Lu Ming

Chapter 601 Crowley's Fantasy Journey ([-])

William Janes pushed open the cabin door and shouted eagerly: "My child, good luck has come."

It was already the second day that the Lady Jacob was berthed at Hongji Port.

Since Honji Port is under construction, there are not so many docks that can supply the fleet, local transport ships, and foreign armed merchant ships at the same time; so after entering the port the day before, the Dutch ship was designated to anchor at a water surface in Honji Bay.

As a result, it is inconvenient to unload personnel and materials, and they need to be transported by small boats.

Fortunately, the Lady Jacob is only temporarily docking for supplies this time. The ultimate destination of this ship is Macau and Tainan, and there is no need to unload cargo in Hongji.

Early the next morning, William Janes got off the boat to find a way, leaning on the short walking stick that was given to him when he was recuperating.

But when he came back at noon, he shouted loudly: "My child, good luck has come!"

Old William brought back several messages.

The first news: The private army of the Earl of the East conquered the native kingdom not long ago, and signed a trade agreement with the local king.

The second news: Because of the above-mentioned news, a large number of officials under the earl came here-and among them happened to be friends of old William.

The third piece of news: Old William got a request to unload the cargo in advance after meeting his friends in the military.

Fourth: There is a banquet at noon tomorrow, and old William has been invited.

Of these news, the previous one didn't mean much to William and Crowley.They are private maritime merchants, and their current social status does not need to care about East Asian geopolitics and the resulting changes in international relations.

And the next few news will affect the vital interests of the two of them!
Especially Crowley.

In fact, before this, Crowley was already desperate.

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When Crowley set off from England, he was carrying a traditional British export in the seventeenth century: textiles.

Britain is in the early stage of "sheep cannibalism". During this period of time, there are no global trade lines and no competitive commodities.British merchants sold woolen and flax all over the world.

Crowley is no exception.As a first-time businessman, he exchanged all his starting capital for woolen, linen and cotton cloth before going to sea, and then took a boat to sea.

And after he took the boat all the way to Surat, the information collected along the way told him that in the hot South Asia, the sales of certain textiles were not good.

Especially when the market is still facing competition from the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spaniards.

In the end, Crowley could only cut the meat and sell some of the goods to other merchants at a fair price.In this way, including the cost of long-distance transportation, the small businessman Crowley has virtually lost 4/1 of his original capital.

Only then did Crowley discover that the high-end abilities in literature, poetry, eloquence, etc. that he was proud of in the first half of his life were of little use in the commercial market.

Fortunately, not long after, Crowley inquired about William Janes from the shop.So he took another boat to Batavia.

In Batavia, Crowley got his wish to meet the nobleman: Old William.

After reading the letter, old William lamented for a while, and immediately recognized Crowley as his own nephew: the old baron had saved old William's life on the battlefield.

After that, Crowley, who was on the verge of bankruptcy, finally had a turn for the better.

First of all, under the advice of Old William, which was actually an "order", he quickly cleared all the goods on hand and recovered the funds.

Next, he followed the old William on "the ship of his own family": the old William had just bought a third of the ownership of the Lady Jacob.

After that, Crowley returned to India with the ship, and stayed in several cities along the coast of India for half a year.During this period, Crowley used all the funds to purchase the goods designated by Old William.

In other words, the goods that are now parked in the warehouse of the Lady Jacob are Crowley's last gamble.

However, old William brought good news today: After learning about the situation, old friends in the army asked Mrs. Jacob to unload ahead of time.

"Thanks to the Almighty Lord! Uncle William, this is really good news. Finally, I don't have to smell that feces anymore!"

As soon as he heard the news, Crowley crossed himself on his chest.

Old William laughed loudly: "Crowley, my poor, Crowley who came to the cabin from the banquet. You still have a lot to learn. The point is, now, you are a businessman, so you shouldn't discriminate against horse manure." , that's the smell of money!"

Yes, the most important cargo in the cabin of the Old Lady Jacob were thirty warima horses.

Mawari horse, an excellent horse breed in India.This is an elegant, strong, medium-height horse that has been bred for use by humans dating back to medieval battlefields.

The Mawari horse is a cross between an Arabian horse and a Turkmen horse.This kind of horse was once used as a cavalry horse, and accompanied by its master, it captured cities in Central Asia.

Since the Turkmen horse was once the military horse of Alexander the Great, its descendant, the Mawari horse, is also particularly suitable for survival in arid and barren areas.

