Li Quan bought many local products in Manila, mainly dried fruits, coconut oil, brown sugar, tobacco, pearls, tortoiseshell, etc., and shipped them directly to Shanghai for sale after being loaded on ships.

can buy goods quickly, and there is also Zhang Huangyan's help, otherwise you have to wait in line slowly.

These things are in demand, and there are dozens of import and export companies in Shanghai, waiting day and night for the arrival of merchant ships. Moreover, most of them have prepared export commodities, and while taking goods from Li Quan, they supply them to Li Quan, and the efficiency of loading and unloading goods is very high.

Fujian maritime merchants discussed for a month, but no one was willing to join the American trade.

Today's Fujian maritime merchants mainly run to Taiwan, Luzon, Ryukyu, and Japan. Guangdong's maritime merchants mainly run to Guangnan, Champong, Malacca, Palembang and Coconut City. This kind of short-haul route can be profitable, and it is okay to run to India even if it is not good, so why take a huge risk to go to the Americas?

But when Li Quan arrived in Shanghai, the maritime merchants of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were full of interest.

The maritime merchants of these two provinces mainly transported Jiangnan and inland goods to Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong, Liaodong, and Korea for sale, and only a few would participate in the trade of Luzon and Japan. In terms of foreign trade, they cannot compete with Fujian and Guangdong provinces (huddle and exclude foreigners), and urgently need a new overseas shipping route.

"I welcome those who are willing to go to sea together," Li Quan said to these Jiangsu, Zhejiang and maritime merchants, "but do not want merchant ships with a displacement of less than 600 tons, do not use pure sail merchant ships, and do not want hull wood that is too brittle." Ocean voyage is not for fun! ”

The 600 tons of the Datong Imperial Court is 358 tons of another time and space.

Zhao Han's legal weight unit is: 1 Datong ton = 10 Datong stone = 1000 Datong Jin = 16000 taels.

On this basis, last year another set of units was added, which was dedicated to scientific research: 1 ton = 1000 kg = 1000 catties.

Assuming that 1 ton of water = 1 cubic meter, and assuming that the density of water is 1 kilogram per cubic meter, the length of meters, decimeters, centimeters, and millimeters can be determined.

The nouns are still the same nouns, but the actual values have all changed.

1 gram of Datong New Dynasty is equivalent to 0.5968 grams of another time and space. The 1 meter of the Datong New Dynasty is equivalent to 0.8419 meters of another time and space.

But as long as you don't think about these International Authorities, there is no problem in using them.

Because the SI unit is also determined by people, French scientists used the longitude where Paris is located to divide the distance from the equator to the North Pole by 10 million to get the unit "meter". The volume of water is then calculated by "meters", and then units such as kilograms and grams are derived.

Exactly the opposite derivation process!

Nowadays, there are various units in European countries, and when China's influence grows, it is estimated that European scientists will also adopt China's set.

Zhao Han was formulating an international standard for scientific measurement units, and the starting point was the Jin of the Ming Dynasty, which was named "Emperor Datong Emperor's Scientific Algorithm Unit". At present, it is dedicated to scientific research, and it has not yet fully integrated with the private sector.

The three conditions put forward by Li Quan turned away most maritime merchants who wanted to go to the Americas.

Because the maritime merchants who meet his conditions basically have good strength, and they can earn enough money by relying on the original routes. Those who really wanted to sail the Americas with him were all small and medium-sized maritime merchants, either with small hulls or fragile hulls, and they didn't bother to change the composite sails.

"Commander Li, the ship under the sea has a displacement of 700 tons, and it is a new galleon built three years ago." A young man stood up.

"Hahahaha!"

When they saw the appearance of the young man, the maritime businessmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang present laughed.

This young man's name is Dong Chaobin, and he is the nephew of the big bully Dong Qichang, and he has become a famous loser in recent years.

Dong Qichang's evil deeds caused public outrage as early as the Wanli period.

