifferent to fame and fortune and did not love money. Moreover, the old man is very precious to bamboo. The old man ignored Kong Tai's high price of 10 taels of silver and a catty. Even though Kong Tai offered a sky-high price of 20 taels of silver a catty, the old man did not let go......

But the irony is that although the old man is indifferent to fame and fortune, his son is not...... In the end, the old man's two sons teamed up to deceive the old man, and then stole the old man's 5 catties of bamboo seeds, which were so tight, and sold them to Kong Tai for 100 taels...... Subsequently, the two divided the 100 taels, each got 50 taels, and each bought ten acres of land, which can be regarded as living a stable and prosperous farm life. Before that, the old man's two sons had only 5 acres of land each, and their lives were very hard......

Kong Taicai didn't care where the bamboo seeds came from, and after getting the bamboo seeds, he immediately rushed back to Guangzhou City, lest the old man rush back and regret it......

Why did Marlin buy moso bamboo seeds? Because, Marin wants to engage in concrete......

If you are engaged in reinforced concrete, the production cost of steel bars in this era is too high. Marin had built an artificial reservoir before, but because of the massive use of reinforced concrete, it cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins. Then, Marin didn't dare to engage in reinforced concrete casually. Because, the cost is too high...... Unless it is the city wall of the royal palace and the capital, Marin is generally reluctant to use reinforced concrete......

Therefore, Marin remembered a compromise product that was popular in later generations - bamboo-reinforced concrete......

Bamboo is low-cost, and it's easy to handle. But the biggest problem is that there is no bamboo in Europe and the Americas...... There may be native bamboo in the Americas, but when it comes to growth rate, no kind of bamboo can catch up with moso bamboo......

Moso bamboo grows fast and can grow into building materials in two or three years. Moreover, the bamboo is very powerful. If you plant a moso bamboo, as long as the climate is suitable, in a few years, it may become a moso bamboo forest......

Therefore, Ma Lin asked Kong Tai to buy moso bamboo seeds at a high price in Guangzhou. Once you have the seeds, you will scatter them in the Americas, and in a few years, a large bamboo forest will grow there......

Although bamboo reinforced concrete is not as strong and durable as reinforced concrete, it is barely usable. Some civil facilities, such as embankments, can be built entirely of bamboo-reinforced concrete. Even the small earthen cannons of this era may not be able to blast through the bamboo reinforced concrete fortifications.

And if the bamboo is treated with tung oil and lacquer before making concrete to strengthen its anti-corrosion ability, maybe it will be no problem to use bamboo reinforced concrete buildings for tens or hundreds of years......

In fact, the propagation method of moso bamboo does not require only seeds. Intact bamboo shoots and even partial bamboo roots are fine. But there is a problem - the bamboo grows too fast, if you carry bamboo shoots, bamboo roots, with the bamboo sometimes a night to rise one or two meters high, Columbus's fleet will take about a year to go back, the space on the ship is already small, where can the bamboo grow wildly?

Therefore, it is more convenient to bring moso bamboo seeds back. After all, moso bamboo seeds will not grow without planting. It's just that it is too rare for moso bamboo to bloom and bear seeds in 60 years......