A boat with one hundred and fifty people on board, all foreigners.
Two of them are Westerners, and the rest are all Tianfang slaves.
To go to sea like this is to commit suicide.
The local government is obviously not optimistic about Jialan sending the ship out to sea. They are afraid that the crew will mutiny and cause life-threatening lawsuits.
According to regulations, the Pearl River Estuary is an important coastal defense area, and if anything happens, it must be reported to the court.
Even the noble Gao Mingbo He family who guarded Guangnan sent someone to contact Jia Lan privately to persuade him not to go to sea.
This is a person from the Rongguo Mansion. No matter how declining he is, he is still registered in the capital. The atmosphere of the imperial court is swinging between open and closed seas. If something really happened, not only will the assessment of the local officials be ugly, but if someone catches him, it will cause trouble.
Another wave of discussions about banning seas will be even more troublesome.
Guangnan is a densely populated area with a narrow land, and the countryside is not suitable for farming. Five out of ten people live in front of the sea to make a living. Once the sea is banned, the place will definitely be in rapid turmoil.
The three Datengxia Uprisings in the pre-Ming Dynasty lasted for hundreds of years from Yingzong of Ming Dynasty to Sejong Dynasty, and they still make local scholars change their minds after hearing about them.
The name of Dadeng Gorge is Xunzhou Prefecture, and the government is called Guiping. In Jia Lan's original world line, there was a village here called Jintian Village. From this ordinary village, the largest war in Chinese history was launched.
Huge peasant uprising.
From the business community to the government, no one was optimistic about Jialan's move to go to sea. Even the maritime merchant who originally compensated Liang Yong seemed to be gloating about his misfortune.
However, the sea finally emerged.
And it was successful.
The key lies in the two Westerners on the boat.
Liang Yong found a tribesman who was engaged in translation. He had been to Luzon and learned the language of the Franco people.
"The common people and nobles of Franji speak two different languages, similar to the dialect and Yayan of our dynasty."
From this tribesman, Jialan learned a lot of information about Nanyang. He estimated that the so-called two languages should be Spanish and French.
Jialan asked the translator to talk to the two Western crew members in French, and it was exactly as he expected. Although the conversation was bumpy, communication was still possible.
Among these two people, there is a Frenchman.
The previous maritime merchants didn't know whether it was because they didn't find the right translator or for other reasons. They didn't know much about the origins of these two people. They only knew that they were slaves bought by merchants from Tianfang.
This Frenchman, whose name is Charlie Loschevre, claims to be a scientist.
The other one's identity is even more remarkable. He claims to be a naval officer from the "Country of Reading" and has also been a captain.
Reading? About Sweden?
Having said this, Jia Lan vaguely understood why the two people had remained silent until they saw him, and did not disclose their identities until they saw him.
Francois believes in Universalism, while Sweden is the backbone of Protestantism. Sweden is hostile to the Habsburg family, the guardians of Universalism, but Francois has been an ally of the Habsburg family for many years.
As a Swedish naval officer, a person of this status is special no matter where he is. If he falls into the hands of the enemy's allies, he may suffer worse than being a slave.
The Francois are devout in their beliefs. Compared to the Chinese people who are considered "uncivilized", this Swedish eldest brother is a vicious pagan. If this identity is leaked, I am afraid that the people from the Inquisition will come soon.
So the best response is undoubtedly to pretend to be deaf and dumb and pretend to be French.
As expected by Jia Lan, as the exchange deepened, the two Westerners said frankly that because they heard that Jia Lan was a descendant of a duke in the East, they disclosed their identities.
Charlie was actually a subordinate of the Swedish soldier brother. The two of them fought together in the Germanic region under the Swedish king. After being defeated and captured, they were sold to Turkey as trophies. They were later sold to Tianzhu.
Unexpectedly, the emperor of Tianzhu who originally placed an order to buy slaves was killed in the battle, and his territory was annexed. The seller, who lost his buyer, could only escort the slaves all the way to Guangnan and mortgage them to the maritime merchants as payment for the goods. p>
If Jialan had not appeared, the fate waiting for them would have been to be sent to a private mine to dig and dig.
"Your Excellency, we hope to regain our freedom, but we also understand that freedom is definitely not cheap, and we are willing to pay the price to regain our freedom."
The Swedish eldest brother spoke to Jalan meticulously, and then announced his name: Hedram Joachim Bergström.
Since the other party was open and honest, Jia Lan was not polite and put forward his needs directly.
Gradually build a Western fleet, including ships and weapons.
After discussing with Charlie, Hedram said that this problem is not a big problem. The culture of Middle-earth is prosperous and the shipbuilding technology is also very powerful. It is not difficult to achieve this goal as long as it is done step by step.
The difficulty lies in the investment of funds.
Jialan made a suggestion, and he personally hired two people as consultants. Hedram operated the centipede ship to Luzon for trade, while Charlie went north with Jialan. Many of his skills were Jialan's.
I find it extremely useful.
He thought so, but in Hedram's view, this approach was suspected of treating Charlie as a hostage.
The Swedish soldier pursed his lips, exuding an intimidating aura, and stared at Jialan closely.
Jialan looked at him calmly, and spoke clearly and candidly: "Mr. Luo's scientific attainments are amazing. I happen to have several projects that need to rely on Mr. Luo's technology. As a duke, I guarantee Mr. Luo's
Life is safe, and we promise to pay corresponding remuneration."
Hedram's brows relaxed slightly, half relieved and half surprised.
It's not easy for Jia Lan to be able to bear his gaze easily at such a young age.
Although he had not said a word before, he also learned through communication that Jialan was a member of one of the few duke families in this huge eastern country, and was also a grand duke who had served as a field marshal.
"Three years." After pondering for a moment, Hedram stated his conditions: "I will serve you for three years. After three years, you will set us both free."
"No, three years is too little." Jia Lan shook his head: "I don't understand the navy, but I know that every member on the ship needs a lot of training to be qualified for the work on the ship. I'm afraid it will take three years to train a member of the ship.
The boat is tight."
Hedram was silent for a while before speaking: "How long do you want?"
[It goes without saying that of course the longer the better!]
Jialan secretly thought, meeting Hedram's gaze and thinking for a while before he spoke: "I want to know what Mr. He's plans are after he regains his freedom? Is he going to return to the West directly?"
"This..." Hedram hesitated for a moment, nodded, and then added: "I hope to recruit a small fleet to return to China to serve."
After praising the patriotism of the military brother, Jia Lan said: "Three years will not be enough."