The father and son of the Dong family bullied men and women, preyed on the common people, annexed land, mutilate people's lives, and were burned and demolished by the angry people, but afterwards they colluded with the government to convict the people.

When the Datong army regained the Songjiang River, the local people spontaneously took action. Before the public trial, dozens of people were killed in the main line of the Dong family, and tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land were distributed to the people afterwards, and the property was confiscated by the government. The entire Dong family, all of whom were not convicted of capital crimes, migrated to the northern provinces in batches.

And Dong Chaobin's father, because of his participation in the Shizi Uprising, joined the Datong Army early, and he, a side branch of the Dong family, was preserved.

His father died a few years ago, and Dong Chaobin was an only son and successfully inherited the family business. The guy gave some of his possessions to his cousins, sold the rest of the shop, and actually raised money to customize a sea boat.

At the beginning, I bought freight from Shanghai to Guangzhou, although the price was raised by the supplier and the price was lowered by the pick-up, but I also made a small profit.

The competition on this route was too fierce, and he learned to go to Japan to do business.

Who knew that the Japanese shogunate set a trade quota, and after it was shipped, it was impossible to get rid of it. Dong Chaobin didn't dare to smuggle it to the feudal lord, so he sold the goods to the Zheng family at a low price, not only losing all the previous profits, but also owing a sum of money. If you can't pay off your debts, you have to pay off the merchant ships.

Li Quan asked, "This gentleman has a big name. ”

Dong Chaobin arched his hand and said: "Under the surname Dong, the name Chaobin, the word Bogong." ”

"Only one boat?" Li Quan asked.

Dong Chaobin said: "There is only one, and it is riddled with debts. Can I transfer it to you and pay off the debt first? ”

"Hahahaha!"

Li Quan couldn't stop laughing: "Brother Dong has a good calculation, and before the business is done, he will reach out and ask for money first." ”

The other businessmen dispersed one after another, leaving only Li Quan and Dong Chaobin to discuss privately.

In the end, Dong Chaobin's sea ship was discounted to Li Quan at a low price in exchange for a small share of the company, and Li Quan helped him pay off his debts. As a result, the number of large ships of the Four Seas Trading Company increased to five.

Sihai Trading Company is the name of the company, and the royal family is still the largest shareholder.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the government does not participate in the management, but the imperial family and the Governor's Office send people to audit the accounts every year.

The more the company grows, the more difficult it is to check the accounts, and it depends on how the future emperor will deal with it.

Zhao Han's idea is that by making more private businessmen shareholders and shareholders supervising each other, they can reduce the phenomenon of account fraud. There may be a situation where shareholders deceive the royal family together, but Zhao Han must have died at that time, and it is really annoying the new emperor, and it is possible to directly raid the family.

A few days later, Dong Chaobin came back with a sad face and said to Li Quan: "When the crew heard that they were going to the Americas, most of them were scared and did not want to go to sea. What can I do if I can't recruit a crew? ”

Li Quan said: "I will move some crew members to you, and the rest will go to North Korea and Japan to recruit people." ”

A profession like a trainee sailor does not require much experience, and any adult man can be recruited.

Spanish galleons, for example, had 60 sailors per ship and 64 trainee sailors. What really matters is the boatswain and sailman, 1 1st Boatswain, 1 2nd Boatswain, 1st Class, 1st Class, 1st Class Sailman, and the four of them can direct the sails and deck work of the entire ship.

After loading some cargo in Shanghai, Li Quan took the fleet to Shandong, where he purchased large quantities of low-grade cheap cotton cloth, and then went to Korea and Japan to recruit trainee sailors.

When the ship arrived in Fukuoka, I heard that the Chinese merchant ships were going to recruit people, and they didn't ask where to go, but hundreds of ronins came to sign up.

The Kuroda family doesn't stop it.,The ronins are all unstable factors.,It's better to get out of here.。

Li Quan recruited 50 ronins in one go, 30 as trainee sailors, and selected 20 as melee soldiers. The wages are much cheaper than those of the Chinese, and there is no need to pay a settling-in allowance, they can settle down by paying their wages in advance, and they do not have to pay any pension after death.

