The Rise of the European Emperor

Just when the two envoys were in a dilemma, Kong Tai's previous behavior of presenting the Fran cannon and arquebus to Chen Jin achieved miraculous results-the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the governor of Guangdong, Chen Jin, took action...

The Guangdong Chief Secretary's Yamen has only the right to take charge of Guangdong's finance, taxation and civil affairs. There is no right to make a decision on whether or not to approve Beihaiguo's purchase in Guangzhou.

However, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi can...

As the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Ming Dynasty, Chen Jin did not directly manage local government affairs. But because he was an imperial envoy sent by the imperial court (the governor of the Ming Dynasty was not a local permanent official, but equivalent to an imperial envoy, and generally also served as the imperial censor of the Youdu. Moreover, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Ming Dynasty was mainly responsible for suppressing the mountain people in Guangxi. In the uprising, the governor's office is generally located in Wuzhou, Guangxi), which represents the emperor. Therefore, Chen Jin can "immediately decide" some difficult problems that are difficult to handle.

Of course, this kind of "immediate decision" imperial envoy power cannot grant Beihai Kingdom the status of a tributary. Because, "immediate decision" can only be used to temporarily deal with some difficult problems, but it cannot form a routine. That is, this right is one-off, has no coherence, and cannot be used as a reference to deal with similar issues later.

However, for the North Sea Mission, there is no need to obtain the tributary trade qualification all at once. What Kong Tai asked for was only to be able to obtain purchasing qualifications in Guangzhou this time.

Chen Jin just received Kong Tai's big gift, and is thinking about how to repay the other party. Kong Tai came to the door, and after repeated consideration, Chen Jin decided to use the imperial power of the governor to temporarily grant Kong Tai and his party the right to buy in Guangzhou.

Of course, Kong Tai and others bought in Guangzhou, not in the name of the tributary country, but in the name of the cooperative merchants in the large camp of the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi.

The Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Chen Jin, issued an official document stating that he had met Kong Tai, an "overseas barbarian businessman" through a Chinese introduction, and "purchased" 10 Fran cannons and 100 arquebuses from him at a price of 2,000 taels of silver. In addition, Governor Chen Jin, in the name of imperial envoy, granted Kong Tai and his party the right to buy once in Guangzhou as a reward for this gun trade...

In fact, Chen Jin received 10 Fran cannons and 100 arquebuses this time, without paying a penny. However, in the official document, the two thousand taels of silver "spend" by the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi... Needless to say, the two thousand taels of silver naturally went into Lord Chen's pocket...

You know, before the trade with the West, the silver of the Ming Dynasty was still very rare. Two thousand taels of silver is definitely an astronomical figure.

How should I put it, in this era, the annual salary of the magistrate of Daming Qipin is 45 taels of silver. 2000 taels of silver is equivalent to the 44-year salary of the "mayor" of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty can spend money to buy diplomas. During the Jingtai period, commoners (as long as they were not from "cheap" such as merchants, craftsmen, and music households) could donate 800 shimi to buy a place in Guozijian to go to school.

During the Chenghua period (that is, the time when the recently deceased Emperor Hongzhi and his father were in power), only 100 stone meters were needed to donate a supervisor. And how much is 100 stone meters worth? Only 50 taels of silver.

But what can a supervisor do after graduation? Although it is not the right way for the imperial examination, it cannot be granted to such an official as the county magistrate. However, it is possible to confer the post of Zuo Er in the prefecture and county. And what is the position of Zuo Xian in the county? Generally, they are adjutants such as state magistrates, county magistrates, and chief registrars. Up to now, it is equivalent to a big boss at the level of deputy magistrate... Moreover, if you do a good job, it is not that there is no chance to be the county magistrate...

50 taels of silver can buy a diploma that can be a deputy county magistrate. The gold content of this diploma is far less than that of Huaqing University and Beijing University...

And 2000 taels of silver can buy 40 diplomas as deputy county magistrates during the Chenghua period... This Nima is definitely a huge sum of money...

