In July, the port was busy, with white sails dotted and many merchant ships coming in and out. In Dayuan City, there is a great flow of people, businessmen of all colors and all kinds of words.

In just a few years, the population was 100 times more prosperous than when the Dutch controlled it, and now it is a large city with a population of more than 100,000.

The large number of immigrants who moved in, and the prosperity of commerce, made it extremely prosperous. Even the surrounding areas are already dotted with village and town markets, and patches of newly cultivated farmland are planted with rice and sugar cane.

This year's abundant rain and sunshine, coupled with Taiwan's already fertile soil, have made this year's sugarcane growth extremely gratifying.

Wu Xiang stood in the middle of the green sugarcane forest, full of joy.

"This year looks like another good harvest."

Wu Sangui stood beside his father and nodded, after their family moved to Taiwan, they used the money they had to buy land from indigenous tribes, and hired immigrants with high salaries to help cultivate and plant, and now, the family has more than 3,000 acres of farmland.

Except for a small number of fields planted with rice, the rest of the Wu family's fields were planted with sugarcane, and they also bought a sugar mill and opened a sugar refinery.

Although the Taiwanese government encouraged immigrants to grow rice, and even gave incentives such as tax cuts and subsidies to rice fields, sugar is still very profitable today, just as mulberry and silkworm cultivation are common in the Jiangnan region, and it is very cost-effective to grow sugarcane in Taiwan. Moreover, growing sugarcane is much easier and easier than growing rice.

Now Taiwan's sugarcane cultivation has formed a scale, becoming the largest sugarcane producing area in Dahan, the whole island is full of sugarcane plantations, large and small sugar factories have more than 100.

The annual production of cane sugar attracts countless mainland merchants as well as European merchants such as Spain and the Netherlands in Luzon and Java.

However, in previous years, the largest buyers of cane sugar in Taiwan were the Japanese, and the Japanese had a very high demand for cane sugar, second only to raw silk from the mainland. It even precedes tea and European spices.

The cane sugar sold to Japan is also very profitable, especially since the Wu family used to ship sugar by their own ships. Last year, the purchase price of rock sugar was 7 silver dollars per 100 catties, and the price in Japan was 14 yuan.

White granulated sugar costs four pieces per load and sells for twelve pieces.

Brown sugar was purchased in Taiwan for two pieces and sold for ten pieces in Japan.

The gross profit of rock sugar can reach 100%. Both white sugar and brown sugar can reach 200%.

Of course, everyone is willing to do such a business, so this year, Taiwan's sugarcane planting area is more extensive, and even dozens of sugar factories have been added, and many people are waiting for this year's sugarcane harvest, and then make sugar and ship it to Japan to make a big profit. Last year, the Dutch, the Spaniards, and the British did not buy much sugar from Dahan, especially in Taiwan.

This year, many Xiyi also came early to order cane sugar, and the price has also increased a lot.

Originally, I saw that this year's sugarcane would definitely be a good harvest and a good income.

But the imperial court's eastward expedition to Japan. But it made the Wu family sigh a little.

Due to the war, the imperial court has completely blockaded the coast of Japan, except for the special permission of the imperial court, otherwise other ships will not be able to pass at all, and trade is completely prohibited.

Not only could the Wu family's copper smuggling trade not be completed, but now even the cane sugar would definitely not be able to be sold to Japan.

The Imperial Court had already occupied the two major islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, and had just captured the Iwami Silver Mine in the Chugoku region. The good news is frequent, but the Wu family father and son don't think it's good news.

Lost a huge sugar market in Japan. Although their sugarcane can still be sold to Xiyi, the price will definitely come down.

Those ghosts might even take advantage of the opportunity to bargain.

Several groups of Japanese have been relocated to Taiwan and settled in various parts of the island, and there are also many Japanese immigrants, some of whom are in various workshops in the city, and some of them have been resettled for cultivation and cultivation. Next to the Wu family, there is a Japanese resettlement village, with about 100 families and hundreds of people.

"If the ghosts dare to take the opportunity to bargain, then we will sell the sugar to the mainland." Before Wu Xiang joined the army, he was also a successful businessman. His business vision is still good, compared to the Japanese market. The mainland market is even larger. After all, there are more than 20,000 people, and now the Central Plains is stable, the burden of the people is reduced, and life is not bad.

Sugar, although not as necessary as salt, is indeed a good condiment, and there are many people who like to eat sweet.

Even if the price of sugar is not cheap, the price of a pound of brown sugar is only a dime, and with the huge population of Dahan, even if not everyone buys it, it will still be a huge demand.

Wu Xiang is not worried about the sale of sugar.

"I heard that the Dutch also started growing cane in Batavia." Wu Sangui said.

