Win the Ding 1617

() "Boss Lin, seven sails have been hoisted on the mainmast, and our speed is about twelve knots. Do you want to hoist the other sails?"

The captain of the Canton was named Lin, but they had the same surname. Lin Wenbing was from Fujian, but this captain Lin Shilin was a descendant of immigrants from Guangdong.

As a three-masted clipper ship, Guangzhou can take advantage of the wind direction within 65 degrees, and the cargo capacity of more than 1000 tons provides space for the ship to load a large amount of daily necessities. There is no need to stop at various ports for supplies along the way. Tong Lin Dinghou, Zhang Xiaoqi and others went through the customs clearance procedures and set sail westward.

During the voyage to and from Guangzhou, the sailors have gradually become more and more familiar with this new ship. The bow of the ship sometimes rises and rushes to the crest of the waves in the waves of the South China Sea, and sometimes descends and enters the valley of the waves.The sailors shouted excitedly amidst the ups and downs, welcoming the baptism of the South China Sea.

In winter, in the sea area north of 15 degrees south latitude from Waguo to Madagascar, there is basically a northerly wind in winter. This is the best time for sailing ships with soft sails as the main power to sail like Guangzhou. To the west, the monsoon just blows from an angle of 40-60°, and the effect of soft sails as high as 2000 square meters is just brought into full play.

In the cabin, Lin Wenbing, the person in charge of the trial voyage, put down the chart in his hand and looked out of the cabin. In the dark night, only the waves of the sea shone brightly under the moonlight.

"No need, it's late at night, and the wind is blowing again at sea, let the brothers hold the helm, don't slack off on duty, the rest of the people should go to bed early, and it is estimated that we will leave this strait tomorrow morning, and go to the ocean of Lingjiawei Island to meet The three lucky boats have joined together."

After rushing back from Guangzhou, Lin Wenbing met with Shou Han and asked to set the destination of the voyage as India, which is the Telugu region across the sea, today's Qutb?Shahid Sultanate.

If you go back from the Delhi Sultanate, this Qutb?The Sultanate of the Shahi Dynasty is really the successor of the Delhi Sultanate, far from being comparable to the lame Timur descendants who invaded from Afghanistan.

However, this world is about strength. Right now, the Mughal Empire is in full swing, and it has always maintained strong pressure on the forces of various places. This also brought opportunities for Shou Han.

The three lucky boats were fully loaded with goods and sailed west five days before Lin Wenbing's departure, but Lin Wenbing had to wait for some items to be collected before setting off, which delayed several days.

"Shopkeeper Lin, you and I have the same surname. Although we come from different places, we can't write two characters of Lin in one stroke. This trip, my brothers asked me to ask you, what are we going to Telugu for?"

"Trade! Do business!"

After hearing this, Lin Shi was very puzzled, trade?When you set off from Hue, our ship was full of knives, guns, armor, firecrackers, gunpowder, etc. It was not bad to say that it was for robbery, even if it was unloaded for the sailors and land camp brothers there on the ground in Manjaka. Some were used as supplies, but the things on this ship were enough to arm a powerful army.

"Yes, these will be sold to the Sultan of Telugu."

In the Indian subcontinent during this period, the descendants of the Timurid Empire had occupied an absolute dominant position. It was at the time when Shah Jahan, one of the so-called six emperors in the history of the Mughal Empire, was in power. Constantly collecting various taxes, oh, yes, the famous Taj Mahal was built in 1631 AD (the fourth year of Chongzhen) in his hands, and it has been built for 22 years.

Facing such an opponent, how could the Telugu Sultan sleep?Zilly?Qutb?Shahi's descendants are facing the danger of subjugation and extinction.

At this time, as a neighbor across the sea, how could Shouhan not lend a helping hand?Especially in this era, the British have already started to open many East India Company commercial stations in the Indian subcontinent. If this is the case, how can the South Central Army not fight for some rights here earlier?

Therefore, the knives, guns and armor that were eliminated from the previous replacement of weapons and equipment in the warehouse, the urgently produced gunpowder, and a large number of arquebus guns were loaded onto the Fuchuan and the Guangzhou, and they passed through the Manga Strait, ready to go to the Telugu area and there. Sudan conducts trade activities.