Of course, it will not be mentioned in the late Ming Dynasty. Because the large silver mines in Mexico and Peru in the Americas and the Iwami Ginzan in Japan flow into the Ming Dynasty in large quantities every year, resulting in the flood of silver in the late Ming Dynasty. As a result, the cabinet bosses in the late Ming Dynasty generally started with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver... Zhang Juzheng, for example, was already relatively clean. After his death, he was liquidated by Wanli and ransacked his house, and found 20,000 taels of gold and more than 100,000 taels of silver... This is just cash, not including the land that was purchased with the money - those are the big ones...

But that was the end of the Ming Dynasty. As far as this era was concerned, silver was still very valuable in the Ming Dynasty because it had not yet obtained the massive silver in the Americas and Japan. Generally speaking, ministers have wealth of more than 10,000 taels of silver, which is definitely a lot of money... and Chen Jin obtained 2,000 taels of silver through this operation, which is a big profit...

It is also considered the luck of Kong Tai. In exchange for the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty, although he has more real power, he is already regarded as a permanent local high-ranking officer, and is no longer regarded as the emperor's imperial envoy, so he has no right to make an "immediate decision". Therefore, Chen Jin gave the Beihai State Mission a great convenience.

Not only that, Chen Jin also dispatched several yamen from the Governor's Palace to assist Kong Tai in purchasing. It's called monitoring, and it's really helpful. Chen Jinbai got 10 Fran cannons and 100 arquebuses, and also took the opportunity to catch 2,000 taels of silver, which naturally gave him a lot of face.

If Kong Tai was asked to purchase by himself, as a foreigner, he would be looked down upon by arrogant merchants from the Ming Dynasty, unlike the foreigners of later generations who were grandfathers in China. Maybe, if you sell goods for one tael to others, you will dare to offer you a high price of 5 taels.

However, with the help of the officers from the Governor's Palace, those businessmen would not dare to mess around. At least, don't dare to ask for random prices...

With this convenience, Kong Tai and Sconda, two people who understand Chinese, with the assistance of the governor's office clerk, started a frantic purchase in Guangzhou...

What Kongtai first bought were the seeds of the tung tree and the seeds of sumac...

The products of these two kinds of trees are definitely strategic materials for Beihai Nation, which is engaged in large-scale navigation. Why? The tung oil extracted from the fruit of the tung tree is an urgently needed material for shipbuilding.

Currently, the European shipbuilding industry uses olive oil and linseed oil when processing wood. However, they are far less effective in treating wood than tung oil, and the cost is still high.

After Marin owned the Americas, there was no shortage of wood for shipbuilding, and shipbuilding craftsmen were also being trained in large numbers. However, the oil necessary for shipbuilding is in short supply.

Moreover, after the wood is treated with tung oil, not only can it be waterproof, but also its anti-corrosion ability will be greatly improved. For wooden boat building, tung oil is definitely the best choice among oilseeds.

Likewise, sumac also played a major role in shipbuilding. If tung oil is mixed with the raw lacquer produced by the sumac tree, the water-proof and anti-corrosion effect of the boat is better.

But unfortunately, there is no tung tree in Europe, no sumac, nor in America... These two kinds of plants, only Huaxia and nearby countries have...

At present, the paints used in Europe are all mixtures of various precious raw materials. The cost is very high and the price is too expensive...

Therefore, the reason why Marin was in a hurry to open the Daming trade route was that he did not necessarily pay much attention to silk and porcelain, the highlight of the trade, but paid special attention to the introduction of tung tree and sumac. Only with large quantities of low-cost tung oil and raw lacquer, can Marin mass-produce ships at low cost in the Americas, form a sea of ​​ships, and kill all sailing competitors...

As it happens, the southern part of North America is also a subtropical region, which is very similar to the southern part of China where tung tree and sumac grow, and can be planted on a large scale. The premise is - you have to have the seeds...

In order to purchase enough tung tree seeds and sumac seeds, Kong Tai directly put up a big sign - "Buy a large number of tung tree seeds and sumac seeds at high prices, and the purchase price of each catty of seeds is 1 tael of silver"...

This news directly stunned the businessmen in Daming Guangzhou - Nima, a tael of silver a pound!

You know, in Daming, the price of one stone of rice is only half a tael of silver. And for this guy to buy tung tree seeds, he would ask for one or two silver per catty, which is simply a big deal...

As a result, many people began to search for tung tree seeds and sumac seeds, so as to exchange for big money...

