Fresh water.

Lee Siu-ki took all the upper floors to the renovated office, which was originally a chapel, but has now been renovated, and windows have been added to make it very bright.

Because there is so much work in Tamsui City, Li Zhaoji's office also serves as a conference room, and the conference table is a slightly rough round table, using wood of different colors, just brushed with tung oil, because the conference table is made of consumables replaced from the three armed merchant ships of the Dongfang, Neilingdingdao and Tamsui.

Li Zhaoji beckoned, Li Sizhi immediately made tea for the participants, and Li Zhaoji said: "The Dutch are gone, we can't put knives and guns into the warehouse, and the horses can be put in Nanshan, but we can also be brisker." It's just that that guy Paul, before leaving, placed a list of 500 loads of raw silk. ”

"This is a big pit, where is there such a big order, but the reason for not paying a deposit?" Liu Mingde took the lead in saying that even if raw silk is purchased in Guangzhou, the price of a load of raw silk will not be less than 140 taels of silver, and the purchase cost alone is something that Dongfang Trading Company cannot take.

Li Zhaoji took the tea with a smile and said: "This is a temptation, we Oriental Trading Company are all Chinese, and there are ocean-going ships, no matter what, we can't buy raw silk and sell it to Dongyin, Du Company." ”

Everyone nodded one after another, raw silk is the hard currency of this world, in short supply in the world, just in the East, there are two major acquisition points, one is Nagasaki, the window of Japan's foreign trade, and the other is Manila, the Spanish colony.

This raw silk can be sold to these two places, and the price is much higher than that of selling it to Geranza City.

Nagasaki, in particular, did not restrict the Chinese from trade, on the contrary, the Dutch merchant ships were subject to many restrictions, and if the Oriental Trading Company really bought raw silk of such a scale, there was absolutely no reason to sell it to the Dutch East India and Du Company.

Yang Yandi looked at the teacup in front of him, although there was a strong aroma of tea coming out of it, in this hot and dry weather, it made people's mouths refresh, but they could see the foam floating on the surface, obviously, even the big shopkeeper here began to drink broken tea, let alone other places.

The reality is that the storage of goods that require foreign imports, such as tea, salt, and iron, is being consumed, which is also an important topic of the meeting, and after the departure of the Dutch fleet and the improvement of the freshwater security situation, the trade routes of trading companies, especially with Guangdong, need to be restarted.

"Tempting what?" Yang Yandi asked.

Liu Mingde said: "Naturally, it is to test our relationship with the Governor of Liangguang, these days the Dutch have come and gone to Tamsui, several high-level exchanges with us, openly and secretly inquire about our relationship with Shen Youlong, Guo Huaiyi also said that the Dutch think that we are doing business for the Governor of Liangguang.

If you can't even get out five hundred quintals of raw silk, you can't talk about the background of the governor. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded: "There is one more thing, to test our attitude towards Dongyin and Du Company." If we really have raw silk and are willing to sell it to them, it means that we are willing to share the benefits with the Dutch, which is a sign of submission. ”

Chen Liuzi smiled: "This group of red hairs has a lot of thoughts, according to what I see, the best result is that we purchased five hundred quintals of raw silk for the Dutch to see, but we just don't sell it to them." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled and asked, "Then how can I buy five hundred quintals of raw silk?" ”

Chen Liuzi knocked on the table: "Go to Guangzhou, buy it with real money, you can always buy it, and the golden gold you get from the natives can't be cubed when you put it in the cellar." ”

Li Zhaoji laughed and did not continue the topic, but said: "The Zheng family in Fujian is wary of us, and we have not been to the Jiangnan side, although Guangdong and the trading company have not torn their faces, but the relationship is very delicate, the Dutch and the trading company are not clear to me, I carefully considered this problem, the trading company needs to expand new markets, and the targets are three, Spanish colony, Japan and Nanyang." ”

Everyone is serious, since they came to Tamsui, training, fighting, conscription, and construction, they are all hard work, for what, isn't it just to make money, and now it is finally this time, everyone is very excited.

