Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 428 Exporting Cement
"Ah, what a wonderful feast! If I can enjoy such a feast every day, I would rather not be the governor!"

After clearing away all the food and drink on the table, the governor of the Dutch East India Company in Indonesia licked his lips and sighed loudly.

A group of foreigners nodded repeatedly, poured out the tea leaves and put them in their mouths to chew. They really didn't want to waste a bit.

Yang Menglong asked with a smile: "Everyone, what do you think of our tea?"

The representative of Portugal praised loudly: "Ah, it's so wonderful, I can't find any words to describe this wonderful drink! I think, after it is shipped back to Europe, the nobles of the whole Europe will be crazy about it ...yes, yes, it could easily sell for more than its weight in gold!"

Sell ​​tea more expensive than gold?

You are cruel!

Yang Menglong smiled like a pistachio: "Then, are you interested in developing tea trade with Nanyang?"

The foreigners rushed to say: "I'm interested, I'm really interested!" The representative of the Netherlands complained: "Dear Yang, you don't know, it is really difficult to find a stable source of goods in the East! Please give priority to it. Consider supplying to us, as for the price, it’s easy to say!"

Humph, of course it’s easy to say now. Yang Menglong smiled more and more: “Then what price do you plan to pay to purchase these tea leaves?”

The Spanish representative said cautiously: "How about three pesos silver coins and one pound of tea?"

The peso is a currency currently used in Spain. It is made of silver. Seven coins are worth one coin. Two pesos are equivalent to one tael of silver.

Yang Menglong squinted his eyes: "Didn't you just say that tea is more expensive than gold in Europe? Why are you willing to pay three pesos?"

The Spanish representative said with a bitter face: "It is true that tea is more expensive than gold in Europe, but the cost of transportation is very high... As you know, seagoing ships must use heavy objects to hold down the hold, otherwise there may be a We lost our center of gravity and were sunk by the wind and waves. We can’t just transport one or two tons of tea back, can we? In this case, we will most likely not be able to return to Europe! We bought the tea at three pesos a pound, plus the transportation cost, plus With tariffs on, even if it sells more expensive than gold, we won't make much money."

The Portuguese representative said with a mournful face: "Yes, the silk and porcelain produced in your country are exquisite, but they can only be transported back a little at a time. The cost is too scary!"

———— In the age of great voyages, the situation of Europe in trade with China can only be described as "hardship".They carried heavy amounts of silver and even gold to China, purchased silk, porcelain, tea, spices and other goods more expensive than gold from China, and then returned to Europe. A major feature of these goods was that they were... light and not ballasted at all.If only these goods were transported, they would most likely die and return to Europe, and they would all become snacks for whales and sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.So, on the return voyage, they had to load most of the ship's rocks and go back to Europe on a bumpy journey.When I return to Europe, after unloading the goods, I have to remove the ballast stones and load them with real gold and silver to transport them over... There is no way, there is no industry in this era, and these are the only goods that China can export. And there is none of the goods they can export to China, except for gold and silver, and for everything but silver to be gold.By the way, you can also sell some Hongyi cannons... But who has time to import cannons every day?This kind of trade is basically one-sided. The world's gold and silver are flowing to China at an alarming rate. The amount is really jaw-dropping. In 1620 alone, Spain had a silver dollar used to buy silk, tea, raw silk and other goods. As much as 300 million pesos. This situation lasted for hundreds of years. It is not difficult to imagine how huge the gold and silver China earned in these hundreds of years, so much so that the Spanish nobles exclaimed: "The emperor of China can use the gold and silver shipped from Peru to Use the silver bars to build a silver palace!" It should be said that at that time, no country on the entire earth had the material foundation for an industrial revolution better than China, but unfortunately, this exciting industrial revolution ultimately ended up with China. Missed.

These foreigners obviously did not intend to pay a higher price. Yang Menglong did not force it. The price of three pesos per pound of black tea was already quite scary. When converted into RMB, it was several thousand yuan per pound. Not even a famous tea was sold like this. The high price is almost like robbery, what else is he dissatisfied with?His thoughts drifted to another dimension: "What you mean is that our cargo is too light and there is no ballast at all, so you have to load up half a boatload of stones and transport it back together, right?"

Father Robben said, "Yes, I can testify to that."

Yang Menglong chuckled: "That's too wasteful, it's not easy for you to come to China once, how can you waste the capacity like this?"

The foreigners looked very depressed: "Do you think we are willing to go through such trouble? We really can't find any cargo that can be ballasted! We can't ship a ship of Chinese medicine or grain back, right? Even if we want to, it will be moldy when it returns to Europe. Got it!"

Yang Menglong said: "I have some products that are heavy enough and useful for you. I wonder if you are interested?"

