Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 607

Into winter.

The wind blows south.

It is very convenient for sea ships to go south with the wind.

Captain Wei An stood at the bow and felt the sea breeze, smiling, "Trade winds rise, set sail, set sail!"

In the port of Guangzhou, a fleet drew anchor and set sail. This fleet of six large ships was about to head to Batavia.

The leading flagship is the Guangzhou, an armed merchant ship with sails sold to Daming by the Portuguese in Macau. It can carry 32 cannons and has a displacement of more than 500 tons. The ship is fully loaded with raw silk, silk, cotton cloth, porcelain, tea, etc. merchant.

With the complete lifting of the sea ban by the imperial court, in the past, the Chinese secretly went to the sea to do business, and some countries even dared not return, but now it has completely changed.As long as you apply for a sea-going permit from the government, you can leave the port after obtaining a passport and applying for a visa, and it is not even mandatory to return within one year.

The cost of certification is not high.

The only restriction is that women are prohibited from going abroad, and men below are not allowed to go abroad.

In addition to the Chinese businessmen on board, there was also a group of Dutch people who had surrendered before Taiwan. The Dutch East India Company was the first to take away the company's employees and mercenaries, and some slaves and low-level employees in the stronghold were left behind.

Because of the cost of evacuation, the East India Company simply sold many slaves directly to Daming to cover part of the compensation.

The remaining staff were evacuated to Guangzhou one after another, and went south in batches on merchant ships.

During this voyage, Wei An was the commander of the fleet. He was an official of the Guangzhou Shipping Department. This trip to Batavia was also an official trip to trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Shaotian court of the Ming Dynasty.

There are six ships in the fleet, and the Guangzhou is the official ship, and the guns and guards on it are all from the Navy.

There are also official goods on board.

As for the remaining five large ships, two belonged to the Royal Daming Royal Nanyang Trading Company, and the goods were all royal.

The remaining three ships belonged to sea merchants, and the goods on board belonged to many sea merchants and cargo owners.

There are three boats, two of which are Zheng's boats.

Chen Weiru is a Huizhou merchant. He has traveled to Nanyang several times in the past, all on Zheng's boats, so he is familiar with the way. His clan, mother, brother, wife and children are all in Huizhou, his hometown, but he is near Batavia. In Wandan Port, he also bought three local concubines, a house and a piece of land, two locally hired boy servants and four maidservants.

Even gave birth to three daughters in Banten.

He did not return to China for the past three years, but only sent money back home regularly. He was afraid that he would not be able to go to sea again after returning home. In May, he went north on a merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company, bought a lot of grain, cotton, and cane sugar, and returned home. He first went to Guangzhou and then entered Jiangxi via Daguling, and transported it along the Ganjiang River to the Yangtze River. He returned to his hometown in Huizhou smoothly.

He didn't stay in his hometown for long, and he purchased a batch of Keemun black tea from his hometown, and then went to Guangzhou. When the wind picked up in November, he finally embarked on the road to Nanyang again.

Only this time, he still had his passport and visa in his arms, and although he was still on Zheng's sea-going ship, it was the merchant fleet of the imperial court. Not only the shipping cost of the goods was reduced, but also the safety was more assured.

Guo Pei, the big class on Zheng's ship, is an old acquaintance of Chen Weiru.

They are used to calling Guo Pei Dapan, and merchants going to Nanyang are used to calling those ship owners this way. However, under normal circumstances, Dapan is not the real owner of the ship. Sea-going ships are risky and profitable, but if they sink, they will lose everything.

That's why merchants are used to partnerships. For example, ten maritime merchants each ship a ship and cross-invest in shares. In this way, even if one ship sinks, as long as the other ships are safe, their profits can be guaranteed.

They also often hire some experienced captains and give them a certain amount of dividends. Although these captains are not real shipowners, they have the final say on everything at sea. They are responsible for the navigation of the ship and the order and safety of the ship. There is often an armed guard.

Guo Pei is such a big class, under the name of Zheng Group, he used to travel from Xiamen to Batavia, this time he went from Xiamen to Guangzhou first, and then went south together.

Guo Pei's ship has many shareholders, including Zheng Zhilong, Duke of Pingguo, Zhu Chenggong, Duke of Yanping County, Boyan Keying of Fuqing, etc. Guo Pei himself has a share, and he also has additional shares.

He is very optimistic about this voyage.

Chen Weiru also met two friends he met in Batavia, brothers Yang Ying and Yang Ke. They were both from Chaozhou and went to Nanyang very early. Both brothers married women of Chinese descent in Batavia. , and had children, this time the two brothers also heard that there were changes in the country, so they came back specially to worship their ancestors, and purchased a batch of tea to go back.

They purchase Fujian Wuyi tea, a fermented black tea that is more popular overseas.

The Yangying brothers did not have much capital, and each of them only purchased 300 taels of Wuyi tea. This time they also brought a few clansmen to sea together, and the clansmen also bought a batch of tea. It was their first time to go to sea, and now there is no sea ban. They don't need to go to sea secretly, they all look forward to going to sea to make money.

Six ships, full of cargo.

The bottom of the bilge is filled with heavy porcelain, which is stable and can be ballasted. The top is filled with tea in baskets, which can also protect the porcelain, and the top is some goods such as silk.

Many merchants traveling south by boat mainly carry tea, which is becoming more and more popular overseas, with great demand and high profits.

