I

  Chapter 906 902【Development bottleneck】

  Li Quan bought many local products in Manila, mainly dried fruit, coconut oil, brown sugar, tobacco, pearls, tortoiseshell, etc., and shipped them directly to Shanghai for sale.

   I was able to purchase goods quickly, and with the help of Zhang Huangyan, otherwise I would have to wait in line slowly.

   These things are in short supply. There are dozens of import and export companies in Shanghai, waiting day and night for merchant ships to arrive. Moreover, most of the goods for export are prepared, and while getting goods from Li Quan, they are supplying goods to Li Quan at the same time. The efficiency of cargo loading and unloading is very high.

  Fujian maritime merchants have been discussing for a month, but no one is willing to join the American trade.

   Today's Fujian maritime merchants mainly go to Taiwan, Luzon, Ryukyu, and Japan. The maritime merchants in Guangdong mainly go to Guangnan, Champa, Malacca, Palembang and Coconut City. This kind of short-distance route can make money, even if it is not good enough to go to India, why take the huge risk to go to America?

  But when Li Quan arrived in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang maritime merchants showed great interest.

  Maritime merchants in these two provinces mainly transport goods from Jiangnan and inland areas to Fujian, Guangdong, Shandong, Liaodong, and North Korea for sale. Only a few will participate in Luzon and Japan trade. In terms of foreign trade, they cannot compete with the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong (holding together to exclude foreigners), and urgently need a new overseas shipping channel.

"I welcome anyone who is willing to go to sea together," Li Quan said to these Jiangsu and Zhejiang sea merchants, "However, merchant ships with a displacement of less than 600 tons are not allowed, and merchant ships still using pure square sails are not required, and the hull wood is too brittle. Ocean sailing is not just for fun!"

  The 600 tons of the Datong court is 358 tons in another time and space.

   Zhao Han’s legal weight unit is: 1 Datong ton = 10 Datong stones = 1000 Datong catties = 16000 taels.

  Based on this, a set of units was added last year, dedicated to scientific research: 1 ton = 1000 kilograms = 1000 catties.

  Assuming that 1 ton of water = 1 cubic meter, and then assuming that the density of water is 1 kilogram per cubic meter, the lengths of meters, decimeters, centimeters, and millimeters can be determined.

  The nouns are still those nouns, but the actual values ​​have all changed.

   1 gram of Datong Xinchao is equivalent to 0.5968 grams of another time and space. 1 meter in Datong Xin Dynasty is equivalent to 0.8419 meters in another time and space.

   But as long as you don't think about these SI units, you can use them without any problems.

  Because the international unit is also determined by people, French scientists use the longitude of Paris and divide the distance from the equator to the North Pole by 10 million to get the unit of "meter". Then use "meter" to calculate the volume of water, and then obtain units such as kilograms and grams.

   Just the opposite derivation process!

  Nowadays, European countries have various units. When China's influence is growing, it is estimated that European scientists will also adopt China's set.

  Zhao Han is formulating an international standard for scientific measurement units, and the starting point is the Jin in the Ming Dynasty, named it "the scientific algorithm unit appointed by the Emperor of Datong". It is currently dedicated to scientific research and has not yet fully connected with the folks.

  The three conditions proposed by Li Quan turned away most of the maritime merchants who wanted to go to the Americas.

  Because the maritime merchants who meet his conditions basically have good strength, they can make a lot of money by relying on the original routes. Those who really wanted to venture into the Americas with him were small and medium-sized sea merchants with small or fragile hulls, and they were too lazy to change composite sails.

   "Commander Li, the ship below has a displacement of 700 tons. It is a new sailing ship built three years ago." A young man stood up.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

   After seeing the appearance of the young man clearly, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang maritime merchants present all laughed.

   This young man is called Dong Chaobin, he is the nephew of the big bully Dong Qichang, and he has become a famous prodigal son in recent years.

  Dong Qichang's evil deeds aroused public outrage as early as the Wanli period.

