Chapter 2355

Wang Tom was not sure whether Matsumae Kohiro really didn't know Haihan, or whether he acted like this on purpose to trick himself. Out of caution, he tried his best to introduce Haihan's situation in a plain tone. Wang Tom told Haihan

It is described as a country that focuses on maritime trade and has established good trade relations with East Asian countries. As for Haihan's military expansion, Wang Tom did not mention it at all, so as not to arouse the hostility of the other party.

Matsumae Kimihiro showed great interest in the cross-border trade mentioned by Wang Tom, and asked him about the specific trade content.

Although Wang Tom is a senior military official, he is not completely unfamiliar with trade matters. He is also relatively clear about Haihan's popular products in international trade. However, the demand in Hokkaido may be different from that of mainland countries.

There is a difference, so Tom Wang is also prepared for this.

Although the purpose of this trip was to explore unknown areas and its nature was focused on the military field, Wang Tom also asked the cargo ship to load some goods produced in Haihan when setting off from the Datong River, so that he could visit the ports encountered on the way in the name of trade.

"Lord Lord, I have prepared a few small gifts. They are all products produced in our country. Please accept them. We also have some products on board. If Lord Lord is interested, we can send some samples over later."

Wang Tom made a gesture, and Amakusa Shiro immediately handed a specially brought rattan box to Matsumae Ujihiro.

Matsumae Ujihiro took the box and returned to his father to open it. After Matsumae Kimihiro looked at it, his face was a little confused. There was a small flat paper box in the box, a copper base glass lamp, and a book with a cover.

Books with the title "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang and Song Dynasties".

Wang Tom had already expected it, so he added: "Lord, can you allow my subordinates to show you how to use it?"

Matsumae Kimihiro happily agreed, and Amakusa Shiro stepped forward and took out the glass lamp from the box, opened a small mechanism, took off the glass lampshade, and then took out the small paper box and pushed it gently with his hand. It turned out that it contained

He took out one of the dozens of small wooden sticks and rubbed it on the side of the cardboard box. The small wooden stick immediately burst into flames, making both Matsumae and his son couldn't help but widen their eyes.

Amakusa Shiro took the small wooden stick and lit the wick, then blew out the flame on the wooden stick and put the lampshade back on the base. The flame was not disturbed by the surrounding air and burned extremely smoothly.

After Shiro Amakusa finished the operation, he introduced in concise language how to use the dial on the oil lamp to adjust the length of the wick, how to open the mechanism, refuel the glass oil bottle under the base and change the wick. After the explanation, he asked Kimihiro Matsumae to turn over the oil lamp.

Open the book "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang and Song Dynasties" and see if the illumination of this oil lamp is bright and clear enough for reading.

The principles of matches and oil lamps are not complicated, but they are the embodiment of Haihan industrial technology and are by no means comparable to competing products of this era. The glass windshield, oil pot, and the mechanical structure of the oil lamp, in the eyes of Matsumae and his son,

They are all very sophisticated, and the matches that can be easily lit make them feel very convenient.

Although it was daytime at this time, the lighting in the big room where Matsumae Castle arranged the meeting was very ordinary. After the oil lamp was lit, it was quite bright. Matsumae Kohiro opened the book "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang and Song Dynasties" and really felt that the above

The handwriting is extremely clear.

Of course, this is not entirely due to the effect of the oil lamp. This "Three Hundred Poems of the Tang and Song Dynasties" was printed by a printing factory in Sanya using the most advanced metal movable type clappers and high-quality inks, as well as using special printing paper developed for this purpose.

The clarity is definitely far superior to the printing techniques such as engraving, wooden movable type, and porcelain movable type that are common in this era.

If you are someone who often has the opportunity to come into contact with printed books, you will probably immediately notice that this book is unusual in terms of materials and printing technology, but Matsumae and his son are obviously not among them. They all subconsciously think that this kind of good

The look and feel is brought about by the lighting provided by glass oil lamps.

Matsumae Kohiro asked Wang Tom through Amakusa Shiro whether these things were all goods sold by Haihan. After receiving a positive answer, he immediately expressed his willingness to spend money to buy some more oil lamps and matches, and was ready to learn more about Haihan ships.

Other goods brought by the team. As for books, they were obviously not within his scope of interest.

