Chapter 217: Sulu Rubber

Li Mao said to everyone: "The news brought back by Lu Qi and Fan Song is enough for Mr. Zhang to be happy for a while, let the two of them talk about the specific things." ”

Zhang Zhimu heard Li Mao say this, and it was estimated that the two must have gotten the rubber back.

Sure enough, after Li Qing and Fan Song, who were busy on the dock, came back, they made a detailed report on their trip to Sulu, which not only proved this, but also had a bigger surprise.

In his previous life, Zhang Zhimu went to Dezhou, Shandong Province to visit the tomb of the East King of Sulu, listened to the introduction of the tour guide, and had some understanding of the affairs of Sulu.

The Kingdom of Sulu is located on the Sulu Islands of the Philippines in the previous life, and in the Ming Dynasty of our country, the Sulu Kingdom began close friendly exchanges with our country. In the fifteenth year of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1417 AD), the three kings of the Sulu Islands, headed by the eastern king Batu Ge Lang Hara, led a friendly delegation of more than 340 family members and officials to visit our country. On the way back, the East King unfortunately contracted the disease and died, and the Ming Yongle Emperor heard the obituary, that is, he sent officials to choose a place for the East King to carry out a thick burial, and said: Gongding. The eldest son of the king of the east, Du Ma Han, led a friendly delegation to return to China to inherit the throne, and the princess Ge Muning and the second son Wen Hara, the third son Andulu and more than ten attendants lived in the cemetery in Dezhou. During the Ming Xuande period, a mosque was built next to the tomb. In the ninth year of Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1731 AD), according to the request of the descendants of the Eastern King to naturalize in China, the Qing court was folded, and the inscription was inscribed to be naturalized in Dezhou with the surnames Wen and An, becoming a member of the big family of the Chinese nation.

These Zhang Zhimu can't tell others. Because of his arrival, it's hard to say whether there is a Qing Dynasty or not.

Lu Qi and Fan Song took more than a dozen people to bid farewell to Zhang Zhimu and they boarded the sailing ship in the South Seas, they took the sea ship for the first time, and they relied on their youth to embark on a journey full of unknowns. Due to the language barrier, the only way to communicate with the people on the ship was to rely on two interpreters hired in Quanzhou, who had been to the South Seas many times. Fortunately, there are many people from Fujian who go to the South Seas on the ship, but the language is also incomprehensible. After a period of seasickness, Lu Qi and the others slowly adapted to life at sea, so they took the initiative to learn Hokkien dialect, because the Fujian people who went to Nanyang all spoke Hokkien dialect. It's not okay to not be able to speak Hokkien. In this way, they learned Hokkien little by little along the way, and soon they started with a simple greeting, and slowly they could have a simple conversation with the Hokkien people on the ship in Hokkien.

Along the way, they also formed good friends with several Sulu merchants.

Because Lu Qi and Fan Song were more fully prepared, they brought more things to eat, and the quality was better. Since the ship to Sulu was not a tailwind, the sea voyage time was more, and some of the Sulu merchants who were in a tight position did not bring enough food to eat. Lu Qi and Fan Song saved some money from their mouths to help them, and this is the kind of action that made them form a life-and-death friendship with those Sulu merchants. After arriving in Sulu, they provided a lot of help to Lu Qi and Fan Song, who were in a foreign land.

The goods brought by Lu Qi and them were worth more than 100,000 taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty, which was an absolute big household among these merchants on the same ship, and those small merchants could raise 10,000 taels of silver in these people. Because no matter how big a businessman is, he will rent a boat by himself and find a few really big families to partner in business, and he will not do such a bulk ship.

On the way, there was a pirate robbery, two pirate ships blocked the way of the merchant ships, and the people on board were terrified, and those Sulu merchants who believed in the *** religion prayed to Allah one by one. But Allah did not come, it was Lu Qi and Fan Song who brought a dozen people and killed more than two dozen pirates on board. The two pirate ships, seeing that the situation was not good, had to pull their sails and escape.

Lu Qi said that in fact, if he could, he could have taken away the two pirate ships, but he wouldn't be able to drive the ship if he took them, so he had no choice but to run away.

In such a battle, Lu Qi and Fan Song fought lightly, killing more than 20 pirates at once, which made Lu Qi and them heroes on the ship. In addition, Lu Qi is polite and polite, and they are trusted by everyone.

