New Shun 1730

During this expedition, the fleet confirmed that there was no road bridge between Asia and America, and also confirmed that the legendary southern continent extending from Antarctica to the tropics did not exist.

But on the southern continent, they found several huge islands that excited these officers who were originally from good families and had a farming background.

There were lush water and grass and a pleasant climate. Although the four seasons were opposite to those in the northern hemisphere, it was not like the tropical regions that made these people whose ancestors were from Shaanxi or Henan feel stuffy and bored.

There, they found whales and seals, so they named it "New Sakhalin Island" or "New Kuwu".

Because just like the previous exploration map in Weihai, they confirmed that Sakhalin Island was not a peninsula, and there was only a not-so-wide strait from Ezo.

And there were also many whales and seals there. The companies in Weihai had already begun to frantically hunt whales and seals on Sakhalin Island, either for boiling oil or for making soap candles.

The two large islands in the south that were newly mapped have whales and seals, and are divided into the South Island and the North Island. There is also a strait in the middle. There are also natives on the island who believe that all things have spirits, so they named it Xin Kuwu.

Bering compared the map and his experience when he was studying in the Netherlands, and concluded that this island was the "New Zeeland" discovered by Dutch navigators.

The Dutch discovered it, so of course they would use the Dutch name. Dashun didn't know which province Zeeland was, so they called it Xin Kuwu.

The name has changed, but the island is still the same island, and the climate is still the same climate.

The navigator Starman who discovered New Zeeland that year evaluated the island as "worthless".

And the Dashun farming and fighting good family sons who set foot on this island a hundred years later exclaimed that this was a "god-given land".

The island is still the same island, whether it is "worthless" or "god-given land", it is not wrong.

For the Netherlands, what the Netherlands needs are places like Sulawesi, Ambon, Banda, and Ceylon.

Places with popular spices in Europe, a sufficient population base, Tamil slaves that are one-tenth cheaper than the average price of black slaves of 50 pounds, and hardworking and submissive Chinese are the places worth caring about.

And Dashun is just the opposite.

The good family sons of Dashun, even the emperor and ministers, who came from farming and fighting, like land, and do not want population or care much about strange trade goods.

On the contrary, land, four distinct seasons, few mosquitoes, can be cultivated, and there are no people already in that kind of land, this is the "God-given land" in the eyes of Dashun.

For example, the Ili River Valley in the Western Regions has four distinct seasons and can be cultivated. Even if there is only land access and the cost of immigration is high, even if there are so many mosquitoes that can bite people to death, it is still a good place recognized by the government. If there were no complicated and messy ethnic groups there, it would be better.

Nanyang is not the "good place" that these good family officers who came from farming and fighting think.

It was hot, full of mosquitoes and diseases, with many chaotic ethnic groups and religions.

Although they boarded the ship, learned to use the sextant, and learned to sail, they were still farming and warfare at heart, and naturally liked places suitable for farming.

Their criteria for evaluating whether a newly discovered piece of land was good or bad was really simple and simple.

Can wheat be grown? Yes. Good.

Are the four seasons distinct? Is it hot in summer and cool in winter? Yes. Very good.

Although the land between the white mountains and black waters is fertile, it is too cold, and there are swamps everywhere, mosquitoes everywhere, and tigers eat people. Compared with that place at this time, it seems to be a little worse.

Although America, where they crossed the Pacific Ocean to the east, is also good, it is too far away after all, and they did not find any place that can be used as a springboard along the way, so they can only say that the grapes are sour.

Although the documents they held said that they were going to the southern hemisphere to find a point for observing the distance between the sun and the sun when Venus transited the sun, some core officers actually understood that this was just a training trip to find a place to "ease the contradiction between people and land" and "train sailors and explorers."

Bering is old and may not participate in the next voyage.

But in the past few years of sailing, these young people who were just military students have learned a lot, matured, experienced, and seen various unexpected situations. They believe that they can take the lead.

In the future, they may go to sea again to find a safe route to get there; or they may lead people to go deep inland to survey the local hydrology, climate and minerals.

Everything has just begun.

However, the excitement after completing the feat did not last long, and was broken by a shocking news.

The Dutch in Batavia sent news that Liu Yu would arrive in Batavia soon and would set sail from Batavia to Europe.

This news was like a bolt from the blue for the officers.

What does this mean?

The navy is no longer under the jurisdiction of Ying Suobo?

Was Ying Suobo promoted in name but demoted in reality?

Going on a visit to Europe for several years, what is the difference between this and resigning due to "mourning"? When you come back, where will you be given a position?

They are from the navy, and the future of the navy is related to their future. Now the Dutch have only given this much information, how can they not have wild thoughts?

The navy is not Liu Yu's, but Liu Yu is more like a totem of the navy, reflecting the court's attitude and views on the navy.

…………

At this time, Liu Yu, who had worried the naval officers who had returned from the expedition, was resting comfortably in the French trading house in Guangzhou.

A large basin of ice shipped from North America to Guangzhou exuded a hint of cool air, driving away the hot summer in Guangzhou.

The iced sour plum soup made the glass ooze out misty water drops, and there were several huge American ginsengs next to it.

Sitting opposite him was Dupleix, the next governor of Pondicherry appointed by the French Oriental Company. He had traded with Liu Yu in Weihai and was also the first Frenchman to lead a team to trade in Guangdong.

