Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 815 Rice and Coal
Zhu Fuyuan reported the current situation to Yan Maoda.Dachang's local operations don't need the shopkeeper to be good at management: Wu Yujia's steward will bring the slaves and farmers in the manor to transport rice, timber and coal every month.Remove all kinds of sugar products and groceries from the warehouse.The volume of transactions on both sides is huge.

"Wu Yujia made a lot of money because of this business." Zhu Fuyuan spoke enviously, "He made a lot of money from our sugar products."

Wu Yujia bought crude brown sugar from Dachang at the price of 8 Spanish silver coins per stone, and then sold it to Laos, Siam and the Netherlands, and sold it for 10 to 18 Spanish silver coins per stone.As for white sugar and rock sugar, the profit is even higher.As for other goods shipped from Leizhou: including "Australian goods" manufactured in Lingao and various daily groceries purchased from the mainland.All local favourites.

Zhu Fuyuan felt unbalanced seeing his own goods being bought by Wu Yujia and reselling them to make a lot of money.It is suggested that more merchants and sales channels should be expanded-it is best to expand to retail channels, so that the Wu family will not take all the benefits.

"It's not busy." Yan Maoda said, "How is the arrival of the rice?"

"Here we are, the rice that was negotiated last year has arrived." Zhu Fuyuan said hastily, "It is Wu Yujia's steward who wants to raise the price again."

Hearing that Wu Yujia asked for an increase in the price of rice again, Yan Maoda couldn't help frowning.For the third time in the past six months, Wu Yujia asked for an increase in the price of rice.Rice is a strategic material for Lingao, and Vietnam is currently the main supplier of rice for Lingao. The price increase not only requires paying more exchange goods, but also means that there may be some problems in the supply channel.

"Why do you have to increase the price again? There must be a reason." Yan Maoda said, "Could it be that the manager is playing tricks?"

"He didn't dare——the business between us and Wu Yujia is a big business, and the person in charge doesn't have the guts to mess around." Zhu Fuyuan said, "The person in charge said that because the Zheng family is going south to attack the Ruan family, they are recruiting troops everywhere. Wu Yujia Of course, a large sum of food and wages are also paid. It is said that in order to get enough rice, the farmers in Wu Yujia Manor are almost starved to death—last spring they ate porridge, but this spring they will eat bran.” Zhu Fuyuan said, "I heard that some farmers can't make it through, and they are going to leave the manor to escape the famine."

The war Zhu Fuyuan was talking about was the post-Civil War in the post-Lei Dynasty. This war started in 1627 and lasted for more than 100 years. Between 1627 and 1672, seven large-scale battles broke out between Zheng and Ruan.What the senators encountered was the Second World War from 1630 to 1633.The Ruan family gave full play to the turtle flow strategy, and the fortresses built under the guidance of the Portuguese severely damaged the Zheng family's army going south.A strategic stalemate has formed.

Under this situation, a large number of farmers will be forced to serve as soldiers. In the agricultural society of the Middle Ages, farmers were the most important productive forces, and farmland lacking labor could not produce enough food.

"It's really bad." Yan Maoda thought to himself, it seems that it is difficult to expect Wu Yujia to supply large quantities of grain for a long time.If the Civil War of the Later Li Dynasty had not interfered, it would have lasted at least 50 years according to the historical trajectory.

"When there is a war, it will be difficult to get food." Zhu Fuyuan said nervously.He has worked here for the Australians for more than a year, and he knows that the main purpose of the Australians setting up an office in Haiyang is to buy food.If food is too expensive and difficult to buy, it may not be possible to continue to open warehouses here.The good job that I had so hard to get was about to go to waste.

"The price of rice depends on him." Yan Maoda said after thinking twice, "How much grain can he send every month now? Is there any sign of reduction?"

"No rice has been shipped in the past month. It is said that the government has confiscated a lot. There is not enough rice in the manor." Zhu Fuyuan said, "And the next three months will be the spring famine. After the spring famine, the grain should be supplied normally."

Zhu Fuyuan said again: "Boss! Should we slow down the speed of sugar transportation? Now there are more than 1 rock sugar in the warehouse..."

"It doesn't matter!" Yan Maoda said, "You can tell Wu Yujia's steward tomorrow that there is no rice and ask him to bring more coal in exchange for it!"

"Change coal?" Zhu Fuyuan was taken aback. In his opinion, this was a very uneconomical thing.Although the price of coal is very low, it is really hard for him to understand the Australians buying up dirty and smelly firewood by boats and boats—whether it is Guangdong or Vietnam, firewood is cheap and much more Rich people can also use good hard charcoal.I really can't figure out why Australians buy so much black coal.

"Yes, since he doesn't have enough rice for a while, he will exchange the sugar in stock for coal and wood." Yan Maoda waved his hand, "Don't get bored, do it right away!"

