Maritime trade

Chapter 102: Maritime Trade

"I don't agree. Forget it."

"Dad, why don't you understand?"

Such conversations were repeated throughout the year, accompanied by the woman's sobs.

Every time Feng Changjin, the second son of the second branch of the Feng family, told his parents that he wanted to do maritime business, the family would be filled with the man scolding and the woman crying.

From the moment he saw the big ship built by his cousin, oh no, cousin, uh, now His Majesty, he thought of ocean voyages.

This kind of artillery fire, if it encounters pirates, will make them kneel down and call you grandpa!

His heart has been burning for almost a year and is still getting hotter!

Humph, I can’t explain it to you clearly, he wants to talk to his cousin Her Majesty in person!

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. May your Majesty be blessed with peace."

Chu Huaibei met his cousin in the imperial study.

"Third cousin, please stand up and find a chair to sit on. Don't be polite."

Chu Huaibei looked up at the person and then continued with his work. Oh my god, she hasn't set up a cabinet yet, and now there are so many memorials that she is almost buried.

The situation at Sun Mingsi's desk next to him was not much better, but he looked calmer than Chu Huaibei.

Feng Changjin was a special member of the Feng family. Since His Majesty told him not to be polite, he really didn't pretend and chose a chair where he could see His Majesty's face and sat down.

He first lamented the mountain of memorials, saying that if he had to read them for a whole day, he would have wanted to hang himself.

Then just ask for it.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask you for a few large ships. I want to trade gems with the Kingdom of Rosa!"

"Okay, I'll ask someone to get it... What do you want?"

Chu Huaibei changed his tone after agreeing to it casually.

"I want my cousin to get a few large ships so I can go to the country of Rosa on the other side of the ocean and rob them. Um, and trade them for some gems."

He almost made it sound like robbery was legitimate.

Chu Huaibei put down his pen, walked out from behind the imperial desk, stood in front of Feng Changjin, and looked at him carefully.

He said he wanted to develop maritime trade!

"Cousin, think carefully. The sea is not as simple as you think. Hurricanes, fogs, reefs, every natural disaster can bury you at the bottom of the sea."

"I've thought about it. This past year I've read every book I could find about the sea. I've also secretly gathered a group of brothers willing to go on adventures with me. Don't worry, they're all volunteers. It's a waste of youth if you don't act recklessly!"

"I'm lucky enough to be able to sail on the vast ocean in this life. Even if something goes wrong, I'll have no regrets in this life!"

Feng Changjin's eyes were full of desire for a new journey.

Chu Huaibei exclaimed in his heart, wow, it turns out that the ancient people were so immature that they didn’t care about life and death!

It's dangerous.

She couldn't just agree to it like that, or her second uncle would blame her for the rest of his life.

"Do you know how to steer a boat around a whirlpool?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Do you know how to survive a storm at sea?"

"I, I don't know."

"Do you know how to fix a ship that accidentally hits a reef?"

"Cousin, I don't know..."

The three big questions asked by Chu Huaibei made the man who had originally held his head high and chest out like a fighting chicken, speak in a lower and lower tone.

"Well, even if you're incredibly lucky and don't encounter these extreme situations, you know you can't drink seawater directly, right? Have you thought about how to solve the drinking water problem on the ship?"

"How many large water tanks should we prepare?"

"We haven't reached the shore yet, and there's no water?"

······

"Fresh vegetables and meat can't be stored for such a long time. What do you eat on the ship?"

"Bring more staple food, and some bacon?"

"Let me tell you something: if people don't eat fruits and vegetables for a long time, they will develop a disease that is currently incurable, or what can be simply called a terminal illness: sepsis."

Feng Changjin's face began to turn slightly pale. In the manuscripts he collected, he had seen descriptions of sick people. At first, the gums were bleeding, and then bruises gradually appeared on the surface of the body. Then they started to have abdominal pain and diarrhea, and finally died of a high fever.

The manuscript says that the disease is very common on ships.

"I'm not afraid of that!"

Feng Changjin was afraid that his cousin would disagree, so he was firm in his own opinion.

Chu Huaibei nodded with satisfaction in his heart. Speaking of this, he still wanted to go out to sea. He was really full of yearning for sailing.

"I promised you."

A look of great surprise appeared on Feng Changjin's face.

"However, you can't go out to sea now. I won't let you go until all the above problems are solved. Otherwise, if something goes wrong with you, my second uncle will blame me for the rest of his life."

The surprise froze on his face, then disappeared, replaced by a wry smile.

This is like hanging a carrot in front of him, and he is the donkey that grinds the mill at home.

For the last disease alone, even if he were given ten years, he might not be able to come up with a solution.

Chu Huaibei burst out laughing when he saw his cousin looking as wilted as a cabbage hit by frost.

Now, my cousin's eyes became even more resentful.

"I will personally talk to my second uncle about this. As for the issue mentioned above, you and your friends will gather at Quanzhou Port in a month. I will have someone teach you how to sail first. Everyone must learn it."

Chu Huaibei's words restored Feng Changjin's former enthusiasm and motivation. He straightened his chest and went home in high spirits.

Sun Mingsi listened to the whole process and found that Huaibei was very knowledgeable about many things. For example, she knew the common diseases at sea and even the causes of the diseases.

Chu Huaibei first went to the Feng family to find her second uncle in person and told the Feng family her response method. She also said that she would modify the large ocean-going ship to protect the crew to the greatest extent possible.

Her original plan for the ocean voyage was three years later, but now that she had a leader, she could jump right into it.