On the eighth day of December in the third year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, according to legend, it was the day when Sakyamuni became enlightened under Buddha Yabodhi and founded Buddhism. Buddha's homeland in the Indian subcontinent.

Four big ships loaded with weapons and ammunition, oh, no, they are full of the friendship between the South China people and the Telugu people. The Guangzhou is in the center, and the three blessing boats are guarding the two wings and the rear. Riding the north wind, they are fully sailed , across Bangla Bay and go straight to the Telugu area across the sea.

Being sent by the strong sea wind to a dark coastline that can be seen far away, the captain and sailors calculated nervously and found that they should have arrived in Telugu.

This should be the Telugu that the businessmen in Penang and Malacca said.

In fact, the area that Lin Wenbing arrived belongs to the southern part of Telugu, which now belongs to Chennai in Tamil Nadu.Anyone who has played a big voyage should know that there is another name here, Madras.

This will be a famous port in India later.However, the Madras area at this time was just a township called "Madraspatam", which had just developed from a seaside fishing village.

From the second year of Chongzhen, the British began to appear here, doing business and opening storehouses. After that, the East India Company extended its tentacles here and turned it into a huge port. On the one hand, the opium grown from the interior of India is concentrated and sold to China to obtain several times the profit.

As Madras, which became a territory of the East India Company earlier in India, it also became an empire for the British to fight for life and death all over the world. Not to mention, just the Madras United, Madras Artillery performed very well in the two Opium Wars and the military operations of the British and French allied forces against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Eight-Power Allied Forces, and other wars of aggression against China. .

Balfour, the first British consul in Shanghai, was the instigator of the earliest construction of the concession in China. He used to be an officer of the Madras Artillery Corps and a staff officer with the rank of captain.

However, now that the people from the Hanyuan firm are here, will Madras still fly the Mizi flag?

When four huge ships appeared in the sea near Chennai (also known as Madras), the sea suddenly became agitated.Those fishermen who were fishing outside the port in a small boat were startled when they saw the densely packed black hole muzzles on the boat, wondering which family of pirates or red-haired barbarians came to rob them.He wanted to escape, but found that his boat was not as fast as the one who came.

Under the combined power of the cannon on the bow and the gold coins and silver dollars in the hands of the sailors, several fishing boats were willing to lead the fleet to the inland area.

From the fishermen, Tong Shi learned that this place is called Coromandel by the locals, and it is under the jurisdiction of the Sudan, which is part of the coast of Bangla Bay on the Deccan Peninsula.

To the north is the mouth of the Krishna River, and to the south is Cape Kalimir at the northern end of the Palk Strait. The coastline of more than a thousand miles is straight and open. Within twenty miles of the coast, there are countless sandy beaches and sandy beaches formed by the action of tides and winds. Dams, ranging from six to seven feet low to over twenty feet high, are natural barriers for the local people to defend against sea invaders.

The land here is fertile, thousands of miles away, and the land is flat, and several seasonal rivers originating from the mountains in the west pass through it.There are few forests, but more swamps, thickets and thorn bushes.It produces rice, beans, sugar cane, cotton, peanuts, bananas, casuarinas and coconuts.To the east is Bangla Bay, to the west is the Eastern Ghats, to the north is the Utkar Plain, and to the south is the Cauvery River Triangle. It is indeed a good place!

After listening to the introduction of Mr. Huang, the translator, Lin Wenbing carefully wrote down the situation in his diary, and at the same time secretly rejoiced that his trip was correct.

Led by these fishing boats, the fleet went upstream along the Guwam River, found a harbor on the north bank of the river, moored the four boats, and sent people ashore to make contact.

When the officials here saw that the visitor seemed harmless after the words conveyed by the interpreter in Penang, they ordered people to drive the ship to the front of the Guangzhou fleet for questioning with trepidation.

However, very discordantly, a small boat flying the so-called St. Patrick's Cross flag was sneaking around the Canton.

"It's English!"

Some of the sailors knew the flag.