The Sulu people all said that this was the hero of the Dabang Dynasty, and the Fujian people who traveled with them felt that they had found a backer this time, and they were all close to Lu Qi. Those Fujian businessmen who had traveled back and forth between Sulu many times also introduced their experience and lessons in doing business in Sulu to Lu Qi. In this way, Lu Qi and the others had a general understanding of Sulu's situation before they arrived in Sulu, and they also had a lot of friends. Before the ship docked, someone took the initiative to help introduce the warehouse and freight yard on the wharf.

After going ashore, Lu Qi and Fan Songyi discussed it and felt that the shelf still had to be put up. They stayed in one of the best inns near the pier. This made those Sulu merchants smack their tongues, for them, it was too expensive there.

Lu Qi and Fan Song learned when they arrived in Sulu why these merchants had gone to the Ming Dynasty to do business at the risk of capsizing merchant ships in strong winds and encountering pirates. Because the price of the items of the Ming Dynasty can be increased more than ten times when they arrive in Sulu. Because it was a key point of transportation between the Ming Dynasty and Arabia, Mindanao, Visaya and Borneo, it had a close relationship with China in history and was a distribution center for goods. Here the status of the merchant is extremely high. The people here were divided into four classes, the first class was the nobility, the second class was the merchants, the third class was the freedmen, and the fourth class was the slaves.

Lu Qi, Fan Song and the others did not rush to sell their goods, after they stayed. First of all, it is necessary to carefully understand the market situation, which disappoints those Sulu merchants who thought that a group of young young people with a large number of goods did not know how to trade, and that there was a cheap advantage. It turned out that they agreed privately that everyone would press their price together, so that everyone would be profitable. But seeing Lu Qi and their very sophisticated and unhurried visit the market to understand the market, their alliance soon collapsed. came to do business with Lu Qi one after another, which let Lu Qi know that the goods they brought were in high demand here. If you want to talk about scheming and scheming, these Sulu people really have to cultivate for hundreds of years.

After Lu Qi and the others found out the market situation, they also whetted the appetite of these Soviet and Arab merchants and merchants from other places. Lu Qi's porcelain, silk and other goods brought by them were too tempting. These samples are something that these people can't put down. Every day, they would gather around the inn where Lu Qi and the others lived, waiting for Lu Qi and them to start selling goods, for fear of missing the opportunity when they left.

Lu Qi also pretended not to offend any friends, and said that he would hold an auction, and the one with the highest price would win. Of course, Lu Qi knew that this could really maximize the benefits.

In the inn restaurant, Lu Qi and the others started the auction one by one. These merchants bid against each other and do not give in to each other, inflating the price very high. The interpreter who came with him said in Lu Qi's ear: "They can sell these things even higher if they ship them to Arabia, don't worry." ”

As a result, the auction was over, and Lu Qi and the others got more than one million taels of silver. Lu Qi's wisdom soon spread among the Sulu Islands, and many Sulu people with status felt honored to be able to invite Lu Qi and them to their homes. Through them, Lu Qi also learned that Sulu and China had trade contacts since the Yuan Dynasty, and that Dongwang's relatives still stayed in Dezhou.

While handling the goods, Lu Qi and the others did not forget their most important mission, looking for rubber trees. It didn't take much effort to do it. Locals say that this tree is not native to the area, but it is very suitable for growing here, and the mountains have been overgrown with this tree for only a few decades. Just when Lu Qi and the others were thinking about collecting rubber, Lu Qi's affairs also reached the East King, and the East King personally summoned Lu Qi. Lu Qi felt that now was an opportunity, and he should ask Dongwang to buy a forest farm, so that it could develop for a long time.

The Sulu Islands in the Philippines are an emirate that believes in religion, and the political system is the Sutan system of political and religious integration, and the main rights of the state of Sulu are the three princes, namely the king of the east, the king of the west and the king of the east, of which the king of the east has the greatest power. They have always served the Ming Dynasty as their upper state, and often paid tribute to the imperial court.

The East King heard that a group of wise and superhuman merchants had come to kill more than 20 pirates on the road, which made the East King very tempted. Because Sulu had been fighting the Francis (Spaniards) who had occupied Luzon, they were shocked to hear that they had such powerful weapons. This is also one of the reasons why he wants to meet Lu Qi and them.

