"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the auction!"

Soon, under the watchful eyes of the crowd at the scene, a middle-aged white man with a big belly came to the dock, stood in front of the Galen ship, bowed to the people, and spoke in London-accented English.

There was an uproar, and the onlookers applauded, the port of Sutra is the territory of the British, and the auction will naturally be in English, and the buyers are mainly Europeans who have come to pan for gold, even if they can't understand the words of the fat middle-aged man, they can guess what he wants to express from his actions.

As soon as the Europeans applauded, the locals who watched the excitement naturally applauded, so there was thunderous applause for a while.

"As you may have seen, this Galen-type sailing ship has been in the water for less than a year, has a displacement of 1,500 tons, and its wide hull can not only carry more cargo, but also carry more guns to ensure safety during navigation."

When the applause fell, the fat middle-aged man pointed to the sailboat and said, "It is especially important that it has experienced sailors, and as long as you buy it, it can be put into use immediately, which will bring you benefits." ”

Seeing the fat middle-aged man pointing to the sailboat, the sailors on the deck of the sailboat immediately waved their arms and burst into a burst of cheers, signaling their presence to the people, and some of them even took off their shirts to show their strong muscles, causing the women on the dock to scream.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have been in business for many years and must know very well what this sailboat is worth, and the starting price of five thousand pounds is too cheap." The fat middle-aged man glanced at the sailors and shouted to the people at the scene, "Has anyone made a bid?" ”

"Five thousand pounds!" When Li Hongyu heard this, he secretly calculated in his heart, one pound is equal to three taels of silver, and five thousand pounds is equivalent to one fifteen thousand taels of silver, in Li Hongyu's opinion, the starting price of this ship is not expensive.

"Five thousand pounds." Soon, a hand was raised in the crowd, and a middle-aged man took the lead in making an offer.

"Five thousand one hundred pounds." Immediately afterward, another middle-aged man raised the price.

Hearing this, the European merchants present immediately stirred and whispered to each other that since these merchants had their own sailboats, there was not much demand for sailboats.

In addition, once they bought the sailboat, their business plans had to change, and they couldn't go back empty, which was something they didn't want to see, and once that happened a lot of plans had to be changed.

"Five thousand five hundred pounds!" While the people were whispering, another voice rang out, raising the bid to five thousand five hundred pounds, which made everyone in the audience exclaim.

The price is indeed a bit high, and it would be nothing if it were in Europe, but this is the Mughal Empire, and it would be a burden to have an extra ship.

"Five thousand five hundred pounds once, five thousand five hundred pounds twice, five thousand five hundred pounds three ......"

The fat middle-aged man was overjoyed when he heard this, this price was very reasonable, so he looked at the crowd at the scene and reported the number loudly,

"Five thousand six hundred pounds!" Without waiting for the fat middle-aged man to say the word "times", Li Hongyu raised his hand and said in English with a London accent.

The fat middle-aged man was overjoyed when he heard this, the higher the auction price, the more commission he had, and hurriedly looked at Li Hongyu, and then showed a surprised look on his face, he thought that the bidder was an Englishman, otherwise how could there be such a mellow London accent, he never expected it to be an Oriental.

"Five thousand six hundred pounds, this gentleman of the East bid five thousand six hundred pounds, is there anything higher than this?" After being stunned for a moment, the fat middle-aged man came back to his senses and pointed at Li Hongyu and shouted loudly to the people at the scene.

"Five thousand seven hundred pounds!" At this time, the white man who had previously offered five thousand five hundred pounds raised the price, and at the same time looked at Li Hongyu, not expecting an Oriental to grab the sailboat from him.

"Six thousand five hundred pounds." Seeing this, Li Hongyu groaned for a moment, and suddenly raised the price significantly, he didn't want to play a bidding game with the white man here, so he wanted to make him retreat.

"Six thousand five hundred pounds?" Hearing this, there was a commotion at the scene, this price has been out of people's psychological expectations, no one expected Li Hongyu to pay such a high price, in Europe is enough to buy two or three ships of the same specification.

The white man who was bidding with Li Hongyu was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then shook his head helplessly, he was not crazy, so he would not continue to bid with Li Hongyu, otherwise he would not be able to draw it.

"Six thousand five hundred pounds!" The fat middle-aged man saw that no one was willing to bid again after three inquiries, so he stretched out his hand and pointed at Li Hongyu and said loudly, "This gentleman, this ship is yours." ”

In an uproar, the people at the scene immediately applauded when they heard this, congratulating Li Hongyu on getting the sailboat.

Li Hongyu smiled and bowed to the people around him, although 6,500 pounds is a lot of money, but it is still within his affordability, for this sailing ship equipped with sailors, it is really a good deal.

