In a blink of an eye, it is already July, and the mosquito control campaign is still in full swing. The immigrant villages of Taiwan www.biquge.info are shrouded in the smoke of burning mugwort all day long, just like the cemetery of the dead is shrouded in darkness all day long (which speaks volumes about the evil nature of the Zheng family, the force that later stubbornly hindered ethnic integration and set off a frenzy of colonial plunder around the world, they were the undead scourge of this world from the beginning). At that time, Zheng Sen was talking about a new business with Bell Grylls, who had just made a large commission.

"Bell, do you know coca?" Zheng Sen asked.

"Of course, it's a small South American shrub. I've heard my friend Kevin mention that its leaves are a refreshing and energizing way to chew on its leaves in the mouth, and it is said that the natives of South America often chew it while working. Bell replied.

"Ah, I know you're saving up for your trip around the world. I'd love to help you make it easier for you to do something like this. I was planning to charter a boat for a circumnavigation of the world, and I needed a naturalist on board. I think it would be a good choice for you. If you are willing to continue to accept our employment. You don't need to take on much work, just do me a favor. And I'll pay you a commission based on how well you work. What do you think? Zheng Sen leaned forward, looked into Bell's eyes, and suddenly mentioned something else.

"May I know first, what do you want me to do?" Bell is not a person who immediately loses his mind when he hears about money, on the contrary, even if he has just poured a pound or two of scotch into his stomach and is so drunk that he can't tell the difference between chicken and beef, he can immediately wake up when he hears the word "money".

"There will be some Chinese seafarers on this ship, and you know I'm training Chinese sailors who can operate Western-style sailboats. This circumnavigation was a training exercise for the best of them, who would be the trainee captain and second mate with the captain sailors of Tessie. I hope that when you arrive in South America, you will bring back the seeds of the coca bush for me, and of course it would be nice to have live saplings. If there are technicians who are good at planting him, including local natives, you can also bring one or two back. ”

"There's no problem with that." Bell said.

"Also, I learned from a missionary that in South America there is a tree called cinchona, whose bark can be used to treat malaria. I think you should know the value of this thing. I need you to find this thing in South America and bring it back. If you can bring it back. And it was confirmed to us that this was the Cinchona, and I can give you a full forty Spanish gold coins, what do you think? Zheng Sen asked.

"Is there a specimen of this plant? Or a picture? Bell said.

"No, the missionary had only heard about it, and he hadn't seen it." Zheng Sen said, "But he provided a rough range in Peru for a generation." I think the local natives probably know. ”

Bell thought for a moment and said, "I can take on this task, and I didn't promise it at the time." And for that I need to go into the jungles of South America. It's dangerous. So I ask for a little more for this task, how about eighty gold coins for the major general? ”

"No, No, Bell, you're asking for too much." Zheng Sen shook his head and said, "You are a naturalist, and when you go to South America, even if you don't have this mission from me, you will go into the jungle to see it." At this price, you can hire an expedition team directly to the local area. ”

"But after they find it, they probably sell it to a lot of other buyers." Bell said.

"Bell, if I can really monopolize this kind of thing, then even if I give you five hundred gold coins, but, you think, every missionary knows this rumor, if there really is such a thing, others will definitely be able to find it, so I can't form a monopoly at all." In fact, Zheng Sen said, Zheng Sen remembers that the Spaniards had discovered the effect of cinchona in the treatment of malaria not long before or after that, and Peru was a Spanish colony. So monopoly is impossible to do.

"Major General, if I go into the jungle for other reasons, I won't stay there for long. Most of them don't go out of their way to deal with indigenous people. Dealing with indigenous people can be a dangerous thing. In any case, you should give me a little compensation for this. Bell insisted.

"Okay, Bell. You know I've always been generous. As long as you enter the jungle and have been busy in it for more than ten days, whether you find cinchona or not, I will give you five gold coins as a reward. Couldn't be more, Bell, don't be too greedy. Zheng Sen looked Bell firmly in the eye.

"Okay. So be it. Bell looked into Zheng Sen's eyes and felt that this should be the bottom line, so he nodded.

"Good." Zheng Sen smiled, "If you find something else interesting, you can bring it to me, maybe I will like it very much, and give you some more money for it." ”

……

The front foot sent Bell away, and as soon as Zheng Sen sat down, someone came in and said, "Master Da, the people who went to Burma are back." ”

"Yes, soon. We went out to pick them up. Zheng Sen nodded and said.

