Trade is to make a profit, except for the conscious price reduction of silk, the rest of the commodities Xiong Jing still hopes that they can make huge profits. It's just that other goods, even armor, are difficult to sustain high profits, and it is conceivable that once the sales of armor in various countries end, trade profits will continue to decline.

As for the Lu Li crystal mirror, it is just a layer of mercury coated on the back of the mirror. Egypt and Syria both have long-established and highly skilled glass-making workshops, and once they discover this secret, it is estimated that they will soon be able to make Luli crystal mirrors. Although the state of Chu signed a patent treaty with Seleucus, it was actually meaningless.

Neither does porcelain. Porcelain, as beautiful as it is, has not yet become a fashion. It is said that the Greeks used silver tableware, while the Persians used gold and silver utensils, and it took a certain amount of time for them to accept porcelain tableware. The real reliable products are paper and pig iron, but the consumption of paper is limited, pig iron is too heavy, and it is difficult to transport pig iron to a long distance unless the merchant arrives in Hong Kong unless he uses a ship.

"How's the spice?" Xiong Jing thought about it and asked about spices, which was a killer feature.

"Cinnamon is expensive." Shi knew Xiong Jing's thoughts, and first talked about cinnamon. "A pound of cinnamon can be exchanged for three hundred drachmas of silver, but it cannot be exchanged for more ......"

"Geometry?!" Xiong Jing was taken aback, he didn't expect the price of cinnamon to be so high, which was more expensive than gold.

"Your lord, one pound of cinnamon can be exchanged for five pounds of silver coins." Shi changed a unit, and directly replaced the drachma with Chu Jin. "However, you can't change more, and this time it's only sold more than 800 catties."

"What about cloves? What about cardamom? Also, what about Sichuan pepper, ginger, and wild garlic? Xiong Jing asked about other spices.

"It's not as good as cinnamon." Shi's tone was no longer high. "India also produces this thing, and I am inferior to cloves, cardamom, and wild garlic. Sinhala has cinnamon, but it is not as good as me. ”

"So," Xiong Jing began to feel a little worried. "Except for silk, the rest are difficult to make huge profits?"

Xiong Jing's question made Shi Yi stunned, he wanted to say no, but as the countries no longer buy military armor, the price of silk has fallen sharply, and trade profits will soon shrink, which is something that cannot be deceitful. And Xiong Jing has no time to read the account books of shipping companies, and once he looks at the account books, it is useless to deceive.

"Yes, yes." Shi replied with difficulty, his vest was already wet. "The minister has one more thing to tell." Something suddenly occurred to him.

"What?" Xiong Jing had already begun to think that he had to keep the profits of the trade.

"Without a long word, the Seleucid kings were happy to build cities, and every few years they had to spend a lot of money to build a large city." Stone Road. "If you can sell its cement ribs, you can make a big profit."

"Building a city?" Of course, cement can be sold, and juji can also be sold, as long as the profit is high. Xiong Jing just wondered why the Seleucid emperor wanted to build the city. Is it to defend against the Egyptians, or that rebellious brother of his? "Why did you build a city?"

"I don't know." Shi had never been to Seleucus, and he could only relay the words of the unhooked man. "It is said that most of this city is inhabited by Baidi people, and there are library halls and singing and dancing fields in the city, as well as fighting and killing fields."

"I see." As soon as Shi said that the library of books, Xiong Jing would be clear. In order to rule the East, the Greeks adopted a strategy of fortification. That is, every time a place was occupied, a Greek-style city was built on the place, and then the Greeks were introduced. These cities are generally located in strategic locations and transportation arteries.

"What is the circumference of a city?" Xiong Jing became a little interested, "How much does a city cost?" ”

"This," Shi also listened to the long one without hook, "the minister doesn't know,"

"Inquire quickly." Xiong Jing commanded. He was already thinking about whether to let Feng Ren form an international contractor team.

"If the shipment remains the same this year, how much profit will it make?" Xiong Jing asked a difficult question to answer.

"Minister...... I don't know. Shi sweated again, "Because of the sale of military armor and India, Xu Xu has 200,000 gold. ”

"If you don't have armor, how much profit can you make?" Xiong Jing asked again.

"If there is no armor, and if the silk brocade in the hands of the merchant is too much, it cannot be sold, and the profit from the return is not counted, I am afraid that it will be less than 50,000 gold." Shi Dao, and then he didn't open which pot to mention, "The minister thought that Haizhou should go to Xizhou." Seleucus customs tax is very heavy, merchants all seek huge profits, a silk I sell for a gold, merchants sell to Xizhou for fifteen or twenty gold. If the sea boat can go to Xizhou, it will be profitable. ”

Of course, Xiong Jing knows that going to the Mediterranean Sea can be the most profitable, but the question is what can be done if the sailboat is not strong? And now the ribs have not come up with a reliable way, and last month there was another bad news: the ship's huge iron keel is also difficult to produce for the time being.

Like the wooden keel, the huge iron keel can also be pieced together, but the patchwork requires a tight fit, and there must be a tenon between them, so that the two keels can be stuck together. It is possible to cast a huge iron keel, but in the case of free forging, it is completely impossible to cut one end of the two keels into a slope that is thinner, completely straight, and has a tenon.