  Dong's father and son bullied men and women, exploited the common people, annexed land, and killed people. The angry people burned their houses and demolished them, but afterwards they colluded with the government to convict the people.

  When the Datong Army regained Songjiang, the local people took action spontaneously. Before the public trial, dozens of Dong family members were beaten to death. Afterwards, tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land were distributed to the people, and the property was confiscated by the government. The entire Dong family, all those who were not sentenced to death, migrated to the northern provinces in batches.

  Dong Chaobin's father, because of his participation in the scholar uprising, joined the Datong Army early, and he, a side branch of the Dong family, was preserved.

  Father passed away a few years ago, and Dong Chaobin was the only son again, successfully inheriting the family business. This guy gave some property to his cousins, sold all the rest of the shop, and even raised money to order a sea boat.

  At the beginning, when I bought freight from Shanghai to Guangzhou, although the price was raised by the supplier and lowered by the picker, I made a small profit anyway.

  The competition on this route was too fierce, so he went to Japan to do business like others.

  Unexpectedly, the Japanese shogunate set a trade quota, and it was impossible to get rid of it after it was shipped. Dong Chaobin didn't dare to smuggle it to the feudal lord, so he sold the goods to the Zheng family at a low price. Not only did he lose all his previous profits, but he also owed a sum of money for the goods. If the debt can no longer be repaid, the merchant ship will have to be paid off.

  Li Quan asked: "This gentleman has a great name."

  Dong Chaobin cupped his hands and said, "My surname is Dong, my first name is Chaobin, and my name is Bogong."

   "Only one boat?" Li Quan asked.

  Dong Chaobin said: "There is only one, and it is full of debts. Can you transfer it to your Excellency and pay off the debt first?"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

  Li Quan couldn't stop laughing: "Brother Dong made a good plan, and he asked for money before the business was done."

  Other merchants dispersed one after another, leaving only Li Quan and Dong Chaobin to discuss privately.

  In the end, Dong Chaobin's sea-going ship was discounted to Li Quan at a low price in exchange for a small share of the company, and Li Quan helped him pay off his debts. In this regard, the number of large ships of the Four Seas Trading Company increased to five.

  Sihai Trading Company is the name of the company, and the royal family is still the largest shareholder.

   Headquartered in Shanghai, the official does not participate in the management, but the royal family and the Dudufu will send people to check the accounts every year.

  The bigger the company grows, the harder it is to check the accounts. It depends on how the future emperor handles it.

  Zhao Han's idea is to get more private businessmen to be shareholders, and mutual supervision by shareholders can reduce the phenomenon of fraudulent accounts. There may be a situation where the shareholders deceive the royal family together, but Zhao Han must be dead by then, and if he really offends the new emperor, it is possible to ransack the house directly.

   A few days later, Dong Chaobin came back with a sad face, and said to Li Quan: "When the crew heard that they were going to America, most of them were afraid and refused to go to sea. What should we do if we can't recruit crew?"

  Li Quan said: "I will transfer some crew members to you, and the rest will go to North Korea and Japan to recruit people."

  Professions like trainee sailors don't require much experience, just recruit some adult men to be competent.

  Take the Spanish galleon as an example, each ship has 60 sailors, and another 64 apprentice sailors. The really important thing is the boatswain and sailman, 1 bosun first, 1 bosun second, 1 sailman first, 1 sailman second, four of them can command the whole ship for sail and deck work.

  After loading some goods in Shanghai, Li Quan took the fleet to Shandong to buy a large amount of low-grade and cheap cotton cloth, and then went to North Korea and Japan to recruit trainee sailors.

  The boat sailed to Fukuoka, and when I heard that the Chinese merchant ship wanted to recruit people, hundreds of ronin came to sign up without asking where they were going.

  The Kuroda family didn’t stop them either. The ronin are all unstable factors, so it’s better for them all to leave.

  Li Quan recruited 50 ronin at one go, 30 as trainee sailors, and 20 as melee soldiers. The wages are much cheaper than those of the Chinese people, and there is no need to pay for resettlement. Advance wages can allow them to settle down, and there is no need to pay any pension after death.

