The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 10 A golden avenue

The four words "spice trade" immediately attracted Garvey Torres like a magnet. He looked at Feng Guohui in astonishment and said subconsciously;
  "Jesus, it's not appropriate to joke about something so important."

"How do you know I'm joking?"

"Is it true, this is impossible? The Dutch are like wolves guarding the food on the plate and will not allow anyone to interfere in the spice trade, including the British and us."

"Of course that's the case on the surface, but in my opinion, this is a leaky shabby house. There are many wonderful opportunities that can be seized. Of course, the key is that you have to have a partner who is both courageous and capable. , just like me..."

"God, this is crazy, but I kind of understand what you mean." Garvey Torres said with excitement. He put his hand on his chest and tried to calm himself down after hearing the shocking news. clam down.

Garvey Torres put his hands in front of his head, as if holding a box in the void, and the look on his face became very strange. He realized that he was facing the biggest adventure in his life.

The Spaniard has a gene for adventure in his blood, which makes his blood boil.

"Please wait a moment. I want to understand the meaning of your words very thoroughly. The so-called cooperation means that we both smuggle out the spices. Let's talk about it in detail."

"It should be armed smuggling. This is a prerequisite to ensure that our cooperation will not be leaked. Otherwise, it will easily lead to a large-scale encirclement and suppression by the Dutch colonial army."

"Yes, yes, this is necessary. Is there any guarantee?"

"Of course, Nanyang companies can develop stable spice plantations to supply customers, well-organized armed mule and horse team transportation, reliable manpower support, and set up secret warehouses, etc. These Nanyang companies can do it."

paused

Feng Guohui continued in a very inflammatory tone; "Think about it, dear Mr. Garvey;
  Your uncle invested a huge amount of money here and did not open up the spice trade, but you did it.

What huge benefits will this bring you?
  You must know that the astonishing profits contained in the spice trade can allow the Torres family to prosper for another 300 years, making it even more grand than the current situation.

And all you need to do is work closely with me to provide all the necessary support. "

"What about?" Gavi Torres was completely immersed in this tempting plan and asked with desire on his face.

At this time, Feng Guohui looked extremely calm. He stood up, smiled, showing his white teeth, and said clearly and logically;

"If we want to continue this spice smuggling trade line for a long time and keep it secret well, we must have a fishing port of our own, and no outsiders are allowed to enter."

"Yes, I'm listening." Garvey Torres replied

Feng Guohui continued according to his own ideas;
  "This secret fishing port is very important. It needs to store spice cargo collected from the plantations in the interior and receive the loading of Spanish cargo ships.

This is an important link in the entire smuggling line and cannot be ignored.

So I plan to use the force in my hands to bloodbath a remote fishing village, replace it with our people, and use it as a secret base for future Spanish exports.

Therefore, we need enough smoothbore muskets, black powder and other equipment, as well as certain financial support for covert operations and base expansion, and for acquiring sufficient sources of spices.

You know, what we are doing is an exciting big project, and the necessary investment will bring crazy returns.

Now tell me, can you provide this? "

"This..." Xavi Torres hesitated a little. The financial resources he could actually use were very limited.

Because he only plays a trustee role, major decisions need to be made by the Manila family, and the funds that can be used are only a few hundred silver coins.

This little money is obviously not enough to promote such a huge adventure plan.

But this exciting plan is obviously very tempting.

His heart was churning like oil in a hot pan, stimulated by greed and adventure. The ambition in the Spanish people was completely inspired. Maybe this is the national nature.

Garvey-Torres knew clearly that in order to open up the spice trade, the family invested huge funds and resources and expended countless manpower, but in the end it was all in vain.

The opportunity to realize interest is right in front of us. As a Spaniard, how can we let it go?
  same scene

In front of the cautious and cunning British, it would be another situation.

I saw Garvey Torres's expression changing uncertainly, and he was obviously experiencing a fierce struggle in his heart. After thinking about it for a while, he gritted his teeth and nodded and said;

“No problem, man, I’m betting on my future this time.

The family owns two large tea plantations in Batavia. The local Chinese families have always wanted to acquire them, but they couldn't agree on the price.

They are only willing to pay 8.2 silver coins, while our asking price is no less than 11 silver coins.

According to my estimate
  If the price can be placed between 9.2 and 9.5, it is very likely that the deal will be concluded.

I have made the final decision on this matter privately, and I can withdraw the funds within a week at the earliest. What do you think? ” ˆ ˆ “Very good, but I hope to exchange half of the funds for goods, such as no less than 100 tons of Roman ashes, 1 bolts of foreign cloth, more than 200 smoothbore muskets, a small number of revolvers, tents and black powder, and also There are other materials, mainly used for the construction of private ports. "Feng Guohui made a lot of requests at once. He stopped after walking a few steps and continued;

“After taking over the fishing port, I will organize manpower to build a wooden trestle leading to the bay, which will take a lot of manpower.

