"Since coming to the world, every pore of capital is dirty and bloody, and it will expand outward at any time."

Twenty-six years ago, in the first year of Xingqian, along the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

Although this location has long been marked on the map of the Ming Dynasty, this is the farthest place that the Ming merchant ships have sailed, and although no one has ever restricted their navigation, no one has ever sailed through this sea area.

From the Cape of Good Hope to the east to the west, from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, these are two very different worlds.

Now, a small sailing ship of 600 tons with insufficient displacement is moored in this sea, quietly waiting for the captain's order.

The Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope forbade the entry of Ming merchant ships, and there were many conflicts between the Dutch and Ming merchants because of the conflict of interests in maritime trade.

For the "Qingyuan", which was fully loaded with cargo, returning home meant that it would suffer great losses.

Where to go?

Daniel Zhang, the cousin of Zhang Jin, the Marquis of Zhiyong, stood silently at the bow of the ship, with the Indian Ocean on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, and his whole person was in an unprecedented predicament.

What to do?

If he returned, he would have to pay the salaries of more than fifty crew members, plus the loss of cargo, although it would not bankrupt him, but it would also make him devastated his vitality, although he told others that he was the cousin of Zhang Jin, the Marquis of Zhiyong, but in fact, the blood of the two families needs to be traced back to the generation of his great-grandfather.

"It's time to go back, Captain."

The first mate whispered. On the deck of the ship, there were more than fifty crew members, most of them were like him, all Fujianese, and a few natives from the South Seas. They came here not only for the wages of the long voyage, but also for the dividends of entering the Cape of Good Hope trade.

If they return now, all of them will have less income.

What to do?

"No, move on, go to Europe!"

Daniel Zhang resolutely made a decision.

Almost everyone could feel that the air froze instantly when he said this.

"Onward? Going to Europe? ”

As sailors, although they all knew that they could reach Europe by sailing thousands of miles beyond the Cape of Good Hope, everyone knew that they were unfamiliar with the sea.

"Go ahead, go to Europe, the Dutch can close their ports, but in Europe, there are Spaniards, there are Portuguese, there are English, there are French, they can't all turn us away."

"But Captain? We don't have a guide, what if we don't have a guide? And there are no charts either. ”

To the west, it has always been a forbidden area for Ming merchant ships, in the final analysis, because there are no charts and no guides.

"yes, if you just run through like this, you may lose your life."

"When the Europeans came, there were no guides, no charts, we couldn't stay here in the Indian Ocean forever, we had to go into the Atlantic sooner or later!"

"But then, maybe there will be a chart."

"No, no one will give us a chart, if we want to enter the Atlantic, if we want to go to Europe, we have to draw the chart ourselves, the sea, the Europeans can conquer it, and the Ming can conquer it too!"

Daniel Zhang's eyes looked longingly into the depths of the ocean, and at this moment, what he was thinking about in his heart was no longer the wealth brought by sailing, but a mission.

"But, captain, it's very risky......"

"Risk? How can this bowl of rice be risk-free? ”

Daniel Zhang looked at the sailor in front of him and said.

"I have made up my mind, if I don't want to go, I will put the sampan down, you can go to the Cape of Good Hope, turn around and take the Dutch ship back, if you are willing to go, the dividend will be increased by 20%!"

After he said this, the ship fell silent, Daniel Zhang looked at everyone, he did not speak, likewise, the sailors did not speak.

Europe!

For each of them, there is an irresistible mysterious temptation.

"Set sail!"

On that day, the "Qingyuan" broke through the wind and waves, broke through the waves of the two oceans, headed west of the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed all the way along the coast to Europe.

A few months later, the Qingyuan, which sailed north along the coast of Africa, arrived in Portugal after many hardships, and they were welcomed by the locals in the port, which was the first Ming merchant ship to reach Europe.

……

Twenty-six years later, when the "Fuye" sailed into Edinburgh, the Europeans had long been accustomed to the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, accustomed to the "sun and moon flag" of the Ming Dynasty, from 18 years ago, more and more merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty appeared all over Europe, once upon a time, the Dutch were called "coachmen of the sea", but soon the Ming also won this title.

With cheap ships from the North American colonies, the Ming merchant fleet competed fiercely with the Dutch throughout Europe. Just like the Dutch in the past, Norwegian timber, Danish fish, Polish grain, Russian furs, Southeast Asian spices, Ming cotton textiles, silk and porcelain, etc., the Ming merchant ships transshipped these goods to various parts of Europe, and were not limited to domestic merchants to sell them, merchants from any country could become their buyers.

In the twenty-sixth year of Xingqian, there were as many as more than 2,000 merchant ships in the ports of various European countries for various trades, although they could not be compared with the Dutch or other European countries, but everyone knew that this was only a small part of the Ming merchant fleet, just like the Europeans in those years, the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty had penetrated deep into all parts of Europe.

"Mr. Captain, you must be careful, those people in the customs are extremely greedy."

As the merchant ship was slowly approaching the harbor as it was being dragged by a sampan, Steve said to Liang Huali with some nervousness.

"Opium...... If they find out, they will definitely ask for a lot of money. You know, officially, opium is not allowed to be imported. ”

A few years ago, Britain had banned the import of opium because of the outflow of gold and silver due to the spread of opium, but in the face of a market of millions of people, smugglers still brought a steady stream of opium to Britain.

"I know, I've got a gift ready for them."

Liang Huali said confidently. Looking at the sampan slowly dragging the ship, his eyes fell on a small steam tugboat in the harbor, although the Europeans had begun to try to imitate the steam engine more than ten years ago, but their technology was very backward, and the steam engine was always faulty, so although the steam ship could be seen here, it was often of little practical value.