But Wang Tom doesn't care. Haihan's main purpose of selling books abroad is to enhance external influence from a cultural level, and profits are secondary. Many books are not profitable at all, and even require special funds for subsidies. He chooses books as gifts.

It was not for the purpose of selling books, it was purely to show the lighting effect of the oil lamp and to express the goodwill of my trip.

As for commodities of a special nature such as arms, Wang Tom did not intend to take them out at the beginning, so as not to make the other party suspicious.

For the Matsumae Domain, due to its remote location, there are actually not many merchants willing to come here to trade, and there are even fewer people who come to this ice and snow in winter. If this fleet from the Haihan Kingdom is holding

If you come here for the purpose of trade, you can really be considered a rare visitor.

Of course, if Matsumae Kohiro wants to maintain this hard-won trade relationship for a long time, it is definitely not enough to just spend money to buy the goods shipped by Haihan. He also has to come up with local specialties that interest the Haihan people.

The Daonan area where Matsumae Domain is located is almost all mountainous, and the area that can be used for agricultural cultivation is extremely limited. The cultivated land is basically used to grow grain, and grain will obviously not be the reason that attracts the Haihan people to come all the way to trade. But Matsumae

The domain had a monopoly on trade between Japan and the Ainu tribe, but it did have some special stocks.

"Our warehouse has all kinds of furs, deer skins, bear skins, fox skins... and many good things harvested from the mountains. If you are interested, you can ask my son to take you to choose from."

There are indeed not many things that Matsumae Kohiro can trade, and they are basically from the Ainu tribe. These things usually have to wait until the end of summer or early autumn, and then try to transport them to Edo for sale. However, Edo can consume these fur products.

After all, the scale of wealthy people is limited, so there is still a lot of inventory in the warehouse of Matsumae Castle.

When Wang Tom heard this, he was naturally interested in taking a look at Matsumae Domain's inventory. These furs are not souvenirs that can be obtained anywhere. If they can be purchased in large quantities, the shipping costs will already be included in military expenses. This transaction will at least be certain.

Won't lose money.

In order to further discuss the contents of the transaction, Matsumae Kohiro invited Wang Tom to stay for dinner. However, due to the limitations of local products, this dinner was not up to the standard of a banquet. In Wang Tom's opinion, it was just home cooking, not even comparable to him.

The officer's meal we ate on the ship. There were a lot of dishes on the table, but each portion of the food was only enough for two bites, and most of it was seafood, so it was only half full.

Of course, eating is secondary. The main purpose is to get closer to each other and discuss the method and content of the transaction.

That night, the Haihan Fleet docked at the coast near Matsumae Castle to rest. The sailors were allowed to take turns to go ashore, but they were not allowed to approach Matsumae Castle on their own initiative to avoid unnecessary trouble. Although this made many people want to see Japan in the area near Matsumae Castle

The Fengqing sailors were quite disappointed, but the military orders were strong and no one dared to violate them.

After dinner, Wang Tom and his entourage returned to their temporary base on the beach. Tom Wang was quite satisfied with the results of today's contact with Matsumae Kohiro. In fact, he did not expect to reach a stable relationship with Matsumae Domain through this visit.

In a place as far away as the Matsumae Domain, if there were not extremely generous profits, it would be difficult for Haihan merchants to take the initiative to engage in trading activities here.

As for the fur products that Matsumae Domain can provide, although they are all good goods, their value is far from high enough for foreign businessmen to ignore the freight. Wang Tom will definitely not lose money by picking up the goods on the way. There is no need to consider the freight cost anyway.

But if merchants from Haihan are required to sail thousands of miles from places like Dinghaiport, the resale price for shipping back to Daming or Haihan will probably have to be set extremely high to protect their capital.

Apart from these, Matsumae Domain seems to have nothing else to offer. Moreover, this place has no mineral deposits, no land suitable for establishing a colonial port, and does not have a large permanent population. It does not have high potential for Haihan.

Strategic value. According to Wang Tom’s observation, the Matsumae clan has extremely limited financial, human and material resources. It is not even qualified to become a trading partner of Haihan. It can only do a small business to establish a relationship first, which may come in handy in the future.

when.

However, in addition to trade negotiations, Wang Tom had a special gain. When he met with Matsumae Kohiro, he expressed that he would continue sailing north and hoped to hire a local guide who was familiar with the northern environment. Matsumae Kohiro happily agreed.

He came down and asked his son Matsumae Ujihiro to help arrange the matter.