Zhu Fuyuan answered "yes" several times, and seeing that Yan Maoda had nothing to say, he immediately presented the warehouse's account book.Yan Maoda accepted it first--the audit is the business of Cheka, but as a superior supervisor, he also needs to do a good job of self-examination. He is going to look at the account books on the way to Hongji.

"This is Bei Kai." Yan Maoda introduced Bei Kai to Zhu Fuyuan, "He will be the business representative in Vietnam in the future. You can report to him directly if you have anything to do!"

Bei Kai's resident is Hongji, but as a veteran business representative, as usual, he has the leadership over the commercial stations and warehouses in Hai Duong and the future coastal areas of Vietnam.

Zhu Fuyuan took a look at this little dark man - he looked similar to those Vietnamese, why is he also the chief?But he has been working as a man for many years, and he has long understood the principle of saying less and more execution in the personnel arrangement of the boss.

"Last time I took care of you to inquire about the matter. Is there any details?" Yan Maoda asked.

The last time Yan Maoda came to Haiyang, he specifically confessed to Zhu Fuyuan: to investigate the ownership of the land in Hongji: Does it belong to a certain manor owner, or is it the salary land of Li Dynasty officials, or is it an unowned official land?
"The villain made a special effort to inquire. Hongji, and Jinpu mentioned by the chief are all unowned lands. There are either mountains or tidal flats. They cannot be farmed, and no one cares about them at all."

"What about the procedures for buying land from the government here?"

Zhu Fuyuan smiled wryly and said: "I'm afraid it will be very difficult. The merchants of Ming Dynasty are big fat here, even buying a piece of land to build a warehouse will cost a lot of time. Spending money is the next best thing." He paused, "If the chief must buy it , you have to draw a boundary first to draw a picture, and then the villain will go on a run, but I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money..."

"No need. We'll talk about it when we come back." Yan Maoda thought that he might not need to spend money to buy it, and use force as a backing to mine it on the spot. Bei Lichao might not be in the mood to mobilize an army to deal with him right now.

Yan Maoda and his entourage did not stay in Haiyang any longer. After checking the warehouse and understanding the basic situation of the local area, the Zhennan ship unloaded the cargo there, and sailed south again to Hongji.

Haiyang is about 60 kilometers away from Hongji, and the Zhennan can reach it in about 10 hours, because it is sailing along the coastline, and Hongji is in Yalong Bay, which is lined with islands and reefs. In order to avoid running aground on rocks, Zhang Dasara decided not to go at night Sailing, but starting early in the morning, just arrived in the evening.

The Zhennan set sail early in the morning, and Zhang Dabara made observations with the theodolite in a decent manner, and plotted the route on the chart.It's a pity that his arithmetic skills are really poor. After pushing and moving a navigation slide rule for a long time, he finally dropped it and cursed "Bird!" and went back to the back of the poop to look at the compass.

Fortunately, this area is the route he often takes, and it is the so-called place where you can sail with your eyes closed.Under his command, Zhennan began to sail south.

The Zhennan sailed smoothly under the command of Zhang Dasara, and the Chinese-style hard sail fully demonstrated its superiority in adapting to "winds from all directions" when sailing in coastal areas with complicated wind directions.Although the speed of the ship was fast and slow, it never stopped.

Looking at the beautiful scenery along the coast from the poop, Bei Kai felt that it was worthwhile for him to learn Vietnamese for more than half a year—this land is so attractive.If he could be the governor of North Vietnam in the future... Bei Kai's thoughts could not help but fly to those slim Vietnamese women he saw in Haiyang yesterday.

Bei Kai is a soy sauce veteran who is not very proud in the Senate. His past career made him finally join the Postal Transportation Committee, but he knows nothing about transportation, and Lingao's postal system has not yet been formally established—and even if it is established immediately Well, he, a postal employee who has been advertising in the post office, has no research on postal business.

He is not an eloquent figure, and he does not want to mix politics.Therefore, he is a marginal figure in the Senate.However, due to the expansion of the Traveling Group itself and the scarcity of the number of veterans, the soy sauce veterans also have enough opportunities to stand out.

Just as he was thinking wildly about the Vietnamese women, the ship's bell suddenly rang rapidly. Bei Kai was startled, and saw sailors and soldiers pouring out from below the deck.Some held Navy Type 29 machetes, while others held short-barreled Minie rifles.Several sailors rushed up to the poop and quickly took off the tung oil cloth cover to reveal the dark typewriter inside. Someone quickly opened a nearby tin box and took out the dark spare magazine inside.

"What's going on?" Bei Kai was taken aback, seeing that the gun covers of the six Caron guns on the deck were all taken off. Is this a posture for fighting!
"Report: There are ships fighting in the direction of 7 o'clock. Let's enter the alert first." Zhang Dascar rushed to the poop and explained.

"A pirate?"

"It should be." Zhang Dasara was not nervous, "Don't worry, chief, this kind of thing happens often in this area. The fishermen and pirates here can't tell the difference. Our boat is big and guarded, and they don't dare to use their brains. "

(End of this chapter)