Lu Ming

If there is one, there are two, which one deserves to die?

Therefore, the time-traveling crowd did not focus on drug treatment from the very beginning.In addition to keeping a small amount of stock for personal use, investing a lot of resources in the development of "rotten land" mosquito-free areas is the right way for everyone to benefit.

Chapter 143 Malaria and Slaves

From the barbaric era to the period of the Dutch occupation, and then the Zheng family's pioneering, followed by the immigration of the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and the beginning of the 20th century during the Japanese occupation period, the population of Taiwan was in the growth stage.

During this period, the large influx of immigrants covered up the high mortality rate of malaria. In fact, it was not until the Japanese occupation period in the early 20th century that Taiwan had malaria statistics in a real sense—the Japanese couldn't stand it anymore, and they were preparing to Taiwan wants to eliminate mosquitoes, fill stagnant water, and build underground ditches...

According to Japanese statistics in 1910, in the past five years, the average annual death rate of Taiwanese aborigines was 5, while that of Japanese people was 10832.

At first glance, the number does not seem high, but this is only the mortality rate after the onset. At that time, there was a statistical figure that was the proportion of Japanese officials who were sick within 5 years-907 per thousand.In other words, in the previous five years, almost all Japanese officials had suffered from malaria, as for the Han people whose living conditions were even worse...

Quinine was already available at that time. Without quinine, the proportion of these officials who survived would be very low, and those who lived in cold regions would die of malaria in large numbers like the early Europeans in Africa.

In 1941, 7 U.S.-Philippine coalition forces surrendered to the Japanese army on the Bataan Peninsula... There was no other reason, but because of the outbreak of malaria, less than a quarter of the soldiers could hold guns.

In 1942, all U.S. troops in Guadalcanal suffered from malaria without exception, and the reserves of quinine were quickly exhausted...

This is the most frightening aspect of mosquito + malaria: highly contagious, and repeated infection, without immunity, and without fundamentally changing the environment, the medicine is actually ineffective.

In the face of malaria, Taiwanese aborigines are not much better than those dwarfs in Nanyang. In fact, everyone is the same, and they are all using muscle shows in the Middle Ages to cover up the high mortality rate-it seems that they can pull out a lot of naked, muscular Strong fighters, but the average life expectancy of 30 years behind this, no one has counted the tribesmen who died of illness and died in batches like mowing grass.

Traveling through the 17th century where everyone is, the situation is so bad. Taiwan is a barren land. There is no cultivated soil that has been exchanged for hundreds of years of immigration through high death rates in later generations. There is only the cruelty of fighting mosquitoes every step of the way.

……

To a certain extent, it is the high mortality rate of malaria + work-related injuries that has caused some later generations to tear apart hypocrisy during the peaceful era, thus giving birth to the slave trade of the high-ranking regime.

The basic foundation of the cross-traversal crowd is Ming immigrants. This is the foundation of the regime and cannot be shaken. In fact, they have no choice. From the most basic blood cognition, other ethnic groups have been excluded, not to mention belief and skin color. , hair color these obvious things.

Therefore, Travelers now has to establish two population input channels with a huge cost gap.

The channel of Mingren is very cheap, and the beggars and refugees in Moyunguan can be collected almost without spending money. Even if every Mingren who feeds fat and sends it to the officials, he has to bear the burden of eating meat, dressing clothes, seeing a doctor and lodging in Moyunguan. As well as the boat fee, 50 taels of silver per person is too much.

Ming people are cheap, but their status is high: the cross-travelers will let Ming people go to the kiln area to learn technology and join the army, but they will not send Ming people to die. The double crit of physics and biology-logging and pioneering.

So who will do the pioneering work with a high mortality rate?Only buy slaves to do it.

Maritime trade has been the most profitable commercial activity since the Han and Tang Dynasties. The 17th century was the era of great geographical discovery. The era of great voyages was in the ascendant. Navigators around the world walked a tightrope between high mortality and high profits.