However, the steam engine is becoming more and more popular in the Ming Dynasty, and in the eyes of many people, perhaps in a few decades, the steam engine will be popularized in all aspects of the Ming Dynasty. Just like in some science fiction, the steam engine can even be used in flying machines.

But Europe...... Their steam engine is still in the exploratory phase.

"Smuggling steam engines or components to Europe can be at least twice as profitable......"

Although as a businessman, the desire for profit drove Liang Huali to make many choices, but he would never break the law and sell machines to Europe, but this did not prevent some profiteers from selling machines to Europe for huge profits, and even some people were willing to serve the Europeans and help them build machines in their factories.

When Liang Huali was thinking nonsense there, standing on the sampan Andre, looking at the ships getting closer and closer, his eyes were full of greed, for him, it didn't matter what was on the ship, the important thing was not that there was no contraband, as long as there was contraband, he could get extra income, which was the most important thing.

"Lu Guo?"

Looking at the somewhat unfamiliar flag, Andrei muttered in his heart.

Lu Guo...... It's also the Celestial Empire.

At least it should be part of the Celestial Empire, this discovery made Andrei's mood slightly unhappy, after all, the merchants of the Celestial Empire rarely got involved in illegal trade, they had enough goods to make a profit, and they didn't need to think about profiting from contraband or illegal smuggling.

"Hey, I should let Will check the boat."

Andre, who felt a little bored, muttered to himself in his heart.

No fun, no extra income, certainly not fun.

"It's all cotton cloth from the Celestial Empire."

Like any merchant ship of the Celestial Empire, the ship is full of goods shipped from the Celestial Empire, cotton cloth is the most common commodity, in any corner of the world, you can see high-quality and cheap cotton cloth, a large number of Celestial Empire cotton cloth influx, and even brought a devastating blow to the cotton weaving industry in Europe, so that in some countries there have been many boycotts of "clear goods" incidents.

André of course didn't care about this, his eyes were on the captain from time to time, this captain was very young, there were many young captains like him in the Celestial Empire, compared to the poverty of the British, many young people did not even have food to wrap their stomachs, and could only go to the ship to serve as inferior sailors. In the Celestial Empire, they could buy a ship at any time as long as they wanted and sail the seas as a captain, of course, they needed to master the art of sailing.

"Mr. Captain, you are the youngest Celestial Captain I have ever met, where did you come from this ship......"

When chatting with Liang Huali, Andre gave some hints from time to time that even ordinary goods can ask for some benefits, such as reducing the size of the cabin when the customs inspects the goods, so that you can pay less tariffs.

"Sir, you've been in charge of this port, haven't you?"

Liang Huali looked at the official in front of him, who weighed at least two hundred pounds, he was so fat that people even wondered if he could still walk, and even when he spoke, the flesh on his face trembled.

"Of course, as the King's Tax Collector, I have been in charge of the collection and inspection of this port since five years ago, and I will certainly still ......be here for years to come"

Looking at the young captain in front of him, Andre said in a relaxed tone,

"Many captains are willing to be friends with me, including the captains of the Celestial Empire, and they know that becoming friends with me will bring them a lot of convenience."

Such a "frank" official is rare, at least in Liang Huali's understanding, he has never seen such an "honest" person, but the other party's "frankness" has made him much easier.

"Yes, sir, I think, maybe, we can be friends, what do you think?"

While speaking, Liang Huali took out an envelope that was not thick or thin, and quietly stuffed it into Andre's hand, and he just pinched it with his hand, and the experience over the years made him very clear that this envelope contained at least 500 taels of silver and two coupons - this kind of Ming silver and two coupons, even in Europe, is quite popular, especially on some specific occasions, not only because it has the world's most powerful empire to endorse it, but more importantly, the bank of the Ming Dynasty in the past ten years, Branches have been opened in many European countries, and these beautifully printed silver notes can be exchanged for gold and silver in any country. After smiling at the money, the smile on Andrei's face became extremely bright.

"Of course, I think we will definitely become good friends, my name is André Fell, and in this port, you can come to me no matter what happens."

Then he lowered his voice and said in a very weak voice.

"If you have some special cargo on your ship that you can wait until the evening to ship out, I can give you some help, just a little reward......"

It's a paradise!

When thousands of catties of tooth pieces were safely transported out of the dock, looking at the lively dock, Liang Huali's heart suddenly had such a thought, even in the ports of Persia, those greedy tax officers were not as blatant as the tax officials in England.

"Sir, to England, everything is a price ......"

Following his employer, Steve pointed to the yellow-skinned, malnourished road-by, and then said.

"From beggars to nobles, if they are given enough money, they can be bought, in fact, this is true from top to bottom in this country, even from the king."

His eyes were on his employer, and there was a certain hostility in Steve's tone.

"Now that damned fellow, whoever gives him enough good, is willing to sell everything, even his soul to the devil. Believe me, he has sold his soul to the devil. ”

Faced with Steve, who was constantly whining and cursing someone. Liang Huali looked a little strange, he looked at Steve puzzled, and asked with some doubts.

"Steve, who are you talking about? It seems that you are very upset with him. ”

"Who else could it be? Of course our king, that infidel. That damn guy has sold his soul to the devil. Trust me, if you give him enough silver, he can do everything for you, really, I swear to God. ”

Looking at Steve dumbfounded, Liang Huali couldn't imagine what that king had done to make him so angry.

Besides, Steve's just an ordinary person. Is he the same as himself?

"Did he do anything to you?"

"He's a heretic, sir."

Steve said angrily.

"That's enough!"

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