The representative of the Netherlands was very excited: "There is such a cargo? That's great, let's take a look! If there are cargoes that are suitable for ballasting, our profit will be greatly increased!"

Yang Menglong waved his hand and said majesticly: "Go, I'll take you to see it!"

After speaking, he led the group of foreigners down the mountain, took a four-wheeled carriage, and went straight to Wuyang along the flat and hard concrete road.When these foreigners first came, they only cared about their tea leaves, and didn’t pay much attention to the road under their feet. Now that they finally noticed it, they couldn’t help but marvel, and almost thought it was a miracle—except for the gods, who else could use such a huge , Complete stones paved roads that can't be seen at a glance?Father Robben had to popularize science with them: this road is not made of stones, it is paved with cement!A bunch of ignorant bumpkins, it's really embarrassing my old man to be with you!Foreigners are at a loss: "Cement? What is cement?" No way, the whole world doesn't know what cement is these days.

Returning to Wuyang, foreigners really sighed at this prosperous city. A city with such a large population would be a large city with international influence in Europe, but in China, it is just a county town!They were envious of the buildings built with reinforced concrete. They were so beautiful and so many times more comfortable than their doghouse-like castle... As they sighed, the group came to a huge warehouse.This warehouse is full of bags of things packed in waterproof kraft paper bags, forming hills.Yang Menglong asked someone to open a bag, took out a handful of gray, extremely fine powder, and said with a smile: "This thing is called cement. Our buildings, our highways, and our streets are all built with it." . Even the sewage pipes and water supply pipes under our feet are made of it. As long as you add a certain proportion of sand and gravel into it, add water and mix it thoroughly, it will become cement slurry, which can be used to pave roads; no If you add only fine sand and lime to gravel, it becomes an excellent binding material and can be used to build walls; the fortress built with it and steel bars can withstand the bombardment of cannons... How about, Does this product meet your needs?"

The foreigners each took a handful of cement and looked skeptical: "Is this powder really so magical?"

Yang Menglong chuckled: "Would you know if you try it? Come on, get some cement and make a cement brick to open their eyes!"

Immediately, someone came over and shoveled a shovelful of cement, mixed it with sand and stones in proportion in front of the foreigners, added water to make a slurry, and then poured it into the mold... One day later, the amount of cement was quite scary, although it was not complete yet. Cement bricks that are dry but hard enough appear in front of the eyes of foreigners.The foreigners were dubious, so they picked up hammers and smashed them one by one. As a result, they were destroyed one by one, grinning in pain, but they could only knock off a little bit of debris on the cement bricks.The Portuguese representative shook his hand that was hurt by the shock, with an expression as if he had seen a ghost: "This thing is harder than the hardest volcanic rock!"

Yang Menglong said: "If steel is added to it, it will be even harder. Imagine building a huge bastion with it? A bastion that cannot be knocked down even if all the cannons in Europe are mobilized!"

The foreigners looked at each other... Yes, the bastion built with this thing can basically ignore all artillery. If several such strategic fortresses are built on the border... the enemy commander will cry!In order to let them have a more intuitive understanding of the power of cement, Yang Menglong took them to the artillery testing ground, where a bastion was poured with reinforced concrete at some point.After the foreigners finished checking and determined that this was not a steel fortress covered with a layer of cement slurry, the artillerymen began to perform. As soon as they came up, they used four-inch cannons, loaded solid bullets, and blasted at the bastion fiercely. , the smoke and flames billowed, quite spectacular.The foreigners were stunned to see that the extremely powerful large-caliber solid shot hit the fortress, making a loud noise, and the cement slag splashed everywhere... But the damage it can cause to the bastion is limited to this, smashing some slag After that, the lead bullets flew out, smashing holes in the ground around the bastion!After firing more than 20 cannons in a row, the entire bastion was battered and uneven. Yang Menglong ordered a ceasefire, and took the foreigners over for inspection.

The results of the inspection were scary: this extremely violent artillery fire only made some shallow, irregular pits and a few thin cracks on the bastion, but there was no damage at all inside!As Yang Menglong said, even if all the cannons in Europe are mobilized, the bastion built with this thing cannot be knocked down!
But this cheating guy didn’t tell the foreigners: if you use a breech-loaded rifled cannon to fire 120mm high-explosive shells, as long as one direct hit is needed, most of the people inside will be killed...

After seeing the power of cement, the foreigners agreed that this thing is very useful both in infrastructure and national defense. It can be used to build roads and houses in peacetime, and it can be used to build permanent fortifications in war. Useful.Especially for small countries like Portugal and the Netherlands, where there is no danger to rely on, the temptation of the "fortress that never falls" is irresistible. It would be a waste of capacity!

Buy, buy, buy, not to buy is not human!
(End of this chapter)