In this way, after the Spanish cargo ship you dispatch arrives, it can load and unload cargo directly on the trestle.

In addition, some necessary defense facilities and storage facilities must be built. You know that the broken-down board houses in the small fishing village are not useful at all, and the spices and materials gathered in the village must not be allowed to get damp and deteriorate.

Dear Mr. Garvey, As long as this secret spice line works, you will be richly rewarded. "

Feng Guohui once again drew a pie for the opponent. Garvey Torres was also immersed in the beautiful picture he had sketched. A golden light shone before his eyes, stimulating his blood to boil.

He suddenly stood up, reached out his hand and held Feng Guohui tightly, and said with emotion;

"Now I believe that you are the closest partner in the fate of the Torres family. We will create the future and write history together."

"Yes, this is exactly the great cause we are going to do." Feng Guohui continued to promise boldly. Everything he lacked now was in this silly boy in front of him.

Now that the two parties have agreed on cooperation, Garvey Torres will first deliver some supplies and 600 silver coins to Nanyang Company in order to show his sincerity.

This includes

32 smoothbore rifles, 7 barrels of black powder, a batch of about 50 pairs of Morion ship-shaped helmets and breastplates, 120 sets of coarse cloth clothes, more than 20 mules and horses, and six European-style four-wheeled carts, including a full set of saddle ropes Leather goods.

This is just a little inventory of the Torres family in the Surabaya manor. As for why there are so many weapons and equipment, it is not surprising.

The Torres family has been engaged in maritime trade for a long time. The family owns no less than 37 sailing ships of various types. They have long been operating routes across the Indian Ocean and South Asia, and must have a certain degree of military support.

The sailing cargo ships of today's era are full of military virtues. Each sailing cargo ship is equipped with more than dozens of smoothbore muskets and a large amount of gunpowder, and has three to five or even more than 10 artillery pieces.

Firstly, it has self-defense firepower, and secondly, it is convenient for temporary guest appearances as pirates. This is common in developed shipping countries such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands, and it is an open secret.

After the founding of the United States, pirates in the Caribbean were extremely rampant, which greatly affected the safety of cargo ships on foreign trade routes. It launched a large-scale war specifically against pirates in order to eliminate the security of the Atlantic sea routes.

This situation is also common in the East Indies and the Indian Ocean, and cargo ships attacking each other is a big reason.

In the Dutch colonies, the Dutch strictly controlled the import of advanced firearms to the Chinese and local indigenous people, but there were no restrictions on the Spaniards, who were also white people, and weapons could be traded freely.

This is also the reason why Feng Guohui can easily buy revolvers from British merchant ships. The drunkard Mills does not care about the regulations of the Dutch colonial government.

If you sell three revolvers to Feng Guohui, you can get two small yellow croakers, worth about 10 pounds.

As long as the British cargo ship returns to Hong Kong, these three Colt revolvers can be bought for just over three pounds, making a net profit of seven pounds.

Weapons smuggling is a major source of extra money for these foreign merchant ships. Local wealthy Chinese businessmen and indigenous nobles also buy from them.

After the two parties agreed on the cooperation, Garvey Torres left in a hurry.

He had a lot to do. First, he had to arrange to send some supplies from the manor to Nanyang Company.

Then he would return to Batavia in person to finalize the proposed sale of the tea plantation and purchase supplies to ship back.

Time is tight and there are many things to do, so there is no room for delay.

Feng Guohui successfully deceived Garvey Torres. At this moment, he was finally able to sit at the table and eat in a comfortable mood. It felt great.

With the strong financial support of Garvey-Torres, a major water pipe, the proposed plan can take shape faster and its strength can grow rapidly.

All of this is a solid foundation for successfully establishing a foothold in Surabaya City.

His meals were cooked separately, including a large pot of fatty bacon stewed with cabbage, half a roast chicken, a few large steamed buns and a jug of wine.

This is the only preferential treatment in the entire Nanyang Company. There will never be true equality.

Zheng Xiucai and Hu Laohu's meals were just about the same. There were about three or four pieces of bacon in each dish, and the rest was Chinese cabbage. They shared half a roast chicken.

There is no roast chicken in the dish below, only two pieces of bacon are included in each pot of vegetables, which is a little better than the ordinary ones.

As for ordinary people, it would be good if they can have white rice to eat. Whether they can catch bacon can only rely on luck, which is not very likely.

Of course, if enough people can be recruited, these ordinary guys can also be promoted to the first level. This stimulates them even more enthusiastically, hoping that one day they can also eat bacon.

(End of this chapter)