Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 991 Thonburi

There are many Chinese and Japanese businessmen in Thonburi, and their businesses are very extensive.Ping Qiusheng browsed the Chinese shopping street in Thonburi. The low wooden houses lined up on both sides of the street were full of various shops.Most of them are opened by Chinese, and sell all kinds of groceries, from expensive Chinese silk fabrics, porcelain, handicrafts, to cheap daily groceries, to fruits, dried fruits, and even pickles and pickles.It can be said that without a large supply of Chinese daily necessities, these "kingdoms" in Southeast Asia would live like semi-savages.

The Chinese in the Ayutthaya Dynasty were very powerful, and the dynasty relied heavily on the industrial and commercial talents of the Chinese. Probably because King Uthong was a descendant of the Chinese, Siam had always given preferential treatment to the Chinese and allowed the Chinese to live in the city of Ayutthaya. In contrast, Japanese and Portuguese can only live outside the city.

Because of this relationship, the Chinese industry and commerce developed rapidly in the local area, and many people made a fortune. The ordinary Chinese who were busy in those small and dark shops might run tens of thousands, 10,000+ taels of silver. trading.

Ping Qiusheng saw several high-yield products in the shopping street here, from straw hats, rum, "Australian" candy, white sugar, paper... almost all the top products of the Transtrade Group are sold here.However, the quantity is small and the price is very expensive.

Commodities have their own liquidity, either of high quality or low price. Commodities can flow here automatically, which shows that the market for "Australian products" is wider than they estimated.

Ping Qiusheng felt very excited-there are so many Chinese businessmen, with a lot of funds and manpower, they are simply natural collaborators and the fifth column!The Ming and Qing dynasties did not have such a good overseas foundation, but they regarded overseas Chinese as "abandoned people". The space was given over to the monkey.

However, what Feng Shengyue said poured cold water on Ping Qiusheng.

It turns out that there are many factions among the Chinese, and they are hostile to each other.The relationship between Chaoshan people, Hakkas and Hokkien people throughout Southeast Asia can be said to be tense, and conflicts will break out from time to time.In addition to large regions, there are also small fellow villagers, and the clans are also very powerful. They each form gangs, exclude outsiders, and even collude with local tyrants to attack dissidents.

This is not surprising in the seventeenth century, when modern nationalism had not yet developed.It is unlikely that Ping Qiusheng could get immediate help from the local Chinese. It might be more realistic to use their business channels to conduct trade with Chinese businessmen—the key things still have to be done by his own people.

Ping Qiusheng and his group only received warm hospitality from the merchants of the Qiongshan Gang. Although they generally don't regard Australians as people from Ming Dynasty, since Australians stay in Hainan, they can be regarded as members of Hainan.Especially in recent years, Hainan businessmen have made a lot of money by selling Australian goods and Southeast Asian products back and forth.

The Qiongshan gang has little influence among the local Chinese businessmen, and they don't have much say.It's not doing much business.The local leader invited Ping Qiusheng and others to have a drink and listen to an opera in the Qiongshan Guild Hall, and heard a lot of news at the banquet.The influence of Chinese businessmen here is not only very large, but also goes deep into the interior.Chinese merchants not only have big businessmen who are engaged in import and export trade, but also small traders who deal in commodities such as firewood, rice, oil and salt. These small traders go deep into the inland, open shops in villages and towns that no one has ever heard of, sell goods, and buy local products , established a fairly extensive business network.In Ping Qiusheng's view, these small traders are more valuable to the Senate than the sea trade merchants who sit at the port.

Wo Luoweng, the envoy of the God King, soon came to Thonburi and met Ping Qiusheng and his party. After several days of negotiations, the two sides reached a preliminary trade agreement: on the condition that the Senate sold weapons to Siam, the elders were allowed to sell weapons to Siam. The ships of the Southeast Asian companies granted privileges by the Court berthed and traded in Thonburi and Pattani.Limit two large boats at a time.Ships of Southeast Asian companies are exempted from paying the berthing tax.

Merchants of Southeast Asian companies are free to trade with merchants they are willing to trade in the two places.However, one cannot enter the mainland of Siam without a permit.

The merchants of the Southeast Asian company can bring in various commodities without restriction, but each voyage must bring in a specified number of weapons, and they also have the right to take away any goods they want.Imported products are subject to import duties - arms are exempt.

Because it is the first time, the two sides have not yet established a sufficient mutual trust relationship, Ping Qiusheng did not make a request to open a warehouse or a shop in the local area-for the time being, they are not able to set up a store in Siam, and it may not be possible for them to mention the other party. will agree.

Both parties are satisfied that such a preliminary agreement can be reached.Wo Luoweng is quite ambitious - he is very interested in "Australians" or according to the Ming people: "Kun people".Especially the rumors of their mighty armed forces.