"The goods that trading companies currently have that are competitive in important ports, including deerskin, deer breast, sulfur and caviar, although allicin and alcohol are also counted, are not recognized elsewhere," Liu said.

Deerskin is very valuable in Japan, and it is also the fist commodity of the Dutch who used to be the big one, and we just happened to make up for it in their market. As for the rest, instead of selling to Japan, it is better to sell Guangzhou and exchange it for raw silk, and the textiles and iron products produced in Guangdong are also competitive goods. ”

Lee said: "Nanyang is complicated, development is a long-term work, and it is not the right time to go to Nagasaki, at least wait for us to have more competitive commodities in our hands." Today we are going to talk about trade with the Spanish colonies and the question of the Shiratori.

Lao Liu, what's going on on the White Bird? ”

Liu Mingde said: "The framework has been completed, then all the technical problems have been solved. The splicing mast is almost manufactured, I have asked the shipwright, and I have also discussed it with Guo Huaiyi, this is a mature technology, it should be no problem.

All the ship's materials are also ready-made, and the manpower is also sufficient, Qi Hai said, and it can be launched in ten days. The shipyard has made a request, I don't want this ship to be called the White Bird anymore, and I always feel that the name of the red feather should not be named our ship. ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "Rare and strange, the Oriental Trading Company comes from the Oriental, isn't the Oriental named after the English." ”

Chen Liuzi stood up at this time: "This is different, the two words Oriental show our ambition, white bird, it is completely meaningless, and even I don't know what bird is called white bird." ”

Since even Chen Liuzi agreed to change his name, Li Zhaoji said: "Then change it, let's wait until after the water is launched." Lao Liu, you keep an eye on the shipyard, as long as the White Bird gets out of the water, it will be on trial voyage immediately, and when the time comes, you, me, and Qi Hai will all have to be on the ship.

Well....... ”

When Li Zhaoji said this, he paused for a moment, thought about it, and said: "When we launch the sea trial, we will be ready, and we will go to the chicken coop for the first sea trial, find the Spaniards, and talk about trade by the way." ”

Seven days later, freshwater off the sea.

The Shiratori, which had just been launched, crushed the waves, and the sails rose on the spliced mast in the sound of the trumpet, and the snow-white sails were like wings, holding the sea breeze and allowing the ship to ride the wind and waves.

Li Zhaoji was on the ship at this time, checked the various cabins, and after finding that everything was normal, he came to the deck, and from the mast of the main mast, came down a man with red skin from the sun, he was barefoot, stepping on the deck, with a smile on his face.

"Master Xiao, why don't you wear shoes?" Lee asked.

"As long as I'm on the boat, I don't wear shoes." Master Xiao said with a smile, he is one of the many Nanyang sailors, under the command of Chen Liuzi, he is an extremely capable person, if he hadn't taken the initiative to propose to sail to the South Seas, he would have been the captain of the Neilingding Island at this time.

Li Zhaoji said: "Then you have to change your rules, this ship also has artillery." ”

Master Xiao smiled: "The big shopkeeper said to change, then change." ”

Li Zhaoji asked: "If people want to change, what about ships?" Does this ship still have to be renamed? ”

Truth be told, when the washed sails hung on the mast and sailed across the sea, the ship really looked like a white bird, and perhaps that's where the name comes from.