It's so easy to use!

These ronins are also interesting, and after paying their wages in advance, they immediately take them home. After settling the family, they quickly ran back to the ship without sending someone to supervise them. Gobbling up food during meals, like a starving ghost in several lifetimes, he also beats and scolds when he learns to pull sails and wash decks.

……

While Li Quan was still shopping for goods in Shanghai, four Hawaiians (two men and two women) were taken to Nanjing.

They first lived in Manila for a few days, thinking that Manila was the kingdom of God. Then I stayed in Shanghai, thinking that Shanghai was the kingdom of God, until I went to Nanjing, and the four Hawaiians sighed: The kingdom of God is really big!

These guys, along with their costumes and equipment, were placed in the Temple of Benevolence.

It first caught the attention of the French and Italians, and these European scholars looked at each other and agreed that the Hawaiians were the mixed descendants of the ancient Romans.

After the fall of Byzantium, it brought with it a large number of ancient Roman texts, which in turn led to the Italian Renaissance.

Among these ancient Roman texts are portraits of ancient Roman soldiers.

Let's start with the helmets of Hawaiian warriors, which are exactly the same as the helmets of senior Roman generals, especially the "cockscomb" on the top of their heads. Then there are shorts, capes, and robes, which look like ancient Roman warriors.

French and Italian scholars, overjoyed, began to make up papers.

Persian scholars had no sense of this, and they had already written a number of papers and were highly regarded by the Chinese emperor.

Persian scholars collaborated with the Hanlin Academy, and wrote papers related to exchanges between the two countries.

For example, China has 12 zodiac signs, and Persia also has 12 zodiac signs, except for individual animals, even the zodiac order is the same. Therefore, the scholars of the Hanlin Academy looked for clues from ancient books and speculated and demonstrated the ancient exchanges between the two countries.

This kind of thing can be written casually and a paper can come out.

For example, the word "doctor", Persian scholars communicated with the Hanlin Academy, and knew that the senior title of the Hanlin Academy was a doctor. So they were very surprised, because the senior Persian scholars called "Ba Hezhi", which is too similar to the pronunciation of the Chinese "doctor".

Then, scholars from Persia and the Hanlin Academy began to straighten out their thinking through Chinese classics.

Originally a Chinese official position, Ph.D. was widely spread among the people, calling those with professional skills, such as Dr. Cha. After the Mongols came, they also adopted this term, and when it spread to Central Asia and West Asia, it became "Bahezhi". And in the north, it spreads and evolves, and it becomes a "handle".

When this paper was written, Zhao Han found it interesting and rewarded the participants of the paper.

Inspired by this, Persian scholars and scholars of the Hanlin Academy published similar papers one after another.

Zhao Han doesn't have time to appreciate the paper now, and last year's financial situation barely made ends meet. So much so that the Nguyen clan in Vietnam is not in a hurry to fight for the time being, because there will be a war in Qinghai and Tibet this year.

In Qinghai and Tibet, we will have to invest in construction and resettlement, and it is estimated that there will be a fiscal deficit this year.

Finally, Zhao Han made a painful decision: "From now on, school-age children in various provinces will no longer be required to be compulsorily enrolled in school." The southern provinces, with the exception of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Quang Nam, also do not continue to build more schools. ”

The southern provinces already have a large population base and a frighteningly high birth rate, and a large number of school-age children are added every year.

The cost of education is really unbearable!

The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Finance have proposed to charge elementary school students for books.

After intense discussions, Zhao Han agreed to charge for the books. However, poor children are also allowed to borrow old books from previous years to study, or the adults in the family can help copy books.

In an agrarian society with a large population, there is no way to achieve compulsory education for all, even if the duration of compulsory education is only three years.

Zhao Han has now encountered a bottleneck in development, and compulsory education can no longer be carried out. Expansion also encountered bottlenecks, and the larger the territory, the worse the finances, and it would be difficult to expand rapidly unless the new territory adopted a restraint system.