What happened to Bell at Cambridge was actually quite normal. Although since Henry VIII, the wife killer, made an Anglican church in order to divorce his wife, burned Bruno's Catholic Inquisition or something, he has not been able to enforce the law on English soil. Although Britain is now in the midst of a civil war, the attention of the upper echelons of the Anglican Church is also attracted by the civil war, and they do not care about the heresy of Bell for a while. (In fact, Protestantism is no less brutal than Catholicism in dealing with heresy, and they are nearly half a century ahead of Catholicism when it comes to playing live barbecue and burning Selvette) but the religious atmosphere in England at this time is still much stronger than Darwin's time two hundred years later, and the people of England are not only more pious than they were at that time, but also more barbaric than they were at that time. Truth be told, if it weren't for the civil war attracting more attention, perhaps Bell would have turned into a barbecue a long time ago.

Now hearing Zhou Bofu's question, Bell couldn't help but smile bitterly, and then replied, "What am I here for?" Of course, I'm here to take refuge, but I'm still waiting in ......England," he shook his head, and added, "As for today, I'm here to do some business, to buy some boats for business." ”

Hearing that he was doing business, Zhou Bofu was interested, so he asked, "I don't know what Mr. Bell wants to do when he buys a boat?" Maybe we can work together. ”

"I'm going to get a boat and run a route from China to Madras," Bell said. Well, Madras was a trading post of the British East India Company in India. Mr. Zhou knows about India, right? ”

"Of course I do." Zhou Bofu said, "It's Tianzhu, and Buddhism originated from there." When Tang Seng learned scriptures, he went there. Well, does Mr. Bell know Journey to the West? ”

Bell shook his head, he could speak Chinese and knew a lot of Chinese characters, but China, he didn't see much.

"What is Mr. Bell going to sell to India?" Zhou Bofu asked again.

"Silk, tea and porcelain, of course." Bell replied. Then he asked, "Does Mr. Zhou know who the richest man in the world is?" ”

"The richest man?" Zhou Bofu thought for a while and said, "It should be Prince Zheng, right?" It is said that his family has more money than the treasury of the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, I heard that the king of Spain should also be very rich......"

Bell suddenly realized that his question seemed to be asked wrong, and he thought for a while and said, "What Mr. Zhou said is good, but whether it is Prince Zheng or the Spaniards, although they have money, they don't dare to spend it indiscriminately." Prince Zheng had to fight with the Spaniards, with the barbarians in the north, and with the bandits in the country, and although he had a lot of money, he also had a lot of places to use; As for the King of Spain, the same is true. Does Mr. Zhou know who in the world dares to spend money the most? ”

When Zhou Bofu heard this, he shook his head and said, "I don't know this." ”

"The most daring people in the world to spend money are those land kings of India." "Fine silk and porcelain, as well as tea, were in the market of the kings of India. You may not know how much gold those guys have in their hands! Of course, because they can buy these things from Tibet, the price of these things is naturally not as high as in Taixi. However, the overland route from India to China is very difficult, either from Tibet, which is extremely difficult to climb over the highest mountain range in the world, or from Afghanistan, which is a long way, and you have to cross many lawless places along the way, crossing mountains and deserts, which is also very difficult and time-consuming. In contrast, it is much more convenient to go by sea than by land. In addition, there are many goods that can be carried by sea at one time. Although the price of the cargo is not as good as that of shipping to Tessie, the voyage is much shorter, and there is no need to risk passing through the ever-choppy and extremely dangerous Cape of the Storm. So it should still be very profitable. And India also has a lot of good things, such as snowflake iron or something, which can also make a lot of money by trafficking it to China. I can't go back to Tessie now, so naturally I can only make more money here. ”

Zhou Bofu nodded, and asked again, "I don't know what kind of boat Mr. Bell plans to buy?" ”

"I don't have a lot of money." "I'm going to buy a fortune boat." In fact, in terms of shipping cargo alone, the Fuchuan is better and more efficient than Galen. Although the Fufu was downwind and slower than Galen, it was faster when sailing upwind. Taken together, the speed is no slower than the average Galen. In addition, there are fewer sailors for Fukubune, and it is easier to train, and the price is naturally cheaper, so in this way, you can earn more with Fukufu. And the fortune boat is also cheaper than Galen. I can only afford a fortune boat now. This last sentence is probably the most fundamental reason.

"The two of them knew each other before, and this can be regarded as a fate to meet thousands of miles away." Shopkeeper Li smiled on the side, "You two might as well come here and sit down and talk slowly." As he spoke, he let the two of them to the edge of the two chairs. The two sat down on the chairs, and another man poured tea.

Zhou Bofu took a sip of tea and said, "If this business can really make money, I would like to come and participate in it, I don't know if it's okay." In addition, I heard that there are a lot of pirates in this sea, but I don't know what the risk is? ”

Bell replied, "Mr. Zhou wants to participate in the shares, of course I welcome it." I only have the money to build one boat here, and if Mr. Zhou can invest in building another boat, it will be more secure for two boats. Moreover, Mr. Zhou is Chinese, which is also convenient for organizing the source of goods. As for pirates, in the east of Malacca, now because of the blows of Prince Zheng, there are fewer pirates, but after Malacca, there are more. But it's not that it's impossible to deal with, it's just that there are some secrets in it, but it can't be said yet. ”

Zhou Bofu also knew that this was not the place to talk in detail, so he asked where Bell lived, but found that the two actually lived in the same inn.

Bell asked Zhou Bofu again, Zhou Bofu knew that his current business was not done by a foreigner like Bell, and he was not afraid that he would rob his business, so he also talked to Bell a little. And Zhou Bofu's idea of setting up a cargo hold for a standard container also inspired Bell.

"Why don't we take a look at the type of ship they have prepared, and we have a discussion." Zhou Bofu said.

The two of them carefully studied the several types of ships provided by the shipyard, and then got into the carriage together and returned to the inn. When they arrived at the inn, Zhou Bofu asked people to prepare a table of wine and food, and invited Bell over, and the two drank wine and chatted about business again. In the end, Zhou Bofu and Bell reached an agreement, and the two of them each contributed half of the capital to form a business with two 500 fortune ships to do business in India together.

Finally, Zhou Bofu asked Bell what he could do to deal with the pirates. Bell smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou, have you ever caught a grasshopper in the meadow?" Are those grasshoppers easy to spot? ”

"Grasshoppers are green, exactly the same color as the grass, so naturally they are not easy to spot." Zhou Bofu replied.

Bell smiled and replied, "My method is actually similar to that of a grasshopper." That is, we painted the whole ship in indigo blue, so that the pirates could not see us from a distance, and we could more easily spot the pirates. By making it easier to spot the other party's advantages first, it will naturally be easier for our ships to avoid pirates. ”