Great time travel

Chapter 48. Qiongya at the Wind and Rain Meeting in All Directions ([-])

The seventh day of the first month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Hainan Island, Lingao County, Bopu Port
The Bopu Port right now is bustling and bustling with unprecedented noise. Thousands of sailing ships from all over the world are crowding the huge harbor.The so-called "thousands of sails gather, masts are like a forest", if it is used in this place, it is not an exaggeration at all.
With the joint diplomatic expedition fleet of the three crossing groups from Australia and the Americas, carrying a large amount of funds and goods, they arrived at Bopu Port in Lingao County five days ago, plus a large number of Dutch, British, French, Portuguese, Spanish and even Danish merchant ships—more than 2 immigrants from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Oceania, West Asia and Southeast Asia, and various rare commodities from dozens of countries on all continents flooded into the Lingao market , making this already very prosperous port city instantly full of unprecedented economic vitality.

As a result, on the large square that was temporarily expanded in Bopu Port, a giant market full of people's voices quickly appeared. Accent cries.

What's more, at the gate of the bazaar, an exaggerated sign of "The First World Expo in 1632" was hung up by the good-for-nothing travelers.

However, judging from the various goods that appeared in the market, today's Bopu Port Market is indeed worthy of the title of "World Expo":
"...fine rosewood (rosewood) for sale! Excellent quality! Limited quantities, hurry up!"

"... American sea otter skin, bear skin! The coat color is shiny, thick and dense! Look, I didn't lie to you, it is definitely the top quality!"

"...The finest whale oil hunted and refined from the Southern Ocean! It can be lighted or eaten! After being lit, it has a strange fragrance and can prolong life..."

"...Special products of the East Coast of America, South American printed alpaca blankets and alpaca fur coats are cheap!"

"...African ivory, rhinoceros horn, premium Indian spices, and gemstones from the Western Regions are on sale!"

"...The new Western music alarm clock, music box, and gramophone are exquisite in shape and melodious in music. Please don't miss them!"

"... Authentic Australian specialties, cool and refreshing products! Eucalyptus sugar and cool oil are cheap!"

"...Tianzhu specialty curry rice! The exotic flavor that Tang Sanzang has tasted! Please come and taste the guests who have watched "Journey to the West"..."

"... Tianzhu Dancer! Tianfang Music! Persian Belly Dance! There are only three performances per day! Don't wait until it's out of date!"

"...South American coca leaves! Western region khat! Just put it in your mouth and chew, it can refresh your mind, nourish yin and nourish the kidney..."

"...The authentic Australian rare birds and animals exhibition is now being held! Today there will be an ostrich walking competition, a kangaroo boxing competition, and a giant tortoise crawling competition! All judges are welcome to place bets. Those who win will have generous prizes, and those who fail will also have consolation prizes One copy! Please pass by and don’t miss it..."

……

When these foreigners were trying their best to sell the special products of overseas countries, the local businessmen in Hainan Island also heard the news and organized a large number of traditional oriental special products such as silk, tea, and porcelain to trade. Stuttering and haggling in sign language.

Among them, there are not only the cooperatives controlled by the Lingao Traveler Senate and the trade representatives of the foreign trade department, but also the caravans of the local gentry and wealthy families in Hainan Island.

——Like most rich men in this era, the original investment method of the gentry on Hainan Island was to buy land.In their eyes, only good fields that can grow crops are the only stable and reliable property protection.Or it is to cast gold or silver into large ingots of hundreds of catties each, and hide them in the cellar or secret room of the home, so that thieves cannot drag them away even if they get in. Of course, there is nothing they can do if they encounter robbers.

However, after getting in touch with the "Australian Kun people", the ideas of many "pro-Kun people" are gradually changing. The most important one is to gradually agree with the "Kun people"'s concept of financial management-only those who are mobile Money is wealth, and the gold and silver hidden at home are nothing more than a pile of dead things.And investment channels are no longer limited to land. With the confidence and support of the "Kun people" regime, more and more local wealthy people began to invest in business, buy seagoing ships, hire sailors, and participate in overseas trade... …although still a budding, it is already thriving.

What is different from the past is that besides other groups of traversers from all over the world, as well as "red-haired barbarians" from Europe and short and dark Southeast Asian natives, there are also many people wearing white turbans in Lingao County today. Arabs—these are the real patrons of East Asian trade.

In fact, as early as the distant Han and Tang Dynasties, these brave Arabs drove simple boats, opened up the Maritime Silk Road, and started business with the Chinese. Although the Arabs bought the goods here, eventually The goal is to resell them to Westerners and Africans to make huge profits.But even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, many Chinese businessmen in Lingnan were still used to doing business with them, because the two parties had been regular customers who had maintained a cooperative relationship for hundreds of years, and the bonus in reputation was extraordinary.Some of the Arabs have lived in Lingnan for many years. Except for the difference in appearance, they are not much different from the Chinese in terms of language and habits. Only in religious beliefs are still very stubborn. Later, they all became Hui people.