Master Xiao and a few senior sailors said: "We still have to change, we go back this time, on behalf of the trading company, and this ship has also been rebuilt, it is the ship of the trading company." ”

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Since this is the case, then change it." ”

Li Zhaoji grabbed the mop, took advantage of the water stains on the hot deck, wrote the word egret, and said: "Let's call it the egret." ”

Several sailors looked at each other, and one muttered, "Isn't this still a white bird?" ”

Master Xiao is an old man in a trading company with deep qualifications, so he joked: "I heard that Li Sizhi's name was changed by the big shopkeeper, and I thought that the big shopkeeper was also full of poetry and books, but it seems that the level of naming is not much higher." ”

Li Zhaoji laughed: "The level of this name has little to do with how much you read. Just like Xin Qiji, who was both civil and military, he named his son Xin Tiezhu, Liu Zongyuan, one of the Tang and Song dynasties, one son is called Liu Zhouzhou, and the other is called Liu Zhouqi. The calligrapher Wang Xizhi has a son named Wang Caozhi, translated into English name, isn't it to Mazefak? ”

Everyone also echoed and laughed, but Liu Mingde said: "This name was obtained by the big shopkeeper after careful consideration, you think it is ordinary, but your vision is not good." ”

"Then please tell us more about it." Master Xiao and several people surrounded Li Zhaoji one after another.

Li Zhaoji coughed lightly: "The egret is just one more road word for the white bird, this boat is going to go to the South Seas and bring his brothers home, and the road with more is the road home."

And egrets are all over the world, just like our Chinese Miao descendants spread out overseas, and there are them everywhere. And there are four types of egrets, two of which are migratory birds and two are not. As in the case on the ship, some people do not leave when they come to Tamsui, and only return to their hometowns to pick up their wives and children, while others still miss their hometowns and want to return to their hometowns.

Speaking of migratory birds, they all migrate from north to south, just like our brothers, some of whom moved from the north to the south, and some of whom brought their families from the South Seas to this northern land. ”

When everyone heard this, they all nodded their heads, all of them praised Li Zhaoji's erudition, and everyone looked down at the word egret written by Li Zhaoji, which was already about to be dried, and immediately copied it, and without waiting for the boat to stop, they wanted to depict it to the stern of the boat.

"The big shopkeeper, our egret, the reconstruction is really good, Qi Hai they have taken a lot of effort, now the north wind is getting stronger and stronger, please give the big shopkeeper a given day, the brothers are looking forward to going south." Master Xiao is an old man, so he naturally has to ask for the lives of his brothers at this time.

After Li Zhaoji launched the White Egret, he transferred the sailors who were going south to this ship, and as soon as Master Xiao spoke, they all quieted down, waiting for Li Zhaoji's order.

Li Zhaoji smiled: "I know that you are eager to return home, but when we go to the sea, the first thing we want is stability." This time, we went to the chicken coop, but it was a short distance, and it was a smooth return, and it was not appropriate to say that the Egret was proper. It's going to take another long voyage to rest assured. ”

When they heard this, they began to whisper and discuss.

Master Xiao looked at Liu Mingde, as if he wanted to ask him to help say a few words, but Liu Mingde was silent, he couldn't accept Master Xiao's blatant request with the sailors on the ship, where is this request, this is forcing the palace.

Seeing that Liu Mingde didn't say anything, Master Xiao could only ask himself: "What kind of long-distance sailing method is the big shopkeeper going to do?" ”

Li Zhaoji said: "The Egret is going to Guangdong first. ”

"Guangdong?" Everyone was puzzled.

Li Zhaoji said: "What, if you want to go back to your hometown and reunite with your family, my wife and children are hot on the kang, can't I?" I'm the big treasurer, even if it's a reunion, I'll come first. I have a few wives who have settled in Macau, and you have to bring them back to Tamsui for me, so that my family can be reunited, and then you can go south. ”

"Oh..... Hahaha, of course it's time for that. Master Xiao and the others were stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

This is not an excessive request at all, to put it bluntly, this kind of thing should give priority to the big shopkeeper, and besides, the Egret is equivalent to a new ship, and Li Zhaoji can let his wife cross the sea first, which itself is to give everyone confidence, whether it is to return to the south or return to Tamsui next year, it will make people trust this ship more.

Even the family members of the big shopkeeper have made a boat, and others naturally have no reason to dislike it.