Dupleix was in a good mood. This time he came from Pondicherry because it was related to the big business of the French Oriental Company.

The French have always suffered from the inability to conduct effective trade with China, mainly because France has nothing to sell. The goods they bring to China for trade every year are silver.

This time, the two French cargo ships that set sail from North America, transited at the port of La Rochelle, and arrived in Guangzhou did not bring silver.

Instead, they used North American black ice as ballast, and brought Canadian furs and American ginseng purchased at low prices there.

This batch of goods has caused a sensation in Guangzhou. The French, who had always looked down on the Dashun merchants and were too lazy to deal with them before, and could only rely on official cooperation to sell some woolen cloth to Weihai for military uniforms, actually brought good goods!

In other words, their brains finally opened up and knew that it was not feasible to trade with China by selling woolen cloth and wine, and finally found the way to trade with China.

The two cargo ships sold a total of 480,000 taels of silver.

Ice blocks that were worthless in Canada, wrapped in sawdust as ballast, could actually be sold for white silver in Guangzhou.

In the Canadian Indians, a broken gun could be exchanged for a cart of herbal roots called "Galante Quinn" by the locals, but in Guangzhou, they were sold by the pound of silver.

And the sable and mink furs, which were basically extinct in Asia and even in the Heilongjiang River Basin, were even more expensive. The Russian Cossacks couldn't get it either, because their fathers had already gotten rid of it.

Today, the price of Dashun ginseng is soaring, and the price is extremely high, which has a lot to do with Dashun's history.

Dashun is not the Qing Dynasty, and there is no willow border, which leads to a large number of people going to the Northeast to dig ginseng to make a fortune.

Money can change a lot of things.

So the ginseng in the Northeast has been basically dug out, and the Koreans and the border people of Dashun often fight over the issue of ginseng collection.

With such a high price of ginseng, it is natural that it has been dug out.

Historically, in 1783, on January 20, the United States was officially founded and signed the Treaty of Paris between Britain and the United States. On November 25, Britain withdrew from New York, and in mid-December, the United States sent a ship to Guangzhou for trade.

Britain intercepted the ship in Cape Town. In order to prevent direct trade between China and the United States, it bought the ginseng on the ship at a high price and let the ship return directly. The captain knew that the British were afraid of direct trade between China and the United States, but he could not resist the fact that the money and tea he offered were indeed too much. He did not know how much tea this ship of ginseng could exchange for in Guangzhou, so he returned home without having seen the world.

But in April of the following year, the "Empress of China" loaded and set sail, heading directly to Guangzhou to sell ginseng.

From the first trade between China and the United States to the ginseng in the United States being almost extinct, it only took... less than a hundred years.

And Dashun did not have a willow branch, but instead had PTSD in the late Ming Dynasty, and frantically encouraged immigration to Liaodong.

It took decades of digging for wild ginseng to basically become extinct, which can be regarded as the ginseng diggers of Dashun giving enough face to nature.

After all, there are too many things to say about digging ginseng here, and they have to tie red cloth and burn incense. In the Americas, they dig directly with a shovel, and when they encounter a large one, they just use a rope to tie a lever to pry it. In addition, there was almost no large-scale collection before, and there were many forests, so it took a hundred years to dig it until it became extinct.

Liu Yu knew very well that the value of the entire North America at this time, in the eyes of the French, might not be as good as a quarter of Haiti.

He wanted Britain and France to fight bigger in North America, so he communicated with the French early, hoping that France would learn from the "Eastern Tartars" to dig ginseng, sell furs, and collect Eastern pearls.

If I can't get it, others can't monopolize it.

This is a clear way for the French. France is a magical country that can bankrupt the East India Company in the early 18th century. The mind of doing business is really... hard to describe. It is almost always thinking about changing the colonies.

This time, Liu Yu pointed out that France tasted the sweetness in North America.

For the first time, they knew that it was not necessary to carry silver when trading with China.

More than 400,000 taels of payment for goods was an unprecedented happy event in the eyes of the French.

So Dupleix came to Guangzhou in person this time to thank Liu Yu in person, and also hoped that Liu Yu would recruit some ginseng and pearl divers for France through some relationships.

Hunting furs and so on are the strengths of the French, so there is no need to find someone for this. However, the French are not good at collecting ginseng and taking pearls.

If Canada has enough ginseng and pearl divers, the trade volume this time may reach 1 million taels of silver.

"Dear Marquis, can you help me with the request I just made? We can adopt a purchase system for these ginseng divers and guarantee a certain price. We will charge them a fixed price based on how much they dig. Of course, we will respect the agreement with your country and will not force the Chinese to believe in Catholicism and allow them to have autonomous communities."

"Anyway, I want to thank you for your advice this time. I really didn't know that it was possible to achieve a trade surplus with your country."

Hearing the word "surplus", Liu Yu thought to himself that there was nothing he could do. If you don't see the money, North America is not as valuable as Guadeloupe, which is only the size of a town. Now that I see the money, I can go and fight as hard as I can in a few years.

When he was about to talk to Dupleix about the resettlement of ginseng pickers, the attendant came from outside and whispered in Liu Yu's ear: "Sir, warships from Yingguili appeared off the coast of Guangzhou, and Mi Ziming is leading the fleet to monitor their actions. A battleship and three cruisers should be going to rob the Spanish treasure ship. People from the British East India Company want to see you, sir, hoping to dock for supplies."