When leaving Matsumae Castle, Wang Tom learned that in addition to the Japanese who moved from Honshu Island, there were also Ainu people from the northern region who came here from time to time, bringing various goods for trading.

.Some Ainu people think that the living environment of Matsumae Domain is relatively more livable, so they will stay here for a long time.

After winter, land transportation is inconvenient, so some Ainu people who have arrived in Matsumae Domain will wait here until spring before leaving. If the Kaihan people want to find a guide, then there will definitely be Ainu people willing to take a smooth sailing boat to leave.

Return to your hometown here.

Sure enough, Ujihiro Matsumae, who was in charge of handling this matter, did not spend much effort and found two Ainu guides for Wang Tom. The two men were wrapped in thick animal skins outside their cloth robes, and each had a pair of earthen guides on their backs.

The most striking thing about the bow and arrow makers is that they all have beards that are more than half a foot long. Their appearance is indeed obviously different from that of East Asians.

The two men, who claimed to be uncle and nephew, came here from the north on the merchant ship of the Matsumae clan in the autumn, and sold various mountain goods collected by the tribe to the Matsumae family. They planned to purchase some daily necessities here after winter passed and then look for opportunities.

Take the boat back.

Because these two people have been doing business with the Matsumae clan for many years, they can also speak Japanese and are familiar with the customs and customs of the west coast of Hokkaido. After Amakusa Shiro communicated with them and confirmed that there was no problem with the communication, Wang Tom decided to let these two people serve as guides for the subsequent itinerary.

.

However, before setting off, we still had to complete the transaction with Matsumae Clan. Early the next morning, Matsumae Clan's retainers sent five cartloads of various goods. The total number of large and small furs totaled over a thousand pieces.

The Ainu uncle and nephew who were hired immediately came to work as technical consultants to help inspect the goods.

There is actually nothing that can be done about it. All of Wang Tom’s men are sailors. There are almost no Orions who are familiar with beast furs and various mountain products. They are far less knowledgeable than these two Ainu people. Amakusa Shiro promised this job to

They had one hundred kilograms of rice, and the two men immediately regarded the Haihan people as their temporary allegiance.

After their selection, they finally selected three carts of goods, which were then discounted with the Haihan goods selected by the Matsumae Domain. In addition to high-end daily necessities such as matches and glass oil lamps, the goods sold to the Matsumae Domain included

Mainly iron farm tools and cooking utensils.

These iron products are very practical for the Matsumae clan. After all, there are no iron mines in the jurisdiction of the Matsumae clan. If they want to purchase a large amount of iron products, they have to go to the big cities on Honshu Island. Including the intermediate costs, they are more than what the Kaihan people provide.

Iron products are much more expensive.

Most of Haihan's iron daily necessities have adopted industrial production methods, and the production cost is much lower than that of traditional blacksmith workshops. Even if they are shipped from the far south, there is still a slim profit after deducting the transportation costs. These iron products

The supplies were extremely popular in the Ming Dynasty and North Korea, and it seems that Japan will be no exception.

When the two Ainu people saw that Kaihan had traded so many iron tools to the Matsumae clan, their eyes immediately turned straight. They hurriedly told Amakusa Shiro with pictures and gestures that they would leave some iron tools for their tribe, and they could provide them with more iron tools than Matsumae.

The feudal lord offered more favorable trading conditions, and even hoped to exchange their wages for iron settlement.

For the Ainu people who lack smelting technology, iron tools are considered a very precious and scarce resource. If they can obtain a large number of iron tools for the tribe, the uncle and nephew will make a great contribution.

Amakusa Shiro immediately reported the situation, and Wang Tom was dumbfounded after hearing this. If he had known this, why would he have bought so many goods from the Matsumae Clan and traded directly with the Ainu people at the source of the supply? There was no middleman to eat the difference.

Wouldn't it be more cost-effective?

But now that the matter was over, he couldn't play with Haihan's business reputation. The deal he had promised Matsumae had to be completed. Anyway, he wouldn't lose money, he would just make less money.

Fortunately, there were many ships coming out this time, and each ship still had a lot of such cargo to act as ballast. There was no need to worry about running out of things to trade with the Ainu. At that moment, Wang Tom asked Amakusa Shiro to appease the two men.

, let them work hard first, and after the errand is completed, each of them will be given an iron pot as a reward.
Chapter completed!