Or change the way of assembly, one keel is concave, one is convex, and each other is inserted and assembled, which is also difficult to process. A cannon or a steam engine cylinder can be machined because it is a perfect circle. As long as the boring machine expands back and forth, it can rotate continuously, scrape off a circle of iron filings, slightly expand a trace of outer diameter and then scrape, until the satisfied inner diameter, keel processing is completely different.

Not good for ribs, not good for keels. The clipper hull is not strong because of its slenderness. And if a stronger gluttony is dispatched, Xiong Jing is worried about another problem: between the trade wind belt near the equator and the westerly wind belt, that is, about 30 degrees north latitude, this is a windless belt. How can a sailing cargo ship like the Gluttony survive this windless zone?

This was actually a hole in Xiongjing's knowledge, he only remembered the route of Columbus and da Gama to the Cape of Good Hope, and in order to avoid the windless zone, both of them directed the merchant ships to turn west, so that Columbus's crew saw Brazil, but they thought it was just an island.

Later, in order to avoid the East African shipping lanes controlled by the Portuguese, the Dutch made their way to Asia by heading west in the Atlantic Ocean to avoid windless belts. After arriving in Brazil, it follows the current south along South America and then crosses the Cape of Good Hope eastwards using the westerly wind belt.

The Dutch, who were the first to sail in the 'roaring forty degrees' westerly winds, were the first to sail in the 'roaring forty degrees' westerly winds because they fished herring in the harsh North Sea. Coming down from South America and directly into the westerly wind belt, it will soon be able to reach the waters of Java Island in the north. The whole one-way voyage saves three or four months of time compared to the Portuguese.

From Europe to Asia on these two routes, from Asia to Europe ......, Xiong Jing only knows that in the Indian Ocean winter, when the northeast monsoon blows, the wind to reach the Cape of Good Hope, but after arriving at the Cape of Good Hope, how to go, how to blow the Atlantic monsoon, he does not know.

That's a problem, and then there's the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea is long and narrow, about 2,000 nautical miles from east to west. He also didn't know exactly how the Mediterranean monsoon changed and where it went. Because of their heavy load, they have to sail downwind in the monsoon, or in the wind belt. The situation of the Atlantic and Mediterranean monsoons is not clear, so they can only let the clippers go;

Or let the Gluttony hang the spinnaker, but the spinnaker can't carry the big cargo ship, but can only drive a small boat like the Shao Si Ming class. The circumference of the Earth's equator is only 40,000 kilometers, and the voyage from Zhu Fang to Rhodes in the Aegean Sea is close to or more than 30,000 kilometers. East and West Africa may be all wasteland, and it is difficult to replenish anything other than fresh water, and it is difficult for the junior commander to be able to handle such a long voyage......

"Great king, the Seleucid envoys ask to see you." Xiong Jing was thinking about how to get to the Mediterranean when a messenger ran in.

"My lord, don't ask me to see me." A temple man also ran in from outside.

"Don't call me." Xiong Jing hesitated, but still summoned me first. "Please wait."

"The king......" Seeing that Shi and Xiong are also there, don't stop me if I want to speak.

"Stand aside for now." Xiong Jing could only let others retreat.

"The carrot giver has an urgent report." The carrot was offered by Gowala, and it is not known how he brought the carrot to the state of Chu. His homeland was far away on the island of Cyprus, and the Greeks were actually his enemies, so he asked him to keep an eye on him.

"What's the urgency?" Xiong Jing thought that Zhao was defeated, so I didn't want to retreat from others.

"The envoys of Bactria were worried that all the gold and silver would be transported into our Chu country, and that the world would not have the money to pay military salaries in the future, so they went to consult with the Seleucid envoys." After the opening of the voyage to India and Seleucid, Zhibisi set up two new groups in India and Seleucid, and I was very aware of the importance of overseas trade.

"What are you discussing?" Xiong Jing also became alarmed, and he hated Aristotle IV more and more, a man who was very fond of trouble.

"I don't know yet." Don't tell me, "I think it should be related to trade." Or do you want to stay in my country and take away my goods? ”

"Impossible." Xiong Jing shook his head without thinking about it. The Seleucid envoys are now asking for an audience, which is naturally related to the deliberations of Aristotle IV, and it is impossible for him to come and ask for an audience if he really wants to seize the ship and the goods. But if it wasn't for the ship and the goods, what would the envoy do?

"Summoning Chengsuke, Shi." Xiong Jing didn't want to summon Silanus alone, and if Silanus really had any rude requests, he had to be helped.

The Confessor descended the steps to summon Seisuke, and Silanus, who was waiting outside the road gate, only glanced at the Confessor and stopped paying attention. Just now, the Bactrian envoy Aristotle IV had asked for an audience as a Greek, and as soon as they met him, he began to talk about trade and the inflow of gold and silver coins into Chuni. Siranus didn't care, but when Aristotle IV said that Chuni's weapons and armor were likely to be sold to Ptolemy and Antiochiollas in Egypt through the Red Sea, he finally couldn't sit still.

They were all enemies of Seleucus, especially Antioch Ieras. Once Antioch Ieras also purchased Chuni's weapons and armor, it inevitably attracted the wrath of Seleucus II.