In this era, a ship of daily groceries, lacquerware, porcelain, pots and pans, homespun cloth, rouge, sewing needles, etc., can be shipped from Daming at random... no matter whether the ship goes north to Japan or south to the Philippines, as long as there are no pirates or storms , then to the land, the goods on board can get at least 200% profit.

This is the characteristic of maritime trade, high risk comes with high profit, otherwise, you can just set up a stall at your doorstep, why should traders, big and small, go out to sea at the risk of storms, pirates, sickness and drowning?

Back to the slave trade.

The current situation is that the Dali regime has neither the ability to send troops to Nanyang to capture slaves, but also wants slaves to open up wasteland. Therefore, there is no choice but to find Europeans to buy slaves.

Europeans who are used to slave trading are naturally not so mentally retarded as to equate slaves with groceries.

First of all, slaves will not run into the cabin by themselves. Whether the colonists start a war or buy them from the tribe, they will still have to pay the cost.

Secondly, slaves are different from pots and pans. Compared with general cargo ships, slave ships have a huge and unavoidable risk: from the day they board the ship, slaves will continue to die in the crowded, hot, shitty and urine-filled cabin. So the slave trader is actually racing against time to reach the destination before all the slaves on the ship and the entire crew including the slave trader die.

This high cost will be evenly distributed to every surviving slave. Therefore, without a profit of more than 400%, no one will operate such a risky business.The reason is simple: no one will use the profit from selling cigarettes to sell big cigarettes. The risks are different, and the rewards are naturally different.

Traveling through the crowd to buy Nanyang slaves from Europeans, Europeans have a reference price.

Historically, after the reform of the British currency system in the 17th century, the ratio of the pound to silver was 1:4.3.

The cost for slave traders to obtain a black slave from the west coast of Africa is about 25 pounds (107 taels of silver). After transporting it to America, they can obtain items worth about 150 pounds (645 taels of silver), with a profit rate of 600%.

By the 18th century, the profits of the black slave trade had further increased. After buying a black slave for $50 in Africa, it could be sold for $400 in the Americas, with a profit rate as high as 800%.

The above are historical facts, just open Du Niang and search for it.

Therefore, in some YY novels of later generations, it is ridiculous that a large number of people can be transported from East Asia to America for just two dollars.To transport refugees from more distant East Asia to the Americas, how insane would Europeans have to be to spend a year transporting refugees with a profit of less than 600 taels per person?

In addition, even the crew members who sleep in hammocks will die in large numbers during the voyage, so how many refugees who are crowded in the cabin can survive to America?If there were rest stops along the way and there would be no large number of dead people, slaves would have bought three and got one free. Why did humans invent penicillin?

……

Therefore, under the above-mentioned price system, the Dutch will definitely not reduce the profit of slaves to the same price as groceries. If the profit is 200%, it is enough to sell some spices and saltpeter in a safe and secure way. Why should they sell slaves?

Therefore, in desperation, the time travelers can only use more than 300% of the profits to lure the Dutch to trade slaves.

Or send a ship to South Asia to arrest people?

...There is no large supply base like the Philippines. A ship starts alone, sparks and lightning all the way, and runs to a tropical island to catch people... This is even more stupid, and the cost will be much higher than 300 silver per person, and then It's not unusual at all to take a few lives of the time-traveling master.

Therefore, there is no free lunch in the world. Political correctness is a very expensive way to be correct. If you want to pass through the crowd and don’t want to bear the notoriety of "killing ancestors", you must pay a high price right now—unless one day The naval guns hit the gate of the Philippines, and the soldiers roared and began to rush to the beach. Only then did the slave prices pull out the big negative line.

Chapter 144 The Brothers of the Lin Family

The waves are rolling, the sea wind is blowing, and a small spot between the blue-black sea and the sky seems to be motionless: a 600-meter Dafu boat is sailing in the strait from west to east, and its bow is aimed at the direction of Taiwan.