He became very interested in the two ships sailed by the Southeast Asian company.Although he did not offer to visit the ship for safety reasons, he managed to observe it from other ships: from the outside, the two ships were not much different from those of the Chinese merchants, except for the layout of the deck buildings. The hull is exactly the same, except for a slight difference in the mast.Even a "land man" like Wo Luoweng knows that these two ships are ordinary Chinese ships, but they have been remodeled by Australians-the traces of remodeling are quite obvious, especially the new and old materials.

Armament was one thing he was particularly interested in.The rise of the Thai people has a lot to do with their emphasis on force.The military of the Thai people, the administration of the Khmer people and the industry and commerce of the Chinese are one of the three pillars that constitute the Ayutthaya Dynasty.The average Chinese merchant ship was rarely equipped with artillery - only those ships of the British, Dutch and Portuguese were equipped with artillery.But the decks of the two ships with the "Nine Duan Banners" were equipped with cannons: they were black, short and thick, not very similar to the Western cannons he had seen before.Obviously, once this artillery is fired, the huge projectiles it fires will cause more serious damage to the enemy.

In addition, he was also very interested in the "arquebuses" equipped by sailors.Wo Luotai is very familiar with matchlock guns: the Burmese, the rivals of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, widely use matchlock guns, while Siamese matchlock guns basically rely on imports.Since the Australians can generally equip sailors with such weapons, they obviously have enough guns.

Wo Luoweng obtained more details through the opportunity of his subordinates to deliver water and food to the ship: for example, the appearance of this gun is more beautiful, the surface finish is high, etc. In addition, this gun does not seem to use a matchlock: because it is carrying a matchlock The sailors with the guns never carried matchlocks with them - the matchlocks that matchlockers wore around their bodies were originally a distinctive feature of them.

Although he really wanted to experience the power of this novelty weapon, he never encountered a suitable opportunity.It wasn't until a banquet that he took the opportunity to ask to see the power of this gun, and Ping Qiusheng immediately took care of him to meet his request.

When a special shooter of the special investigation team smashed a clay pot 150 meters away with a single shot of a J+-marked high-precision Mini rifle, all the natives present were stunned—the range of the arquebus, at best, Can hit beyond 50 steps, as for what can be hit, it is purely luck.It is unheard of for such a long distance to be able to hit a single shot.

Wo Luoweng asked whether he could buy this kind of weapon, but of course he was rejected-but Ping Qiusheng suggested that they buy artillery: In order to show that what he said was true, he ordered his ship to carry out a survey on an island in the bay. shelled.

The sound of the 68-pound iron shell falling on the reef was amazing, the fragments of the reef flew and the smoke rose into the air.This suggestion was immediately agreed by Wo Luoweng.He immediately asked the Southeast Asian company to ship such a cannon and supporting ammunition on the next voyage, and also provide gunner training services.

As for the price, he didn't even ask, and only said that he would pay for any goods the Australians needed-obviously, the arms trade is a profitable industry.

Two weeks later, the fully loaded fleet began to return. This time, all the goods brought by Ping Qiusheng were sold out. All 1500 1631-style machetes were sold to Woluo Weng.The main force of Passaitong is about 4000 people. After all the replacements, the annual consumption of 1000 is reasonable, and the needs of the people must also be considered.

According to the discounted price, a 1631-style machete and [-] tael, plus Australian sugar and various groceries, were exchanged for nearly [-] shi of rice in total.Some were transported away with the fleet, and some were left in the warehouse of the local Qiongshan Gang merchants, waiting for the ship to be transshipped.

While Ping Qiusheng was busy, from time to time he tried to seduce Quark: He hinted that this place is not peaceful, and the Senate is in great need of the rice and minerals here. If he is interested, he can set up a business station here, even if it is Looking at the scene for the Australians, by the way, is equivalent to setting up a trade window for the British East India Company-although the British East India Company prefers Pattani.

Ping Qiusheng doesn't trust Woluo Weng.Quark also has great ambitions, but he is a businessman first, thinking about making money, and his reputation as a businessman has been recognized by the Senate.On the premise of seeing the huge benefits, Wo Luoweng is likely to do what he did to deal with Japanese businessmen back then.

Ping Qiusheng also released news here to the local Chinese and Japanese businessmen: how much rice, potash mines and timber are here, as much as there is in Lingao.As long as the merchants here are willing to serve the Australians, they can directly transport the goods to Lingao or Sanya, and they can get rich rewards.He also doesn't want Quark to monopolize the trade here. After all, this place will be the territory directly under the Crossing Group when he frees up his hand. It is not reassuring to control food in anyone's hands.

(End of this chapter)