It is said that the British like black tea very much.

Daming tea is now exported to Guangzhou, Ningbo and other places. A load of black tea costs 26 taels, and a load of green tea costs 24 taels.

Chen Weiru and the others are sea merchants who directly purchase and export goods. They are different from ordinary foreign merchants. The new regulations of the imperial court open ports to trade and allow foreign merchants to trade directly. However, they must sell and purchase goods through foreign trade firms. Those firms need to obtain the ministry's license granted by the imperial court to operate under the license.

Commercial banks act as intermediaries. For example, when buying tea, commercial banks are responsible for dealing with the tea storehouses instead of directly dealing with inland tea merchants. This has the advantage of being centralized and convenient, and even if there is a problem, the tea storehouses can be directly responsible.

The tea shop in the mainland sells tea to the tea store, and the tea store then trades with the foreign businessman through the commercial bank, which adds a few links, more commissions, handling fees, breaking fees, customs declaration fees, tariffs, etc., adding up to at least There are [-]% of tea leaves.

The tea inn has warehouses, guest houses, and its own translators in major ports, selling tea to commercial firms on behalf of tea merchants, and providing various conveniences.

Now the trading houses in major ports are actually with an official background, either the royal industry, or the government-run, or they are also controlled by nobles and high-ranking officials.

For example, the tea houses in various wharves were actually established or controlled by these commercial firms.

Doing it this way is actually more beneficial to the export of tea. It can expand the scale, especially to grasp the bargaining power, and the after-sales service and quality are also guaranteed.

Of course, there are also many retail merchants like Chen Weiru, who purchase tea directly from the place of origin. Waiting for a series of procedures has reduced a lot of costs.

He bought it by himself and paid the shipping fee to the port. He can also find a commercial company to declare the customs on his behalf, or he can declare the customs himself.

The tea tariff is ten percent.

A load of black tea is 26 taels, and the tax is [-] taels.

Compared with foreign businessmen purchasing at the wharf, it is actually much cheaper. Foreign businessmen add all kinds of links, and finally the cost of tea on board and out of the port is 26 taels, and various commissions, tariffs, etc. add up to more than 30 taels.

Of course, as long as the tea is successfully transported to the next stop, such as Batavia, they can double their profit after deducting the sea freight.

But compared to those Indian Brits, this is nothing.

It is said that tea is now in the UK, it is the favorite of the top upper class, ordinary people can't afford it, it is as expensive as spices.

The British tariffs on tea are even more frenzied. In Daming, 26 taels of tea are exported. In London, they dare to impose a tariff of 52 taels, which is an additional tax of [-]%.

Of course, from Daming to London, there are several middlemen in the middle, and the Dutch are the most famous second-hand dealers.

In the past, the Dutch had to buy from Zheng.

Therefore, a load of Wuyi black tea used to go through more than ten or twenty different hands from the origin of Wuyi Mountain to Zheng's, then to the Dutch, then to the British, and then to the London nobles, and the price was naturally high.

26 taels of black tea may have sold for more than 50 taels in London, and the British have to pay more than 50 taxes, which is actually a 100% tariff.

Chen Weiru was very envious when he heard about this before, but the Ming maritime merchants only went to Malacca, Banten, and Batavia at most, and rarely even went to Ceylon and Goa.

The main profits are still in the hands of Fujian Zheng, the Dutch East India Company, and the British East India Company, and they just make a little money.

300 taels of tea, as long as it is safe, you can earn hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver in Batavia. Although it is not easy to go to sea, the income is really good.

This time Chen Weiru also found a business opportunity when he returned to China, that is, selling rice and cotton back to China, and the profits were not small. In this way, he could go back and forth once a year. Although it was hard work, the profit was good.

The fleet slowly left the port.

Before departure, Wei An took everyone to pay homage to the Dragon King and Mazu. After leaving the port, it was indeed smooth sailing. They set off from Guangzhou Port, walked along the coast, and soon arrived at Leizhou Peninsula, crossed the Qiongzhou Strait, and arrived at Bailongwei Island in one day.

Wei An specially ordered that the fleet berth at Bailongwei.

He led the sailors to board Bailongwei by boat, summoned the fishermen on the island, erected a stele on the island, established the inscription on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and clarified sovereignty.

The fishermen on the island were also appointed as village chiefs, and the flag of the Great Sun and Moon was conferred.

Then continue to go south, a few days later to Haikou, Annan Baiteng River, specially summoned the local Annan people, Wei An also erected a stone tablet of the Annan Metropolitan Commander in the Jiangkou, and attached the request of Annan, and the Ming Dynasty specially set up the Metropolitan Envoy One thing Le Shi remembers.

Afterwards, continue south along the coast, arrive at Champa, and then arrive at Siam after seven days and nights.

Passing through the Malay Peninsula, monuments and inscriptions were erected on the Wanli Shitang Islands in Nansha to declare sovereignty.

Continue to go south to Zhanghai, where Wei Andeng ascends Haiqitou (Natuna Islands) and Dajiqitou (Natuna Island), offering sacrifices, erecting monuments, raising flags, summoning natives, giving officials and gifts, and declaring sovereignty.

And left a team of people to set up a business here, stationed and operated for a long time.

After resting there for three days, they set sail and continued southward until they reached the port of Batavia in the Sunda Strait.

　Thank you for the reward of Mourning Wu Huaxia, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)