The owner of the ship, Lin Baoquan, is standing on the stern tower looking into the distance.Lin Bao is nearly full year old, with a strong figure, square nose and wide mouth, and his bronze face has no expression at the moment. The sea breeze blowing from behind keeps blowing the three strands of black beard under his chin, and the short brown hair on his body is also The pockets are full of sea breeze, and the sleeves are bulging.

At this time, a sentence floated from his side: "Fifth brother, it's windy outside, let's go back to the cabin."

Lin Baoquan didn't need to turn his head, he knew that it was his younger brother Lin Baoan who also went up to the stern tower: "Old Qi, the wind direction must be correct, right?"

"Fifth brother, you're stunned." Lin Baoan, who looks similar to Lin Baoquan, but with a short beard, shook his head and laughed: "The wind direction is right, even if there is land, the guys in Wangdouli will see it first...don't worry." I'm stuck here, go back to the cabin, go back to the cabin." He said that he was about to go back to the cabin by holding Fifth Brother's arm.

"Oh, I'm always uneasy..." Lin Baoquan was still worried, and said while getting off the cabin.

……

The Lin family brothers are natives of Funing Prefecture in the north of Fuzhou, next to Sanduao, which is called Fuding County in later generations.

The Lin family is a wealthy local family in Funing Prefecture, with a large family and a large family. From generation to generation, there have been some small officials and officials to support their appearance, and bullies and powerful people are often produced.

Lin Baoquan and Lin Baoan are clan brothers, one is five in the clan and the other is seven.Lin Baoan's house was sparsely populated in the early years, and the two families were close. Lin Baoan, whose mother died when he was young, was raised by Lin Baoquan's parents, and the two were like brothers.

Now their generation is at the age of carrying the top in the clan.Since the two brothers had sailed across the sea when they were still young and strong, they could be regarded as surviving the storm, so a few years ago, the clan handed over the big blessing boat named "Xing'anping" to Lin Baoquan. The two brothers are responsible for running ships and shipping goods for the clan, and the business is promising.

After Lin Baoquan took over the "Xing'an Ping", he stopped traveling to the ocean, and went north to Suzhou and Hangzhou and south to Fuguang every year, only doing stable short-distance business.

That's what family business is all about.The Lin family brothers together only account for [-]% of the shares in Xing'an Pinghao, and the rest of the shares are family property. The most taboo thing about this kind of business is recklessness - no matter how much you earn, you should, and if you lose, how can everyone forgive you?

So Lin Baoquan and Lin Baoan have not been to Nanyang in the past few years. In the past year, the situation in Fujian and Guangdong has not been peaceful. Now they don't even go to Fuzhou, and put the focus of business on Hangzhou.

The reason why the Lin family brothers sailed to Taiwan this time was still in Hangzhou.

……

The Xing'an Pinghao is the Hangzhou prefecture that went to catch the tail of the south wind last autumn.

As in previous years, the boat was filled with indigo, dried bamboo shoots, dried lychees, iron materials, ramie cloth, bamboo utensils, and bamboo paper, which are traditional native products of Funing Prefecture.

After the ship arrived in Hangzhou, the Lin brothers contacted old customers to sell goods, and at the same time bought goods needed for the return journey. They worked from late autumn to early twelfth lunar month before they finally got all the goods ready. After talking, the brothers prepared to take the north wind and go home for the New Year.This point in time was January of 1628, just over two months had passed since the time passed by the occupants.

Unexpectedly, two days before his departure, the manager of the Liu family came to invite him, saying that he had a good deal and that he wanted to introduce a good friend to the two brothers.

...Yes, the most important business partner of the Lin brothers in Jiangnan is Chairman Liu Yaozu.

For many years, the Lin family has been wholesale selling groceries shipped to the south of the Yangtze River to the Liu family, and then make up part of the return goods from the Liu family's commercial channels.Although the wholesale price is a bit lower, the Lin family generally agrees: if the goods are sold to the Liu family, a local snake, naturally there is no need to worry about the local ghosts and snakes, and it is also much easier to replenish the goods. The Liu family's business network is very good. Developed, many seasonal goods can be bought.