Of course, her goal was not money, at least not her main goal, but potatoes and corn, two high-yield crops.

-

Everyone has learned the essentials of sailing in extreme weather conditions. This is a skill honed near the coast of Quanzhou, with rescue measures behind them to ensure their safety.

When they really go to the endless ocean, no one knows whether they can survive.

Chu Huaibei taught a method of distilling seawater without fire at sea. This was only for emergency situations. The main water source was still the reserved water and rainwater collected during rain.

Teach them how to grow vegetables in wooden barrels, how to ferment fertilizer, and how to grow bean sprouts with soybeans and mung beans. The main vegetable is bean sprouts, which is both convenient and useful.

He also warned that except for the fish he usually eats, he should not touch any other fish he doesn't recognize, as no one would save him if they were poisoned.

Then, he solemnly handed the seed picture he drew to his third cousin, asking him to bring back more when he saw the plants in the album.

Oh, by the way, remember to try not to barter in the beginning, save the good stuff for last, and trade directly with silver and gold.

Feng Changjin was surprised to see his cousin talking about silver and gold. Wow, her heart was bigger than his!

Finally, there is the world map drawn by Chu Huaibei based on his own memory and the existing incomplete sea map.

Let them follow the direction of the ocean current and go downstream. It would be best if they could go to the Strait of Malacca to see the situation there.

When people walk ahead of others, there will always be some selfishness and desires.

Becoming the second British Empire is not a dream.

Right.

A year later, the fleet returned, much earlier than expected.

Chu Huaibei saw his tanned third cousin with a confident smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, this time the fleet deviated from its course and first arrived in Bogna. There, we encountered a merchant ship from the Western Barbarians. They happened to have a large quantity of potatoes on board. I exchanged my grain with them and then returned."

No wonder it was so fast. I have to say that my third cousin was very lucky. She originally thought that the best case scenario this time would be to find corn, which should have been grown in Africa.

Potatoes were originally not valued because they were poisonous when eaten raw. It was only after a long time that they were considered a staple food.

Maybe the world is different now, and people now know how to eat potatoes correctly.

"My cousin is really amazing. He found an important plant right after he left the house!"

Chu Huaibei started praising as soon as he opened his mouth. If you want your child to grow up quickly, daily praise is essential.

"Hehe, Your Majesty, this is just lucky. And there's another thing: the King of Bonia has also come with me!"

"Uh-huh?"

It was the first time that Chu Huaibei heard such outrageous words. The king of one country just boarded the ship of another country. Isn’t that a bit too sloppy?

"I disagreed at first, but he still followed me resolutely. He then studied Chinese with me on the ship for half a year, and now he can barely understand it. Your Majesty, do you want to see him?"

"Okay, I'm here now."

King Bonya, dressed in bright linen, knelt down and saluted as soon as he met them.

"Greetings, Your Majesty ... may your Majesty be blessed."

You can tell at a glance that he has received training, as the pronunciation of the words is very clear and round.

"Please stand up. I wonder why the king has risked coming to Da Chu?"

"Your Majesty, please help me unify Ponia. From now on, Ponia will be your vassal state and will always be subject to you."

No wonder he was willing to take the risk to come here. It seems that this man will lose his throne.

But this seems to be a good deal. There is a good thing in this place, agarwood, which has been extremely expensive since ancient times.

There are also many seasonings, the local dyeing technology is also good, and one more thing, the fruit that people in later generations love and hate, durian, is also produced in abundance in this place.

Chu Huaibei stared at the person kneeling on the ground in silence. Of course, good things must be done with the help of others, so that one can take the initiative in the future.

She wasn't so crazy as to completely conquer the place and enslave the locals. Doing so would be just like that, making people disgusted for hundreds of years.

"Your Majesty, I beg you to send troops. I am willing to pay you one-third of the national treasury income every year."

King Bonia waited for a long time for the answer from His Majesty the Great Chu, so he gritted his teeth, put all his chips on the table, and changed the way he addressed himself.

He had no other choice but to follow them this time because his own brother had rebelled and had declared himself king in the country. He watched as the people who supported him were either killed or captured and enslaved.

He had lost all hope and was struggling to survive when suddenly divine soldiers descended from the sky. This earth-shattering cannon blew open his world. He realized that there was such a powerful country out there!

Chu Huaibei stopped her fingers. Oh no, this squeeze took out nearly half of the national treasury revenue. It seemed that the situation in Bonia was much worse than she had imagined.

This was after he had kept a country going, and he gave her all the remaining money.

"Since the king has invited me so kindly, I will send someone to accompany you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I am deeply grateful."

King Bonya kowtowed respectfully and was so excited that he almost burst into tears.

Chu Huaibei saw that he answered fluently. Apart from some inaccurate pronunciation, his Chinese level was quite good. He had never expected that his cousin was quite good at teaching foreigners.

Of course, it is not ruled out that a strong desire for survival may drive a person to desperately learn a new language.

Chu Huaibei looked through all the generals and finally decided to let Jin Hongye from southern Xinjiang go. This guy likes to throw grenades, so he wants to go home early after the unification.

This is purely a dimensionality reduction attack.

After dealing with this matter, Feng Changjin reorganized the supplies again and started a new voyage.

In the following twenty years, he brought countless gold, silver, wealth and various rare treasures to the Great Chu.

At the same time, it also brought tea, porcelain and other items from the Great Chu to all parts of the world, setting off a craze for oriental literature, and everyone would say: Hello, my friend.