The British flag at this time was formed by the crossing of England's St. George's cross flag and Scotland's St. Andrew's flag. It is a bit different from the familiar Union Jack flag, without the red slash.That slash was added after the annexation of Ireland.

Therefore, the UK should not allow Northern Ireland to live apart. Once they leave, all the national flags will have to be changed. This expense is really unaffordable.

Oh, that's a long way off, let's get down to business.

On board the Guangzhou, Lin Wenbing told the local officials about his intentions, and took some of the armor, knives and guns carried on the ship as gifts to him.

The native official had also seen some good things. Seeing that the armor, swords and spearheads placed in front of him were all high-quality goods, how could he not know whether it was good or bad?Immediately, he ordered his subordinates to take good care of the merchants of the Celestial Dynasty, and there must be no shortage of food, water, vegetables and fruits.After finishing the order, he hurriedly turned and left with Lin Wenbing's gift in his arms.

Seeing that the native officials left, the St. Patrick's Cross flag was approaching. Someone stood on the bow and shouted to the Canton, "Excuse me, is this a ship of the Han Yuan Company?"

"We are a ship of the English East India Company!"

"We have business dealings with your company!"

A series of sounds came from the boat.

This is a ship owned by Mr. Charlie, a member of the special committee under the British East India Company, also known as the Taipan. According to the regulations of the East India Company, the Taipan has the highest authority when he boards the ship, and even the captain must obey his orders. command.

Mr. Charlie was invited to the temporary camp by Lin Wenbing. After a few words of courtesy, Charlie was quite straightforward, and straightforwardly explained his intentions.

"My boat encountered a storm, the damn strong wind in the Indian Ocean, and the waves rolled up higher than the mountains. All the gunpowder on the boat was wet. I was drying the gunpowder here. I didn't want to see your company's boat, so I wanted to Purchasing some gunpowder from you will enable me to defend myself on the westward route."

"Damn Hongmaoyi! You're lying to ghosts!"

Lin Wenbing and Lin Shi cursed in their hearts almost at the same time, but one spoke in Cantonese and the other in Hokkien.

"The gunpowder on the ship will not be placed on the deck, it is all in the hold. Unless your ship is pierced by a reef and the seawater fills the cabin, the gunpowder you mentioned will be wet by seawater. !"

"Everyone lives at sea, and it's normal to encounter some things in the wind and waves. Fortunately, our journey to the west has been uneventful. The gunpowder originally prepared for the fleet of more than a hundred artillery pieces was not consumed at all, so Sell ​​some to Mr. Charlie!"

In a moment of silence, Lin Wenbing had already shown off his own strength. My four boats had more than a hundred cannons of various sizes, and no pirates along the way dared to come up to stroke the tiger's beard. Would you like to try it?

"Praise God!"

Charlie is also an old fox with white hair. He kept singing hymns, praising the might of the South China Army. Best-selling, all kinds of nobles spared no expense for a set of holy porcelain tea sets, and so on.In a word, "You don't have a set of holy porcelain tea set at home, so you are ashamed to invite people to drink coffee at home!"

"Two hundred barrels of gunpowder!"

This is Charlie's request.

"Yes! One gold coin per bucket!"

This is Lin Wenbing's offer.

A small boat, apart from the cargo hold and the narrow space where the sailors live, has limited space to accommodate other items. It is absolutely impossible to accommodate [-] barrels of gunpowder. This guy is lying!He is definitely going to resell it.

From Lin Shi down, almost everyone thinks so.

"It's too expensive! It's too expensive!" Charlie shook his huge head, and the half-bald hairline on it became more and more sweaty in the sun.

"When you sold it in Hue, Hoi An, and Ha Tinh, the wholesale price was only three taels of silver per barrel, but when you got here, it became a gold coin? You are more greedy than Venetian merchants!"

Lin Wenbing didn't know who the Merchant of Venice was. He just bargained with Charlie in a pleasant manner.