(The Hui people who are distributed in Guangxi and Guangdong in modern times, such as the more famous Bai Chongxi, are basically by-products of the Maritime Silk Road.)
Prior to this, these Arab merchants who had been engaged in international trade for generations mainly lived in Guangzhou, the largest commercial port in South of the Five Ridges.However, as Lingao was very prosperously managed by "Australians", all kinds of "Australian goods" sold well in domestic and foreign markets, and "Australian warships" swept across the Pearl River, Arab businessmen in Guangzhou naturally began to pay attention to this place, and some people tried it from time to time. With the advent of high-end sales and stepping on the spot.Next, they found that not only the goods were abundant here, but also the loading and unloading efficiency of the terminal and the actual amount of taxes and fees were satisfactory, so they came more and more frequently.

Especially this "World Expo" with thousands of sails gathered, as early as when the fleets of various countries were still dawdling in Batavia, the news had already spread across Guangdong and Guangxi (the masterpiece of the Foreign Trade Department of the Senate of Lingao Traveler, because it received so many American The expenses of my compatriots in Australia are really huge, and I can't afford it with finances alone, so I have to find a way to do business to get back some money).As a result, there has been an endless stream of Arab businessmen coming to Lingao recently, including "close neighbors" from Guangzhou, and travelers from afar who came from the Arabian Peninsula, Ottoman Turkey, Egypt, Persia and India following the Chinese and American diplomatic fleet.From Bopu Port to Dongmen City, nests of little white hats can be seen everywhere.They bargain in extremely proficient Cantonese, or pick up the product and comment on it. Their professional level and bargaining ability are definitely far superior to those from Europe.

The trade representatives of the Lingao Travelers Senate have received several groups of "big customers" from the Arab world these days. Some of these travelers have dealt with Arab customers in the modern world. Those who come from the Gulf oil National buyers have traditionally been considered the best customers—they spend generously, rarely pick and choose, and are otherwise perfect except for the occasional blemish in their reputation.

But the business seniors in the Arab world in front of them almost made the travelers think that they had met a group of Wenzhou people - shrewd, calculating, and like to bargain on every tiny detail. After several rounds of negotiations, everyone was concerned about these things Arab businessmen feel overwhelmed.The originally conceived plan of "slaughtering desert tyrants" was completely bankrupt in the end, and it was not easy to keep the most basic profits.

——No way, the Arabs these days are not rich and powerful oil tyrants, but rely on selling goods between the East and the West, fighting against the wind and waves, and only by sacrificing their own and even the lives of the whole family can they get a little hard work The hard work of money forced businessmen.Especially at the beginning of the era of great voyages, European navigators have squeezed out a lot of their market share. If they are not smarter, how can they survive this day?
Although there are still some unsatisfactory things, the World Expo in Lingao is still very successful, and the daily transaction amount is astronomical by the standards of this era.Lingao County, where the population flow was limited, suddenly became an exhibition of all kinds of people from all over the world, and a large number of people of all kinds landed every day.The port terminal is always crowded with people no matter day or night, almost becoming a city that never sleeps.Many Ming Dynasty people were amazed by this, and overseas navigators from Europe and the United States also expressed their satisfaction with everything in this port.

"...the real life at sea is not as romantic as in those bullshit novels written by some sour literati! Just imagine, you are on a small boat with dozens of rude men who stink, Eating pig and dog food that beggars don’t want to eat together, falling asleep smelling the smell of each other’s stinky feet, looking at the same sky and the same sea boringly every day, and fighting with wind and waves, pirates, sharks and septicemia fight!
At this time, suddenly a piece of land appeared like a myth, a port, a prosperous port, appeared in front of you as if it was the magic of a sea monster, this port has a neat and clean huge dock, and ships moored on the sea The masts are as dense as the woods, and the sails are as numerous as the clouds in the sky. Japanese, Chinese, Luzon, Siamese, Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, British, and even distant Americans and Mysterious Australians are all attracted by this prosperous port, conducting all kinds of transactions, selling their own goods, buying the goods they need, and searching for supplies needed for sailing. This is Bopu Port!Of course, you have to pay a decent amount of taxes..."

——This is a letter from a Portuguese businessman who came to Lingao with the east coast fleet to his newlywed wife, and a bolt of silk was sent along with the letter.

sex

In this bustling and prosperous scene, Xu Xiake, dressed as a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, is leisurely holding a glass teapot, sitting alone in a pavilion by the seaside of Bopu Port, facing the slightly salty sea breeze , looking at the densely packed ships from various countries in the port ahead, as well as the business travelers from various countries wandering around, holding the small teapot and taking a sip from the spout from time to time, with a look of self-satisfaction.

