Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1232
Li Jinde suddenly asked the woman, and the surrounding slave traders and businessmen all looked at Li Jinde.Almost none of them can understand Chinese, and they are all judging Li Jinde's identity based on Li Jinde's accent and appearance.

"Mr. Li, this is not the city of London, but the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Whatever happens, you must remain calm, otherwise you will get into trouble." Sir Henry reminded in a low voice.

Although Li Jinde was a little annoyed, but after being reminded by Sir Henry, he forcibly suppressed his anger: "I just asked ordinaryly."

The caught woman came back to her senses, as if she had grasped a life-saving straw. She recognized Li Jinde as a person from her hometown: "This servant is from Quanzhou, my lord, please save this servant!"

There was some strangeness in the eyes of the slave trader, and he saw the business opportunity in it.

"You told him that I plan to buy this person, and just pay the price on the price tag, right?" Li Jinde calculated the money he had brought.

He came this time thinking that he was only here to observe the situation of the Ottoman Empire, and he didn't think about buying people, and he didn't bring much gold and silver.

Fortunately, the money brought was enough.

Li Jinde asked someone from Levant who knew the Ottoman language to help him convey that he wanted to buy the woman.

Unexpectedly, the slave trader shook his head repeatedly after hearing Levant's words.The Levant men argued with the slave trader.

"He said that the price is no longer the same, and the woman will be put up for auction, and the one with the highest price will get it." The person from Levant Company said to Li Jinde.

Li Jinde frowned, he could already see that the slave trader wanted to take the opportunity to raise the price.

The merchants around were commenting, and someone really offered a better price.

There are also nobles from the Ottoman Empire who were attracted here and spent a lot of money to buy women from the East.

Li Jinde calculated in his heart that as the bidding price got higher and higher, the money he brought himself was no longer enough to buy it.

"Sir Henry, your Levant company should have a lot of cash, why don't you borrow some of my money to buy her, and I will find a way to pay you back when I return to London." Li Jinde asked Sir Henry, the governor of the Levant company. .

"I can still borrow this money, but is it worth spending such money for a woman? With this money, it is enough to buy twenty ordinary slaves." Sir Henry repeatedly confirmed.

"This is us Han people, no matter how much money we have, we will buy it back." Li Jinde said with a sullen face.

"I see, I fully support you." Sir Henry, as Li Jinde's vaccine partner, knows that he will get a discount from Li Jinde for the purchase of smallpox vaccine in the future, even if he spends a few hundred pounds to help Li Jinde buy that woman, it doesn't matter .

Sir Henry signaled his men to bid.

A few local nobles of the Ottoman Empire originally shot, but Sir Henry has a lot of friendship with the governor here, and they don't want to compete with Sir Henry.

"Damn guy, let you nearly double the price." The people from the Levant Company handed over the Spanish silver dollars to the slave traders.

At this time, the Spanish silver dollar with a relatively high silver content was still hard currency, just like the world currency.

"The villain is also asking for a bite of food. It is not easy to buy these 'goods' from others, and you have to give them a bite of food." The slave trader took a large bag of Spanish silver dollars and shook them triumphantly, revealing a rotten tooth.The sound of the silver coins colliding fascinated him.

"Hey, you are free now, follow this rich lord. It's really lucky to meet your own people." The slave trader opened the chain with a key, and then threw a long robe to the woman.

The woman grabbed the robe tightly to cover her exposed skin, her expression was a little numb, and she looked at Li Jinde, who bought her, with tears in her eyes and trembling mouth, not knowing what to say.

She didn't expect that after being caught by pirates and trafficked all the way here from the Strait of Hormuz, she would still meet people from her hometown.

Seeing that the woman was bought by Li Jinde and people from the Levant Company, other merchants continued to look for other slaves.

"I'll pay back your insufficient silver dollars when I return to London City." Li Jinde said to Sir Henry.

"We are friends, so what is this little money, but what do you plan to do with her?" Sir Henry said, "If you meet other people who are caught, how many people can you save?"

"I don't know, I can only do my best. If one day, I hope to abolish this transaction. If the trade between the East and the West is more prosperous, more of our people will be trafficked." Li Jinde said.

"Abolish the slave trade? Hahaha, Mr. Li, you are joking. This trade has been going on for countless years. Every year, thousands or tens of thousands of people are resold. How to abolish it? And there are many slaves in this world. It is an extra-legal place where merchant ships lower their national flags at sea and become pirate ships, and it is impossible to ban them. As long as there are still profits, the transaction will continue forever." Sir Henry said.

Li Jinde listened to what Sir Henry said, and understood how difficult it is for someone who wants to protect his country to suffer such a fate.

In the past, if the sea ban was implemented and the communication with the outside world was reduced, few people might be involved in the slave trade. However, with the start of trade dominated by the East, no matter on the land silk road or the sea silk road, are likely to be attacked by pirates.

The Admiralty has four fleets and needs to maintain the stability of the local sea area.In trade, it can only barely protect important fleets, and there is no way to protect small-scale private merchant ships.The sea is so vast, sending out dozens of warships is like sesame seeds falling into a lake.

"There are many servants... Thank you for your help..." The woman who was bought by Li Jinde held back her tears and saluted Li Jinde.

"What's your name? You should be the eldest lady of which family, why did you end up here?" Li Jinde asked, judging from the politeness of the other party, she didn't look like an ordinary woman.

"The maidservant's name is Xiaolian, her family has fallen, and she followed her father from Quanzhou to Manila to seek refuge with relatives, but the ship encountered pirates in Nanyang, and was later sold here by pirates..." The woman couldn't help crying.

"Let's not talk about these sad things in the past. Since you are from Quanzhou and I am from Fuzhou, I can barely be regarded as a fellow. I bought you just to save people in our country. You don't need to pay anything back. From now on You are now free. But before you come to this ghostly place, you should follow us first, and you can return to Quanzhou with our fleet in the future." Li Jinde said.

(End of this chapter)