"Mr. Charlie, the prices you mentioned in the ports of our Southern Central Army are certainly true, but you can buy them yourself. There are a lot of goods. This is in Telugu, and it is our own ammunition. Squeeze out some of them and transfer them to you. These thousands of miles of water, brothers, shouldn’t make a little money? If you think it’s expensive, you can go to Hue and Cam Ranh Bay by yourself to buy gunpowder, where the gunpowder is cheap .”

Lin Wenbing's meaning is very simple, love to buy, buy, don't buy and lose money.

Blinking his eyes, Charlie asked the accountant to take two hundred Spanish gold coins and send them over. Charlie muttered to himself, complaining about his bad luck. The first road behavior of the starting price.

"Sir, if you plan to buy gunpowder for weapons, you can go to Penang and Malacca in the future. Our South China Army has set up a storehouse for selling weapons to foreign countries. As long as it is real money, it doesn't matter if you are Dutch, English, or French. people." Lin Wenbing listened to the translator's quiet translation, not only did not refute in his mouth, but pointed Charlie to a way to buy military supplies cheaply.

"Oh?! What can I buy?"

"Cannon under eight pounds, gunpowder, matchlocks, armor, swords, shells, etc. You can equip an army with these weapons and ammunition for sale. It seems that the Dutch bought a few ships not long ago."

"Those damned lowlanders!" Charlie couldn't stop crossing his chest after hearing this, "They must have used these weapons for the war in Europe! They used them to cause killing and bloodshed! Damn lowlanders !"

He kept cursing the Dutch for their immoral behavior, and the eyes, as the windows of the soul, flashed the most practical thoughts in his heart. Through the folded doors by the windows, people could see the expectation and greed for money in the room.There seemed to be a roar coming from the window: "These damned Dutchmen! They hide such a profitable business secret so well! It's a good thing we are in an alliance with them!"

In order to show the sincerity of the Hanyuan firm, Lin Wenbing gave Charlie a can of tea he drank as an accessory gift, "This is our tea, the best drink in the world, you can taste it."

Opening the tin can, Charlie sniffed it with his red nose with some doubts. The aroma of the tea made his eyebrows stretch, "If you can provide a complete and stable supply, then, in the future, I will provide Your company is ordering a large quantity of military equipment and this." He patted the tea caddy he was clutching tightly to his chest.

Doing this unexpected little business with Charlie boosted the morale of the entire fleet, and everyone thought it was a good sign for a good start.The leaders of the fleet gathered in the temporary storehouses on the shore, admiring and playing with the gold coins exchanged from Charlie.

"The gold coins of the Spaniards seem to be better than our gold coins."

Two hundred Spanish gold coins, go back to Hue and other places and exchange them for gold coins from Nanzhong or directly into silver dollars at the official bank, and the profit can be doubled immediately!Gunpowder, sold to Zheng Zhilong for only two taels of silver per barrel, a gold coin issued by the South China Army can be exchanged for thirty silver dollars!The profit in this, let a fool know how much it should be!

The ship was moored in Hyderabad from Madras to the north, and a group of people walked on the road to Golconda under the leadership of the guide sent by the Sudan. After several generations of Sudan's construction, from Hyderabad to Golconda It presents a scene of prosperity.

If you look into the distance from the top of the four towers (Charminar, a landmark building in Hyderabad.), when the weather is good, you will see the city of Golconda more than a dozen miles away, where is the library. Teb?Seat of Shahi Sultan.

Lin Wenbing looked at the four-tower building with great interest. It was a magnificent square granite building with a tall minaret at each corner, which made the building appear taller. There were four tall towers under the tower. The arches, facing east, west, north, south, and four sides, support the two-story building and arcades.The base of each tower is in the shape of a lotus leaf, which is Qutb?A pattern favored by the Shahi Sultan family.

"Guests from afar! My consul told me that you came from far away China. I don't know what you brought?"

It was too late to see the magnificent architecture of Golconda Castle, and the fountains and sinks that can be seen everywhere in the castle. Just standing at the gate of the palace, a majestic voice came from the depths of the palace together with gusts of breeze.

Golconda Castle and its owner taught Lin Wenbing a lesson in this way.

With its unique sound transmission system, it gave the caravan of Hanyuan merchants from afar a solid blow. (To be continued.)