Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 990 Ayutthaya

His Majesty King Phra Saitong got up as usual, opened the window of the bedroom and looked out of the window. The whole city of Ayutthaya was still filled with sunshine. The 100-kilometer Hexin Island.Ayutthaya means "City of Eternal Victory".This place is the ruling center of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, which ruled for 600 years in Thai history.

Although the current Kingdom of Siam has not yet been unified, the city of Ayutthaya is already magnificent, and the urban area has expanded to 15 square kilometers.According to the British, the population is roughly the same as that of London, that is to say, at least 20 people.

Even by the standards of Ming Dynasty, a country with a large population, a city with a population of 20 is still very large.By its heyday, it was said to have a population of 100 million.

The palace in the city is magnificent, the pagodas are like a forest, and the prosperity of business is second to none in Southeast Asia.Since the city of Ayutthaya was built on a large island where three rivers converge, water transportation is very developed. Aquatic products from the south and agricultural products from the north are gathered and traded here, and even products from as far away as China are continuously transported by sea. .

But the king of gods had no intention of admiring the magnificent scenery of his capital: early in the morning, he heard a report from the palace man, saying that a large-scale fleet had arrived from the mouth of the Chao Phraya River five days ago.The point is flying a flag they've never seen before.They are currently moored on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Thonburi.

Phrasaiton has been very cautious towards outsiders during this period. Last year, Yamada Nagamasa, a big businessman of Ayutthaya, died of an infection after he accompanied the Siamese army in the expedition to Liukun's rebellion. The people assured that he did not poison Yamada, but still did not get their trust.And the ministers under him had long been jealous of the Japanese business in Ayutthaya, so they instructed the army to burn down the Japanese town at the south gate.The contradictions intensified further, and the Japanese volunteer team and businessmen fled to Cambodia one after another. Just before the mess was sorted out, a messenger sent news from Edo just a month ago: General Iemitsu told a businessman with a shogunate background that he was in Cambodia. Angered at what happened to Luo, he officially terminated the trade with Siam, which made life even more difficult for the young king: the Burmese became more and more powerful in the west, and they had captured Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai successively.

Although Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai belong to the Lannatai Dynasty, one of the "Three Thais", they are not the territory of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, but they are vassals of the Ayutthaya Dynasty.The two sides are in a close alliance, and the reason why the lips are dead and the teeth are cold is not difficult for the rulers of the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Chinese descent.

Although the Siam natives are brave, they do not have high-quality weapons.The metallurgy and handicraft industries in Southeast Asia have always been backward.In the past, swords and swords were imported from Japan, and the Japanese silver obtained in exchange for export goods was used to buy gunpowder, matchlock guns and cannons from the Portuguese and the Dutch.Once the Japanese trade is interrupted, these things are gone.

He knew that there were only some small fishing villages in Thonburi, and there were also a small number of overseas Chinese businessmen from the Ming Dynasty.Compared with Pattani, a big port where merchants gather, Thonburi is relatively colder.Because most of what can be exported here is rice and wood.And foreign businessmen are more keen on the spices of Nanyang.

He began to ask the informant for information about the group.

He never let him know that this group of people is different from the overseas Chinese businessmen in Ming Dynasty. Although they have the same face and use Chinese characters, they don't look like Ming people in terms of speech or body shape, not to mention the short hair. Similar to some generals in Siam.

"They said they came here to buy our rice. If we want, they are willing to trade with us with silver and weapons." After speaking, the messenger presented the sample given by the Australian to the God King: a standard machete, His Majesty the God King carefully Playing with the knife, this knife is not much better than the Japanese knife.

This knife is the standard machete of Lingao's mass-produced 1631 model.Used to replace the Type 1629 Machete.It is widely used in the army and militia, especially in the navy and sea corps—it is also used in agricultural production, and it is a dual-use product for both military and civilian use.The blade is identical except for a few details on the handle.

Because it is a mass-produced practical knife, the materials and workmanship are simple.The blade body is directly stamped out of the blade, after heat treatment and bluing process, and finally reshaped and fitted with a handle.Wrap it in oiled paper and put it in a wooden box.

In terms of cost and process complexity, such knives are far inferior to the Japanese knives shipped to East Asia and Southeast Asia by the Japanese, but benefiting from the high-quality steel, heat treatment technology and chemical treatment produced in batches, the quality is not as good as three taels of silver. An inferior Japanese sword is poor.

Pasaitong instructed his officers to take out the sword for "trial use" and compare it with various imported Japanese swords.After a while, the officer came to report that the quality of this kind of sword was no worse than that of the Japanese sword.Much lighter weight too.

This moved Pasaytong and asked about the price.

"They said that every hundred handfuls is one hundred Chinese taels of silver."

Everyone present was a little surprised.You must know that Japanese knives are really not cheap. The low-grade Japanese knives cost 300 taels for a hundred pieces. .