Lu Qi and Fan Song were still a little nervous when they came to the splendid Dongwang Mansion, they had never experienced such a scene before. But the two of them glanced at each other, and they both puffed up their chests, thinking that all the wind and rain had come over, and there was nothing to shoot.

Dongwang already knew that the group of merchants who came were very young, but when he saw that Lu Qi and Fan Song were really about twenty years old, he was still surprised. It's amazing how bold they are at such a young age. The king of the east likes Lu Qi and Fan Song very much, and after giving the seat, the king of the east said: "The Ming Dynasty is our state, and our ancestors are still buried in Dezhou, Shandong, where there are still our relatives guarding the tomb." The king was very glad to hear of your coming. Your wisdom and courage have set an example for the young people of Sulu. ”

After these words were translated through the translation, Lu Qi also said politely: "Thank you for the praise of the East King, we knew that our two countries have been in contact for a long time when we were in the Ming Dynasty, and we have long known that Sulu is a very charming place, and this time we feel that this place is really beautiful, and we like it very much." ”

"I'm sure you've heard that we've been fighting the Franciscans. I know you're very brave, and I want you to help train my army, I don't know, okay? And can you help us buy the firearms you have? ”

Lu Qi and Fan Song looked at each other, and Fan Song said, "Training the army is not our strong point, but I can train your guards for the East King." As for the muskets, we have to go back to Daming to answer you. ”

When the East King heard that Fan Song could help train his guards, he was very happy and said, "Okay, you can meet my guards in a while." If there is anything else you need the king's help with in Sulu, just say. ”

Lu Qi said: "King Dong, after we came to Sulu, we like it very much, can we buy a place and build a manor of our own, so that we can develop here for a long time, and it is also convenient for us to communicate with the Ming Dynasty." ”

Dongwang was of course very happy to hear that such an excellent person was going to develop here for a long time, and readily agreed.

Fan Song has been learning literature and martial arts with his father since he was a child, and later practiced martial arts with Li Jing, who also handed over all his things to Fan Song. For his kung fu, Fan Song is still very confident.

Following the king of the east to the backyard of the royal palace, the prince called a few people from his own guard and said to them: "This Fan Song warrior from Shangbang wants to teach everyone to practice martial arts, are you not convinced?" ”

The people who can come to the East King Guard are all masters of one in a hundred, and everyone is very confident in themselves. When they saw that Fan Song was not very old and not tall, they were a little unconvinced.

One of them came out to ask Fan Song for advice, although the words were very polite, but Fan Song knew that people were challenging. The East King next to him actually wanted to see what skills Fan Song had, and when he came, he would train him in the guards.

The person who came out took off his shirt and showed a pimple of flesh, stood with his hands on his chest and waited for Fan Song, Fan Song didn't dare to be too careless, and also put on a shelf to face him. For a while, neither of them moved, but a murderous aura began to condense between the two.

Suddenly, the opponent opposite Fan Song launched an attack. A punch came head-on, Fan Song's upper body flashed, let go of this punch, his steps moved lightly, and the person had turned behind him, and when he turned around again, Fan Song had already reached him again.

This kind of pace was forced to be practiced by Li Jing, and I don't know how much work has been put into it.

Master competition, this is enough. If Fan Song made a move these two times, the other party would have fallen, and everyone understood. This opponent knew even more in his heart, and immediately withdrew from the battle circle and conceded defeat to Fan Songshili. Fan Song also immediately returned the salute.

When he came out again, Fan Song thought that he couldn't make a move at all today, and when he fought with this person, he took advantage of the opportunity of a mistake and suddenly shot at this person's armpit. The man squatted on the ground and was sweating profusely and in pain. Fan Song slapped a few times in the past and explained the acupoints for him. The kung fu of this point is the kung fu of the Fan family, but he used it in combination with Li Jingjiao's body method.

After losing two battles in a row, Dongwang understood that the difference between these people and Fan Song was not a little distance. It's really not a level. Dongwang said: "Okay, you don't have to compare anymore, and learn from Fan Warrior in the future!" ”

In this way, Fan Song became the amateur head coach of the Royal Guard. When they were fine, Fan Song came over to teach them martial arts.

With this title, it is not ordinary for Lu Qi to do things in Sulu.

With the help of the Sulu merchants, they spent 50,000 taels of silver to buy a large mountain farm and fifty slaves. They fenced off the mountain field with bamboo.