"Congratulations, sir, how are you going to pay for it?" Soon, the fat middle-aged man led a middle-aged white man of medium stature over and asked Li Hongyu with a smile.

"A pound is worth three taels of silver, and I will pay it in silver." Li Hongyu groaned slightly when he heard this, and then replied to the fat middle-aged man.

"Sir, there are forty or fifty guns on board, and Mr. Foreman can sell you cheaply if you need them." The fat middle-aged man nodded when he heard this, and then looked at the man of medium stature and said to Li Hongyu.

"How much are you going to sell?" Li Hongyu naturally wanted those cannons, so he quietly asked the medium-sized man in English.

However, to Li Hongyu's surprise, the middle-sized man did not understand what he said, and the fat middle-aged man repeated his words to him in French.

Then, the medium-sized man known as Foreman said to the fat middle-aged man in French, meaning to let Li Hongyu inspect the goods first, and then negotiate the price, and he would give Li Hongyu a very favorable price.

Li Hongyu understood now, it turned out that Foreman was French, so he didn't wait for the fat middle-aged man to translate, and took the lead in answering Foreman in French and agreed to Foreman's proposal.

Seeing that Li Hongyu could speak French, not only fluently but also with a Parisian accent, Foreman and the fat middle-aged man suddenly showed a look of surprise on their faces, and they were very surprised by this.

"Sir, have you been to Paris?" Surprised, Foreman couldn't help but ask Li Hongyu curiously.

"No, I learned French from a Parisian merchant." Li Hongyu shook his head and replied seriously, Foreman couldn't confirm his words anyway.

"No wonder." Foreman didn't doubt it, and he didn't think about the real reason why Li Hongyu could speak French anyway.

Subsequently, Foreman led Li Hongyu and his party to board the Galen-type sailboat, explaining the situation of the ship to Li Hongyu as they walked.

As the fat middle-aged man said, this galleon was built in Spain only in July last year, and it is the latest type of ship made in Spain, and this time it is its voyage to Asia.

Because it carried as many as forty or fifty guns, the firepower of this sailing ship was very fierce, and it could continue to add artillery, which would be an out-and-out weapon of great destruction in naval battles in the future.

Li Hongyu deeply agreed with this, and when the artillery on one side of the ship was aligned, the enemy ships were likely to be smashed to pieces and lose their combat capability.

"Mr. Foreman, when will you pay us the wages you owe?" As soon as he landed on the deck of the sailboat, the sailors on board immediately gathered around, led by a sturdy white man in his thirties, who asked Forman in French.

"Why are you in a hurry, this gentleman is your new boss, how can he owe you your wages?" Foreman looked at Li Hongyu when he heard this, and then replied.

"How much do you owe them wages?" Li Hongyu was slightly stunned when he heard this, but he didn't expect Foreman to owe money to those sailors, so he asked.

"Half a year." Foreman smiled a little embarrassedly when he heard this, and said to Li Hongyu, "But don't worry, this salary will be converted into those artillery pieces later, and you won't suffer." ”

"Half a year?" Li Hongyu's eyes flashed with a look of surprise, and then he took a closer look at Foreman, this guy can drag on without paying for half a year, it seems that there is indeed a set, if you leave it to others, it is estimated that those sailors will already pick a child.

"Guys, show the new boss what you are capable of, as long as you do a good job, the new boss will not treat you badly." Foreman didn't want to dwell on the matter of wages, and then he said in a loud voice to the sailors.

When the sailors heard this, they looked at the sturdy white man in the lead, and when they saw the sturdy white man nodding, they hurried back to their posts.

After witnessing this scene in front of him, Li Hongyu suddenly understood that the sturdy white man was the head of these sailors, and he secretly wrote it down in his heart.

If you want to get those sailors to obey your orders, you must first subdue the sturdy white man.

With the skilful operation of the sailors, the sailboat slowly sailed away from the port, and Li Hongyu was very satisfied during this period, and he could see that the sailors were indeed experienced, making the sailboat very nimble and light.

Accompanied by Foreman, Li Hongyu came to the cabin where the artillery was stored, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, those guns looked brand new, according to Foreman's explanation, they were all new guns, and they had never been used again except for test firing.

Foreman reassured Li Hongyu that the test firing effect of those guns was very good, and Li Hongyu could select a few for inspection.

This proposal was exactly what Li Hongyu wanted, and he naturally had to test the performance of those guns before deciding whether to buy them and how to price them.

In order to test the gun, the sailboat sailed to the sea in the distance, ready to find an uninhabited desert island to test the performance of the artillery, Li Hongyu stood on the deck blowing the sea breeze, his heart seemed very comfortable, he had been looking forward to it for several years and now finally has a Western sailing ship of his own, naturally happy and happy.

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