   It’s so **** easy to use!

  These ronin are also interesting. After paying the wages in advance, they immediately take them home. After the family settled down, they quickly ran back to the boat by themselves without sending anyone to supervise them. He devoured food like a hungry ghost who had been reincarnated for several generations, and he was beaten and scolded when he was learning how to pull sails and wash decks.

  …

  When Li Quan was still buying goods in Shanghai, four Hawaiians (two men and two women) were taken to Nanjing.

  They first lived in Manila for a while, thinking that Manila was the kingdom of God. Then I stayed in Shanghai again, thinking that Shanghai is the Kingdom of God. Until I went to Nanjing, the four Hawaiians sighed: The Kingdom of God is so big!

  These guys, together with their costumes and equipment, were placed in Zhongshan Temple together,

   First attracted the attention of the French and Italians. These European scholars looked at each other and agreed that the Hawaiians were mixed descendants of the ancient Romans.

  After the fall of Byzantium, it brought a large number of ancient Roman classics, which in turn triggered the Italian Renaissance.

  Among these ancient Roman books, there are portraits of ancient Roman soldiers.

   Let me talk about the helmets of Hawaiian warriors, which are exactly the same style as the helmets of ancient Roman senior generals, especially the cluster of "cockscombs" on the top of the head. Then there are shorts, capes, and tunics, which look like ancient Roman warriors.

  French and Italian scholars, overjoyed by this, started making up papers.

  Persian scholars have no sense of this, they have written many papers, and they have also been highly praised by the Chinese emperor.

  Persian scholars cooperate with the Imperial Academy, and the papers written are all related to the exchanges between the two countries.

  For example, China has twelve zodiac signs, and Persia also has twelve zodiac signs. Except for individual animals, even the order of the zodiac signs is the same. So the scholars of the Imperial Academy searched for clues from ancient books to speculate and demonstrate the ancient exchanges between the two countries.

  This kind of thing, you can write a paper casually.

  For example, the word "doctor". Persian scholars communicated with the Imperial Academy and knew that the senior title of the Imperial Academy was a doctor. So they were very surprised, because the senior Persian scholar is called "Ba Heshi", which is too similar to the Chinese "Doctor".

  Then, Persian and Imperial Academy scholars began to straighten out their thinking through Chinese classics.

  Dr. was originally an official position in China, and it was widely distributed among the people, calling those who have professional skills, such as Dr. Tea. After the Mongols came, they also adopted this term, and when it spread to Central Asia and West Asia, it became "Bahezhi". However, in the north, the spread and evolution has become a "basket style".

  This paper was written, and Zhao Han found it interesting, so he rewarded the participants of the paper.

  Persian scholars and Hanlin Academy scholars, inspired by this, published similar papers one after another.

  Zhao Han doesn't have the time to appreciate papers now. Last year's financial situation was barely balanced. Even the Ruan family in Vietnam are not in a hurry to fight for the time being, because they will fight in Qinghai and Tibet this year.

   Expanding territory in Qinghai and Tibet, and investing in construction and immigration, it is estimated that there will be a fiscal deficit this year.

  Finally, Zhao Han made a painful decision: "From now on, school-age schoolchildren in all provinces will no longer require compulsory enrollment. In the southern provinces, except for Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangnan, they will no longer continue to build more schools."

  The population base of the southern provinces is already large, and the birth rate is frighteningly high. Every year, a large number of school-age school children are added.

  Education expenses are too much to bear!

  The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Finance have suggested charging primary school students for textbooks.

  After intense discussions, Zhao Han agreed to charge for the books. However, poor children are also allowed to borrow old books from previous years to study, or adults in the family help copy books.

  In an agricultural society and a country with a large population, it is impossible to realize compulsory education for all, even if the duration of compulsory education is only three years.

  Zhao Han has now encountered a development bottleneck, and compulsory education can no longer continue. Expansion also encounters bottlenecks. The larger the site, the worse the finances. Unless the new land acquisition system adopts the confinement system, it will be difficult to expand rapidly.

  (end of this chapter)