Some of these slaves were born slaves, and some were wild men caught from the mountains, basically like livestock. They are characterized by being very obedient. After Lu Qi bought it, he gave them all new clothes, and gave them the same food treatment as everyone else, as long as they didn't leave this villager, they were not discriminated against here.

The first thing Lu Qi and the others did was to find rubber trees on the mountain, and then according to Zhang Zhimu's method, they began to cut rubber trees and connect rubber.

Fan Song said to Lu Qi that our mountain farm rubber trees are limited, so it is better to encourage everyone to cut rubber trees together to get rubber.

Later, Lu Qi posted notices about rubber acquisition everywhere in the downtown area, and taught rubber harvesting techniques in his estate. The purchase price is one pound of rice for one pound of rubber. Now the whole of Sulu was shocked. Because there is not enough rice to eat in this part of Sulu, rice has to be imported from outside, so rice is not cheap. The civilians on this island were basically not allowed to earn rice and silver, so when they heard the news, they quickly called for Lu Qi and their manor to be surrounded. Lu Qi and the others personally explained to these people how to tap rubber and how to protect the technology of not harming rubber trees.

Lu Qi is still in his manor, trying to transplant and plant rubber trees. Due to the non-productive climate here, the rubber trees were quickly transplanted. Rubber trees bear fruit twice a year, and the seedlings are sown immediately after the fruit is harvested to ensure the emergence rate, but it takes six or seven years for new rubber trees to reach the level of rubber harvesting.

After almost a year of hard work, nearly 200 stones of rubber were collected, Lu Qi and Fan Song discussed that the rubber should be transported back to the kiln, so they set aside enough money for the remaining silver, and bought a large number of pearls, spices, tortoiseshell, bird's nest and other local goods, and decided to hire a ship to return to the Ming Dynasty. At this time, there happened to be a merchant ship bound for the Ming Dynasty, and the cargo hold was not full. negotiated with the shipowner at a very low price and transported his goods back to the Ming Dynasty. The boatman was very happy to hear that it was Lu Qi and the others who returned to the Ming Dynasty together, because they also heard that they had killed pirates, and with them going back together, the boatman felt much safer.

Before leaving Sulu, Lu Qi and Fan Song went to say goodbye to the East King, and the East King repeatedly said: "You must come back, we Sulu people like you very much now, but it is a pity that you do not believe in our holy *** doctrine, otherwise I will marry my daughter to you." ”

The two didn't expect the East King to say this, so they hurriedly said, "Don't worry, the East King, we are going back temporarily, and we still have half of us staying here, and we will come back soon." ”

Dongwang kept sending them out of the door, and Lu Qi saw that Dongwang wanted to speak and stopped, and said: "Don't worry, Dongwang, I will go back to implement the matter you said about the musket last time, and see if you can get it." ”

The king of the east said, "Then I please, if you can get a musket for two thousand taels of silver, I can ask for five hundred." You can pay with silver, and you can also use pearls and spices that we have here. Just watch the bullets, I believe you. ”

This time, Lu Qi and Fan Song led a total of five musketeers back to Daming together, and the man sent by Li Zhi led the other five people to stay in Sulu and continue to collect rubber.

Lu Qi and their return to Daming happened to be a tailwind, this time they did not suffer so many sins like last time, because the ship's family took special care of them, and everyone talked about what they saw and heard everywhere along the way, and soon arrived in Guangzhou. Since the end of the ship was to Guangzhou, they rented a warehouse on the wharf, unloaded the goods into the warehouse, and left the five people to guard the warehouse.

Li Mao told them, "Now that the Yellow River has been civilized, it stands to reason that Mr. Zhang and they will arrive soon." You just wait for them in Yangzhou, and then decide how to act when Mr. Zhang arrives. ”

After listening to Lu Qi and Fan Song's introduction, Zhang Zhimu happily got up and sat down beside Lu Qi and Fan Song, held their hands and said, "You have done a great thing, do you know?" You have opened up a very good situation for the next development of our kiln. I want to reward you heavily. ”

Lu Qi and Fan Song didn't know what the rubber they got was, and the others here didn't know what rubber meant, only Zhang Zhimu knew the meaning of this strategic substance.

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Calculus formulas, tables of chemical elements; Conquer Japan in the east and attack Mayi in the south; Penicillin, syringe. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".