Under such circumstances, since the manager of the Liu family came to introduce business to the two brothers, it was naturally inconvenient for the Lin brothers to refuse, so the two sides made an appointment to meet at the Fuzhou guild hall where the brothers stayed at Sishichu the next day.

……

Ever since the crossing crowd took down the Hangzhou Beggar Gang, Liu Yaozu's attitude towards Zhou Tongzhou's Tuantou suddenly changed drastically.The head of the gang of beggars who commanded the 8000 beggars in Hangzhou City has passed the official status and is already a first-class figure in the world. It is completely different from the bandit leader who cuts the path. This is a serious green forest prefect!

Mr. Liu, who is well versed in the business of Ming Dynasty from north to south, is very clear about the stakes here. Liu Yaozu couldn't be more fortunate now: because the eldest son was seriously ill, he had no choice but to agree to Zhou Tong to take care of the aftermath. Luckily, after the incident of the Beggar Gang, the Liu family really did their best to maintain the situation. Now that Zhou Tong has gained a firm foothold, the benefits have begun to appear.

The Liu family's recent plan to reopen the mountain goods business in the upper reaches of Qiantang is an example.This time, if the gangsters and boat gangs on the pier outside the city dare to lure the water bandits to rob the Liu family's boat, then these bastards must be prepared to kill the whole family-as long as the Liu family throws money out, the The group leader of this kind of business week will naturally help old friends.

The beggar gang is one of the few local forces that can mobilize a large number of people without going through layers of official documents. Especially in the urban circle, the operation ability of the beggar gang is better than that of the canal gang; Even if you flatter a horse, you can't keep up with the Beggars' Clan. Liu Yaozu, Mr. Liu, is full of joy recently. The rivals who used to have a faint sense of competition in business are now full of cooperation, and their flags have died down.

……

Under such a situation, when the time travelers staying behind in Tangzhuang wanted to meet some business friends of the Liu family, Liu Yaozu naturally agreed: Zhou Tong’s friends on the sea road were once the focus of Liu Yaozu’s attention. After leaving, Liu Yaozu was still a little bit reluctant at the time. Chairman Liu was deeply impressed by the exquisite medical skills and ingenious gadgets of this group of strangers.

Fortunately, the cross-travelers staying behind in Tangzhuang did not die down, and the exchanges between the two families continued to deepen—after the cross-travelers took over the officials, there was a strong demand for food and groceries.For a long time, the crossing fleet returned to Hangzhou empty, and the next wave of cargo filled with cabins, many of which entered Chairman Liu's pocket in the form of silver ingots.

Liu Yaozu is also reciprocating, and usually helps organize the supply of goods in various ways: the fleet of the crossing people will eventually rest in Tangzhuang, and Liu Yaozu is actually better than the imagination of the crossing people. The Liu family also knew about killing the Hongmao pirates, and robbing Hongmao's stockade and a large amount of silver goods, and opening the gates and cabinets in the local area.

In this case, if Liu Yaozu didn't know how to make good friends with this group of overseas foreigners with great potential, then he would not be a big businessman.

Chapter 145 Xiong Dao

Liu He, the manager of the Liu family who is in charge of business trips, got the master's consent and hooked up with him in the past two days. Early this morning, he and the Lin brothers set off from Hangzhou City in a small boat and headed straight for Tangzhuang.

Along the way, Liu He introduced the situation of his good friend to the two of them: this person's surname is Xiong Mingdao, he is a maritime merchant from outside, and the owner of Tangzhuang.Mr. Xiong is rich and wealthy, promises a lot of money, and has a close relationship with Liu's family. He is a top businessman.

After the Lin brothers learned the inside story, they were also a little puzzled. It stands to reason that no matter what kind of goods Liu He wanted to buy, he would definitely be able to find them from Hangzhou City. Why bother to invite the two brothers to meet?

... Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Lin Baoquan smiled all over his face, chatting and laughing with Steward Liu along the way, after going east of the city for more than ten miles, the boat turned along the river, and after a short distance, the Lin brothers saw five The warehouses built along the river.

This row of warehouses is obviously newly built. The warehouses are tall and the white ash plastered on the stone walls has not yet dried. There are several blue stone river piers in front of the warehouse. Those who run old boats can see at a glance that what the laborers are carrying into the warehouse is rice.

"These are all new warehouses built by Master Xiong." Seeing the Lin brothers staring at the warehouse, Liu He added with a smile.

Lin Baoquan nodded and did not reply, and his evaluation of the financial resources of this unseen Master Xiong increased in his heart: this kind of large stone warehouse is not cheap, and ordinary merchants cannot afford to build one.It is not counted after the completion of the production, but there must be a large amount of money to stockpile the goods, and hire people to guard them day and night, which costs a lot.

... The boat came to the ground: in a bend in the river that had obviously been rested ahead, there were three sandships parked at the moment, the leading one was wider than Lin's Xing'an Ping, and some laborers were loading the sandship .

Before the two of them took a closer look at these sand boats, some people who were talking on the pier had noticed them. Liu Hehe and Lin Pu got off the boat, and the leader opposite gave a long laugh, leaving the servants and companions beside him, Come forward slowly.

This man is tall and fat, in his prime, with a fair and rich face, with white teeth showing when he opened his mouth, obviously he came from a wealthy family; he was wearing a Nanjing brocade robe embroidered with Xiangfei bamboo, and a pig-sister-in-law dragonskin belt around his waist, There are three or four gold and jade rings around his hands, and his fists are shining with gold.

"It must be the two elder brothers of the Lin family who came face to face, and Xiong Dao took the liberty to invite you yesterday. It was a bit abrupt, and I hope the honored guest will be happy, ha ha, ha ha." Xiong Dao's voice was loud, but his tone was gentle. Although the accent was a little weird, others listened It feels kind to my ears.

"Where is there, when I heard that Master Xiong was calling, Brother Xiong was too happy, so why would you say so abruptly..." Merchant Lin clapped his hands and saluted in a Hokkien accent, and naturally exchanged warm greetings with Merchant Xiong.

A few people walked and chatted, Liu He was gagging aside, and after a few steps, everyone became as close as old friends, talking and came to the gate of Tangzhuang.

Tangzhuang has not changed, it is still the grand manor, there are people coming and going at the door, and people who look like sailors in bunts come in and out from time to time, each of them looks sturdy and powerful.

Xiong Dao saw that the Lin brothers were thoughtful after seeing the sailors, so the topic inadvertently turned to the future of the sea. Departures.

Xiong Dao's words resonated with the Lin brothers, they all go to sea and know the difficulties, the Lin family's boat doesn't even want to go to Fuzhou now, they only want to go north to Hangzhou, the reason is that the ocean is not calm.

Naturally, Xiongdao, a secret place like the backyard of Tangzhuang, will not reveal its secrets to outsiders. The guests were then led to an elegant side courtyard in the villa. The fruit plate and the tea are served only after the tea is served.

Slowly drank three courses of tea, during which time everyone chatted for a while. Emperor Xi Zong passed away and sat on the throne at nine thousand years old. Who knows the way forward? After such gossip and anecdotes, the atmosphere in the house became more and more harmonious. Tell me why you met today.

According to Xiong Dao, when he was handling goods on weekdays, he found that most of the iron materials used locally in Jiangnan came from Fujian and Guangdong, and Fujian iron was the best, with large quantities and good quality.

Now that Xiong Dao has a foundation in a foreign city that is in urgent need of iron materials, he thought that buying iron with his own family in the south of the Yangtze River would be more convenient if he asked a familiar Fujian merchant to purchase it on the spot. Ship to the land, which saves the cost of going to Hangzhou again, and it is cheaper for everyone. As for the cost of shipping and goods, it is easy to discuss.