...

At the same time, Kong Tai also played a banner to buy bamboo seeds aggressively...

This suddenly shocked the people of the Ming Dynasty in Guangzhou - Nima, something like moso bamboo, and some people buy its seeds" Isn't it all over the place? When it rains in spring, bamboo shoots can grow taller overnight...

However, when everyone went to find the seeds of moso bamboo, they encountered a problem - the bamboo generally only blooms and bears fruit once in its life, and the cycle lasts for several decades... Therefore, even if the bamboo is everywhere, it is very difficult to find the seeds of the moso bamboo of……

Because bamboo generally only blooms once every 60 years, and then bears seeds. Once flowering and planting, the bamboo body may wither and die.

Therefore, the bamboo shoots of moso bamboo are easy to find, but the seeds are really hard to find...

Kong Tai raised the purchase price of bamboo seeds to 10 taels per pound, but he did not receive them. Unlike tung tree seeds and sumac seeds, they have collected several hundred catties for each.

Finally, after offering a high price and making inquiries, Kong Tai learned that there was a hermit in a bamboo forest in the north of Guangzhou City.

But when Kong Tai personally went to the door to buy bamboo seeds, he closed the door...

It turned out that the hermit uncle himself was indifferent to fame and fortune, and did not love money. Moreover, the old man is very precious to bamboo. The old man ignored the high price of 10 taels a pound offered by Kong Tai. Even though Kong Tai offered a sky-high price of 20 taels per catty, the old man did not let go...

But the irony is that although the old man is indifferent to fame and fortune, his son is not... In the end, the two sons of the old man cheated the old man together, and then stole the 5 catties of bamboo seeds that the old man treasured and sold them for 100 taels. I got Kong Tai... Then, the two divided the 100 taels, each got 50 taels, and each bought ten acres of land, which was considered a stable and prosperous farm life. Before that, the two sons of the old man had only 5 acres of land each, and lived very hard...

Kong Taicai didn't care how the bamboo seeds came from. After getting the bamboo seeds, he immediately rushed back to Guangzhou City, lest the old man rush back and regret it...

Why did Marin buy bamboo seeds? Because, Marin wants to work on concrete...

If reinforced concrete is used, the cost of steel production in this era is too high. Marin built an artificial reservoir before, which cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins because of the extensive use of reinforced concrete. Then, Marin did not dare to engage in reinforced concrete casually. Because, the cost is too high... Unless it is the city wall of the palace and the capital, Marin is reluctant to use reinforced concrete in general...

Therefore, Marin remembered a compromise product that was popular in later generations-bamboo-reinforced concrete...

Bamboo is cheap and easy to handle. But the biggest problem is that there is no bamboo in Europe and America... There may be native bamboo in America, but when it comes to growth rate, no kind of bamboo can keep up with Moso bamboo...

Moso bamboo grows fast, and can grow into building materials in two or three years. Moreover, the moso bamboo is very powerful. Plant a bamboo, as long as the climate is suitable, in a few years, it may become a bamboo forest...

Therefore, Marin asked Kong Tai to buy bamboo seeds at a high price in Guangzhou. Once you have the seeds and scatter them in the Americas, maybe in a few years, a large bamboo forest will grow there...

Although bamboo reinforced concrete is not as strong and durable as reinforced concrete, it is barely usable. Some civil facilities, such as dams, can be built with bamboo-reinforced concrete. Even the small earth cannons of this era may not be able to blast open the bamboo-reinforced concrete fortifications.

And if the bamboo is treated with tung oil and raw lacquer before the concrete is made to strengthen its anti-corrosion ability, maybe the bamboo-reinforced concrete building can be used for dozens or hundreds of years without any problem...

In fact, the reproduction of bamboo does not only require seeds. Intact bamboo shoots and even partial bamboo roots are fine. But there is one problem—moso bamboo grows too fast. If the bamboo shoots and roots are carried, the Columbus fleet will take about a year to return, and the space on the ship is narrow. Where can bamboo grow wildly?

Therefore, it is more convenient to carry the bamboo seeds back. After all, if the bamboo seeds are not planted, they will not keep growing. It's just that it's too rare for bamboo to bloom once in 60 years...