Wu Xiang only sneered at this, "They can't grow the climate, planting sugarcane not only requires land, but also population, especially after sugarcane is planted and harvested, it has to be refined, and a lot of manpower is needed." Although the Dutch occupied a piece of land in Nanyang and built a commercial port, they were the only ones who lacked people. In the past few years, because of the chaos in the Central Plains, many people had to go to Nanyang to beg for food, and endured high taxes in Nanyang, doing heavy coolies, and taking a meager income. ”

"But now it's different, the Central Plains is stable, especially the imperial court to expand the border immigrants, those who have no land and no job in their hometown, as long as they report their names, there will be the court to help them move to the frontier, divide the land and reclaim the wasteland, Japan is not better than going to the South Seas? Let's just say that those who moved to Taiwan two years ago, their lives are now a hundred times better than when they fled and wandered in the Central Plains? Who would want to go to Java and Luzon to grow sugar cane for the Dutch and the Spaniards? Give them a year for nothing? Or one day, if one of these ghosts is unhappy, they will massacre me Hanmin? ”

As Wu Xiang said, in those days, many people from Guangdong and Fujian went to Nanyang to seek a living, but now except for some people who continue to do business in Nanyang, most of the rest of the overseas Chinese, even those who have lived in Nanyang for several generations, are all in a hurry to move back to the Central Plains when they know the new situation in the Central Plains.

In Nanyang, the vast majority of people are just coolies, hopeless. Even if there are good rich businessmen, they are not really stable.

Those Xiyi ghosts wanted to grow sugar cane and produce their own sugar to meet the needs of Europe, and wanted to make the profits of the sugar trade, but they lacked people. Without the industrious Han Chinese diaspora, how many people would they find in Nanyang to grow sugarcane?

They are not big Hans, the most important thing in the Central Plains is the population, and in a few years, millions of people have moved from Taiwan. But a colonial trading station like Batavia, although the commercial trade is very prosperous, they do trade, and the cultivation is different, they have no people.

Wu Sangui was thoughtful.

"Father, I think this is an opportunity."

"What chance?"

Wu Sangui said with a smile, "Nowadays, the Holland and other Western maritime merchants are in the greatest demand for several oriental commodities, one is raw silk, the second is cane sugar, the third is spices, the fourth is tea, and then porcelain, gold and other things. Raw silk is mainly monopolized by the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, especially controlled by the emperor's East India Company, and we can't get involved in foreign trade, and there is no supply. Taiwan doesn't produce tea, and we can't do it. ”

"But sugar is different, Taiwan is now the largest sugar producer in Dahan, more sugarcane than Fujian and Guangdong, and the output is larger. The cane sugar from Fujian and Guangdong is also mainly supplied to the mainland, and the cane sugar from Taiwan was mainly supplied to Japan in the past. Even if the Japanese market is cut off now, we can still supply the mainland, and the ghosts still can't get much cane sugar. ”

It is said that the ships of the Emperor's East India Company, which transported sugar cane from Fujian and Guangdong to Persia, made a gross profit of 900 percent. The Dutch used to ship sugar back to the Netherlands for auction, and the gross profit could reach 400 percent. The ghost guy is definitely not willing to give up such a lucrative sugar trade. They couldn't buy sugar in Dahan, so they had to grow and produce it themselves. ”

"But they don't have enough people to plant them."

Hearing this, Wu Xiang finally understood what his son wanted to say.

"Slave trade?"

"That's right, selling slaves to the ghosts is definitely very profitable."

The slave trade is certainly profitable, but the question is where do the slaves come from to sell? This is not the early years, in the early years, there were a large number of displaced people, and there were countless people who did not have enough to eat. Whether it is deceived or coaxed, or it can be bought from those thieves or officers and soldiers.

"Dad, why did you forget about the Japanese people?" Wu Sangui reminded his father.

Now Wu Xiang understood that Japan was at war, and the Emperor of the Han Dynasty personally conquered Japan, and Japan couldn't resist it at all.

At this time, Wu Sangui told his father about his plan, the two major islands of Kyushu and Shikoku had been occupied by the Han official army, and had begun to immigrate the Japanese in those places to the Central Plains, and they had no chance. But the main island of Japan has not yet been conquered.

"We have a ready-made fleet at home, and we have crew and sailors, all of whom are reliable people. We are also accustomed to taking the Japanese route, and while the Japanese soldiers are in a panic now, we also take advantage of the fire to rob, fish in troubled waters, drive the boat to the coast of Japan, attack some fishing villages, and catch slaves, and we can also grab a handful by the way. ”

"This, I'm afraid the imperial court won't allow it, right?" Wu Xiang asked with some concern.

"We can apply for a privateer license, as long as we have this permit, we will be the militia of the Han Dynasty, and we will be able to plunder the Japanese in the Japanese war zone. At most, it is only necessary to obtain this permit at a high price, and after each raid, it must be reported to the imperial court, and the share and income tax must be paid. I've done the math, even after deducting these costs, we can still make a profit. ”

"Isn't that privateer permission the prerogative of those Foreign Legions?" Wu Xiang asked with some uncertainty.

"It's the same, except they're mercenaries, and we're militia."

"It's better to inquire first, and if it's really feasible, then you can try it." (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for your support, such as Shan Qingying, I love my sister and my brother, Messi 111 and other book friends, thank you!