……

After Lin Baoquan heard this, he nodded slightly: the sale Master Xiong just mentioned was within the guesswork of his two brothers last night, and it did not surprise him.

There are many mountains in Fujian, and there are not many iron pits in prefectures and counties, and furnaces are everywhere. Over the years, Fujian Railway has been sold in the two capitals of Ming Dynasty and 13 provinces, and its reputation is resounding.Funing Prefecture, where the Lin brothers live, not only has iron pits, but also government-run silver pits; the Lin clan itself has a stake in the iron pits in the mountains, so buying iron materials is not a big deal.

The only thing to worry about is that Mr. Xiong just ordered a whole ship of iron materials, which made Lin Baoquan a little vigilant: iron materials are rough goods, and few people buy them in bulk. So simple.

Thinking of this, Lin Baoquan asked with a nudge: "I don't know where the iron material purchased, where does the owner want to send it?"

Xiong Dao chuckled, tapped his middle knuckles twice on the black lacquered mother-of-pearl inlaid Longxizhu table in front of him, and then slowly uttered two words: "Master".

"Hiss..." Erlin took a breath at the same time when he heard the place name.Rao, the two brothers already had a case in their stomachs before, but they never expected that the iron material was sent to the senior officials!

At this time, it has only been more than two months since the senior staff changed to a new owner. Naturally, the Lin brothers will not know what is going on there.So the first reaction of the two brothers was: hello comprador brother! ... They regard Xiong Dao as a red-haired comprador at this moment.

It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty didn't pay attention to this. Merchants on the southeast coast have done business with Semu people for thousands of years. No one despises compradors these days, because the Semu people haven't launched the Opium War, so it's not very attractive. Everyone accepts Semu People are proud of their money running away...

After hearing the word Dayuan, Erlin immediately made the whole thing clear: the red-haired man had a hard time living in Dayuan, spending money everywhere to find big merchants to buy goods on his behalf. This has long been public news along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong. Master Xiong is also one of them.What Erlin didn't expect was that the red-haired man's line was so far away that there were actually people in Hangzhou City who helped his generation plan.

After Lin Baoquan pondered for half a cup of tea, he raised his head and asked Xiong Dao: "I have heard that this 'big official' usually loves raw silk and likes porcelain cloth. Crude goods such as iron materials probably won’t be sold at a high price.”

... Lin Baoquan has been in business for half his life, so he is naturally cautious. He knows that in the city of Hangzhou, it is best not to say such words as "red-haired, Dutchman", so he uses "a man of high rank" instead.

After Xiong Dao listened, he smiled slightly: These two pretended to understand in confusion.He naturally wouldn't reveal it at the moment, so he pretended to be confused with his understanding: "Xian Kunzhong, but don't worry, Dayuan Island is just waiting to be rebuilt, and the people on the 'island' are all doing long-term business, how can you let them run around?" The friends who deliver the goods don't have to make a profit?"

As Xiong Dao spoke, he stretched out a palm full of rings: "Five cents, five cents a catty of pig iron."

Chapter 146 Pearl, see pearl again

The Lin brothers were not very opposed to the errands of transporting goods to Taiwan—whether it was to the Frangji in Taipei or the Dutch in Daguan.

Since ancient times, Fujian merchants have sailed to Taiwan for trade: trading buckskin sulfur with the aborigines.

Funing Prefecture, where the Lin family is located, has a higher latitude than Taipei, so as long as the north wind blows in winter, the ship can be dispatched.Although the risk of crossing the strait is high, it is mainly due to the wind direction. I am afraid that the wind direction will change halfway, and the rest of the risk factors are actually very small.

When Lin Baoquan was young, he went to Taipei more than once to trade with the natives, and the senior officials also went there once. Now it is the Fulangji people who are in charge of Taipei. The situation is still very clear.