In contrast, the price quoted by Ping Qiusheng is very conscientious, 100 taels per hundred knives.It is equivalent to the price of the worst Japanese sword.The price/performance ratio was so high that God King Pasaiton asked the price twice in a row.

"The Australians said, you need as many knives like this, and spears similar to this one. Just give them enough rice and the privilege of suggesting trading stations and trading in Thonburi." The envoy accepted the Australians. The benefits, seeing the king thoughtful, quickly explained.

"Then let Wo Luoweng handle this matter." Even if the quality of Japanese swords is not high, as long as there is enough supply, it is what the kingdom needs most, and there is plenty of rice here. If the Burmese from the west continue to attack, That is also cheap for them in vain.

Thonburi is now on the west bank of Bangkok. Due to Pattani's resources and geographical conditions, it did not develop in this time and space. Its rise was after the demise of the Ayutthaya Dynasty.Now, except for the core Ayutthaya region of Siam, the southwestern ministries can only be regarded as a federation or confederation unified under the banner of Siam.

In the 16th century, Thailand had three kingdoms: Sukhothai, Lannatai, and Phayao.According to Chinese custom, it can be called Santai.Santai is an alliance relationship.Afterwards, the descendants of the Chinese merchants--the Ayutthaya (Ayutthaya) dynasty established by King Uthong (Uthong) replaced Sukhothai and defeated the Khmers, making Sukhothai a vassal of the Ayutthaya Dynasty. The vassals of the Siamese dynasty survived until the 19th century.

The Bangkok area of ​​later generations was still a vast jungle at that time, Bangkok itself did not exist, and the only port that could be used was Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River.But here is the outlet of the Chao Phraya River, and its geographical location is very important, which is convenient for absorbing a large amount of rice in the Chao Phraya River Basin.

The northeastern part of Thailand is a plateau terrain. Due to the barrier of mountains, it forms a rainy climate. It is dry in summer and the amount of water in the rainy season is too large, which is not suitable for farming.Thailand’s top three rice exports in the world in the original time and space are entirely due to the coast of the Chao Phraya River. As long as the outlet of the Chao Phraya River is controlled, the rice from Siam will be continuously absorbed. After the engine operation is completed, the layout in Southeast Asia will begin. The crossing group's food problem in southern China can basically be solved once and for all.According to the data obtained by Ping Qiusheng from the Great Library, in the mid-Qing Dynasty, the Siam region exported 1100 million shi of rice to Guangdong every year-this is equivalent to half of the whole Japan's shi height!Even if only one-third or even one-fourth of such resources are controlled by the Crossing Group at this time, it is still enough to feed the entire population of Hainan Province for a year, and the rest is just a matter of transportation capacity.

In the past few days since the envoy set off, the fleet has not been idle. In addition to measuring the hydrology and surrounding terrain, the survey team also sent a survey team to investigate other local resources. Within two days, the team sent out brought Ping Qiusheng a pleasant surprise. .

"Old Ping, what do you think this is?" Liu Zheng from the investigation team called out in surprise, a yellow irregular crystal in his hand.

"Amber? Where did you get this thing?"

"This is a potash mine - to be precise, carnallite. There is a lot of it around here, no wonder the land here is so fertile." Liu Zheng has been in the exploration team for a long time, and he is also very familiar with the ore, not in the past Such a simple ass friend.

"It's good stuff," he said.Liu Zheng has a lot of dealings with the industrial and agricultural departments because of his prospecting.The veterans of the agricultural port often mentioned the issue of chemical fertilizers.

Fertilizers are not only nitrogen fertilizers, but also potassium and phosphorus fertilizers.Compared with the phosphate fertilizer supplied by struvite and phosphate rock, the supply of potash fertilizer has been in short supply.This shortage cannot be solved simply by upgrading industries—not only Lingao or Hainan, but the entire East Asia lacks enough potash mines.The source of potash fertilizer for Lingao comes from the refined salt industry in Ma Niao.However, the output is very low.About every one hundred tons of refined salt can produce two tons of potassium salt.It can be called a drop in the bucket.

If a stable potash industry can be obtained from Siam, it will be of great help to the entire agricultural production.If it can be mined in batches, as a gift to the Ministry of Agriculture, it will be processed into potash fertilizers and used in cooperatives in Qiongshan. The more sensational the immediate effect of the cooperatives, the more successful the series of agricultural reforms in Qiongshan will be.

Under Liu Zheng's suggestion, potash mines were also added to the list in this trade.

Thailand's potash mines are mainly located on the Nakhon Ratchasima Plateau, and there are also many sporadic distributions.However, potash mines are generally buried relatively deep, mostly 300 meters underground. However, due to the karst terrain, some veins are still exposed to the ground, and the mining conditions are not bad.

(End of this chapter)