This glass teapot, round and spherical in shape, was newly bought by him from a cooperative run by "Australian Kunren" in Lingao Dongmen City.Although according to the Kunren aunt in the cooperative, it is not very good to use glass teapots to make tea, and the taste of tea is far less authentic than purple clay teapots, but Xu Xiake still likes to use this new thing—— Yixing, Jiangsu, which produces purple sand teapots , is near Xu Xiake's hometown, as a local wealthy family, there are plenty of purple clay teapots in Xu Xiake's house, and it is not rare at all.What could be more fun than this crystal clear glass teapot?Even just watching the tea leaves soak and bloom little by little in the boiling water, and the color of the tea soup slowly change, is a novel pleasure for Xu Xiake, and he never tires of it.

And what he saw and heard during this trip to Lingao made Xu Xiake, the "No. After a series of "Australian scenery" such as movie theaters, department stores, telegraph offices, steamships, street lighting systems, railway trains, etc., Xu Xiake and the clan brother who accompanied him to the south already felt that the trip was worthwhile. .Unexpectedly, after their brothers finished their visit to Lingao County and followed the caravan of "Australian Kunren" to the village in Li District in the deep mountains of the island, they unexpectedly caught up with the overseas "big people" again. The fleet of "Descendants of the Song Dynasty" broke through the barrier of thousands of miles of sea waves, and joined forces in Lingao County for an unprecedented event!
Looking at these "descendants of the Song Dynasty" from different distant places such as the Americas and Australia, they have almost the same "short hair", wear similar styles of exotic clothes (modern clothes), and even speak with a similar accent (Mandarin) , came here across the sea with huge ships as majestic as mountains, and swaggered proudly, making those Tianzhu people, Persians, big cannibals, Nanyang people, and red-haired barbarians all bow their heads and worship them sincerely.As for the Japanese pirates who were famous in the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they were driven like servants by them. Xu Xiake couldn't help but sighed sincerely:

"... Huamei, the East Coast, Australia... Hey, I never imagined that after the fall of Yuyashan in the Song Dynasty in the past, there were still so many survivors scattered overseas, and their lives were so prosperous! If there is knowledge in the underground, it must be able to smile at Jiuquan."

However, when I recalled some of the internal affairs of the country that I had learned from officers, soldiers and businessmen of the gorgeous fleet these days out of curiosity about the "compatriots from afar", especially those things that completely violated the concepts of scholars in the Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake's expression gradually became serious again.

——On the stone table in front of Xu Xiake, a slightly yellowed diary booklet was spread out, and the last few pages in it were recording that he had just inquired about the rumors about Huamei.From the perspective of the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, this country has almost no charm of Tang and Song Dynasties, and all the proprieties, righteousness, integrity and shame have been lost:
"...Huamei, the country of tigers and wolves, Huamei established the country through war, and destroyed countless countries. It monopolizes the fat land in the north of America, and the vast territory is taken away. When the country was founded, it was only a corner of Manchester City. Today, it is the overlord of North America. The benefits of coastal water transportation run across the north and south, and the land is vast and tens of thousands of miles, but it is too small. The east and west are constantly begging for years, and the insatiable greed can rival the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty. The state government says that although it is gorgeous, there is no space to spare, and there is nothing more greedy than this. But beautiful people But deeply praise it.

Last year, the U.S. government called for the westward march, and the common people and the landless people cheered. Many people went westward with their guns in their hands. Tyrannical and bloodthirsty, the common people of the government are happy when they hear the war, without any scruples, the newspapers preach every day, get ten cities today, and five cities tomorrow, capture enemy soldiers as slaves, buy them from Taixi barbarians as coolies, and labor and torture them to the death I don't know how much, the beauty only asks how much profit is made from selling slaves, and the natives don't care about life or death.

The beauty is so warlike and tyrannical, because the American soldiers are brave and good at fighting. There are many enemies killed, but few soldiers and horses are lost. Thousands of enemies are killed, but only a few tens of soldiers are lost. , No worries about food and clothing, recruiting soldiers every year is still enthusiastic, the young and strong only hate to take them, which is very different from the state, and the recruits are all elites.In addition, the gorgeous folk customs are martial arts, and those who join the army are envied by everyone. Because the army pays well, and they are given preferential treatment when they go shopping. The so-called iron law of giving priority to soldiers is respected by the common people, gentry and gentry. They are called the cutest people. With officers, it can be seen that...

Yu Siguo's scholar-bureaucrats despise warriors, which is especially sad.Alas, the Huamei name originated from the former Song Dynasty, but it has a very different ethos. It despises literature and martial arts, emphasizes martial arts, and despises benevolence and righteousness. It is very different from the former Song Dynasty.I have seen several Chinese and American newspapers. The Song poetry and poems on them are almost extinct, and all the publications are in vernacular. The style of writing is rough and unsightly. ..."