This advantage of Marwarima is highly valued by the time travelers.Because the future Imperial Cavalry Legion is bound to chase the north in the Gobi, desert and outside the Great Wall, the Mawari horse is an important horse breed reserve in the Army Cavalry Plan.

So when the army stationed at Hongji Fort learned that there were stallions on Old William's ship, they immediately sent a report to Guangzhou and Tainan, asking the racecourse to send someone to Hongji to take over the horses immediately.

The Army's eagerness is not groundless.The transportation conditions of sailing ships in the seventeenth century were harsh. The total number of horses purchased by Old William was actually 36. However, during the voyage, the horses needed fodder and a lot of fresh water, which were lacking on the ship. In addition, the sanitation situation was not optimistic.

Therefore, even with the best efforts along the way, when Mrs. Jacob arrived in Hongji, six horses had already died, and the remaining thirty horses were not in good condition.

So the army asked to unload the cargo quickly and get the horses ashore for recuperation first.After the horses recover after a period of time, the Army will arrange for more professional ships to transport the horses away.

The Army didn't want to suffer the loss of another stallion.

The action of crossing forces with the advantage of information technology is very fast.Soon after the old William returned, several traffic boats came to the Dutch ship berth to communicate.At the same time, the communication between the army and the navy here has been completed. A warship originally docked at Hongji's main pier immediately raised its sails and set sail to give way to the Dutch ship.

After the Dutch ship arrived at the busy dock, it was an extremely busy scene: a continuous stream of coal transport teams, and a large number of laborers who erected cement foundation piles in the cofferdam.

Later, after the first horse was pushed out of the cabin, Mr. Crawley saw the legendary mechanism for the first time: a crane arm operated by a system of steam power, which lifted the horse from the ship with ease and ease. The head was hoisted to the pier.

"Wow, amazing mechanical power!"

Crowley is a cultural person who has studied mathematics and Leonardo da Vinci's geometry, so he does not rely on God and theology in everything like old William and other rough people, but he immediately realized the key to the problem: the power of the crane arm.

But he couldn't see what he wanted to see, because the entire power system was hidden in a small house on the dock.Crowley could see nothing but black smoke rising from the roof.

In a foreign land, he still understands the principle of being cautious in words and deeds.So Crowley ended up just keeping his doubts and curiosity to himself.

The mechanical system was very efficient, and it took about two hours for the horses in the cabin to be transferred to the shore.

Then old William went ashore with two dark-skinned Indian grooms, went through the handover procedures with the army, and handed over the man and horse to the army.

Crowley stood at the bow, watching the eastern soldiers carefully.These soldiers uniformly wore green thin cotton jackets with copper buttons, trousers that were considered "loose" compared to European soldiers, and shiny short black leather shoes.

Judging from the various shiny metal objects on the soldiers, as well as the neat formations and guns, it is certain that their owners have a lot of wealth at least.

This is also consistent with the information Crowley collected before.Old William had told him that the Earl of the East had a huge private domain and abundant financial resources.

Finally, after being patted on the shoulder by an officer wearing a strange military cap whose face could not be seen clearly, Old William happily returned to the ship.

After closing the cabin door, Old William showed the short receipt with a proud face: "The hot horses were finally accepted by the owner before they died. Crowley, our next step is to go to Guangzhou to get paid That's it! Thank God for good luck to the pious people!"

Crowley couldn't help but feel a little worried when he saw William's relaxed expression.He was a little skeptical about this three-finger-wide note. Although the paper of the note was very white and crisp, it belonged to high-end goods.

So Crowley asked cautiously: "Uncle William, are you sure you can use this, um, 'rough' note to get our payment in Macau?"

"My child, you are still young, and you have too little experience." Old William put away the note carefully, and said, "The territory of the Earl of the East has the cleanest administrative system in the world. I know what you are worried about, don't worry. Well, to learn more about the Earl's Territory, you will have it when you arrive in Macau."

"Oh. So, Uncle William, what shall we do next?"

"Next? Hehe."

Old William wiped his big upturned mustache with his thumb, which was a small gesture when he was in a happy mood: "Since the boat is parked at the pier, and since Old William has important friends here, then we can go to the city and go to wash first. Take a bath to relax and relax. There will be a banquet hosted by the master in the evening, this is a good opportunity for us to receive the next commission, and I will take you there!"

Speaking of this, Old William suddenly remembered something: "Take out the two sets of clothes I gave you, right now. We need to change our clothes so that we can have a better chance!"

(End of this chapter)