The first thing was to buy poppy seeds, hire people who were proficient in poppy cultivation and harvesting crows. Another thing for the technicians of the film is to buy women by the way.

In fact, according to Zheng Sen's original intention, he would rather go to Japan to buy some Japanese women, or go to North Korea to buy some Korean women back. After all, from the perspective of the aesthetics that the Chinese are accustomed to, the Japanese and Koreans are still closer to the Chinese in appearance, and in the eyes of the Chinese, they are a little more beautiful than those in the South Seas.

It's just that Japan is now locking up the country more and more, and the Japanese are not allowed to leave the country at all. And North Korea, at least for now, the Zheng family has not opened up a channel to buy people from North Korea.

"If I remember correctly, there was a year when Huang Taiji entered Korea, forced Korea to break diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, and became a vassal state of the Manchu Qing Dynasty." Zheng Sen suddenly thought, "Now that North Korea is still a subject state of the Ming Dynasty, this war should not have been fought yet." It is said that after this war, the Manchus robbed a large number of Koreans as slaves, and there should be no shortage of women. People who have come to Myanmar have returned, and the poppy is an annual thing, and by next year it should be able to produce crows. Slice it. And by this time next year, there should be a lot of Western-style whaling ships, plus those few plywood ships, it will be no problem to pretend to be Western pirates. I don't know when Huang Taiji started. When the time comes, you can take advantage of the fire to loot, pretend to be Western pirates and pirates, and grab Jeju Island with your hands. This can be used to raise horses, and as a base, it can radiate a large area. In addition, no matter how bad the North Korean army is, the Manchus will always have wounded when they fight him, right? When the time comes, you can also put the crow. Pieces of cigarette were sold to the Balutu people of the Qing Dynasty as a healing elixir, so it should be no problem to exchange some women from them. I just don't know exactly when, in short, the cultivation of these cash crops must be accelerated. ”

Thinking like this, Zheng Sen had already walked to the gate of the courtyard and saw a big man waiting there.

In the original history, when Zheng Zhilong descended to the Qing Dynasty, Hong Xu turned to follow Zheng Chenggong and devoted himself to opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and was one of Zheng Chenggong's most important generals. This time he was in charge of going to Nanyang.

"Uncle Hong!" Zheng Sen first saluted Hong Xu.

"Oops! How dare Major General Lao greet him. Hong Xu also hurriedly returned the salute and said.

The two walked inside together, and Zheng Sen asked, "Uncle Hong, how is the matter this time?" ”

"It's not a bad mission." Hong Xu replied.

"Uncle Hong, let's go in and talk about it in detail." Zheng Sen said.

The two entered the house, sat down and were served. Zheng Sen said to the servants: "I have something important to discuss with Uncle Hong, you can retreat." ”

The servants retreated, and closed the door with their hands.

"Uncle Hong, what's going on with Poppy?" Zheng Sen asked.

"Major General, poppy is nothing in Burma, it is everywhere. His subordinates have bought back about 400 catties of seeds, and they are good at planting this thing and making crows. The film's hands were also brought back. There were more than 20 people in total. And according to the instructions of the major general, these people can also speak Chinese, and several of them are still Han. ”

"Yes, that's a good job. I took those people to my third uncle and asked him to arrange for them to walk around the villages to see where they were suitable for poppy cultivation. Zheng Sen said.

"My subordinates know." Hong Xu arched his hand.

"And what about buying women?" Zheng Sen asked again.

"Major General, there are constant conquests between the countries of the South Seas, and there is a habit of plundering and selling women from other countries. So it's actually easy to buy women. This time the subordinates went to six boats and bought back four hundred and fifty-two women. These women were all in good health, but the ship was too full, and the weather was hot, so an illness occurred, but fortunately, it was dealt with in time, and only thirty-one people died. Now there are four hundred and twenty-one people left, all of whom are women who are able to bear children. It's just that it doesn't look good. Hong Xu replied.

Zheng Sen naturally knows what the so-called "timely disposal" means. That means that if someone is found to be sick, they should be thrown into the sea immediately to avoid infection. Those women who were bought, unfortunately fell ill on the way, and I am afraid that they were all thrown into the sea alive. In that era, the goods in the human trade that crossed over were all the same. This is still a short distance, and if it is a long distance, such as from the coast of Africa to the Americas, nearly a quarter of the cargo of every slave ship that transported black slaves will be disposed of in this way. And in the eyes of people in this era, this is just a very normal thing.